Developing Leadership

Meri Williams, one of the most inspiring engineering leaders in the world, joins us for a discussion on managers vs. leaders, coaching vs. mentoring, how leaders can advise team members from different backgrounds, and the power of sponsorship.

Deep dive into the topics discussed in this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep24

Join the discussion and follow us on twitter @ devleadership_

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.com

Jason and Eiso explore what motivates engineering leaders. They chat about how engineering value creation differs from other functions, what role ego plays as a motivating factor, engineering leadership role models, and more.

Deep dive into the topics discussed in this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep23

Join the discussion and follow us on twitter @ devleadership_

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.com

Charity Majors, co-founder, and CTO of honeycomb.io, joins us to talk about everything that's wrong with engineering cycles, how throwing money at the problem by hiring more people is making it worse, and what we can do about it.

Find out:

• How to create systems that increase software engineering productivity,
• Which toolsets can enable shorter feedback loops,
• How elite teams have figured it out,
• How infrastructure engineering is key to all of this and more!

Deep dive into the topics discussed in this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep22

Join the discussion and follow us on twitter @ devleadership_

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.com

Dana Lawson, SVP of Engineering at Netlify and the human incarnation of sunshine, joins us on the podcast to share her lessons on hiring engineers and the interview process. We also spoke about the tech industry's changes in the last decade and how you can build inclusive software engineering teams.

Deep dive into the topics discussed in this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep21

Join the discussion and follow us on twitter @ devleadership_

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co

Andrew Conner, Co-Founder and Engineering Leader at Levels, joins us to share his journey of leading an engineering team at a company with a strong hardware component. We spoke about building remote asynchronous companies, the importance of feedback loops, deep work, and transparency as you collectively build software and hardware.

Deep dive into the topics discussed in this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep20

Join the discussion and follow us on twitter @ devleadership_

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co

Katie Wilde, the VP of Engineering at Ambassador Labs, joins us to spill the tea on Holacracy and decentralized management systems. Find out why these organizational structures don’t work for companies building software and how they can drive your best people away.

Katie also shared how her previous company, Buffer, transitioned from a Holacracy into a strong engineering leadership culture, through goal-oriented 1:1s, effective feedback, and creating a strong sense of responsibility among its leaders.

Deep dive into the topics discussed in this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep19

Join the discussion and follow us on twitter @ devleadership_

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co

Co-Founder and CEO of Moov Financial, Wade Arnold, has had a hell of a journey as a software engineering leader. He joins us on the podcast to chat about building companies, attracting great software engineering talent, and increasing velocity as you scale.

Key takeaways:

• Software engineers love working in an environment where their craft shines. If you manage to provide this, you will have no issues growing your team.
• Finding technical engineering leaders is easy. You want to find technical engineering leaders who know how to create the right environment for their teams to thrive.
• Don't get religious about your engineering tools and processes. What matters is getting things in front of the customer, and the tools you use to get there should simply facilitate that.

Deep dive into this episode's topics at go.developingleadership.co/ep18 

Join the discussion and follow us on twitter @ devleadership_

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.com

We welcome Jonathan Nolen, Senior VP of Engineering and Product at LaunchDarkly, to talk about his 100+ people Product Delivery team - a term coined by the company, where Engineering, Product, and Design come together.

Key Takeaways:

• Tech companies should shift their mindset from building and shipping software to delivering services to customers.
• Having Engineering, Product, and Design as one team with shared goals is key for all companies delivering services.
• Impact is not just about visibility. Your teams need to articulate what their impact is, preferably in one sentence.
• Structuring your orgs right is necessary for scaling, but finding the right individuals is essential for success.

Deep dive into the topics discussed in this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep17

Join the discussion and follow us on twitter @ devleadership_

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co

Eiso and Jason step up to the mic to make their wild guess on how the state of software engineering will evolve, given what we know now.

The tech industry will look a lot different in 20 and 30 years. From autonomous coding to self-driving cars to automatically powered engineering leadership. We might not be ready for that yet, but our kids are gonna love it! 

Deep dive into the topics discussed in this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep16

Join the discussion and follow us on twitter @ devleadership_

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co

In an episode dedicated to what we think the next generation of engineering leaders should avoid, Jason and Eiso talk about the books every engineering leader reads, the over-glorification of 80’s maniacal leaders, OKRs, and other tech industry things we love to hate.

Come for the roast. Stay for the solutions!

Deep dive into the topics discussed in this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep15

Join the discussion and follow us on twitter @ devleadership_

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co

Senior Director of Engineering at Datadog, Nuno Antunes, joins us to talk about a highly requested topic: Transitioning from Software Engineer to Engineering Leader.

From striking the right balance between being a people vs. process-oriented leader to the challenges of building teams in fast-growing companies, this episode is jam-packed with teachable moments, workshop approaches, and the organizational shifts we've witnessed through the years.

Deep dive into the topics discussed in this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep14 

Join the discussion and follow us on twitter @ devleadership_

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co 

Dagger Co-Founder, and Docker’s former VP of Engineering, Sam Alba, joins us for a retrospective on company culture and how early-stage teams should develop it as their companies evolve. As Dagger grows from a founding team of three to ten and so forth, Sam, Jason, and Eiso, share their views on building companies, leading by example, and the importance of embracing culture in a genuine way.

Deep dive into the topics discussed in this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep13 

Join the discussion and follow us on twitter @ devleadership_

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co

Erik Bernhardsson joins us on the podcast to chat about building engineering teams and the delicate balance between innovation and productivity as organizations grow.

Erik has been scaling engineering teams for years. In its early days, he managed the analytics and machine learning teams at Spotify. Next, he grew Better's engineering team from 0 to 300, where he was CTO until the beginning of 2021. Erik is now working on a yet-to-be-named project that will bring exciting new tools to data teams.

In this episode, we also shared our views on team mentalities, skunkworks projects, and more as we tried to answer the question: "what is success in engineering?"

Deep dive into the topics discussed in this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep12 

Join the discussion and follow us on twitter @ devleadership_

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co

Community creator and engineering leader at Apple, Michael Lopp (aka rands), joins Jason and Eiso to chat about the power of storytelling for engineering and the state of content for engineering leaders. The author of "Small Things Done Well" shares his opinions on video conferencing, distributed work, and how managers can create more authentic connections with remote teams.

Discover how writing can make you a better leader and the importance of explicit communication as we navigate the challenges of remote cultures in this fun-packed episode.

Learn more about some of the topics discussed on this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep11 

Join the discussion and follow us on twitter @ devleadership_

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co

On our 10th episode of Developing Leadership, Eiso and Jason present a conversation dedicated to CEOs and everything they need to know about their engineering organization and leadership. From tech debt to dependency management and communication styles, understand engineering team's infrastructures, the timings and expectations of building product, and much more.

If you want to be a better CEO for a company that builds tech, this one is for you. If you're an Engineering Leader or work in Software Engineering, this episode has some excellent insights for you too.

Learn more about some of the topics discussed on this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep10 

Join the discussion and follow us on Twitter @ devleadership_

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co

On this episode of Developing Leadership, Sam Lambert, CEO of PlanetScale and previously VP of Engineering at GitHub, joins us to talk about building high-performance teams. We chatted about leading with influence, advocating for your team, creating delightful hiring experiences, knowing when to fire people and how to keep your software engineers close to your end-users to build great products.

One of the biggest takeaways from this episode is that you have to start with yourself if you want to build a high-performance team. So if you're looking for pointers on how to be a better leader for your team and for your company, this episode is for you!

Learn more about some of the topics discussed on this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep9 

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co

Jason and Eiso wrap up their three-part series on Engineering Leadership roles by taking a deep dive into engineering managers and tech leads.

Learn how to hire your first engineering manager, whether to hire your engineering leaders from inside the company, and how the roles of tech leads change as your company grows. We also covered some communication techniques and how to design your teams as the company scales and communication lines increase.

Learn more about some of the topics discussed on this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep8 

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co

Jason and Eiso continue their deep dive on different engineering leadership roles, sharing their thoughts on CTOs, VPs, and Managers, how to hire for these roles, and adopting organizational structures that promote transparency and trust in the decision-making processes that shape your business.

Learn more about some of the topics discussed on this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep7 

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co

In this episode of Developing Leadership, we kick off our deep-dive series on different Engineering Leadership roles.

Jason and Eiso discuss how CTOs, VPs of Engineering, and Engineering Managers should navigate through the various stages of their company. From prioritizing at different seed rounds to developing a go-to-market strategy, building their company’s architecture, and the day-to-day of each of these roles.

Learn more about some of the topics discussed on this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep6 

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co

Former GM of Snyk, Anton Drukh, recently became a mentor for VPs of Engineering and joined us on this week's episode to discuss his experiences leading a team split between two very different cultures. His journey as a leader working with teams in Israel and the UK is a lens into how diversity of mentalities can be an essential asset for tech companies and how it played a role in Snyk's success.

In this episode we spoke candidly about promotions, how teams evolve as companies shed their skin and grow, and the not so obvious career steps from engineer to engineering leader. The shift towards full-stack engineering is in motion. Can organizations rise to the occasion?

Dive deeper into the topics discussed on this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep5 

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co

Neo4j just raised the biggest round in database history and their CEO, Emil Eifrem, joins us on the podcast to tell us about his experience transitioning from a day one CEO to running a company with more than 500 employees.

In this episode, Eiso and Jason start to scratch the surface on the importance of data and metrics for software engineering teams and how engineering leaders can use data to ask the right questions and help their companies to thrive.

Dive deeper into the topics discussed on this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep4 

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co

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Jason and Eiso share the frameworks that have helped them navigate big and small decisions through the years and look back at how key decision-making moments shaped how they operate as leaders today.

Making good decisions is one of the pillars of exceptional leadership and a practice that can make or break an organization at any stage. Through company politics, difficult conversations, promoting employees, and raising equity, there are several approaches to staying grounded and keeping your team in sync as you navigate the turbulent tides of organizational change.

Dive deeper into the topics discussed on this episode at go.developingleadership.co/ep3 

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co

How do we make sure that we are deliberate about the culture of our organization and not find ourselves pushing for outcomes without care of how we achieve them?

Jason and Eiso go through the building blocks of positive company culture and explore how companies and leaders can adapt as their teams grow from two people in a garage to thousands of employees. From setting priorities to communicating effectively to operating in first-team mode, there are countless ways engineering leaders can make a difference for their companies. We explore them in this episode of Developing Leadership.

Check out this episode's shownotes at go.developingleadership.co/ep2 

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of engineering to metrics and data that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to athenian.co

In the first episode of Developing Leadership, Eiso Kant and Jason Warner talk about how the roles and perceptions of engineers and engineering leaders have changed over the decades. From the catastrophic offshoring trend of the early 2000s to the golden age of development, the tools, the processes and the culture shifts. Eiso and Jason share their experiences in the world of tech and the lessons that have stayed with them through the years. 

Check out this episode's show notes at go.developingleadership.co/ep1 

Developing Leadership is a podcast presented by Athenian. We are introducing the world of software to metrics that improve processes and help teams. If you want to learn more about data-enabled engineering, go to https://athenian.co