Field Lab
The writing an FDE does every week: discovery questions, scoping documents, updates to executives, security answers, rollout plans, replies to unhappy customers. Write it, and get it graded against what a strong FDE would do.
- 1Read the situation and write the document, email or plan.
- 2A grader scores it point by point against a strong FDE's version.
- 3Take the one next step it suggests, and try again.
The FDE role
- DocumentExplain the FDE role to a worried parent
Practises: What a forward deployed engineer does
Open exercise - DocumentWeek-one summary to your own team from Sanjeevani
Practises: A week in the field
Open exercise - DocumentMap a job posting to your skills and a six-week plan
Practises: The FDE skills map
Open exercise
Foundations for the field
- DocumentAsk for API access and sample data
Practises: HTTP and APIs from the client's side
Open exercise - DocumentPull request for a fix in Kaveri Bank's repo
Practises: Git and code review in someone else's repo
Open exercise - DocumentA runbook for the customer's on-call team
Practises: Containers and deploying a service
Open exercise
Discovery and decomposition
- DocumentQuestion list for a first call at Kaveri Bank
Practises: Running a discovery call
Open exercise - DocumentRestate Dukaan's chatbot request as a problem
Practises: Finding the real problem behind the request
Open exercise - DocumentDecompose Kaam's onboarding goal and pick a slice
Practises: Decomposing a vague problem
Open exercise - DocumentOne-page scope for Raftaar's gate delays
Practises: Writing a scoping document
Open exercise - DocumentStakeholder map for Kaveri Bank's complaints project
Practises: Mapping the people: users, buyers, IT, security and legal
Open exercise
Fitting into customer systems
- DocumentOptions memo: how to get delivery events
Practises: Integration patterns: APIs, webhooks, files and queues
Open exercise - DocumentAnswer five questions from Kaveri Bank's security review
Practises: Security reviews and compliance
Open exercise - DocumentExplain the data flow to Sanjeevani's privacy officer
Practises: Personal data, the DPDP Act and data residency
Open exercise
Shipping AI into a customer's company
- DocumentAssess Raftaar's AI request
Practises: Is this a good AI use case?
Open exercise - System promptA system prompt for Sanjeevani's ticket triage
Practises: Evals: golden sets, graders and regression suites
Open exercise - DocumentRollout plan for Kaveri Bank's policy assistant
Practises: Shadow mode, pilots and go-live
Open exercise - DocumentHandover note for Sanjeevani's IT team
Practises: After launch: monitoring, drift and handover
Open exercise
Coding the FDE way
- DocumentPropose turning a field script into a product feature
Practises: Turning one-off field work into product
Open exercise
Working with customers
- DocumentTwo minutes with Kaveri Bank's CEO about a delay
Practises: Explaining technical work to executives
Open exercise - DocumentRaftaar weekly update from raw notes
Practises: Status updates and written communication
Open exercise - DocumentRefuse Dukaan's auto-discount request with an alternative
Practises: Saying no and pushing back
Open exercise - DocumentReply to Sanjeevani's angry head of operations
Practises: Handling a frustrated customer
Open exercise - DocumentChange request for three new document types at Suraksha
Practises: Managing scope and expectations
Open exercise - DocumentBlameless postmortem: duplicate order confirmations at Dukaan
Practises: When things break on site: incidents and postmortems
Open exercise
Getting the job
- DocumentWrite the first screen of a portfolio README
Practises: A portfolio that proves FDE skills
Open exercise - DocumentRewrite five weak CV bullets for an FDE application
Practises: An FDE CV and profile
Open exercise - DocumentAsk an FDE you admire for a referral
Practises: Finding FDE roles in India and abroad
Open exercise
The FDE interview
- DocumentDecompose a vague interview prompt in writing
Practises: The decomposition round
Open exercise - DocumentWrite the README for a finished take-home
Practises: The take-home and its walkthrough
Open exercise - DocumentTell a pushback story in STAR shape
Practises: Behavioural rounds and the project deep dive
Open exercise
Field case studies
- DocumentGo/no-go after Sanjeevani's shadow run
Practises: Case: triaging a hospital's support tickets
Open exercise - System promptSystem prompt for Kaveri's policy assistant
Practises: Case: a bank's policy assistant
Open exercise - DocumentExplain Raftaar's first project to the CEO
Practises: Case: cutting delivery delays at a logistics company
Open exercise - DocumentReconciliation rules for Kaam's HR fields
Practises: Case: syncing two HR systems
Open exercise - DocumentDesign note for Suraksha's review queue
Practises: Case: reading insurance claim documents
Open exercise - DocumentIncident summary: wrong discounts at Dukaan
Practises: Case: an agent for a sales team's CRM
Open exercise