Engineering Unblocked

Swarmia
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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. AI's unglamorous wins for developer productivity with Tara Hernandez from MongoDB

    2월 11일

    AI's unglamorous wins for developer productivity with Tara Hernandez from MongoDB

    In this episode, Tara Hernandez shares what 18 months of rigorous AI experimentation taught her at MongoDB — including why the initial results showed negative ROI, and where her team eventually found the real productivity wins. Tara explains how AI saved developers an hour a week on coding but had zero impact on product velocity, why the unglamorous outer loop improvements (Slack bots, log analysis, ticket generation) deliver bigger impact than code generation, and how developer productivity ultimately comes down to information flow between humans. She also gets into why developer experience matters more now than during the hiring frenzy, and why curiosity is what defines good developers. (0:00) Introduction (1:04) How Tara became MongoDB’s first VP of Developer Productivity (6:42) Teaching Pixar how to do software development in 2002 (11:06) Tara's three pillars of developer productivity: tools, communication, and process (18:52) How the internet changed infrastructure from “not real engineering” to essential (22:00) MongoDB’s 18-month AI journey: from skepticism to scientific measurement (25:11) The surprising truth: AI saved coding time but had zero impact on velocity (27:03) Where AI actually wins: senior engineers with agentic programming (30:04) What developer productivity teams should focus on in the AI era (34:14) Why the outer loop matters more than the inner loop (37:08) Measuring the cost of human-to-human communication (40:14) Developer productivity is really about information flow (41:13) Why developer experience matters more now, not less (44:33) The ethical problem with celebrating AI-driven layoffs Follow Tara on LinkedIn Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn Find the full transcript on the Swarmia website

    48분
  2. What a year of hands-on AI coding teaches you about good software with Lada Kesseler

    1월 19일

    What a year of hands-on AI coding teaches you about good software with Lada Kesseler

    In this episode, Lada Kesseler shares what she’s learned from a year of hands-on experience building with AI coding tools — including the three fundamental challenges that define how these tools work, and why understanding limitations is what makes you better at using them. Lada explains why “focus” is the critical concept most developers miss, how a dedicated committer agent will catch issues that a general-purpose copilot never does, and why software craftsmanship matters more now than ever. She also gets into why using AI to critique itself produces dramatically better results, and how AI works as an amplifier that speeds up both good and bad engineering practices. Find the transcript at: https://www.swarmia.com/podcast/lada-kesseler-logic2020 (0:00) Introduction (2:46) The five fundamental gaps in AI development (7:15) “You’re absolutely right!” (8:00) The anti-pattern of the distracted agent (11:09) Do agile best practices still matter in the age of AI? (14:48) Why software craftsmanship is more important than ever (15:46) Managing complexity: Can AI do it, or do we still need humans? (18:19) The difference between vibe coding and craft (20:24) How AI is an amplifier — for better or worse (21:23) Good practices that are suddenly essential (23:02) The superpower of refactoring (25:36) Documentation: harder to maintain but more important than ever (26:58) When developers don’t write code anymore (32:49) AI costs and the coming reckoning (33:54) When AI is not the right choice (36:06) Three things senior leaders need to understand about AI (39:46) Will we still be talking about this in a year’s time? Watch Lada’s talk Augmented Coding: Mapping the Uncharted Territory See the interactive map on Lada’s website Follow Lada on LinkedIn Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn

    42분
  3. Being a CTO when everything is exploratory with Rob Zuber from CircleCI

    1월 7일

    Being a CTO when everything is exploratory with Rob Zuber from CircleCI

    In this episode, Rob Zuber shares what he’s learned from over a decade as CTO at CircleCI — including why the current market requires CTOs to be more hands-on than ever, and why he doesn’t even know who his competitors are anymore. Rob explains how his team deliberately encourages AI tool sprawl to find the gaps, how CircleCI went from instant product-market fit to navigating constant transformation, and why boring technology still wins for infrastructure even as everything else changes. He also gets into why AI works as an amplifier that speeds up both good processes and bad ones. Find the transcript at: https://www.swarmia.com/podcast/rob-zuber-circleci(00:00) Introduction (01:00) What it means to be a CTO right now (03:09) The evolution of software development since 2011 (06:07) The mobile revolution and iOS tooling (08:28) JavaScript frameworks and the rise of containers (12:03) Staying competitive in a crowded CI/CD market (15:32) AI is changing everything about software delivery (18:17) Setting goals and priorities in uncertain times (28:58) What the board holds CTOs accountable for (34:27) The ZIRP era and its aftermath (38:45) Why headcount became the wrong metric (41:22) AI as an amplifier — for better or worse (44:03) Will companies without fundamentals survive? (46:00) The reverse camera problem (51:52) Do we still need to understand how things work? Links and mentionsFollow Rob on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robzuber/Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    54분
  4. Managing up, down, and the robots with Michael Lopp aka Rands

    2025. 09. 12.

    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/

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

    2025. 07. 31.

    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/

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

    2025. 07. 22.

    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/

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

    2025. 06. 30.

    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/

    46분
  8. Navigating developer productivity at Netflix with Kathryn Koehler

    2025. 06. 24.

    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/

    43분
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소개

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.

정보

  • 제작진
    Swarmia
  • 방송 연도
    2023년 - 2026년
  • 에피소드
    30
  • 등급
    무삭제판
  • 저작권
    © Swarmia
  • 웹사이트 보기
    Engineering Unblocked