#AskAdaMarie: What’s the best way to build range without overwhelming myself?
“I work in a highly technical role and want to better understand the business side. What’s the best way to build range without overwhelming myself?”
Dear Friend,
First, this is a smart instinct. A lot of people wait until they feel stuck in their technical role to start thinking about the business side. The fact that you’re asking this now means you’re already expanding how you see your career.
The key here is being more intentional about what you’re already exposed to.
Start by getting closer to how decisions are made.
Every project you’re part of sits inside a set of business priorities, whether that’s revenue, efficiency, customer experience, or risk. Instead of trying to learn “business” in the abstract, anchor yourself in your current work. Ask:
Why is this project important to the organization right now?
What problem is it solving, and for who?
How will success be measured beyond the technical outcome?
You don’t need a new role to start seeing this, just a different lens.
Next, build proximity.
You don’t need to suddenly master finance, strategy, and operations all at once. Instead, identify one area of the business that shows up most often in your work and start there. That might look like:
Sitting in on a cross-functional meeting and listening for how non-technical teams talk about the work
Asking a product manager, team lead, or stakeholder how they think about tradeoffs and priorities
Paying attention to how decisions shift when timelines, budgets, or customer needs change
You’re not trying to become the expert overnight. You’re learning how the pieces connect.
Also, give yourself permission to stay rooted in your strength. Building range does not mean stepping away from your technical expertise. It means adding context to it. The goal is is to become someone who understands how technical work drives outcomes. That’s where your leverage grows.
Finally, pace matters more than volume.
If you try to layer “learning the business” on top of everything else, it will feel overwhelming. Instead, choose one small practice each week:
One conversation
One question you ask in a meeting
One moment where you pause and connect your work to a larger outcome
That’s enough.
Range isn’t built in big leaps. It’s built in small, repeated shifts in attention. Over time, you’ll notice something change. You won’t just be executing the work, you’ll start to see how it moves through the organization. And that’s what opens doors.
You don’t need to rush this.
You just need to stay curious.
With you,
AdaMarie 💚
