One of the most underrated challenges in software engineering isn’t technical. It’s the principal–agent problem.

In economics, it happens when the person who wants the work (the principal) and the person who does the work (the agent) don’t have fully aligned incentives.

Business wants features shipped yesterday.
Engineers want long-term maintainability.
Stakeholders want revenue growth.

The best engineering leaders don’t just manage code — they manage this invisible tension.