Braintrust by Cortex

Ganesh Datta
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Candid conversations with the builders shaping the future of engineering. Braintrust dives into the operational realities of running high-performing engineering organizations, from production readiness and migrations to AI adoption and operational excellence. Hosted by Ganesh Datta, CTO & Co-founder of Cortex

Episodes

  1. Why production readiness at Xero starts with the customer, not the checklist

    JAN 15

    Why production readiness at Xero starts with the customer, not the checklist

    Fred Mare, a principal engineer at Xero, joins Ganesh Datta to explore why production readiness should be framed around the customer experience rather than internal operational concerns. Fred shares Xero's approach to confidence scores—a signal that aggregates quality metrics, change size, and test coverage to predict the impact of any deployment on end users. Fred and Ganesh discuss criticality tiering based on customer jobs to be done, why automation is essential to avoid overloading engineering teams, the inseparable relationship between security and production readiness, and why the best advice for starting a production readiness program is to start small and treat it as a journey.

    28 min
  2. Why the "artisanal" approach to coding is holding engineering teams back

    12/18/2025

    Why the "artisanal" approach to coding is holding engineering teams back

    This week, Cortex co-founder and CTO Ganesh Datta discusses the evolution of platform engineering with Kaspar von Grünberg, CEO and co-founder of Humanitec. Kaspar draws a sharp contrast between the "artisanal" method of software development and the industrialized approach required for modern enterprises. He argues that relying on individual heroes to "YOLO" their way through deployments is unsustainable, and that true scale demands standardized, reliable systems. Ganesh and Kaspar unpack why standardization doesn't kill creativity, the critical difference between "rigid paths" and "Golden Paths," and why treating your platform as a product is non-negotiable. They also discuss the emerging role of AI, arguing that AI agents are effectively a new class of "junior engineer" that makes robust platforms more essential than ever.

    39 min
  3. How Google Cloud's DORA is helping teams balance AI acceleration with engineering fundamentals

    12/04/2025

    How Google Cloud's DORA is helping teams balance AI acceleration with engineering fundamentals

    Nathen Harvey, who leads the DORA research program at Google Cloud, joins Ganesh Datta to explore how AI is reshaping software delivery—and why the fundamentals matter more than ever. Nathen shares insights from DORA's 2025 report on AI adoption, the surprising finding that AI acts as an amplifier of both good and bad practices, and the critical shift teams must make from chasing elite performance to driving elite improvement. Nathen and Ganesh discuss value stream mapping as a planning tool for 2026, why SLOs are becoming more important in an AI-first world, the trust paradox in AI adoption, how to use AI as a catalyst for cultural change, and why measuring lines of code generated by AI misses the point entirely. They also explore how foundational practices like working in small batches, strong version control, and user-centric focus become even more valuable when AI is writing more of your code.

    41 min
  4. Canva's strategic approach to internal developer tools and why they should spark joy

    11/20/2025

    Canva's strategic approach to internal developer tools and why they should spark joy

    Tyler Davis, a software engineer at Canva, joins Ganesh Datta to explore how internal tools can be a source of joy and leverage for engineering teams. Tyler shares Canva's multi-year journey building their internal developer portal on Backstage, the moment they realized scorecards could transform operational excellence, and the eye-opening decision to switch to Cortex despite significant investment in their homegrown solution. Tyler and Ganesh discuss their thinking around build vs. buy, how to measure the value of internal tools beyond traditional ROI, the psychology of sunk costs, and more.

    30 min
  5. Navigating the path from startup speed to enterprise scale

    11/06/2025

    Navigating the path from startup speed to enterprise scale

    In the first episode of the Cortex podcast, co-founders Anish Dhar and Ganesh Datta pull back the curtain on the journey of building an internal developer portal from the ground up. They share the story of the early days, when the unproven market required moving at maximum velocity to find product-market fit and win critical first deals. The conversation explores the key moments that forced a fundamental mindset shift from prioritizing speed to engineering for enterprise-grade reliability and scale. Anish and Ganesh discuss the cultural and architectural decisions that defined this transition and offer a playbook for engineering leaders navigating today's AI-driven landscape, where the pressure to move fast is greater than ever.

    29 min

  6. 10/29/2025

    Introducing Braintrust

    How do you balance speed and quality when your customers are counting on you? What does it actually take to build a culture of reliability? And how should engineering leaders think about AI when it's changing everything about how we ship software? On Braintrust, Ganesh Datta, CTO and Co-founder of Cortex, sits down with CTOs, VPs of Engineering, and technical leaders who've been in the trenches—the ones who've made the hard calls, shipped through the chaos, and built teams that actually work. They talk about the real stuff: the architectural decisions that come back to haunt you, the cultural rituals that keep teams aligned, and the practices that separate high-performing teams from everyone else. Whether you're leading a team of ten or a thousand, if you're trying to ship faster without breaking things, this podcast is for you.

    1 min

Trailer

About

Candid conversations with the builders shaping the future of engineering. Braintrust dives into the operational realities of running high-performing engineering organizations, from production readiness and migrations to AI adoption and operational excellence. Hosted by Ganesh Datta, CTO & Co-founder of Cortex

Information

  • Creator
    Ganesh Datta
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    6
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Ganesh Datta