I like the idea of feature founders: developers who notice a business problem, come up with a useful feature, build it, and check whether it helped.
Developers have always been able to take initiative. Now, AI coding tools can reduce some of the implementation effort. I think that gives us a reason to look again at problems we would previously have left for someone else to pick up.
Having a hand in an idea can give us another reason to care about where it goes. Research on project teams links both individual and shared ownership with engagement. There is room for an idea to start with one person and become something the team cares about.
Imagine support repeatedly asking developers why customer uploads failed. A developer looks into it, talks with support and users, and finds that the error message tells them nothing useful. They propose showing which rows need fixing, agree on a small change with the team, and implement it. Then they check whether users can complete their uploads with less help.
The business gets a chance to solve a problem someone close to the software has noticed. The developer gets practice in understanding users, deciding what is worth building, and judging the result. I think that is a useful opportunity for both business value and personal growth.
And if the feature does not help, owning it also means being willing to change it or let it go.