Episoder
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Weâre taking a quick break from releasing episodes for a few weeks while we wrap up everything for ELC Annual. Weâll be back in late September with new guests! We have some excellent sessions at the conference - check out the agenda here: https://sfelc.com/annual2024#agenda
Join us at ELC Annual 2024!ELC Annual is our 2 day conference bringing together engineering leaders from around the world for a unique experience help you expand your network and empower your leadership & career growth.
Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to expand your network, gain actionable insights, ignite new ideas, recharge, and accelerate your leadership journey!
Secure your ticket at sfelc.com/annual2024And use the exclusive discount code "podcast10" (all lowercase) for a 10% discount
This episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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Dave Rhodes, CEO @ Sauce Labs, joins the pod to discuss the value of great digital experiences & how/why quality issues affect companiesâ bottom lines, and how to connect bugs to the business! Dave dissects strategies for addressing quality issues, examples connecting quality with the bottom line, best practices for quality testing strategies, and incorporating the philosophy of embracing the impossible within your eng teams. We also cover highlights of Daveâs recent report, âEvery Experience Countsâ exploring the relationship between broken experiences, lost consumer trust, and topline revenue. And to set the stage & magnify the stakes, the Crowdstrike & Microsoft outage coincidentally happened the day we hit record.
ABOUT DAVE RHODESDave Rhodes is CEO of Sauce Labs, a leading provider of continuous testing and software quality solutions to deliver digital confidence to enterprises. He has a proven track record as a strong operational leader with success in building and scaling growth businesses. Previously, Dave held key leadership roles at Unity, where as Chief Revenue Officer he grew the companyâs revenue from $160M to $640M (4x growth) and navigated its public market debut in 2020. He then created and oversaw Unityâs AI-powered business, Digital Twins. He has also held leadership roles at Paradigm and Autodesk. Rhodes holds an MBA in marketing and finance from the University of San Diego and a bachelor of science degree in computer science from the University of California at San Diego.
Join us at ELC Annual 2024!ELC Annual is our 2 day conference bringing together engineering leaders from around the world for a unique experience help you expand your network and empower your leadership & career growth.
Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to expand your network, gain actionable insights, ignite new ideas, recharge, and accelerate your leadership journey!
Secure your ticket at sfelc.com/annual2024And use the exclusive discount code "podcast10" (all lowercase) for a 10% discount
This episode is brought to you by Revelo!Revelo helps you find, hire, and manage world-class remote developers in US time zones, pre-vetted for technical and soft skills. They provide:A talent network of 400,000+ pre-screened engineers, vetted for coding skills & English proficiency, making it fast and easy to find your perfect fitA payroll platform to pay developers in their preferred currencies, offer compelling local benefits, and handles taxes and complianceA team of staffing experts that help you find the best candidates and get the most from your hiresWith Revelo, youâre in complete control: you get to decide who to hire, you get to decide what to offer, and you get to decide how long to keep them on your team.
Visit Revelo.com/ELC today and save $2,500 off your first hire.SHOW NOTES:The Crowdstrike / Microsoft news & how bugs affect the bottom line (2:31)Understanding the stakes & complexity of the Crowdstrike issue (5:05)Daveâs perspective on & passion for digital experiences (7:50)The impact of cloud computing, high-speed connectivity, AI / ML, and COVID on software innovation (10:10)Examples of how digital experiences drive a businessâs bottom line (13:45)How the quality of a product impacts developer velocity & motivation (17:31)Connecting the bottom line with product quality / bugs (20:31)Strategies for communicating the business benefits of developing for scale (24:51)Addressing quality issues that impact top OKRs, like customer churn (26:48)Highlights of the âEvery Experience Countsâ report (31:51)Best practices for eng leaders looking to evolve their current testing strategy (35:13)What it means to think about the impossible & reverse engineer it (38:05)Frameworks for instilling this mindset into your eng teams (41:18)Rapid fire questions (44:17)LINKS AND RESOURCESEvery Experience Counts - Sauce Labsâ report exploring the relationship between broken experiences, lost consumer trust, and topline revenue.Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life - The seven rules to follow to realize your true purpose in lifeâdistilled by Arnold Schwarzenegger from his own journey of ceaseless reinvention and extraordinary achievement, and available for absolutely anyone.This episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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Manglende episoder?
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In our latest episode, weâre coming to you live from Config 2024, Figmaâs annual design conference for people who build products! This is our first time ever doing a live interview from another conference, so we are excited to share it with you. Weâre joined by Marcel Weekes, VP of Engineering @ Figma. In our conversation, we dive into topics including highlights from Config 2024 & reactions to Figmaâs latest feature demos (like Dev Mode), how Figmaâs eng teams are involved in product design iterations, why product support teams help preserve Figmaâs community, strategies for incorporating feedback into design / product roadmaps, best practices for prioritization conversations, and more. Marcel also shares a preview of what to expect from his session on collaboration @ ELC Annual 2024!
ABOUT MARCEL WEEKESMarcel Weekes is VP of Product Engineering at Figma, where he oversees product and growth engineering efforts across Figma's entire platform. Marcel brings decades of experience and previously served as the VP of Engineering at Slack where he led the teams building Messaging features and Slack Connect.
Join us at ELC Annual 2024!ELC Annual is our 2 day conference bringing together engineering leaders from around the world for a unique experience help you expand your network and empower your leadership & career growth.
Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to expand your network, gain actionable insights, ignite new ideas, recharge, and accelerate your leadership journey!
Secure your ticket at sfelc.com/annual2024And use the exclusive discount code "podcast10" (all lowercase) for a 10% discount
This episode is brought to you by Revelo!Revelo helps you find, hire, and manage world-class remote developers in US time zones, pre-vetted for technical and soft skills. They provide:A talent network of 400,000+ pre-screened engineers, vetted for coding skills & English proficiency, making it fast and easy to find your perfect fitA payroll platform to pay developers in their preferred currencies, offer compelling local benefits, and handles taxes and complianceA team of staffing experts that help you find the best candidates and get the most from your hiresWith Revelo, youâre in complete control: you get to decide who to hire, you get to decide what to offer, and you get to decide how long to keep them on your team.
Visit Revelo.com/ELC today and save $2,500 off your first hire.SHOW NOTES:Config 2024 as the âCoachella for designers and creativesâ (3:47)Marcelâs favorite conference moments that represent the Config community (5:04)Reactions to the latest Figma feature demos (7:18)Defining Dev Mode & why itâs a highlight for Figma @ Config (13:00)Figmaâs approach to building Dev Mode as an eng org (16:05)How eng teams are becoming involved in product design iterations (18:58)What eng leaders can learn from Figmaâs âheavy lifting approachâ (20:22)Characteristics of product support teams that impact the Figma community (24:20)Processes for closing the loop between product support & engineering (26:02)Figmaâs feedback process & how it gets incorporated into releases now (28:23)Prioritization conversations & how teams operate together (31:47)Understanding the timing of feedback on the product roadmap (34:38)Previewing Marcelâs ELC Annual 2024 session on collaboration (37:08)LINKS AND RESOURCESConfig 2024 in review - A recap from Dylan Field, Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer of Figma, that highlights all of the major news and releases from Config 2024.This episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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Farhan Thawar, VP & Head of Engineering @ Shopify, was our first-ever ELC pod guest, so itâs fitting that heâs here to join us for this culmination of our series tackling the Top 10 challenges that engineering leaders face in a rapid-fire, high-energy format! Farhan shares insights into individual challenges, including motivating others after a reorg or period of uncertainty, why always being willing to learn & help is key for managing in any direction, strategies for creating buy-in, and best practices for coaching / mentoring. We cover team challenges, such as working cross-functionally to identify a shared truth and vision, using demos to measure dev productivity, and maintaining high velocity without losing quality. Farhan also dives into org-wide challenges, like understanding team topologies & building out your orgâs resources.
ABOUT FARHAN THAWARFarhan Thawar (@fnthawar) is VP, and Head Engineering at Shopify via the acquisition of Helpful.com where he was co-founder and CTO. Previously he was the CTO, Mobile at Pivotal and VP, Engineering at Pivotal Labs via the acquisition of Xtreme Labs. Farhan is an avid investor and advisor to startups in Toronto and San Francisco, including being a mentor at yCombinator and First Round Capital. Previously, Farhan held senior technical positions at Achievers, Microsoft, and Trilogy. Farhan completed his MBA in Financial Engineering at Rotman and Computer Science/EE at Waterloo.
Join us at ELC Annual 2024!ELC Annual is our 2 day conference bringing together engineering leaders from around the world for a unique experience help you expand your network and empower your leadership & career growth.
Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to expand your network, gain actionable insights, ignite new ideas, recharge, and accelerate your leadership journey!
Secure your ticket at sfelc.com/annual2024And use the exclusive discount code "podcast10" (all lowercase) for a 10% discount
This episode is brought to you by Revelo!Revelo helps you find, hire, and manage world-class remote developers in US time zones, pre-vetted for technical and soft skills. They provide:A talent network of 400,000+ pre-screened engineers, vetted for coding skills & English proficiency, making it fast and easy to find your perfect fitA payroll platform to pay developers in their preferred currencies, offer compelling local benefits, and handles taxes and complianceA team of staffing experts that help you find the best candidates and get the most from your hiresWith Revelo, youâre in complete control: you get to decide who to hire, you get to decide what to offer, and you get to decide how long to keep them on your team.
Visit Revelo.com/ELC today and save $2,500 off your first hire.SHOW NOTES:Strategies for motivating your team after reorgs, rifts, or other uncertain times (2:37)Farhanâs favorite quick wins & ways to re-engage with your team (4:48)Managing up & sideways by being transparent and always looking to help (7:31)Be dedicated to learning / bouncing ideas around with others (9:59)Frameworks for identifying the long-term, winning opportunities to pursue (12:13)How to influence & create buy-in around ideas (15:26)Navigating situations where your idea / perspective is facing resistance (18:18)Best practices for messaging a pitch when working cross-functionally (21:03)Utilizing individual frameworks when mentoring & coaching (23:10)Questions to ask when developing a personal career development framework (27:30)Approaching performance-related conversations (29:11)How to use demos to measure developer productivity (32:09)Methods for maintaining high velocity without losing quality (35:21)Insights on team topologies & identifying / building the needs of your org (37:14)This episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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In Part 3 of the Top 10 Challenges series, weâre addressing the biggest org-level challenges that eng leaders face. Weâve compiled conversations from past podcasts and conference sessions that cover org-related topics, such as aligning engineering & business goals, team topologies & org resourcing, and thinking strategically. This episode features a slate of top eng leaders with valuable insight to share: Jessica McKellar @ Pilot, Andrew Lau @ Jellyfish, Samir Naik @ Plaid, Former VPE @ Robinhood Surabhi Gupta, Aaron Erickson @ NVIDIA, Mike Tria @ Gusto, Emad Elwany @ Docusign, and Scott Woody @ Metronome.
Join us at ELC Annual 2024!ELC Annual is our 2 day conference bringing together engineering leaders from around the world for a unique experience help you expand your network and empower your leadership & career growth.
Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to expand your network, gain actionable insights, ignite new ideas, recharge, and accelerate your leadership journey!
Secure your ticket at sfelc.com/annual2024And use the exclusive discount code "podcast10" (all lowercase) for a 10% discount
SHOW NOTES:Aligning Engineering and Business Goals: Invest in tracking metrics to identify / meet long-term business-building goals w/ Jessica McKellar (00:43)How to align metrics with overall, long-term business strategy w/ Andrew Lau (4:56)Planning Team Topologies and Organizational Resources: the transition between PMF & scale-up w/ Samir Naik (12:12)Approaching org design & planning during periods of hypergrowth w/ Surabhi Gupta (18:45)How to do an effective reorg w/ Aaron Erickson and Mike Tria (24:41)Strategic Thinking: Organizing engineering by strategic themes & complete units of value w/ Emad Elwany (30:12)The transition from a large unified eng team to embedding experts and building specialized teams catered to specific customer personas w/ Scott Woody (37:26)LINKS AND RESOURCESBecoming a better strategic contributor & business leader with Jessica McKellarNavigating 2024: Engineering management principles to tackle the unknowns & challenges ahead with Andrew LauHow eng orgs (and careers) evolve through hyper-growth with Samir NaikHypergrowth, Scaling & Org Design with Surabhi GuptaHow to Do an Effective Reorg with Aaron Erickson and Mike TriaOrganizing eng by strategic themes / complete units of value & consensus building to drive velocity with Emad ElwanyRapidly operating early-stage engineering at global scale, mapping eng workflows to personas & pivoting pricing / business models with Scott WoodyThis episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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This is Part 2 of our Top 10 Challenges series! In this episode, weâre focusing on three common team challenges that eng leaders face: how to increase velocity without losing quality, measure productivity & create meaningful metrics, and work cross-functionally with other teams. We identified these challenges based on conversations with hundreds of eng leaders from podcast episodes, ELC events, and more. For this ep, weâve pulled insights from various eng leaders, including Richard Wong @ enrich, Fatemah Alavizadeh @ Notion, Andrew Fong @ Prodvana, Randall Koutnik @ Jellyfish, Abi Noda @ DX, Barbara Nelson @ InfluxDB, Laura Fay @ L Fay Associates, and Jeremy Henrickson @ Rippling.
Join us at ELC Annual 2024!ELC Annual is our 2 day conference bringing together engineering leaders from around the world for a unique experience help you expand your network and empower your leadership & career growth.
Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to expand your network, gain actionable insights, ignite new ideas, recharge, and accelerate your leadership journey!
Secure your ticket at sfelc.com/annual2024And use the exclusive discount code "podcast10" (all lowercase) for a 10% discount
SHOW NOTES:Increasing Velocity (Without Losing Quality): Understanding the speed vs. quality dilemma w/ Richard Wong (0:58)Defining velocity & its impact on usersâ ROI w/ Fatemah Alavizadeh & Andrew Fong (6:17)Measuring Productivity and Creating Meaningful Metrics: What drives productivity & makes for meaningful metrics w/ Randall Koutnik (11:31)The DevEx framework for improving developer productivity w/ Abi Noda (21:02)Working Cross-Functionally with Other Teams: Why itâs important to have cross-functional excellence between eng & product w/ Barbara Nelson & Laura Fay (26:28)Cross-functional communication strategies for addressing misaligned priorities w/ Jeremy Henrickson (37:13)LINKS AND RESOURCESSpeed vs. Quality with Richard WongHow to Create Sustainable Velocity in Your Team with Fatemeh Alavizadeh and Andrew FongBanish Bad Management with Metrics that Don't Suck with Randall KoutnikThe next evolution to measure & improve developer productivity & experience with Abi NodaBridging the Divide: Strategies for Cross-Functional Excellence between Engineering and Product Management with Barbara Nelson and Laura FayAlign & Scale Engineering AND Product with Jeremy HenricksonThis episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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In todayâs episode, weâre kicking off a four-part series on the Top 10 challenges eng leaders face based on feedback from hundreds of eng leaders. In Part 1 of this mini-series, weâre tackling the first four issues: developing & coaching team members, strategies for motivating & inspiring others, influencing / creating organizational buy-in, and managing up & sideways. This episode compiles some of the best insight weâve gained on these issues from a collection of past ELC episodes, ELC Annual sessions, events, and more, with insight from Tara Ellis @ Netflix, Elaine Zhou @ SageCXO, Pete Peterson @ Riviera Partners, Johnny Ray Austin @ Best Egg, Jan Chong @ Tally, Matt Spitz, Laura Tacho @ DX, and Preeti Kota @ Atlassian, and Dan Kador @ Abridge.
Join us at ELC Annual 2024!ELC Annual is our 2 day conference bringing together engineering leaders from around the world for a unique experience help you expand your network and empower your leadership & career growth.
Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to expand your network, gain actionable insights, ignite new ideas, recharge, and accelerate your leadership journey!
Secure your ticket at sfelc.com/annual2024And use the exclusive discount code "podcast10" (all lowercase) for a 10% discount
SHOW NOTES:Developing and Coaching Team Members: Best practices for building & growing your teamâs skills w/ Tara Ellis (0:59)Match your high performers with the right fit for their goals w/ Elaine Zhou (8:04)Influencing and Creating Buy-in: Generating & showcasing quick wins to gain buy-in w/ Pete Peterson (12:03)Communication strategies for eng leaders to create buy-in w/ Johnny Ray Austin (17:59)Managing Up and Sideways: Three key principles for effectively managing up w/ Jan Chong (23:13)Strategies for managing sideways w/ Matt Spitz (26:57)Motivating Others: Inspiring developer productivity as an eng leader w/ Laura Tacho (30:51)How leaders @ Atlassian addressed pain points & inspired developers to address them w/ Preeti Kota & Dan Kador (34:43)LINKS AND RESOURCESA Counter-Intuitive Approach to Career Growth & Internal Mobility with Tara EllisBuilding self-sufficient teams and operating in constrained funding environments with Elaine ZhouNavigating complex stakeholders, competing interests & gaining buy-in with Pete PetersonNavigating the Acquisition Journey: Insights on Transparent Communication, Team Integration, and Strategic / Operational Shifts with Johnny Ray AustinManaging Up with Jan ChongLeading beyond domain expertise & laying early-stage security program foundations with Matt SpitzMove beyond measurement & inspire developer productivity with Laura TachoDeveloper Joy: Maintaining âFlowâ and Sustained Productivity with Preeti Kota and Dan KadorThis episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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After surveying hundreds of engineering leaders, weâve pinpointed the top 10 challenges engineering leaders face! Exciting news - next week marks the launch of our 4-part series, sharing some of the best insights from hundreds of ELC events, podcasts & conference sessions. The finale? A dynamic rapid-fire session with Shopify's VP of Engineering, Farhan Thawar, tackling each challenge head-on.
Have solutions of your own? Share your strategies and help spread knowledge throughout our community. Reach out at [email protected] or tag ELC in a post/comment on LinkedIn.
Join us at ELC Annual 2024!ELC Annual is our 2 day conference bringing together engineering leaders from around the world for a unique experience help you expand your network and empower your leadership & career growth.
Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to expand your network, gain actionable insights, ignite new ideas, recharge, and accelerate your leadership journey!
Secure your ticket at sfelc.com/annual2024And use the exclusive discount code "podcast10" (all lowercase) for a 10% discount
This episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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Todayâs conversation focuses on building scalable hiring processes as your org grows and creating systems that promote operational excellence, featuring Stephen Poletto, CTO @ Lattice. He shares examples of how they introduced & scaled their hiring processes to better articulate employee value propositions, implement experience differentiators, and created hiring rubrics & loop documentation. Stephen also reveals strategies for defining what operational excellence looks like within your org, how certain rituals impact company psychology / behavior, and steps for ending & replacing rituals that are no longer working. Additionally, we dissect frameworks for adding incentives within your eng org that improve organizational impact â and how to avoid bad incentives.
ABOUT STEPHEN POLETTOStephen Poletto is the Chief Technology Officer at Lattice, where he leads the company's product development, and where he scaled the engineering team from 20 to 150 team members. Stephen began his career at Apple before spending eight years building and growing technical teams at Dropbox. Stephen has had the opportunity to incubate new products such as Dropbox Carousel and Dropbox Paper, and also work on at-scale products such as the Dropbox mobile app and Dropbox's platform infrastructure. Stephen lives in San Francisco. In the winter, you can find him snowboarding in the mountains.
"Even very simple things like a candidate's been in back to back interviews. You hop on. 'Hey, how are you? Do you need a five minute break?' We would train interviewers on some of those tactics, right? At the beginning of the call, set the agenda. âWe're going to spend this amount of time on these topics. We're going to spend this amount of time to give you space to ask questions of me.â Now the candidate knows what to expect. They're put at ease. It's simple stuff but it really colors the way that people feel about the interview itself. What kind of feeling do they have about the company coming out of it?â
- Stephen Poletto
Join us at ELC Annual 2024!ELC Annual is our 2 day conference bringing together engineering leaders from around the world for a unique experience help you expand your network and empower your leadership & career growth.
Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to expand your network, gain actionable insights, ignite new ideas, recharge, and accelerate your leadership journey!
Secure your ticket at sfelc.com/annual2024And use the exclusive discount code "podcast10" (all lowercase) for a 10% discount
SHOW NOTES:Stephenâs primary goal when he first joined Lattice (3:15)Steps for building out a systematic & repeatable hiring process (5:51)Defining & articulating employee value propositions during the hiring process (8:00)Strategies for presenting company culture via hiring / onboarding (10:21)Hiring experience differentiators & how to make them the norm (13:27)Training the engineering team on how to effectively hire (16:53)Stephenâs process for creating a hiring rubric & loop documentation (20:06)How hiring systems can be tweaked / evaluating current hiring needs (22:20)Identifying what operational excellence means for your org (24:22)Rituals / dilemmas to focus on that influence psychology & behavior (26:13)Examples of ending & replacing processes / operations (29:58)Signals that a ritual is no longer serving your needs (32:12)Frameworks for applying incentives / rewards within an eng org (34:57)Navigating the balance between output vs. input (38:57)First steps toward better organizational impact & avoiding bad incentives (41:07)Rapid fire questions (43:37)LINKS AND RESOURCESProduct-Led AI - Greylock partner and former product builder Seth Rosenberg talks with founders about their inspiration and process to build, test, and continually reimagine how AI and humans work together.The Holloway Guide to Equity Compensation - Stock options, RSUs, job offers, and taxesâa detailed reference, including hundreds of resources, explained from the ground up, for both employees and managers.Steve Bartelâs blog - Steve Bartel is the co-founder and CEO of Gem. Prior to founding Gem, Steve was an engineering leader at Dropbox where his experience working closely with the recruiting process allowed him to see the lack of technology in the space. This inspired him to co-found Gem, which allows recruiting teams of all sizes to source talent, engage with talent, and use data to improve recruiting processes.This episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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In todayâs episode, weâre highlighting one of our favorite past conversations, featuring Wade Chambers, CTO & SVP of Engineering @ Included Health. We cover tools for increasing your capacity to win as an eng leader, getting unstuck in your career / moving forward, and applying âconscious growthâ and neuroplasticity principles to the career. Wade shares stories of success â and failure â as an eng manager, best practices to measure success as an eng leader, and how to increase your teamâs performance & potential.
ABOUT WADE CHAMBERSWade Chambers (@wadechambers) is the CTO and SVP of Engineering at IncludedHealth, a company that provides technology solutions to improve the way patients get healthcare matched to their needs. He has over 25 years of engineering leadership experience, both advising companies and being hands-on in key leadership positions at companies such as Twitter, TellApart, Yahoo, Proofpoint, and Opsware. He is a deep technical expert with a proven track record of scaling teams and leaders, market-defining technology innovations, and business growth.
âThe more that you can recognize that, âOh, I feel uncomfortable...â and you can just sit with it a minute. As opposed to react to it. There's always a feedback mechanism in that. That willingness to be in the discomfort a little bit longer. You're actually going to learn so much about yourself in that moment. And if you can act on that, that's what unlocks you to move forward.â
- Wade Chambers
Join us at ELC Annual 2024!ELC Annual is our 2 day conference bringing together engineering leaders from around the world for a unique experience help you expand your network and empower your leadership & career growth.
Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to expand your network, gain actionable insights, ignite new ideas, recharge, and accelerate your leadership journey!
Secure your ticket at sfelc.com/annual2024And use the exclusive discount code "podcast10" (all lowercase) for a 10% discount
SHOW NOTES:Wadeâs background in building a habit of conscious growth & digging deeper (4:14)Overcoming early failures as a first-time manager (8:11)Why itâs hard to unhear the truth & how to incorporate feedback as a manager (13:08)How understanding neuroplasticity impacts career development (18:11)Moving along the spectrum of unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence (19:30)Align your growth to impact your company AND move your career forward (24:37)Why eng leaders need to truly understand their orgâs business needs (29:49)Strategies for both winning & increasing your capacity to win (35:30)How to increase the potential of individuals & your overall team (40:52)Factors that are keeping you stuck in career growth (44:39)Turning to books to maximize learning / growth (52:11)How to identify core principles & why they drive your behavior (55:37)Final thoughts on closing the gap between where you are & where you want to be (58:54)This episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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We revisit an episode from the podcast archives â Melody Hildebrandt (CTO @ Fox) shares her experience representing the tech org during the biggest deal in entertainment history! We cover Melodyâs most important lessons negotiating on behalf of the tech org plus how they leveraged the M&A event to accelerate innovation and productivity.
Melody will be joining us as one of our featured speakers @ ELC Annual 2024 (our two-day conference on 8/27-8/28! Check out our incredible line up of speakers, other conference experiences & tickets at sfelc.com/annual2024 Use the exclusive discount code "podcast10" (all lowercase) for a 10% discount.
ABOUT MELODY HILDEBRANDTMelody Hildebrandt (@mhil) is Chief Technology Officer for Fox Corporation, where sets set the comprehensive technology strategy for the Company. She previous served as the companyâs Chief Information Security Officer and as the President of its research and development subsidiary, Blockchain Creative Labs.
In her current role, Hildebrandt leads the development, design and implementation of emerging technologies across the FOX enterprise, spanning FOX Sports, FOX News, FOX Entertainment, FOX Television Stations, and Tubi Media Group. Her current focus is on future planning, including developments in artificial intelligence and authenticating and monetizing premium content via blockchain technology. She also continues to oversee the cyber-security posture of the business and leads technology M&A efforts, identifying areas for investment and growth.
Prior to FOX, Hildebrandt held the role of Global Chief Information Security Officer at 21st Century Fox, where she was responsible for the cyber security posture of 21CF businesses, including 20th Century Fox, FOX Networks Group, National Geographic Partners, FOX News, Star India and others.
Before 21CF, she was Forward Deployed Engineer at Palantir Technologies, where she helped start its commercial work and led Palantirâs business in cyber security, anti-money laundering and rogue trading detection. Prior to that, she consulted US and international governments with Booz Allen Hamilton, where she designed military and strategy wargames.
Hildebrandt is the Executive Sponsor of Women in Technology at FOX.
"One thing that we intervened on very quickly because we were AT the table for (the conversation), "How should we structure the deal?" Was to do something that was quite counter-intuitive I think, and very controversial... Which was to say âLet's essentially value all of our current technology assets at near-zero... And make them part of the deal.â"
- Melody Hildebrandt
Join us at ELC Annual 2024!ELC Annual is our 2 day conference bringing together engineering leaders from around the world for a unique experience help you expand your network and empower your leadership & career growth.
Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to expand your network, gain actionable insights, ignite new ideas, recharge, and accelerate your leadership journey!
Secure your ticket at sfelc.com/annual2024And use the exclusive discount code "podcast10" (all lowercase) for a 10% discount
SHOW NOTES:Background on the Fox Disney âmega-dealâ (03:39)How to structure an M&A to accelerate your tech roadmap (06:01)Motivating engineering teams with forcing functions (10:14)What it was like representing a tech org in deal structuring (13:13)How to develop an engineering orgâs merger strategy (17:36)M&A negotiation tips for engineering leaders (20:07)A critical skill for eng leaders: converting tech pains into business goals (22:59)How to get executive buy-in on engineering initiatives (27:58)âCrashingâ your way to a seat at the table (31:05)Melodyâs process for setting the strategic direction of an engineering org (32:19)Managing engineering teams from high and low â the middle is death (34:35)Why this M&A event continues to accelerate innovation (37:37)Rapid-Fire Questions (42:26)LINKS AND RESOURCES(article) A super-powered approach to tech transformation - Melody Hildebrandt& Paul Cheesboroughâs article on the untold story of the 21st Century Fox & Disney transaction(podcast) Conversations with Tyler esteemed economist Tyler Cowen engages with todayâs most underrated thinkers in wide-ranging explorations of their work, the world, and everything in between.(book) Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir(reference) The Masked Singer NFT project - www.maskverse.com -
We discuss how to navigate the delicate balance between meeting current customer needs while also preparing for future tech trends & opportunities with Evan Welbourne, Head of AI and Data @ Samsara. Evan dissects the rapidly transforming pace of developing AI/ML products, sharing strategies for merging conversations around differing product-building processes, tips for moving seamlessly / gaining approval between product development stages, defining what customer success looks like, methods for working backward from problems, and best practices for avoiding friction throughout the product development process. He also shares frameworks for envisioning & working toward future tech possibilities while simultaneously developing hypotheses that inform future direction, creating diverse AI/ML team composition, and effectively communicating with stakeholders.
ABOUT EVAN WELBOURNEEvan Welbourne is the Head of AI and Data and Samsara, leading the organizationâs machine learning, computer vision, data science, and data analytics teams â as well as data engineering and data platform for the company. He has a long-standing career in both machine learning and IoT. Before Samsara, Evan held various roles at Amazon, including the Head of Machine Learning for Alexa Smart Home and Manager of the Computer Vision Research Group. He also led research teams at Samsung and Nokia.
Evan earned his Ph.D and M.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Washington and holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Toronto.
"With AI, there's something new every week. You could stay in those stages forever. You can just keep iterating and trying new things, but at some point you have to kind of cut it off. You've got to time box it and just go with something that you know will work. You're constantly also calibrating between the quality of what you're delivering and the time it takes you to deliver it. A lot of that problem backs into this early stage of the process. We do want to do a good job of understanding opportunity but there's analysis paralysis. We don't want to just get stuck there.â
- Evan Welbourne
Join us at ELC Annual 2024!ELC Annual is our 2 day conference bringing together engineering leaders from around the world for a unique experience help you expand your network and empower your leadership & career growth.
Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to expand your network, gain actionable insights, ignite new ideas, recharge, and accelerate your leadership journey!
Secure your ticket at sfelc.com/annual2024And use the exclusive discount code "podcast10" (all lowercase) for a 10% discount
SHOW NOTES:Staying customer-focused while working toward the future @ Samsara (3:22)Merging forward-looking technology & customer-problem-focused product-building conversations (5:54)Defining customer success & working backwards from winning (8:38)How stage gates can confirm / assess feature accuracy & maturity (10:58)What the approval moment looks like while moving from stage to stage (15:29)Understanding what stages offer the greatest opportunity for risk / friction (17:11)Signals to watch for that allow you to move forward with confidence (19:30)Best practices for anticipating & preparing for future possibilities (21:13)Using smaller-scale projects to inform future direction of larger-scale products (23:12)Communication strategies for working with less technical stakeholders (25:22)Methods for effectively communicating complex, technical information (27:59)AI / ML team composition at Samsara (30:04)Frameworks for aligning & motivating folks to focus on customer needs (32:59)Strategies for introducing new technologies & scientific research into your teams (35:06)Introducing AI into mission-critical internal tools (36:34)Rapid fire questions (39:17)LINKS AND RESOURCESHuman Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control - Stuart Russell lays out a new approach to AI that will enable us to coexist successfully with increasingly intelligent machines.This episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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Welcome to a special episode highlighting ELC Annual 2024, our annual conference bringing together engineering leaders from around the world! Tune in to hear how we built this 2-day experience to be the ultimate accelerator of leadership and professional growth. We cover how the conference will expand your perspectives with curated peer-led roundtables and expert-led sessions with people like Thuan Pham (former CTO @ Uber & Coupang), Melody Hildebrandt (CTO @ FOX), James Everingham (VPE @ Meta) Marcel Weekes (VPE @ Figma), Rajashree Pimpalkhare (VPE @ Twilio) and 40+ more speakers! We promise that you will walk away from the event with meaningful connections and actionable strategies that will empower your career and leadership growth.
Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to expand your network, gain actionable insights, ignite new ideas, recharge, and accelerate your leadership journey!
Secure your ticket at sfelc.com/annual2024
And use the exclusive discount code "podcast10" (all lowercase) for a 10% discount
This episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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Lakshmi Baskaran shares insights on impromptu communication, why itâs important, and a framework for successfully navigating these tricky situations! We also cover team topology and why itâs so important to have the right composition of product-minded vs. technical-minded engineers within any eng team. Lakshmi shares how prioritizing team topology will impact hiring, influence engineering culture, and aid in eng team reorgs / restructures. She also discusses what the future of AI looks like for executive eng leaders & what to consider when adopting AI practices / technologies. And to bring it all together, we dissect how Lakshmiâs Triple-A impromptu communication framework operates in the context of both team topology & AI adoption.
ABOUT LAKSHMI BASKARANLakshmi Baskaran is an accomplished business leader, entrepreneur, and an angel investor with over two decades of experience in the tech industry. She has built and managed high-performing engineering teams for startups, scale-ups, and publicly listed companies across North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.
She is currently serving as the VP of Engineering at Metadata, a SaaS company that offers a Marketing Operating System to prominent brands and businesses worldwide.
Lakshmi is passionate about coaching and mentoring business leaders and empowering women to pursue careers in technology. With the right support, she firmly believes that any woman can unleash her potential and make a significant impact on the world, rising to the heights of a great leader, entrepreneur, and a board member.
Lakshmi shares her insights on leadership and technology through her writing on Medium and Thrive.
âImagine you're presenting it to your executive leadership team or to your board. As an engineering leader, you want to spice up that message with how it is interesting to your customers. The framework that I use in scenarios like this is called 'What If And So That' framework. If you're running an email platform, what if you're able to search through millions of emails in a sub millisecond so that your users can have faster search abilities compared to our competitors? Build a dream scenario and tell them how the technology can help them meet their dream scenario.â
- Lakshmi Baskaran
Weâre less than one week away from GLOW 2024 â Jellyfishâs virtual summit for engineering, product, and finance leaders who are looking to deliver greater business impact while building great software and teams. Hereâs a preview of whatâs in store:An inspiring guest keynote by TIME Magazineâs Kid of the Year, Gitanjali RaoStrategies for engineering excellence from CTOs at Keller Williams, Genius Sports, and FanDuelJellyfish CEO and Co-Founder Andrew Lauâs keynote on the future of software engineeringExciting product roadmap updates from JellyfishRegister for this May 15 event today at jellyfish.co/glow!SHOW NOTES:Why the topic of effective impromptu communication is important (2:46)Dissecting frameworks & tools for impromptu conversations (7:16)An example of high-quality impromptu communication with a CEO (11:52)Implement the Triple-A framework (14:03)The impact of this communication method on peers (16:37)Lakshmiâs insights on team topologies & essential aspects of different eng teams (18:26)Considerations for eng team composition (20:56)How new hires play into assembling and/or reforming early-stage eng teams (23:44)Aligning with teams about what theyâre looking for in terms of hiring / composition (26:12)The impact of product & tech-minded eng leaders on engineering culture (29:19)Opportunities to employ impromptu comm skills in the context of team topology (31:42)Lakshmiâs observations on AI adoption (33:47)Frameworks for effectively communicating about AI considerations (37:11)How eng leaders should apply these AI areas into their decision-making (40:40)The role of impromptu communication in AI conversations (42:33)Rapid fire questions (45:00)LINKS AND RESOURCESLakshmiâs blog post on identifying product-minded and tech-minded engineersThe Engineering Executive's Primer: Impactful Technical Leadership - Will Larson shows you ways to obtain your first executive job and quickly ramp up to meet the challenges you may not have encountered in non-executive measuring engineering for both engineers and the CEO, company-scoped headcount planning, communicating successfully across a growing organization, and figuring out what people actually mean when they keep asking for a "technology strategy.âThis episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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We dissect one of the biggest challenges that eng leaders face in their day-to-day â navigating the balance between going deep in technical work & maintaining a high-level view of business strategy. Oded Kedem, Chief Technology Officer @ BigPanda, shares examples from his experience, covering strategies for prioritizing where to go deep into the technology, bringing technical expertise to the executive team, bridging the gap between marketing & technology, and aligning customer expectations with a productâs actual capabilities. Oded also shares frameworks for prioritization conversations, valuable questions to pose during executive decision-making conversations, and approaches to changing past technical decisions.
ABOUT ODED KEDEMOded Kedem, Chief Technology Officer at BigPanda, brings a wealth of experience in software from ground-up development to managing engineering teams and was also the founder of Zerto, a Cloud BC/DR company. Throughout his many years in the industry, Oded has developed a deep understanding of AIOps and the needs of customers. He recognizes that we are just scratching the surface with AI and automation.
âAs companies evolve, people change roles and the technology changes, the requirements change. We chose in the past, the product does it in method A. Let's ask, 'Okay, why did we choose A in the first place?' And once in a while, someone from engineering came up and said, 'Yeah, I have a great idea. Let's do B.' And I would always send them, 'Okay, go back to the documentation, because if you thought this through and you think that making these changes is worth our while and the risk and the instability it may bring, let's go, let's do it.'â
- Oded Kedem
Weâre less than one week away from GLOW 2024Attend GLOW 2024 - Jellyfishâs virtual summit for engineering, product, and finance leaders who are looking to deliver greater business impact while building great software and teams. Hereâs a preview of whatâs in store:
An inspiring guest keynote by TIME Magazineâs Kid of the Year, Gitanjali RaoStrategies for engineering excellence from CTOs at Keller Williams, Genius Sports, and FanDuelJellyfish CEO and Co-Founder Andrew Lauâs keynote on the future of software engineeringExciting product roadmap updates from JellyfishRegister for this May 15 event today at jellyfish.co/glow!SHOW NOTES:Keeping a high-level view while diving deep into the technology (2:48)The story of how Oded first connected to this particular problem (5:03)Odedâs process for prioritizing where to go deep into the technology (7:20)Prioritization strategies & why itâs sometimes hard to say no to jumping in (9:40)How to bring technical expertise / value to the exec team (13:57)Best practices for tough conversations regarding org direction & capabilities (17:40)Types of questions to ask in executive conversations (19:58)Odedâs favorite question to pose (23:33)Bridging the gap between marketing & technology (24:26)How an eng perspective helps shape a productâs marketing outcome (27:12)Frameworks for aligning customer expectations with a productâs capabilities (29:33)Approaches to changing past technical decisions as an eng leader (31:21)Rapid fire questions (35:25)LINKS AND RESOURCESTalking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Donât Know - Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast Revisionist History and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Outliers, offers a powerful examination of our interactions with strangers -- and why they often go wrong.This episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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Chris Cravens (Former VPE @ Splunk and CIO @ Uber) shares practical tips for applying professional strategies / tech performance tools into our personal lives - to increase intentionality, goal setting, and habit formation in all aspects of our lives. He shares why itâs so easy to dedicate 90% of your time & attention to work while only dedicating 10% to your personal life and reveals from his own experience how he discovered a better work-life balance by applying OKRs, goal setting, postmortems, and deep reflection. We also cover frameworks for identifying feeling-based goals, building habits & accountability within your personal life, combating negative self-talk, and rewiring your brain to focus on the present & not dwell on past failures.
ABOUT CHRIS CRAVENSChris Cravens is an industry veteran with a quarter century of successes delivering measurable value for high-growth enterprises in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. An avid change agent and catalyst for transformation, Mr. Cravens has led major global scale-up and transformation efforts for Software Engineering, Information Technology, Security, Facilities teams. As the first CIO at Zynga and Uber, he led critical functions that enabled scale from small startups to major global enterprises in record time. Mr. Cravens led digital transformation at Splunk, scaling revenue from $800M to $2.2BN in three years by reimagining and supercharging Go to Market capabilities with automation and high value software capabilities that drove greater deal size and velocity. Currently, Mr. Cravens provides expert consulting supporting Private Equity and Venture transactions and transformations and is an active Strategic Advisor, Coach, and Investor to startups delivering innovative, disruptive technologies to accelerate digital transformation.
âI would just keep doing things like that because of that philosophy of in the absence of clear leadership, step in, be the one who is responsible and it goes back to that anxiety from childhood. There are people who have much healthier outlooks, and I've just never been wired that way. So I have to kind of question each decision I make as I go to do a new thing or take on more stuff. 'Is this the right thing for me to do right now, or am I making my life harder?'â
- Chris Cravens
Weâre less than one week away from GLOW 2024Attend GLOW 2024 - Jellyfishâs virtual summit for engineering, product, and finance leaders who are looking to deliver greater business impact while building great software and teams. Hereâs a preview of whatâs in store:
An inspiring guest keynote by TIME Magazineâs Kid of the Year, Gitanjali RaoStrategies for engineering excellence from CTOs at Keller Williams, Genius Sports, and FanDuelJellyfish CEO and Co-Founder Andrew Lauâs keynote on the future of software engineeringExciting product roadmap updates from JellyfishRegister for this May 15 event today at jellyfish.co/glow!SHOW NOTES:Chrisâs experience of his first week @ Uber (2:02)Borrowing professional life tools & using them in your personal life (4:53)Why itâs easy to give 90% of time to work & only 10% to your personal life (8:26)How Chris navigated his own transition (14:34)Treat a sabbatical like a job (16:15)Adding OKRs to your personal life (19:36)Strategies for assessing feeling-oriented goals (22:05)Combating negative self-talk & treating yourself like you would a good friend (24:58)How Chrisâs frameworks have shifted over time when setting personal life goals (27:11)Reflection questions to help illuminate where to center your focus (29:35)Applying positive self-talk within a work context to your personal life (32:39)Incorporate blameless postmortems into a personal context (35:38)Strategies for better habit formation (37:00)How to overcome feeling a lack of motivation to start a new habit (38:08)The significance of having both clarity & accountability (40:56)Tips for rewiring the belief that you can accomplish a goal (45:27)Rapid fire questions (48:21)LINKS AND RESOURCESChrisâs Guide to Thinking ErrorsThe Satanic Verses - novel of Indian-born British writer Salman Rushdie led Ruholla Khomeini, the ayatollah of Iran, to demand his execution and then forced him into hiding.This episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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This is a special episode from our show âEngineering Foundersâ - Jon Perl & Scott Wilson share the origin story of QA Wolf & deconstruct their best practices (and what to avoid) for early-stage cold outreach, how to add value to your cold email communications, and why experimenting with your cold outreach is important to early sales! We also dive in to the story behind QA Wolfâs strategic move to incorporate services into their business strategy & tangible ways to add accountability measures that will help drive growth in the early days of your company. Check out Engineering Founders - https://hubs.la/Q02tq5ym0
ABOUT JON PERLJon Perl is the co-founder and CEO of QA Wolf, a startup building the QA solution every engineering leader wishes for. Prior to QA Wolf, Perl led engineering teams in the healthcare and home services space, where he learned firsthand how difficult automated regression testing can be â and how critical it is for teams to have. His interest in software engineering comes from an overarching desire to eliminate boring, repetitive tasks and give people their time back. He has a dog named Finn and enjoys hiking.
"Your goal is simply to book a meeting. You're not trying to close a deal through one email. It's like, 'How can I just get on the phone with somebody?' That's the goal.â
- Jon Perl
ABOUT SCOTT WILSONAs co-founder and head of growth at QA Wolf, Scott Wilson is trying to upend 20+ years of stagnation in the QA industry. Before this he launched the marketing efforts at Wyze and helped acquire 6 million paying customers. If heâs not working, you might find him backpacking with Frank the dog, or learning a new illusion.
"It's not referencing the weather in Seattle or that you got promoted. Personalization is being contextually relevant to the person. This is how your mind should be thinking. It's like, 'I saw you're a hundred person company with nine engineers on your team and no QA engineers. You're probably going through this and here's a solution for it.'â
- Scott Wilson
Weâre less than one week away from GLOW 2024Attend GLOW 2024 - Jellyfishâs virtual summit for engineering, product, and finance leaders who are looking to deliver greater business impact while building great software and teams. Hereâs a preview of whatâs in store:
An inspiring guest keynote by TIME Magazineâs Kid of the Year, Gitanjali RaoStrategies for engineering excellence from CTOs at Keller Williams, Genius Sports, and FanDuelJellyfish CEO and Co-Founder Andrew Lauâs keynote on the future of software engineeringExciting product roadmap updates from JellyfishRegister for this May 15 event today at jellyfish.co/glow!SHOW NOTES:The origin story of QA Wolf & the desire to build an automated QA system (2:08)What got Scott excited about joining the QA Wolf founding team (7:14)Scottâs experience as the non-technical cofounder on the team (9:13)Learn enough to be dangerous & be willing to persist as a founder (10:38)The approach of paying people you can learn from & its impact on QA Wolf (14:11)Lessons learned about cold emailing & effective strategies to implement (17:12)Cold emailing strategies that donât work (21:00)How to add value to email communication & incorporate experimentation (22:24)Why they shifted the focus from coding to sales / outreach / identifying solutions (26:23)Make accountability mechanisms a key component of early-stage teams (29:09)The false signal of free users & expanding product into services (30:45)Identifying a gap in the business & being open-minded to new ideas (33:20)What the initial testing for QA Wolfâs services approach looked like (35:22)Jon & Scottâs perspective on dealing w/ investors in the automated services space (38:31)Rapid fire questions (44:01)LINKS AND RESOURCES$100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying NoHow to Hire a Product-Led Sales Leader â at Every StageThis episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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Mike Hanley, Chief Security Officer and SVP of Engineering @ GitHub, joins us to discuss how GitHub has successfully combined its engineering & security orgs and shares recommendations for how other orgs can pivot to this model. We cover why itâs so important for eng orgs to collaborate with security early on in the product development cycle and tips for educating your engineers on security best practices. We also discuss how the rise of AI tools / usage is changing how companies need to think about & practice security, why AI is providing opportunities for increased safety & security within product development, and strategies for encouraging your org to adopt AI tooling within engineering, security, and beyond.
ABOUT MIKE HANLEYMike Hanley is the Chief Security Officer and SVP of Engineering at GitHub. Prior to GitHub, Mike was the Vice President of Security at Duo Security, where he built and led the security research, development, and operations functions. After Duoâs acquisition by Cisco for $2.35 billion in 2018, Mike led the transformation of Ciscoâs cloud security framework and later served as CISO for the company. Mike also spent several years at CERT/CC as a Senior Member of the Technical Staff and security researcher focused on applied R&D programs for the US Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community.
When heâs not talking about security at GitHub, Mike can be found enjoying Ann Arbor, MI with his wife and eight kids.
"The idea that the security team is walled off or separate or not really connected, not just to engineering but the entirety of the business, you really can't have that. If you think about the pace of modern development, things are moving so quickly. It's so driven by software. The idea that you're like, âHey, I got to walk down the hall and check in with somebody from security who has no idea what's going on in my roadmap, who has no idea what my day to day experience is living in engineering...â That just doesn't work!â
- Mike Hanley
Weâre less than one week away from GLOW 2024Attend GLOW 2024 - Jellyfishâs virtual summit for engineering, product, and finance leaders who are looking to deliver greater business impact while building great software and teams. Hereâs a preview of whatâs in store:
An inspiring guest keynote by TIME Magazineâs Kid of the Year, Gitanjali RaoStrategies for engineering excellence from CTOs at Keller Williams, Genius Sports, and FanDuelJellyfish CEO and Co-Founder Andrew Lauâs keynote on the future of software engineeringExciting product roadmap updates from JellyfishRegister for this May 15 event today at jellyfish.co/glow!SHOW NOTES:GitHubâs convergence of the eng & security orgs (2:33)Benefits of combining engineering & security org mandates (4:46)How the security team is involved with the internal product dev lifecycle (8:05)The downsides of engaging your security team as an afterthought (10:46)What an early-stage yes/and product conversation looks like (12:48)Examples of educating your eng team on security best practices (17:17)Expanding two-factor authentication externally (19:29)Stewarding security as a responsibility & value (21:59)Security & safety implications for orgs using / building AI tools (23:44)Why the rise of AI is a great time for eng / security collaboration (27:09)How to leverage security best practices using AI tools (29:53)Mikeâs view that AI will create more opportunities & improve structural tech (32:14)Frameworks for getting to âyesâ when it comes to adopting AI tooling (35:15)AI-powered tools GitHub is using to change workflows outside of eng & security (39:06)Considerations pivoting toward combining eng & security functions (40:35)Rapid fire questions (42:25)LINKS AND RESOURCESWhy Johnny Canât Encrypt - Alma Whitten And J. D. Tygarâs argument that effective security requires a different usability standard that is not achievable through the user interface techniques commonly found in consumer software.The Space Trilogy - C.S. Lewis believed that popular science was the new mythology of his age, and in The Space Trilogy he ransacks the uncharted territory of space and makes that mythology the medium of his spiritual imagination.The Works of Peter DruckerThis episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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In this episode, we are talking about adaptability in engineering orgs, building out impactful management systems, and navigating complex transitions as eng leaders with Cosmin Nicolaescu, CTO @ Brex. He shares how his experience moving from Romania to the United States taught him vital lessons in adaptability that he has applied throughout his eng leadership career. We also discuss how to define what success as a manager looks like, Cosminâs approach to putting out fires (and deciding which ones to prioritize), why you should restructure your meetings to focus on output vs. review, and how to implement a succession plan.
ABOUT COSMIN NICOLAESCUCosmin (@getCos) leads engineering at Brex, building financial technology to accelerate entrepreneurs. Prior to Brex, he was at Stripe, leading financial infrastructure teams, building Stripe Terminal, and establishing engineering teams globally. His career started at Microsoft, launching Azure and Office365.
"How are you actually changing the trajectory of something. If the person wasn't there, would things have come out differently? If the person jumped in on something, did that meaningfully change the trajectory of that particular project? The answer should be yes and I think that is a good proxy for, as a manager, are you actually leading teams, people, projects, initiatives, and moving the company forward or are you just operating the machinery?â
- Cosmin Nicolaescu
Weâre less than one week away from GLOW 2024Attend GLOW 2024 - Jellyfishâs virtual summit for engineering, product, and finance leaders who are looking to deliver greater business impact while building great software and teams. Hereâs a preview of whatâs in store:
An inspiring guest keynote by TIME Magazineâs Kid of the Year, Gitanjali RaoStrategies for engineering excellence from CTOs at Keller Williams, Genius Sports, and FanDuelJellyfish CEO and Co-Founder Andrew Lauâs keynote on the future of software engineeringExciting product roadmap updates from JellyfishRegister for this May 15 event today at jellyfish.co/glow!SHOW NOTES:How Cosmin's transition to the U.S. set the foundation for his approach to adaptability (2:40)Learn to accept what you can & cannot control as an eng leader (5:00)Frameworks for identifying / understanding what execs spend their time on (7:13)Navigating the transition from Microsoft to Stripe (9:12)Building out a successful & impactful management organization (12:08)In-demand qualities of managers during the shift to flatters orgs (15:00)Prioritizing which fires to focus on & willingness to delegate (16:39)Cosminâs approach to triaging fires @ Brex (18:31)Restructure meetings for output rather than review (21:52)Approaches for adapting to the current macroeconomic environment (25:36)Roles that contributed to successful distributed hiring (29:09)Necessary elements that need to exist for an unconventional transition (31:28)Recommendations for developing & executing a succession plan (34:44)Rapid fire questions (37:30)LINKS AND RESOURCESOutlive: The Science and Art of Longevity - Wouldnât you like to live longer? And better? In this operating manual for longevity, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health.Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future - If you want to build a better future, you must believe in secrets. The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things.Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone - As told by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Hit Refresh is the story of corporate change and reinvention as well as the story of Nadellaâs personal journey, one that is taking place today inside a storied technology company, and one that is coming in all of our lives as intelligent machines become more ambient and more ubiquitous.Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silentsâand What They Mean for America's Future - Professor of psychology Jean Twenge does a deep dive into a treasure trove of long-running, government-funded surveys and databases to answer these questions. Are we truly defined by major historical events, such as the Great Depression for the Silents and September 11 for Millennials? Or, as Twenge argues, is it the rapid evolution of technology that differentiates the generations?This episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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Have you ever wondered what to do in the âthird actâ of your career & beyond when it comes to opportunities outside traditional eng leadership / operational roles? In this episode, Nidhi Gupta, CEO & Co-Founder @ SheTO, joins us to share her perspectives on identifying new pathways, taking time for self-discovery, and deciding which career opportunity youâre most passionate about. She defines what the âthird actâ of your career is & explains roles, such as fractional roles, coaching, serving on boards, advising, etc. Plus Nidhi explains how her passion for supporting women in CTO roles led her to found SheTO, how to give yourself permission to explore new paths, and validate your next steps.
ABOUT NIDHI GUPTANidhi (@NidhiGuptaSF) is the CEO and Co-Founder of SheTO, a private community for women and non-binary engineers and engineering leaders. Less than 9% of engineering executive roles are held by women. SheTO is working on changing that.
Prior to founding SheTO, Nidhi was an accomplished engineering and product executive who has built, scaled, and transformed companies. She has extensive expertise in strategy, R&D, business development, and operations. She has led various Marketplaces and SaaS businesses. As an Engineering and Product leader, she is passionate about building and growing thriving operational organizations that deliver world-class products at scale.
Prior to founding SheTO, Nidhi was the Chief Technology & Product Officer at Hired, Upwork and Ning.
"If you had all the free time on the planet and didn't have to worry about anything, what do you think you would do? Every single night I would go to bed and the next morning I woke up more excited solving for this 9% number than I was about my job and that told me that that's really something that I'm more passionate about so literally after I came back from vacation, I went and talked to my CEO and I quit my job.â
- Nidhi Gupta
We now have 10 local communities of engineering leaders hosting in-person meetups all over the world!Local communities are led by eng leaders just like you, who wanted to create a place to connect, share insights & tackle critical challenges in the job.
New York City, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, London, Amsterdam, and Toronto in-person events are happening now!
Weâre launching local events all the time - get involved at elc.community!SHOW NOTES:Defining âthe third actâ & exploring career paths beyond operational roles (3:24)What it was like for Nidhi to open herself up to new opportunities (6:09)How Nidhiâs passions influenced her to start SheTO (8:01)Additional consideration for & recommendations to inspire self-discovery (11:21)Why itâs important to take a break & pursue additional interests (13:06)Things that kept Nidhi honest with herself through the discovery process (14:51)Potential pathways to nontraditional eng leader roles (19:04)Ruling out particular pathways after the discovery phase (20:47)How Nidhi identified her happiness & transitioned into her role with SheTO (23:10)Strategies validating your assumptions & the journey of SheTO (25:43)SheTOâs pivot during COVID (28:39)What it looks like to give yourself permission to explore (31:05)Set goalposts & measurements for yourself (34:43)Rapid fire questions (35:16)LINKS AND RESOURCESThird Act with Liz Tinkham - Your first act is school, your second act is work, but have you thought about what youâre going to do in your third act? Join host Liz Tinkham, a former Accenture Senior Managing Director, as she talks to guests who are happily âpretiredâ â using their time, treasure, and talent to pursue their purpose and passion in the third act of their life.The Alex Cross series - A crime, mystery, and thriller novel series written by James Patterson. The protagonist of the series is Alex Cross, an African-American Metropolitan Police Department detective and father who counters threats to his family and the city of Washington, D.C.This episode wouldnât have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Danâs also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/
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