Hangar DX Podcast

Ankit Jain

The Hangar DX podcast focuses on developer experience and learning how different companies solve developer productivity challenges at scale. www.aviator.co/podcast

  1. FEB 12

    Engineering Discipline in the AI Era with Dave Farley

    The way that AI is changing software engineering is a bigger shift than object-oriented programming, the internet, and Agile together.", says Dave Farley, author of Continuous Delivery and Modern Software Engineering. Dave also shares why programming languages were designed to help engineers decompose problems into smaller chunks, the three fundamental problems of AI coding, why verification becomes the bottleneck in AI-assisted coding, and why engineering discipline, test-driven development, and behavior-driven development matter even more in this new era. 00:00 Introduction to Developer Productivity and Experience02:13 Dave Farley's Journey in Software Engineering08:23 The Impact of AI on Software Development11:00 AI Tools and Their Role in Coding16:39 The Importance of TDD and BDD in AI Development20:37 Testing and Feedback Loops in AI Programming25:30 Navigating Ambiguity in Specifications29:29 Future of Software Architecture with AI34:55 Adapting to AI in Software Engineering Practices37:28 Conclusion and Future Perspectives About Dave Farley Dave is a pioneer of continuous delivery, a thought leader and expert practitioner in CD, DevOps, TDD, and software design, and shares his expertise through his consultancy, YouTube channel ‪@ModernSoftwareEngineeringYT‬ , books, and training courses. Dave co-authored the definitive book on Continuous Delivery and has published Modern Software Engineering. About Hangar DX (https://dx.community/)The Hangar is a community of senior DevOps and senior software engineers focused on developer experience. This is a space where vetted, experienced professionals can exchange ideas, share hard-earned wisdom, troubleshoot issues, and ultimately help each other in their projects and careers. We invite developers who work in DX and platform teams at their respective companies or who are interested in developer productivity.More: https://dx.community/

    37 min

  2. JAN 29

    Platform Engineering Is Not a Tool

    One of the most common mistakes organizations make is equating platform engineering with a piece of software. Backstage is the most visible example. Teams adopt it and declare that they now “have a platform.” In this episode of the HangarDX podcast, Ankit Jain, co-founder and CEO of Aviator, talks with Ajay Chankramath, founder & CEO of Platformetrics, about what platform engineering really means in practice. Ajay discusses why platform engineering should be treated as a set of capabilities rather than a tool, how domain-driven platform engineering connects business intent to infrastructure, why “vibe coding” infrastructure with AI is risky, and how engineering leaders should think about ROI, observability, and supervised AI as adoption accelerates. 00:00 Introduction to Developer Experience and Platform Engineering01:35 Defining Platform Engineering and Its Evolution05:59 Backstage is not Platform Engineering12:37 Understanding Maturity in Platform Engineering18:21 Domain-Driven Platform Engineering Explained26:16 The Impact of AI on Platform Engineering About Ajay ChankramathAjay has 3+ decades of technology leadership experience and is currently the CEO of platformetrics. He is the co-author of Effective Platform Engineering. His current interests are around improving developer productivity using domain-driven platform engineering. About Hangar DX (https://dx.community/)The Hangar is a community of senior DevOps and senior software engineers focused on developer experience. This is a space where vetted, experienced professionals can exchange ideas, share hard-earned wisdom, troubleshoot issues, and ultimately help each other in their projects and careers. We invite developers who work in DX and platform teams at their respective companies, or who are interested in developer productivity.

    37 min

  3. JAN 15

    The Gap Between AI Hype and Developer Productivity

    “How much productivity is AI actually giving your engineering teams?” is the wrong question. In this episode of the HangarDX podcast, Ankit Jain, co-founder and CEO of Aviator, talks with Yegor Denisov-Blanch, researcher at Stanford University, about how engineering productivity is actually measured—and what the data says about AI’s impact on software teams. Yegor shares insights from large-scale studies on developer output, why early AI productivity claims were overstated, how high-performing teams compound their gains, why some teams see no benefit at all, and what engineering leaders should (and shouldn’t) measure when rolling out AI across the software development lifecycle. 00:00 Introduction to Developer Productivity Research06:12 Research Methodology and Expert Evaluations10:35 Impact of AI on Developer Productivity18:56 Invisible Contributions and Team Dynamics24:59 Navigating Speed in Startups vs. Enterprises26:34 The Role of AI in Productivity Gains28:24 Measuring AI Usage and Results30:14 Experimentation and Adaptation in AI33:40 Understanding Ghost Engineers38:07 Remote Work and Performance Dynamics About Yegor Denisov-BlanchYegor helps software engineering teams make better decisions with data.Currently he is a researcher at Stanford University. Previously, Yegor led digital transformation at DHL, and was a national champion Olympic weightlifter.  About Hangar DX (https://dx.community/)The Hangar is a community of senior DevOps and senior software engineers focused on developer experience. This is a space where vetted, experienced professionals can exchange ideas, share hard-earned wisdom, troubleshoot issues, and ultimately help each other in their projects and careers. We invite developers who work in DX and platform teams at their respective companies, or who are interested in developer productivity.

    43 min

  4. 12/11/2025

    How Block Deployed AI Agents Company-Wide in 2 Months

    What happens when a single engineer’s side project turns into a company-wide AI platform used by every department—engineering, product, marketing, finance, customer support, and sales? In this episode of the Hangar DX Podcast, Block’s VP of Engineering Angie Jones shares the inside story of how Block deployed AI agents across the entire organization in just eight weeks. She reveals how an internal tool called Goose—originally built by one engineer—became one of the first-ever MCP clients, exploded as an open-source project, and evolved into a general-purpose agent powering workflows across the company. We also dig into security and governance, adoption strategies, and practical lessons that every platform team can learn from. 00:00 Introduction to AI Transformation at Block04:18 Building Goose: The AI Agent08:50 Adoption Across Departments11:59 Scaling MCP Servers13:17 Technical Challenges with MCPs16:33 Governance and Security of MCPs17:35 Tool Overload and Centralization Strategies20:09 Overcoming Cold Start Problems23:34 Evolving Goose for Different Departments25:58 Open-Source and Internal Development28:05 Measuring Success in AI Initiatives30:02 Recommendations for AI Adoption33:19 Future Predictions and InitiativesAbout Angie JonesAngie Jones is the Vice President of Engineering, AI Tools & Enablement at Block, Inc. She is an award-winning teacher and international keynote speaker and holds more than 25 patents for inventions in the areas of virtual worlds, collaboration software, social networking, smarter planet, and software development processes. About Hangar DX (https://dx.community/)The Hangar is a community of senior DevOps and senior software engineers focused on developer experience. This is a space where vetted, experienced professionals can exchange ideas, share hard-earned wisdom, troubleshoot issues, and ultimately help each other in their projects and careers

    36 min

  5. 11/27/2025

    Measuring Developer Productivity at Meta

    "Measuring developer productivity is fundamental now that we're observing the largest change in software engineering in a decade. I'm happy we have our traditional productivity metrics in a good place so we can better observe the effect of AI."  Moritz Beller is a software engineering researcher at Meta, and in this episode of the Hangar DX podcast, he talks to Ankit Jain, CEO and co-founder of Aviator, about how Meta came up with their foundational metric DAT - Diff Authoring Time, why time is one of the least gameable metrics, how AI-assisted development changes the meaning of “productivity,” and why investments in tooling drive far more value than surface-level optimizations. 00:00 Introduction 01:04 Understanding Developer Insights at Meta04:42 Defining Diff Authoring Time (DAT)07:48 Evolution of DAT: From Version 1 to 611:17 Telemetry and Data Collection for Productivity14:01 Challenges in Measuring Software Engineering Productivity15:56 Impact of AI on Software Development Metrics17:48 Case Studies: Productivity Gains from Metrics22:26 Counterintuitive Findings in Productivity Metrics24:43 The Challenges of Measuring Productivity30:04 Qualitative Feedback and Developer Insights33:28 Advice for Engineering Leaders on Data-Driven Practices35:14 Future of Productivity Measurement in Software Engineering About Moritz Beller Moritz is a software engineering researcher at Meta.  In 2024, she began a part-time Master’s of Engineering in Software Engineering at the University of Auckland, researching the impact of AI on the profession itself. His interest lies in creating and empirically evaluating tools that help developers be more productive. About Hangar DX (https://dx.community/)The Hangar is a community of senior DevOps and senior software engineers focused on developer experience. This is a space where vetted, experienced professionals can exchange ideas, share hard-earned wisdom, troubleshoot issues, and ultimately help each other in their projects and careers. We invite developers who work in DX and platform teams at their respective companies or who are interested in developer productivity.

    36 min

  6. 11/13/2025

    Software Engineering Identity Crisis with Annie Vella

    “Many of us became software engineers because we found our identity in building things. Not managing things. Not overseeing things. Building things. With our own hands, our own minds, our own code.But that identity is being challenged.” In this episode of the HangarDX podcast, Ankit Jain, co-founder and CEO of Aviator, talks to Annie Vella about the software engineer’s identity crisis, why engineers are so attached to writing code, and how they can prepare for a rapidly evolving future. 00:00 The Identity Crisis in Software Engineering04:52 Transitioning from Engineering to Management09:55 The Engineer-Manager Pendulum14:56 The Evolution of Software Engineering Roles19:54 AI's Impact on Software Engineering24:46 Building Trust in AI and Human Collaboration29:34 Skills for the Future of Software Engineering34:39 The Future of Software Engineering About Annie VellaAnnie is a lifelong computer enthusiast with two decades of hands-on engineering and technical leadership experience. Currently a Distinguished Engineer at Westpac New Zealand, she focuses on resilient systems, cross-org opportunities, and quality-first engineering processes.  In 2024, she began a part-time Master’s of Engineering in Software Engineering at the University of Auckland, researching the impact of AI on the profession itself. About Hangar DX (https://dx.community/)The Hangar is a community of senior DevOps and senior software engineers focused on developer experience. This is a space where vetted, experienced professionals can exchange ideas, share hard-earned wisdom, troubleshoot issues, and ultimately help each other in their projects and careers. We invite developers who work in DX and platform teams at their respective companies or who are interested in developer productivity.

    42 min

  7. 10/30/2025

    Agent Experience and the Future of Web Development with Matt Biilmann, CEO of Netlify

    “We're seeing the rise of a new persona that uses our products, the autonomous agent. That means we need to design for them, too. Agent Experience (AX) is about creating products that agents can navigate, integrate with, and orchestrate effectively.” In this episode, Matt Biilmann, CEO and co-founder of Netlify, joins Ankit Jain, founder of Aviator, to unpack the next evolution in software: agent experience. Matt, known for coining the term Jamstack, shares how AI is transforming the way we build for the web, making almost everyone a web developer. From Agent Experience (AX) to open vs. closed agent ecosystems, he explains how autonomous agents will reshape software development and why he thinks we are just entering the decade of agents. 00:00 Introduction to Developer Experience and AI03:00 The Evolution of Coding and Development06:07 The Impact of AI on Software Development09:59 Understanding Agent Experience (AX)13:40 The Future of Human and Agent Collaboration17:50 Open vs. Closed Systems in Development21:50 Simplicity in Development Frameworks25:31 The Role of Agents in Web Development29:34 Predictions for the Future of Development About Matt Billmann Matt Billmann is CEO of Netlify, a company he co-founded in 2014. He has been building developer tools, content management systems, and web infrastructure for more than 30 years and is recognized for coining the term “Jamstack.” About Hangar DX (https://dx.community/)The Hangar is a community of senior DevOps and senior software engineers focused on developer experience. This is a space where vetted, experienced professionals can exchange ideas, share hard-earned wisdom, troubleshoot issues, and ultimately help each other in their projects and careers. We invite developers who work in DX and platform teams at their respective companies or who are interested in developer productivity.

    36 min

  8. 10/02/2025

    DevEx Is About Making the Car Faster, Not the Driver

    "Let’s not worry about how fast somebody can run. Let’s assume that they will be fast if they’re in a rocket." In this episode of The Hangar DX podcast, Shahab Malik, DevEx UX Researcher at JP Morgan Chase, discusses researching developers' needs and pain points in a 70,000-engineer organization and advocates for an enablement approach to developer productivity metrics.  Chapters00:00 Introduction to Developer Experience and UX Research01:59 The Role of UX Research in Developer Experience05:21 Methodologies in UX Research10:08 Understanding Developer Needs and Pain Points13:59 Metrics and Measuring Developer Productivity20:52 The Importance of System Metrics vs. Individual Metrics27:40 Communicating Developer Experience to Leadership32:43 The Impact of AI on Developer Experience About Shahab Malik Shahab Malik is a UX Researcher at JPMorgan Chase, where he focuses on Developer Experience (DevEx) within the firm’s Internal Developer Platform (IDP). With a PhD in cultural anthropology, Shahab brings both qualitative and quantitative methods to studying human behavior in complex technical environments.  About Hangar DX (https://dx.community/)The Hangar is a community of senior DevOps engineers and senior software engineers focused on enhancing the developer experience. This is a space where vetted, experienced professionals can exchange ideas, share hard-earned wisdom, troubleshoot issues, and help each other in their projects and careers. We invite developers who work in DX and platform teams at their respective companies or who are interested in developer productivity to join us!

    38 min
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5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

The Hangar DX podcast focuses on developer experience and learning how different companies solve developer productivity challenges at scale. www.aviator.co/podcast

Information

  • Creator
    Ankit Jain
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    44
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © dx.community
  • Show Website
    Hangar DX Podcast