This week, our host Dan Lines chats with Malte Ubl, CTO of Vercel, about why iteration speed is a game-changer for teams trying to deliver more efficiently. Malte shares how accelerating the development cycle and embracing platform engineering can supercharge productivity, helping teams ship faster and innovate more effectively.We explore what it really means to streamline workflows, reduce bottlenecks, and create an environment where developers can focus on what they do best—building great p...
What are the limitations of general large language models, and when should you evaluate more specialized models for your team’s most important use case?This week, Conor Bronsdon sits down with Brandon Jung, Vice President of Ecosystem at Tabnine, to explore the difference between specialized models and LLMs. Brandon highlights how specialized models outperform LLMs when it comes to specific coding tasks, and how developers can leverage tailored solutions to improve developer productivity and ...
Engineering teams are already seeing efficiency gains by leveraging Gen AI solutions like Copilot, but the next wave of AI workflows has the potential to 10X productivity.This week, we’re exploring the world of Agentic AI with Amir Behbehani, Chief AI Engineer and Founder of Memra. Agentic AI can be defined as AI agents or systems that have the capacity to make decisions or take actions on their own based on the objectives they are programmed to achieve. These AI systems act independently, ga...
According to a LinkedIn study, engineers with strong soft skills are promoted 13% faster than those with only technical skills. Given how AI will continue to reshape market demands for developers and engineering leaders, how can you adapt to these changes and further your career?This week we’re joined by Aarathi Vidyasagar, VP of Engineering at LinkedIn, to explore the growing importance of soft skills and how leadership, communication, and empathy are becoming just as critical as technical e...
Gen AI for dev teams has been a focal point of conversation for the last few years, but the technology and application are both still very nascent. How can you find the best Gen AI use case for your team, and implement it safely?This week, our host Dan Lines sits down with Peter McKee, Vice President of Developer Relations and Community at Sonar. They explore the benefits and risks associated with Gen AI, and whether this new tooling is most impactful for junior or senior developers. Regardle...
In an organization as big as Shopify, how can you pioneer exceptional developer experience not only for your team but also for external developers using your product?This week we’re joined by Eytan Seidman, Director of Product at Shopify to unpack Shopify's approach to building elite engineering teams. Eytan highlights how Shopify’s high-context, high-autonomy culture empowers engineers and product managers to innovate and drive impact. By leveraging a mission-driven culture, Shopify ensures ...
Both the aerospace and defense sectors are renowned for long project timelines rife with silos and hurdles that get in the way of productivity. With over 20 years of experience at Lockheed Martin and elsewhere, Robin Yeman literally wrote the book Industrial DevOps on how to implement DevOps principles at traditional behemoths to build faster, safer systems.As Space Domain Lead at Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute, Robin’s pioneering work reveals how applying DevOps principles ...
Scaling new product lines within a growing company can be both an opportunity and quite challenging. Semgrep's Head of Engineering Adam Berman joined us this week to share his own experience developing Semgrep's second product line.Adam was instrumental in developing Semgrep's second product line, and he shares practical strategies for moving from a single-product to a multi-product organization. He unpacks the challenges of organizational design, the importance of fast iteration and feedback...
Dan Lines is joined by Gil Broza, author of 'Deliver Better Results,' to discuss how you and your organization can achieve better results by focusing on processes. Gil shares his 20-year journey in the Agile field, focusing on product development, system thinking, prioritizing people, and mindful mindset adjustments.The conversation covers the book’s target audience, the concept of the value delivery systems, and the roadmap for holistic improvement beyond traditional Agile methodologies. Gil...
This week, guest host Ben Lloyd Pearson sits down with Bloomberg’s Engineering Manager Luis Vega. Luis discusses the initial challenges of enhancing developer engagement with internal tooling. He outlines his approach to building internal applications that are as intuitive and engaging as Bloomberg's client-facing solutions, and how applying UX design principles and branding for tools dramatically increased adoption. Vega also reflects on transitioning from a hands-on developer to a mana...
In our first Labs episode of the year, LinearB COO and Co-founder Dan Lines is joined by CTO Yishai Beeri to explore how elite engineering organizations set and report on their engineering goals. Modern engineering leaders face a dual mandate of achieving operational excellence while aligning their work with business priorities. To achieve this, you need to deliver software predictably—projects need to be delivered on time, within scope, and as promised so the rest of the business can dr...
This week, I sat down with Neha Batra, VP of Engineering for Core Productivity at GitHub. Our conversation is about the value of taking calculated risks in engineering leadership, using a “risk budget," and how you can leverage your social capital to take risks that help your career.Neha also shares her insights on senior engineering leaders' challenges when aligning business needs with talent and product execution. She discusses her framework for strengthening company alignment and engineeri...
In the last few years, disengagement at work has become a massive issue. We learned from Dr. Andre Martin’s episode that 53% of managers are burnt out and 1 in 3 employees leave their jobs in the first 90 days.This week, we sat down with Chuck Lafferty, VP of CRM at ADP, to discuss ADP’s approach to employee engagement and innovation. Chuck dives into building trust within teams, innovative techniques like ‘Survey Roulette’ to incorporate user feedback into development, and the critical role ...
In the past year, ransomware attacks have been up almost 300%, with over 50% targeting small businesses. To help mitigate this increase, Microsoft is launching their new Security Copilot, and we sat down with their SMB Security Strategy Head, Binil Pillai, to learn more.We dive into the importance of SMBs assessing their security posture, how to leverage AI for efficient threat detection and response, and the role of Microsoft's partner ecosystem in providing comprehensive security solutions....
In this episode, host Conor Bronsdon talks with Melissa DePuydt, Sr. Director of Engineering at Upstatement. Melissa discusses how her background in journalism has uniquely positioned her to excel in engineering leadership roles. She highlights how thinking like a journalist has enhanced her ability to lead engineering teams effectively, particularly in planning, risk management, and decision-making.The conversation covers the importance of preparing for disruptions, conducting pre-mortems to...
On this week’s episode, host Conor Bronsdon sits down with Emily Nakashima, VP of Engineering at Honeycomb.io, to discuss how you can prepare to be a VP of Engineering, and how the role differs among companies. Being a VPE varies based on company size, culture, and the existing team's makeup, and Emily provides valuable advice for engineers aspiring to leadership positions.Emily also discusses using personality tests for better team dynamics and the need for regular self-evaluation as an inte...
This week, host Conor Bronsdon welcomes back Kelly Vaughn, Director of Engineering at Spot AI, to talk about building influence as an engineering leader. Kelly shares insights on the importance of leadership skills for both individual contributor and managerial roles and outlines her three pillars of trust, communication, and empowerment. Conor and Kelly discuss strategies for staying technically fresh despite moving up in management, exploring the balance between staying close to product dev...
On this week’s episode, host Conor Bronsdon is joined by Jason Krohn, Global Head of Delivery at Syngenta. Jason delves into how his teams at Syngenta leverage software engineering intelligence to achieve predictable delivery at scale. Jason also explores how aligning work with employees' passions contributes to success and retention at Syngenta. He discusses the challenges and solutions in implementing efficient DevOps processes and ensuring organizational buy-in for the vision. Additionally...
This week, host Dan Lines welcomes back Zach Goldberg, CTO and author of the book 'The Startup CTO's Handbook: Essential Skills and Best Practices for High Performing Engineering Teams.’ Zach shares insights from his extensive career as a CTO and his journey in writing a book that condenses the wisdom of numerous other influential works into a single, comprehensive guide.We explore the three core sections of his book:Management Fundamentals: Interviewing, Hiring, Performance Management, Budge...
It doesn’t matter if you have an innovative technical strategy if you’re not solving problems the business cares about… This week, host Conor Bronsdon sits down with Rob Zuber, CTO at CircleCI. They delve into the evolving role of engineering leaders, and the importance of building a technical strategy that aligns with overarching business goals.Throughout the conversation, Rob emphasizes the importance of focusing on customer needs, gathering direct feedback and maintaining strategic fl...