Engineering Unblocked

Swarmia

Keeping software engineers in flow and unblocked is one of the key responsibilities of software development leaders. In each episode of the Engineering Unblocked podcast, Rebecca Murphey interviews leaders who have navigated challenges of scale, complexity, and growth. You’ll hear from people with lived experience across the software development ecosystem, from CTOs and VPEs to directors and line managers to product managers, program managers, tech leads, and more.

  1. Managing up, down, and the robots with Michael Lopp aka Rands

    09/12/2025

    Managing up, down, and the robots with Michael Lopp aka Rands

    In this episode, Michael Lopp shares what he's learned leading engineering teams at Slack, Pinterest, and Palantir — including why AI is delivering real but modest productivity gains, and why junior engineers churning out AI-generated code is probably slowing teams down. Michael Lopp (Rands) brings three decades of engineering leadership experience to the AI conversation — revealing why he thinks we're experiencing another bubble similar to the dotcom era, but moving much faster. He's bullish on the technology but realistic: AI enables 5-10% productivity gains for complex work, not the revolutionary changes some expect. His framework emphasizes that good leadership still requires empathy, one-on-ones, and actually listening to your team. Find the transcript at: https://www.swarmia.com/podcast/michael-lopp-rands/ (0:00) Introduction (2:45) Are we living in another dotcom bubble? (11:12) AI doesn't replace critical thinking (15:34) The problem with measuring the productivity impact of AI (18:01) Your job as a human is to know when you're being lied to (19:40) What junior engineers need to learn now (24:16) Assessing team health and psychological safety at scale (28:12) What happens at 150 headcount (30:21) Are companies buying AI tools without a hypothesis? (33:11) The fakers (35:22) Rands’ advice on leading through hard times (42:18) Why telling managers to stop coding was a bad idea (45:25) Rands’ hot take on the industry Follow Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaellopp Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    49 min
  2. Develop, deploy, operate: Three stages of delivering business value with Titus Winters from Adobe

    07/31/2025

    Develop, deploy, operate: Three stages of delivering business value with Titus Winters from Adobe

    In this episode, Titus Winters discusses his framework for optimizing software’s commercial value, why having humans in the deploy phase is pure toil, and how to think about engineering productivity investments. Titus Winters brings infrastructure thinking to software economics — revealing why manual deployment processes are pure overhead and how to quantify the true cost of defects with a (sometimes) simple formula. His framework splits software into three phases: creative development, factory-like deployment, and operational maintenance, arguing that humans belong only in the first. Find the transcript at: https://www.swarmia.com/podcast/titus-winters-adobe/ (0:00) Introductions (3:58) Why Titus is drawn to this space (6:21) How do you measure the impact of preventing a bug? (8:36) How this paper came to be (10:45) Why is it so hard for non-technical leadership to understand engineering? (12:42) How relevant is the framework for smaller organizations? (13:52) Estimating the true cost of defects (17:40) Measure systems, not individuals (18:25) Why humans in the deployment loop are pure toil (22:17) Why DORA doesn’t measure the squishy, creative part of software development (27:26) Infrastructure investment below 10% kills companies (29:39) Changes in regulations that affect software companies (31:36) How much should organizations spend on ‘platformization’ (36:00) Why teams should run at 70% capacity, not 100% (40:15) Product vs engineering responsibilities (42:04) Titus’ hot take on AI (44:55) Where to find the paper Follow Titus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tituswinters/ Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    46 min
  3. How to hire normal engineers and help them do great work with Charity Majors from Honeycomb

    07/22/2025

    How to hire normal engineers and help them do great work with Charity Majors from Honeycomb

    In this episode of Engineering Unblocked, Rebecca talks with Charity Majors, CTO of Honeycomb, to explore the myths of engineering productivity and the importance of building systems that enable “normal” engineers to succeed. Charity Majors tears down the myths of engineering exceptionalism — challenging the tech industry's worship of “10x developers” and advocating for systems that empower everyday engineers. She reveals how true organizational effectiveness emerges from resilient teams and a genuine connection between technical work and business strategy. Find the transcript at: https://www.swarmia.com/podcast/charity-majors-honeycomb/ Timestamps (0:00) Introductions (1:26) Hiring normal engineers over the '10x developer' (4:40) The fundamental attribution error: looking at individuals over the system (6:24) What non-engineering leadership need to know about engineering (7:28) The ingredients of a normal-engineer optimized system (8:40) Why diverse teams are resilient teams (9:26) What creates 10x leverage? (11:42) Developer productivity metrics and what actually matters (14:20) Charity's take on the 'sh*t umbrella' school of management (16:30) How Honeycomb creates space for productivity to happen (19:28) The IC to manager journey (21:44) Why becoming a manager out of reaction can harm your team (23:19) Is the engineering manager level being eliminated? (25:23) Going back to being an IC isn't career limiting (30:45) Why Charity chooses to speak up and out (32:00) Charity's current hot-not-hot-take on the software industry Follow Charity on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charity-majors/ Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    36 min
  4. Growing engineering headcount in the world of AI with Allan Leinwand, CTO of Webflow

    06/30/2025

    Growing engineering headcount in the world of AI with Allan Leinwand, CTO of Webflow

    In this episode of Engineering Unblocked, Rebecca sits down with Allan Leinwand, Chief Technology Officer at Webflow and serial engineering leader who has scaled teams at Slack, ServiceNow, and Shopify. Allan shares his unique perspective on what it takes to be a successful “scaling CTO” — the type of leader who comes in at inflection points to help companies hockey-stick their growth. Allan also offers insights on navigating the AI revolution in engineering — from how it’s changing the hiring process and accelerating junior developer growth, to using it for everything from code completion to writing performance reviews. With his background spanning from early Cisco networking to modern SaaS platforms, Allan brings a unique long-term perspective on technology evolution and what it means to build engineering organizations that can scale to serve millions of users worldwide. Find the transcript at: https://www.swarmia.com/podcast/allan-leinwand-webflow/ Timestamps (0:00) Introductions (1:37) Allan's role as CTO (6:04) Staying in touch with the reality of software engineers (8:40) Similarities between leadership roles (11:09) Encountering founder mentality (13:00) The key to success as a CTO (16:23) How Webflow uses AI (19:37) How AI is affecting the hiring process (21:44) Hiring juniors (25:35) How AI is changing other roles (27:22) Webflow's approach to performance management (32:32) Mitigation strategies to maintain productivity (36:27) How Allan approaches reorgs (39:46) Who Allan feels accountable to (42:58) Creating a culture of accountability Follow Allan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleinwand/ Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    46 min
  5. Navigating developer productivity at Netflix with Kathryn Koehler

    06/24/2025

    Navigating developer productivity at Netflix with Kathryn Koehler

    In this episode of Engineering Unblocked, Rebecca sits down with Kathryn Koehler, Director of Developer Productivity at Netflix, to explore the unique challenges of scaling engineering at a 20-year-old company. The conversation dives deep into the complexities of building versus buying solutions, managing migrations across a multi-repo environment, and maintaining Netflix’s culture of freedom and responsibility, while providing the standardization that enables productivity at scale. Kathryn offers practical insights on everything from measuring productivity (hint: it’s not about lines of code) to navigating the current AI hype cycle with a level head. Find the transcript at: https://www.swarmia.com/podcast/kathryn-koehler-netflix/ Timestamps (0:00) Introductions (1:14) Kathryn's background and journey to Netflix (5:27) Solving problems at a 20-year-old company (9:01) Defining productivity and platform (13:05) Kathryn's approach to standardization (16:50) How Netflix handles migrations (20:36) Deciding what to work on (23:26) Maintaining utility per engineer (27:36) The importance of mindset (31:25) Metrics of productivity (36:25) What Kathryn is accountable for (37:50) Kathryn's thoughts on AI Follow Kathryn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kakoehler/ Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    43 min
  6. Preserving culture and delivery speed through growth with Julianna Lamb from Stytch

    06/11/2025

    Preserving culture and delivery speed through growth with Julianna Lamb from Stytch

    In this episode of Engineering Unblocked, Rebecca sits down with Julianna Lamb, co-founder and CTO of Stytch, to explore the challenges of building and scaling engineering culture at a fast-growing startup. Julianna shares her journey from Plaid to founding an authentication and fraud prevention platform, and dives deep into the cultural decisions that shaped Stytch's 30-person engineering team. From establishing quality practices and developer experience from day one to navigating the balance between speed and reliability, Julianna offers practical insights on maintaining culture through growth. They also discuss how AI is reshaping engineering interviews and the evolving role of junior developers in 2025. Find the transcript at: https://www.swarmia.com/podcast/julianna-lamb-stytch/ Timestamps (0:00) Introductions (0:32) Julianna's background and path to Stytch (3:08) About the structure of Stytch (5:30) Julianna's approach to team growth (9:30) Early investments as a start-up (12:36) About Stytch's culture (17:10) Ensuring quality through testing (19:58) Ownership of internal tooling (22:24) Maintaining a culture of speed (25:09) Managing quality through growth (28:23) The importance of culture fit (31:53) AI's impact on junior engineers (35:00) How Stytch interviews in 2025 (40:32) Julianna's ambitions for the future Follow Julianna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliannaelamb/ Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    43 min
  7. Developer productivity drivers and detractors with Max Kanat-Alexander from Capital One

    06/04/2025

    Developer productivity drivers and detractors with Max Kanat-Alexander from Capital One

    In this episode, Rebecca sits down with Max Kanat-Alexander, Executive Distinguished Engineer for Developer Experience at Capital One, to explore the nuances of developer productivity and experience. The conversation dives deep into what actually drives — and what kills — productivity in engineering organizations. Max shares hard-won insights about why most developer experience initiatives fail (hint: it’s about not understanding your users), the critical difference between being productive as individuals versus as teams and organizations, and why treating engineers as “ticket takers” destroys software quality. Find the transcript at: https://www.swarmia.com/podcast/max-kanat-alexander-capital-one/ Timestamps (0:00) Introductions (0:48) Max’s journey to Capital One (2:58) Unsuccessful developer productivity (5:37) Doing the ‘right’ work (11:01) Ticket-taker culture (15:25) Drivers of productivity (20:32) Performing KTLO work (25:40) Drivers and detractors of effective software delivery (33:16) Setting goals (40:42) The future of coding with AI (46:36) Max’s advice to junior engineers Follow Max on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mkanat/ Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    49 min
  8. The science of developer experience with Kristen Foster-Marks from Depot

    01/03/2025

    The science of developer experience with Kristen Foster-Marks from Depot

    In today’s episode, Rebecca chats with Kristen Foster-Marks, Head of Developer Experience at Depot. They discuss questionable “ghost engineer” research, why ethical, rigorous studies matter, and how developer experience makes a difference—even in a tough economy. Find the transcript at: https://www.unblocked.fm/episodes/kristen-foster-marks-depot/ Timestamps (0:00) Introductions (0:56) Kristen’s role at Depot (3:44) Defining science in developer experience (8:56) The “ghost engineers” controversy (16:02) Balancing peer review with research (19:17) What Kristen wants from quality research (22:09) Why developer experience matters (25:46) Developer experience in the modern world (29:58) The need for empirical studies (34:23) How sample sizes affect research validity (37:18) Replicating qualitative research (39:18) Applying research in practice Follow Kristen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristenfostermarks/ Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    43 min
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About

Keeping software engineers in flow and unblocked is one of the key responsibilities of software development leaders. In each episode of the Engineering Unblocked podcast, Rebecca Murphey interviews leaders who have navigated challenges of scale, complexity, and growth. You’ll hear from people with lived experience across the software development ecosystem, from CTOs and VPEs to directors and line managers to product managers, program managers, tech leads, and more.

Information

  • Creator
    Swarmia
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2025
  • Episodes
    27
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Swarmia
  • Show Website
    Engineering Unblocked