Tech Lead Journal
Great technical leadership requires more than just great coding skills. It requires a variety of other skills that are not well-defined, and they are not something that we can fully learn in any school or book. Hear from experienced technical leaders sharing their journey and philosophy for building great technical teams and achieving technical excellence. Find out what makes them great and how to apply those lessons to your work and team.
Episodes
Creator of Meta's Hack: Your AI Will Always Cheat — Here's How to Stop It
What if your AI coding agent is quietly cheating on your tests — and how do you stop it? Julien Verlaguet, who built the type system Meta used to migrate tens of millions of PHP lines, is now building Skipper: a closed-loop coding agent designed to make AI-generated code verifiably correct, without human intervention.In this episode, Julien Verlaguet, creator of the Hack programming language at Me
Eric Ries: Why Good Tech Companies Go Bad, and How to Stop It
Why do companies with the best intentions end up betraying their customers, employees, and mission? Eric Ries calls it “financial gravity” — an invisible force that pulls even the most principled companies toward corruption, and understanding it is the first step to resisting it.In this episode, Eric Ries, entrepreneur and author of The Lean Startup and Incorruptible, shares why building a great c
Why Your AI Strategy Is Failing: The AI Paradox of Optimizing Coding Alone
What if faster coding is actually slowing your software delivery down? Most teams are pouring AI into the coding phase, but the real bottleneck is everywhere else.In this episode, Andrew Haschka, Field CTO at GitLab for Asia Pacific and Japan, explains why most AI strategies in software engineering are failing and what it takes to fix them. He introduces the AI paradox: teams invest heavily in AI-
The Future of Code Review: Stop Reviewing Line-by-Line, Start Governing AI Agents
(07:22) Brought to you by MailtrapMailtrap is a modern email delivery for developers with native SDKs support along with security compliant API & SMTP. Plus, you get 4,000 emails a month completely on their free tier! It also provides 24/7 support where you actually talk to real people, not an AI chatbot. Try Mailtrap for free at mailtrap.io.What does code review mean when AI writes most of
FeatureOps: The Safety Net You Need When Shipping with AI
(05:00) Brought to you by MailtrapMailtrap is a modern email delivery for developers with native SDKs support along with security compliant API & SMTP. Plus, you get 4,000 emails a month completely on their free tier! It also provides 24/7 support where you actually talk to real people, not an AI chatbot. Try Mailtrap for free at mailtrap.io.What happens when AI ships code faster than your tea
Stop Vibe Coding: Spec-Driven Development with The BMad Method
What if vibe coding is the worst thing you could do with AI agents? The developers seeing the biggest gains aren’t prompting harder. They’re planning smarter, spec-first, and treating AI as a facilitator rather than a code generation engine.In this episode, Brian Madison, creator of the BMad Method, shares how a year of late-night AI experiments led him to a structured, Agile-inspired approach to
Why Incumbents Will Fall: How to Build a Hyperadaptive AI-Native Organization
Why do 80-95% of AI initiatives fail — and why is your organization’s structure to blame? Most companies are treating AI like a software upgrade, when it actually demands a complete rewiring of how work gets done.In this episode, Melissa Reeve, author of Hyperadaptive and organizational change expert, shares a practical model for transforming legacy enterprises into AI-native organizations built t
How Vidio (Indonesia's #1 Streaming Platform) Built Great Engineering Culture — Now Supercharged by AI
What does it take to build a world-class engineering culture when you start with five engineers on minimum wage? Tommy Sullivan did exactly that at Vidio — and the team’s average tenure of seven years tells you everything about whether it worked.In this episode, Tommy Sullivan, CTO of Vidio (Indonesia’s largest streaming platform) shares how he built an engineering culture from almost nothing, gro
Why Senior Engineers Struggle as Tech Leads: The 3 Mindset Shifts That Fix It
Why do so many talented senior engineers struggle the moment they step into a tech lead role? Most of them are promoted based on their coding ability, but that same strength becomes a liability the moment they start leading a team.In this episode, Anemari Fiser, tech lead coach and author of “Leveling Up as a Tech Lead”, shares the three mindset shifts that define the transition from senior engine
Design the System, Not the Hero: Building Trust in the AI Era
In a world where AI can build your MVP overnight, what actually gives you a lasting competitive edge? Andrew Stevens argues it’s not the software — it’s the data, the trust, and the systems you build around them.In this episode, Andrew Stevens, CTO of Sakura Sky and a technology leader with 30+ years of experience building, scaling, and selling companies, shares hard-won lessons from his journey a
Why Coding Alone Is No Longer Enough: Become A Product-Minded Engineer
With AI generating code faster than ever, coding alone is no longer enough. The engineers who will stand out aren’t the ones who write the most code, but the ones who know what to build and why.In this episode, Drew Hoskins, author of “The Product-Minded Engineer”, shares how engineers can develop the product thinking skills that will define their careers in the AI era. Drew draws on his experienc
The MCP Security Risks You Can't Afford to Ignore
What if the MCP server you installed last week is silently leaking your emails to a stranger? The AI tools boosting your productivity could already be your biggest security liability.MCP (Model Context Protocol) has quickly become the standard for connecting AI agents to external tools and data sources. But as adoption accelerates, so do the risks – from malicious servers harvesting your credentia
Stop Telling Yourself You're Bad at “People Stuff”
Think you’re just “not a people person”? Most tech leaders quietly believe this about themselves, and it’s exactly what’s holding them back.In this episode, Martijn Versteeg, founder of peer leadership community Group Effort and former CPTO with a background in organizational psychology, makes the case that it’s not: human behavior follows predictable patterns you can understand and work with, jus
Why Your Platform Engineering Is Failing (And How to Fix It)
Is your platform engineering initiative struggling to deliver results? The problem might not be your tools or technology at all.In this episode, Sam Barlien, Community Organizer at Platform Engineering (the world’s largest platform engineering community), shares insights from speaking with nearly 400 engineering leaders last year about why their platform initiatives succeed or fail. The biggest re
Agnes AI: Southeast Asia's Answer to ChatGPT (And 20x Cheaper)
(05:13) Brought to you by Sweep AISweep is the fastest coding assistant for JetBrains. It lets you write code 10x faster. Finally, AI that works in JetBrains. Download for free at sweep.dev.What if Southeast Asia had its own ChatGPT that cost 20x less? Bruce Yang built Agnes AI to solve what global companies ignore: accessible AI for emerging markets.In this episode, Bruce Yang, CEO and founder
Your Home Is Launching Cyber Attacks (And You Don't Know It)
(05:22) Brought to you by CyberhavenAI is exfiltrating your data in fragments. Not one big breach — a prompt here, a screenshot there, a quiet export into a shadow AI tool. Every week, AI makes your team faster and your data harder to see. Files are moved to new SaaS apps, models are trained on sensitive inputs, and legacy DLP is blind to the context that matters most.On February 3rd at 11 am Paci
Gene Kim: How Vibe Coding Solved What I Couldn't in 13 YEARS
(06:23) Brought to you by Sweep AISweep is the fastest coding assistant for JetBrains. It lets you write code 10x faster. Finally, AI that works in JetBrains. Download for free at sweep.dev.Is the era of writing code by hand coming to an end? Gene Kim explains how vibe coding solved problems he abandoned for 13 years and why the best days of coding might be ahead of us.In this episode, Gene Kim sh
CTO Coach: Why Tech Companies are Really Laying Off Developers (It’s Not Just AI)
Why are tech companies really laying off developers? The uncomfortable truth has nothing to do with AI efficiency and everything to do with running out of ideas.In this episode, Stephan Schmidt, CTO coach and author of “The Amazing CTO’s Missing Manual,” shares a perspective on AI adoption that most tech leaders aren’t talking about. Developer layoffs aren’t about AI replacing jobs; they reveal a
#242 - The End of Traditional Management: Reimagining Work for AI-First Organization - Jurgen Appelo
(04:11) Brought to you by JellyfishAI tools alone won’t transform your engineering org. Jellyfish provides insights into AI tool adoption, cost, and delivery impact – so you can make better investment decisions and build teams that use AI effectively. See for yourself at jellyfish.co/platform/ai-impact.Are you managing your team the same way you did five years ago? With AI agents now part of the w
#241 - Your Code as a Crime Scene: The Psychology Behind Software Quality - Adam Tornhill
(04:00) Brought to you by UnleashUnleash is a private, flexible, and scalable feature flag system that lets teams decouple deployments from releases. It reduces the risk of shipping new features and gives organizations real-time control over what reaches production. And as AI accelerates development, Unleash helps engineering teams move fast and stay stable with safe rollouts and instant kill swit
#240 - AI as Your Thought Partner: Break Boundaries & Do What You Never Could Before - Greg Shove
(06:03) Brought to you by UnleashUnleash is a private, flexible, and scalable feature flag system that lets teams decouple deployments from releases. It reduces the risk of shipping new features and gives organizations real-time control over what reaches production. And as AI accelerates development, Unleash helps engineering teams move fast and stay stable with safe rollouts and instant kill swit
#239 - Taming Your Technical Debt: Mastering the Trade-Off Problem - Andrew Brown
(06:06) Brought to you by JellyfishAI tools alone won’t transform your engineering org. Jellyfish provides insights into AI tool adoption, cost, and delivery impact – so you can make better investment decisions and build teams that use AI effectively. See for yourself at jellyfish.co/platform/ai-impact.Why do organizations constantly complain about having too much technical debt? Because they’re s
#238 - AI is Smart Until It's Dumb: Why LLM Will Fail When You Least Expect It - Emmanuel Maggiori
Why does an AI that brilliantly generates code suddenly fail at basic math? The answer explains why your LLM will fail when you least expect it.In this episode, Emmanuel Maggiori, author of “Smart Until It’s Dumb” and “The AI Pocket Book,” cuts through the AI hype to reveal what LLMs actually do and, more importantly, what they can’t. Drawing from his experience building AI systems and witnessing
#237 - Tackling AI and Modern Complexity with Deming's System of Profound Knowledge - John Willis
Can decades-old management philosophy actually help us tackle AI’s biggest challenges?In this episode, John Willis, a foundational figure in the DevOps movement and co-author of the DevOps Handbook, takes us through Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge and its surprising relevance to today’s most pressing challenges. John reveals how Deming’s four-lens framework—theory of knowledge
#236 - From Figma to Code: The Rise of Design Engineers (And Why It Matters Now) - Honey Mittal
In this episode, Honey Mittal, CEO and co-founder of Locofy.ai, explores one of the most exciting transformations in software development: the convergence of design and engineering through AI-powered automation.Honey shares the fascinating journey of building Locofy, a tool that converts Figma designs into production-ready front-end code. But this isn’t just another AI hype story. It’s a deep dive
#235 - From AI Chaos to Clarity: Building Situational Awareness with Wardley Mapping - Simon Wardley
Can you navigate AI disruption without understanding your landscape? Discover how to gain true situational awareness.The rise of AI has exposed a fundamental problem in how organizations make decisions. Most leaders operate using stories and graphs, not actual maps of their landscape. This leaves them vulnerable to disruption and unable to make informed choices about where to apply new technologie
#234 - Building for Reliability: Durable Execution & Insights from Temporal's Report - Preeti Somal
How much of your code exists only to prevent failures? Discover a new paradigm for building reliable applications.In this episode, Preeti Somal, SVP at Temporal, explores a paradigm shift that can dramatically boost productivity and give developers peace of mind. Drawing on her experience leading massive infrastructure at Yahoo and HashiCorp, she explains Temporal’s concept of durable execution th
#233 - Data Beats Hype: Measuring Your AI Adoption Impact - Laura Tacho
“Engineering leaders are stuck between the expectations put out by sensational headlines and the reality of what they’re seeing in their organization. There’s a big disappointment gap.”Is your AI investment paying off? Many leaders struggle to see real ROI beyond the hype.In this episode, Laura Tacho, CTO of DX, shares DX’s new research on measuring AI adoption success across 38,000+ engineers. Ou
#232 - Hibernate Creator on Why Developers Hate ORM (And How We're Fixing It) - Gavin King
“Architecture is something that has to emerge naturally from the code. If it doesn’t make the code better, more elegant, and more flexible, then you should not be doing it.”Why do so many developers have a love-hate relationship with ORM? The creator of Hibernate reveals the real reasons behind the controversy and what’s being done to fix the fundamental issues.In this episode, Gavin King, the cre
#231 - Faster Code Reviews, Faster Code Shipping with Stacked PRs - Greg Foster
Are long code review cycles killing your engineering team’s velocity? Learn how top engineering teams are shipping code faster without sacrificing quality.In this episode, Greg Foster, CTO and co-founder of Graphite, discusses the evolution of code review practices, from the fundamentals of pull requests to the future of AI in code review workflows. He shares the secrets behind how the Graphite te
#230 - Technical Coaching in the Age of AI with Samman (Ensemble) - Emily Bache
Struggling with technical debt and code quality? Learn how a technical coach can help your team level up.In this episode, Emily Bache, a Samman technical coach, shares her proven method for building better engineering teams through structured learning and collaborative coding. We explore ensemble programming, learning hours, and why AI makes fundamental engineering practices more important than ev
#229 - The Management System for High-Performing Engineering Organizations - Michi Kono
Why do engineering teams slow down as they scale? It’s not the technology—it’s the management systems.In this episode, Michi Kono, CTO at Garner Health and former engineering leader at Meta, Capital One, and Stripe, shares his battle-tested approach to building scalable engineering organizations. We explore why most teams slow down as they scale and how to build systems that accelerate growth. Our
#228 - Leading Transformational Engineering Teams with Craft in the AI Era - Mohan Krishnan
How do you build a high-performing engineering team in the AI era? And will AI make fundamental engineering skills obsolete?In this episode, Mohan Krishnan, Head of Engineering at Grab, shares lessons from leading multiple transformational engineering teams. Drawing from his experience at Grab, Bukalapak, BBM Emtek, and Pivotal Labs, Mohan explains why core engineering fundamentals still matter, e
#227 - Infrastructure as Code: Delivering Dynamic Systems for the Cloud Age - Kief Morris
How has Infrastructure as Code changed in the last five years? Explore the key shifts and how to align your infrastructure to real business value.In this episode, Kief Morris, a Distinguished Infrastructure Engineer at Thoughtworks, returns to discuss the third edition of his book “Infrastructure as Code.” He shares fresh insights on designing and delivering dynamic systems for today’s cloud-drive
#226 - Ex-Google Duplex Eng Lead on Disrupting $2B Clinical Trials with AI - Patrick Leung
Ever wondered how AI is being applied in the world of clinical trials where human lives are at stake?In this episode, Patrick Leung, CTO of Faro Health and former Google Duplex Engineering Lead, reveals how AI is transforming the clinical trial process — a process that can cost up to $2 billion per drug and take over 10 years to complete. Patrick reveals how Faro Health’s AI systems generate compl
#225 - Driving Engineering Excellence with Platform Engineering and IDP - Ganesh Datta
Is your engineering team running like the wild, wild west? What does engineering excellence look like in practice?In this episode, Ganesh Datta, co-founder and CTO of Cortex, explores what it takes to achieve engineering excellence. Ganesh shares lessons from his own journey, from early bug-fixing to building a company focused on engineering excellence.We discuss how platform engineering and inter
#224 - Move Fast, Break Silos: Leadership for Interdisciplinary Teams - Klaus Breyer
Is your software development process stuck on a conveyor belt? Discover how to break free from outdated manufacturing mindsets and build truly high-performing, agile teams that “Move Fast and Break Silos.”In this episode, experienced CPTO, Klaus Breyer, introduces a revolutionary approach to software development. He explains why treating software engineering like a factory assembly line leads to i
#223 - The Software Engineer Identity Crisis in the AI-Driven Future - Annie Vella
Is AI taking over the craft of coding? Many engineers now face an identity crisis.In the episode, Distinguished Engineer Annie Vella discusses her research on AI’s impact on software development. She explores the “software engineering identity crisis” as the craft of coding becomes automated. Annie warns that the seductive speed of AI tools can lead to lower quality and delivery instability, a tre
#222 - Closing the Knowledge Gap in Your Legacy Code with AI - Omer Rosenbaum
What if your most critical systems run on code that no one fully understands?In this episode, Omer Rosenbaum, CTO and co-founder of Swimm, explains how to use AI to close the knowledge gap in your legacy codebase. Discover the limitations of AI in understanding legacy code and learn novel approaches to automatically document complex systems, ensuring their critical business logic is preserved and
#221 - Writing for Developers: How to Create Content People Read and Share - Piotr Sarna
Feeling like you have valuable technical insights to share but struggle to put them into words? You’re not alone.In this episode, Piotr Sarna, author of “Writing for Developers” and an experienced open-source maintainer, shares the common hurdles developers face in writing and provides practical tips to get started. Discover how cultivating a writing habit can not only boost your personal brand bu
#220 - From Hibernate to Quarkus: Modernizing Java for Cloud-Native - Sanne Grinovero
In this special in-person episode, Sanne Grinovero shares the story of Java’s evolution from his unique perspective as a long-time open-source contributor. He shares his 16-year career journey at Red Hat, highlighting his amazing work on key projects like Hibernate, Infinispan, and especially the creation of Quarkus. His career trajectory, from a student who initially disliked Java’s complexity to
#219 - Why Learning Systems Thinking is Essential in Tech - Diana Montalion
Tired of feeling like your team is stuck in a cycle of frustration and miscommunication? What if the biggest blocker in your tech career isn’t your code, but your thinking?That’s the core premise of Systems Thinking, and in this episode, Diana Montalion (author of “Learning Systems Thinking”) shares the practical insights and mental models to help you make that essential shift.Key topics discussed
#218 - The PRFAQ Framework: Amazon's Secret to Successful Innovations - Marcelo Calbucci
Understand the secret behind one of Amazon’s most powerful innovation tools and learn how you can use it to drive clarity, alignment, and better decision-making.In this episode, Marcelo Calbucci, author of “The PRFAQ Framework,” dives deep into the PRFAQ (Press Release & Frequently Asked Questions) framework, a unique approach that combines narrative storytelling and strategic FAQs to crystall
#217 - Impact Intelligence: Deliver Real Business Impact from Your Initiatives - Sriram Narayan
(08:54) Brought to you by Swimm.io.Start modernizing your mainframe faster with Swimm. Understand the what, why, and how of your mainframe code. Use AI to uncover critical code insights for seamless migration, refactoring, or system replacement.Why do so many well-intentioned initiatives fail to move the needle?In this episode, Sriram Narayan, author of ‘Impact Intelligence,’ revea
#216 - Practical Data Privacy: Enhancing Privacy and Security in Your Application - Katharine Jarmul
(05:46) Brought to you by Swimm.io.Start modernizing your mainframe faster with Swimm.Understand the what, why, and how of your mainframe code.Use AI to uncover critical code insights for seamless migration, refactoring, or system replacement.Feeling uneasy about how your personal data is used, and wondering if companies are doing enough to protect it?In this episode, Katharine Jarmul,
#215 - The Async First Playbook: Build Effective and Inclusive Teams with Less Meetings - Sumeet Moghe
(04:07) Brought to you by Swimm.io.Start modernizing your mainframe faster with Swimm.Understand the what, why, and how of your mainframe code.Use AI to uncover critical code insights for seamless migration, refactoring, or system replacement.Are too many meetings killing your productivity and making your team less effective?Discover a new approach to work where meetings are no longer the
#214 - Beyond CI/CD: Continuous Deployment Explained - Valentina Servile
(03:59) Brought to you by Swimm.io.Start modernizing your mainframe faster with Swimm.Understand the what, why, and how of your mainframe code.Use AI to uncover critical code insights for seamless migration, refactoring, or system replacement.Stop fearing Friday and late-night deployments!Discover how the most painful part of software development—deploying to production—can become routine, saf
#213 - Moldable Development: Explain Systems & Make Better Software Decisions - Tudor Girba
(05:57) Brought to you by Swimm.io.Start modernizing your mainframe faster with Swimm.Understand the what, why, and how of your mainframe code.Use AI to uncover critical code insights for seamless migration, refactoring, or system replacement.Are we looking at software engineering the wrong way?What if it’s less about writing code and more about making better decisions in an ever-changing syst
#212 - The Architect's Paradox: Embracing Uncertainty in Software Architecture - Barry O'Reilly
(07:40) Brought to you by Swimm.io.Start modernizing your mainframe faster with Swimm.Understand the what, why, and how of your mainframe code.Use AI to uncover critical code insights for seamless migration, refactoring, or system replacement.What if everything you’ve been taught about software architecture is fundamentally at odds with how the real world works?Dive into my conversation with B
#211 - Back to the Future: Lessons from My 42-Year Career in Tech - Paula Paul
(03:43) Brought to you by Swimm.io.Start modernizing your mainframe faster with Swimm.Understand the what, why, and how of your mainframe code.Use AI to uncover critical code insights for seamless migration, refactoring, or system replacement.Are you feeling overwhelmed by the rapid pace of technological change?How do you not just survive, but thrive through decades of major changes in the tec
#210 - Creator of WireMock: Building a Successful Open Source Project and The Art of API Mocking - Tom Akehurst
(05:29) Brought to you by Swimm.ioStart modernizing your mainframe faster with Swimm.Understand the what, why, and how of your mainframe code.Use AI to uncover critical code insights for seamless migration, refactoring, or system replacement.Tired of API dependencies slowing down your development and testing?Dive into my conversation with Tom Akehurst, creator of WireMock, and discover the art
#209 - How I Retired Early in Tech: My Journey to Financial Independence - Kristine Howard
Discover the secrets to early retirement and financial independence from a tech industry veteran!In this episode, we dive deep into the inspiring journey of Kristine Howard, who transitioned from a dynamic career in tech to a life of early retirement, reaching financial independence and personal fulfillment along the way.Key topics discussed:Learn why tracking your expenses is the key to financial
#208 - Navigating Tech Leadership Transitions: From Engineer to Executive - Norman Noble
(07:37) Brought to you by Lemon.ioLemon.io is your go-to platform for hiring top-tier, pre-vetted software engineers from Europe and Latin America. You'll get matched with your developer in just 48 hours.Tech Lead Journal listeners get 15% off your first 4 weeks of work at lemon.io.Ever wondered what it takes to climb the tech leadership ladder from engineer to executive?In this episod
#207 - The Art of Storytelling: Effective Communication and Data Visualization - Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic
(04:44) Brought to you by Lemon.ioLemon.io is your go-to platform for hiring top-tier, pre-vetted software engineers from Europe and Latin America. You'll get matched with your developer in just 48 hours.Tech Lead Journal listeners get 15% off your first 4 weeks of work at lemon.io.Want to communicate more effectively and get your work the attention it deserves? Learn how to harness the po
#206 - The Fundamentals and Future of DevOps and Software Delivery - Yevgeniy Brikman
(06:49) Brought to you by Lemon.ioLemon.io is your go-to platform for hiring top-tier, pre-vetted software engineers from Europe and Latin America. You'll get matched with your developer in just 48 hours.Tech Lead Journal listeners get 15% off your first 4 weeks of work at lemon.io.Want to learn the key principles and future of DevOps that can help you ship code faster and more reliably?In thi
#205 - Measuring Code Quality in the Age of GenAI - Matt Van Itallie
(03:55) Brought to you by Lemon.ioLemon.io is your go-to platform for hiring top-tier, pre-vetted software engineers from Europe and Latin America. You'll get matched with your developer in just 48 hours.Tech Lead Journal listeners get 15% off your first 4 weeks of work at lemon.io.Ever wonder what a credit score for your codebase would look like?In this episode, Matt Van Itallie, founder of S
#204 - Stop Inflicting Daily Standups and Computer Science Riddles on Your Devs - David Guttman
Are you tired of cargo cult engineering leadership?
In this episode, David Guttman, author of “The Superstruct Manifesto”, shares his intriguing manifesto on building and leading high-performing engineering teams. We explore:
- Why daily standups are overrated and what to do instead- How to avoid the trap of the "10x engineer" myth- Why computer science riddles don't belong in your i
#203 - Building Effective and Thriving Machine Learning Teams - David Tan & Dave Colls
Is your ML project stuck in POC hell and failing to deliver real value?
In this episode, I sit down with David Tan and Dave Colls, co-authors of the book “Effective Machine Learning Teams” to discuss the complexities of building and deploying ML models, building and managing effective ML teams, and ensuring successful ML projects.
Key topics discussed:- Learn the key differences between ML engin
#202 - The Rise of AI in Shaping the Future of Work - André Neubauer
“Looking at the development pace of this area, it’s just a question of when generative AI will take over larger parts of software engineering. It’s a leadership responsibility to ensure your organization is ready for AI and you are taking the right path.”
AI is changing EVERYTHING – including the way we build software. Are you READY for it?
In this episode, we dive deep into the impact of AI on
#201 - Building Evolutionary Architectures: Automated Software Governance - Rebecca Parsons
“Evolutionary architecture became a necessity, not because anybody wanted it to be, but because you didn’t have a choice. You have to be able to change your systems to keep up with changing business and consumer expectations, let alone regulatory frameworks.”
In this episode, I have an insightful conversation with Rebecca Parsons, coauthor of Building Evolutionary Architectures and ex-CTO of Thoug
#200 - Become a Great Engineering Leader - James Stanier
“Leadership is where you have, not necessarily a large organization, but increasing scope and increasing impact, while bringing lots of people along with you.”
In this milestone episode of the podcast, James Stanier returns for the third time to discuss his latest book, “Become a Great Engineering Leader.” We explore the role of an engineering leader and delve deep into the nuances of engineering
#199 - Think Like an Engineer, Talk Like an Executive, and Go Beyond Your Limits - Pramoda Vyasarao
“As an engineer, you don’t have to drop your technical skills, but you need to communicate like an executive. The more you communicate this way, you will have more opportunities and more impact on your job.”
Pramoda Vyasarao is an engineering leader turned coach with two decades of experience at Oracle and Meta, and the author of “Beyond Your Limits”. In this episode, Pramoda shares his insights o
#198 - Better Software Faster: Measure & Improve Developer Productivity with DX Core 4 - Laura Tacho
“Now more than ever, engineering leaders are being asked to be more transparent with how their work is getting done. Every single thing that an engineering team works on needs to benefit the business.”
Laura Tacho is the CTO of DX and a leading voice in the world of developer experience and productivity. In this episode, we explore the ever important role of aligning developer experience with busi
#197 - Beyond Input & Output: Building Outcome-Oriented Engineering Teams - Balki Kodarapu
“Input, Output, Outcome, and Impact. It’s an escalating way of where to spend my time as an engineering leader, and more importantly, where my engineering team is spending their time on.”
Balki Kodarapu is the VP of Engineering at Lōvu Health and a seasoned engineering leader with a wealth of experience from startups to large organizations. In this episode, Balki shares his valuable insights on ho
#196 - Unbundling the Enterprise: the Power of APIs, Optionality, and the Science of Happy Accidents - Stephen Fishman and Matt McLarty
“The OOOps methodology from the science of happy accidents are optionality, opportunism, and optimization.”
Stephen Fishman and Matt McLarty are the authors of “Unbundling the Enterprise: APIs, Optionality, and the Science of Happy Accidents”, a book from IT Revolution. In this episode, we discuss the transformative power of APIs, the importance of optionality in technology and business, and the i
#195 - Working Effectively with Legacy Code and AI Coding Assistant - Michael Feathers
“Legacy code is a code without tests. If you have code, and it has lots of tests, it’s relatively easy to change. But if you don’t have the tests, you’re really in serious trouble.”
Do you dread working with legacy code?
Michael Feathers, renowned software expert and author of the classic “Working Effectively with Legacy Code,” joins me to discuss the challenges and strategies for working with leg
#194 - Building Loved Products: The Tech Product Marketing Fundamentals - Martina Lauchengco
“Product marketing’s purpose is to drive product adoption by shaping market perception through strategic marketing activities that align with business goals.”
Are you making the mistake of focusing too much on product and not enough on the market? In this episode, Martina Lauchengo, a partner at Costanoa Ventures and the author of the SVPG book “LOVED: How to Rethink Marketing for Tech Products”,
#193 - The Path to Becoming a Great Engineer: Insights from a CTO Perspective - Milan Milanović
“We should always learn intentionally. And the best learning is by doing. Extra time used to practice something is always worth it."
Dr. Milan Milanović is a seasoned CTO and the author of the popular “Tech World with Milan” newsletter. In this episode, Milan shares his insights on what it takes to become a great software engineer.
Milan emphasizes that technical skills, while crucial, are just on
#192 - Brain Refactoring: Overcoming Your Common Bugs & Obstacles in Tech Career - Dagna Bieda
“The four common obstacles that are stopping engineers in progressing in their journey are the imposter syndrome, burnout, trouble dealing with other people, and self marketing struggles."
Dagna Bieda is an engineer turned coach and the author of “Brain Refactor”. In this episode, Dagna discusses the common obstacles that prevent engineers from progressing in their careers. She also introduce
#191 - State of Developer Experience 2024: Uncovering the Disconnect - Andrew Boyagi
“One key highlight of the report is that there’s a massive disconnect between engineering leaders and engineers about developer experience."
Andrew Boyagi is a DevOps Evangelist at Atlassian. In this episode, Andrew shares the key findings of the State of Developer Experience Report 2024, including the disconnect between engineering leaders and engineers, the impact of AI on developer experie
#190 - The Staff+ Engineer’s Journey: Unlocking the Secrets of Staff+ Impact - Thiago Ghisi
“The three core expectations of a Staff+ engineer are having a high blast radius impact, able to do multi-scale planning & influence, and having high ownership & autonomy level.”
What does it take to become a Staff+ engineer? Thiago Ghisi, an experienced engineering leader and a Director of Engineering at Nubank, reveals the secrets in this episode. We discuss the path to becoming a Staff+
#189 - The Art of Awesome Code Reviews - Michaela Greiler
“A lot of problems that we are facing in code review are due to the interface. We are not actually giving feedback to a person, but we are just filling in text boxes and looking at code."
Dr. Michaela Greiler is a code review advocate and runs the “Awesome Code Reviews” workshops. In this episode, we discuss the importance of making code reviews awesome. We discuss the common challenges of co
#188 - Balancing Coupling in Software Design: Principles for Architecting Modular Software Systems - Vladik Khononov
“Coupling is an inherent part of system design, not something that is necessarily good or evil. How we design coupling can take our system either towards complexity or towards modularity."
Vladik Khononov returns to the podcast to discuss his latest book “Balancing Coupling in Software Design”. In this episode, Vlad revisits the essence of coupling, a term often not fully understood, and expl
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