Systems first. Most product problems are architecture problems in disguise. A bad onboarding flow is usually a trust sequencing problem. A retention problem is usually a social mechanics problem. I read the underlying structure before I touch the surface.
New user empathy is a skill. I notice what specialists stop seeing. When something feels broken to a first-time user, it is broken — regardless of what the metrics say or what the engineer intended. This has saved shipped products more than once.
Pattern recognition across domains. Games, infrastructure, consumer, data platforms — the systems rhyme. I move fast in unfamiliar territory because I'm reading the pattern, not the surface.