“The OOOps methodology from the science of happy accidents are optionality, opportunism, and optimization.” Stephen Fishman and Matt McLarty are the authors of “Unbundling the Enterprise: APIs, Optionality, and the Science of Happy Accidents”, a book from IT Revolution. In this episode, we discuss the transformative power of APIs, the importance of optionality in technology and business, and the intriguing science of ‘happy accidents’. We delve into the “OOOps” of the science of happy accidents, which are optionality through API unbundling, opportunism through value dynamics, and optimization through feedback loops. Stephen and Matt share real-world examples of how companies like Amazon, Google, and Cox Automotive have successfully unbundled their enterprises and leveraged optionality for growth and innovation. Also, hear the story and impact of Jeff Bezos’s legendary API mandate at Amazon, which revolutionized Amazon to become the giant it is now. Towards the end, we discuss the role of AI in the future of work and how we can use AI along with APIs to embrace more optionality and create more business value. Listen to the full episode to learn more about how you can apply these concepts to your digital transformation journey and benefit from the power of APIs and optionality.   Listen out for: Career Turning Points - [00:01:51] “Unbundling the Enterprise” Book - [00:05:21] Amazon API Revolution - [00:08:39] What Drove Jeff Bezos’s Mandate - [00:14:10] Optionality Through API Unbundling - [00:17:36] Happy Accidents - [00:23:59] Opportunism Through Value Dynamics - [00:26:59] Value Dynamics - [00:30:55] Optimization Through Feedback Loops - [00:38:03] Embracing AI - [00:45:24] 4 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:02] _____ Stephen Fishman’s BioStephen Fishman (Fish) is the NA Field CTO for Boomi. He is a practicing technologist who brings creativity, rigor, and a human-centric lens to problem-solving. Known as an expert in aligning technology and business strategy, Stephen places a premium on pushing business and technology leaders to embrace iteration and the critical need to collaborate across disciplines. In addition to consulting with large organizations, Stephen is an in-demand speaker and advisor. Stephen has led multidisciplinary teams to deliver amazing results at Salesforce, MuleSoft, Cox Automotive, Sapient, Macy’s, and multiple public sector institutions including the US Federal Reserve and the CDC. Matt McLarty’s BioMatt McLarty is the Chief Technology Officer for Boomi. He works with organizations around the world to help them digitally transform using a composable approach. He is an active member of the global API community, has led global technical teams at Salesforce, IBM, and CA Technologies, and started his career in financial technology. Matt is an internationally known expert on APIs, microservices, and integration. He is co-author of the O’Reilly books Microservice Architecture and Securing Microservice APIs, and co-host of the API Experience podcast. Follow Stephen: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/stephenhfishman Email – [email protected] Follow Matt: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/mattmclartybc Email – [email protected] Book & Podcast: 📚 Unbundling the Enterprise – https://itrevolution.com/product/unbundling-the-enterprise/ The API Experience Podcast - https://boomi.com/boomi-podcast/ _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/196.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Legacy code is a code without tests. If you have code, and it has lots of tests, it’s relatively easy to change. But if you don’t have the tests, you’re really in serious trouble.” Do you dread working with legacy code? Michael Feathers, renowned software expert and author of the classic “Working Effectively with Legacy Code,” joins me to discuss the challenges and strategies for working with legacy code, a topic that remains highly relevant even after 20 years! Michael explains why he defines legacy code as “code without tests,” emphasizing the crucial role of automated tests for code maintainability, rather than simply defining it as an old inherited code. He also provides insights on the psychological challenges of working with legacy code and stresses the importance of approaching it with curiosity and a sense of adventure. The conversation also explores the evolving world of AI assistant in software development, drawing from Michael’s forthcoming book, “AI-Assisted Programming”. He shares how AI can assist developers in various tasks, such as explaining code, identifying potential issues, generating tests, and exploring new possibilities. Listen to this episode to explore the intersection of legacy code, AI, and the future of software development!   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:24] “Working Effectively with Legacy Code” Book - [00:02:05] Definition of Legacy Code - [00:04:55] The Importance of Automated Tests - [00:06:39] Understanding Legacy Code - [00:09:47] Mindset for Working with Legacy Code - [00:11:15] Rewrite vs Fixing Legacy Code - [00:13:50] Microservice for Legacy Code - [00:15:36] Approach to Dealing with Legacy Code - [00:17:33] Seams - [00:20:03] Strangler Fig - [00:21:42] Understanding Refactoring - [00:22:48] Testing Pyramid - [00:24:28] Code Nobody Wants to Touch - [00:26:10] AI for Understanding Legacy Code - [00:27:53] AI Churning More Legacy Code - [00:30:06] “AI Assisted Programming” Book - [00:32:47] Prompt Engineering - [00:34:16] Doing in Small Steps - [00:35:09] Best Use Case for AI - [00:37:29] Developer’s Fear of AI - [00:39:16] SudoLang - [00:40:59] AI as Test Assistant - [00:43:42] Context Window - [00:45:19] Waywords - [00:47:14] Managing AI Sessions - [00:48:53] Using Different AI Tools - [00:50:30] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:28] _____ Michael Feathers’s BioMichael Feathers is the Founder and Director of R7K Research & Conveyance, a company specializing in software and organization design. Over the past 20 years he has consulted with hundreds of organizations, supporting them with general software design issues, process change and code revitalization. A frequent presenter at national and international conferences, Michael is also the author of the book Working Effectively with Legacy Code. Follow Michael: Twitter – @mfeathers LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/michaelfeathers Substack – substack.com/@michaelfeathers 📚 Working Effectively with Legacy Code – https://www.amazon.com/Working-Effectively-Legacy-Michael-Feathers/dp/0131177052 📚 AI Assisted Programming – leanpub.com/ai-assisted-programming _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/195.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Product marketing’s purpose is to drive product adoption by shaping market perception through strategic marketing activities that align with business goals.” Are you making the mistake of focusing too much on product and not enough on the market? In this episode, Martina Lauchengo, a partner at Costanoa Ventures and the author of the SVPG book “LOVED: How to Rethink Marketing for Tech Products”, discusses the often-overlooked importance of marketing in the success of tech products. Martina challenges the traditional notion of “product market fit,” suggesting “market product fit” instead, because a product’s value is determined by the market’s capacity to absorb it. She emphasizes the critical role of go-to-market strategy in informing product development and driving adoption. We explore the four fundamentals of product marketing outlined in Martina’s book: ambassador, strategist, storyteller, and evangelist. Martina shares real-world examples of how these principles have been applied successfully, highlighting the importance of understanding customer needs, crafting compelling narratives, and enabling authentic evangelism. Tune in to discover valuable insights into how to rethink marketing for your tech products and achieve greater success.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:52] Market in the Product Market Fit Dimensions - [00:04:02] Importance of Go-To-Market - [00:07:02] Marketing Tech Product - [00:09:16] Product Marketing vs Marketing Campaign - [00:12:17] Sales-Marketing-Product Roles - [00:15:52] How Product Marketing Collaborate - [00:17:20] Product Marketing Metrics & Attribution - [00:21:16] 4 Fundamentals of Product Marketing - [00:25:33] Ambassadorship - [00:28:40] How to Get Customer Insights - [00:31:25] Human Aspect of Product Marketing - [00:35:47] Directing the Product Go-To-Market - [00:39:03] Storytelling - [00:41:53] Curating Stories - [00:44:50] Evangelism - [00:46:52] Authentic vs Authoritative - [00:49:26] Product Review Channels - [00:52:16] Product Support - [00:54:07] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:56:01] _____ Martina Lauchengco’s BioMartina spent 30 years as a marketing and product leader. She started her career working on market-defining software, Microsoft Office and Netscape Navigator. She teaches what she’s learned with SVPG and is a lecturer at UC Berkeley’s graduate school of engineering. As a partner at Costanoa Ventures, she sits on multiple boards and coaches startups. She is the author of LOVED: How to Rethink Marketing Tech Products, a #1 Amazon Best Seller. Martina holds a B.A. in Political Science and M.A. in Organizational Behavior from Stanford University. She’s a native Californian, mother of two, and proud wife to Chris. Follow Martina: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/martinalauchengco Costanoa Ventures – https://costanoa.vc/ Silicon Valley Product Group – svpg.com 📚 LOVED – https://www.svpg.com/books/loved-how-to-rethink-marketing-for-tech-products/ _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/194.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“We should always learn intentionally. And the best learning is by doing. Extra time used to practice something is always worth it." Dr. Milan Milanović is a seasoned CTO and the author of the popular “Tech World with Milan” newsletter. In this episode, Milan shares his insights on what it takes to become a great software engineer. Milan emphasizes that technical skills, while crucial, are just one part of the equation. Soft skills, a product-focused mindset, and a commitment to continuous learning are equally vital for long-term success in the ever-evolving tech industry. He delves into the key attributes that distinguish great engineers, revealing the surprising truth about why we should focus on learning the fundamentals, how to learn new skills and become an expert, delivering high-quality engineering, and practical strategies to boost productivity.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:02:14] Attributes of a Great Software Engineer - [00:05:50] Common Lacking Attribute - [00:10:28] How to Learn New Skills - [00:12:48] How to Become an Expert - [00:16:02] 10,000 Hours - [00:22:47] Dealing with Imposter Syndrome - [00:24:52] Learn Things That Don’t Change - [00:27:50] High-Quality Engineering - [00:32:52] Becoming a More Productive Engineer - [00:39:28] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:48:53] _____ Milan Milanović’s BioMilan is a CTO with more than 20 years of experience in the industry. His main areas of interest include software architecture, cloud computing solutions, web and mobile solutions, agile methods, and managing software teams to deliver innovative and high-quality products. He is an avid author who helps more than 300.000 engineers and managers to build great careers and products. He also works as a High-Performance & Career Coach. Follow Milan: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/milanmilanovic Twitter / X – @milan_milanovic Website – milan.milanovic.org ✍🏼 Newsletter – newsletter.techworld-with-milan.com _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/193.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“The four common obstacles that are stopping engineers in progressing in their journey are the imposter syndrome, burnout, trouble dealing with other people, and self marketing struggles." Dagna Bieda is an engineer turned coach and the author of “Brain Refactor”. In this episode, Dagna discusses the common obstacles that prevent engineers from progressing in their careers. She also introduces her latest book, “Brain Refactor,” which offers strategies for overcoming these obstacles and achieving success in tech. Dagna emphasizes the importance of understanding our “legacy mental code” and how it can impact our career growth. She outlines an algorithm for reprogramming our legacy mental code, discussing practical steps for identifying the root causes, planning the refactors, scripting new responses, and continuously executing improvements. Towards the end, Dagda dives deeper into handling burnout and dealing with other people and provides practical tips to resolve those common bugs.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:02:03] Dagna’s Career Transition - [00:04:27] Our Legacy Codebase - [00:10:08] Feedbacks as Debugging Point - [00:13:04] Psychological Safety in Receiving Feedback - [00:17:52] 3 Common Mental Code Refactoring - [00:20:49] The Brain Refactor Algorithm - [00:25:23] Script New Responses - [00:33:45] Merge Conflicts & Cognitive Dissonance - [00:37:33] Common Bug #1: Burnout - [00:42:07] Common Bug #2: Dealing with Other People - [00:51:21] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:57:02] _____ Dagna Bieda’s BioDagna Bieda is an Engineer turned Coach for Engineers and ambitious professionals in tech. With 10+ years of coding experience and coaching since 2019, she’s the tough love, “been in your shoes” kinda Coach. Her clients' backgrounds include a spectrum ranging from ICs to CTOs, from small startups to FAANG+ companies, from 2 to 20+ years of experience, and from self-taught devs through career-changing Bootcamp grads to college grads and PhDs. She helps her clients reach their potential and exciting career opportunities by refactoring their brains. Follow Dagna: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dagnabieda Website – themindfuldev.com 📚 Brain Refactor – amazon.com/dp/B0DB3JZYL2 _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/192.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“One key highlight of the report is that there’s a massive disconnect between engineering leaders and engineers about developer experience." Andrew Boyagi is a DevOps Evangelist at Atlassian. In this episode, Andrew shares the key findings of the State of Developer Experience Report 2024, including the disconnect between engineering leaders and engineers, the impact of AI on developer experience, and the importance of measuring and improving developer productivity. Andrew shares practical advice on how to improve developer experience in our organization, emphasizing the importance of communication, continuous improvement, and transparency. We also delve into the role of internal platforms in enhancing developer experience and the importance of engineering culture. If you’re interested in learning more about developer experience and looking for ways to improve developer productivity, this episode is for you!   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:37] State of Developer Experience Report - [00:04:05] Developer Experience (DevEx) - [00:05:32] DevEx Across Companies & Teams - [00:06:25] Report Key Highlights - [00:09:20] AI Impact to DevEx - [00:12:41] How Developers Spend Their Time - [00:15:13] How to Improve DevEx - [00:18:21] What to Ask Developers About DevEx - [00:21:31] Impact of DevEx on Deveopers' Retention & Attraction - [00:24:22] The Danger of Traditional DevEx Measurement - [00:26:50] Importance of Engineering Culture - [00:31:15] DevEx Frameworks - [00:34:24] Platform Engineering - [00:37:02] Platform Buy vs Build - [00:39:29] Self Service & Reducing Wait Time - [00:42:03] AI for Improving Documentation - [00:44:50] Feedback Loop for Improving DevEx - [00:47:29] Atlassian DevEx Journey - [00:49:01] Importance of Transparency - [00:50:28] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:01] _____ Andrew Boyagi’s BioAndrew is a DevOps Evangelist at Atlassian with more than 20 years of experience in software delivery and service management in enterprise organizations. He provides a practical perspective on how teams and organizations can maximize the benefits of DevOps based on real-life experience. Before joining Atlassian, Andrew was an Executive Manager at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, where he established and matured a platform engineering function that supported 7,000 engineers. Andrew holds an MBA from Southern Cross University. Follow Andrew: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/andrewboyagi/ State of Developer Experience Report 2024 – atlassian.com/software/compass/resources/state-of-developer-2024 _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/191.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“The three core expectations of a Staff+ engineer are having a high blast radius impact, able to do multi-scale planning & influence, and having high ownership & autonomy level.” What does it take to become a Staff+ engineer? Thiago Ghisi, an experienced engineering leader and a Director of Engineering at Nubank, reveals the secrets in this episode. We discuss the path to becoming a Staff+ engineer and explore the attributes that set successful Staff+ engineers apart. Thiago emphasizes that technical skills alone are not enough and outlines the three core expectations and three key behaviors for Staff+ engineers to demonstrate. Our conversation concludes with a discussion of the importance of finding role models and learning from their behaviors and approaches rather than following checklists. If you’re an aspiring Staff+ engineer or simply interested in career growth in tech, don’t miss this episode! Tune in now to unlock the secrets to Staff+ success.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:02:11] Definition of a Staff+ Engineer - [00:04:24] The Different Level & Scope of Responsibilities - [00:09:43] What You Got Here Won’t Get You There - [00:18:54] High Blast Radius Impact - [00:23:34] Multi-Scale Planning & Influence - [00:27:23] Stakeholder Management - [00:31:06] Ownership & Autonomy Level - [00:35:52] Behaviors & Patterns - [00:43:51] Role Models Over Checklists - [00:51:53] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:55:56] _____ Thiago Ghisi’s BioThiago Ghisi is the Director of Engineering for the Mobile Platform team at Nubank. He has nearly 20 years of experience in the software industry, having worked at companies like Apple, ThoughtWorks, and Amex. Ghisi has worn multiple hats - from Programmer to Project Manager to Quality Engineer, back to Engineering, and finally, Engineering Management, where he has been leading cross-functional teams in the Mobile FinTech space for the past eight years. He also hosts a podcast called “Engineering Advice You Didn’t Ask For” and writes extensively about Career & Leadership in Tech on LinkedIn & Twitter. Follow Thiago: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/thiagoghisi Twitter – @thiagoghisi _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/190.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“A lot of problems that we are facing in code review are due to the interface. We are not actually giving feedback to a person, but we are just filling in text boxes and looking at code." Dr. Michaela Greiler is a code review advocate and runs the “Awesome Code Reviews” workshops. In this episode, we discuss the importance of making code reviews awesome. We discuss the common challenges of code reviews, emphasizing the need for a balanced approach that considers both the technical and social aspects. Michaela also shares insights on how to assess and improve code review practices within teams, highlighting the code review quadrant of review speed and feedback value. Our discussion further explores the correlation between code reviews and developer experience, emphasizing the role of psychological safety and a positive feedback culture. Finally, Michaela provides valuable tips on code review tools and techniques, including the use of checklists and strategies for managing context switching. If you’re looking to enhance your team’s code review process and foster a positive developer experience, listen now and take your code reviews to the next level!   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:53] Awesome Code Review - [00:05:33] Assessing Code Review Practices - [00:11:41] Code Review Speed - [00:18:23] Code Review & Developer Experience - [00:23:31] Improving Code Review Cultural Aspect - [00:29:13] Code Review Tools - [00:35:36] Code Review Techniques - [00:42:11] Context Switching - [00:48:15] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:54:14] _____ Michaela Greiler’s BioFor over 15 years, Michaela Greiler has helped software teams build high-quality software in an efficient and effective way. Her mission is to lead teams to unlock their full potential during company workshops and team coaching sessions. She shares her findings through articles on her blog or in scientific journals, in publications such as freecodecamp and at conferences. She also runs a weekly newsletter that more than 2500 people enjoy. In this newsletter, she shares her thoughts on relevant software engineering topics and helps you stay up-to-date. She’s also the host of the software engineering unlocked podcast. Here, she interviews experienced developers, product managers and CTOs about how they build software. Follow Michaela: Awesome Code Reviews – awesomecodereviews.com Personal Website – michaelagreiler.com LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/mgreiler Twitter – @mgreiler SE Unlocked Podcast – softwareengineeringunlocked.com _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/189.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Coupling is an inherent part of system design, not something that is necessarily good or evil. How we design coupling can take our system either towards complexity or towards modularity." Vladik Khononov returns to the podcast to discuss his latest book “Balancing Coupling in Software Design”. In this episode, Vlad revisits the essence of coupling, a term often not fully understood, and explores its implications on software complexity and modularity. Vlad introduces the concept of shared lifecycle and shared knowledge, revealing the hidden dependencies that can undermine even the most well-intentioned designs. He also explains complexity through the lens of the Cynefin framework and delves into the differences between essential and accidental complexity. One of the episode’s highlights is Vlad’s unique framework for evaluating coupling. He introduces the three dimensions of integration strength, distance, and volatility, providing a practical model for assessing and balancing coupling in software design. He also challenges traditional definitions of modularity, emphasizing the importance of knowledge boundaries. Whether you’re a seasoned tech lead or an aspiring software engineer, this episode offers invaluable insights into building maintainable and modular software systems. It will leave you with a deeper appreciation for the delicate balance between coupling and complexity.   Listen out for: Writing about Coupling - [00:03:28] Coupling - [00:06:09] Shared Lifecycle & Knowledge - [00:08:17] Cynefin - [00:12:28] Essential vs Accidental Complexity - [00:19:00] Modularity - [00:22:45] Abstraction & Knowledge Boundary - [00:29:04] 3 Dimensions of Coupling - [00:36:25] Balancing Coupling - [00:58:11] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [01:02:30] _____ Vladik Khononov’s BioVlad Khononov is a software engineer with extensive industry experience, working for companies large and small in roles ranging from webmaster to chief architect. His core areas of expertise are distributed systems and software design. Vlad consults with companies to make sense of their business domains, untangle monoliths, and tackle complex architectural challenges. Vlad maintains an active media career as a public speaker and author. Prior to Balancing Coupling in Software Design, he authored the best-selling O’Reilly book Learning Domain-Driven Design. He is a sought-after keynote speaker, presenting on topics such as domain-driven design, microservices, and software architecture in general. Follow Vladik: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/vladikk Twitter / X – @vladikk 📚 Balancing Coupling in Software Design – https://www.amazon.com/Balancing-Coupling-Software-Design-Addison-Wesley-ebook/dp/B09RV3Z3TP _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/188.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Just because the network is unreliable doesn’t mean a monolith is reliable either. It’s a fallacy to assume that you can build an error free system. You deal with it by accepting that the system overall has a baseline error rate, and that’s a business requirements issue." Richard Rodger is the author of “The Tao of Microservices”. In this episode, Richard shares a unique philosophical and practical approach to microservices, focusing on core concepts such as messages first, component-based, pattern matching, and transport independence. Our discussion also covers the choice between monoliths and microservices, discussing the challenges of network unreliability and data consistency.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:55] The Tao of Microservices - [00:10:12] 3 Core Technical Principles - [00:18:22] Messages First - [00:27:55] Pattern Matching - [00:35:55] Monolith vs Microservices - [00:41:18] Network Fallacy - [00:45:17] Handling Data Consistency - [00:49:30] 2 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:55:47] _____ Richard Rodger’s BioRichard Rodger is the author of The Tao of Microservices, a book from Manning focused on the design and management of microservice architectures. His first book Mobile Application Development in the Cloud (Wiley, 2010) is one of the first major works on the intersection of Node.js, Cloud, and Mobile. Richard Rodger is the founder and CEO of voxgig.com, a professional network and tool suite for speakers and event organizers. Richard was previously a co-founder and COO of nearForm.com, the world’s largest specialist Node.js consultancy delivering next-generation enterprise software, with a focus on Node.js and microservices. Before that, Richard was the CTO of FeedHenry, a mobile application platform provider that was acquired by RedHat in 2014. Richard holds degrees in Mathematics, Philosophy, and Computer Science. Follow Richard: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/richardrodger Twitter – @rjrodger Mastodon – @[email protected] Blog – richardrodger.com 📚 The Tao of Microservices – https://www.manning.com/books/the-tao-of-microservices _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/187.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Where the CTOs usually struggle is holding people accountable. The other things are leadership, strategy, vision, and being an executive. Most of the CTOs are swamped with work from their day-to-day job." Stephan Schmidt is a CTO coach and the author of “Amazing CTO”. In this episode, we delve into the multifaceted world of the CTO role and discuss what it takes to become a great CTO. Stephan highlights the common struggles CTOs face and offers practical advice from his book on the different important aspects of the role, such as setting a clear vision and strategy, delegating effectively, having effective one-on-ones, and fostering a culture of ownership and growth. We also touch on the personal side of the role, discussing the importance of self-management, maintaining a healthy work-life balance, handling failures, and overcoming imposter syndrome. Whether you’re already a CTO or have aspirations for tech leadership, this episode shares practical insights for effectively managing technology teams and driving innovation.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:46] The Role of a CTO - [00:03:57] The Missing Manual - [00:06:54] 140 Bite-Sized Rules - [00:09:22] CTO Struggles - [00:10:52] Stephan’s Failure Stories - [00:14:43] Strategy is for People - [00:18:05] Set People Up for Success, Not Failure - [00:19:59] One-on-One & Automatic Management - [00:22:59] Delegate Everything - [00:27:29] How to Delegate Better - [00:30:02] Think in 10X - [00:33:17] Radical Simplicity - [00:36:15] Managing Yourself - [00:40:56] Impostor Syndrome and Handling Failures - [00:44:07] The Future of a CTO - [00:47:07] 2 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:49:46] _____ Stephan Schmidt’s BioStephan Schmidt launched his tech career as a self-taught coder, mastering the art of programming as a kid in a department store back in 1981 with ambitions of creating video games. His passion for technology led him to university, where he delved into computer science, specializing in distributed systems and artificial intelligence, while also exploring the realms of philosophy. With the dawn of the internet era in Germany during the 1990s, Stephan became a pioneering coder and engineering manager for several startups. His journey in the tech world expanded as he founded a venture capital-funded startup and tackled architecture, processes, and growth challenges in various fast-growing VC-backed companies. His roles have included engineering manager at ImmoScout24 and CTO of an eBay Inc. subsidiary. Following the successful sale of his wife’s startup, the couple relocated to the seaside, where Stephan embraced his role as a CTO coach, guiding technology leaders through the intricacies of their evolving roles. Follow Stephan: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/stephanjschmidt Amazing CTO – amazingcto.com 📚 Amazing CTO – ctobook.dev _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/186.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“The three change dimensions of the product operating model are changing how you build, changing how you solve problems, and changing how you decide which problems to solve." Chris Jones, Partner at Silicon Valley Product Group (SVPG) and co-author of “TRANSFORMED: Moving to the Product Operating Model,” joins me to discuss how organizations can transform and innovate like top tech companies. Chris introduces the Product Operating Model (POM), a set of principles for building products that prioritize outcomes over outputs. He contrasts POM with traditional IT and project models, emphasizing the importance of empowering cross-functional teams, fostering trust, and aligning stakeholders around a unified product strategy. Chris also delves into the three dimensions of POM, highlighting the need for changing how we build, how we solve problems, and how we prioritize problems to solve. Additionally, he explores the crucial role of the CEO, the product leaders, and the product team’s key competencies in driving successful transformations to POM.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:56] Moving Into Product Management - [00:05:40] Key Theme of “Transformed” - [00:07:13] Product Operating Model (POM) - [00:10:39] Model, Not a Framework - [00:15:52] The Driver’s Seat in POM - [00:19:28] Changing How You Build - [00:23:00] Importance of Instrumentation & Monitoring - [00:26:37] Changing How You Solve Problems - [00:28:27] Product Discovery & Experimentation - [00:32:03] Empowerment & Trust - [00:36:10] Changing How You Decide What Problems to Solve - [00:39:21] Unified Product Vision & Strategy - [00:42:56] The Role of the CEO & Product Leaders - [00:44:45] Product Model Competencies - [00:48:36] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:53:05] _____ Chris Jones’s BioChris has spent over 30 years building and leading product teams that defined new product categories at startups to F500 software companies including Lookout, Symantec, and Vontu. A holder of multiple patents, he has discovered and developed new products in consumer and enterprise mobile, web, data, and platform services. Chris has worked directly with over 200 companies ranging from startups to very large enterprise across a wide variety of technologies, business models and industries. Chris has worked directly with leadership and operational teams at these companies to better align their organization, process, tools, and culture with modern product best practices. Follow Chris: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/chrisjonessvpg Silicon Valley Product Group – svpg.com SVPG Product Masterclass – eventbrite.com/e/svpg-product-masterclass-asiapac-timing-tickets-874015693467 _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/185.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Contract testing is a form of testing where you are verifying two systems have the same shared understanding about the expectations." Lewis Prescott is the coauthor of “Contract Testing in Action”. In this episode, join us to demystify contract testing and its critical role in modern software development. Discover how contract testing ensures reliable software integration, particularly in complex microservice architectures. Lewis explains the core concepts, the difference between consumer-driven and provider-driven approaches, and how contract testing fits into your testing strategy and CI/CD pipeline. We also touch on the practicalities of implementing contract testing, including tool options like Pact, and how it can also be applied in event-driven architectures. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or just starting, this episode offers valuable insights to help you level up your software development approach.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:56] Problems Contract Testing is Solving - [00:04:57] Contract Testing Use Cases - [00:07:20] Contract Testing Components - [00:09:52] Shared Understanding of the Expectations - [00:11:42] Benefits of Contract Testing - [00:15:02] Contract Testing in Testing Pyramid - [00:18:29] Contract vs Unit vs Integration Tests - [00:19:37] Contract Testing for Public APIs - [00:21:28] Types of Contract Testing - [00:22:46] CI/CD Workflow with Contract Testing - [00:25:33] Provider Workflow - [00:31:55] Getting the Buy-In - [00:33:31] Owning the Broker - [00:36:00] Pact & Other Tooling - [00:37:19] Versioning Contracts - [00:39:34] Consumer-Driven Contract Testing - [00:42:15] Contract Testing for Event-Driven Architecture - [00:46:53] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:49:40] _____ Lewis Prescott’s BioLewis Prescott is a Test Specialist at IBM. He has 9 years experience in software testing, is a recognized champion of Contract Testing and course author at Test Automation University, as well as an active mentor in the testing community. Follow Lewis: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/lewis-prescott-12409a44/ Website – pactman.co.uk 📚 Contract Testing in Action – manning.com/books/contract-testing-in-action Book’s forum – livebook.manning.com/forum?product=cruz2 _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/184.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Strong teams embrace conflict. They use it as a tool, and they have their great way of handling disagreements." Hari Haralambiev is co-founder of SoftSkillsPills.com and author of the leadership newsletter “A Leader’s Tale”. In this episode, we discuss essential elements of team leadership and dynamics. Hari begins by sharing his insights on what makes a great software development team, emphasizing the importance of creating the right environment for collaboration and sustainable results. He introduces the TReE team model, a framework for assessing team dynamics, which stands for Trust, Results, and Evolution. Our conversation also explores the significance of handling conflicts and disagreements within teams, highlighting the role of leaders in fostering healthy conflict resolution. Hari provides strategies for maintaining team engagement during challenging times, such as layoffs and the pandemic, emphasizing the importance of open communication, focusing on controllable objectives, and the importance of authenticity and vulnerability in leadership.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:02:09] What Makes Software Development Team Great - [00:06:14] TReE Team Model - [00:08:40] Team Conflicts and Disagreements - [00:15:28] The Role of Leaders in Conflicts - [00:25:39] Making It Safe to Speak Up - [00:35:16] Maintaining Engagement During Tough Times - [00:43:49] Maintaining Mental Health for Leaders - [00:51:57] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:55:07] Fun Fact About Soft Skills Pills - [00:59:41] _____ Hari Haralambiev’s BioHari started his 20-year career in the IT industry as a software engineer, led dozens of projects as a manager of software teams, and reached the position of Innovation Director before starting his own company. For the past 10 years, he has focused on helping tech people work better together through team coaching and leadership & soft skills training. Hari is co-founder of SoftSkillsPills.com, the platform for dev teams who care about people, co-host of the popular Bulgarian podcast for IT people Radio Tochka 2, and author of the leadership newsletter/comic A Leader’s Tale. Follow Hari: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/haralambi-haralambiev Soft Skills Pills – softskillspills.com Newsletter – softskillspills.com/aleaderstale _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/183.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“We have 10 different aspects of quality, and testing is just a subset of activities in the overall quality culture. You need to have a good testing practice, but it’s just a tiny part of quality culture." Janet Gregory and Selena Delesie are the co-authors of “Assessing Agile Quality Practices Using QPAM”. In this episode, we discuss how to elevate and improve our organization’s quality culture and practices. Janet and Selena begin by explaining what quality culture truly entails, distinguishing it from a narrow focus on testing. They describe the QPAM model, breaking down its 10 quality aspects and 4 dimensions to provide you with a comprehensive model for assessing your quality practices. Gain insights on why social and sociotechnical aspects of quality are more critical than technical ones, and explore some quality aspects such as feedback loops, development approach, and defect management. Janet and Selena also elaborate on why they consider defect management to be of the lowest priority and provide reasoning for their decision. Whether you’re a seasoned quality professional or a team leader striving for continuous improvement, this episode contains valuable takeaways to help you build a quality-driven culture that delivers high-quality results. Tune in to learn actionable tips for conducting your own quality assessment and driving quality transformation in your organization.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:02:10] Quality Culture - [00:04:58] Quality & Testing - [00:06:42] Quality Assessment - [00:08:37] 10 Quality Aspects - [00:11:00] The Importance of Sociotechnical - [00:13:30] QPAM is Not a Maturity Model - [00:16:11] 4 Dimensions - [00:19:52] Feedback Loops - [00:23:09] Explaining Feedback Loops - [00:25:45] Development Approach - [00:30:18] Defect Management - [00:33:03] Understanding the Problem - [00:37:19] Conducting a Quality Assessment - [00:40:26] Insights from Past Assessments - [00:44:49] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:49:04] _____ Janet Gregory’s BioJanet Gregory is a testing and process consultant with DragonFire Inc. She specializes in showing agile teams how testing activities are necessary to develop good quality products. She works with teams to transition to agile development and has taught agile testing courses worldwide. She contributes articles to publications and enjoys sharing her experiences. Selena Delesie’s BioAs a coach, consultant, and trainer, Selena helps leaders and executives shift into healthy leadership, business agility and to engage the strengths and passions of their team to produce a highly creative, productive and vibrant workforce. She is a published author and invited speaker on agility, quality and leadership practices. Selena is co-author, with Janet Gregory, of the books Assessing Agile Quality Practices with QPAM, and A Guide for Facilitating Quality Assessments, as well as a contributing author to other published works. Follow Janet and Selena: Janet’s Twitter / X - @janetgregoryca Janet’s LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/janetgregory Janet’s Website - janetgregory.ca Agile Tester - agiletester.ca Selena’s LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/selenadelesie  Quality Assessments using QPAM bundle – https://leanpub.com/b/qualityassessmentsusingqpam _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/182.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Engineers make this mistake of thinking that if they just do the work, they’re going to be rewarded. But it’s just not how it happens. Be heads down, add the value, do great work, but don’t forget to make the noise." Louie Bacaj is a software engineer and engineering leader who turned entrepreneur. In this episode, Louie shares his unique career journey and valuable insights for aspiring tech professionals and aspiring entrepreneurs. Louie reveals the secrets behind his rapid career progression, sharing the key differences between working in a big corporate versus a nimble startup, and the challenges and rewards of wearing multiple hats. He offers practical advice on self-upskilling, embracing more senior management roles, and excelling at people management. He also shares timeless career advice for engineers at all stages of their journey. Louie then opens up about his entrepreneurial journey, emphasizing the importance of taking small bets and learning from the small wins, and embracing freedom and independence by building your own business. Plus, discover why strong writing skills are a secret weapon for success at any stage of your career. This episode is packed with actionable tips and inspiration for anyone navigating the tech industry – whether you’re a seasoned engineer or an aspiring entrepreneur.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:02:14] Big Corporate vs. Startup - [00:03:36] Wearing Multiple Hats - [00:06:02] Self-Upskilling Rapidly - [00:08:18] Louie’s Rapid Career Progression - [00:10:56] Getting Comfortable with More Senior Roles - [00:16:00] Tips on People Management - [00:21:55] Timeless Career Advice for Engineers - [00:25:41] Going Into Entrepreneurship - [00:31:24] Sense of Freedom & Independence - [00:38:59] Small Bets - [00:45:10] Learning from Small Wins - [00:49:12] The Importance of Writing Skills - [00:54:24] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:59:18] _____ Louie Bacaj’s BioLouie Bacaj is a Software Engineer and Engineering Leader who turned Entrepreneur. Over the last decade, he has helped build multiple engineering teams and systems that scaled to millions of users. But he decided to leave that career behind for entrepreneurship. Since quitting, he has realized that building an audience is an asset to entrepreneurship. It’s a great way to help people and to have them help him. But as an awkward engineer, he had no idea where to start. So he started writing and Tweeting his story. And everything he has learned so far. Since starting this entrepreneurial journey in September 2021, he has built multiple SaaS apps with his brother. He created two courses that have sold over 1500 times. And he has grown a sizeable audience. Follow Louie: Twitter / X – @LBacaj LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/louiebacaj Website – louiebacaj.com Small Bets – smallbets.com _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/181.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Learn the difference between activities and impact. Sometimes we spend our career trying to get really great at activities. Always ask yourself, what is the impact of the work I’m doing?” From Google Distinguished Engineer to early retirement, Kelsey Hightower has a career journey filled with lessons for tech professionals at every stage. In this episode, Kelsey reflects on his journey, revealing why he decided to retire early, and offering valuable insights and lessons learned. Discover the importance of an entrepreneurial mindset, differentiating between activity and impact, and building a strong personal brand. Kelsey reveals his top strategies for becoming a confident public speaker and shares his thoughts on staying engaged and planning your career path. Plus, we touch on the impact of AI on software developers’ careers. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from one of the industry’s most respected figures and gain a unique perspective on achieving career success and fulfillment.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:35] Entrepreneurial Mindset - [00:04:15] Taking Risks in Our Role - [00:07:50] Activity vs Impact - [00:11:45] Thinking in Bigger Impact - [00:16:04] Impact of AI - [00:24:52] Getting Good at Public Speaking - [00:31:23] Building a Personal Brand - [00:38:05] Retiring Early - [00:44:04] Getting Engaged in Our Career - [00:50:49] Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:57:48] _____ Kelsey Hightower’s BioKelsey has worn every hat possible throughout his career in tech and enjoys leadership roles focused on making things happen and shipping software. Prior to his retirement, he was a Distinguished Engineer at Google, where he worked on Google Cloud Platform. He is a strong open source advocate with a focus on building great software as well as great communities around them. He is also an accomplished author and keynote speaker with a knack for demystifying complex topics, doing live demos and enabling others to succeed. When he is not writing code, you can catch him giving technical workshops covering everything from programming to system administration. Follow Kelsey: Twitter / X – @kelseyhightower LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/kelsey-hightower-849b342b1 Email – [email protected] _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/180. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“As a startup, as a scaleup, you often get one chance. If the first impression is something that’s slow, doesn’t work, is down entirely, people will move on and go find some other way to solve that problem." Tim Cochran and Kennedy Collins are the co-authors of the “Bottlenecks of Scaleups” series published on Martin Fowler’s website. In this episode, we explore several key challenges faced by scaleups, such as product-engineering friction, service disruptions, accumulation of tech debt, and onboarding. Tim and Kennedy share their experiences and provide actionable advice on fostering collaboration, creating unified roadmaps, ensuring system reliability, and managing technical debt. They also emphasize the importance of efficient onboarding and developer experience in navigating the complexities of scaling up a startup.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:02:02] Definition of a Scaleup - [00:05:29] Bottleneck #1: Friction Between Product and Engineering - [00:08:24] Healthy Product-Engineering Tension - [00:13:36] Unified Product-Engineering Roadmap - [00:18:54] Bottleneck #2: Service Disruptions - [00:22:16] Cross Functional Attributes - [00:27:09] Bottleneck #3: Accumulation of Tech Debt - [00:32:39] Systems Ownership - [00:38:37] Bottleneck #4: Onboarding - [00:41:01] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:46:35] _____ Tim Cochran’s BioTim Cochran is a Principal in Amazon’s Software Builder Experience (ASBX) group. He was previously a Technical Director at Thoughtworks. Tim has over 20 years of experience working with both scaleups and enterprises. He advises on technology strategy and making the right technology investments to enable digital transformation goals. He is a vocal advocate for the developer experience and passionate about using data-driven approaches to improve it. Kennedy Collins' BioAt Thoughtworks, he leads product and design for the Central Market of North America. A product manager by trade and a designer by training, he’s most interested in creating (and helping others create) useful and valuable things — be it software or organizational structures. He’s also a bit of a nerd about strategy, human behavior, health and fitness, productivity, writing, coffee, cocktails, board games, and the history of product management. Follow Tim: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/timcochran Follow Kennedy: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/kennedycollins Twitter / X – @kennedycollins _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/179. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“99% of us aren’t working in big tech. There’s this impression that everybody works in big tech. There’s a huge world of software development out there that almost gets forgotten about in social media." John Crickett is the creator of “Coding Challenges” and a seasoned software engineer with over 30 years of experience. In this episode, John shares his diverse career path, including transitioning between individual contributor roles and management, founding his own business, and his passion for coding challenges. John explains the benefits of building real-world applications over algorithm-based ones, emphasizing the importance of learning by doing. John also shares practical tips on time management for continuous learning and debunks the myth that most software engineers work in big tech. We also explore the role of personal branding in today’s competitive job market. John provides tips on building a personal brand and leveraging social media to stay ahead in your tech career. Finally, John shares his perspective on the impact of AI on software engineering and how we can leverage AI in our day-to-day tasks. Whether you’re an aspiring developer or a seasoned professional, this episode provides practical advice and inspiration to help you level up in your tech career.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:51] John’s Multiple Roles Transition - [00:03:51] IC-Management Transition - [00:06:44] Importance of a Vision - [00:09:39] Lifestyle Business - [00:11:55] Coding Challenges - [00:13:30] Building Real-World Projects - [00:16:37] CodingChallenges.fyi - [00:18:39] Learning the Non-Functional Aspects - [00:21:17] Allocating Time to Learn - [00:24:04] Working for Non-Big Tech Companies - [00:27:15] Relevant Skills for Non-Big Tech - [00:30:39] AI Impact on Software Engineering Role - [00:34:44] AI for Coding Challenges - [00:38:21] Building Personal Brand - [00:39:54] How to Build Personal Brand - [00:44:28] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:49:25] _____ John Crickett’s BioJohn Crickett is a software engineer and sometimes a manager of software engineers. He has worked as both a senior individual contributor (Staff+) and a senior manager (VP Engineering, Head of Software Development). John writes about software engineering daily on LinkedIn and Twitter. He’s the founder of the popular “Coding Challenges” newsletter. Each week, John offers practical coding challenges to help software engineers enhance their skills through building real-world applications. Follow John: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/johncrickett/ Twitter/X – x.com/johncrickett Coding Challenges – codingchallenges.fyi Developing Skills – developingskills.substack.com _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/178. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Every software gets more complex over time. What we need to do as engineers is to find ways so that we can work with increasing complexity, but not increasing the cost of maintaining the software." Mauricio Aniche returns to the podcast for the second time and discuss with me his latest book, “Simple Object-Oriented Design”. Our discussion explores the intricacies of software design and shares practical strategies to manage software complexity through effective object-oriented design. Mauricio delves into the six key principles of a simple object-oriented design: making code small, keeping objects consistent, managing dependencies, designing good abstractions, handling external dependencies, and achieving modularisation. This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of object-oriented design and maintaining simplicity in their codebase!   Listen out for: Simple Object-Oriented Design Book - [00:03:19] No Perfect Code Design - [00:04:51] Managing Complexity - [00:06:37] Object-Oriented Design - [00:08:24] Design as an Everyday Activity - [00:09:43] Effective Iterative Design - [00:12:31] Refactoring - [00:14:31] 6 Principles of a Simple Object-Oriented Design - [00:16:40] Principle #1: Making Code Small - [00:21:06] Arguments Against Smaller Units - [00:23:18] Principle #2: Keeping Objects Consistent - [00:26:25] Don’t Fight Your Framework - [00:30:03] Principle #3: Managing Dependencies - [00:32:05] Separate High-Level (What) and Low-Level Code (How) - [00:33:34] Principle #4: Designing Good Abstractions - [00:36:31] Finding the Balance in Abstraction - [00:38:39] Principle #5: Handling External Dependencies and Infrastructure - [00:41:05] Principle #6: Achieving Modularisation - [00:45:12] Owing to Junior Developers - [00:49:18] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:50:32] _____ Mauricio Aniche’s BioDr. Maurício Aniche’s life mission is to help software engineers to become better and more productive. Maurício is a Tech Lead at Adyen, where he heads the Tech Academy team and leads different engineering enablement initiatives. He is the author of the “Effective Software Testing: A Developer’s Guide” and “Simple Object-Oriented Design” published by Manning. Maurício previously held a position as an assistant professor of software engineering at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, where his teaching efforts in software testing gave him the Computer Science Teacher of the Year 2021 award and the TU Delft Education Fellowship, a prestigious fellowship given to innovative lecturers. Follow Mauricio: Website – mauricioaniche.com LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/mauricioaniche Twitter / X – @mauricioaniche Simple Object-Oriented Design – https://www.manning.com/books/simple-object-oriented-design _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/177. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Always remember that system design interview is not about perfection. It is about trade-offs and being able to communicate them clearly and concisely." Zhiyong Tan is the author of “Acing the System Design Interview”. In this episode, he joins me in demystifying the system design interview process. He shares insights into what to expect, how to tackle common challenges like time management, anxiety, and knowledge gaps, and reveals the core principles that guide successful system design interview. Zhiyong dives deep into common pitfalls, offering advice on handling tricky topics like requirements gathering, data consistency, scaling problems, and service design. He also provides practical tips on how to learn and grow from system design interview failures, turning setbacks into stepping stones towards success. Whether you’re a seasoned engineer or just starting your tech career, this episode offers valuable insights and actionable advice to help you ace your next system design interview.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:43] System Design Interview - [00:05:03] Trade-offs - [00:07:36] Managing the Time - [00:09:51] Handling What You Don’t Know - [00:13:27] Managing Anxiety - [00:15:40] System Design Interview Principles - [00:18:32] Non-Functional Requirements - [00:21:22] Data Consistency - [00:25:11] Database Scaling Problem - [00:28:41] Distributed Transactions - [00:33:09] Functional Requirements & API Design - [00:36:31] Failing System Design Interview - [00:38:38] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:42:02] _____ Zhiyong Tan’s BioZhiyong Tan is the author of Acing the System Design Interview. He is the founder of Tingxie, an app for learning Chinese as a second language. Previously, he was an Engineering Manager and Staff Engineer at PayPal, a senior software engineer at Uber, and a software and data engineer at various startups. Follow Zhiyong: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/zytan Acing System Design Interview – https://www.manning.com/books/acing-the-system-design-interview Tingxie (iOS) – https://apps.apple.com/us/app/%E5%90%AC%E5%86%99-chinese-spelling-dictation/id6462944919 Tingxie (Android) – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zhiyong.tingxie Jointgoals.com – https://www.jointgoals.com/ Manning forum – https://livebook.manning.com/forum _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/176. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“All data scientists and analysts should spend more time in the business, outside the data sets, just to see how the actual business works. Because then you have the context, and then you understand the columns you’re seeing in the data." David Asboth, author of “Solve Any Data Analysis Problem” and co-host of the “Half Stack Data Science” podcast, shares practical tips for solving real-world data analysis challenges. He highlights the gap between academic training and industry demands, emphasizing the importance of understanding the business problem and maintaining a results-driven approach. David offers practical insights on data dictionary, data modeling, data cleaning, data lake, and prediction analysis. We also explore AI’s impact on data analysis and the importance of critical thinking when leveraging AI solutions. Tune in to level up your skills and become an indispensable, results-driven data analyst.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:38] Half Stack Data Science Podcast - [00:06:33] Real-World Data Analysis Gaps - [00:10:46] Understanding the Business/Problem - [00:15:36] Result-Driven Data Analysis - [00:18:28] Feedback Iteration - [00:21:44] Data Dictionary - [00:23:48] Data Modeling - [00:27:18] Data Cleaning - [00:30:43] Data Lake - [00:35:05] Common Data Analysis Tasks - [00:36:50] Prediction Analysis - [00:40:23] The Impact of AI on Data Analysis - [00:43:15] Importance of Critical Thinking - [00:47:05] Common Tasks Solved by AI - [00:50:07] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:53:10] _____ David Asboth’s BioDavid is a “data generalist”; currently a freelance data consultant and educator with an MSc. in Data Science and a background in software and web development. With over 6 years experience teaching, he has taught everyone from junior analysts up to C-level executives in industries like banking and management consulting about how to successfully apply data science, machine learning, and AI to their day-to-day roles. He co-hosts the Half Stack Data Science podcast about data science in the real world and is the author of Solve Any Data Analysis Problem, a book about the data skills that aspiring analysts actually need in their jobs, which will be published by Manning in 2024. Follow David: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/david-asboth-9256772 Website – davidasboth.com Podcast – halfstackdatascience.com _____ Our Sponsors Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/175. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Raise the bar of the team so that they bring sustainable practices. If your code stinks, no matter how you desire to be agile, you cannot respond to the change." Dr. Venkat Subramaniam is a renowned figure in the software development community, an award-winning author and founder of Agile Developer, Inc. In this episode, Venkat sheds light on the frequently overlooked challenges of software development and provides valuable insights for succeeding in the field. We delve into the misalignment between understanding and practising agile development, the quality gaps that exist between software developers in the industry, the essential technical practices that often get neglected, and the critical role of software architects and technical leaders in steering successful software projects and teams. If you’re ready for some hard-hitting truths and actionable advice to elevate your software development game, this episode is a must-listen.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:51] State of Agile Development - [00:03:36] Agile Development Misalignment - [00:07:04] The Developers' Gap - [00:15:55] Important Technical Practices - [00:26:37] The Role of an Architect - [00:36:04] The Role of Technical Leaders - [00:44:04] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:51:19] _____ Venkat Subramaniam’s BioDr. Venkat Subramaniam is an award-winning author, founder of Agile Developer, Inc., an instructional professor at the University of Houston, and the creator of the dev2next conference. He has trained and mentored thousands of software developers in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia, and is a regularly-invited speaker at several international conferences. Venkat helps his clients effectively apply and succeed with sustainable agile practices on their software projects. Venkat is a (co)author of multiple technical books, including the 2007 Jolt Productivity award winning book Practices of an Agile Developer. You can find a list of his books at https://www.agiledeveloper.com. You can reach him by email at [email protected] or on Twitter/X at @venkat_s. Follow Dr. Venkat: Website – www.agiledeveloper.com Twitter / X – @venkat_s LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/vsubramaniam Email – [email protected] _____ Our Sponsors Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/174. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Three characteristics of an organization that is operating with maximal effectiveness are value, clarity, and flow." Are you feeling the strain of growth? Struggling to maintain alignment and efficiency as your organization scales? In this episode, I sit down with Steve Pereira and Andrew Davis, authors of the groundbreaking new book, “Flow Engineering”. Learn why traditional scaling methods focusing on rigid coordination can actually hinder progress and how flow engineering offers a solution. We delve into the challenges and paradox of scaling, the core principles of flow engineering, its five primary mapping techniques, and the leadership mindset shift required to create a culture of flow engineering. If you’re looking to overcome misalignment and optimize performance as you scale, this episode is a must-listen!   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:33] The Problem with Scale - [00:07:12] The Dangers of Increasing Coordination - [00:14:49] The Paradox of Scale - [00:19:58] Flow Engineering - [00:23:34] 5 Primary Maps - [00:27:50] The Biggest Impact Maps - [00:32:31] All Maps are Wrong - [00:38:23] 5 Principles of Flow Engineering - [00:40:11] Leading Flow Engineering - [00:46:00] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:53] _____ Steve Pereira’s BioSteve Pereira has spent over two decades improving the flow of work across organizations. He’s worked through tech support, IT management, build and release engineering, and as a founding CTO for enterprise SaaS. After shifting to consulting large enterprises on value stream performance improvement, he created Flow Engineering to make value stream mapping simple, quick, and actionable. He serves as lead consultant for Visible Value Stream Consulting, as a board advisor to the Value Stream Management Consortium, Chair of the OASIS Value Stream Management Interoperability technical committee, and co-founder of the Flow Collective to bring flow-focused professionals together. Andrew Davis’s BioAndrew Davis is a Salesforce DevOps specialist who’s passionate about helping teams deliver innovation, build trust, and improve their performance. After studying engineering at Virginia Tech and Johns Hopkins he became a Buddhist monk, teaching and building meditation communities for almost 15 years. Since 2014, he’s focused on the Salesforce platform as a developer, consultant, and architect. He launched Wipro’s Salesforce DevOps practice, and focuses on promoting modern development practices for Salesforce. He is the Chief Product Officer for AutoRABIT, helping people understand the importance of DevOps for scaling Salesforce implementations. He lives in San Diego with his amazing wife and very cuddly dog. Follow Steve and Andrew: Website – flowengineering.org Steve’s LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/devopsto Andrew’s LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/andrewdavis-io Andrew’s Twitter/ X – @AndrewDavis_io _____ Our Sponsors Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/173. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“The quality is connected to the risk, and the risk is connected to the testing. If we don’t keep an eye on quality, our testing and development will drift, because we are no longer building the thing that people care about anymore." Mark Winteringham is a quality engineer and the author of “Testing Web APIs”. In this episode, discover how holistic, risk-based testing strategies can transform your software quality. Mark explains how to prioritize our testing by understanding what users truly value and translating that into different risk-based testing strategies, such as testing API design, exploratory testing, automated testing, and acceptance test-driven design (ATDD). Mark also reveals the testing Venn diagram as our testing strategic roadmap. Finally, get a glimpse of Mark’s upcoming book “AI-Assisted Testing” and learn how AI will evolve the roles of testers and developers.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:24] Writing “Testing Web APIs” - [00:05:17] Holistic Testing Strategy - [00:07:48] Start With Understanding the Problem - [00:11:02] Testing Venn Diagram Model - [00:14:11] Risk-Based Testing - [00:18:22] Defining Quality & Quality Attributes - [00:22:29] Testing API Design - [00:26:41] Exploratory Testing - [00:32:08] Automated Testing - [00:36:18] Acceptance Test-Driven Design (ATDD) - [00:41:54] “AI-Assisted Testing” Book - [00:45:51] Evolution of Developer and Tester Roles - [00:48:46] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:53:51] _____ Mark Winteringham’s BioMark Winteringham is a quality engineer, course director, and author of “AI Assisted Testing” and “Testing Web APIs”, with over 10 years of experience providing testing expertise on award-winning projects across a wide range of technology sectors. He is an advocate for modern risk-based testing practices, holistic based Automation strategies, Behaviour Driven Development and Exploratory testing techniques. Follow Mark: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/markwinteringham/ Twitter / X – @2bittester Website – mwtestconsultancy.co.uk _____ Our Sponsors Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/172. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Bureaucracy in itself is neither good nor bad. However, it often gets in the way and prevents important things you need to do. A good bureaucracy is lean, learning, and enabling." Mark Schwartz is an Enterprise Strategist at AWS and the author of multiple books from IT Revolution. In this episode, we discuss his two latest books on the topics of bureaucracy and ethics. Mark begins by sharing his perspective on the impact of bureaucracy on digital transformation. He explains the definition of bureaucracy and why it tends to have a negative connotation. Mark describes the characteristics of a good bureaucracy and how leaders can play an important role in managing bureaucracy. Next, Mark shares his reasons for writing about ethics in his latest book, why it is becoming more relevant in the digital world, and how leaders can make better ethical decisions in the current fast-paced business world.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:22] State of Digital Transformation - [00:04:33] Bureaucracy - [00:08:31] Bureaucracy and Process Improvement - [00:13:14] IT as the Biggest Bureaucrats - [00:15:30] Bureaucracy Creates Business Value - [00:18:09] Characteristics of Good Bureaucracy - [00:20:40] Leaders' Roles Towards Bureaucracy - [00:26:05] Writing About Ethics - [00:34:10] How to Make Ethical Decisions - [00:41:12] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:54:21] _____ Mark Schwartz’s BioMark Schwartz is an iconoclastic CIO and a playful crafter of ideas, an inveterate purveyor of lucubratory prose. He has been an IT leader in organizations small and large, public, private, and nonprofit. As an Enterprise Strategist for Amazon Web Services, he uses his CIO experience to bring strategies to enterprises or enterprises to strategies, and bring both to the cloud. As the CIO of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, he provoked the federal government into adopting Agile and DevOps practices. Mark speaks frequently on innovation, bureaucratic implications of DevOps, and using Agile processes in low-trust environments. With a BS in computer science from Yale, a master’s in philosophy from Yale, and an MBA from Wharton, Mark is either an expert on the business value of IT or else he just thinks about it a lot. Follow Mark: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/innovativecio _____ Our Sponsors Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/171. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Soft skills are always going to be those ladders for you to climb in your career, whereas your tech skills can turn into snakes, meaning you’ve got to start again with another skill." Jacqui Read, author of “Communication Patterns,” joins in this episode to discuss why strong communication skills are crucial for developers and technical leaders, often surpassing the importance of merely technical expertise. We delve into four key communication areas: visual communication, multimodal communication, communicating knowledge, and communicating remotely. During the discussion, Jacqui suggests several practical patterns you can immediately implement to level up your communication skills, such as knowing your audience, the big picture comes first, and perspective-driven documentation.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:40] Architecture Kata - [00:03:17] Writing Communication Patterns - [00:05:03] Importance of Soft Skills - [00:07:33] Visual Communication - [00:09:24] Visual Communication Essentials - [00:12:12] Visual Narrative - [00:17:46] Multimodal Communication - [00:21:09] Verbal & Non-Verbal Communication - [00:26:29] Encoding & Decoding - [00:29:58] Communicating Knowledge - [00:32:22] Tips for Capturing Knowledge - [00:40:14] Get Feedback Early & Just-in-Time - [00:43:05] Communicating Remotely - [00:48:59] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:54:23] _____ Jacqui Read’s BioJacqui Read is an internationally-recognised solution and enterprise architect, and author of Communication Patterns: A Guide for Developers and Architects. She teaches public and private workshops and speaks at international conferences on topics such as architecture practices, technical communication, and systems design. Jacqui specialises in untangling and extracting value from data and knowledge, helping businesses to determine direction in complex environments. Her professional interests include collaborative modelling, knowledge management, Domain-Driven Design, sociotechnical architecture, and modernising enterprise architecture practices. Outside of work she enjoys gardening and strumming her ukulele while singing at the same time. Follow Jacqui: Personal Website – jacquiread.com LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/jacquelineread Book’s Website – communicationpatternsbook.com _____ Our Sponsors Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/170. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“As technology has become more and more pervasive, experience has become more and more important. And if companies don’t think of the experience, then users don’t think of the company." Satyam Kantamneni is the CEO of UXReactor and the author of “User Experience Design”. In this episode, Satyam delves into the power of user experience design to drive business growth and value. Satyam explains why user experience design is paramount for success and reveals the common gaps that prevent companies from truly becoming user-centric. He dissects the concept of Experience Value Chain, illustrating the levels of UX (user experience), PX (product experience), and XT (experience transformation). Satyam provides insights into how experience-driven organizations establish strong business moats and unlock incredible business values. He defines the concept of experience debt, urging organizations to prioritize a relentless pursuit of magical user experiences. Satyam also shares the PragmaticUX playbook and mindsets, providing a roadmap for organizations seeking to embark on the transformative journey towards XT.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:13] State of UX and Design - [00:02:35] The Gap for Being User-Centered - [00:04:51] Experience Value Chain - [00:09:09] Moving Beyond Just UI - [00:12:30] Trinity of Collaboration - [00:15:30] 3 Levels of Experience - [00:18:58] Experience Debt - [00:21:40] Experience Transformation (XT) - [00:24:16] XT & Business Moat - [00:28:04] PragmaticUX Playbook - [00:30:58] PragmaticUX Mindsets - [00:34:14] Organization’s Empathy - [00:40:14] Getting User’s Feedback - [00:43:24] Tips to Get Started - [00:45:04] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:47:10] _____ Satyam Kantamneni’s BioSatyam is the Chief Experience Officer at UXReactor. In less than 7 years, UXReactor has become the fastest growing specialized experience design firm in the US, with a team of 50+ employees spread over three continents. Through UXReactor, Satyam demonstrated that UX can and should drive enterprise-wide innovation and business outcomes. UXReactor has enabled its clients-partners to generate hundreds of millions in additional revenue from user-centered innovation. Satyam is passionate about user-centered innovation, and he authored a book titled User Experience Playbook: A Practical to Fuel Business Growth. Follow Satyam: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/kantamneni UXReactor – uxreactor.com _____ Our Sponsors Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/169. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“If you can outsource it and if it’s not something that makes you different, you should use a service, because you’ll always be asked to do more things than you can build that are differentiated to your organization.” Are you ever frustrated by your software development team getting bogged down doing undifferentiated tasks, leaving less time for innovation? In this episode, Joseph Emison, co-founder and CTO of Branch Insurance and author of “Serverless as a Game Changer,” suggests how serverless technology can streamline the way we do software development. Joe starts by explaining the existing gap between the best and average software development teams, highlighting how teams often prioritize undifferentiated tasks instead of focusing on what truly sets them apart. He challenges the conventional wisdom that code is an asset and explains why it can be a liability. Joe breaks down the definition of serverless technology and delves into the real costs of software development. He addresses a few of the most commonly raised objections to adopting serverless: lock-in, security, and uptime. You’ll also learn the Branch development principle and how they successfully implement serverless architecture and gain many benefits from the approach. This episode is a must-listen for any developer or engineering leader looking to gain an understanding of serverless technology and revolutionize the way we approach software development.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:09] Writing “Serverless as a Game Changer” - [00:04:25] Software Development Teams Gap - [00:11:07] Differentiated vs Undifferentiated - [00:14:52] The Real Costs of Software Development - [00:19:57] The Serverless Mindset - [00:24:58] Code is a Liability - [00:27:44] Infrastructure as a Code - [00:31:06] Serverless Definition - [00:32:29] Serverless Security Objections - [00:36:22] Serverless Uptime Objections - [00:40:30] Branch Development Principle - [00:45:22] Hiring Junior Developers - [00:48:39] Branch’s Cloud Bill - [00:54:06] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:55:27] _____ Joseph Emison’s BioJoe Emison is the co-founder and CTO of Branch Insurance, a B corporation and insurance carrier that makes it simple to bundle home and auto insurance. Previously, Joe founded BuildFax (acquired by Verisk), Spaceful (acquired by DMGT), and BluePrince (acquired by Harris Computer). Joe is also the author of “Serverless as a Game Changer: How to Get the Most out of the Cloud”. Follow Joe: Twitter / X – @JoeEmison LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/joemastersemison Serverless as a Game Changer: How to Get the Most Out of The Cloud – https://www.amazon.com/dp/0137392621/ _____ Our Sponsors Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/168. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“A blind spot is the gap between your intention and your impact. The more you can narrow the gap, the more you’re going to be able to be effective in your role and drive more performance." Marisa Murray is the CEO of Leaderley and the author of “Blind Spots”. In this episode, Marisa delves into blind spots and explains why leaders must uncover them to become truly effective and great. She describes a blind spot as the gap between our intention and impact, and explains how it can be difficult for leaders to get feedback about their blind spots. Marisa shares the 7 different blind spots from her book and dives deeper into three of them in this conversation: false assumptions, unhealthy detachments, and mismatched mindsets. Marisa also suggests how we can cultivate a culture to help us uncover our blind spots and also shares her practical tips for acknowledging positive intent.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:46] Writing “Blind Spots” - [00:07:05] Blind Spot - [00:10:08] Intention and Impact - [00:11:51] Strengths and Blind Spots - [00:14:48] Getting Feedback for Leaders - [00:18:45] 7 Blind Spots - [00:23:07] Bias and Blind Spot - [00:29:43] False Assumptions - [00:31:41] Unhealthy Detachment - [00:35:28] Mismatched Mindsets - [00:41:34] Uncovering Our Blind Spots - [00:45:05] The 3As of an Iteractive Leader - [00:48:12] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:49:33] _____ Marisa Murray’s BioMarisa Murray P. Eng., MBA, PCC is a leadership development expert and the CEO of Leaderley International, an organization dedicated to helping executives become better leaders in today’s rapidly changing, highly complex world. Marisa leverages her over two decades of executive experience as a former Partner with Accenture and VP at Bell Canada in providing executive coaching, and leadership development services for organizations including Molson-Coors, Pratt & Whitney and Queen’s University. Follow Marisa: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/murraymarisa Leaderley International – www.leaderley.com Weekly Leaderley tips – https://www.leaderley.com/leadership-tips Get feedback for free at https://www.leaderley.com/FeedbackFriend _____ Our Sponsors Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/167. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Kanban is a strategy for optimizing the flow of value to your customers by focusing on three main goals: efficiency, effectiveness, and predictability." Colleen Johnson is the CEO of ProKanban, and in this episode, we delve into the fundamentals of Kanban and how you can use it to optimize your workflow. We start by defining Kanban and exploring its core principles. You’ll learn why work item age is the single most important aspect you should track in Kanban. Colleen then explains the concept of Service Level Expectation (SLE) and how it can improve predictability and client satisfaction. We also discuss the importance of smaller batch sizes, defining workflow policies, handling blockers, and the benefits of completing already started work items to optimize flow. We also touch on scaling Kanban beyond an individual team and discuss why Kanban is suitable for navigating unpredictable situations like the current economic climate. Towards the end, Colleen shares Women in Kanban, a community and scholarship programme to empower women to excel in Kanban.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:18] Kanban - [00:04:24] Work Item Age - [00:04:59] Calculating Work Item Age - [00:10:20] Small Batch Size - [00:13:08] Service Level Expectation (SLE) - [00:16:54] Managing Blockers - [00:21:05] Stop Pulling More, Finish Open Work Items - [00:24:46] Optimizing Flow - [00:28:14] Scaling Kanban Beyond a Team - [00:30:17] Kanban in the Current Tough Time - [00:34:37] Tools to Get Started - [00:37:21] Women in Kanban - [00:39:33] Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:41:45] _____ Colleen Johnson’s BioColleen is the CEO of ProKanban.org, an inclusive Kanban learning community. She is also co-founder of ScatterSpoke, a proud Atlassian Ventures Portfolio company driving actionable improvements through retrospective data. She has presented and taught agile to audiences around the world. As a coach, she has worked across a range of industries with clients like Wells Fargo, eTrade, Home Depot, Tanium, Gemini, and more. Colleen helps organizations apply a systems thinking approach to aligning agile methodologies end-to-end. She has served as a board member for Agile Denver, the Agile Uprising, and chair of the Mile High Agile Conference. She is happiest in the woods, camping with her three kids and very patient husband. Follow Colleen: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/colleen-johnson/ Twitter – @scrumhive Threads – @colleenrae.j ProKanban – prokanban.org Women in Kanban – https://prokanban.org/women-in-kanban/ _____ Our Sponsors Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/164. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“As software engineers, only a fraction of your time is spent coding. A lot of your time is spent thinking. And I’m not seeing LLMs taking that away from us anytime soon, at least, for now." Can AI help you learn to code? Will AI take your developer job? Join me discussing these topics with Leo Porter and Daniel Zingaro, the co-authors of “Learning AI-Assisted Python Programming”. In this episode, we discuss the impact of AI assistants on how we learn and approach programming, particularly for students and educators. We examine the shifting skillset of developers, emphasizing the importance of code reading, specification, testing, and problem decomposition over syntax and library semantics. We also confront critical questions like the ethical implications of AI, the potential impact on developers’ job, and whether it can help lead us to a more equitable society.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:01:11] AI Assistant - [00:07:55] How AI Assistant Affect Student - [00:11:04] Problem Decomposition Skill - [00:16:46] How LLM Works - [00:19:47] Prompt Engineering - [00:23:36] Automating Tedious Tasks - [00:29:29] AI Ethical Issues - [00:33:30] AI Replacing Developers - [00:40:08] A More Equitable Society - [00:47:34] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:55:58] _____ Leo Porter’s BioLeo Porter is a Teaching Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at UC San Diego. He is best known for his award-winning research on the impact of Peer Instruction in computing courses, the use of clicker data to predict student outcomes, and the development of the Basic Data Structures Concept Inventory. He co-wrote the first book on integrating LLMs into the instruction of programming with Daniel Zingaro, entitled “Learn AI-Assisted Python Programming: With GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT”. He also co-teaches popular Coursera and edX courses with over 500,000 enrolled learners. He is a Distinguished Member of the ACM. Daniel Zingaro’s BioDr. Daniel Zingaro is an award-winning Associate Teaching Professor of Mathematical and Computational Sciences at the University of Toronto Mississauga. He is well known for his uniquely interactive approach to teaching and internationally recognized for his expertise in active learning. He is the co-author of “Learn AI-Assisted Python Programming” (Manning Publications, 2023), author of “Algorithmic Thinking” 2/e (No Starch Press, 2024), co-author of “Start Competitive Programming!” (self-published, 2024), and author of Learn to Code by Solving Problems (No Starch Press, 2021). Follow Leo & Daniel: Leo’s LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/leoporter/ Daniel’s LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/danielzingaro _____ Our Sponsors Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/165. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“The number one result of a good lead is reduced technical debt. Seeing technical debt just melts away and then stops occurring in the future. If you are a good lead, your systems will be stable all the time.” Are you a developer ready to step up and lead? Join us as we explore the world of lead development with Shelley Benhoff, author of “Lead Developer Career Guide”. In this episode, Shelley sheds light on the core responsibilities of a lead developer, clarifying the distinctions between different leadership titles within the field. We discuss the must-have leadership and mentoring skills you need to transform you into an inspiring leader. Shelley defines key success metrics and provides a self-assessment checklist to gauge your readiness for this exciting role. Shelley also covers the importance of a lead developer in optimizing development processes and fostering strong collaborations with stakeholders.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:00:59] Tips for Building Courses - [00:02:20] Writing “Lead Developer Career Guide” - [00:04:28] The Different Lead Developer Titles - [00:06:45] Leadership Skills - [00:08:43] Main Responsibilities - [00:10:28] Mentoring - [00:12:42] Success Measure - [00:14:22] Getting Appreciated - [00:16:19] Career Trajectory - [00:18:13] Readiness Check - [00:21:42] Leadership Styles - [00:24:12] Development Standards - [00:27:50] Optimizing The Development Process - [00:30:02] Learning from Different Stakeholders - [00:31:29] Writing Technical Documentation - [00:33:36] Preventive Measures - [00:36:55] Providing Estimates - [00:39:44] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:41:50] _____ Shelley Benhoff’s BioShelley has 20+ years of experience in IT as a Business Owner, Author, Speaker, Docker Community Leader, and Sitecore Technology MVP. She has a passion for tiaras, technology, gaming, and general nerdery. She loves to learn new things as well as mentor and teach others. She teaches content creation, content marketing, leadership, communication, Docker, and Sitecore development. Shelley is currently a Co-Owner of HoffsTech, LLC, an organization that she started with her family to provide online courses and digital media production. Follow Shelley: Website – hoffstech.com Twitter / X – @SBenhoff LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/shelley-benhoff-69787513/ Tiaras and Tech Podcast – https://tiarasandtech.com/ TikTok – @tiarasandtech Instagram – @tiarasandtech Threads – @tiarasandtech _____ Our Sponsors Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/164. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“The whole idea of being intentional is instead of being reactive or unintentional and just letting your life come to you, we have this opportunity to choose what we want to do and who we want to become." Are you tired of feeling uninspired and disengaged in your engineering career? If so, this episode is for you! Jeff Perry is back again for a second episode with his latest book, “The Intentional Engineer”. In this episode, Jeff uncovers the keys to building a meaningful, fulfilling career by cultivating more intentionality. We dive into the ‘quiet quitting’ phenomenon happening worldwide, and Jeff shares his personal story of disengagement during a particular stage in his career. Learn Jeff’s Intentional Engineer model to assess your current situation and start becoming more intentional toward your lives and career. You will also learn the importance of identifying your core values, the power of mindsets, getting your career clarity, finding your genius zones, and a few core skills you should learn for living more intentionally!   Listen out for: Writing “The Intentional Engineer” - [00:03:31] Jeff’s Story of Becoming Intentional - [00:08:33] Quiet Quitting Phenomenon - [00:11:17] Being Intentional - [00:14:41] Intentional Engineer Model - [00:17:50] Going Beyond the Tipping Point - [00:21:25] Identifying Core Values - [00:25:01] The Power of Mindsets - [00:28:00] Outwards vs Inward Mindsets - [00:33:10] Getting Career Clarity - [00:36:42] Genius Zone - [00:39:57] Getting More Into Genius Zone - [00:42:54] Skills to Support Your Intentions - [00:45:42] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:48:44] _____ Jeff Perry’s BioJeff Perry is a leadership and career expert known for helping individuals, teams, and organizations unlock their potential in all facets of life. Given his background in engineering, business, and leadership, he specializes in working with engineering and technical professionals, but the principles he shares are universal. Jeff received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Brigham Young University, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Washington. Follow Jeff: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffcperry/ Personal Website – jeff-perry.com Engineering Career Coach Podcast – https://engineeringmanagementinstitute.org/the-podcast/ _____ Our Sponsors Miro is your team's visual workspace to connect, collaborate, and create innovations together, from anywhere. Sign up today at miro.com/podcast and get your first 3 Miro boards free forever. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/163. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“The People Playbook: First, be clear about your goals and communicate with massive clarity to your team what you’re trying to accomplish. Second, be brilliant at the basics." Andrew Bartlow is the co-founder of the People Leader Accelerator and the co-author of “Scaling for Success”. In this episode, Andrew discusses the common challenges faced by high-growth organizations and offers strategies for successful scaling. He emphasizes the significance of organizations creating a unique people’s playbook and cautions against blindly adopting best practices from other companies. Andrew highlights 7 essential people practices organizations should prioritize, which includes organizational structure, learning & development, and culture & engagement.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:55] Writing “Scaling for Success” - [00:06:56] High-Growth Organization Challenges - [00:08:52] Goldilocks Zone - [00:11:11] People Playbook - [00:12:52] The Danger of Best Practices - [00:15:13] Crisis of Leadership & Autonomy - [00:17:29] Lack of Role Clarity - [00:21:34] 7 Key People Practices - [00:25:45] Key Practice: Organizational Structure - [00:30:44] Politics & Power Dynamics - [00:37:49] Key Practice: Learning & Development - [00:40:30] Key Practice: Culture, Engagement & Communications - [00:46:22] Sensing Employee Engagement - [00:52:17] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:55:14] _____ Andrew Bartlow’s BioAndrew Bartlow has almost 25 years of experience as a thought leader in organizational effectiveness, and as a practical operator linking business strategy to HR priorities inside corporations. In addition to advisory and mentoring activities through Series B Consulting, Andrew serves as an Operating Partner & Senior Advisor for Altamont Capital Partners, the cofounder and Network Director for WiseGrowth Networks, the cofounder and Managing Partner of People Leader Accelerator, and an HR Venture Advisor for SemperVirens Venture Capital. Follow Andrew: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/bartlow People Leader Accelerator – peopleleaderaccelerator.com Series B Consulting – seriesbconsulting.com _____ Our Sponsors Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/162. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Why are some software developers average and some others great? After a few years, I noticed that creativity is an important aspect of problem-solving and software development.” Wouter Groeneveld is a software engineer, computer science education researcher, and the author of “The Creative Programmer”. In this episode, Wouter dives deep into what makes good engineers truly exceptional: creativity! Wouter describes his definition of creativity and shares the 7 key dimensions of a creative programmer - from technical mastery to embracing constraints and being curious. Listen to the episode to take your coding to the next level and unleash your inner creativity as a software engineer!   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:35] Reasons Software Projects Fail - [00:06:10] The Creative Programmer - [00:08:29] Social Approval & Seniority Aspects - [00:14:06] Technical Knowledge: Getting More Inputs - [00:17:39] Personal Knowledge Management - [00:20:22] Creativity Begets Creativity - [00:23:37] Collaboration & Communication - [00:25:37] Collective Creativity - [00:29:05] Constraints - [00:30:55] Critical Thinking - [00:35:33] Creative State of Mind - [00:39:42] Virtual Interruptions - [00:41:56] Well-Rested - [00:44:36] Curiosity & Perseverance - [00:47:11] 2 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:49:04] _____ Wouter Groeneveld’s BioWouter Groeneveld is a software engineer, computer science education researcher, and professional bread baker. Wouter was an enterprise software engineer for 11 years with a passion for inspiring and teaching others. After a few years of experience, he became involved in teaching, coaching, and onboarding. Witnessing the failure of many software projects led him to ask the following question: What makes a good software engineer? That question ultimately caused him to quit his job in the industry in 2018 and rejoin academia. Since then, Wouter has been conducting research on nontechnical skills in the software engineering world. He has written extensively about the topic. A list of his academic publications can be found at https://brainbaking.com/works/papers/ (all papers are open access).. Follow Wouter: Website – brainbaking.com Email – ⁠[email protected]⁠ _____ Our Sponsors Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/161. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“If we want to deliver better results, we need to change the system and our way of working." Gil Broza is an Agile leadership expert and the author of the latest book “Deliver Better Results”. In this episode, Gil discusses ways to level up our value delivery system to deliver better results. We first delve into the fundamental concept of systems thinking and cause-effect relationships, which are exemplified by reinforcing and balancing loops. Gil also explains the importance of ways of working, particularly on shifting mindset and focusing on people first before the process. Gil then explains the SQUARE Model detailed in his book, and how the model helps us understand and assess our system’s fitness for purpose easily. He also shares some of the 10 strategies from his book that we can use to enhance our fitness level and deliver better results.  Listen out for: Career Journey - [03:43] Deliver Better Results - [06:25] Systems Thinking - [11:15] Reinforcing & Balancing Loop - [14:15] Ways of Working - [16:24] Mindset: Values, Beliefs, Principles - [19:08] People First vs Process First - [23:22] SQUARE Model - [27:08] What Matters Most - [34:36] Clear Decision Making - [40:48] How to Get Started - [45:58] The Danger of Metrics - [47:07] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [50:52] _____ Gil Broza’s BioGil Broza specializes in helping tech leaders deliver far better results by upgrading their Agile ways of working. He also supports their non-software colleagues in creating real business agility in their teams. Gil has helped over 100 organizations achieve real, sustainable improvements by working with their unique value delivery contexts and focusing on mindset, culture, and leadership. Companies also invite Gil for specialized support, such as strategic mapping of their improvement journey, facilitation of organizational mindset workshops, and keynotes for internal conferences. He is the author of four highly acclaimed books: Deliver Better Results, The Agile Mind-Set, The Human Side of Agile, and Agile for Non-Software Teams. He lives in Toronto, Canada. Follow Gil: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/gilbroza Website – 3PVantage.com Free Gift Download: Deliver Better Results - Chapter 1 – HeardOnPodcast.DeliverBetterResultsBook.com _____ Our Sponsors Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 45% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead45 for all products in all formats. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/160. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“A lot of developers tie their self-worth to their code. Being able to let go of your ego and understanding the feedback is based on the code, and it has nothing to do with anything about me. It’s just the code.” Adrienne Tacke is a software engineer, keynote speaker, and the author of the upcoming book “Looks Good To Me”. In this episode, we discuss code reviews and why it is an essential part of the software development process. Adrienne discusses the importance and benefits of code review, the common code review workflow and the different roles involved, how to provide effective code review comments, and why we should leverage on code review tools and automation. She also provides tips on how to speed up our code review turnaround time.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:31] Looks Good to Me (LGTM) - [00:09:05] Code Review Story - [00:12:24] Importance of Code Review - [00:15:38] Code Review Benefits - [00:20:27] Code Review Role: Author - [00:25:50] Code Review Role: Reviewer - [00:32:42] Code Review Role: The Team - [00:38:41] Code Review Tools & Automation - [00:45:53] Effective Code Review Comments - [00:51:44] Code Review Turnaround - [00:57:45] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [01:04:56] _____ Adrienne Tacke’s BioAdrienne is a Filipina software engineer, keynote speaker, author of the best-selling book Coding for Kids: Python, and a LinkedIn Learning instructor who’s reached over 65,000 learners with her courses (a number she’ll likely surpass when you read this). She is writing Looks Good To Me: Constructive Code Reviews, a labor of love that she hopes will improve code reviews everywhere. Perhaps most important, however, is that she spends way too much money on desserts and ungodly amounts of time playing Age of Empires II. Follow Adrienne: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/adriennetacke Twitter / X – @AdrienneTacke Instagram – @adriennetacke Website – adrienne.io _____ Our Sponsors Miro is your team's visual workspace to connect, collaborate, and create innovations together, from anywhere. Sign up today at miro.com/podcast and get your first 3 Miro boards free forever. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/159. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Every organization has a mission, a vision, and a set of values. As a leader, your number one task is to live those values and talk about them at every opportunity with your team to create alignment." Today's clip is from Tech Lead Journal episode 115 with Manoj Awasthi, the CTO at JULO and previously the SVP of Engineering at Tokopedia. In this clip, Manoj described the role of a senior engineering leader before then explaining some important aspects of engineering leadership, such as scaling up engineering team, hiring engineers and engineering managers, and creating culture alignment.   Listen out for: Role of Senior Engineering Leader - [00:00:26] Scaling Engineering Team - [00:06:55] Hiring Engineers - [00:09:51] Hiring Engineering Managers/Leaders - [00:12:29] Aligning Culture - [00:14:11] _____ Manoj Awasthi’s BioManoj Awasthi is the CTO at JULO, a fintech startup based in Jakarta. Prior to JULO, Manoj spent more than six years leading technology teams at Tokopedia wearing multiple hats during the growth years of Tokopedia from 2016 until 2022 as it scaled. During this time, he witnessed the tech team growing from 80 people to 2000+. He is a techie at heart, has a natural empathy for people and believes that wonders can happen through the alignment of teams towards a clear goal. When he is not working, he can be found either reading a book (almost every day) or having quality time with his family. Follow Manoj: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/manojawasthi/ Twitter – @awmanoj GitHub – github.com/awmanoj Blog – awmanoj.github.io/ _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/115. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“An effective developer is an effective software tester. As a developer, it’s your responsibility to make sure what you do works. And automated testing is such an easy and cheap way of doing it." Today's clip is from Tech Lead Journal episode 139 with Mauricio Aniche, the author of “Effective Software Testing”. In this clip, Mauricio explained how to become a more effective software developer by using effective and systematic software testing approaches. We discussed several such testing techniques, such as testing pyramid, specification-based testing, and behavior-driven design. Listen out for: An Effective Developer is an Effective Tester - [00:00:26] Reasons for Writing Automated Tests - [00:01:35] Systematic Tester - [00:04:38] Testing Pyramid - [00:08:43] Unit vs Integration Test - [00:11:18] Specification-Based Testing - [00:13:48] Behavior-Driven Design - [00:16:27] _____ Mauricio Aniche’s BioDr. Maurício Aniche’s life mission is to help software engineers to become better and more productive. Maurício is a Tech Lead at Adyen, where he heads the Tech Academy team and leads different engineering enablement initiatives. Maurício is also an assistant professor of software engineering at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. His teaching efforts in software testing gave him the Computer Science Teacher of the Year 2021 award and the TU Delft Education Fellowship, a prestigious fellowship given to innovative lecturers. He is the author of the “Effective Software Testing: A Developer’s Guide”, published by Manning in 2022. He’s currently working on a new book entitled “Simple Object-Oriented Design” which should be on the market soon. Follow Mauricio: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/mauricioaniche Twitter – @mauricioaniche Website – effective-software-testing.com Newsletter – effectivesoftwaretesting.substack.com _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/139. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“The three core dimensions of developer experience are feedback loops, cognitive load, and flow state." Today's clip is from Tech Lead Journal episode 134 with Margaret-Anne (Peggy) Storey and Abi Noda, the coauthors of the ACM paper “DevEx: What Actually Drives Productivity”. In this clip, they shared their view on the well-known SPACE and DORA metrics, and pointed out the danger of misusing and abusing the DORA metrics. Peggy and Abi then explained the three core dimensions of developer experience from their latest paper, which are feedback loops, cognitive load, and flow state. Listen out for: SPACE & DORA Metrics - [00:00:26] Misuse and Abuse of DORA Metrics - [00:05:43] New Developer Experience Paper - [00:09:20] Developer Experience - [00:11:46] 3 Core Dimensions - [00:15:03] _____ Margaret-Anne Storey’s BioMargaret-Anne (Peggy) Storey is a professor of computer science at the University of Victoria and holds a Canada Research Chair in human and social aspects of software engineering. Her research focuses on improving processes, tools, communication, and collaboration in software engineering. She serves as chief scientist at DX and consults with Microsoft to improve developer productivity. Abi Noda’s BioAbi Noda is the founder and CEO at DX, where he leads the company’s strategic direction and R&D efforts. His work focuses on developing measurement methods to help organizations improve developer experience and productivity. Before joining DX, Noda held engineering leadership roles at various companies and founded Pull Panda, which was acquired by GitHub in 2019. For more information, visit his website at abinoda.com. Follow Margaret: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/margaret-anne-storey-8419462/ Twitter – @margaretstorey Follow Abi: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/abinoda/ Twitter – @abinoda Newsletter – newsletter.abinoda.com _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/134. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Developer experience is an approach to thinking about engineering excellence and maximizing engineering performance by increasing the capacity and performance of the individuals and the team as a whole." Today's clip is from Tech Lead Journal episode 112 with Abi Noda, the CEO & co-founder of DX. In this clip, Abi shared what developer experience is, why it is becoming an industry trend nowadays, and the different ways of how it is being implemented in the industry. Abi explained why the traditional metrics normally used to measure developer productivity do not really work and can even provide perverse incentives. Abi then touched on the two popular researches widely known in the industry, i.e. the DORA report and SPACE framework.   Listen out for: Developer Productivity Industry Trend - [00:00:26] Developer Experience for Developers - [00:02:40] Different Names of Developer Experience - [00:04:42] Traditional Metrics - [00:08:27] DORA & SPACE - [00:12:28] _____ Abi Noda’s BioAbi is the founder and CEO of getdx.com, which helps engineering leaders measure and improve developer experience. Abi formerly founded Pull Panda, which was acquired by GitHub. Follow Abi: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/abinoda Twitter – @abinoda Website – abinoda.com DX – getdx.com Software Engineering Research – abinoda.substack.com _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/112. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“A good API doesn’t expose the internal data models or internal logic too much. And the more your clients are not under your control, the less you want to do that." Today's clip is from Tech Lead Journal episode 125 with Daniel Luebke, a software architect and the co-author of “Patterns for API Design”. In this clip, we discussed some API design patterns and best practices taken from his book. Daniel shared the importance of understanding domain requirements for building APIs and several API and message best practices.  Listen out for: Writing API Design Book - [00:00:26] Loosely Coupled Message Exchanges - [00:04:29] API Design Best Practices - [00:07:07] Message Best Practices - [00:12:24] _____ Daniel Luebke’s BioDaniel Lübke is an independent coding and consulting software architect with a focus on business process automation and digitization projects. His interests are software architecture, business process design, and system integration, which inherently require APIs to develop solutions. He received his PhD at the Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany, in 2007 and has worked in many industry projects in different domains since then. Daniel is author and editor of several books, articles, and research papers; gives training; and regularly presents at conferences on topics of APIs and software architecture. Follow Daniel: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/danielluebke Twitter – @dluebke Blog – digital-solution-architecture.com _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/125. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“In a world that runs on software, when we develop and deploy software, we are part of a larger system where our failures are no longer about us, they are also about other people." Today's clip is from Tech Lead Journal episode 122 with Kevlin Henney, a consultant, writer, and speaker on software development and has written and edited several popular books. In this clip, Kevlin brought up some timeless software development concepts developers should learn from the past on cohesion, coupling, and code quality. He also explained why he becomes associated with public software failures widely known as KevlinHenney screens and how the trend started in the beginning. Listen out for: Learning From the Past - [00:00:26] KevlinHenney Screens - [00:13:18] _____ Kevlin Henney’s BioKevlin Henney is an independent consultant, trainer, writer and speaker. His interests cover what happens on both sides of the keyboard, and everything from the detail of code to the bigger picture of software architecture. Kevlin is co–author of two volumes in the Pattern–Oriented Software Architecture series, editor of 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know and co-editor of 97 Things Every Java Programmer Should Know. Follow Kevlin: Twitter – @KevlinHenney Mastodon – @[email protected] LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/kevlin Medium – kevlinhenney.medium.com Instagram – instagram.com/kevlin.henney _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/122. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Everything in software architecture is a trade-off, and the why is more important than how." Today's clip is from Tech Lead Journal episode 120 with Neal Ford, a Director and software architect at ThoughtWorks. In this clip, we discussed the definition of software architecture and how it relates to software design. Neal then described the two important laws of software architecture related to trade-offs and the why. Neal then explained why software architecture is difficult and discussed the hard parts.   Listen out for: Definition of Software Architecture - [00:00:26] Software Architecture vs Design - [00:04:06] Laws of Software Architecture - [00:06:01] The Hard Parts of Software Architecture - [00:10:33] _____ Neal Ford’s BioNeal Ford is Director, Software Architect, and Meme Wrangler at ThoughtWorks. He is also the designer and developer of applications, articles, video presentations, and author and/or editor of an increasingly large number of books spanning a variety of subjects and technologies, including the two most recent Fundamentals of Software Architecture and Building Evolutionary Architectures. His professional focus includes designing and building of large-scale enterprise applications. He is also an internationally acclaimed speaker, speaking at over 700 developer conferences worldwide, delivering more than 3000 presentations. Follow Neal: Website – nealford.com Twitter – @neal4d _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/120 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“A team has to be able to go fast if they have to. But they should always choose to go at a steady pace, most of the time. In the long run, what we emphasize is for each team to find their own space and pace." Balazs Barna is the Head of US Engineering at Wise. In this episode, we delved into his insights on building sustainable engineering from scaling up Wise. Balazs started by touching on the engineering management role and described the traits of good and bad engineering management. We then went to discuss two different aspects of sustainable engineering, which are sustainable tech and sustainable teams. Throughout the discussion, Balazs outlined several key practices, such as weak code ownership, microservice strategy, stable pace, and building a bench.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:42] Building on Strengths - [00:05:52] Traits of a Good Engineering Management - [00:07:11] Limiting Work in Progress - [00:09:51] Traits of a Bad Engineering Management - [00:12:33] Sustainable Tech - [00:14:17] Weak Code Ownership - [00:19:25] Transitioning to Weak Code Ownership - [00:24:04] Microservice per Integration - [00:26:57] Managing Change Coupling - [00:30:12] Sustainable Team - [00:32:46] Dealing With Technical Debt - [00:35:57] Steady Pace - [00:37:41] Building a Bench - [00:39:59] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:44:51] _____ Balazs Barna’s BioBalazs Barna is the Head of Austin Operations & US Engineering at Wise. At Wise, Balazs oversees the newly formed Austin office and the global engineering team, building the tech and infrastructure needed to facilitate instant, convenient and affordable cross border transactions. Balazs led and helped his team build the company’s historic direct access integration to the Hungarian banking sector’s instant payment system, the first of its kind for a company with a payment service license. He also oversaw and built Wise’s core infrastructure that enables the company’s European operations. Prior to joining Wise, Balazs worked at MSCI and Morgan Stanley. He graduated from Corvinus University of Budapest in Business Information Systems (BSc), and Computer Engineering (MSc) from Pannon University. Follow Balazs: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/balazsbarn _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/158 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Platforms harmonize and standardize without restricting. By standardizing, they actually enable and allow people to do more things." Gregor Hohpe is back again for the second episode with his latest book “Platform Strategy”. In this episode, Gregor discussed in-depth about building platforms with a proper platform strategy. He began by describing what a platform is from a few different perspectives, the benefits it brings, and what strategy we should think about when building a platform. Gregor also emphasized the opposite difference between platforms and IT services, with the key difference of how a platform thrives with more scale. We then had a few fun discussions discussing building a platform on top of a cloud platform, the key skillset we need to build a good platform, and how we should build a proper platform abstraction. Towards the end, Gregor also covered the recent trend of building developer platforms and business capability platforms. Also, do not miss Gregor’s fun analogy of fruit basket vs fruit salad when explaining a good platform strategy.   Listen out for: Strategy Book Series - [00:05:39] Definition of Platform - [00:07:58] Platform Benefits - [00:12:09] Platform Strategy - [00:17:25] Platform vs IT Service - [00:20:47] Platform Thrives With Scale - [00:25:39] Cloud Platform-Based Platform - [00:29:36] Skillset for Building Platform - [00:36:44] Abstraction, Not an Illusion - [00:44:19] Fruit Salad vs Fruit Basket - [00:47:32] Developer Platform - [00:51:34] Business Capability Platform - [00:55:48] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:59:31] _____ Gregor Hohpe’s BioGregor Hohpe advises CTOs and senior IT executives on IT strategy, cloud architecture, and organizational transformation. He served as advisor to the Singapore government, chief architect at Allianz SE, and technical director at Google Cloud’s CTO Office. He is widely known as co-author of the seminal book “Enterprise Integration Patterns” and as frequent speaker at conferences around the world. His accessible, but technically accurate essays were republished in “97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know” and “Best Software Writing”. He is an active member of the IEEE Software editorial advisory board. Follow Gregor: Website – https://architectelevator.com/ LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/ghohpe/ X – @ghohpe Platform Strategy (with special coupon for TLJ listeners) – https://leanpub.com/platformstrategy/c/techlead _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/156 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“The five thieves of time are: too much work in progress, conflicting priorities, unplanned work, unknown dependencies, and neglected work." Dominica DeGrandis is the author of “Making Work Visible”. In this episode, we discussed how we can optimize our workflow and reclaim control of our work and time. Dominica unveiled the concept of the five thieves of time that rob us of our productivity, that includes too much work-in-progress (WIP), conflicting priorities, unplanned work, unknown dependencies, and neglected work. She also shared actionable practices and tips on dealing with each of these thieves. Towards the end, Dominica emphasized the importance of bringing visibility to and measuring the flow of what leadership and customers care about - the delivery of customer value—big picture items that span end-to-end value streams.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:47] Making Work Visible & Five Thieves of Time - [00:08:45] Thief: Too Much WIP - [00:15:31] WIP is a Leading Indicator - [00:18:33] Thief: Unplanned Work - [00:20:45] Making Sense of WIP - [00:23:04] Thief: Conflicting Priorities - [00:24:38] Thief: Unknown Dependencies - [00:29:17] Managing Dependencies - [00:32:53] Thief: Neglected Work - [00:36:40] Make Organization Work Visible - [00:41:21] Measuring Flow - [00:50:19] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:55:11] _____ Dominica DeGrandis’s BioA huge fan of using visual cues to inspire change, Dominica DeGrandis, author of Making Work Visible - Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow, and Principal Flow Advisor at Planview, helps organizations make work visible to improve workflow. Obsessed with useful metrics & influencing change, Dominica advises customers on flow metrics, value stream management and how to effect change. Follow Dominica: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/dominicadeg Website – ddegrandis.com/ _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/156 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Product driven means you understand what your customers’ problems are, but you don’t let yourself get held back by what your customers are saying. You’re not building your product for a customer that you’re already working with. You’re building a product for a customer that you haven’t yet met." Ben Foster is the co-founder of Prodify and the co-author of “Build What Matters”. In this episode, we discussed how product driven and vision-led product management helps organizations deliver key customer outcomes and achieve business goals. Ben first began by describing the product management paradox and some of the common product management dysfunctions. Ben then dived deep into the three important aspects of a vision-led product management, which are key customer outcomes, customer journey vision, and product strategy.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:31] Product Management Paradox - [00:05:59] The Role of Product Manager - [00:08:10] Product Dysfunctions - [00:09:50] Product Driven - [00:14:25] Vision-Led Product Management - [00:18:40] Key Outcomes - [00:22:52] Key Outcomes Pyramid - [00:28:52] Customer Journey Vision - [00:33:12] Customer Experience Stages - [00:35:36] Product Vision - [00:40:04] Product Strategy - [00:43:43] Product Roadmap - [00:47:49] Product Roadmap Duration - [00:55:50] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:58:51] _____ Ben Foster’s BioBen Foster has been working in product management in the tech scene for 25 years, and is co-founder and partner at Prodify, a product consulting and coaching firm he started 9 years ago. He cut his teeth at eBay during its heyday and was most recently the chief product officer at the wearable company Whoop. He has experience from startups to multi-billion dollar companies and everything in between. He’s spoken at several major tech events, has produced the definitive course on product leadership, and co-authored the Amazon bestseller Build What Matters. He lives in Arlington, VA with his wife and son. Follow Ben: Website – https://www.prodify.group/ LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/benfoster/ _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/155 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Lean is not about how we organize work, but how we think about it. It’s not a production system; it’s an education system." Catherine Chabiron is a Lean expert and the co-author of “Learning to Scale at Theodo Group”. In this episode, Catherine and Fabrice–the co-founder and CTO of Theodo–shared their lessons learned from implementing Lean at a fast-growing scale-up company. Catherine and Fabrice first started by sharing the “big company disease” challenge and how Theodo started its Lean journey. We then discussed Lean essentials that include some of its principles, such as an obsession with customer value and lead time. We also talked about Lean practices adopted from the Toyota Production System, that include Gemba, Jidoka, Andon, and Kaizen. Along the way, Catherine and Fabrice also emphasized the importance of always building quality right the first time.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:41] Big Company Disease - [00:07:26] Theodo’s Lean Journey - [00:10:19] Implementing Agile at Scale - [00:14:35] The Essence of Lean - [00:18:41] Gemba - [00:23:16] Normal vs Not Normal - [00:26:26] Doing More Gemba Walks - [00:29:40] Obsession With Customer Value - [00:32:59] Obsession With Lead Time - [00:37:07] Jidoka & Andon - [00:40:25] Built-in Quality Right First Time - [00:44:16] Kaizen - [00:46:39] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:19] _____ Catherine Chabiron’s BioCatherine Chabiron is an established expert in Lean management with a professional journey spanning over 40 years. Catherine is not only a Lean executive coach but also a renowned author. Her notable contribution, “Learning to Scale at Theodo Group: Growing a Fast and Resilient Company,” exemplifies her unique know-how and offers practical advice to leaders seeking growth without compromising on core values and employee engagement. Fabrice Bernhard’s BioFabrice co-founded Theodo in Paris in 2009, which has grown on average 50% a year for the last 8 years and generated 90M€ turnover in 2022. He is now based in London to help on the international expansion of Theodo. Follow Catherine: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/catherine-chabiron-43ba6b16 Follow Fabrice: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/fabricebernhard/ X – @fabriceb _____ Our Sponsors Miro is your team's visual workspace to connect, collaborate, and create innovations together, from anywhere.Sign up today at miro.com/podcast and get your first 3 Miro boards free forever. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/154 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Architecture touches on the software, the business, and the team organization. Modernization updates something that has some outdated thinking, e.g. technologies, ideas, business models." Nick Tune is a principal consultant and the author of “Architecture Modernization”. In this episode, we discussed how organizations can successfully go through an architecture modernization journey. Nick began by defining architecture modernization and discussing the socio-technical aspects involved. He then introduced the concept of an independent value stream and its four key characteristics: domain alignment, business outcome driven, empowered teams, and software alignment. Nick also shared tips on how to get buy in for a modernization journey, why it is beneficial to do it collaboratively, and explained in-depth the Wardley Mapping technique. Towards the end, Nick described the idea of Architecture Modernization Enabling Team and gave advice on creating an architecture modernization roadmap.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:31] Writing Architecture Modernization Book - [00:09:51] Architecture Modernization - [00:11:18] Socio-Technical Architecture - [00:13:35] Independent Value Stream - [00:17:47] Domain Aligned & Change Coupling - [00:19:32] Business Outcome Driven - [00:24:11] Owned by Empowered Teams - [00:27:02] Software Aligned - [00:28:34] Getting Buy In - [00:31:00] Collaborative Modernization Journey - [00:35:28] Wardley Mapping - [00:38:59] Product Taxonomy - [00:45:06] Architecture Modernization Enabling Team - [00:47:13] Modernization Roadmap - [00:53:51] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:58:35] _____ Nick Tune’s BioNick works with product and technology leaders to map strategy, model domains, design architecture and build continuous delivery teams while helping to deliver successful business outcomes. He is the author of Architecture Modernization (Manning), and Principles and Practices of Domain-Driven Design (Wrox). Follow Nick: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/nick-tune Mastodon – @[email protected] Website – nick-tune.me _____ Our Sponsors Miro is your team's visual workspace to connect, collaborate, and create innovations together, from anywhere.Sign up today at miro.com/podcast and get your first 3 Miro boards free forever. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/153 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“We need to change our ways of working to give importance to the work quality that we deliver, ensure we keep raising our bar, and pass it on to the next generation of developers." Srihari Sridharan is a software architect and the author of “Craft Your Code”. In this episode, we discussed software craftsmanship and how to become better software engineers. Srihari first began by sharing the relationship between software craftsmanship and high-quality code. He described some practices for improving code quality, such as establishing coding standards, improving code readability, doing effective code review, and managing technical debt. He also explained the importance of software engineers understanding different architectural styles and domain knowledge. Srihari also shared strategies for creating high-performing teams by establishing psychological safety and trust.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:08] Bridging the Students Gap with Industry - [00:06:11] Writing “Craft Your Code” - [00:09:36] Software Craftsmanship and High Quality Code - [00:12:18] Root Causes of Low Quality Code - [00:15:26] Coding Standards - [00:20:15] Code Aesthetics - [00:24:17] Code Readability - [00:28:09] Tabs vs Spaces - [00:32:31] Code Review - [00:34:12] Managing Technical Debt - [00:39:36] Psychological Safety & Trust - [00:46:23] Mind Maps - [00:52:09] Architecture & Domain Knowledge - [00:54:00] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [01:02:33] _____ Srihari Sridharan’s BioSrihari Sridharan is a Software Architect and Engineer with a hands-on approach. He is a speaker, conducting courses and delivering talks on software craftsmanship and writing clean code. Srihari’s areas of expertise encompass refactoring, design patterns, enterprise application architectural patterns, integration patterns, and cloud-native design patterns. Srihari is also a reviewer and a senior technical proof-reader for Manning Publications Co, and he serves as a member of the ‘Board of Studies - Department of Information Technology’ at B.S Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science & Technology. Residing in Chennai with his wife Swathy and son Advaith, Srihari enjoys spending quality time with his family. In his leisure time, he loves playing cricket, writing blogs, reading books, and cooking. Follow Srihari: Website – https://topmate.io/srihari_sridharan LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/srihari-sridharan/ _____ Our Sponsors Miro is your team's visual workspace to connect, collaborate, and create innovations together, from anywhere.Sign up today at miro.com/podcast and get your first 3 Miro boards free forever. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/152 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Leading change is high stakes, but we don’t spend a great deal of time focusing on conversation and creating space to engage in real conversation." Marsha Acker is the author of “Build Your Model for Leading Change” and the host of “Defining Moments of Leadership” podcast. In this episode, we discussed building our own model for leadership and leading change. Marsha first started by sharing the concept of a model and some of the common challenges for organizations in making changes. Then we discussed David Kantor’s theories on structural dynamics and functional awareness for understanding behavioral model, which include the concepts of leadership range and communicative competence. Marsha outlined what makes communication so challenging and what we can do to achieve a more effective communication. Towards the end, she shared the three different models that leaders need to think about, i.e. model for leadership, model for living, and model for leading change.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:54] Defining Moments of Leadership Podcast - [00:10:14] Building Our Model - [00:14:11] Challenges for Making Organization Change - [00:19:48] Behavioral Model - [00:23:57] Structural Dynamics - [00:27:30] Functional Awareness - [00:33:01] Communication Challenges - [00:38:12] Model for Leadership - [00:40:55] Model for Living - [00:44:12] Model for Leading Change - [00:46:10] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:54:44] _____ Marsha Acker’s BioMarsha Acker is the founder and CEO of TeamCatapult, an executive & leadership team coach, author, speaker, facilitator, and the host of Defining Moments of Leadership Podcast. Marsha’s unparalleled at helping leaders identify and break through stuck patterns of communication that get in their way of high performance. She is known internationally as a facilitator of meaningful conversations, a host of dialogue and a passionate agilest. She is the author of The Art and Science of Facilitation: How to Lead Effective Collaboration with Agile Teams and Build Your Model for Leading Change: A guided workbook to catalyze clarity and confidence in leading yourself and others. Follow Marsha: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/marsha-acker-3486a72 Website – teamcatapult.com Twitter – @marshaacker _____ Our Sponsors Miro is your team's visual workspace to connect, collaborate, and create innovations together, from anywhere.Sign up today at miro.com/podcast and get your first 3 Miro boards free forever. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/151 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“A CTO gives the business the technology it needs to drive success by delivering a roadmap to grow and scale at a level and speed where technology never holds up their growth." Alan Williamson is the author of “Think Like a CTO”. In this episode, we discussed in-depth how to become a great CTO. Alan first described what a CTO role is, how the role differs at different company stages, and the attributes of a good CTO. Alan then explained the importance of a CTO coming up with a vision and how we can improve ourselves in visionary thinking. He then touched on how a CTO should work together and understand the expectations of the CEO. Alan also gave his tips on how to build engineering teams that can produce high-quality results. Towards the end, Alan gave his personal advice on how a CTO can deal with imposter syndrome and the importance of a CTO doing a personal review.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:28] The CTO Role - [00:07:47] Different Flavors of CTO Role - [00:12:47] CTO at Different Company Stage - [00:13:42] What Makes a Good CTO - [00:17:04] Visionary Planning - [00:19:40] Learning How to Create a Vision - [00:23:40] Working with the CEO - [00:30:54] Building Engineering Teams - [00:36:47] Building Quality In - [00:39:58] Dealing with Imposter Syndrome - [00:45:36] Reviewing Yourself - [00:52:11] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:59:09] _____ Alan Williamson’s BioAlan was the first U.K. Java Champion and has contributed much to open source, including OpenBD, a Java based CFML runtime engine, that once powered MySpace.com, as well as many other blue-chip CFML sites. Alan has published a number of books in the Java space covering Enterprise Java, Servlets, JavaMail and database access. He also served in the role of Editor-in-Chief for Java Developers Journal. His recent book, ‘ Think like a CTO ’ aimed at the new and upcoming CTO. Filled with real-world actionable items, including case studies and interviews. Alan is currently a partner with New Harbor Capital, heading up their Portfolio Operations Group, providing interim and executive CTO services to New Harbor’s portfolios, advising on all levels on how to maximize technology for the growth of the business. Follow Alan: Website – alan.is LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/a1anw2/ _____ Our Sponsors Miro is your team's visual workspace to connect, collaborate, and create innovations together, from anywhere.Sign up today at miro.com/podcast and get your first 3 Miro boards free forever. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/150 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“A lot of the traditional wisdom said the best teams are the ones that stay stable or the same; you need long-lived stable teams. The fact is, team change is inevitable. So let’s get better at it." Heidi Helfand is the author of “Dynamic Reteaming”. In this episode, we discussed dynamic reteaming concept, or team changes in simple words. Heidi explained how her experience working in various startups and scaleups led to her coming up with the dynamic reteaming idea. She also explained how dynamic reteaming differs from the common advice of having long-lived teams. We then discussed the five patterns of dynamic reteaming as outlined by Heidi in her book. Our discussion also covered various other topics, such as onboarding, offboarding, maintaining company culture, ideal team size, and leadership role in dynamic teams.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:34] How Dynamic Reteaming Idea Came About - [00:08:30] Dynamic Reteaming - [00:12:08] Social Dynamics - [00:13:51] Dynamic Reteaming vs Long-Lived - [00:18:14] One by One - [00:26:19] Onboarding New Joiners - [00:27:42] People Leaving - [00:30:54] Maintaining Culture - [00:37:18] Grow & Split And Merging Patterns - [00:42:42] Ideal Team Size - [00:45:51] Isolation Pattern - [00:51:43] Role of Leader/Manager - [00:54:56] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:57:47] _____ Heidi Helfand’s BioHeidi Helfand is author of the book Dynamic Reteaming and SVP of Strategy & Innovation at Artium. She’s passionate about helping companies build great products and high-performing teams, and she’s particularly interested in the people side of engineering. With over 20 years of experience in the tech industry, including roles at AppFolio, Procore and Expertcity/GoToMeeting, Heidi has gained a deep understanding of how to help organizations successfully navigate change and scale their teams. She lives in Southern California, where she enjoys spending time with her family and exploring the outdoors. Follow Heidi: Website – heidihelfand.com LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/heidihelfand/ X – @heidihelfand Mastodon – @[email protected] Artium – thisisartium.com Email – [email protected] _____ Our Sponsors Miro is your team's visual workspace to connect, collaborate, and create innovations together, from anywhere.Sign up today at miro.com/podcast and get your first 3 Miro boards free forever. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/149 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“BDD is about helping you collaborate with the different parties involved in software delivery to understand what’s actually required of your system, why you need to deliver it, and then find the best possible way to automate your requirements." Jan Molak and John Smart are the co-authors of “BDD in Action: Second Edition”. In this episode, we discussed in-depth behavior-driven development (BDD) and its essentials. Jan and John first began by introducing what BDD is, the benefits of using BDD, and the Gherkin language with its given-when-then syntax. They gave advice on how to introduce and apply BDD, especially for legacy software, and how to manage the BDD specifications effectively. Jan and John then shared several BDD techniques, such as feature mapping, example mapping, impact mapping; and went deep into the screenplay pattern and the Serenity projects they both create to implement screenplay pattern. Towards the end, Jan and John shared their insights on which testing layers we should apply BDD and some anti-patterns we should avoid.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:49] Challenges Before BDD - [00:11:30] Behavior Driven Development (BDD) - [00:15:24] Benefits of BDD - [00:22:33] Gherkin - [00:27:39] Introducing BDD - [00:32:24] BDD for Legacy Software - [00:38:41] Managing BDD Specifications - [00:43:15] Screenplay Pattern - [00:47:09] Serenity Project - [00:58:42] Other BDD Techniques - [01:11:33] Testing Layers to Apply BDD - [01:14:13] BDD Anti-Patterns - [01:18:28] 4 Tech Lead Wisdom - [01:23:01] _____ Jan Molak’s BioJan Molak is a consulting software engineer and trainer who specialises in enhancing team collaboration and optimising software development processes for global organisations. Jan is the author of the Serenity/JS acceptance testing framework, a contributor to the Screenplay Pattern, and a co-author of a renowned book “BDD in Action, Second Edition”. John Ferguson Smart’s BioJohn Ferguson Smart is a specialist in BDD, automated testing, and software lifecycle development optimization. He is the founder of the Serenity Dojo, an online training platform for testers who want to become world-class Agile Test Automation Engineers, and the creator of the Serenity BDD test automation framework. Follow Jan: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/janmolak X – @JanMolak Follow John: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/john-ferguson-smart X – @wakaleo _____ Our Sponsors Miro is your team's visual workspace to connect, collaborate, and create innovations together, from anywhere.Sign up today at miro.com/podcast and get your first 3 Miro boards free forever. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/148 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Collaborative modeling is getting the relevant people into a room to solve a problem or get on the same page about what it is you’re solving and getting some directions for that solution." Evelyn and Gien are the co-authors of “Collaborative Software Design: How to Facilitate Domain Modeling Decisions”. In this episode, we discussed collaborative software design and why we need it in software development. Evelyn and Gien started by explaining the Cynefin framework in software development and the importance of having heuristics for making quick decisions. We then dived deep into discussing what collaborative modeling is, how to get people involved to collaborate, and the important role of a facilitator. We also talked about the socio-technical aspects and skills required in collaborative modeling, in particular, understanding the influence of cognitive bias and ranking. Towards the end, we discussed when we should do a collaborative modeling exercise, how to structure it, and tips for doing it remotely.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:53] Collaborative Software Design - [00:09:28] Complicated vs Complex Problems - [00:12:24] Heuristics - [00:15:07] Collaborating Modeling - [00:19:03] The Facilitator Role - [00:24:55] Socio Technical Skills - [00:30:10] Cognitive Bias - [00:33:10] The Influence of Ranking - [00:38:51] Collaborative Modelling Structure - [00:47:00] When to do Collaborative Modeling - [00:51:38] Remote Collaborative Modeling - [00:55:34] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:58:45] _____ Evelyn van Kelle’s BioEvelyn van Kelle is a strategic software delivery consultant, with experience in coaching, advising, facilitating, and guiding organizations and teams in designing and maintaining socio-technical systems. She blends different techniques, tools and approaches from behavioral and social sciences, collaborative modeling and Domain-Driven Design, to help leadership teams achieve sustainable transformations. Evelyn loves to share her knowledge by speaking at international conferences and meetups. Gien Verschatse’s BioGien Verschatse is an experienced consultant and software engineer that specializes in domain modelling and software architecture. As a Domain-Driven Design practitioner, she always looks to bridge the gaps between experts, users, and engineers. As a side interest, she’s researching the science of decision-making strategies, to help teams improve how they make technical and organizational decisions. She shares her knowledge by speaking and teaching at international conferences. When she is not doing all that, you’ll find her on the sofa, reading a book and sipping coffee. Follow Evelyn: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/evelynvankell X – @EvelynvanKell Follow Gien: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/gien-verschatse X – @selketjah _____ Our Sponsors Miro is your team's visual workspace to connect, collaborate, and create innovations together, from anywhere.Sign up today at miro.com/podcast and get your first 3 Miro boards free forever. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/147 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Do not start a job search by looking for jobs. Start a job search by understanding at a deeper level who you are, what you value, how you like to work, and what are you solving for." Andre Martin is an organizational psychologist and the author of “Wrong Fit, Right Fit”. In this episode, he shared the importance of finding the right fit company for us in our work. Andre used the analogy of writing with a non-dominant hand to explain working in a wrong fit company. He shared some of the common misalignments, such as the modern hiring practices, infinite browsing, and company culture deck trend. Andre then explained how we can work towards finding our right fit company by doing more self reflection using some fit excursions shared in his book. He also touched on the important concept of buffers and the role of leaders and managers in the workplace. Towards the end, Andre shared some practical tips on how companies can create a better right fit culture in the organizations.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:53] Wrong Fit, Right Fit - [00:05:28] Writing with Our Non-Dominant Hand - [00:07:27] Common Wrong Fit Misalignments - [00:10:25] Way of Working - [00:14:50] The Danger of Culture Deck - [00:22:04] The Danger of Infinite Browsing - [00:23:51] Finding the Right Fit - [00:26:18] Fit Excursions - [00:28:31] Interviewing and Onboarding + Right Fit - [00:33:07] Buffers + Right Fit - [00:37:52] The Role of the Leader & Manager - [00:40:04] Company + Right Fit - [00:43:46] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:47:39] _____ Andre Martin’s BioAndre Martin is an organizational psychologist and talent management executive with 20+ years of experience in talent development, executive team development, employee engagement, culture change, c-suite assessment & succession planning, innovation/design thinking, strategy development, and employee experience design. He is also a father, a husband, and a wildly curious learner who is dedicated to ensuring iconic brands become iconic companies. Follow Andre: Website – www.wrongfitrightfit.com LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/docmartinpdx _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/146 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Lifestyle engineering is about taking the idea we have within us to create a different reality in our own lives. It’s amazing what’s possible when you get in the driver’s seat and engineer your lifestyle." Zachary White is a career coach for engineering leadership and the host of the Happy Engineer Podcast. In this episode, Zach shared how engineers can become happier in their work and life through the lifestyle engineering approach. He discussed what lifestyle engineering entails, such as debunking the myth of work-life balance, getting out of comfort zone, mastering mindset, building our own blueprint, and doing less. Zach also opened up and shared his personal story of getting burned out and gave great insights on how we can manage burnout before it happens. Towards the end, Zach explained the importance of coaching for engineering leaders to reach their full potential.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:40] Lifestyle Engineering - [00:07:22] The Happy Engineer Podcast - [00:10:09] Forget Work-Life Balance - [00:13:20] Getting Out of Comfort Zone - [00:17:42] Examples of Stepping Out of Comfort Zone - [00:21:19] Mastering Mindset - [00:25:37] Building Our Own Blueprint - [00:30:40] Doing Less - [00:34:10] Burnout - [00:38:02] Coaches for Engineering Leaders - [00:46:13] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:50:53] _____ Zachary White’s BioZach White is known as the premier career coach for engineering leadership. He has worked with hundreds of leaders at top companies worldwide to achieve breakthrough results and avoid burnout. Zach is the founder and CEO of Oasis of Courage, a fast-growing company with unique and proven coaching programs exclusively for engineering and technology professionals. He also hosts a top-rated show, “The Happy Engineer Podcast.” As a coach for engineering leaders, Zach understands the journey firsthand, holding both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mechanical engineering, and spending over a decade building his career in the Fortune 200. Follow Zachary: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/thezachwhite Coaching Website – oasisofcourage.com Happy Engineer Podcast – oasisofcourage.com/happy-engineer-podcast Podcast Mobile Listen – plnk.to/the-happy-engineer _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/145 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“The goal is not Agile. The goal is not DevOps. The goal is not Cloud. The goal is value, time to value, safety, happiness, and quality." Jonathan Smart and Simon Rohrer are the co-authors of “Sooner Safer Happier”. In this episode, Jon and Simon shared how we can deliver better outcomes in a more humane way of working, by delivering better value sooner, safer, and happier. They shared several principles, patterns, and anti-patterns described in the book, such as focusing on outcomes, the leadership as team number one, intelligent flow, creating alignment, and having the ability to unlearn and relearn.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:41] The Age of Digital - [00:06:29] Patterns & Anti-Patterns - [00:11:15] Better Value Sooner Safer Happier (BVSSH) - [00:13:18] Focus on Outcomes - [00:17:06] Empower the How - [00:19:28] Role of Leadership - [00:23:30] Leadership Team is Team #1 - [00:26:41] Intelligent Flow - [00:31:28] Stop Starting, Start Finishing - [00:34:43] Building Alignment - [00:36:48] Limited Velocity to Unlearn and Relearn - [00:40:10] 4 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:43:41] _____ Jonathan Smart’s BioJonathan Smart is co-founder and CEO of Sooner Safer Happier, a thought leader and a coach. He has been an agile and lean practitioner since the early 1990s and the lead author of the award winning and bestselling ‘Sooner Safer Happier: Patterns and Antipatterns for Business Agility’. He is also the founder of the Enterprise Agility Leaders Network, a member of the Programming Committee for the DevOps Enterprise Summit, a member of the Business Agility Institute Advisory Council, a guest speaker at London Business School, and speaks at numerous conferences a year. Simon Rohrer’s BioSimon Rohrer has been a hands on practitioner across both software engineering and enterprise architecture for over twenty-six years, and has had a passion for agile software development since picking up the eXtreme Programming white book in 1999. He’s passionate about an eclectic and pragmatic approach to modern ways of working, incorporating lean, agile, systems thinking, DevOps and other principles and practices at the right pace and in a human context in enterprises, typically with a legacy of existing technology and a drive to do things better. Follow Jonathan and Simon: Jonathan Smart’s LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/jonathansmart Simon Rohrer’s LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/simonrohrer Website – soonersaferhappier.com Slack – soonersaferhappier.com/community _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/144 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Think about delegation as more of a coaching mindset instead of the doer mentality. It’s not about looking at the immediate task at hand, it’s about teaching that to others." Akanksha Gupta is the author of “Think Like a Software Engineering Manager”. In this episode, Akanksha described the role of an engineering manager and the key traits of being a good engineering manager. She gave advice on how one can transition to the EM role and talked about the difference between an engineering management and leadership. Akanksha then walked us through the three key pillars of engineering management, which are people, process, and projects. We discussed topics, such as delegation, performance management, cross functional collaboration, and time management. Akanksha also shared her practical advice for women in technology who are also interested in becoming an engineering manager.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:38] Writing the Book - [00:05:54] Engineering Manager (EM) Role - [00:08:25] Transitioning to an EM Role - [00:10:48] Traits of a Good EM - [00:14:17] Engineering Manager vs Engineering Leader - [00:18:31] Boss Mindset - [00:20:01] Advice for Women to Become EMs - [00:21:56] Delegation - Learn to Let Go - [00:24:30] Managing Performance - [00:27:33] Cross-Functional Collaboration - [00:33:27] Setting Up Processes - [00:37:20] Managing Up - [00:40:00] Time Management - [00:42:02] A Growing Todo List - [00:45:50] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:47:28] _____ Akanksha Gupta’s BioAkanksha Gupta is an experienced Engineering Manager at AWS. Prior to joining Amazon, she was an engineering manager with Robinhood, Audible and Microsoft. She completed her Masters in Computer Science at Columbia University. She is also part of the IADAS (The International Academy of Digital Arts and Science) and was awarded the Fellowship by the British Computer Society and the RSA. Akanksha is also a huge advocate in Women in Technology. She is an Amazon Bar Raiser at Amazon and is an active mentor at PlatoHq, GrowthMentor and FastTrack mentorship programs. She has served as the jury member for several esteemed awards such as Stevie Awards, SIIA Codie, GraceHopper and the Webby awards. She has also been part of the Grace Hopper committee review for Software Engineering track and has served as a Track chair for Global WomenInTech conference. Follow Akanksha: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/akankshaguptamgr Plato HQ – platohq.com/@akanksha-gupta-1364542759 Growth Mentor – app.growthmentor.com/mentors/akanksha-gupta _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/143 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“To build trust, you need to do the right thing, do the best you can, and show people you care. And when you do that, it builds commitment. Trust and commitment are how teams do best and win the most." Michael Foss is a leadership coach and the founder of CoachFoss LLC. In this episode, we discussed the power of leadership principles and positive leadership. Michael started by sharing the important principle of building trust and creating a shared commitment with the people we work with. He then shared what he learned from his time at Amazon and explained why creating leadership principles is important for any company to thrive. Michael also explained the powerful techniques for leading a successful process improvement: creating standard work and using Andon from the Toyota Production System. Towards the end, as a certified trainer, Michael summarized leadership essence of both John Maxwell’s Leadership and John Gordon’s Power of Positive Leadership. So many leadership insights you can learn just from this summary alone!   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:04] Building Trust - [00:15:35] Creating Standard Work - [00:23:00] Pulling an Andon - [00:26:18] Power of Principles - [00:30:19] Building Shared Commitment - [00:33:18] John Maxwell & Positive Leadership - [00:38:58] Mental Health & Wellbeing - [00:48:34] 4 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:53:30] _____ Michael Foss’s BioMichael is the Founder & CEO for CoachFoss LLC. As a speaker, trainer, and consultant, he is passionate about Finding Optimal Solutions for Success and thrives on inspiring and motivating leaders, teams, and individuals to achieve and sustain transformational success. Michael is certified to train The Power of Positive Leadership & The Power of a Positive Team by Jon Gordon and is an active Executive Program Director John Maxwell Leadership Certified Speaker, Trainer, and Coach. Michael has extensive global experience and success as a logistics and supply chain operations leader, having worked for companies including Walmart, Flexport, CloudSort, Caterpillar, Amazon, Cameron, Weir, and FedEx. Michael is a Fellow, Past President, & IAB chairman of the Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers (IISE). He earnt his Lean / Six Sigma Black Belt from the University of Villanova and he was awarded the Texas Tech Whitacre College of Engineering Distinguished Engineer’s award, one of only 27 industrial engineers ever awarded. Follow Michael: Website – coachfoss.com LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/coachfoss Instagram – instagram.com/coachfoss11 Linktree – linktr.ee/CoachFoss _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/142 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“You should never do something just because the auditors want you to do it. They should be able to explain the risk and controls in accordance with your risk appetite and tolerance." Clarissa Lucas is an audit and risk management leader and the author of “Beyond Agile Auditing”. In this episode, Clarissa shared a novel approach to internal auditing called auditing with agility. She shared this concept at the DevOps Enterprise Summit 2022, which drew some parallels to the revolutionary birth of the DevOps movement. Clarissa explained the three core components of auditing with agility, which are value-driven auditing, integrated auditing 2.0, and adaptable auditing.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:27] Purpose of Internal Audit - [00:08:38] Challenges with Traditional Auditing - [00:11:01] How Auditing with Agility Started - [00:16:48] Parallels with the Birth of DevOps - [00:22:02] Segregation of Duty - [00:25:04] Auditing with Agility & Value-Driven Auditing - [00:30:21] Integrated Auditing 2.0 - [00:33:52] Adaptable Auditing - [00:41:33] Extending to External Auditing - [00:45:32] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:47:26] _____ Clarissa Lucas’s BioClarissa Lucas is an experienced audit and risk management leader with over 15 years of experience. As a thought leader on Auditing with Agility, she has written articles on the topic published by both the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) and IT Revolution press, as well as her first book, Beyond Agile Auditing: Three Core Components to Revolutionize Your Internal Audit Practices. Clarissa has spoken at a number of IIA, ISACA, and IT Revolution conferences, as well as local IIA chapter events and various podcasts, on this topic. Clarissa is a Certified Internal Auditor, Certified Information Systems Auditor and a Certified Investments and Derivatives Auditor. Follow Clarissa: Website – clarissalucas.com LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/clarissalucas _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/141 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“It’s so important to start with a problem and make sure you understand it is a big market. Many tech founding teams end up building a technology that is still in search of a problem." Jothy Rosenberg is a serial entrepreneur who has founded 9 startups with exits of over $100 million. He is the author of an upcoming book “Think Like a Tech Founder: Anecdotes of an Incorrigible Entrepreneur”. In this episode, Jothy shared his valuable lessons learned on founding and managing a startup, such as why and when you should decide to startup, valuable advice for founders (including letting go founders who don’t work out), dealing with failures, being the CEO of your own startup, and traits of a bad CEO we should avoid. Towards the end, Jothy shared inspiring message about his story overcoming physical disability that resulted in a foundation “Who Says I Can’t”, and described his formula why people with physical disability so often overachieve.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:48] Jumping into Startup - [00:12:34] When to Start a Startup - [00:16:36] Definition of Founders - [00:19:01] Advice for Founders - [00:21:44] Letting Founders Go - [00:24:20] Dealing with Failure - [00:26:47] Lessons from Big Companies - [00:30:20] Being a Startup CEO - [00:34:16] Bad CEOs - [00:38:18] Who Says I Can’t Foundation - [00:44:31] Who Says I Can’t Formula - [00:49:10] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:54:00] _____ Jothy Rosenberg’s BioJothy Rosenberg has been an entrepreneur since 1988, and has founded and run nine technology startups—two of which had exits of over $100 million. He was the general manager of Borland’s Developer Division from 1992-1997, where he led Borland’s Languages division, including Delphi, C++Builder, and JBuilder. He has a PhD in computer science, and has authored two technical books, a business book, memoir, and childrens book. Jothy is the creator of the series Who Says I Can’t on YouTube, and established and runs the The Who Says I Can’t Foundation. Follow Jothy: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/jothy Who Says I Can’t – whosaysicant.org Dover Microsystems – dovermicrosystems.com Email – [email protected] _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/140 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“An effective developer is an effective software tester. As a developer, it’s your responsibility to make sure what you do works. And automated testing is such an easy and cheap way of doing it." Mauricio Aniche is the author of “Effective Software Testing”. In this episode, Mauricio explained how to become a more effective software developer by using effective and systematic software testing approaches. We discussed several such testing techniques, such as testing pyramid, specification-based testing, boundary testing, structural testing, mutation testing, and property testing. Mauricio also shared his interesting view about test-driven development (TDD) and suggested the one area we can do to improve our test maintainability.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:43] Winning Teacher of the Year - [00:06:07] An Effective Developer is an Effective Tester - [00:09:33] Reasons for Writing Automated Tests - [00:10:43] Systematic Tester - [00:13:45] Testing Pyramid - [00:17:50] Unit vs Integration Test - [00:20:25] Specification-Based Testing - [00:22:55] Behavior-Driven Design - [00:25:34] Boundary Testing - [00:27:01] Structural Testing & Code Coverage - [00:30:16] Mutation Testing - [00:35:31] Property Testing - [00:38:45] Test-Driven Development - [00:42:00] Test Maintainability - [00:46:03] Growing Object-Oriented Software, Guided by Tests - [00:48:07] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:49:24] _____ Mauricio Aniche’s BioDr. Maurício Aniche’s life mission is to help software engineers to become better and more productive. Maurício is a Tech Lead at Adyen, where he heads the Tech Academy team and leads different engineering enablement initiatives. Maurício is also an assistant professor of software engineering at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. His teaching efforts in software testing gave him the Computer Science Teacher of the Year 2021 award and the TU Delft Education Fellowship, a prestigious fellowship given to innovative lecturers. He is the author of the “Effective Software Testing: A Developer’s Guide”, published by Manning in 2022. He’s currently working on a new book entitled “Simple Object-Oriented Design” which should be on the market soon. Follow Mauricio: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/mauricioaniche Twitter – @mauricioaniche Website – effective-software-testing.com Newsletter – effectivesoftwaretesting.substack.com _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/139 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Building an application security program is about ensuring security is built into the software development lifecycle and how to respond to vulnerabilities." Derek Fisher is the author of “Application Security Program Handbook”. In this episode, Derek shared about building an application security program and how to implement it in our organization. First, we discussed some security fundamental concepts, such as shift-left, CIA triad, and threat modeling. Derek then outlined how to start an application security program and measure the program’s success. Derek also touched on the security program maturity model and gave his tips on how to build and hire application security teams. Towards the end, Derek also gave his insights on how to address zero-day vulnerabilities when it becomes prominent.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:51] Building Application Security Program - [00:06:56] Shifting Left - [00:11:58] CIA Triad - [00:16:30] Threat Modeling - [00:19:04] Threat Classification - [00:22:49] Starting Application Security Program - [00:27:04] Security Program Maturity Model - [00:32:45] Building Security Teams - [00:35:27] Measuring the Program’s Success - [00:40:19] Zero Day Vulnerabilities - [00:42:48] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:44:59] _____ Derek Fisher’s BioDerek is an award winning author of a children’s book series in cybersecurity as well as the author of “The Application Security Handbook.” He is a university instructor at Temple University where he teaches software development security to undergraduate and graduate students. He is a speaker on topics in the cybersecurity space and has led teams, large and small, at organizations in the healthcare and financial industries. He has built and matured information security teams as well as implemented organizational information security strategies to reduce the organizations risk. His focus has been to raise the security awareness of the engineering organization while maintaining a practice of secure code development, delivery, and operations. Follow Derek Fisher: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/derek-fisher-sec-arch YouTube – @securelybuilt5967 Website – securelybuilt.com _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/138 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“It’s not about the tools or processes. Most important is you understand the target outcomes for your customers and establish the right level of shared situational awareness across the teams." Robert Benefield is the author of “Lean DevOps: A Practical Guide to On Demand Service Delivery”. In this episode, Robert shared insights on how we can apply the Lean DevOps mindset for building successful IT delivery organizations. Robert started by sharing what initiated him writing the book and how it differs from the other available DevOps books. Robert described the concept of on-demand service delivery and important concepts, such as knowing the target outcomes, building situational awareness, and making effective and timely decisions based on the OODA loop. Robert also shared a few practices and techniques he outlined in the book, such as mission command, workflow board, queue master, service engineering lead, value stream mapping, and Einheit.  Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:58] Writing a DevOps Book - [00:14:14] On Demand Service Delivery - [00:18:58] Mission Command - [00:21:42] OODA Loop - [00:26:56] Building Situational Awareness - [00:33:16] Workflow Management - [00:39:43] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:49:41] _____ Robert Benefield’s BioRobert Benefield is an experienced technical leader who has decades of experience delivering robust on-demand services to solve hard problems in demanding ecosystems including banking and securities trading, medical and pharmaceutical, energy, telecom, government, and Internet services. His continual eagerness to learn and work with others to make a difference has taken him from building computers and writing code in the early days of the Internet at Silicon Valley startups to the executive suite in large multinational companies. He shares his unique experience in the hopes that others can continue to build on it without having to collect quite as many scars along the way. Follow Robert: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/robert-benefield-25482 Website – leandevops.com Twitter – @leandevops _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/137 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Privacy is about handling data in a way that builds for both compliance and trust, maturity and transparency." Nishant Bhajaria is cybersecurity and data privacy executive and the author of “Data Privacy: A Runbook for Engineers”. In this episode, we discussed the importance of data privacy and privacy engineering. Nishant described his definition of data privacy and why it is becoming a key concern for users, companies, and regulators. He explained why doing data privacy is hard and how companies can build a privacy-first culture. Nishant also covered other data privacy topics, including data classification, data sharing, data consent, and data privacy applied to machine learning.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:29] Writing “Data Privacy” Book - [00:05:45] Building a Course - [00:10:04] Data Privacy Definition - [00:13:43] Data Privacy Concerns - [00:16:03] Data Privacy Regulations - [00:22:07] Data Privacy is Hard - [00:26:23] Privacy & Security - [00:31:22] Privacy-First Culture - [00:35:23] Data for Machine Learning - [00:39:23] Data Privacy Tooling - [00:42:45] Data Sharing - [00:45:45] Data Consent - [00:49:27] Data Classification - [00:52:10] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:55:46] _____ Nishant Bhajaria’s BioNishant Bhajaria is an executive in the cybersecurity and data privacy industry. Having started out as an engineer with a second act as a product manager, he pivoted to data protection before it became a high-visibility topic. Besides building and leading teams at Nike, Netflix, Google and Uber, Nishant has also authored the recently released Data Privacy: A Runbook for Engineers - a deep dive into strategies on effectively identifying, communicating and addressing privacy risks using technical strategies. He also teaches courses on LinkedIn Learning on cybersecurity, career development and building inclusive teams. Follow Nishant: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/nishantjb LinkedIn Courses – https://www.linkedin.com/learning/instructors/nishant-bhajaria _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/136 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Spend some time looking at the system in which you work. Understand how the work is working. Understand how flow is for your organization. And then you can work to optimize that." James Lewis is a Director at ThoughtWorks and a pioneer of microservice architecture. In this episode, we went back memory lane to the time when James first coined and popularized the microservice architecture. James described his definition of a microservice and its important characteristics. He also shared the recent microservice evolution, including the swing between microservice and monolith. In the second half, James shared his insights from complexity science related to different scaling patterns. Particularly, he explained how different hierarchy types can affect an organization’s growth rate. Towards the end, James gave some tips on how organization can detect signs of suboptimal growth and what we can do to maintain organizational agility.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:48] Coining Microservices - [00:07:25] Definition of Microservices - [00:14:13] Microservices Swing - [00:18:42] Scaling Law and Complexity Science - [00:24:05] Complex and Adaptive System - [00:40:01] Examining Sublinear Growth - [00:43:47] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:51:19] _____ James Lewis’s BioJames is a Software Architect and Director at Thoughtworks based in the UK. He’s proud to have been a part of Thoughtworks’ journey for fourteen years and it’s ongoing mission of delivering technical excellence for its clients and in amplifying positive social change for an equitable future. As a member of the Thoughtworks Technical Advisory Board, the group that creates the Technology Radar, he contributes to industry adoption of open source and other tools, techniques, platforms and languages. He is an internationally recognised expert on software architecture and design and on its intersection with organisational design and lean product development. After defining what was the newly emerging Microservices architectural style back in 2014, James’ primary consulting focus these days is helping organisations with technology strategy, distributed systems design and adoption of SOA. Follow James Lewis: Twitter – @boicy LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/james-lewis-microservices/ Email – [email protected] _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/135 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“The three core dimensions of developer experience are feedback loops, cognitive load, and flow state." Margaret-Anne (Peggy) Storey and Abi Noda are the coauthors of the recently published ACM paper “DevEx: What Actually Drives Productivity”. In this episode, we discussed how we can better measure and improve developer productivity using a developer-centric approach. Peggy and Abi first began by explaining the importance of socio-technical factors in software development. They also shared their view on the well-known SPACE and DORA metrics, and pointed out the danger of misusing and abusing the DORA metrics. Peggy and Abi then explained the three core dimensions of developer experience from their latest paper, which are feedback loops, cognitive load, and flow state. Towards the end, Peggy and Abi shared tips on how we can start measuring developer experience, including how to conduct developer surveys properly.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:09] First Developer Experience Paper - [00:06:19] Socio-Technical Factors - [00:07:37] SPACE & DORA Metrics - [00:13:35] Misuse and Abuse of DORA Metrics - [00:18:52] New Developer Experience Paper - [00:22:29] Developer Experience - [00:24:55] 3 Core Dimensions - [00:28:11] Optimizing Feedback Loops - [00:32:44] Cognitive Load - [00:37:06] Flow State - [00:40:32] Importance of Culture - [00:46:25] Measuring Developer Experience - [00:50:27] Conducting Survey - [00:54:29] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [01:00:10] _____ Margaret-Anne Storey’s BioMargaret-Anne (Peggy) Storey is a professor of computer science at the University of Victoria and holds a Canada Research Chair in human and social aspects of software engineering. Her research focuses on improving processes, tools, communication, and collaboration in software engineering. She serves as chief scientist at DX and consults with Microsoft to improve developer productivity. Abi Noda’s BioAbi Noda is the founder and CEO at DX, where he leads the company’s strategic direction and R&D efforts. His work focuses on developing measurement methods to help organizations improve developer experience and productivity. Before joining DX, Noda held engineering leadership roles at various companies and founded Pull Panda, which was acquired by GitHub in 2019. For more information, visit his website at abinoda.com. Follow Margaret: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/margaret-anne-storey-8419462 Twitter – @margaretstorey Follow Abi: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/abinoda Twitter – @abinoda Newsletter – newsletter.abinoda.com _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/134. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“The goal of requirements development is clear and effective communication. Thus, it has to be done in an incremental and iterative fashion." Karl Wiegers is the coauthor of “Software Requirements Essentials” and has previously appeared in our episode #103. In this episode, we discussed 6 essential practices for software requirements out of the 20 core practices specified in his book. Karl also explained the importance of having a clear and effective communication in developing software requirements, his view on doing software requirements for Agile teams, and the importance of having good software requirements for becoming an effective software development team and for avoiding unnecessary rework.   Listen out for: What Karl is Up To Lately - [00:04:08] Writing “Software Requirements Essentials” - [00:05:20] Software Requirements - [00:10:19] Clear & Effective Communication - [00:13:20] Importance of Requirement Details - [00:16:19] Practice #1 - Understand the Problem Before Converging on a Solution - [00:22:05] Practice #3 - Define the Solution’s Boundaries - [00:26:26] Requirements Elicitation vs Requirements Gathering - [00:30:47] Practice #6 - Understand What Users Need to Do With the Solution - [00:33:01] Software Requirements in Agile - [00:37:06] Requirements & Effective Software Development - [00:40:59] Rework - [00:44:39] Practice #19 - Establish and Manage Requirement Baselines - [00:46:20] Practice #13 - Prioritize the Requirements - [00:49:17] Practice #20 - Manage Changes to Requirements Effectively - [00:52:22] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:55:54] _____ Karl Wiegers’s BioKarl Wiegers is Principal Consultant with Process Impact. He has a PhD in organic chemistry. Karl is the author of 14 books, including Software Requirements Essentials (with Candase Hokanson), Software Requirements (with Joy Beatty), Software Development Pearls, The Thoughtless Design of Everyday Things, Successful Business Analysis Consulting, and a forensic mystery novel titled The Reconstruction. Karl has delivered more than 650 training courses, webinars, and conference presentations worldwide. You can reach him at ProcessImpact.com or KarlWiegers.com, where you can also hear more than 50 songs he has recorded just for fun, including 18 originals that he wrote. Follow Karl: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/karlwiegers Website – karlwiegers.com Software Requirements Essentials – softwarereqs.com Process Impact – processimpact.com Medium – karlwiegers.medium.com _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/133. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Speak about topics you are passionate about, because if you are passionate about something, you can easily find the story and the motivation that will lead you to success." Oscar Santolalla is the author of “Rock the Tech Stage” and the host of the “Time to Shine” podcast. In this episode, we discussed techniques on how to deliver a successful tech presentation and demo. Oscar broke down the elements of a successful tech presentation, in particular, explaining in-depth the three essential elements of passion, storytelling, and interaction. Oscar also shared some practical tips on how to deliver a killer product demo, some presentation slides hacks, and insights on how we can use our voice more effectively when delivering talks.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:47] Writing Public Demo and Public Speaking Books - [00:08:40] Elements of a Successful Public Speaking - [00:12:52] Passion - [00:23:10] Storytelling - [00:25:20] Delivering Product Demos - [00:28:55] Presentation Slides - [00:34:56] Importance of Voice - [00:38:31] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:42:09] _____ Oscar Santolalla’s BioAfter a decade and a half in the technology arena, Oscar embarked on a mission to help people in technology companies present better, inspire others, and sell more. He is author of “Rock the Tech Stage” (Apress, 2020) and “Create and Deliver a Killer Product Demo” (Apress, 2018). Oscar helps professionals in the technology industry rediscover the power of sharing their best ideas onstage. Since 2014, Oscar hosts Time to Shine, the pioneer podcast show in public speaking. He works as a Senior Sales Engineer at Ubisecure, in which he hosts the podcast “Let’s Talk About Digital Identity” and leads the company’s product training program. He has also contributed as speaking coach in several TEDx events. Oscar lives in Helsinki, Finland. Follow Oscar: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/oscarsantolalla Twitter – @osantolalla Website – rockthetechstage.com Rock the Tech Stage On Demand – rockthetechstage.com/ondemand (25% off with code: techleadjournal) _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/132 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“The notion of transaction, consistency, and ACID compliance are many times tech imposed. It should be the business that makes the decision. We as technologists should not make that decision." Pramod Sadalage is a Director at ThoughtWorks and the co-author of the Jolt Award winning “Refactoring Databases”. In this episode, we discussed data essentials in software architecture. Pramod started by explaining why dealing with data is hard in software architecture and some data related concerns we should think about when making architecture decisions. He then shared the thought process of how we can choose the right database for our purpose and shared insights on data modeling differences between SQL and NoSQL. Pramod also touched on the important considerations in managing transactions and the trade-offs between ACID and eventual consistency. Towards the end, Pramod shared practical advice on the step-by-step how we can split a monolithic database through database refactoring.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:23] Data is Hard - [00:15:57] Data Related Architecture Concerns - [00:18:36] Choosing the Right Database - [00:24:19] Data Modeling in SQL vs NoSQL - [00:30:28] Managing Transactions - [00:37:31] Tradeoff Between ACID & Eventual Consistency - [00:44:06] Refactoring Database - [00:46:58] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:54:58] _____ Pramod Sadalage’s BioPramod Sadalage is Director at ThoughtWorks where he enjoys the rare role of bridging the divide between database professionals and application developers. In the early 00’s he developed techniques to allow relational databases to be designed in an evolutionary manner based on version-controlled schema migrations. He is co-author of Software Architecture: The Hard Parts: Modern Trade-Off Analyses for Distributed Architectures, co-author for Building Evolutionary Architectures - Automated Software Governance, co-author of Refactoring Databases: Evolutionary Database Design, co-author of NoSQL Distilled: A Brief Guide to the Emerging World of Polyglot Persistence, author of Recipes for Continuous Database Integration and continues to speak and write about the insights he and his clients learn. Follow Pramod Sadalage: Twitter – @pramodsadalage LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/pramodsadalage Website – sadalage.com Database Refactoring – databaserefactoring.com DevOps for DBA – devopsfordba.com Agile Data – agiledata.org _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/131 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Understand the stage of your company and the kind of risks you face at that stage, make decisions that are appropriate, and remind other people about that all the time." Sarah Milstein is the VP of Engineering at Daily and has run remote teams for 25 years. In this episode, Sarah started by sharing some remote work insights we may not have heard before, such as why remote distributed teams often have higher propensity of trust, how remote work could help make difficult conversations easier, and how leaders can establish swift trust by having more intentional communications. In the second half of our conversation, Sarah shared about her experience of leading engineers as someone from a non-tech background. She explained why a lack of technical expertise can sometimes be useful and pointed out some leadership qualities an engineering leader should have to balance out the need for technical acumen. Sarah also shared her few tips on how to upskill herself in technical stuffs and her perspective on whether a company should consider having non-tech engineering leaders.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:49] Remote Work Insights - [00:08:04] Propensity of Trust - [00:12:26] Working Back in Office - [00:15:39] Other Remote Work Insights - [00:17:36] Ingroup Bias - [00:20:47] Swift Trust & Intentional Communication - [00:23:21] Accountability - [00:28:28] Being an Engineering Leader from a Non-Tech Background - [00:30:50] Leadership Qualities - [00:33:31] Benefits of Non-Tech Background - [00:35:15] Self-Learning Technical Stuffs - [00:39:23] Company Accepting Non-Tech Engineering Leaders - [00:41:51] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:45:14] _____ Sarah Milstein’s BioSarah Milstein is VP of Engineering at Daily, which lets developers add real-time video and audio to any app or website. Before Daily, Sarah held executive roles at ConvertKit, Mailchimp,18F.gov, and indie.vc. She was also CEO and co-founder of Lean Startup Productions and co-author of The Twitter Book. Earlier, she was a freelance journalist writing regularly for The New York Times. She holds an MBA from UC Berkeley and has run remote teams for 25 years. Follow Sarah: Website – sarahmilstein.com LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/sarahmilstein _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/130 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“The difference of why some companies are so much more successful at producing high value, high-impact products than others comes to 4 areas of GIST (Goals, Ideas, Steps, Tasks)." Itamar Gilad is a coach and author with over 20 years of experience in product management, strategy, and growth, and was previously a product manager at Google and the head of Gmail’s growth team. In this episode, we discussed all things about product management and how to build high-value products. Itamar first shared his journey at Google growing Gmail to 1 billion MAUs and some of his lessons learnt on managing large-scale product changes, getting users feedback, and dogfooding. Itamar then explained in-depth his GIST framework as an alternative to the product roadmap, a collection of methods and best practices for producing high-value and impactful products. He shared some challenges working with product roadmap and how teams can create better alignment instead. He also shared how we can do product prioritization better by using the ICE technique and his Confidence Meter. Towards the end, Itamar shared the different ways of how companies can conduct product experimentation and how to use the GIST board to improve the way we execute product development.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:17] Growing Gmail - [00:06:06] Managing Large Scale Product Changes - [00:07:26] Getting Feedback from a Major Product Change - [00:10:48] Dogfooding - [00:15:21] GIST - [00:19:10] Problem with Product Roadmap - [00:27:17] Creating Alignment - [00:34:22] Prioritization and ICE - [00:38:02] Doing Product Experimentation - [00:43:59] Project & Task Management - [00:48:43] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:54:39] _____ Itamar Gilad’s BioItamar is a coach, author and speaker specializing in product management, strategy, and growth. For over two decades, he held senior product management and engineering roles at Google, Microsoft and a number of startups. At Google, Itamar led parts of Gmail and was the head of Gmail’s growth team (resulting in 1Bn MAUs). Itamar publishes a popular product management newsletter and is the creator of a number of product management methodologies including GIST Framework and The Confidence Meter. Itamar is based in Barcelona, Spain. Follow Itamar: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/itamargilad/ Twitter – @ItamarGilad Website – itamargilad.com PM resources – itamargilad.com/resources Newsletter – itamargilad.com/newsletter _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/129 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“The core of threshold leadership is a set of four pathways of cultivating stillness, embodying intelligence, thinking independently, and maturing consciousness." Nick Chatrath is a leadership and organizational transformation expert and the author of “The Threshold: Leading in the Age of AI”. In this episode, Nick shared the concept of threshold leadership and explained its importance in the wake of recent AI advancements. Nick first shared some impact AI has made in our lives, both the good and the bad, and pointed out the importance of leaders taking accountability for those AI impact. Nick then shared in-depth the threshold leadership and its four pathways to help leaders be more responsible in the development and use of AI, which are cultivating stillness, thinking independently, embodying intelligence, and maturing consciousness. For each pathway, Nick shared a few tips on what we can do to improve ourselves, both at the personal level and the organization level. Towards the end, Nick closed our conversation by reminding us not to forget the two best human qualities we have compared to AI, which are love and wisdom.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:17] Writing a Book About AI & Leadership - [00:08:20] Impact of AI - [00:10:07] Leadership Responsibility - [00:15:34] Threshold Leadership - [00:18:02] Cultivating Stillness - [00:21:17] Knowing What Matters Most - [00:24:28] Organization Stillness - [00:28:01] Improving Stillness - [00:30:53] Thinking Independently - [00:34:00] Cultivating Independent Thinking - [00:39:48] Embodying Intelligence - [00:42:46] Importance of Recovery - [00:45:30] Organization’s Embodied Intelligence - [00:47:55] Maturing Consciousness - [00:50:22] Love & Wisdom - [00:53:05] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:57:29] _____ Nick Chatrath’s BioDr. Nick Chatrath is an expert in leadership and organizational transformation. A former McKinsey & Co. consultant, he now serves as managing director of the Oxford-based executive leadership firm Artesian Transformational Leadership. He holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford, and a dozen training certifications from organizations like The Leadership Circle and Hogan Assessment Systems. Previously, he co-founded the tech startup Coachify and the social reform advocacy group The Shaftsbury Partnership Ltd. A bestselling author, his most recent book is The Threshold: Leading in the Age of AI. He is an avid cook and triathlete. Follow Nick: LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com/in/nickchatrath Artesian – artesiangroup.co.uk _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/128 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“3 core ideas in game thinking: super fan funnel to find the right people, loop design to create the experience people want to stick around for, and concept testing to figure out the user experience." Amy Jo Kim is a game designer, startup coach, author, and co-founder of Game Thinking. In this episode, Amy shared how we can use game thinking to build better and successful products that people want. She first described some top reasons products fail and gave a few tips to avoid product failure by validating our ideas before building the product. Amy then explained in-depth the 3 core ideas in game thinking, which are identifying super fans, building a sticky core habit loop, and validating the product concept using storyboards. Towards the end, Amy shared how we can get started with game thinking and why we should do it early in our product journey.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:32] Quitting and Starting Own Journey - [00:08:08] Top Reasons Product Fail - [00:16:44] Validating Before Building - [00:27:37] Identifying Super Fans - [00:33:03] Building Core Habit Loop - [00:35:41] Storyboarding - [00:42:48] Getting Started with Game Thinking - [00:48:48] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:51:48] _____ Amy Jo Kim’s BioNamed by Fortune as one of the top 10 influential women in games, Amy Jo Kim is a game designer, community architect, and innovation coach. Her design credits include Rock Band, The Sims, eBay, Netflix, nytimes.com, Ultima Online, Covet Fashion, & Happify. Amy Jo helps entrepreneurs & innovators bring their ideas to life through at gamethinking.io. She pioneered the practice of applying game design to digital services and is well-known for her books Community Building on the Web (2000) and Game Thinking (2018). In addition to her coaching practice, Amy Jo has taught Game Thinking at Stanford University and the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where she co-founded the game design program. She holds a PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of Washington and a BA in Experimental Psychology from UCSD. Follow Amy: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/amyjokim Twitter – @amyjokim Game Thinking – gamethinking.io Mentions & Links: Game Thinking Masterclass – https://gamethinking.io/masterclass/ G School – gamethinking.io/programs Innovator’s Quiz – gamethinking.io/quiz _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/127 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“The vertical altitude of the organization leaders sets the ceiling for how effective the organization can be." Ryan Gottfredson is a leadership development researcher and a Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling author of “The Elevated Leader”. In this episode, Ryan explained the concept of an elevated leader and why it is important to have elevated leaders in an organization. He described the role of vertical development in elevating leadership and how it differs from the horizontal development that many of us are familiar with. Ryan described in-depth the 3 different levels of vertical development, including the cognitive and emotional aspects associated with each of the level. Towards the end, Ryan explained the 4 different types of mindset and why it is important for leaders to understand and heal from past traumas in order to become elevated Mind 3.0 leaders.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:38] Elevated Leader - [00:06:38] Importance of Elevated Leader - [00:10:30] Horizontal & Vertical Developments - [00:14:27] Cognitive and Emotional Development - [00:18:48] 3 Levels of Vertical Development - [00:23:18] Center of Gravity - [00:32:28] 4 Different Mindsets - [00:36:04] Understanding Past Trauma - [00:41:34] Improving Our Past Trauma - [00:45:18] Elevated Leader & Culture - [00:48:59] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:53:50] _____ Ryan Gottfredson’s BioRyan Gottfredson, Ph.D. is a cutting-edge leadership development author, researcher, and consultant. He helps organizations vertically develop their leaders primarily through a focus on mindsets. Ryan is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling author of Success Mindsets: The Key to Unlocking Greater Success in Your Life, Work, & Leadership and The Elevated Leader: Leveling Up Your Leadership Through Vertical Development. He is also a leadership professor at the College of Business and Economics at California State University-Fullerton. Follow Ryan: Website – RyanGottfredson.com LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/ryangottfredson Twitter – @RyanGottfredson Facebook – facebook.com/RyanGottfredsonPhD Instagram – instagram.com/ryangottfredson YouTube – youtube.com/channel/UCyTe4jL0cla-U_Y4lqjc3-w _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/126 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“A good API doesn’t expose the internal data models or internal logic too much. And the more your clients are not under your control, the less you want to do that." Daniel Luebke is a software architect and the co-author of “Patterns for API Design”. In this episode, we discussed some API design patterns and best practices taken from his book. Daniel first shared the importance of understanding domain requirements for building APIs and several API and message best practices, such as API first design, how to design loosely coupled message exchanges, the tradeoff between generic and specialized API operations, and the risk of exposing too much internal data model and logic in our APIs. Daniel also introduced the microservices domain-specific languages (MSDL) as an alternative to Open API for specifying APIs independent of the technology implementation. Towards the end, Daniel explained the importance of defining the API lifecycle, how to support backward compatibility, and the different API versioning strategies we can use to evolve our APIs.   Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:17] Writing API Design Book - [00:08:26] Loosely Coupled Message Exchanges - [00:12:53] API Design Best Practices - [00:15:31] Message Best Practices - [00:20:48] Generic vs Specialized API - [00:24:51] Exposing Internal Data Model - [00:27:13] Microservices Domain-Specific Language - [00:30:37] API Evolution - [00:33:23] API Versioning - [00:39:27] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:44:27] _____ Daniel Luebke’s BioDaniel Lübke is an independent coding and consulting software architect with a focus on business process automation and digitization projects. His interests are software architecture, business process design, and system integration, which inherently require APIs to develop solutions. He received his PhD at the Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany, in 2007 and has worked in many industry projects in different domains since then. Daniel is author and editor of several books, articles, and research papers; gives training; and regularly presents at conferences on topics of APIs and software architecture. Follow Daniel: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/danielluebke Twitter – @dluebke Blog – digital-solution-architecture.com _____ Our Sponsors Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Show Notes: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/125 Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“The business technology divide was apparent in many companies. The idea of the value flywheel effect is to join the business and technology goals and create this flywheel effect momentum." David Anderson is the author of “The Value Flywheel Effect” and the co-creator of The Serverless Edge. In this episode, David described the value flywheel effect concept and its four stages: clarity of purpose, challenge & landscape, next best action, and long-term value. David also explained the importance of Wardley Mapping and how we can use it to help improve the organization’s situational awareness within the value flywheel. During our discussion about the four stages, we also discussed several important concepts, such as the North Star Framework for clarity of purpose, understanding the team’s psychological safety and sociotechnical systems landscape, serverless-first paradigm as one way for the next best action, and using the well-architected framework and sustainability as guidelines for ensuring long-term value. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:39] Value Flywheel Effect - [00:09:48] Wardley Mapping Overview - [00:12:09] Improving Situational Awareness - [00:18:04] Clarity of Purpose - [00:20:51] North Star Framework - [00:23:33] Obsess Over Time to Value - [00:26:36] Challenge and Landscape: Psychological Safety - [00:28:44] Sociotechnical Systems View - [00:33:54] The Next Best Action: Serverless-First Mindset - [00:36:11] Code is a Liability - [00:40:33] Long-Term Value: Problem Prevention Culture - [00:42:03] Well-Architected Framework - [00:45:26] Sustainability - [00:47:42] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:50:45] _____ David Anderson’s Bio David is a technical leader who enjoys writing and speaking about the leading edge of technology. David moved to Liberty Mutual in 2007 and drove technology change and cloud adoption. As a practicing Architect with G-P, he continues to empower and enable peers on Serverless First, Well-Architected, Engineering Excellence. His new book, The Value Flywheel Effect - Power the Future and Accelerate Your Organization to the Modern Cloud was published by IT Revolution in the fall of 2022. He is based in Belfast, writes on The Serverless Edge, is the lead organizer for ServerlessDays Belfast, is a member of the Wardley Mapping community. Follow David: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/david-anderson-belfast Twitter – @davidand393 Serverless Edge – ServerlessEdge.com Serverless Craic Podcast – theserverlessedge.podbean.com _____ Our Sponsors Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/124.

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. What people want in these traumatic moments is somebody to listen to and acknowledge them." Katharine Manning is the President of Blackbird DC and author of “The Empathetic Workplace”. In this episode, we discussed how leaders can deal with traumatic experience in the workplace. Katharine described what she means by workplace trauma and explained the impact of such trauma on employees’ performance and organizations’ productivity. She shared the importance of leaders showing trust whenever employees come forward and share their trauma, and why leaders should avoid problem-solving in response to their situation. Katharine also touched on the importance of empathy and gave a few tips on how we can be more empathetic towards others. Towards the end, Katharine shared her LASER method, the five steps we can do for a more compassionate, calm, and confident response to the workplace trauma. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:53] Trauma in the Workplace - [00:10:50] Impact of Trauma - [00:14:47] Showing Trust - [00:19:29] Avoid Problem-Solving - [00:28:35] Empathy - [00:31:07] The LASER Method - [00:37:17] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:50:48] _____ Katharine Manning’s Bio Katharine Manning is the President of Blackbird DC, which provides training and consultation on empathy at work. She is the author of The Empathetic Workplace: Five Steps to a Compassionate, Calm, and Confident Response to Trauma on the Job, and teaches at American University and in the Master’s in Trauma-Informed Leadership Program at Dominican University. Her work has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Thrive Global, and CEOWorld. She has worked on issues of trauma and victimization for more than 25 years, including 15 years at the Justice Department, where she was a Senior Attorney Advisor consulting on victim issues in cases like the Boston Marathon bombing and the Pulse Nightclub shooting. Follow Katharine: Website – KatharineManning.com LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/katharine-manning/ Blackbird DC – blackbird-dc.com/ _____ Our Sponsors Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/123.

“In a world that runs on software, when we develop and deploy software, we are part of a larger system where our failures are no longer about us, they are also about other people." Kevlin Henney is a consultant, writer, and speaker on software development and has written and edited several popular books. In this episode, Kevlin shared his 3 favorite things every software engineer should know based on the two books he edited: “97 Things Every Programmer Should Know” and “97 Things Every Java Programmer Should Know”. He explained the importance for developers of taking an occasional break when working on deep work, putting code comments wisely, and using testing not just for checks but also for communication tool. Kevlin also brought up some timeless software development concepts developers should learn from the past on cohesion, coupling, and code quality. He also explained why he becomes associated with public software failures widely known as KevlinHenney screens and how the trend started in the beginning. Towards the end, Kevlin shared his views on why it is important for developers to improve public speaking, writing, and having more compassion towards each other. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:54] Things Every Programmer Should Know - [00:10:13] Learning From the Past - [00:25:35] KevlinHenney Screens - [00:38:28] Public Speaking, Writing, and Compassion - [00:42:49] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:53:46] _____ Kevlin Henney’s Bio Kevlin Henney is an independent consultant, trainer, writer and speaker. His interests cover what happens on both sides of the keyboard, and everything from the detail of code to the bigger picture of software architecture. Kevlin is co–author of two volumes in the Pattern–Oriented Software Architecture series, editor of 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know and co-editor of 97 Things Every Java Programmer Should Know. Follow Kevlin: Twitter – @KevlinHenney Mastodon – @[email protected] LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/kevlin Medium – kevlinhenney.medium.com Instagram – instagram.com/kevlin.henney _____ Our Sponsors Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/122.

“Creativity at work is a type of thinking and a process of developing ourselves and our ability to create and bring novelty to our professional life." Oana Velcu-Laitinen is the author of “How to Develop Your Creative Identity at Work”. In this episode, Dr. Oana shared how we can develop our creative identity at work and in our personal life. She first started by describing the definition of creativity in her book, its relation with intelligence, and explained why creativity is important for maintaining our sense of engagement and motivation. Dr. Oana outlined the 4 different types of thinking that can help us foster our creative diversity and shared several tips on how to explore our creativity by channeling our curiosity, choosing our audience, finding time for creative work, and overcoming the fear of rejection. Dr. Oana also shared some potential barriers hindering our creativity at work and why we should avoid them to foster more creative innovations. I also shared my own creative journey, including how I ended up doing this podcast. If you are looking to exercise more of your creativity or thinking of starting your creative journey, check out this episode. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:01] Definition of Creativity - [00:07:35] Creativity for Engagement and Motivation - [00:11:07] Creativity and Intelligence - [00:13:55] Fear of Rejection - [00:16:14] 4 Types of Thinking for Creative Diversity - [00:18:46] Channeling Curiosity - [00:21:17] Importance of Audience - [00:27:08] Creativity Barriers at Work - [00:30:49] Finding Time for Creative Work - [00:34:13] Creative Belief - [00:40:15] Tips to Explore Creativity - [00:42:33] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:48:08] _____ Oana Velcu-Laitinen’s Bio Oana Velcu-Laitinen is a NeuroLeadership coach and trainer focusing on creative thinking to enhance work performance. Her clients include researchers, change leaders, entrepreneurs, and individuals seeking career growth. Oana holds a PhD in Economics from the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland. In 2016, she disrupted her academic career to become a knowledge solopreneur. The book “How to Develop Your Creative Identity at Work” reflects Oana’s curiosity to keep abreast of the latest research on creative identity, mindsets and beliefs and turn it into actionable principles for ambitious knowledge workers. Her motto is, “To know job satisfaction, know your creativity.” Follow Oana: Website – velcu.fi LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/oana-velcu-laitinen-phd-6081084 Email – [email protected] _____ Our Sponsors Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/121.

“Everything in software architecture is a trade-off, and the why is more important than how." Neal Ford is a Director and software architect at ThoughtWorks. In this episode, we discussed all things about software architecture covering his three most recent books: “Fundamentals of Software Architecture”, “Software Architecture: The Hard Parts”, and “Building Evolutionary Architectures”. We first discussed the definition of software architecture and how it relates to software design. Neal then described the two important laws of software architecture related to trade-offs and the why. Neal then explained why software architecture is difficult and discussed the hard parts, such as finding the least-worst combination trade-offs, understanding the importance of data, and managing coupling. Towards the end, Neal shared about the evolutionary architecture concept and some of its principles to support making incremental change across multiple software architectural dimensions. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:25] Definition of Software Architecture - [00:10:48] Software Architecture vs Design - [00:14:29] Laws of Software Architecture - [00:16:24] The Hard Parts of Software Architecture - [00:20:55] Least-Worst Combination of Trade-offs - [00:26:42] Importance of Data - [00:29:51] Coupling and The 3 Co’s - [00:35:54] Evolutionary Architecture - [00:40:11] Incremental Change - [00:45:26] Principles of Evolutionary Architecture - [00:49:32] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:01] _____ Neal Ford’s Bio Neal Ford is Director, Software Architect, and Meme Wrangler at ThoughtWorks. He is also the designer and developer of applications, articles, video presentations, and author and/or editor of an increasingly large number of books spanning a variety of subjects and technologies, including the two most recent Fundamentals of Software Architecture and Building Evolutionary Architectures. His professional focus includes designing and building of large-scale enterprise applications. He is also an internationally acclaimed speaker, speaking at over 700 developer conferences worldwide, delivering more than 3000 presentations. Follow Neal: Website – nealford.com Twitter – @neal4d _____ Our Sponsors Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/120.

“If you have self-organizing teams, your power as a leader is determined by your ability to enable others to grow and take responsibility." Ron Eringa is a leadership developer and the co-author of “The Professional Agile Leader”. In this episode, we discussed insights from his book on how one can become a professional agile leader. Ron started by sharing his view of why agile transformations usually fail and gave advice on how companies should adopt agile in a more effective way. Ron then described characteristics of a professional agile leader, including how to apply situational leadership by understanding the 4 different leadership styles (combative, compliant, competitive, catalytic). Ron also explained how leaders can build high-performing teams by being aware of the two domains (visible & invisible) the teams are operating in and by understanding the interconnection between structure and culture. Towards the end, Ron shared his utopia view of how organizations would look like if they already become fully agile and also shared some patterns for effective leadership. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:50] Why Agile Transformations Fail - [00:07:47] Changing to Agile Culture - [00:10:19] Professional Agile Leader - [00:15:56] Importance of Learning - [00:20:37] 4 Leadership Styles - [00:22:56] High-Performing Team - [00:27:16] Visible & Invisible Domains - [00:30:05] Structure & Culture - [00:32:08] What Full Agile Looks Like - [00:35:41] Self-Perpetuating Change - [00:38:43] Effective Leadership Patterns - [00:41:34] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:47:23] _____ Ron Eringa’s Bio Ron Eringa is a Leadership Developer. His mission is to create organizations where people love to work and where real customer value is created. He is realising this mission by developing Leadership on all levels in the organization: by creating autonomous and mature teams, by developing leadership in teams and at the management level, and by helping management to create an environment where teams can become autonomous. In 2022, Ron co-wrote ‘The Professional Agile Leader’ to help leaders build mature agile organizations. Follow Ron: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/reringa Twitter – @roneringa Website – roneringa.com Evolutionary Leadership – EvolutionaryLeadership.nl _____ Our Sponsors Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/119.

“When blame is our focus rather than understanding what happened, people spend as much or more energy avoiding the blame and less time to be productive, creative, and energetic." Diana Larsen is the co-founder of Agile Fluency Project and co-author of the latest book “Lead Without Blame”. In this episode, we discussed insights from her book about building resilient learning teams by moving away from blaming culture. Diana first described the definition of blame and its characteristics, and explained the negative impacts it can bring to an organization and its culture. Diana advised that instead of a blaming culture, organizations should build a learning culture by adopting the 3 essential motivators (team purpose, autonomous teams, co-intelligence) and the 4 resilience factors (collaborative connection, embracing conflict, inclusive collaboration, minimizing power dynamics). Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:30] Understanding Blame - [00:08:58] Blaming Habit - [00:11:50] Leaders & Accountability - [00:18:12] 3 Essential Motivators - [00:21:21] Essential Motivator: Team Purpose - [00:27:19] Essential Motivator: Autonomous Teams - [00:31:21] Essential Motivator: Co-Intelligence - [00:35:36] Resilience Factor: Collaborative Connection - [00:39:55] Resilience Factor: Embracing Conflict - [00:42:55] Resilience Factor: Inclusive Collaboration - [00:46:40] Resilience Factor: Minimizing Power Dynamics - [00:48:48] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:59] _____ Diana Larsen’s Bio Visionary pragmatist Diana Larsen is a cofounder, chief connector, learning leader, and principal coach, consultant, and mentor at the Agile Fluency Project. Diana coauthored the books Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great; Liftoff: Start and Sustain Successful Agile Teams; and Five Rules of Accelerated Learning. She co-originated the Agile Fluency model and coauthored the book The Agile Fluency Model: A Brief Guide to Success with Agile. For more than 20 years, she led the practice area for agile software development, leading and managing teams, and guiding agile transitions at FutureWorks Consulting. Through the Agile Fluency Project’s programs, Diana shares the wisdom she’s gained in over 35 years of working with leaders, teams, and organizations. To serve her communities, she delivers inspiring conference keynotes, talks, and workshops around the world. Follow Diana: Website – DianaLarsen.com Twitter – @DianaOfPortland LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/dianalarsenagileswd Agile Fluency – AgileFluency.org _____ Our Sponsors Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/118.

“The strength of SRE is in the alignment of operational concerns between the product management, product development, and product operations." Dr. Vladyslav Ukis is the Head of R&D at Siemens Healthineers and author of “Establishing SRE Foundations”. In this episode, Dr. Vlad shared insights on how to establish SRE foundations from scratch based on his firsthand experience at Siemens Healthineers and the concepts described in his book. We started by discussing the basic SRE concept and how it differs from other related concepts, such as ITIL, COBIT, and DevOps. Dr. Vlad then explained in-depth how SRE implementation can help to create an alignment between the product management, product development, and product operations teams. He also shared the importance of having internal SRE coaches to facilitate this transformation and when an organisation can start realizing the benefits of implementing SRE. In the latter half, Dr. Vlad walked us through how we can begin our SRE journey, make further progress in the journey, and measure the success of our SRE implementation. Also, do not miss his sharing on how SRE implementation can help to improve reliability in a stringent industry, such as healthcare. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:04] Getting to Know SRE Concept - [00:08:24] SRE vs Other Frameworks - [00:12:20] SRE Definition - [00:16:48] Ops-Development-Product Alignment - [00:19:26] SRE Coach - [00:26:36] Realizing SRE Benefits - [00:28:52] How to Begin SRE Journey - [00:31:37] SRE Journey Progression - [00:36:15] Healthcare Reliability - [00:41:48] Measuring SRE Implementation Success - [00:46:25] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:48:44] _____ Vladyslav Ukis’s Bio Dr. Vladyslav Ukis graduated in Computer Science from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, and later from the University of Manchester, UK. He joined Siemens Healthineers after each graduation and has been working on Software Architecture, Enterprise Architecture, Innovation Management, Private and Public Cloud Computing, Team Management, Engineering Management, Portfolio Management, Partner Management, and Digital Transformation at large. He currently works as the Head of R&D for the Siemens Healthineers teamplay digital health platform, and has shared his DevOps knowledge in his book “Establishing SRE Foundations” published in 2022. Follow Dr Vlad: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/dr-vladyslav-ukis-5172ba32 _____ Our Sponsors Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags available by visiting techleadjournal.dev/shop. And don't forget to brag yourself once you receive any of those swags. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/117.

“Emotional intelligence is about knowing yourself, empathizing with other people, and always defining a win-win outcome in everything you do." Trenton Moss is the founder of Team Sterka and the author of “Human Powered”. In this episode, Trenton shared the importance of having good emotional intelligence and people skills in digital product teams. He shared the 6 key skills we need to succeed as outlined in his book: conflict resolution, building strong relationships, leading and influencing, facilitation, storytelling, and outbound communications. Trenton also shared some frameworks we can use to improve some of those skills, such as PLEASE, MASTER, and LEAD frameworks. And throughout our conversation, Trenton emphasized multiple times the importance of achieving the win-win outcome in every interaction we have with each other. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:37] Importance of People Skills - [00:10:07] Emotional Intelligence - [00:12:52] 6 Key Skills - [00:20:45] Win-Win Outcome - [00:22:58] Conflict Resolution & PLEASE Framework - [00:24:59] Improving Conflict Resolution Skill - [00:29:54] Active Listening - [00:33:10] Strong Relationships - [00:36:50] MASTER Framework - [00:38:43] Negative Behaviors - [00:45:05] Leading & Influencing & LEAD - [00:48:47] Over-communication - [00:51:47] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:55:36] _____ Trenton Moss’s Bio Trenton is a business leader, trainer and coach who inspires everyone around him to achieve more than they think they can. His bestselling book, ‘Human Powered’, was published last year. It helps you gain all the people skills and EQ you need to succeed. He’s the founder and head coach at Team Sterka, a training and coaching business that creates high-performing teams. Previously, Trenton spent 15 years as founder and CEO at one of the UK’s first product design consultancies, Webcredible. When he’s not working, you’ll usually find him running around after his kids. Or sleeping. He loves a post-lunch power nap. Follow Trenton: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/trentonmoss Twitter – @trentonmoss100 Team Sterka – https://sterka.team/ _____ Our Sponsors Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/116.

“An engineering manager should make sure that the team has a good balance of delivering things that the business needs with enough capacity to do it sustainably over time." Today's clip is from episode 94 with Patrick Kua. In this clip, we discussed Pat’s latest course, Engineering Manager Essentials.  We discussed what an engineering manager role is, how it differs from a Tech Lead role, and the common manager versus IC career track. Pat also shared his view on why being an engineering manager is not a promotion. Listen out for: Engineering Manager Essentials - [00:00:50] The Role of Engineering Manager - [00:02:46] Difference With Tech Lead - [00:05:43] Manager and IC Paths - [00:07:53] EM Is Not a Promotion - [00:12:27] _____ Patrick Kua’s Bio Patrick Kua is a seasoned technology leader with almost 20 years of experience. His personal passion is accelerating the growth and success of tech organisations and technical leaders. He has had many years of hands-on experience, leading, managing and improving complex organisations and software systems as the CTO and Chief Scientist of N26 (Berlin, Germany) and as a Technical Principal Consultant at ThoughtWorks. He is a frequent keynote and conference speaker, author of three books including “The Retrospective Handbook“, “Talking with Tech Leads“ and “Building Evolutionary Architectures“ and runs the free popular newsletter for leaders in tech, “Level Up” and the “Tech Lead Academy“, offering online training for technical leaders, or running his very popular “Shortcut to Tech Leadership“ workshop. Follow Patrick: Website – https://patkua.com/ Twitter – @patkua LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/patkua/ EM Essentials Course – https://www.patkua.com/em-essentials/ Tech Lead Academy – https://techlead.academy/ Level Up Newsletter – https://levelup.patkua.com/ _____ Our Sponsors Mental well-being is a silent pandemic. According to the WHO, depression and anxiety cost the global economy over USD 1 trillion every year. It’s time to make a difference! Learn how to enhance your lives through a master class on mental wellness. Visit founderswellbeing.com/masterclass and enter TLJ20 for a 20% discount. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/94.

“Interactions with domain experts play a key role in implementing software. You have to make sure that you understand the problem you’re solving. You cannot provide a software solution without understanding the problem first." Today's clip is from episode 76 with Vladik Khononov, the author of “Learning Domain-Driven Design”. In this clip, Vladik shared why understanding business domain is crucial in software engineering and how DDD can help build the shared understanding between the domain experts and software engineers. Vlad also explained the importance of DDD's strategic design. Listen out for: Importance of Understanding Business Domain - [00:00:51] How Domain-Driven Design Helps - [00:06:21] DDD Strategic Design - [00:10:30] _____ Vladik Khononov’s Bio Vlad (Vladik) Khononov is a software engineer with over 20 years of industry experience, during which he has worked for companies large and small in roles ranging from webmaster to chief architect. Vlad maintains an active media career as an author, public speaker, and blogger. He travels the world consulting and talking about domain-driven design, microservices, and software architecture in general. Vladik lives in Northern Israel with his wife and an almost-reasonable number of cats. Follow Vladik: Twitter – @vladikk LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladikkhononov/ Website – https://vladikk.com/ _____ Our Sponsors Mental well-being is a silent pandemic. According to the WHO, depression and anxiety cost the global economy over USD 1 trillion every year. It’s time to make a difference! Learn how to enhance your lives through a master class on mental wellness. Visit founderswellbeing.com/masterclass and enter TLJ20 for a 20% discount. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/76.

“The simplest way to describe craftsmanship is pride of workmanship. It is the mindset that you are working on something important and you are going to do it well." Today's clip is from episode 90 with Robert C. Martin, more widely known as Uncle Bob. In this clip, Uncle Bob shared some insights from his latest book, “Clean Craftsmanship”. He shared the current major challenge of the software development industry as a young discipline, which drove Uncle Bob writing the book to help define disciplines, standards, and ethics for software craftsmanship. He also touched on the five key disciplines of clean craftsmanship. Listen out for: Clean Craftsmanship - [00:00:55] Programmer as a Profession - [00:05:32] Craftsmanship - [00:08:46] Disciplines - [00:12:46] _____ Robert C. Martin’s Bio Robert Martin (Uncle Bob) has been a programmer since 1970. He is the co-founder of the online video training company cleancoders.com and founder of Uncle Bob Consulting LLC. He served as Master Craftsman at 8th Light inc and is an acclaimed speaker at conferences worldwide. He is a profilic writer and has published hundreds of articles, papers, blogs, and best-selling books including: “The Clean Coder”, “Clean Code”, “Agile Software Development: Principles, Patterns, and Practices”, and “Clean Architecture”. He also served as the Editor-in-chief of the C++ Report and as the first chairman of the Agile Alliance. Follow Uncle Bob: Twitter – @unclebobmartin Clean Coder – http://cleancoder.com Clean Coders – https://cleancoders.com GitHub – https://github.com/unclebob _____ Our Sponsors Mental well-being is a silent pandemic. According to the WHO, depression and anxiety cost the global economy over USD 1 trillion every year. It’s time to make a difference! Learn how to enhance your lives through a master class on mental wellness. Visit founderswellbeing.com/masterclass and enter TLJ20 for a 20% discount. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/90.

Instead of being given a roadmap of features, an empowered team is given a problem to solve and they get to figure out the best way to solve that problem." Today's clip is from episode 102 with Marty Cagan, the founder of the Silicon Valley Product Group and the author of “Inspired” and “Empowered”. In this clip, Marty explained the importance of building the right product and shared the two inconvenient truths about building products. Marty then elaborated on the traits a good product team has and how to create an empowered product team. Listen out for: Writing Inspired & Empowered - [00:00:51] Building the Right Product - [00:05:36] Two Inconvenient Truths - [00:06:57] Traits of Good Product Teams - [00:11:19] Engineering Involvement - [00:14:06] Empowered - [00:15:57] _____ Our Sponsors Mental well-being is a silent pandemic. According to the WHO, depression and anxiety cost the global economy over USD 1 trillion every year. It’s time to make a difference! Learn how to enhance your lives through a master class on mental wellness. Visit founderswellbeing.com/masterclass and enter TLJ20 for a 20% discount. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/102.

“Engineering discipline is the most effective, efficient way of doing high-quality work. If our software development practices do not allow us to build better software faster, we should really change them because they are not engineering." Today's clip is from Tech Lead Journal episode 100 with Dave Farley, the one who runs the popular "Continuous Delivery" YouTube channel, and also the author of "Continuous Delivery" and the latest book, "Modern Software Engineering". In this clip, Dave explained his view on modern software engineering and why it emphasizes on the practices for building better software faster. Dave described the foundations of the software engineering discipline and explained the core competencies we need to succeed by becoming experts at learning.  Listen out for: Modern Software Engineering - [00:00:59] Better Software Faster - [00:03:37] Software Engineering - [00:06:01] Expert at Learning - [00:09:16] _____ Dave Farley’s Bio Dave Farley, founder and consultant for Continuous Delivery Ltd., has been a programmer, software engineer, and systems architect since the early days of modern computing. With Jez Humble, Farley coauthored the best-seller Continuous Delivery. As Head of Software Development for the LMAX, he built one of the world’s fastest financial exchanges. One of the earliest adopters of agile techniques employing iterative development, continuous integration, and high levels of automated testing, he also coauthored the Reactive Manifesto. Follow Dave: Twitter – @DaveFarley77 LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-farley-a67927 Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/c/ContinuousDelivery Website – https://countinuous-delivery.co.uk Courses – https://courses.cd.training _____ Our Sponsors Mental well-being is a silent pandemic. According to the WHO, depression and anxiety cost the global economy over USD 1 trillion every year. It’s time to make a difference! Learn how to enhance your lives through a master class on mental wellness. Visit founderswellbeing.com/masterclass and enter TLJ20 for a 20% discount. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/100.

“Every organization has a mission, a vision, and a set of values. As a leader, your number one task is to live those values and talk about them at every opportunity with your team to create alignment." Manoj Awasthi is the CTO at JULO and previously the SVP of Engineering at Tokopedia. In this episode, Manoj shared engineering leadership lessons from his recent experiences. Manoj started by describing the role of a senior engineering leader before then explaining some important aspects of engineering leadership, such as scaling up engineering team, hiring engineers and engineering managers, creating culture alignment, putting in place engineering governance, and maintaining engineering productivity. Towards the end, Manoj shared some of his important lessons learned before ending by sharing his tech leadership wisdom. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:46] Role of Senior Engineering Leader - [00:15:02] Scaling Engineering Team - [00:21:31] Hiring Engineers - [00:24:28] Hiring Engineering Managers/Leaders - [00:27:06] Aligning Culture - [00:28:47] Engineering Governance - [00:32:25] Maintaining Engineering Productivity - [00:35:58] Sharing Lessons Learned - [00:39:12] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:41:39] _____ Manoj Awasthi’s Bio Manoj Awasthi is the CTO at JULO, a fintech startup based in Jakarta. Prior to JULO, Manoj spent more than six years leading technology teams at Tokopedia wearing multiple hats during the growth years of Tokopedia from 2016 until 2022 as it scaled. During this time, he witnessed the tech team growing from 80 people to 2000+. He is a techie at heart, has a natural empathy for people and believes that wonders can happen through the alignment of teams towards a clear goal. When he is not working, he can be found either reading a book (almost every day) or having quality time with his family. Follow Manoj: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/manojawasthi/ Twitter – @awmanoj GitHub – github.com/awmanoj Blog – awmanoj.github.io/ _____ Our Sponsors Mental well-being is a silent pandemic. According to the WHO, depression and anxiety cost the global economy over USD 1 trillion every year. It’s time to make a difference! Learn how to enhance your lives through a master class on mental wellness. Visit founderswellbeing.com/masterclass and enter TLJ20 for a 20% discount. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/115.

“Intrinsic motivation is a great predictor of success. When people are doing things they feel intrinsically motivated to do, they tend to be much more successful." Matt K. Parker is the author of “A Radical Enterprise”. In this episode, Matt started by sharing his views on the underlying causes of the great resignation trend, which includes the dominator hierarchies. Matt then explained in-depth the four key imperatives mentioned in his book that organizations must practice for establishing radical collaboration, which are: (i) team autonomy, (ii) managerial devolution, (iii) deficiency gratification, and (iv) candid vulnerability. Matt also touched on several other interesting concepts, such as how to establish autonomy while minimising chaos, the concept of a dynamic and contextual leadership, and a few alternatives for structuring the salary and compensation in a devolved organization. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:14] Great Resignation - [00:10:51] Dominator Hierarchies - [00:15:26] 4 Imperatives - [00:19:12] Imperative 1: Team Autonomy - [00:26:14] Autonomy Without Chaos - [00:32:25] Imperative 2: Managerial Devolution - [00:37:15] Dynamic & Contextual Leadership - [00:41:46] Salary & Compensation - [00:44:30] Imperative 3: Deficiency Gratification - [00:50:49] Imperative 4: Candid Vulnerability - [00:54:23] Applying Radical Collaboration - [00:59:54] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [01:02:42] _____ Matt K. Parker’s Bio Matt K. Parker is a writer, speaker, researcher, and third-generation programmer. Over the last two decades, he’s played a variety of roles in the software industry, including developer, manager, director, and global head of engineering. He has specialized in hyper-iterative software practices for the last decade, and is currently researching the experience of radically collaborative software makers. He lives in a small village in Connecticut with his wife and three children. Follow Matt: Website – mattkparker.com Twitter – @realMattKParker LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/matt-k-parker/ Email – [email protected] _____ Our Sponsors Mental well-being is a silent pandemic. According to the WHO, depression and anxiety cost the global economy over USD 1 trillion every year. It’s time to make a difference! Learn how to enhance your lives through a master class on mental wellness. Visit founderswellbeing.com/masterclass and enter TLJ20 for a 20% discount. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/114.

“An ADR is a simple text file describing the context, the decision, and the consequences of a single architectural decision stored in the version control repository." Michael Keeling is an experienced software engineer, architect, and the author of “Design It!: From Programmer to Software Architect”. In this episode, Michael shared in-depth about ADR. He first shared his story of discovering ADR before describing what an ADR is. Michael then shared the objectives and benefits of using ADR to record architecture decisions and explained the key behavior changes happening when we practise ADR. Towards the end, Michael shared a few practical tips on creating and updating ADR, some patterns and anti-patterns he observed from his experience, and suggestions on how we can practise ADR effectively as a team. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:02] Discovering ADR - [00:07:05] ADR - [00:08:57] ADR Objectives - [00:11:18] Facilitating Good Design - [00:12:31] Not Capturing Design Decisions - [00:15:06] Distance Between Developers and Design - [00:17:19] Key Behaviour Changes - [00:19:11] Recent Popularity - [00:22:11] ADR Tips - [00:24:31] When to Create an ADR - [00:26:36] Updating Previous ADR - [00:27:55] Diagrams - [00:29:28] ADR Patterns - [00:31:06] ADR Anti-Patterns - [00:32:48] Doing ADR as a Team - [00:34:25] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:37:05] _____ Michael Keeling’s Bio Michael Keeling is a software engineer at Kiavi and the author of Design It!: From Programmer to Software Architect. Prior to Kiavi, he worked at IBM on the Watson Discovery Service and has experience with a variety of software systems including service-oriented architectures, enterprise search systems, and even combat systems. Michael is an award-winning speaker and regularly participates in the architecture and agile communities. He holds a Masters in Software Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a BS in Computer Science from the College of William and Mary. His current research interests include software design methods, patterns, and human factors of software engineering. Follow Michael: Twitter – @michaelkeeling LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/michaelkeeling Website – www.neverletdown.net _____ Our Sponsors Mental well-being is a silent pandemic. According to the WHO, depression and anxiety cost the global economy over USD 1 trillion every year. It’s time to make a difference! Learn how to enhance your lives through a master class on mental wellness. Visit founderswellbeing.com/masterclass and enter TLJ20 for a 20% discount. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/113.

“Developer experience is an approach to thinking about engineering excellence and maximizing engineering performance by increasing the capacity and performance of the individuals and the team as a whole." Abi Noda is the CEO & co-founder of DX. In this episode, Abi started by sharing what developer experience is, why it is becoming an industry trend nowadays, and the different ways of how it is being implemented in the industry. Abi explained why the traditional metrics normally used to measure developer productivity do not really work and can even provide perverse incentives. Abi then touched on the two popular researches widely known in the industry, i.e. the DORA report and SPACE framework, before then explained how DX is building on top of both researches to provide the measurements and KPIs to measure developer experience and productivity. Towards the end, Abi shared his advice on how we can start investing in improving developer experience, including when to form a dedicated team and getting the buy-in from company executives. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:22] Developer Productivity Industry Trend - [00:09:14] Developer Experience for Developers - [00:11:28] Different Names of Developer Experience - [00:13:30] Traditional Metrics - [00:17:15] DORA & SPACE - [00:21:16] DX Measurements - [00:26:30] DX KPIs - [00:32:01] Starting With Developer Experience - [00:36:49] Developer Experience Team - [00:40:49] Building a Case for Developer Experience - [00:43:08] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:46:18] _____ Abi Noda’s Bio Abi is the founder and CEO of getdx.com, which helps engineering leaders measure and improve developer experience. Abi formerly founded Pull Panda, which was acquired by GitHub. Follow Abi: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/abinoda Twitter – @abinoda Website – abinoda.com DX – getdx.com Software Engineering Research – abinoda.substack.com _____ Our Sponsors Mental well-being is a silent pandemic. According to the WHO, depression and anxiety cost the global economy over USD 1 trillion every year. It’s time to make a difference! Learn how to enhance your lives through a master class on mental wellness. Visit founderswellbeing.com/masterclass and enter TLJ20 for a 20% discount. DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/112.

“The people who are the communicators are the ones visible within companies. Just being technically proficient is not enough. You have to be an advocate for yourself." Neil Thompson is the founder of Teach the Geek and a public speaking coach. In this episode, Neil explained the importance of public speaking for technical professionals. Neil shared tips and advice on we can start and improve our public speaking skills. We also discussed some common challenges when speaking publicly and tips on how to overcome them. Towards the end, Neil shared more tips on storytelling, presenting data, doing virtual presentation, and presenting at large events. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:43] Importance of Public Speaking - [00:10:25] Tips to Start Public Speaking - [00:11:52] Challenge 1: Lack of Confidence - [00:14:44] Challenge 2: Lack of Expertise - [00:16:27] Challenge 3: Language Barrier - [00:17:59] Challenge 4: Past Trauma - [00:19:36] Filler Words - [00:20:52] Maintaining Eye Contacts - [00:22:36] Recording Video - [00:24:28] Body Language - [00:25:33] Getting Feedback - [00:26:44] Storytelling - [00:27:52] Presenting Data - [00:29:22] Managing Presentation Time - [00:30:33] Virtual Presentation - [00:31:48] Conference and Big Events - [00:32:37] Practising and Opportunities - [00:34:06] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:36:32] _____ Neil Thompson’s Bio After one too many failed presentations, Neil Thompson, an engineer, knew he had to improve. He did so, and now he works with technical professionals like himself to improve their communication skills. He hosts the Teach the Geek podcast, interviewing technical professionals about their public speaking journeys. He is also author of the book, Teach the Geek to Speak: a No-fluff Public Speaking Guide for STEM Professionals. Follow Neil: LinkedIn – https://linkedin.com/in/neilithompson Podcast – podcast.teachthegeek.com Youtube – youtube.teachthegeek.com Website – teachthegeek.com Our Sponsors Mental well-being is a silent pandemic. According to the WHO, depression and anxiety cost the global economy over USD 1 trillion every year. It’s time to make a difference! Learn how to enhance your lives through a master class on mental wellness. Visit founderswellbeing.com/masterclass and enter TLJ20 for a 20% discount. The iSAQB® Software Architecture Gathering is the international conference highlight for all those working on solution structures in IT projects: primarily software architects, developers, professionals in quality assurance, and also system analysts. The conference takes place online from November 14 to 17, 2022, and we have a 15% discount code for you: TLJ_MP_15. DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/111.

“As a team leader, you will become more successful and valuable if you are no longer a bottleneck for the people who are working with you and under you." Roy Osherove is the author of “Elastic Leadership” and “The Art of Unit Testing”. In this episode, we discussed leadership insights from “Elastic Leadership”. Roy first shared how he came up with the concept and described what elastic leadership is. He explained the different leadership styles based on the 3 team phases (survival mode, learning mode, and self-organizing mode) and advised how leaders can adapt and transition their leadership style from one phase to the other to lead effectively. Roy also shared about the Team Leader manifesto and the Line Manager manifesto to provide guidance on how leaders can grow their teams towards self-organization and self-sufficiency. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:45] Writing “Elastic Leadership” - [00:11:31] Team Leader Manifesto - [00:17:57] There Are No Experts - [00:23:23] Survival Mode - [00:30:49] Slack Time - [00:37:52] Self-Organizing Mode - [00:39:21] Learning Mode - [00:41:18] Line Manager Manifesto - [00:45:47] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:48:13] _____ Roy Osherove’s Bio Roy Osherove is the organizer of the CD/XP Israel meetup group. He’s the author of “Art of Unit Testing”, “Elastic Leadership” and the upcoming “Co-Ops: Pipeline Driven Organizations”. He has been working in the software industry for over 20 years in most types of technical & testing roles, and these days is working as a freelance consultant & trainer on-site for various companies across the world. Follow Roy: Twitter – @RoyOsherove LinkedIn – https://linkedin.com/in/osherove/ Website – https://osherove.com/ 5 Whys – https://5whys.com/ Our Sponsors Mental well-being is a silent pandemic. According to the WHO, depression and anxiety cost the global economy over USD 1 trillion every year. It’s time to make a difference! Learn how to enhance your lives through a master class on mental wellness. Visit founderswellbeing.com/masterclass and enter TLJ20 for a 20% discount. The iSAQB® Software Architecture Gathering is the international conference highlight for all those working on solution structures in IT projects: primarily software architects, developers, professionals in quality assurance, and also system analysts. The conference takes place online from November 14 to 17, 2022, and we have a 15% discount code for you: TLJ_MP_15. DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/110.

“The most responsible thing a human can do, either personally for their own development or the development of others, is play to a person’s strengths." Brandon Miller is the founder and CEO of 34 Strong and one of the first 7 certified Gallup Clifton StrengthsFinder coaches in the world. In this episode, we discussed Clifton StrengthsFinder, also known as CliftonStrengths. Brandon introduced what CliftonStrengths is and why it is important for us to recognize and focus on our strengths. He also shared when leaders apply a strengths-based approach at work, it leads to a much increased workplace engagement. Brandon then gave a walkthrough on how we can identify our strengths by taking the CliftonStrengths assessment and what we should do after we find out our strengths. Brandon also spent some time to discuss my top 3 strengths and explained the idea of complimentary partnerships. Towards the end, Brandon gave some tips for parents on how we can identify and nurture children’s core strengths since their childhood. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:46] Starting Journey with StrengthsFinder - [00:08:35] StrengthsFinder - [00:10:17] Why Focus on Strengths - [00:15:06] Increased Workplace Engagements - [00:19:41] Tips for High Work Engagement - [00:23:56] Doing StrengthsFinder Assessment - [00:26:59] Henry’s Top 3 Strengths - [00:30:56] Strengths-Based Leadership - [00:35:34] Core Strengths - [00:38:53] Nurturing Children’s Strengths - [00:41:18] Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:44:46] _____ Brandon Miller’s Bio Brandon Miller is the founder and CEO of 34 Strong, a coaching and consulting firm dedicated to improving employee engagement. As one of the First 7 Certified GALLUP Clifton Strengths Finder, Brandon has nearly 15 years of experience providing leadership training, coaching, advising, and facilitating. Brandon is also passionate about parenting, having authored several books such as “Play to Their Strengths” and “Incredible Parent” and founded Co-Founder of Incredible Family, a consulting agency applying strengths-based approach to parenting. Follow Brandon: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-miller-34strong Email – [email protected] 34 Strong – https://www.34strong.com/ Our Sponsors Mental well-being is a silent pandemic. According to the WHO, depression and anxiety cost the global economy over USD 1 trillion every year. It’s time to make a difference! Learn how to enhance your lives through a master class on mental wellness. Visit founderswellbeing.com/masterclass and enter TLJ20 for a 20% discount. The iSAQB® Software Architecture Gathering is the international conference highlight for all those working on solution structures in IT projects: primarily software architects, developers, professionals in quality assurance, and also system analysts. The conference takes place online from November 14 to 17, 2022, and we have a 15% discount code for you: TLJ_MP_15. DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/109.

“Companies that are successful in getting the most out of the cloud embrace the fact that distributed application architecture is a first class application architecture concern." Joe Duffy is the co-founder and CEO of Pulumi. In this episode, we discussed cloud engineering concept and how Pulumi is helping to shape its future. Joe started by sharing his story founding Pulumi and the evolution of the cloud adoption. He shared his view on why cloud should be a first class application architecture concern and the concept of cloud as an operating system. Joe then shared in-depth the concept of cloud engineering as the next evolution of DevOps and explained how it changes the way we build, deploy, and manage infrastructure and application in the product development lifecycle. Towards the end, Joe shared his view on the future of cloud engineering and how Pulumi is helping organizations adopt cloud engineering at scale. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:18] Founding Pulumi - [00:11:05] Cloud as First Class Concern - [00:13:00] Cloud Engineering - [00:17:27] Build Phase - [00:23:02] Deploy Phase - [00:29:48] Manage Phase - [00:35:43] Infrastructure as Software - [00:38:32] Future of Cloud Engineering - [00:43:11] Pulumi Customer Story - [00:44:52] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:46:30] _____ Joe Duffy’s Bio Joe Duffy is co-founder and CEO of Pulumi. Prior to founding Pulumi, Joe was a longtime leader in Microsoft’s Developer Division, Operating Systems Group, and Microsoft Research. Most recently, he was Director of Engineering and Technical Strategy for developer tools, where part of his responsibilities included managing the groups building the C#, C++, Visual Basic, and F# languages. Joe was instrumental in taking .NET open source and cross-platform. Joe founded Pulumi in 2018 with Eric Rudder, the former Chief Technical Strategy Officer at Microsoft. Follow Joe: Twitter – @funcOfJoe LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/joejduffy/ Website – JoeDuffyBlog.com Our Sponsors Mental well-being is a silent pandemic. According to the WHO, depression and anxiety cost the global economy over USD 1 trillion every year. It’s time to make a difference! Learn how to enhance your lives through a master class on mental wellness. Visit founderswellbeing.com/masterclass and enter TLJ20 for a 20% discount. The iSAQB® Software Architecture Gathering is the international conference highlight for all those working on solution structures in IT projects: primarily software architects, developers, professionals in quality assurance, and also system analysts. A selection of well-known international experts will share their practical knowledge on the most important topics in state-of-the-art software architecture. The conference takes place online from November 14 to 17, 2022, and we have a 15% discount code for you: TLJ_MP_15. DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/108.

“If you want to unlock the value of your data by generating data-driven values, and you want to do it reliably and resiliently at scale, then you need to consider data mesh." Zhamak Dehghani is the author of the “Data Mesh” book. In this episode, we discussed in-depth about the data mesh, a concept she founded in 2018, which has then been becoming an industry trend. We started our conversation by discussing the current challenges working with data, such as the data centralization approach and why the current data tools are still inadequate. Zhamak then described data mesh and why organizations should adopt it to generate data-driven values at scale. Zhamak then explained the 4 principles of data mesh, which include domain ownership, data as a product, the self-serve data platform, and the federated computational governance. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:49] Challenges Working with Data - [00:10:19] Centralization of Data - [00:13:53] Why Current Tools Not Adequate - [00:16:00] Data Mesh & Its Drivers - [00:19:32] Principle of Domain Ownership - [00:25:54] Principle of Data as a Product - [00:35:57] Principle of The Self-Serve Data Platform - [00:40:51] Principle of Federated Computational Governance - [00:46:01] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:23] _____ Zhamak Dehghani’s Bio Zhamak Dehghani works as the CEO and founder of a stealth tech startup reimagining the future of data developer experience. She founded the concept of Data Mesh in 2018 and since has been implementing the concept and evangelizing it with the wider industry. She is the author of Architecture the Hard Parts and Data Mesh books. Zhamak serves on multiple tech advisory boards. She has worked as a technologist for over 24 years and has contributed to multiple patents in distributed computing communications. She is an advocate for the decentralization of all things, including architecture, data, and ultimately power. Follow Zhamak: Twitter – @zhamakd LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/zhamak-dehghani Our Sponsors Mental well-being is a silent pandemic. According to the WHO, depression and anxiety cost the global economy over USD 1 trillion every year. It’s time to make a difference! Learn how to enhance your lives through a master class on mental wellness. Visit founderswellbeing.com/masterclass and enter TLJ20 for a 20% discount. The iSAQB® Software Architecture Gathering is the international conference highlight for all those working on solution structures in IT projects: primarily software architects, developers, professionals in quality assurance, and also system analysts. A selection of well-known international experts will share their practical knowledge on the most important topics in state-of-the-art software architecture. The conference takes place online from November 14 to 17, 2022, and we have a 15% discount code for you: TLJ_MP_15. DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Like this episode? Subscribe on your podcast app. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/107.

“There’s no leading without following. We are only a leader because somebody is following us." Jutta Eckstein is a coach, consultant, and trainer who has helped many teams and organizations worldwide making an Agile transition. In this episode, we discussed ideas from her book “Company-wide Agility With Beyond Budgeting, Open Space, and Sociocracy”, also widely known as the BOSSA nova. Jutta started by sharing today’s company challenge in terms of collision of values between shareholder, customer, and the employee, and she provided a suggestion how to align the values better. She then broke down BOSSA nova and explained each concept and principles of Beyond Budgeting, Open Space, Sociocracy, and Agile. Jutta also shared the four values of BOSSA nova and how they also relate extrinsically to sustainability. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:24] Writing BOSSA Nova - [00:08:34] People-Customer-Shareholder Value - [00:12:04] BOSSA Nova - [00:14:54] Beyond Budgeting - [00:24:16] Open Space - [00:32:56] Sociocracy - [00:37:58] Agile Values - [00:44:04] Transparency - [00:49:50] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:22] _____ Jutta Eckstein’s Bio Jutta Eckstein works as an independent coach, consultant, and trainer. She has helped many teams and organizations worldwide to make an Agile transition, especially with medium-sized to large distributed mission-critical projects. Jutta has recently pair-written with John Buck a book entitled Company-wide Agility with Beyond Budgeting, Open Space & Sociocracy (dubbed BOSSA nova). Besides that, she has published her experience in her books Agile Software Development in the Large, Agile Software Development with Distributed Teams, Retrospectives for Organizational Change, and together with Johanna Rothman Diving for Hidden Treasures: Uncovering the Cost of Delay in your Project Portfolio. Follow Jutta: Website – https://jeckstein.com/ Twitter – @JuttaEckstein LinkedIn – https://linkedin.com/in/juttaeckstein Our Sponsors Mental well-being is a silent pandemic. According to the WHO, depression and anxiety cost the global economy over USD 1 trillion every year. It’s time to make a difference! Learn how to enhance your lives through a master class on mental wellness. Visit founderswellbeing.com/masterclass and enter TLJ20 for a 20% discount. The iSAQB® Software Architecture Gathering is the international conference highlight for all those working on solution structures in IT projects: primarily software architects, developers, professionals in quality assurance, and also system analysts. A selection of well-known international experts will share their practical knowledge on the most important topics in state-of-the-art software architecture. The conference takes place online from November 14 to 17, 2022, and we have a 15% discount code for you: TLJ_MP_15. DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Like this episode? Subscribe on your podcast app. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/106.

“If you want to become a better and more effective leader, then one of your core skills should be coaching skills." Bob Galen is the President & Principal Agile Coach at RGCG and a prolific writer, blogger, and podcaster. In this episode, Bob and I discussed coaching and leadership from his latest book “Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching”. Bob started by explaining the concepts of agile leadership and agile coaching. He shared about the different coaching stances and why he suggests that coaching is an essential core leadership skill. Bob then went into details to describe the skills to become a good coach, such as asking powerful questions and becoming powerful listeners. Towards the end, Bob shared some tips for coaching up and coaching the middle managers, i.e. coaching the coaches. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:39] Agile Leader - [00:09:17] Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching - [00:12:35] Definition of Coaching - [00:15:31] Coaching as a Leadership Skill - [00:19:44] Skills to Become a Good Coach - [00:24:00] Powerful Questions - [00:27:59] Powerful Listening - [00:33:37] When to Give Solutions - [00:38:54] Coaching Up - [00:43:30] Coaching Middle Managers - [00:48:06] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:51:47] _____ Bob Galen’s Bio Bob Galen is an Agile Methodologist, Practitioner & Coach based in Cary, NC. In this role, he helps guide companies and teams in their pragmatic adoption and organizational shift towards Scrum and other Agile methods and practices. He is currently President & Principal Consultant at RGCG, LLC. Bob regularly speaks at international conferences and professional groups on topics related to software development, project management, software testing and team leadership. He is a Certified Scrum Coach (CSC), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), and an active member of the Agile & Scrum Alliances. He’s published 3 agile related books: Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching, Scrum Product Ownership, and Agile Reflections. He’s also a prolific writer, blogger, and podcaster. Follow Bob: LinkedIn – http://www.linkedin.com/in/bobgalen Twitter – @bobgalen Personal Website – www.rgalen.com Website – www.agile-moose.com Meta-Cast Podcast – www.meta-cast.com Our Sponsors The iSAQB® Software Architecture Gathering is the international conference highlight for all those working on solution structures in IT projects: primarily software architects, developers and professionals in quality assurance, but also system analysts who want to communicate better with their developers. A selection of well-known international experts will share their practical knowledge on the most important topics in state-of-the-art software architecture. The conference takes place online from November 14 to 17, 2022, and we have a 15% discount code for you: TLJ_MP_15. DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Like this episode? Subscribe on your podcast app. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For episode show notes, visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/105.

“The most important part about building an experiment-driven culture is to make it safe to fail and to fail in good ways." Lisi Hocke is an active figure in the global testing community. In this episode, Lisi shared her lessons learned growing an experiment-driven quality culture in her recent years. Lisi shared why it is important to have an experimentation mindset before we adopt something new or any good practices and to have a safe environment to execute those experiments. Lisi shared her advice on how to run an experiment, from building transparency, creating hypothesis, getting buy-in, and understanding our biases, in particular the sunk cost fallacy. In the latter half, Lisi shared her personal transformation journey learning in public and shared her tips on growing technical confidence. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:59] Sharing About Building Quality Culture - [00:13:39] Experiment-Driven Culture - [00:21:14] Building Transparency - [00:25:41] Hypothesis - [00:28:08] Building Better Hypothesis - [00:29:58] Getting Buy-In - [00:33:38] Sunk Cost Fallacy - [00:37:44] Learning in Public - [00:41:42] Growing Technical Confidence - [00:47:37] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:53:12] _____ Lisi Hocke’s Bio Lisi found tech as her place to be in 2009 and grew as a specialized generalist ever since. She’s passionate about the whole-team approach to holistic testing and quality and enjoys experimenting and learning continuously. Building great products which deliver value together with great people motivates her and lets her thrive. Having received a lot from communities, she’s paying it forward by sharing her stories and learning in public. In her free time, she plays indoor volleyball or delves into computer games and stories of all kinds. Follow Lisi: Twitter – @lisihocke LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisihocke/ Website – https://www.lisihocke.com/ Our Sponsors The iSAQB® Software Architecture Gathering is the international conference highlight for all those working on solution structures in IT projects: primarily software architects, developers and professionals in quality assurance, but also system analysts who want to communicate better with their developers. A selection of well-known international experts will share their practical knowledge on the most important topics in state-of-the-art software architecture. The conference takes place online from November 14 to 17, 2022, and we have a 15% discount code for you: TLJ_MP_15. DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/104.

“A way to boost productivity is to create high-quality software from the outset, so that teams can spend less time on rework, both during development and after the release." Karl Wiegers is the author of “Software Development Pearls” and the Principal Consultant at Process Impact. In this episode, Karl shared some lessons he has learned over the past five decades of his career. We first discussed software requirement, its role for communication, and the importance of defining the right requirements. Karl then touched on the reasons we can’t optimize all desirable quality attributes and instead advised how we should define the quality attribute requirements. Next, Karl shared some project management pearls, related to work planning and dealing with estimates. Towards the end, Karl explained the relation between quality and productivity, using pain as a driver for improvement, and his ultimate pearl of wisdom. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:46] Requirements for Communication - [00:08:07] Importance of the Right Requirements - [00:13:49] Importance of Definitions - [00:16:23] Optimizing Quality Attributes - [00:18:48] Specifying Quality Attribute Requirements - [00:21:59] Work Plans & Friction - [00:24:48] Giving Estimates - [00:31:03] Pressure to Making Commitment - [00:35:19] High Quality & Productivity - [00:39:38] Pain as Improvement Driver - [00:45:16] Ultimate Pearl - [00:50:25] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:54:09] _____ Karl Wiegers’s Bio Karl Wiegers is Principal Consultant with Process Impact, a software development consulting and training company. He has a PhD in organic chemistry. Karl is the author of 13 books, including Software Development Pearls, Software Requirements, The Thoughtless Design of Everyday Things, Successful Business Analysis Consulting, and a forensic mystery novel titled The Reconstruction. You can reach him at ProcessImpact.com or KarlWiegers.com, where you can hear more than 50 songs he has recorded just for fun, including 18 originals that he wrote. Follow Karl: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/karlwiegers Website – https://karlwiegers.com Process Impact – https://www.processimpact.com Medium – https://karlwiegers.medium.com Our Sponsors DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/103.

“Instead of being given a roadmap of features, an empowered team is given a problem to solve and they get to figure out the best way to solve that problem." Marty Cagan is the founder of the Silicon Valley Product Group and the author of “Inspired” and “Empowered”. In this episode, we discussed how companies ought to build great products by learning from the best product companies. Marty explained the importance of building the right product and shared the two inconvenient truths about building products. Marty then elaborated on the traits a good product team has and how to create an empowered product team by ensuring ownership and alignment and by having clear product vision, strategy, and focus. Towards the end, Marty shared the importance of coaching and nurturing people, how to hire better, and how to structure product team topologies. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:48] Writing Inspired & Empowered - [00:11:38] Building the Right Product - [00:16:23] Two Inconvenient Truths - [00:17:45] Traits of Good Product Teams - [00:22:06] Engineering Involvement - [00:24:53] Empowered - [00:26:44] Ownership & Alignment - [00:28:41] Product Vision & Strategy - [00:33:00] Focus - [00:35:39] Coaching & Nurturing People - [00:39:40] Hiring - [00:41:56] How to Structure Teams - [00:43:49] 4 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:46:55] _____ Marty Cagan’s Bio Before founding the Silicon Valley Product Group to pursue his interests in helping others create successful products through his writing, speaking, advising and coaching, Marty Cagan served as an executive responsible for defining and building products for some of the most successful companies in the world, including HP Labs, Netscape Communications, and eBay. Marty is also the author of the books INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love and EMPOWERED: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products. Follow Marty: Website – https://www.svpg.com/ LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/cagan Twitter – @cagan Our Sponsors DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/102.

“As a servant leader, your number one job is to serve the people around you. You succeed together with your people, and that’s why serving them first would give you the best opportunity to succeed together." Henry Suryawirawan is the host of your beloved podcast. In this episode, hosted by Jerome Poudevigne, we uncovered lessons from Henry’s career journey and from running the Tech Lead Journal podcast. Henry shared his career turning points that included multiple transitions between individual contributor (IC) and management, being part of retrenchment, working in a failed startup, and his decision to leave Google and join a scaleup. Henry then shared how he prepared and grew himself into his current leadership position by being a problem solver, exercising the servant leadership mindset, building culture intentionally, and a few tips on doing remote work effectively. In the second half of the conversation, Henry shared why and how he first started the Tech Lead Journal podcast, as well as sharing moments and lessons he learned from releasing 100 episodes in the last 2 years. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:10] Career Planning & Progression - [00:09:40] Leaving Google - [00:13:34] Taking a Plunge to Leadership - [00:16:14] Servant Leadership & Difficult Conversation - [00:18:07] Preparing & Growing Leadership - [00:21:07] Building Culture - [00:26:29] Tips for Remote Working - [00:31:08] Career Failures - [00:37:08] Starting a Podcast - [00:38:51] Finding Guests - [00:42:17] Learnings From the Podcast - [00:44:02] Nervous Moments - [00:46:39] Relationships With the Guests - [00:47:35] Personal Learning - [00:49:21] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:15] Credits - [00:59:13] _____ Henry Suryawirawan’s Bio Henry Suryawirawan is an experienced engineering leader and an avid personal growth learner. He is the host of Tech Lead Journal, a podcast about technical leadership and excellence. Follow Henry: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/henry-suryawirawan Twitter – @henry_ken Tech Lead Journal – https://techleadjournal.dev Website – https://henrysuryawirawan.com Our Sponsors DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/101.

🎙️ CELEBRATE the 100th EPISODE by submitting your story/message at techleadjournal.dev/celebrate-100 🎉 “Engineering discipline is the most effective, efficient way of doing high-quality work. If our software development practices do not allow us to build better software faster, we should really change them because they are not engineering." Dave Farley is the co-author of the Jolt award-winning book “Continuous Delivery” and runs the popular “Continuous Delivery” YouTube channel on software engineering topics. In this episode, we discussed Dave’s latest book, “Modern Software Engineering”. Dave started by explaining his view on modern software engineering and why it emphasizes on practices for building better software faster. Dave described the foundations of the software engineering discipline and explained the core competencies we need to succeed by becoming experts at both learning and managing complexity. Dave also explained the importance of understanding technology fundamentals, improving software readability, and handling software complexity by managing concurrency and coupling. Towards the end, Dave shared some other tools in the modern software engineering toolkit that include Continuous Delivery. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:08:01] Modern Software Engineering - [00:12:19] Better Software Faster - [00:14:58] Software Engineering - [00:17:22] Expert at Learning - [00:20:37] Why Agile Not Enough - [00:26:34] Expert at Managing Complexity - [00:31:49] Importance of Fundamentals & Readability - [00:36:01] Concurrency & Coupling - [00:43:57] Other Modern Software Engineering Tools - [00:51:29] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:57:42] _____ Dave Farley’s Bio Dave Farley, founder and consultant for Continuous Delivery Ltd., has been a programmer, software engineer, and systems architect since the early days of modern computing. With Jez Humble, Farley coauthored the best-seller Continuous Delivery. As Head of Software Development for the LMAX, he built one of the world’s fastest financial exchanges. One of the earliest adopters of agile techniques employing iterative development, continuous integration, and high levels of automated testing, he also coauthored the Reactive Manifesto. Follow Dave: Twitter – @DaveFarley77 LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-farley-a67927 Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/c/ContinuousDelivery Website – https://countinuous-delivery.co.uk Courses – https://courses.cd.training Our Sponsors DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/100.

🎙️ CELEBRATE the 100th EPISODE by submitting your story/message at techleadjournal.dev/celebrate-100 🎉 “Acceptance test is any test that a system must pass in order to be accepted. If you can’t ship a system without passing a test, then it is an acceptance test." Kenneth Pugh is an acclaimed author and thought leader in acceptance-test driven development (ATDD) and behavior-driven development (BDD). His works include the 2006 Jolt award winner “Prefactoring” followed by “Lean-Agile Acceptance Test-Driven Development”. In this episode, Ken explained in-depth the concept of acceptance tests and ATDD. He first described what an acceptance test is, why it is beneficial to deliver better software, and why we should invest our effort to automate it. Ken also touched on a few other important concepts, such as the testing triad, test pyramid, user acceptance test, and table-driven specifications. Towards the end, Ken shared some advice on how we can start implementing ATDD. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:16] Acceptance Test - [00:09:30] Acceptance Test Benefits - [00:13:39] When to Write Acceptance Test - [00:16:18] The Triad - [00:20:55] Is Doing ATDD Expensive? - [00:26:31] Acceptance Test & Test Pyramid - [00:28:56] UAT & Reporting - [00:33:22] Automating Acceptance Test - [00:36:21] Table-Driven vs Text Format - [00:39:09] ATDD - [00:42:46] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:44:49] _____ Kenneth Pugh’s Bio Ken Pugh helps companies develop software effectively by applying lean-agile principles and practices. He concentrates on delivering business value quickly by removing waste and delays in value streams; building in quality with Acceptance Test-Driven Development / Behaviour Driven Development; creating a collaborative environment; and evaluating return-on-investment. He has written several software development books including the 2006 Jolt Award winner Prefactoring: Extreme Abstraction, Extreme Separation, Extreme Readability and his latest: Lean-Agile Acceptance Test-Driven Development: Better Software Through Collaboration. He is the co-creator of the SAFe® Agile Software Engineering course. Follow Ken: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenpugh/ Twitter – @kpugh Website – https://kenpugh.com/ ATDD/BDD – https://atdd-bdd.com Our Sponsors DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/99.

“Empiricism is at the heart of agility. The fundamental foundation of agility starts with some assertion about value. Every sprint or iteration is really an experiment about value." Kurt Bittner is the author and editor of many books on agile product development, including co-authoring the recent “Professional Agile Leader” book. In this episode, we started our conversation discussing the common misconception of Agile in the modern day and Kurt emphasized that empiricism should be at the heart of agility, especially for solving complex problems. Kurt then explained the importance of aligning company’s direction and goals using outcomes instead of using activities or outputs. In the latter half of the episode, we discussed the concept of a self-managing team, what characteristics and attributes it has, and the important role of catalytic leadership in such teams. Kurt also explained how to measure the self-management spectrum of a team by measuring decision latency and shared some advice on how to reduce decision-making dependencies in organizations. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:08] Empiricism in Agility - [00:09:35] Going in the Right Direction - [00:16:17] Agile for Complex Problems - [00:22:18] Self-Managing Team - [00:26:26] Leadership vs Management - [00:32:40] Decision Latency and Dependencies - [00:35:18] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:47:50] _____ Kurt Bittner’s Bio Kurt Bittner has been delivering working products in short, feedback-driven cycles for nearly 40 years, and has helped many organizations do the same. He is the author or editor of many books on agile product development, including Mastering Professional Scrum, The Zombie Scrum Survival Guide, The Nexus Framework for Scaling Scrum, The Professional Scrum Team, and Professional Agile Leadership, as well as The Guide to Evidence-Based Management, and The Nexus Guide. Follow Kurt: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurt-bittner-882b203/ Twitter – @ksbittner Blog – https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog?uid=330 The Professional Agile Leader Website – https://theprofessionalagileleader.com Our Sponsors DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. It is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/98.

“A highly functional team defines the right environment and has what they need to be the best professionals they can be. And that always includes agency and psychological safety." Jim Benson is the co-author of “Personal Kanban” and is currently working on his upcoming book “The Collaboration Equation”. In this episode, we started by discussing Personal Kanban, how it differs from a to-do list, and its two main rules, i.e. visualizing our work and limiting our work-in-progress. Jim also shared practical tips on managing our personal backlog, doing prioritization, and limiting our work in progress. In the latter half of our conversation, we discussed Jim’s new book, “The Collaboration Equation”, starting with the discussion about the common collaboration challenges and why professionalism and psychological safety are prerequisites to building high-performing teams. Jim also explained the concept of collaborative leadership and gave practical tips on how we can measure effective collaboration. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:42] Current State of Productivity - [00:08:17] Obeya - [00:10:12] Rules of Personal Kanban - [00:12:44] Kanban vs Todo List - [00:14:46] Managing Backlog - [00:17:07] Limiting Work in Progress - [00:24:26] Collaboration Equation - [00:27:36] Professionalism - [00:31:06] Psychological Safety - [00:33:21] Collaborative Leadership - [00:36:39] Collaborative Process - [00:41:04] Measuring Collaboration - [00:46:09] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:51:09] _____ Jim Benson’s Bio Jim Benson is the CEO of Modus Cooperandi, and co-founder of Modus Institute. A pioneer in applying Lean and Kanban methodologies to knowledge work, Jim is the creator of Personal Kanban and Lean Coffee, and co-author of Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life, winner of the prestigious Shingo Research and Publication Award. His other books include Why Plans Fail, Why Limit WIP, and Beyond Agile. His upcoming book The Collaboration Equation will be out in Summer 2022. Follow Jim: Twitter – @ourfounder LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbenson Modus Cooperandi – https://moduscooperandi.com/ Modus Institute – https://modusinstitute.com/ Our Sponsors DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. It is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/97.

“Reliability is the most important thing. Your users define your reliability, so make sure you’re measuring the right thing. And 100% is out of the question, so pick the right target." Alex Hidalgo is the Principal Reliability Advocate at Nobl9 and author of “Implementing Service Level Objectives”. In this episode, we discussed the practical guide on how to implement SRE and SLOs. Alex started by explaining the basic concept of service reliability and service truths. He then explained the concept of reliability stack, that includes the famous SRE concepts: SLI, SLO, and error budgets. Alex then shared his insights on how we can define a service reliability target, why a higher reliability target is expensive, and the risk of a service of being too reliable. Towards the end, Alex shared his tips on how we can build an SRE culture and how we can use the error budget as a communication tool within the organization. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:07:19] Understanding SRE & SLO - [00:14:17] Service & Reliability - [00:17:30] Service Truths - [00:21:06] Reliability Stack - [00:23:45] Defining Reliability Target - [00:27:11] Higher Reliability is Expensive - [00:29:27] SLI - [00:34:26] Measuring Correctness - [00:37:30] Critical User Journey - [00:41:49] Being Too Reliable - [00:47:18] Communicating with Error Budget - [00:51:02] Building SRE Culture - [00:54:13] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:57:57] _____ Alex Hidalgo’s Bio Alex Hidalgo is the Principal Reliability Advocate at Nobl9 and author of “Implementing Service Level Objectives”. During his career he has developed a deep love for sustainable operations, proper observability, and using SLO data to drive discussions and make decisions. Alex’s previous jobs have included IT support, network security, restaurant work, t-shirt design, and hosting game shows at bars. When not sharing his passion for technology with others, you can find him scuba diving or watching college basketball. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner Jen and a rescue dog named Taco. Alex has a BA in philosophy from Virginia Commonwealth University. Follow Alex: Twitter – @ahidalgosre Nobl9 – https://www.nobl9.com/ Website – https://www.alex-hidalgo.com/ Our Sponsors DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. It is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/96.

“You are your greatest asset in your career and in your life. Invest in you personally in all areas of life in order to live your best life." Jeff Perry is an engineering coach, the founder of More Than Engineering and the co-host of the Engineering Career Coach podcast. In this episode, Jeff shared the important role of a coach or mentor in our engineering career. We first discussed Jeff’s engineering career clarity checklist and why it is truly important to find the clarity in our career journey. Jeff then shared the role of an engineering career coach, how a coach can help us navigate our career, and the difference between a coach and a mentor. Throughout our discussion, we also touched on a few other topics, such as the Great Resignation, making intentional career transitions, transitioning to a leadership role, and the power of accountability. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:59] More Than Engineering - [00:10:54] Engineering Career Clarity Checklist - [00:12:58] Finding the “Why” - [00:15:12] Genius Zone - [00:17:38] International Career Transition - [00:20:23] Great Resignation - [00:22:45] Engineering Career Coach - [00:25:32] Power of Accountability - [00:28:45] Transitioning to Leadership Role - [00:32:13] Letting Go - [00:35:37] Leadership Attributes - [00:39:32] Engineering Career Coach Poadcast - [00:42:41] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:44:30] _____ Jeff Perry’s Bio As a software, mechanical, and manufacturing engineering leaders, Jeff has designed and built many products and processes. Now he builds people. Most of his work now revolves around leadership and career coaching for engineering and technical professionals, including: Finding increased career fulfillment and making intentional career transitions Getting clarity and exploring new career possibilities Leadership and personal development for tech leaders Follow Jeff: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffcperry/ Engineering Career Coach Podcast – https://engineeringmanagementinstitute.org/the-podcast/ More Than Engineering - https://morethan-engineering.com/ Engineering Career Accelerator - https://www.engineeringcareeraccelerator.com/ Our Sponsors DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. It is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/95.

“An engineering manager should make sure that the team has a good balance of delivering things that the business needs with enough capacity to do it sustainably over time." Patrick Kua is a seasoned technology leader with a passion to accelerate the growth and success of tech organisations and technical leaders. In this episode, we discussed Pat’s latest course, Engineering Manager Essentials, which covers all the building blocks required to be an effective Engineering Manager (EM). We first discussed what an EM role is, how it differs from a tech lead role, and the common manager vs IC career track. Pat shared his view on why being an EM is not a promotion and what are some of the success criteria to be a good EM. Towards the end, Pat shared some anti-patterns that EM should avoid to become successful. Listen out for: Pat’s Latest - [00:07:30] Engineering Manager Essentials - [00:09:25] The Role of Engineering Manager - [00:11:21] Difference With Tech Lead - [00:14:19] Manager and IC Paths - [00:16:28] EM Is Not a Promotion - [00:21:02] EM Success Criteria - [00:28:08] Multiplier Instead of Maker - [00:30:48] Course Structure - [00:33:21] Interviewing EM - [00:37:20] Antipattern 1: Continuing as a Maker - [00:39:58] Antipattern 2: Assuming Everyone Knows What You Do - [00:43:01] Antipattern 3: Optimizing Parts Instead of The Whole - [00:48:34] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:51:30] _____ Patrick Kua’s Bio Patrick Kua is a seasoned technology leader with 20+ years of experience having done a wide variety of roles including being a developer, tech lead, consultant, CTO and more. His current mission is accelerating the growth of technical leaders through coaching, mentoring and training. Follow Patrick: Website – https://patkua.com/ Twitter – @patkua LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/patkua/ EM Essentials Course – https://www.patkua.com/em-essentials/ Tech Lead Academy – https://techlead.academy/ Level Up Newsletter – https://levelup.patkua.com/ Our Sponsors DevTernity 2022 (devternity.com) is the top international software development conference with an emphasis on coding, architecture, and tech leadership skills. The lineup is truly stellar and features many legends of software development like Robert "Uncle Bob" Martin, Kent Beck, Scott Hanselman, Venkat Subramaniam, Kevlin Henney, and many others! The conference takes place online, and we have the 10% discount code for you: AWSM_TLJ. Skills Matter is the global community and events platform for software professionals. It is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/94.

“We want to write as little software as possible, and we want it to have as much value as possible. If you actually focus on that, it means you have to be close to your customer." Dave Thomas is the founder & chairman of Bedarra Corp, creator of IBM Smalltalk, VisualAge for Java, Eclipse, Kx Analyst workbench and Skills Matter YOW! Australia conferences. In this episode, Dave shared about his personal research, 42D, on ideas we can use to develop high-value software rapidly. He started by describing the current developer’s productivity challenges and touched on the idea that big is not better, relating to the size of the team and code base, and how development tools are becoming more complicated and complex. We then discussed the importance of developers understanding domain knowledge, leveraging tools such as decision tables and spreadsheets, and how the choice of programming language actually matters. Towards the end, Dave shared about using a data-centric approach to deal with legacy systems and his perspective on query as the future of programming. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:17] 42D - [00:15:26] Developer Productivity Challenge - [00:16:37] Maximum Value, Maximum Speed - [00:19:53] Big is Not Better - [00:21:24] Tools Getting More Complex - [00:26:43] Importance of Domain Knowledge - [00:31:02] Decision Tables and Spreadsheets - [00:39:10] Importance of Programming Languages - [00:41:55] Data-Centric Approach with Legacy - [00:47:02] Future Programming is Query - [00:50:51] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:54:31] _____ Dave Thomas’s Bio Dave Thomas is the founder and chairman of the YOW! Australia and Lambda Jam conferences, and is a GOTO Conference Fellow. He served as the Chief Scientists of KX Systems and the Managing Director of Object Mentor. Dave also co-founded Object Technology International, becoming CEO of IBM OTI Labs after its sale to IBM. Nowadays, Dave is the Chairman of Bedarra Corp, a company he co-founded that created the Ivy visual analytics workbench. Dave is recognized as an ACM Distinguished Engineer for his contributions to Object Technology, which includes IBM VisualAge and Eclipse IDEs, Smalltalk, and Java virtual machines. Follow Dave: Twitter – @daveathomas LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidathomas Website – http://www.davethomas.net Email – [email protected] Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/93.

“Testing is an activity that happens throughout. It is not a phase that happens at the end. Start thinking about the risks at the very beginning, and how we are going to mitigate those with testing." Janet Gregory and Lisa Crispin are the co-authors of several books on Agile Testing and the co-founders of Agile Testing Fellowship. In this episode, Janet and Lisa shared the agile testing concept and mindset with an emphasis on the whole team approach, which was then followed by an explanation of the holistic testing concept with a complete walkthrough how we can use the approach in our product development cycle, including how Continuous Delivery fits into holistic testing. Janet and Lisa also described some important concepts in agile testing, such as the agile testing quadrants (to help classify our tests) and the power of three (aka the Three Amigos). Towards the end, Janet and Lisa also shared their perspective on exploratory testing and testing in production. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:35] Agile Testing - [00:13:56] Whole Team - [00:15:17] Agile Testing Mindset - [00:19:19] Holistic Testing - [00:24:42] Continuous Delivery - [00:34:53] Agile Testing Quadrants - [00:39:03] The Power of Three - [00:42:50] Exploratory Testing - [00:47:08] Testing in Production - [00:50:49] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:54:10] _____ Follow Janet and Lisa: Janet’s Website – https://janetgregory.ca Janet’s Twitter – @janetgregoryca Janet’s Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/janetgregory Lisa’s Website – https://lisacrispin.com Lisa’s Twitter – @lisacrispin Lisa’s Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-crispin-88420a Agile Tester Blog – https://agiletester.ca/blog Agile Testing Fellowship Website – https://agiletestingfellow.com Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/92.

"Pull, don’t push. Don’t tell people what to do. Tell them what results you want and let them figure out how best to achieve the outcome that’s needed." Mary & Tom Poppendieck are the co-authors of several books related to Agile and Lean, including their award-winning book “Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit” published in 2003. In this episode, Mary & Tom shared about lean software development, its principles and mindset, and the concept of a pull system. Mary & Tom then pointed out the problems of having proxies in software development and how it is much better to manage by the outcomes by having the people directly figuring out the best way to achieve those outcomes. Later on, Mary & Tom talked about the concept of flow, why it is important to optimize flow, and how to optimize flow by analyzing the value stream map and minimizing approval process. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:26] Lean Software Development - [00:18:50] Pull, Don’t Push - [00:23:34] Proxies - [00:31:00] Managing by Outcome - [00:37:10] Optimizing Flow - [00:41:18] Value Stream Map & Approvals - [00:47:00] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:55:05] _____ Mary Poppendieck’s Bio Mary wrote the now-classic book “Lean Software Development: an Agile Toolkit”, proposing an approach which focuses on customers, respects software engineers, concentrates on learning, and leverages flow. Mary is a popular writer and speaker. Sequels of her first book include “Implementing Lean Software Development: from Concept to Cash”, “Leading Lean Software Development: Results are Not the Point” and “The Lean Mindset: Ask the Right Questions”. Tom Poppendieck’s Bio Tom has over three decades of experience in computing, including several years of work with object technology. Tom holds a PhD in Physics and has taught physics for ten years. He is the coauthor of four books: “Lean Software Development” (2003), “Implementing Lean Software Development” (2006), “Leading Lean Software Development” (2009) and “Lean Mindset” (2013). Follow Mary and Tom: Website – http://www.poppendieck.com/ Mary’s blog – http://www.leanessays.com/ Mary’s Twitter – @mpoppendieck Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/91.

“The simplest way to describe craftsmanship is pride of workmanship. It is the mindset that you are working on something important and you are going to do it well." Robert C. Martin (aka Uncle Bob) is the co-founder of cleancoders.com, an acclaimed speaker at conferences worldwide, and prolific author of multiple best-selling books. In this episode, Uncle Bob shared some insights from his latest book, “Clean Craftsmanship”. He first started by sharing the current major challenge of the software development industry, i.e. as a young discipline, it suffers from the state of perpetual inexperience amid exponential acceleration of demand for programmers, which drove Uncle Bob writing the book to help define disciplines, standards and ethics for software craftsmanship. He then touched on the five key disciplines of clean craftsmanship, specifically focusing on test-driven development and refactoring. Towards the latter half, Uncle Bob described a few essential standards and ethics of clean craftsmanship, such as never ship s**t, always be ready, do no harm, and estimate honestly. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:07:29] Clean Craftsmanship - [00:10:54] Programmer as a Profession - [00:15:31] Craftsmanship - [00:18:46] Disciplines - [00:22:45] Disciplines: Test-Driven Development - [00:28:50] Disciplines: Refactoring - [00:34:32] Code Coverage - [00:39:02] Standard: Never Ship S**t - [00:42:35] Standard: Always Be Ready - [00:47:16] Ethics: Do No Harm - [00:50:01] Ethics: Estimate Honestly - [00:53:56] 2 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:57:50] _____ Robert C. Martin’s Bio Robert Martin (Uncle Bob) has been a programmer since 1970. He is the co-founder of the online video training company cleancoders.com and founder of Uncle Bob Consulting LLC. He served as Master Craftsman at 8th Light inc and is an acclaimed speaker at conferences worldwide. He is a profilic writer and has published hundreds of articles, papers, blogs, and best-selling books including: “The Clean Coder”, “Clean Code”, “Agile Software Development: Principles, Patterns, and Practices”, and “Clean Architecture”. He also served as the Editor-in-chief of the C++ Report and as the first chairman of the Agile Alliance. Follow Uncle Bob: Twitter – @unclebobmartin Clean Coder – http://cleancoder.com Clean Coders – https://cleancoders.com GitHub – https://github.com/unclebob Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/90.

“The goal of software is often to sustain an organization. An organization invests in software in order to achieve some goal and hopefully to sustain itself in helping it achieve that goal." Mark Seemann is an acclaimed author, international speaker, and a highly experienced developer. In this episode, Mark shared some insights from his latest book, “Code That Fits in Your Head”, on how to write sustainable software and manage software complexity. Mark first started by sharing why he wrote this book and explained why software development is hard. He also pointed out the difference between software engineering and other physical engineering disciplines, especially on the set of constraints. Mark then explained the importance of writing sustainable software and shared the perspective that code is a liability instead of an asset. Towards the end, Mark shared about the Rule of 7 as a guideline to manage code complexity and a few practices we can use to build sustainable software, such as checklist, vertical slice, x-driven development, and command query separation. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:26] Code That Fits in Your Head - [00:07:49] Software Development is Hard - [00:10:55] Software Engineering vs Physical Engineering - [00:15:01] Sustainable Software - [00:17:58] Code is a Liability - [00:19:55] Rule of 7 - [00:22:43] Checklist - [00:31:23] Vertical Slice - [00:35:52] X-Driven Development - [00:39:47] Command Query Separation - [00:45:07] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:49:38] _____ Mark Seemann’s Bio Mark Seemann is a bad economist who’s found a second career as a programmer, and he has worked as a web and enterprise developer since the late 1990s. As a young man, Mark wanted to become a rockstar, but unfortunately had neither the talent nor the looks – later, however, he became a Certified Rockstar Developer. He has also written a Jolt Award-winning book about Dependency Injection, given more than a 100 international conference talks, and authored video courses for both Pluralsight and Clean Coders. He has regularly published blog posts since 2006. He lives in Copenhagen with his wife and two children. Follow Mark: Website – https://blog.ploeh.dk Twitter – @ploeh LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ploeh Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/89.

“Observability is a technique for ensuring that you can understand novel problems in your system. Can you understand what’s happening in your system and why, without having to push a new code by slicing and dicing existing telemetry signals that are coming out of your system?" Liz Fong-Jones is the co-author of the “Observability Engineering” book and a Principal Developer Advocate for SRE and Observability at Honeycomb. In this episode, Liz shared in-depth about observability and why it is becoming an important practice in the industry nowadays. Liz started by explaining the fundamentals of observability and how it differs from traditional monitoring. She explained some important concepts, such as the core analysis loop, cardinality and dimensionality, and doing debugging from a first principle. Later, Liz shared the current state of observability and how we can improve our observability by doing observability driven development and improving our practices based on the proposed observability maturity model found in the book. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:44] Observability - [00:06:30] Pillars of Observability - [00:09:57] Monitoring and SLO - [00:12:28] Core Analysis Loop - [00:15:06] Cardinality and Dimensionality - [00:18:41] Debugging from First Principle - [00:21:20] Current State of Observability - [00:26:49] Implementing Observability - [00:30:20] Observability Driven Development - [00:36:53] Having Developers On-Call - [00:39:06] Observability Maturity Model - [00:41:59] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:44:10] _____ Liz Fong-Jones’s Bio Liz is a developer advocate, labor and ethics organizer, and Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) with 17+ years of experience. She is an advocate at Honeycomb for the SRE and Observability communities, and previously was an SRE working on products ranging from the Google Cloud Load Balancer to Google Flights. She lives in Vancouver, BC with her wife Elly, partners, and a Samoyed/Golden Retriever mix, and in Sydney, NSW. She plays classical piano, leads an EVE Online alliance, and advocates for transgender rights. Follow Liz: Twitter – @lizthegrey LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/efong/ Website – https://www.lizthegrey.com/ GitHub – https://github.com/lizthegrey Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/88.

“You don’t know what you don’t know. So when you’re learning something, it’s very hard to identify your own knowledge gaps, especially if you’re a programmer and you’re moving from one language to another." Jeremy Walker is the co-founder of Exercism and Kaido. In this episode, Jeremy first shared about Exercism, a not-for-profit online platform for learning different programming languages. He explained the importance of programming in the idiomatic way, the role of mentorship when learning new languages, and shared his experiences running Exercism as one of the largest open source program, such as how to get consensus and how to run remote distributed teams. Later, Jeremy then talked about Kaido, an employee culture platform for building happier, healthier, and better connected teams. He shared how companies could strive to do more to build company culture before then shared some practical tips on how we can improve our personal wellbeing. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:08] Exercism - [00:08:24] Programming in Idiomatic Way - [00:11:34] Mentorship When Learning Languages - [00:13:52] Inclusiveness & Equality - [00:17:04] Running Large Open Source - [00:21:19] Getting Consensus - [00:27:11] Running Remote Distributed Teams - [00:30:42] Kaido for Wellbeing and Culture - [00:37:00] Tips on Personal Wellbeing - [00:43:40] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:49:13] _____ Jeremy Walker’s Bio Jeremy Walker is the co-founder of Exercism and Kaido. He is a software developer and entrepreneur who has been building tech businesses and not-for-profits for over 15 years. He is passionate about building great places to work and creating opportunity through education. In his space time he boulders and gets geeky about coffee. Follow Jeremy: Exercism – https://exercism.org/ Kaido – https://kaido.org/ Twitter – @iHiD LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ihidjeremywalker/ GitHub – https://github.com/ihid Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/87.

“We need to consider our system that we built as sociotechnical systems. The system is more than the sum of its parts. It’s a product of their interactions. We need to focus on improving the performance of the whole, instead of separate parts of the system." Susanne Kaiser is the author of the upcoming book “Adaptive Systems with Domain-Driven Design, Wardley Mapping, and Team Topologies: Architecture for Flow”. In this episode, Susanne explained how she connected the dots between 3 different methodologies–Wardley Mapping, Domain-Driven Design, and Team Topologies–to design and build adaptive systems for a fast flow of change and why it is important for any organization to have adaptive systems. Susanne went in depth to explain about the Wardley Mapping strategic framework, its five sections, and how they support designing and evolving effective business strategies based on situational awareness and movement following a strategy cycle. She then explained how to translate from a Wardley map into Domain-Driven Design, how DDD helps in applying the Wardley Mapping doctrine principles, before then explaining how Team Topologies helps to create effective team boundaries and optimize team’s cognitive load. Towards the end, Susanne shared from her experience how we can apply this process in our organizations, as well as in legacy systems. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:07:00] DDD, Wardley Mapping & Team Topologies - [00:09:56] Adaptive System - [00:15:57] Wardley Mapping - [00:19:53] Doctrine Principles - [00:28:09] Domain-Driven Design and Team Topologies - [00:31:16] How to Apply in an Organization - [00:38:49] How to Apply to Legacy - [00:41:30] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:47:04] _____ Susanne Kaiser’s Bio Susanne Kaiser is an independent tech consultant from Hamburg, Germany, supporting organizations with building socio-technical systems. She is passionate about connecting the dots between Wardley Mapping, Domain-Driven Design, and Team Topologies as a holistic approach to design and build adaptive systems for a fast flow of change. Susanne was previously working as a startup CTO and has a background in computer sciences and experience in software development and software architecture since 2002. She is the author of the book “Adaptive Systems with Domain-Driven Design, Wardley Mapping, and Team Topologies: Architecture for Flow” (Addison-Wesley Signature Series (Vernon), 2022). Follow Susanne: Website – https://www.susannekaiser.net/ LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/susannekaiser1/ Twitter – https://www.twitter.com/suksr Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/86.

“Today, employees want more autonomy, e.g. work-life balance and working from home, and at the same time, they want more social inclusion to get as many authentic insights into the company and the new job as possible." Jens Olberding is the author of “Agile Recruiting” and an expert in agile HR management. In this episode, we opened our conversation discussing the great resignation trend and its underlying reasons. Jens then shared the concept of agile recruiting and explained how it is very much relevant to the latest changes in the current job landscape. He emphasized that recruiting should not only put focus just on the hiring departments’ needs but also equally on the candidates to understand better what they truly want from their career. Jens also shared a few recruiting best practices, such as getting the recruiting teams’ involvements in the recruitment process, building cross-functional teams, and the SuSiBOL interview technique that he shared towards the end to help in assessing candidates’ behaviors and competencies better. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:00] The Great Resignation - [00:07:33] Agile Recruiting - [00:11:10] What the Candidate Wants - [00:14:12] Recruiting Team Involvement - [00:15:55] Hire for Talent, Train for Skills - [00:18:50] Cross-Functional Team - [00:20:24] Assessing Potentials - [00:22:52] Communication Among Equals - [00:24:23] Preselection - [00:26:22] Diversity of Experience - [00:30:51] SuSiBOL Technique - [00:34:21] Onboarding - [00:39:14] Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:42:48] _____ Jens Olberding’s Bio Jens Olberding is an expert in agile HR management and recruiting. He is a qualified organisational psychologist and has a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management. He is also a lecturer for diagnostics and recruitment and teaches methods for competence-based recruiting processes. His focus is on supporting agile transformations and the development of agile HR organisations in medium-sized companies. As a coach for leadership and transformation, he accompanies teams, leaders and organisations on their way to more agility. Follow Jens: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jens-olberding-130b618a/ Twitter – @jens_olberding Website – https://www.jo-agilehr.de/ Website – https://www.laeuft.io/ Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/85.

“The route of becoming a technical leader is helping others up-skill and grow. Once you learn that helping others grow is your objective, then you become a leader." Laurențiu Spilcă is a development lead and trainer at Endava. He is an author of multiple books and a frequent coding livestreamer on YouTube. In this episode, Laurențiu shared his experience as a developer consultant and provided his view on dealing with the expectation for a consultant or tech lead to know about everything in technology. Laurențiu then shared the importance of soft skills and why it is important for every developer to improve them, in particular when doing code reviews and technical interviews. Laurențiu also shared advice on how to deal with toxic culture when consulting and the importance of not having emotional attachments to the projects. Towards the end, Laurențiu shared about his YouTube channel and coding livestream sessions, along with the reasons he started them. He also gave practical tips on how we can produce and structure our content based on his vast experience publishing books, courses, and livestreams. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:59] Developer Consultant Role - [00:09:06] Knowing About Everything - [00:12:17] The Case for Upgrading Tech Stack - [00:17:33] Importance of Soft Skills - [00:21:58] Improving Soft Skills - [00:24:40] Tips on Code Review - [00:29:26] Outsider Treatment - [00:31:01] Project Attachment - [00:35:35] Starting YouTube Channel - [00:37:00] Coding Livestream - [00:40:24] Tips for Producing Content - [00:42:35] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:46:13] _____ Laurențiu Spilcă’s Bio Laurentiu Spilca is a dedicated development lead and trainer at Endava, where he leads and consults on multiple projects from various locations in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. Laurentiu believes it’s essential to not only deliver high-quality software but to also share knowledge and help others to up-skill, which has driven him to design and teach courses related to Java technologies and deliver presentations and workshops. He is the author of Spring Security in Action and Spring Quickly. Follow Laurențiu: Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/c/LaurentiuSpilca Website – https://laurspilca.com/ Twitter – @laurspilca LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren%C5%A3iu-spilc%C4%83-01a931107/ Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/84.

“Treating everyone as remote is to keep everyone in mind as having the same level, same equality, the same access to information in communication exchanges between people." James Stanier is the author of “Effective Remote Work” and Director of Engineering at Shopify. In this episode, James shared insights from his latest book and began by sharing why remote work is here to stay and the basic setup for remote work. He then talked about the importance of managing our time and energy and establishing team norms for successful remote work. James then explained about the concept of treating everyone as remote, which led to the discussion about producing more artifacts and balancing between synchronous and asynchronous working style. We also extended the discussion on how one can become a more effective manager in the remote setup, including how to manage up and allocating time for team bonding and fun activities. Towards the end, James shared how we can self-assess our remote working practices by using the 12 questions in his book, and how remote is the path to equality and can become a great leveler for everyone. Listen out for: Writing “Effective Remote Work” - [00:06:53] Remote is Here to Stay - [00:08:36] Basic Remote Setup - [00:11:45] Managing Yourself - [00:14:38] Effects of Being Unobserved - [00:17:19] Treat Everyone as Remote - [00:19:59] Producing More Artifacts - [00:22:13] Types of Artifacts - [00:25:18] Sync vs Async - [00:30:01] Effective Remote Manager - [00:36:55] Managing Up - [00:39:43] Allocating Fun Time - [00:42:27] Remote Work Self-Assessment - [00:44:44] Remote: The Great Leveler - [00:47:36] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:53:29] _____ James Stanier’s Bio James Stanier is Director of Engineering at Shopify, a fully remote technology company. His latest book, Effective Remote Work, is being published by The Pragmatic Bookshelf in April 2022. His previous book, Become an Effective Software Engineering Manager, was published in 2020. Follow James: Website – https://theengineeringmanager.com Twitter – @jstanier LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jstanier/ Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/83.

“There’s a substantial difference between building software and then building software for production and then building software for scale." Mohammed Alabsi is a seasoned technology leader, an angel investor, and a venture fellow at Insignia Ventures. Mohammed worked at Amazon for 10 years, before moving to Southeast Asia and helped scale up Bukalapak towards its IPO. In this episode, Mohammed started by sharing his lessons learned from his time at Amazon, working on EC2, advertising business, and B2B e-commerce. Mohammed then shared his journey at Bukalapak and described the challenges that he had to tackle during the scale-up stage, such as setting up engineering processes and governance, growing high-performing engineering teams rapidly, and building alignment across those multiple teams. He also gave great tips for leaders on the importance of managing up and keeping the leadership and stakeholders in the loop. Towards the end, Mohammed shared about his current role as a tech investor and advisor and gave some great advice on common mistakes startup should avoid, as well as advice for tech leaders in the early stage startups. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:31] Lessons from Amazon and AWS - [00:08:42] Common Scale-up Challenges - [00:11:12] Growing the Team Fast - [00:14:58] Process and Governance - [00:18:37] Teams and Alignment - [00:23:26] Managing Up - [00:25:46] Tech Investing and Advisory - [00:28:41] Startup Mistakes to Avoid - [00:30:03] Advice for Leaders - [00:33:01] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:33:59] _____ Mohammed Alabsi’s Bio Mohammed Alabsi is a seasoned technology leader with experience in the US, Asia and the Middle East. Mohammed’s career began with Maktoob.com where he helped build two businesses that were acquired by Yahoo! and Amazon. During his 10 years tenure at Amazon, Mohammed built AWS services powering the infrastructure of millions of tech companies worldwide. He was also a founding member of two of Amazon’s major businesses, in Advertising and Amazon B2B e-commerce. Inspired by Southeast Asia’s pace of technology innovation, he joined Bukalapak as an SVP of engineering. At Bukalapak he led a team of 800 technical staff, launched numerous products, and helped gear the business towards IPO. Mohammed is active in the startup scene, advising and investing in startups across ASEAN and the US. He is also a venture fellow at Insignia Ventures. Follow Mohammed: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/alabsi/ Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/82.

“Architecture is context. You can only make the right trade-offs between alternatives if you know the context drivers." Eltjo Poort is the architecture practice lead at CGI Netherlands with over 30 years of experience in the software industry. In this episode, Eltjo started by explaining the importance of architecture context and business drivers that can help an architect understand the different trade-offs and options in order to make the right architecture decisions. Eltjo shared the architect’s main responsibilities and how architects should avoid writing big and long architecture documents by understanding the different goals of an architecture document. Eltjo also shared his great insights on how we should deal with technical debt, “move slow and fix things”, and put a more balanced effort towards working on enablers in order to maintain sustainable pace in delivering great software. Towards the end, Eltjo shared a few anti-patterns that architects should avoid based on his article “Waterfall Wasteland and Agile Outback”. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:40] Architecture is Context - [00:11:10] Understanding Architectural Trade-offs - [00:13:51] Understanding the Business Drivers - [00:17:59] Incorrect Architecture Decisions - [00:20:41] Architect’s Responsibility - [00:23:45] Architecture Documentation Goals - [00:26:43] Dealing with Technical Debt - [00:32:30] Enablers - [00:36:38] Waterfall Wasteland and Agile Outback - [00:40:26] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:44:46] _____ Eltjo Poort’s Bio Eltjo R. Poort leads the architecture practice at CGI in The Netherlands. In his 30-year career in the software industry, he has fulfilled many engineering and project management roles. In the 1990s, he oversaw the implementation of the first SMS text messaging systems in the United States. In the last decade, he produced various publications on improving architecting practices, including his PhD thesis in 2012. Eltjo is best known for his work on Risk- and Cost-Driven Architecture, a set of principles and practices for agile architecting, for which he received the Linda Northrop Software Architecture Award in 2016. His digital architecture blog can be found at eltjopoort.nl. Eltjo is also a member of IFIP Working Group 2.11 on Software Architecture. In his spare time, Eltjo plays the violin in Symfonieorkest Nijmegen. Follow Eltjo: Website – https://eltjopoort.nl/ LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/eltjopoort/ Twitter – @eltjopoort Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/81.

“Focus on what really matters. If everything matters, then nothing matters. Make sure that what you do is aligned with what really matters." Peter Stevens and Maria Matarelli are the co-founders of the Personal Agility Institute and the authors of the “Personal Agility”. In this episode, Peter and Maria shared what Personal Agility System is and how we can apply this framework in our daily lives. They highlighted how many people face typical challenges that hinder them from truly getting what they want by using the “life is an ocean” metaphor. Both of them then gave a complete walkthrough of the 6 powerful questions in Personal Agility System, especially highlighting the key question to find “what really matters”. Peter and Maria then shared how this framework is not just applicable to individual, but also to leadership and organizational agility, and how it can help create alignment and trust within an organization. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:55] How Personal Agility Started - [00:10:10] Personal Agility System -[00:16:43] Life is the Ocean - [00:18:55] 6 Powerful Questions - [00:22:26] What Really Matters - [00:31:45] Applying PAS to Leadership and Organizational Agility- [00:37:06] Alignment - [00:41:04] Alignment Trust - [00:44:59] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:19] _____ Peter and Maria’s Bio Peter Stevens is an Executive, Coach, Author, Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Trainer (CST), and Founder or co-Founder of the Scrum Ambassadors, AgileExecutives.org, and the World Agility Forum. Peter serves as Chief Agility Officer for a Swiss digital health start-up. Peter also wrote Ten Agile Contracts: Getting Beyond Fixed-Price, Fixed Scope and Extreme Manufacturing. Maria Matarelli is an Executive Coach, Consultant to the Fortune 100, Certified Scrum Trainer (CST) and an international best selling author. Maria and her team consult businesses to reach breakthrough results by applying Agile methodologies. Maria is the founder and CEO of Formula Ink and co-founder of the Agile Marketing Academy. Together, Peter and Maria founded the Personal Agility Institute with the mission of helping people and organizations align what they do with what really matters to become who they want to be and achieve what they want to achieve. Follow both: Website – https://personalagilityinstitute.org/ Follow Peter: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterstev Twitter – @peterstev Follow Maria: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariamatarelli/ Twitter – @MariaMatarelli Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/80.

“It is good to improve your processes to make them faster and more efficient. But sometimes what’s even more important is doing the right thing in the first place." Scott Wlaschin is the author of “Domain Modeling Made Functional” and the popular F# site fsharpforfunandprofit.com. In this episode, Scott began by sharing his view of the need for developers today to become more polyglot developers and learn multiple programming languages. Scott then shared about functional programming (FP) fundamentals and how FP differs with object-oriented programming, as well as cases when one is better suited than the other. Scott then explained how we can use FP when implementing Domain-Driven Design (DDD), including how to model some of the DDD tactical designs and transaction boundary. He also shared why F# is his favorite and go-to programming language. Towards the end, Scott touched on important advice about effectiveness vs efficiency, and what leaders need to be aware of regarding doing the right thing. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:16] Polyglot Developer - [00:11:01] Functional Programming - [00:14:59] Case for OOP - [00:19:56] DDD and FP - [00:21:02] Modeling Tactical Design in FP - [00:24:10] Modeling Transaction - [00:28:49] F# - [00:32:22] Effective Instead of Efficient - [00:34:43] Advice on Valuing Effectiveness - [00:38:31] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:40:30] _____ Scott Wlaschin’s Bio Scott Wlaschin is a developer, architect and author. He is the writer behind the popular F# site fsharpforfunandprofit.com, and the book ‘Domain Modeling Made Functional’ published by Pragmatic Bookshelf. Known for his non-academic approach to functional programming, Scott is a popular speaker and has given talks at NDC, F# Exchange, DDD Europe, and other conferences around the world. Follow Scott: Twitter – @ScottWlaschin LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottwlaschin F# for Fun and Profit – https://fsharpforfunandprofit.com/ Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/79.

“Oftentimes it’s not about what’s being said. It’s the fact that there’s not a shared understanding of what’s being said. It’s important that organizations proactively think about how they build a common language and manage that." Jonathon Hensley is the co-founder and CEO of EMERGE, a digital product consulting firm, and the author of “Alignment: Overcoming internal sabotage and digital product failure”. In this episode, Jonathon shared the main motivation for him writing “Alignment”, which is to understand why digital products and services fail so commonly. He shared the concept of alignment, how it aligns with our biological need, and why it is so important for leaders to get right in order to deliver successful great products and services. Jonathon then explained the danger of when organization is at war with itself and what are the common reasons that cause internal misalignments. Jonathon shared how leaders can work towards creating alignment, and why it is important to move away from monolithic product thinking and move more towards platform thinking. Finally, Jonathon also shared some team alignment recipes that can transform one team to become a high-performing product team. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:58] Silicon Valley - [00:08:19] “Alignment” Book - [00:10:06] Why Digital Products Fail - [00:12:17] Importance of Alignment - [00:17:28] Internal Misalignment - [00:20:49] Alignment and Biology - [00:25:15] Common Misalignment Reasons - [00:28:39] Leaders Role in Alignment - [00:33:46] Platform Thinking - [00:38:41] Team Alignment - [00:41:06] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:44:04] _____ Jonathon Hensley’s Bio Jonathon Hensley is the co-founder and CEO of Emerge, a digital product consulting firm that works with companies to improve operational agility and customer experience. For more than two decades, Jonathon has helped startups, Fortune 100 brands, and technology leaders transform their businesses by turning strategy, user needs and new technologies into valuable digital products and services. His work focuses on alignment, helping leaders define the value they want to create in a succinct and tangible way; where to focus, why, and what it will take to achieve that outcome. Jonathon writes and speaks about his experiences and insights from his career, and regularly hosts in-depth interviews with business leaders and industry insiders. Follow Jonathon: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathonhensley Twitter – @jonathonhensley EMERGE – https://www.emergeinteractive.com Book Website – https://www.productalignment.com/ Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/78.

“We want to create organizations that can surprise us and do things beyond what we’ve designed them to do, rather than a machine, which only operates in the box that you’ve designed." Jardena London is a business transformation consultant and the author of “Cultivating Transformations”. In this episode, Jardena shared insights from her book on transformational leadership and how one can become a better leader. Jardena shared the 3 different transformational leadership lenses: the “Me”, “We”, and “System” lenses and we covered several important concepts, such as self-mastery, authenticity, psychological safety, resonance and dissonance, and systems thinking. Towards the end, Jardena shared how organizations should avoid becoming machines and instead create thriving human living systems, and thus become soulful organizations. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:10] Communication Between Tech and Business - [00:08:20] Becoming a Better Leader - [00:11:00] Transformational Leadership - [00:13:41] Transformation and Getting Fired - [00:15:44] Resonance and Dissonance - [00:17:36] The “Me” Lens - [00:20:56] Self-Mastery - [00:22:24] Authenticity - [00:25:01] Resiliency and Recovery - [00:28:26] The “We” Lens - [00:31:50] Psychological Safety - [00:32:58] Getting Buy-In - [00:35:56] Understanding People’s Pain - [00:37:50] The “System” Lens: Thriving System - [00:42:57] Systems Thinking - [00:46:08] Soulful Organization - [00:47:36] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:49:44] _____ Jardena London’s Bio Jardena is a business transformation consultant, author, keynote speaker and a certified facilitator of Dare to Lead; Brene Brown’s groundbreaking training program for organizations based on creating courageous workplaces. Jardena is also the Founder of [email protected] that is focusing on leading a movement to create workplaces that nourish our souls and exude positive energy. Her recent book, “Cultivating Transformations: A Leader’s Guide to Connecting the Soulful and the Practical” has been described as “the book you buy and carry around with you everywhere.” Jardena’s mission is to help organizations create soulful, productive and fun workplace environments that support organizational and cultural change together with improving financial results. Jardena has also served as co-founder and CEO of Rosetta Technology Group since 1997. Follow Jardena: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jardena Website – https://www.jardenalondon.com/ CultivatingTransformations.com – https://www.cultivatingtransformations.com/ Rosetta Agile – https://www.rosettaagile.com/ [email protected] – https://soulsatwork.org/ Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/77.

“Interactions with domain experts play a key role in implementing software. You have to make sure that you understand the problem you’re solving. You cannot provide a software solution without understanding the problem first." Vladik Khononov is the author of “Learning Domain-Driven Design”. In this episode, we discussed in-depth about Domain-Driven Design (DDD) and Vlad started by sharing why understanding business domain is crucial in software engineering and how DDD can help build the shared understanding between domain experts and software engineers. Vlad then explained the two important designs in DDD, i.e. the strategic and tactical designs, and how they relate to each other. For each design, Vlad touched on some important patterns, such as bounded context, context map, subdomain, aggregate, entity, and value object. Towards the end, Vlad gave great tips on applying DDD to brownfield projects and how those projects can benefit the most from some of the DDD practices. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:05] Importance of Understanding Business Domain - [00:10:42] How Domain-Driven Design Helps - [00:16:12] DDD Strategic Design - [00:20:21] Subdomain - [00:26:51] DDD Tactical Design - [00:32:44] Aggregate Pattern - [00:34:36] Entity Pattern - [00:40:43] Implementing DDD for Legacy System - [00:43:24] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:46:52] _____ Vladik Khononov’s Bio Vlad (Vladik) Khononov is a software engineer with over 20 years of industry experience, during which he has worked for companies large and small in roles ranging from webmaster to chief architect. Vlad maintains an active media career as an author, public speaker, and blogger. He travels the world consulting and talking about domain-driven design, microservices, and software architecture in general. Vladik lives in Northern Israel with his wife and an almost-reasonable number of cats. Follow Vladik: Twitter – @vladikk LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladikkhononov/ Website – https://vladikk.com/ Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/76.

“It’s great if developers have understanding about the domain, because then they can propose better solutions, that’s not necessarily the same solution that the users have in mind, which are often limited by what they know." Stefan Hofer is the co-author of Domain Storytelling–a collaborative, visual and agile way to build domain-driven software. In this episode, Stefan shared the story of how he came up with Domain Storytelling and explained how this technique can help us understand business domain better and bridge the misunderstandings between software developers and domain experts. Stefan walked us through how the modeling works, including the notations and other pictorial aspects of it, and emphasized the importance of the collaborative aspect of Domain Storytelling. Stefan then explained how Domain Storytelling differs from other similar modeling techniques, such as Event Storming, and gave practical tips on how to run a successful online collaborative workshop. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:51] How Domain Storytelling Started - [00:07:01] Misunderstandings are Common Problems - [00:09:52] Importance of Understanding Domain - [00:12:08] Domain Storytelling - [00:13:46] The DDD Angle- [00:19:01] When Domain Expert is Unavailable - [00:20:34] Domain Storytelling Tools - [00:22:59] Pictographic Language - [00:25:51] Translating into Software - [00:30:23] Difference with Event Storming - [00:33:24] Online Collaborative Workshop - [00:38:00] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:43:13] _____ Stefan Hofer’s Bio Stefan Hofer is bad at drawing. However, he thinks he can build up domain knowledge by drawing domain stories. Stefan studied software engineering in Austria and earned a PhD in computer science. Since 2005, he has been working for WPS – Workplace Solutions in Hamburg, Germany. His job there is to help teams develop software that does the right job the right way. He maintains domainstorytelling.org. Follow Stefan: Twitter – @hofstef LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/hofstef/ Website – https://domainstorytelling.org/ Egon.io – http://egon.io/ Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/75.

“Documentation is content marketing. If your docs don’t summarize what your product is actually about, you’re going to have a rough time getting anybody interested." Meredydd Luff is the founder of Anvil, the platform for building web apps with nothing but Python. In this episode, Meredydd shared his story starting Anvil and his point of view on the latest Low-Code & No-Code movement and whether it would affect the demand for developers. He touched on the importance of domain experts having the ability to develop software and how tools like Anvil could play a part in supporting them to translate their ideas better. In the second half of the episode, we discussed the importance of product documentation and how it also plays a major part in content marketing. Meredydd shared his tips and best practices for documentation, including how to create thriving online Q&A product forums. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:17] Anvil Story - [00:09:16] Low Code / No Code - [00:12:26] Domain Knowledge Coder - [00:18:08] Demand for Developers - [00:22:37] Importance of Product Documentation - [00:25:42] Documentation is Content Marketing - [00:29:16] Online Q&A Forums - [00:33:18] Developer Advocates - [00:36:55] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:39:43] _____ Meredydd Luff’s Bio Meredydd Luff is the founder of Anvil (https://anvil.works), the platform for building and deploying apps on the web with nothing but Python. He’s particularly interested in expanding access to code, and has a PhD in building usable programming systems. Follow Meredydd: Anvil – https://anvil.works/ Twitter – @meredydd LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/meredydd Our Sponsor Today’s episode is proudly sponsored by Skills Matter, the global community and events platform for software professionals. Skills Matter is an easier way for technologists to grow their careers by connecting you and your peers with the best-in-class tech industry experts and communities. You get on-demand access to their latest content, thought leadership insights as well as the exciting schedule of tech events running across all time zones. Head on over to skillsmatter.com to become part of the tech community that matters most to you - it’s free to join and easy to keep up with the latest tech trends. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/74.

“Because we ship stuff now almost immediately into public facing clients, almost as soon as we’re writing a line of code, we need to be thinking about how we make sure that it’s a secure line of code and it will be deployed and operated securely as well." Eoin Woods is the co-author of “Continuous Architecture in Practice” and the CTO at Endava. In this last of a three-part series of “Continuous Architecture” episodes, Eoin shared the remaining two important quality attributes covered in the book, i.e. security and resilience. Eoin explained why we should treat security as a critical quality attribute, the changes in the security landscape that make security becomes more challenging, the threat modeling concept, how to do continuous threat modeling, and his 10 secure by design principles. Eoin then shared about resilience as a quality attribute, how we should differentiate resilience from high availability, some common resilience techniques that we can implement in our system, and the importance of embracing failure mindset. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:42] Software Architecture - [00:09:43] Quality Attributes: Security - [00:12:19] Security Landscape Changes - [00:14:08] Availability as Security Objective - [00:18:59] Threat Modeling - [00:20:51] Continuous Threat Modeling - [00:23:59] Secure by Design - [00:26:56] Quality Attribute: Resilience - [00:31:14] Resilience and High Availability - [00:33:38] Resilience Techniques - [00:35:36] Allowing for Failures - [00:40:18] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:41:23] _____ Eoin Woods’s Bio Eoin is CTO at Endava, based in London. In previous professional lives, he has developed databases, created security software and designed way too many systems to move money around. Outside his day job, he is a regular conference speaker. He is interested in software architecture, software security and DevOps, and has co-authored a couple of books on software architecture. Follow Eoin: Website – https://eoinwoods.info/ LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/eoinwoods/ Twitter – @eoinwoodz Continuous Architecture – https://continuousarchitecture.com/ Endava – https://www.endava.com/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/73.

“It is important to eliminate toil. If you don’t eliminate toil, you won’t have time to fix problems strategically, because strategic initiatives take precedence." Amrith Raj is a Senior Solutions Architect at Dynatrace. In this episode, Amrith walked us through the evolution and current state of IT Operations (ITOps). He described how the ITOps role has developed over time and becoming increasingly more challenging with the increased level of infrastructure abstraction and complexity, especially in the current era of cloud and Platform-as-a-Service. In order to manage such high amount of complexity, Amrith shared the importance of having good culture and practices and touched on some important Google SRE concepts, such as toil and automation. Amrith then shared some recent ITOps advancement, i.e. NoOps and AIOps, and how we can leverage on them to improve the way we solve problems. Also, make sure you do not miss Amrith’s pro tips on how we can become a better SRE and how to use Function-as-a-Service effectively. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:29] Managing Cloud Capacity - [00:07:51] IT Ops - [00:11:09] Cloud & Abstraction - [00:16:01] Culture & Toil - [00:18:54] NoOps - [00:28:29] AIOps - [00:31:20] Tips on AWS Lambda - [00:44:16] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:48:12] _____ Amrith Raj’s Bio Amrith Raj is a Senior Solutions Architect at Dynatrace, supporting the transformation journey of their highly diversified customers through automated and intelligent observability. He has authored an e-book on Cloud Capacity and has published papers related to Cloud, Data Centres and IT Infrastructure. He and members of the Cloud use cases group published a whitepaper called Moving to Cloud when Cloud Computing was too new to be adopted by companies. He has held multiple roles which involved responsibilities around leadership, engineering and operations, modernisation, cloud architecture, automation, migration and building fault-tolerant cloud infrastructure. Based in Melbourne, he is passionate about how technology can be used to transform human lives. Follow Amrith: Website – https://amrith.me/ Twitter – @amrith_raj LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/amrithrajr/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/72.

“Strategy is what earns. Use the strategic and innovative drivers to help us determine what our architecture needs to be. Architecture has to have a purpose." Vaughn Vernon is a leading expert in Domain-Driven Design (DDD) and he recently co-authored his new book “Strategic Monoliths and Microservices”. In this episode, Vaughn shared his story and rationale for writing his new book and why he thinks it is important to include the executives as the readers of the book. He emphasized the importance of focusing on strategic innovative aspects of software development and for driving those innovations using purposeful architectures. Vaughn then shared his insightful perspective on Conway’s Law and why he compares it with the law of gravity. We then discussed two important architectural aspects covered in the book, which are events first architecture and embracing latency, and why they are actually natural to how people communicate and get things done in real life. Towards the end, Vaughn summed up his book and left an important piece of advice that he wanted to convey regarding monoliths vs microservices and why software should require more balance and demand a better strategy. Listen out for: “Strategic Monoliths and Microservices” Book - [00:06:32] Who Should Read the Book - [00:12:31] Strategic Learning and Experimentation - [00:16:48] Purposeful Architecture - [00:22:04] Conway’s Law - [00:27:24] Events First Architecture - [00:33:48] Embrace Latency - [00:38:54] Monoliths vs Microservices - [00:47:30] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:16] _____ Vaughn Vernon’s Bio Vaughn Vernon is an entrepreneur, software developer, and architect with more than 35 years of experience in a broad range of business domains. Vaughn is a leading expert in Domain-Driven Design and reactive software development, and a champion of simplicity. Vaughn is the founder and chief architect of the VLINGO/PLATFORM, and he consults and trains around Domain-Driven Design, reactive software development, as well as EventStorming and Event-Driven Architecture, helping teams and organizations realize the potential of business-driven and reactive systems as they transform their businesses from technology-driven legacy web implementation approaches. Vaughn is the author of four best-selling books, as well as the curator and editor of his own Vaughn Vernon Signature Series, all published by Addison-Wesley. Follow Vaughn: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaughnvernon/ Twitter – @VaughnVernon Website – https://vaughnvernon.com/ Github – https://github.com/VaughnVernon VLINGO – https://vlingo.io DomoRoboto – https://domorobo.to/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/71.

“Delay design decisions until it’s necessary. Architecture is an art, not a science. Don’t architect for things you don’t know. Your design decisions should always be built on facts, not guesses." Pierre Pureur is the co-author of “Continuous Architecture in Practice” and an acclaimed software architect. In this second of a three-part series of “Continuous Architecture” episodes, Pierre shared his own perspectives on the 6 key principles of continuous architecture. We then discussed in-depth the two important quality attributes, which are the scalability and performance. For each quality attribute, Pierre described the attribute definition, why it is an important architectural concern, and some of the common tactics used to improve the attribute in the modern system architecture. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:34] Architect Products, Not Projects- [00:07:31] Focus on Quality Attributes - [00:11:25] Delay Design Decisions Until Necessary - [00:13:41] Power of Small - [00:15:58] Architect for Build, Test, Deploy, and Operate - [00:17:40] Conway’s Law - [00:19:53] Essential Activities - [00:23:18] Quality Attribute: Scalability - [00:26:00] Scalability on The Cloud - [00:28:59] Scalability Tactic: Sharding - [00:31:01] Scalability Tactic: Asynchronous Communication - [00:32:58] Quality Attribute: Performance - [00:35:06] Measuring Performance - [00:37:23] Performance Tactics - [00:39:23] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:41:15] _____ Pierre Pureur’s Bio Pierre Pureur is an experienced software architect, with extensive innovation and application development background, vast exposure to the financial services industry, broad consulting experience and comprehensive technology infrastructure knowledge. His past roles include serving as Chief Enterprise Architect for a major financial services company, leading large architecture teams, managing large-scale concurrent application development projects and directing innovation initiatives, as well as developing strategies and business plans. He is coauthor of the book Continuous Architecture: Sustainable Architecture in an Agile and Cloud-Centric World (2015) and has published many articles and presented at multiple software architecture conferences on this topic. Follow Pierre: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierre-pureur/ Twitter – @PGP60 Website – https://continuousarchitecture.com/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/70.

“Successful project managers have a bias for action. They’re out there pushing the project forward all the time and doing all the things that need to be done to make the project successful." Jana Axline is the founder and Managing Director of Project Genetics, with over 20 years of experience in leadership, project, and portfolio management. In this episode, we discussed in-depth about the important role of project management. Jana explained how project management is still much relevant in the current era of agile and “project to product” movement within the tech industry. She outlined the important skill set required to become an effective project manager, how a project manager can earn much respect from the team, and pointed out some of the common project management anti-patterns we should avoid. She also gave her practical advice on how to do effective status report and project escalation. Towards the end, Jana gave her insightful perspectives based on her vast experience of why IT projects tend to have a high failure rate. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:05] Relevance of Project Management - [00:07:30] Project to Product Movement - [00:12:26] Skills of an Effective Project Manager - [00:14:41] Purpose vs Checklist - [00:18:23] Leaders vs Coordinator - [00:19:29] Earning the Respect - [00:21:20] Project Management Anti-Patterns - [00:23:26] Status Report - [00:26:54] Escalation - [00:29:36] Project Management Tools - [00:32:32] Tips for Project Management Career - [00:35:08] Tech Projects Failure - [00:37:59] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:40:31] _____ Jana Axline’s Bio Jana Axline is the founder and the Managing Director of Project Genetics. A focused leader and project manager, her expertise stems from more than 20 years of experience in leadership and almost ten years in project and portfolio management in many industries such as Health Insurance, Healthcare, Financial Services, Mining, Retail, Government, FMCG and Supply Chain Management. Jana was also the past president of the Project Management Institute Mile High Chapter. She speaks internationally on project management, employee engagement and leadership. She is an active PMP, ACP, Scrum Master, and Scaled Agilist and holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Colorado. Follow Jana: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/janaaxline/ Blog – http://www.janaaxline.com/ Project Genetics – https://projectgenetics.com/ Instagram – @projectgenetics Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/69.

“Many organizations think in order to be safe, they have to be slow. But the data shows us that the best performers are getting both. And in fact, as speed increases, so too does stability." Nathen Harvey is the co-author of 2021 Accelerate State of DevOps Report and a Developer Advocate at Google. In this episode, we discussed in-depth the latest release of the State of DevOps Report. Nathen started by describing what the report is all about, how it got started, and explained the five key metrics suggested by the report to measure the software delivery and operational performance. Nathen then explained how the report categorizes different performers based on their performance against the key metrics and how the elite performers outperform the others in terms of speed, stability, and reliability. Next, we dived into several new key findings that came out of the 2021 report that relate to documentation, secure software supply chain, and burnout. Towards the end, Nathen gave great tips on how we can use the findings from the reports to get started and improve our software delivery and operational performance, that ultimately will improve our organizational performance. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:28] State of DevOps Report - [00:09:32] The Five Key Metrics - [00:13:55] Speed, Safety, and Reliability - [00:19:58] Performers Categories - [00:23:26] 2021 New Key Findings - [00:28:01] New Finding: Documentation - [00:30:44] New Finding: Secure Software Supply Chain - [00:34:58] New Finding: Burnout - [00:37:22] How to Start Improving - [00:39:36] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:43:55] _____ Nathen Harvey’s Bio Nathen Harvey, Developer Relations Engineer at Google, has built a career on helping teams realize their potential while aligning technology to business outcomes. Nathen has had the privilege of working with some of the best teams and open source communities, helping them apply the principles and practices of DevOps and SRE. He is part of the Google Cloud DORA research team and a co-author of the 2021 Accelerate State of DevOps Report. Nathen was an editor for 97 Things Every Cloud Engineer Should Know, published by O’Reilly in 2020. Follow Nathen: Twitter – @nathenharvey LinkedIn – https://linkedin.com/in/nathen Github – https://github.com/nathenharvey Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/68.

“As an architect, your main focus is to influence what’s running in production and to make sure you make the right decisions, so that you have a sustainable product." Murat Erder is the co-author of “Continuous Architecture in Practice” and the CTO of People and Procurement at Deutsche Bank. In this first of a three-part series of “Continuous Architecture” episodes, Murat started by explaining what software architecture is and then explained in-depth the six principles of continuous architecture mindset. Murat continued by outlining the four essential activities of architecture that involve architectural decisions, technical debt, quality attributes, and feedback loops. Towards the end, we discussed the importance of data as an architectural concern. We touched on a few recent key data technology trends that impact and drive software architecture, including the importance of the data model as a prerequisite for successful software architecture. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:28] Software Architecture - [00:09:12] Six Principles of Continuous Architecture - [00:12:42] Focus on Quality Attributes - [00:17:56] Essential Activities - [00:19:16] Architectural Decisions - [00:21:55] Understand Technical Debt - [00:24:53] Data as an Architectural Concern - [00:29:33] Data Technology Trends - [00:32:10] Importance of Data Model - [00:37:20] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:39:46] _____ Murat Erder’s Bio Murat Erder is the CTO for People and Procurement at Deutsche Bank. His 25+ years of experience in the software industry range from software vendors, management consultancies, and large international banks, in which he worked as a developer, software architect, and management consultant. Murat’s main area of expertise is in data, integration, and architecture/CTO. Murat is the co-author of two books on software architecture, “Continuous Architecture: Sustainable Architecture in an Agile and Cloud-Centric World” and “Continuous Architecture in Practice: Software Architecture in the Age of Agility and DevOps”, and he has presented on this topic in several conferences, include SEI Saturn, O’Reilly Software Architecture and GOTO London. Follow Murat: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/murat-erder-62bb98 Twitter – @muraterder Website – https://continuousarchitecture.com/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/67.

“Time is important for business. We have to model it explicitly. Temporal modeling means that we use time-based artifacts as first modeling citizens." Tomasz Jaskula is the CTO and co-founder of Luteceo and an experienced software developer and architect. In this episode, we started off discussing how Domain-Driven Design (DDD) influenced Tomasz’s view on software development approach and its relation with functional programming. Tomasz then explained in depth about the time concept in business applications and temporal modeling, in particular, bi-temporal modeling. He mentioned the different concepts of time in temporal modeling, explaining them using an example for easier illustration. We then extended our discussion further to Event Sourcing, understanding the key concept, its relation to temporal modeling, when we should decide to use Event Sourcing in our application, and some available tools that can help us implement Event Sourcing. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:58] DDD and Bounded Context - [00:08:56] DDD and Functional Programming - [00:13:24] Temporal Modeling - [00:14:47] 3 Different Types of Time - [00:21:13] Event Sourcing - [00:25:42] When to Use Event Sourcing - [00:28:13] Event Sourcing Tools - [00:34:02] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:36:10] _____ Tomasz’s Bio Tomasz Jaskuła is CTO and co-founder of Luteceo, a software consulting company in Paris. Tomasz has more than 20 years of professional experience as a developer and software architect, and worked for many companies in the e-commerce, industry, insurance, and financial fields. He has mainly focused on creating software that delivers true business value, aligns with strategic business initiatives, and provides solutions with clearly identifiable competitive advantages. Tomasz is also a main contributor to the OSS project XOOM for the .NET platform. In his free time, Tomasz perfects his guitar playing and spends time with his family. He recently wrote a book with Vaughn Vernon titled “Strategic Monoliths and Microservices” published by Addison-Wesley. Follow Tomasz: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasz-jaskula-16b2823/ Twitter – @tjaskula Luteceo – http://luteceo.com Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/66.

“The best leaders are those that get things done through other people." Nick Horney is the author of “VUCA Masters” and founder of Agility Consulting. In this episode, Nick shared his innovations in leadership agility that include AGILE Model® and Leadership Agility Fitness, which are the cornerstones for becoming inspiring leaders in the current VUCA world, i.e. the VUCA Masters. Nick also shared how we can extend his leadership agility concepts to improve organizational behavior, culture, and mindset in order to reach organizational agility. Towards the end, Nick shared some inspiring leadership lessons from his 23 years of experience serving the US Navy Special Operations, describing the true characteristic and hallmark of the best leaders. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:48] AGILE Model® - [00:08:04] VUCA - [00:13:20] Leadership Agility Fitness - [00:19:46] Leadership Self-Agility Assessment - [00:24:14] VUCA Masters - [00:29:30] Leadership Agility and Agile - [00:32:10] Organizational Behavior - [00:34:26] Leadership Lessons From the Military - [00:40:35] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:43:55] _____ Nick Horney’s Bio Dr. Nicholas Horney founded Agility Consulting in 2001 and has been recognized for innovations in organizational and leadership agility, including The AGILE Model®, VUCA Masters™, Leadership Agility Fitness™, After Action Agility™ and Talent Portfolio Agility™. His coaching, leadership agility and organizational agility management consulting experience spans over 30 years and includes the start-up and management of the Coopers & Lybrand (now Price Waterhouse Coopers) Change Management Practice. Representative clients include Turner Broadcasting, Coca-Cola, Navy SEALs, Lenovo, CIA, ARAMARK, and REI. Dr. Horney has written four books. The most recent is VUCA Masters: Developing Leadership Agility Fitness for the New World of Work (2021). Nick retired from the U.S. Navy (Special Operations) at the rank of Captain and has applied that experience to his work with high performance team agility. He serves as a coach for The Honor Foundation focusing on the successful transition of Navy SEALs to the business world. Follow Nick: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickhorney Website – https://agilityconsulting.com/ VUCA Masters Academy – http://vucamasters.com/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/65.

“API design centers on effective communication, not just between developers, but also communication that combines product thinking, business, and technology all in one." James Higginbotham is the author of “Principles of Web API Design” and an executive API consultant. In this episode, James explained why it is extremely important to design APIs properly and shared the five key important principles of API design taken from his book. James also recommended the API Design-First approach–a rapid & lightweight outcome-based API design process–to design and deliver APIs successfully, including the ADDR process and establishing API boundaries (in relation to DDD). Towards the end, James shared some recommendation for API testing strategies and also some anti-patterns that we should avoid. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:00] Principles of Web API Design Book - [00:06:46] Importance of Designing API Properly - [00:08:17] Principle 1: API Should Never be Designed in Isolation - [00:13:13] Principle 2: Outcome-Based Focus - [00:15:10] Principle 3: Design Elements That Matches the Needs - [00:17:44] Principle 4: API Documentation as UI for Developers - [00:22:53] Principle 5: APIs are Forever - [00:27:52] API Design First Approach - [00:31:43] ADDR Process - [00:34:43] API Boundaries and DDD - [00:38:56] Testing APIs - [00:43:51] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:47:44] _____ James Higginbotham’s Bio James Higginbotham is a software developer and architect with over 25 years of experience in developing and deploying apps and APIs. He guides enterprises through their digital transformation journey, ensuring alignment between business and technology through product-based thinking to deliver a great customer experience. James engages with teams and organizations to help them align their business, product, and technology strategies into a more composable and modular enterprise platform. James also delivers workshops that help cross-functional teams to apply an API design-first approach using his ADDR process. His work experience includes banking, commercial insurance, hospitality, and the airline industry where he helped a startup airline off the ground – literally. Follow James: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameshigginbotham Twitter – @launchany LaunchAny – https://launchany.com/ API Developer Weekly newsletter – https://apideveloperweekly.com/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/64.

“If you’re a generalist, and if you’re good at multiple things, then you have a lot of options. You have a lot of career paths to choose from." Deepu K Sasidharan is a polyglot developer and a Senior Developer Advocate for DevOps at Okta. In this episode, Deepu shared why he consciously becomes a polyglot and generalist developer. He emphasized the importance of knowing more than one thing in the current rapidly changing tech industry. He gave practical tips for new engineers to start out and shared his technique to learn new stuffs, including languages, by building personal indexes. We then discussed the current interview practices trend and why he thinks it needs to change, especially to make it more inclusive and less biased. Towards the end, Deepu shared about developer experience, a topic that he is highly passionate about, on why it is becoming more important and some tips for building a good developer experience. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:21] Being a Polyglot Developer - [00:08:25] Should We Become Polyglot Developers? - [00:12:05] Tips for New Engineers - [00:15:14] Learning a New Language - [00:18:29] Building Index for Learning - [00:22:16] Broken Interview Practices - [00:25:27] Importance of Developer Experience - [00:28:50] Building a Good Developer Experience - [00:32:55] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:37:33] _____ Deepu K Sasidharan’s Bio Deepu is a polyglot developer and OSS aficionado. He mainly works with Java, JS, Rust, and Golang. He co-leads JHipster and created the JDL Studio and KDash. He’s a Senior Developer Advocate for DevOps at Okta. He is also an international speaker and published author. Deepu is an enthusiast of cloud & container technology, and he is passionate about developer experience and user experience. Follow Deepu: Website – https://deepu.tech/ Twitter – @deepu105 LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/deepu05/ GitHub – https://github.com/deepu105 Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/63.

“Coding well with others or being a team player is at the heart of everything we do as developers. Unless you’re coding yourself for a piece of software that only you are going to use, you’re not a solo developer." Fernando Doglio is the author of “Skills of a Software Developer”. In this episode, Fernando shared some insights from his book on how to be a successful software developer. He highlighted that software development is a mostly a team effort and shared tips on how we can work well within a team, including not to fall into the trap of over-engineering and early optimization. He then shared some practical tips on technical interviews and what we should avoid writing in our resume. Towards the end, Fernando gave his tips to aspiring authors who want to write a technical book and cleared some misconceptions and mental blocks that may stop a lot of them from writing. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:34] Skills of a Software Developer - [00:09:05] Everyone Can Be a Successful Developer - [00:11:34] Tips to Work Well in a Team - [00:14:47] Avoiding Overengineering - [00:16:35] Focus on Working Code First, Then Optimize It - [00:20:30] Writing Readable Code - [00:24:46] Tips on Technical Interviews - [00:28:26] Tips for Writing Technical Books - [00:34:07] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:40:56] _____ Fernando Doglio’s Bio Fernando Doglio is a Data Engineering Manager at Accenture and has over 18 years of experience in the software industry, from web development to big data. Fernando loves to tinker and learn, and has written several technical blogs and books such as Node.js and React. His latest book, “Skills of a Software Developer”, is currently available through the Manning Early Access Program, and he’s open to talk about the industry, possible projects, or any help regarding choice of tech-stack. Follow Fernando: Twitter – @deleteman123 LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/fernandodoglio/ Medium – https://deleteman123.medium.com/ Website – https://www.fdoglio.com/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/62.

“Understanding what makes code readable from a cognitive perspective will help you design better. There are so many areas of programming where knowing something about knowing is just going to make you happier and more effective." Felienne Hermans is the author of “The Programmer’s Brain” and an Associate Professor at Leiden University. She is also the creator of the Hedy programming language, the co-founder of Joy of Coding conference, and a host at Software Engineering Radio podcast. In this episode, Felienne explained why programming is one of the most demanding cognitive activities and described the three different cognitive processes involved. We discussed why code reading is hard and how to get better at it, the connection between programming and spoken languages, naming things and why it is so important to get it right, and how to avoid having bugs in our thinking. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:09] Kids Learning Programming - [00:06:15] Writing “The Programmer’s Brain” - [00:08:58] Programming as a Demanding Cognitive Ability - [00:11:19] Code Reading is So Hard- [00:16:23] 3 Cognitive Processes - [00:19:32] How to Improve Code Reading Skills - [00:22:09] Power of Chunking - [00:25:07] Learning Programming and Spoken Language - [00:27:35] Bugs in Thinking - [00:31:02] Naming Things is Hard - [00:34:32] Code with Bad Names Has More Bugs - [00:37:36] Mental Models - [00:41:31] Other Cognitive Aspects - [00:42:45] Impact of Interruptions - [00:44:37] 2 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:46:46] _____ Felienne Hermans’s Bio Felienne Hermans is an Associate Professor at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science at Leiden University, where she heads the PERL research group, focused on programming education. She also teaches prospective computer science teachers at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Felienne is the creator of the Hedy programming language, and was one of the founders of the Joy of Coding conference. Since 2016, she has been a host at Software Engineering Radio, one of the most popular software engineering podcasts on the web. Felienne is also the author of “The Programmer’s Brain” a book that helps programmers understand how their brains work and how to use it more effectively. In 2021, Felienne was awarded the Dutch Prize for ICT research. Felienne is a member the board of I&I, the Dutch association of high-school computer science teachers, and of TC39, the committee that designs JavaScript. Follow Felienne: Website – https://www.felienne.com/ Twitter – @Felienne LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/felienne Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/61.

“Software engineering involves a lot of decisions, and that decision has some trade-offs. We have pros and cons. It’s not like one decision is always better than the other." Tomasz Lelek is the author of “Software Mistakes and Tradeoffs”. In this episode, Tomasz shared what led him to write his book and one of the past software mistakes from his career experience. He also gave advice on how software developers should approach the potential software mistakes and explained some typical trade-offs when making software engineering design decisions, such as code duplication vs flexibility, premature optimization vs optimizing hot-path, data locality and memory, and finally delivery semantics in distributed systems. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:00] Why Write about Software Mistakes and Trade-offs - [00:07:42] Software Mistake Experience - [00:10:16] Tips for Software Developers - [00:13:08] Trade-off 1: Code Duplication vs Flexibility - [00:15:24] Trade-off 2: Premature Optimization vs Optimizing Hot-Path - [00:20:08] Trade-off 3: Data Locality and Memory - [00:25:02] Trade-off 4: Delivery Semantics in Distributed Systems - [00:33:01] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:40:28] _____ Tomasz Lelek’s Bio Tomasz currently works at Datastax, building products around one of the world’s favorite distributed databases - Cassandra. He contributes to Java-Driver, Cassandra-Quarkus, Cassandra-Kafka connector, and Stargate. He previously worked at Allegro, an e-commerce website in Poland, working on streaming, batch, and online systems serving millions of users. He is also a published author of “Software Mistakes and Tradeoffs: Making good programming decisions” that is focusing on real-world problems you may encounter in your production systems. Follow Tomasz: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomaszlelek/ Twitter – @tomekl007 GitHub – https://github.com/tomekl007 Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/60.

“DevOps is about creating a collaborative environment between the development team and the operations team, and aligning goals and incentives between those two teams. Because so many of the problems that we encounter in life, not just even in technology, are due to misalignment of goals." Jeffery Smith is the author of “Operations Anti-Patterns, DevOps Solutions” and the Director of Production Operations at Centro. In this episode, Jeffery described DevOps essentials and emphasized what DevOps is not. He also explained about CAMS, a framework that outlines the core components required for successful DevOps transformation. We then discussed three anti-patterns taken from his book: paternalist syndrome, alert fatigue, and wasting perfectly good incident; and he explained how to recognize those anti-patterns in order to avoid them on our DevOps journey. Finally, Jeffery also talked about postmortem and shared tips on how to cultivate a good postmortem culture. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:47] DevOps - [00:09:13] CAMS - [00:12:42] Why DevOps Anti-Patterns - [00:16:48] Anti-Pattern 1: Paternalist Syndrome - [00:19:55] Anti-Pattern 2: Alert Fatigue - [00:27:20] Anti-Pattern 3: Wasting a Perfectly Good Incident - [00:34:33] Postmortem - [00:39:59] 4 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:45:57] _____ Jeffery Smith’s Bio Jeffery Smith has been in the technology industry for over 15 years, oscillating between management and individual contributor. Jeff currently serves as the Director of Production Operations for Centro, a media services and technology company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Before that he served as the Manager of Site Reliability Engineering at Grubhub. Jeff is passionate about DevOps transformations in organizations large and small, with a particular interest in the psychological aspects of problems in companies. He lives in Chicago with his wife Stephanie and their two kids Ella and Xander. Follow Jeffery: Website – https://attainabledevops.com/ Twitter – @DarkAndNerdy LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffery-smith-devops Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/59.

“The main goal of unit testing is to enable sustainable growth of your software project that enables you to move faster with a more quality code base." Vladimir Khorikov is the author of “Unit Testing: Principles, Practices, and Patterns” and the founder of Enterprise Craftsmanship blog. In this episode, we discussed in-depth about unit testing. Vladimir broke down the four pillars of unit testing and the anatomy of a good unit test, as well as mentioned a couple of common unit testing anti-patterns. We also discussed topics such as test-driven development, code coverage and other unit testing metrics, test mocks and how to use it properly, and how to be pragmatic when writing unit tests. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:32] Unit Testing - [00:08:20] The Goal of Unit Testing - [00:11:34] Test-Driven Development - [00:12:55] Code Coverage & Other Successful Metrics - [00:17:35] Pragmatic Unit Tests - [00:21:04] 4 Pillars of Unit Testing - [00:23:40] Anatomy of a Good Unit Test - [00:34:01] Test Mocks - [00:38:16] Unit Testing Anti-Patterns - [00:47:05] Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:49:56] _____ Vladimir Khorikov’s Bio Vladimir Khorikov is the author of the book “Unit Testing: Principles, Practices, and Patterns”. He has been professionally involved in software development for over 15 years, including mentoring teams on the ins and outs of unit testing. He’s also the founder of the Enterprise Craftsmanship blog, where he reaches 500 thousand software developers yearly. Follow Vladimir: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladimir-khorikov-bb482653 Twitter – https://twitter.com/vkhorikov Enterprise Craftsmanship – https://enterprisecraftsmanship.com/ Pluralsight – https://app.pluralsight.com/profile/author/vladimir-khorikov Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/58.

“Software telemetry is what you use to figure out what your production systems are doing. It’s all about shortening that feedback loop between the user experience and the engineers who are writing the user experience." Jamie Riedesel is a Staff Engineer at Dropbox working on the HelloSign product and also the author of “Software Telemetry”. In this episode, Jamie shared an overview of software telemetry and explained why it is important for us to understand how our production systems are behaving by using those telemetry data. She also explained different software telemetry types, concepts such as observability and cardinality, and shared some software telemetry best practices. In the second part of our conversation, Jamie opened up and shared her own personal experience dealing with toxic work environments. She emphasized the importance of self-awareness and psychological safety, as well as went through the five key dynamics to a successful team based on Google’s re:Work blog post. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:15] Software Telemetry - [00:07:22] Knowing Your Production System - [00:12:13] Types of Software Telemetry - [00:16:45] High Cardinality - [00:22:34] Observability & Buzzwords - [00:27:08] In-House vs. SaaS - [00:30:04] Some Telemetry Best Practices - [00:32:35] Toxic Workplace - [00:38:45] Identifying Your Toxicity - [00:44:18] Psychological Safety - [00:49:02] Identifying a Person’s Baggage - [00:53:52] Who is On The Team Matters Less - [00:58:09] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [01:01:49] _____ Jamie Riedesel’s Bio Jamie Riedesel has over twenty years of experience in the tech industry, and has spent her time as a System Administrator, Systems Engineer, DevOps Engineer, and Platform Engineer. She is currently a Staff Engineer at Dropbox, working on their HelloSign product. Jamie’s blog at sysadmin1138.net has been there since 2004 and survived the apocalypse of Google Reader shutting down. Jamie is the author of “Software Telemetry” through Manning Publications, and also has a deep interest in reforming team cultures to be less toxic. Follow Jamie: Blog – https://sysadmin1138.net/mt/blog/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/sysadm1138 LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-riedesel-983773b Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/57.

“Good code should be resilient to bugs. It should make it easier to do the changes that you want to the system. Some refactoring could make it harder to make changes. So, if you guess wrongly the direction of the software, then it can have a negative effect." Christian Clausen is a Technical Agile Coach specializing in teaching teams on how to refactor their code properly. He is also the author of “Five Lines of Code”. In this episode, Christian explained in-depth about refactoring, when and how we should do refactoring, the components, workflow, and pillars of refactoring. Christian also shared about a few important architectural refactoring, such as composition over inheritance and changing by addition instead of modification. Finally, Christian also shared a few tips for writing quality software, such as the five lines of code rule, the habit of deleting code, and avoiding optimization and generality. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:20] Refactoring & Good Code - [00:06:58] Refactoring & Testing - [00:10:07] Components of Refactoring - [00:14:36] Advice to Start Refactoring - [00:16:17] Refactoring Workflow - [00:18:21] Pillars of Refactoring - [00:22:07] Five Lines of Code - [00:25:51] Composition Over Inheritance - [00:30:00] Changing by Addition Instead of Modification - [00:34:12] Love Deleting Code - [00:37:01] Avoid Optimizations and Generality - [00:39:38] Favorite Refactoring Strategies - [00:43:28] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:45:17] _____ Christian Clausen’s Bio Christian Clausen works as a Technical Agile Coach teaching teams how to properly refactor their code. He has previously worked as a software engineer on the Coccinelle semantic patching project, an automated refactoring tool. He holds an MSc degree in Computer Science and has taught software quality at a university level for five years. Follow Christian: Twitter – https://twitter.com/thedrlambda GitHub – https://github.com/thedrlambda Medium – https://thedrlambda.medium.com/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/56.

“Decide where it is you’re going and what kind of career you need to live the life you want and aim for that really deliberately. Because if you don’t know where you’re going, then you never will get there." Don Jones is the author of “Own Your Tech Career” and the VP of Developer Skills at Pluralsight. In this episode, Don explained why it is important for us to understand the career we want and aim to build that career deliberately, instead of keep chasing promotion and more money continuously, and thus winding up in a rat race. He emphasized a few important things as part of owning our career, such as the importance of soft skills, showing yourself as a professional, building a personal brand, and being a better decision-maker. Do not miss a couple of showing up as professional tips that Don adopted from Disney! Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:52] Owning Our Tech Career - [00:07:11] On Money - [00:11:18] Importance of Soft Skills - [00:13:24] Showcasing Strong Profile - [00:16:28] Showing as Professional: Be Your Word - [00:20:14] Be Detailed and Precise - [00:23:15] Cut Your Losses When The Time is Right - [00:25:21] Let Blue Sky Mode Happen - [00:29:28] Draw a Yellow Line - [00:31:38] Building a Personal Brand - [00:34:45] What to Contribute and Finding Time - [00:40:24] RAPID Decision Making - [00:43:46] Deciding What’s Enough - [00:45:29] Deciding What to Believe - [00:47:55] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:51:23] _____ Don Jones’s Bio Don Jones has been in the IT industry since the mid-1990s, and has worked in roles ranging from software developer to network engineer. He’s most well-known for his work with Microsoft’s Windows PowerShell, and he’s written literally dozens of books on other IT topics. Today, much of Don’s focus is on helping technology professionals become owners of their careers, through books like How to Own Your Tech Career and projects like his Ampere.Club website. You can view Don’s full bibliography at DonJones.com. Follow Don: Website – https://donjones.com/ LinkedIn – https://linkedin.com/in/concentrateddon/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/concentrateddon Ampere Club – https://ampere.club Our Sponsor This episode is proudly sponsored by Emergence, the journal of business agility. This quarterly publication brings you inspiring stories from the most innovative companies and explores themes of new ways of working, reclaiming management, and humanizing business. Each issue is hand illustrated and 100% content. Use the promo code “techlead” to get a 10% discount on your annual subscription. Visit businessagility.institute/emergence to get your edition and support the publication supporting your podcast. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/55.

“Going from development to management is not a promotion. It’s an entirely new career. And there is normally a lack of proper guidance for that." Alvaro Moya is the founder of Lidr, a community that prepares and transforms the tech leaders and CTOs of tomorrow through immersive, experiential, and community-driven programs. In this episode, Alvaro shared the story of Lidr and why he started it, learning from his own journey working in multiple startups and scaleups. Alvaro then shared his view on technical leadership, the challenges surrounding it, and why it is important for companies to prioritize on improving leadership. Alvaro also touched on how tech leaders can create and nurture high-performing teams, with an emphasis on cultivating ownership, as well as giving some advice on how we should plan and choose our career track and progression, including tips and practices on how we can become better tech leaders through practising leadership informally. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:29] Lidr.co - [00:10:21] Technical Leadership Challenges - [00:12:22] Upskilling Leadership - [00:15:23] Prioritizing Improving Leadership - [00:18:56] Career Progression Guide - [00:24:31] Nurturing High-Performance Team - [00:27:17] Cultivating Ownership - [00:31:36] Becoming a Better Tech Leader - [00:36:21] Advise for Choosing Career Track - [00:41:56] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:45:04] _____ Alvaro Moya’s Bio Alvaro Moya is the founder of Lidr, a community that prepares and transforms the tech leaders and CTOs of tomorrow through immersive, experiential, and community-driven programs. He is an experienced CTO and tech consultant, passionate about tech startups, a serial founder, investor & advisor. Follow Alvaro: Lidr – https://www.lidr.co LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/alvarormoya/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/AlvaroRMoya Email – [email protected] Join #TECHLEADweek on 27-30 Sep 2021 – https://tech.lidr.co/tlw-techleadjournal Our Sponsor This episode is proudly sponsored by Emergence, the journal of business agility. This quarterly publication brings you inspiring stories from the most innovative companies and explores themes of new ways of working, reclaiming management, and humanizing business. Each issue is hand illustrated and 100% content. Use the promo code “techlead” to get a 10% discount on your annual subscription. Visit businessagility.institute/emergence to get your edition and support the publication supporting your podcast. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/54.

“The whole point of microservices and adopting microservices is not to have microservices. The goal is to improve the software delivery key metrics, i.e. rapid, reliable, frequent, and sustainable delivery of software." Chris Richardson is a recognized thought leader in microservices and the author of “Microservices Patterns”. In this episode, we opened our conversation talking about the current state of microservices vs monolith architecture. Chris then explained why he thinks monolith is not actually an anti-pattern and when it’s a good time for us to consider adopting microservice architecture. He then shared about the success triangle for implementing microservices, important concepts such as design time coupling and some microservices patterns, such as the Saga pattern, and how his current work on Eventuate can help developers to implement these patterns easier. At the end, Chris briefly explained some of his important principles for decomposing a monolith successfully. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:52] State of Microservices vs Monolith - [00:11:56] Monolith is Not an Anti-Pattern - [00:15:43] When to Adopt Microservices - [00:18:46] Microservices Success Triangle - [00:23:04] Design Time Coupling - [00:26:40] Distributed Transaction and Saga Pattern - [00:33:21] Eventuate - [00:36:36] Tips for Implementing Saga Pattern - [00:39:00] Principles to Decompose Monolith - [00:43:49] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:50:12] _____ Chris Richardson’s Bio Chris Richardson is a software architect and serial entrepreneur. He is a Java Champion, a JavaOne rock star and the author of “POJOs in Action”, which describes how to build enterprise Java applications with frameworks such as Spring and Hibernate. Chris was also the founder of the original CloudFoundry.com, an early Java PaaS for Amazon EC2. Today, Chris is a recognized thought leader in microservices, having authored the book “Microservices Patterns”. He regularly speaks at international conferences and delivers consulting and training that helps organizations successfully adopt and use the microservice architecture. Follow Chris: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/pojos/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/crichardson Consulting, Training & Blog – https://chrisrichardson.net/ Microservices Patterns – http://adopt.microservices.io/ Eventuate – https://eventuate.io/ “Distributed Data Patterns for Microservices” online course – https://microservices.matrixlms.com/user_catalog_class/show/350821 Use XAAAUDNI coupon code for $120 discount Our Sponsor This episode is proudly sponsored by Emergence, the journal of business agility. This quarterly publication brings you inspiring stories from the most innovative companies and explores themes of new ways of working, reclaiming management, and humanizing business. Each issue is hand illustrated and 100% content. Use the promo code “techlead” to get a 10% discount on your annual subscription. Visit businessagility.institute/emergence to get your edition and support the publication supporting your podcast. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/53.

“Seriously good software is not just software that works. It is not just software that satisfies its functional requirements, so it does the right thing, but it also does it in the right way." Marco Faella is an associate professor at the University of Naples Federico II and the author of “Seriously Good Software”. In this episode, Marco explained what he means by seriously good software, looking at software quality from multiple different perspectives. We then dived deep into several of those software qualities with some practical tips on how software engineers can improve their craft to produce high-quality software. Towards the end, we also touched on the concept of minimum viable code, why it is important to have an idea of what the ideal code looks like, while still being practical in finding the right compromise. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:00] Role of Education for Software Engineers - [00:07:18] Seriously Good Software - [00:12:02] Software Quality Quadrants - [00:17:15] Speed and Time Efficiency - [00:20:23] Space and Memory Efficiency - [00:24:10] Reliability Through Monitoring - [00:26:54] Invariants - [00:32:11] Reliability Through Testing - [00:33:43] Readability - [00:36:15] Reusability - [00:39:25] Thread-Safety - [00:41:17] Minimum Viable Code - [00:46:29] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:48:44] _____ Marco Faella’s Bio Marco Faella is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies at the University of Naples Federico II in Italy. Besides his research on theoretical computer science, Marco is a passionate teacher and programmer. For the last 13 years he has been teaching classes on advanced programming and has published a Java certification manual and a video course on Java streams. More recently, Marco has released his book titled “Seriously Good Software” that teaches techniques for writing high quality software. Follow Marco: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/marco-faella-8675574/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/m_faella Website – http://wpage.unina.it/m.faella Our Sponsor This episode is proudly sponsored by Emergence, the journal of business agility. This quarterly publication brings you inspiring stories from the most innovative companies and explores themes of new ways of working, reclaiming management, and humanizing business. Each issue is hand illustrated and 100% content. Use the promo code “techlead” to get a 10% discount on your annual subscription. Visit businessagility.institute/emergence to get your edition and support the publication supporting your podcast. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/52.

“The most important thing is to make it easy for people to contribute. And the second thing is to have as many people as possible. For that, you build a community, and decide what people you want in your community." Julien Dubois is the creator of JHipster and manages the Java Developer Advocacy team at Microsoft. In this episode, Julien shared about the state of Java for cloud native applications, as well as Java adoption within Microsoft and Azure. Julien also shared his story on founding JHipster, his developer advocacy work at Microsoft, as well as some tips on how to run a successful open source project. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:30] Java at Microsoft - [00:07:38] State of Java for Cloud Native App - [00:10:39] Java Adoption in Azure - [00:16:58] JHipster Story - [00:21:29] Open Source Tips - [00:29:43] Independent Developer Advocacy - [00:35:42] Microsoft and Open Source - [00:40:28] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:43:08] _____ Julien Dubois’s Bio Julien manages the Java Developer Advocacy team at Microsoft. Julien is a Java Champion, and is mostly known in the Java community as the creator and lead developer of JHipster, a popular open source development platform. He is also the co-author of “Spring par la pratique” and a speaker in numerous conferences including Devoxx, SpringOne, and Paris Java User Group amongst others. Follow Julien: Twitter – https://twitter.com/juliendubois LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliendubois/ Github – https://github.com/jdubois Website – https://www.julien-dubois.com/ Our Sponsor This episode is proudly sponsored by Emergence, the journal of business agility. This quarterly publication brings you inspiring stories from the most innovative companies and explores themes of new ways of working, reclaiming management, and humanizing business. Each issue is hand illustrated and 100% content. Use the promo code “techlead” to get a 10% discount on your annual subscription. Visit businessagility.institute/emergence to get your edition and support the publication supporting your podcast. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/51.

“The cloud is a change in operating model. It isn’t IT procurement. If you don’t change the way your organization works, the cloud is going to look much more like another data center.“ Gregor Hohpe is the author of “Software Architect Elevator” and “Cloud Strategy”. In this episode, Gregor started our conversation by explaining the role of a software architect, the reason for the latest resurgence of the role, and his software architect elevator concept. He then described what a good architecture should look like and how to deal with trade-offs by using the analogy of financial options. We then discussed in-depth about the cloud and why adopting cloud requires a lifestyle change in order to benefit from it the most. Gregor also described why organizations need a good viable cloud strategy and debunked the concern of many organizations on cloud vendor lock-in. He also gave his tips on how organizations should approach building an in-house cloud platform and how to change the organization structure to embrace the cloud better. Towards the end, do not miss our insightful discussion on Gregor’s law of excessive complexity! Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:48] Software Architect Role - [00:07:48] Software Architect Elevator - [00:12:07] An Architect Stands on 3 Legs - [00:14:37] Good Architecture - [00:18:08] Trade-offs - [00:21:09] Definition of Cloud - [00:25:55] Cloud is a Lifestyle Change - [00:28:56] Motivation for Moving to the Cloud - [00:32:18] Cloud Strategy - [00:36:43] Building up Cloud Strategy - [00:39:36] Patterns & Antipatterns - [00:43:57] Cloud is Not an Infrastructure Topic - [00:49:29] In-house Cloud Platform - [00:52:38] Gregor’s Law of Excessive Complexity - [00:57:39] Organization Structure - [01:01:37] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [01:05:16] _____ Gregor Hohpe’s Bio As an Enterprise Strategist at AWS, Gregor advises CTOs and tech leaders in their organizational and technology platform transformation. Prior to joining AWS, Gregor served as a Smart Nation Fellow to the Singapore government, as technical director in Google Cloud’s Office of the CTO, and as Chief Architect at Allianz SE, where he oversaw the architecture of a global data center consolidation and deployed the first private cloud software delivery platform. He is an active member of the IEEE Software advisory board. Follow Gregor: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ghohpe/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/ghohpe The Architect Elevator – https://architectelevator.com/ Cloud Strategy – https://cloudstrategybook.com Our Sponsor This episode is proudly sponsored by Emergence, the journal of business agility. This quarterly publication brings you inspiring stories from the most innovative companies and explores themes of new ways of working, reclaiming management, and humanizing business. Each issue is hand illustrated and 100% content. Use the promo code “techlead” to get a 10% discount on your annual subscription. Visit businessagility.institute/emergence to get your edition and support the publication supporting your podcast. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/50.

“Kanban is a flow strategy that helps you to optimize the flow of value through your value streams from ideation to customer." Dimitar Karaivanov is a Lean-thinker, a Kanban practitioner, and the CEO and co-founder of Kanbanize. In this episode, Dimitar shared his story on how he got fascinated by the simplicity and the effectiveness of Kanban, which then led him to start Kanbanize. He shared in-depth the concept of Kanban and why Kanban becomes one of the most popular Lean practices. Dimitar then shared about the principles, practices, and anti-patterns behind Kanban, as well as tips on how companies can improve their Kanban practices, including dealing with external dependencies. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:06] Kanbanize Story - [00:07:05] Kanban - [00:10:25] Why Kanban Becomes Popular - [00:12:24] Kanban Principles - [00:14:53] Visualize the Workflow - [00:20:23] Limit Work in Progress - [00:23:11] Manage Flow - [00:28:26] Make Process Policies Explicit - [00:30:49] Feedback Loops and Improve Collaboratively - [00:31:43] Kanban Metrics - [00:33:52] Kanban Anti-patterns - [00:36:17] Handling External Dependencies - [00:40:39] Tips to Improve Your Kanban Practice - [00:42:01] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:43:40] _____ Dimitar’s Bio Dimitar Karaivanov is a Lean-thinker and a Kanban practitioner with a solid background in the areas of software development and process improvement. Dimitar is also a keynote speaker and the author of ‘Lean Software Development with Kanban’. His expertise was gained through more than 15 years of career development at companies like Johnson Controls, SAP, and Software AG. Dimitar has envisioned and brought to life the idea of Kanbanize aimed at solving problems in the way companies manage big initiatives spread across multiple teams. Through the success of his company, he has proven that Kanban can be used not just for change management, but also for product development. He is passionate about achieving extreme performance at scale and applying Lean / Kanban outside IT, and is an active member, supporter and promoter of initiatives within these communities. Follow Dimitar: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimitar-karaivanov Twitter – https://twitter.com/dimitar_hk Kanbanize – https://kanbanize.com/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/49.

“A lot of engineers are unhappy and a lot of that has to do with not being able to control their environment, or even articulate what they want to have changed in the environment. By becoming a better communicator, you will also become happier." Chris Laffra is an experienced and talented software engineer having worked in companies such as IBM, Google, and Uber. His wide variety of experiences ensures Chris understands what motivates engineers, what stresses them out, and how to help them get the most out of themselves. In this episode, Chris shared some insights from his book “Communication for Engineers” about why communication is such an important skill for engineers and how they should learn to improve it to become more impactful engineers. Chris also shared great insights and tips on how to deal with engineers’ typical sources of unhappiness–impostor syndrome, stress, and burnout–in order to become successful, productive, and happy engineers. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:53] “Communication for Engineers” Book - [00:06:37] Why Engineers Have Difficulty Communicating - [00:09:51] Importance of Communication for Engineers - [00:13:18] Communication for Performance Review and Promotion - [00:21:54] How to Become More Impactful Engineers - [00:30:58] Impostor Syndrome - [00:42:01] How to Deal with Impostor Syndrome - [00:45:18] Handling Burnout - [00:53:58] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:56:40] _____ Chris Laffra’s Bio Chris Laffra is an experienced software engineer with a strong drive to help other engineers grow. Chris has been a manager, tech lead, technical lead manager, advisor, mentor, and staff software engineer with companies such as IBM, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Google, Uber, Plato, and Sourcegraph. This wide variety of experiences ensures Chris understands what motivates engineers, what stresses them out, and how to help them get the most out of themselves. Through decades of personal experience, Chris has analyzed and summarized the topic of software development into numerous blogs, presentations, and books. The summit of his work is his book Communication for Engineers and the accompanying interactive course. Follow Chris: Website – https://chrislaffra.com/ LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrislaffra/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/laffra GitHub – https://github.com/laffra Medium – https://laffra.medium.com/ “Communication for Engineers” book – https://amzn.to/3eP9FH0 Chris’s episode notes – https://chrislaffra.com/TLJ/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/48.

“Micro-frontends are representations of business subdomains. We should differentiate them from components, because components are solving technical problems. Micro-frontends are looking from the product side on how you can create value in isolation for your users." Luca Mezzalira is a Principal Architect at AWS, an expert on micro-frontends, and the author of the upcoming “Building Micro-Frontends” book. In this episode, Luca described the concept of micro-frontends in-depth, along with the where and when companies should apply this concept for building the frontends. Luca also shared about the principles behind micro-frontends, why it is important to be technology agnostic, and how to design the CI/CD pipelines. Luca also mentioned some of the common pitfalls and anti-patterns that we should avoid when using micro-frontends, as well as sharing his tips on how organisations can start adopting micro-frontends in their architecture. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:41] Micro-Frontends - [00:11:11] Where to Apply Micro-Frontends - [00:14:18] Team Structure - [00:16:08] When to Consider Micro-Frontends - [00:18:34] Examples of Apps Using Micro-Frontends - [00:23:01] Micro-Frontends Principles - [00:24:33] Technology Agnostic Micro-Frontends - [00:27:21] Application Shell Concept - [00:30:19] Micro-Frontends CI/CD - [00:33:42] Micro-Frontends Anti-Patterns - [00:36:22] Starting with Micro-Frontends Tips - [00:40:43] “Building Micro-Frontends” Book - [00:43:30] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:46:54] _____ Luca Mezzalira’s Bio Working in the industry since 2004, Luca have lent his expertise predominantly in the field of solution architecture. After helping DAZN becoming a global streaming platform in just 5 years, Luca is now working as a Principal Architect at AWS, helping customers in the media and entertainment space to deliver cost-effective and scalable cloud solutions. He has gained accolades for revolutionising the scalability of frontend acrhitectures with micro-frontends, from increasing the efficiency of workflows to delivering quality in products. Known as an excellent communicator who believes in using an interactive approach for understanding and solving problems of varied scopes, Luca often shares with the community the best practices to develop cloud-native architectures to solve technical and organisational challenges. Follow Luca: Twitter – https://twitter.com/lucamezzalira LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucamezzalira Website – https://lucamezzalira.com/ “Building Micro-Frontends” book – https://www.buildingmicrofrontends.com/ Micro-Frontends Tips – https://buildingmfe.com/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/47.

“Business agility is a set of organizational capabilities, behaviors, and ways of working that afford your business the freedom, flexibility, and resilience to achieve its purpose, no matter what the future brings." Evan Leybourn is the founder and CEO of Business Agility Institute. In this episode, Evan shared about the current maturity of agile adoption and how agile has matured over the years by looking at 3 different agility categories, including business agility. Evan then explained further what business agility means, and his interesting story of why he started the Business Agility Institute. He then explained in-depth the concept of business agility domains, a model comprising 12 different interacting domains across four dimensions centred around the customer. We then discussed his theory of agile constraints and Evan shared his insights on why he thinks Agile and DevOps transformations are currently hitting diminishing returns and how we should address it by continuously finding the constraint to solve. Evan also touched on and shared about the recent Business Agility Institute research finding on why many agile organizations unconsciously fail to embed and support Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) within the organizations. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:56] Current Maturity of Agile Adoption - [00:09:24] Business Agility - [00:16:57] Business Agility Institute - [00:21:15] Agile & DEI - [00:27:45] Business Agility Domains - [00:30:59] Theory of Agile Constraints - [00:40:28] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:46:45] _____ Evan Leybourn’s Bio Evan is the Founder and CEO of the Business Agility Institute; an international membership body to both champion and support next-generation organisations: Companies that are agile, innovative and dynamic - perfectly designed to thrive in today’s unpredictable markets. As well as leading the Business Agility Institute, Evan is also the author of Directing the Agile Organisation (2012) and #noprojects: A Culture of Continuous Value (2018). Follow Evan: Website – https://businessagility.institute/ LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanleybourn/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/eleybourn Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/46.

“A lot of us in clinical practice always thought of technology as a tool. Today, technology has become not just a “what”, but it’s become a “how”. That means how you practice medicine can be enabled through technology itself." Dr. Yong Chern Chet is the founding COO of a Southeast Asian region early stage digital health start-up headquartered in Singapore with a simple mission of enabling “Better Healthcare for All”. In this episode, Dr. Chet shared about the current challenges in healthcare and how technology can be used to overcome those challenges. He then shared about his 5C model that outlines the areas where technology can play a part in the digital healthcare, as well as the various technologies and adoption drivers that enable the future of digital healthcare. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:03:54] Current Challenges in Healthcare - [00:13:14] Solving Healthcare Challenges - [00:16:52] Digital Healthcare 5Cs- [00:26:15] Digital Healthcare Technologies - [00:32:05] Digital Healthcare Adoption - [00:42:11] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:47:12] _____ Dr. Yong Chern Chet’s Bio Dr. Yong Chern Chet (Chet) is the founding Chief Operating Officer with a Southeast Asian region early stage digital health start-up headquartered in Singapore offering key healthcare services such as 24/7 direct access to doctor teleconsultation services, an ePharmacy platform and health & wellness content. Prior to this, Dr. Chet held various senior management roles leading innovation and digital transformation from within the healthcare industry and beyond. His corporate innovation achievements have been acknowledged via awards like the Enterprise Innovation Award at the 24th Asia IoT Business Platform for the use of Big Data and Machine Learning technology to enhance business operations and IDC’s Asia Pacific Digital Transformation Awards (DXa) 2018 under the Operation Model Master category for Thailand. Early career experience included time in management consulting as the Healthcare Industries Sector Leader and a Director with the Risk Consulting Practice for Deloitte Southeast Asia. Dr. Yong is a qualified medical doctor trained in the field of surgery and orthopaedics. Follow Dr. Chet: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/chetyong Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/45.

“Practices and principles are necessary and useful, but they should be informed by what the constraints are in the first place. We need to acknowledge the constraints, and then build and decide on practices and principles based on that." Manuel Pais is the co-author of “Team Topologies” and a DevOps thought leader, focusing on team interactions, delivery practices, and accelerating flow. In this episode, Manuel shared great insights from his book “Team Topologies”, starting from highlighting some constraints that organizations typically face, such as Conway’s Law and cognitive load. Manuel then explained the 4 fundamental team topologies and how they are addressing those constraints. Manuel also shared about the Team API concept as well the 3 core interaction modes, which inform how teams should interact with each other in order to improve the overall flow within the business. Finally, Manuel shared some advice on how leaders can start implementing these ideas within their organizations. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:47] Team Topologies - [00:07:00] Challenges with Organization Chart - [00:08:58] Measuring Flow - [00:11:54] Conway’s Law - [00:14:57] How to Use Conway’s Law - [00:18:10] Breaking Monolith into Microservices - [00:21:15] Cognitive Load - [00:23:57] 4 Fundamental Team Topologies - [00:27:33] Team API - [00:34:55] 3 Interaction Modes - [00:37:57] Advice to Align with Team Topologies - [00:42:41] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:48:13] _____ Manuel Pais’s Bio Manuel Pais is the co-author of “Team Topologies: organizing business and technology teams for fast flow”. Recognized by TechBeacon as a DevOps thought leader, Manuel is an independent IT organizational consultant and trainer, focused on team interactions, delivery practices and accelerating flow. Manuel is also a LinkedIn instructor on Continuous Delivery. Follow Manuel: Twitter – https://twitter.com/manupaisable LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/manuelpais/ Team Topologies – https://teamtopologies.com/ Team Topologies Academy – https://academy.teamtopologies.com/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/44.

“Hybrid work is here to stay. It is going to continue. But we want to make sure that it comes in a way that’s equitable and everyone gets to experience the benefits of it." Dr. Jenna Butler is a Visiting Research Fellow at Microsoft Research in the Productivity and Intelligence Team. She is also an adjunct Professor at Bellevue College in radiation therapy. In this episode, Dr. Jenna shared about the SPACE of developer productivity framework and how developer teams can use the 5 dimensions to measure and increase productivity. Dr. Jenna also shared about the New Future of Work research by Microsoft, especially on the impact of working from home on people and their well-being. Towards the end, Dr. Jenna also mentioned some predictions of the new future of work post COVID-19, that includes some of the upcoming and exciting tools and the potential societal impact of this new work environment. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:54] SPACE of Developer Productivity - [00:10:06] S = Satisfaction and Well-being - [00:13:48] P = Performance - [00:17:45] A = Activity - [00:19:53] C = Communication and Collaboration - [00:21:50] E = Efficiency and Flow - [00:27:11] New Future of Work - [00:31:26] Emotional Aspect of WFH - [00:35:52] Remote Work Meetings - [00:40:00] Impact of WFH to Well-being - [00:44:52] The New Future of Work Predictions - [00:49:08] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:53:17] _____ Dr. Jenna’s Bio Dr. Jenna Butler is a Senior Software Engineer who is currently doing a Research Fellowship with Microsoft Research in the Productivity and Intelligence Team. She received her PhD in Computer Science from Western University in Canada in 2015. Her work examined cancer simulation using cellular automata with a focus on the hallmarks of cancer and combination therapy. She has always been interested in interdisciplinary studies and the intersection of different fields such as biology and computer science, social science, technology. Currently, she is focusing on developer productivity, specifically on the human element in software engineering. She is interested in individual and team well-being, decision making within an organization, relationships between engineering disciplines, and diversity in engineering organizations. Follow Dr. Jenna: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-jenna-butler-44209a3b/ Website – https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/jennbu/ Researchgate – https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jenna-Butler-6 Email – [email protected] Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/43.

“Chaos engineering is the discipline of experimenting on the system in order to increase your confidence that the system will survive difficult conditions." Mikołaj Pawlikowski is an engineering lead at Bloomberg and the author of “Chaos Engineering: Site reliability through controlled disruption“. In this episode, Miko shared about what chaos engineering is, including clarifications on some of the common misconceptions. Miko also mentioned about the chaos engineering tools, steps and prerequisites to do chaos engineering, and the skill set required of a chaos engineer, and how we should explain the rationale and motivation behind chaos engineering to get the management buy-in. Towards the end, Miko also shared about chaos engineering for people; an interesting excerpt taken from his book, and his mission over the last few years to make chaos engineering boring. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:26] Chaos Engineering - [00:05:15] “Chaos“ in Chaos Engineering - [00:08:37] Getting Management Buy-in - [00:13:08] Running in Production - [00:18:29] Other Common Misconceptions - [00:20:53] 4 Steps to Chaos Engineering - [00:25:41] Skill Set of a Chaos Engineer - [00:28:11] Examples of Chaos Engineering Tools - [00:32:09] Chaos Engineering for People - [00:37:48] Make Chaos Engineering Boring - [00:42:08] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:46:12] _____ Mikołaj Pawlikowski’s Bio Mikołaj Pawlikowski is an engineering lead at Bloomberg. He’s the author of “Chaos Engineering: Site reliability through controlled disruption”, a frequent speaker, and the maintainer of Goldpinger and PowerfuSeal open source projects. Follow Mikołaj: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikolajpawlikowski/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/mikopawlikowski Github – https://github.com/seeker89/chaos-engineering-book “Chaos Engineering“ book – https://www.manning.com/books/chaos-engineering Chaos Engineering Newsletter – https://chaosengineering.news/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/42.

“Back when work from home became suddenly virtually overnight, it was all about enabling the business to continue. A lot of this move was rushed out of necessity, but the focus was on speed. The focus was not on security. And security took a backseat." Tony Jarvis is a CISO advisor and cybersecurity strategist who has advised Fortune 500 clients across the world and served as a thought leader within the industry. In this episode, Tony shared about the importance of network and Operating System knowledge in cybersecurity, the awareness of and attitude towards cybersecurity in enterprises, as well as the security gaps arising from the pandemic. Tony also shared his career journey, including his mid-career crisis, as well as some tips and wisdom for those who are interested in cybersecurity. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:24] Networking and OS Knowledge Importance - [00:10:04] Getting Started in Cybersecurity - [00:15:24] Mitigating Cybersecurity Risks - [00:20:04] Executive Awareness About Cybersecurity - [00:24:09] Some Cybersecurity Tips - [00:29:24] Security Gaps Due to Pandemic - [00:32:22] Interesting Cybersecurity Case - [00:38:32] Tony’s Mid-Career Crisis - [00:43:30] Out-of-Comfort Zone Career Principle - [00:49:13] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:53:47] _____ Tony Jarvis’s Bio Tony is passionate about educating audiences on the risks posed by modern cyber threats and advises business leaders as they undertake major cybersecurity transformation projects and initiatives. Having held a variety of leadership and advisory roles with recognisable brands such as Citrix, Check Point, FireEye, Standard Chartered Bank and Telstra, he has developed an acute understanding of how to successfully deliver cybersecurity engagements which strategically align with business objectives. He blends hands-on technical experience with a unique ability to distill complex ideas into language that resonates with all stakeholders, recognising that security is best addressed holistically, from the C-suite to frontline workers. Follow Tony: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-jarvis/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/TonyJamesJarvis Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/41.

“By and large, the way people put together the delivery process is by gut and instinct. The next step up from there is to use the data that comes out of your system to help you make the right decisions. When I say data-driven DevOps, don’t rely on this human experience, and let the system tell you. We should be able to find that kind of information from data." Kohsuke Kawaguchi is widely known as the creator of Jenkins and currently is the co-CEO & co-founder of Launchable. In this episode, Kohsuke shared about data-driven DevOps, developers productivity, the future of software testing, and why he created Launchable to help us move closer to achieve those. And in the beginning of the episode, Kohsuke shared his story on how he created Hudson during his time at Sun Microsystems, which eventually led to become Jenkins, the most popular open-source CI/CD tool used by millions. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:24] Hudson/Jenkins Story - [00:07:30] Current CI/CD Landscape - [00:12:18] Developer Productivity - [00:15:04] Improving Our Productivity - [00:17:06] Launchable - [00:21:06] Launchable Customer Story - [00:33:54] Future of Software Testing - [00:37:13] Data-Driven DevOps - [00:40:41] Running Launchable - [00:44:09] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:45:14] _____ Kohsuke Kawaguchi’s Bio Kohsuke is the co-CEO & co-founder of Launchable. He is passionate about developer productivity. He created Jenkins, the most popular open-source CI/CD system used by millions. As CTO of CloudBees, he helped CloudBees go from <10 to 400+. Kohsuke has received the O’Reilly Open-source Award, JavaOne Rockstar, Japan OSS Contributor Award, and Rakuten Technology Award. Follow Kohsuke: Website – https://kohsuke.org/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/kohsukekawa LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kohsukekawaguchi/ Launchable – https://www.launchableinc.com/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/40.

“Technology is really impacting our daily life, sometimes without us knowing, and it’s important that we start understanding or relearning what is ABCDEFG. In the future of business, or future of work, there are many use cases of technology that are non-traditional, non-techie people need to learn and know how to use them." Jim Lim is the founder of the socio-techno network 59stVentures, the healthcare sector lead for NCS, and previously the CEO of Good Doctor Technology. In this episode, I had a fun conversation with Jim to redefine ABCDEFG, which is a shorthand for a set of modern immersive technologies that are rapidly affecting our daily life, sometimes without us even knowing. ABCDEFG stands for AI, Blockchain, Cloud, Data, Ecosystem, and 5G. Jim also shared with me his unique multicultural career journey and the reasons why he started 59stVentures as a way to pay it forward and contribute back to the society. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:25] Embracing Multicultural - [00:11:15] Pay It Forward - [00:15:10] The 59 Number - [00:19:43] Redefining ABCDEFG - [00:21:57] A = AI - [00:26:15] B = Blockchain - [00:36:40] C = Cloud - [00:42:33] D = Data - [00:47:41] E = Ecosystem - [00:49:56] FG = 5G - [00:54:39] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [01:01:50] _____ Jim Lim’s Bio Jim is the founder of 59stVentures, a socio-techno network focussing in leveraging expertise, experiences and connections of senior executives globally to contribute back to the society. He is currently also the healthcare sector lead for NCS tasked to build digital healthcare ecosystem and to expand NCS footprint regionally. Jim also sits in the board of startup companies in China, Taiwan, Singapore and India. Prior to this, he was CEO for Good Doctor Technology, a Joint-Venture between PingAn Good Doctor from China and Grab. He joined the company as first employee to setup the entire business in Indonesia and Singapore. Jim is currently also adjunct lecturer for NUS, SUSS, Huawei University and FinTech Academy. Before Good Doctor, Jim was the Global Senior Director in Group Chief Transformation Office in Huawei Technologies and its Regional Chief Technology Officer for strategic digital transformation projects in APAC, focussing on digital transformation cross industries (e.g. Telco, Smart Nation/City, Retail, Healthcare, Logistics, Agriculture), domains (e.g. Cloud, IoT, Big Data, Mobile Money, Connectivity) and aspects (e.g. Business Modelling, Customer Journey, Design Thinking, Org. Change). Follow Jim: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-lim-shien-min-pmp-ba537a1/ Email – [email protected] Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/39.

“Tech Capital is about creating something that enables things that weren’t possible before, that genuinely helps the business and enables other people in your organization, and those are the kind of stuffs that eventually end up paying long term." Aviv Ben-Yosef is an advisor and consultant for tech executives to help them create world-class engineering teams. In this episode, Aviv shared with me in-depth about “The Tech Executive Operating System“, his latest book for first-timers and veteran tech leaders to maximize their leverage, which includes the axioms of tech leadership, producing Tech Capital to drive value vs obsessing about tech debt, shifting the engineers mindset to create impact by adopting “Coders Without Borders“ mentality, moving up the decision stream to increase leverage, how to create impact within the organization, importance of product mastery, and organizational debt. Towards the end, Aviv also explained why we should not forget to put more emphasis on product-oriented engineers, instead of principal engineers who focus solely on just the tech. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:50] Tech Executive Operating System - [00:08:00] Why Does the Company Need You - [00:09:40] Executive Leadership is Long-Term - [00:12:30] Tech Capital - [00:14:00] Coders Without Borders - [00:17:49] First 100 Days - [00:20:43] Moving Upstream - [00:25:48] Balancing the Time - [00:32:55] Management by Walking Around - [00:37:06] Creating Impact - [00:39:58] R&D - [00:45:05] Organizational Debt - [00:51:06] Conway’s Law and Microservices - [00:54:15] Product Mastery - [00:55:24] Product 101 - [00:58:29] Less Principal Engineers, More Product Engineers - [01:01:39] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [01:03:48] _____ Aviv Ben-Yosef’s Bio Aviv Ben-Yosef is an advisor, coach, and consultant for executives and leaders throughout the tech industry. In his consulting business, he helps companies worldwide, ranging from day-old startups to Fortune 100 companies. Aviv’s mission is to help create world-class engineering teams that achieve the unthinkable by upgrading tech from a tool to part of the strategy, amassing Tech Capital, and creating Coders without Borders. In his work as a consultant, Aviv has developed a unique approach to aid software organizations’ leadership. Aviv’s online writing has reached over six million readers, and his publishing includes multiple blogs, podcasts, videos, and online courses. He is the author of The Tech Executive Operating System, a book for first-timers and veteran tech leaders who seek to maximize their leverage. Follow Aviv: Website – https://avivbenyosef.com/ The Tech Exec Podcast – https://www.techexecpodcast.com/ LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/avivbenyosef/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/avivby Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/38.

“Lean Inception is about aligning a group of people to be successful. It’s about aligning the vision and the MVP from three different angles: the business, the users, and the engineers, so they align and decide what is the very first step." Paulo Caroli is a Principal consultant at Thoughtworks, co-founder of Agile Brazil, and the author of the best-seller Lean Inception and the recent FunRetrospectives. In this episode, Paulo shared in-depth with me about Lean Inception, its connection with Lean Startup movement, the similarities and differences with Design Sprint, how to create a good product vision, MVP canvas, and also the importance of shifting our mindset from project to product. In the second half of our conversation, Paulo shared his latest contribution, FunRetrospectives, which brings together many techniques to conduct effective retrospectives. He explained the reasoning behind the fun techniques, shared some of those fun activities, and also emphasized the importance of psychological safety and facilitation skills in a retrospective. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:43] Lean Inception - [00:08:35] Lean Inception and Design Sprint - [00:14:06] Lean Inception Frequency - [00:17:18] Lean Inception Agenda - [00:20:33] Product Vision - [00:29:41] MVP Canvas - [00:33:50] Fun Retrospectives - [00:38:44] Retrospective Celebration Activities - [00:41:28] Lightweight Environment - [00:44:52] Retrospective Check-in - [00:48:29] Facilitation Skills - [00:50:24] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:47] _____ Paulo Caroli’s Bio Paulo Caroli is the author of the best-seller Lean Inception: how to align people and build the right product. His most recent contribution is FunRetrospectives, which brings together numerous techniques to conduct effective retrospectives. As a principal consultant at ThoughtWorks, he helped transform dozens of organisations worldwide. Follow Paulo: Website – https://www.caroli.org/en/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/paulocaroli LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulocaroli/ FunRetrospectives – https://www.funretrospectives.com/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/37.

“A high-performing team is one that gets to spend almost all of their time solving interesting problems that move the business forward. Not doing a lot of toil. Not working on things they have to do in order to get to the things they want to do." Charity Majors is the co-founder and CTO of Honeycomb, the observability tools for engineering teams to debug production systems faster and smarter. In this episode, we discussed in-depth about building high-performing teams by having observability and CI/CD as the critical pillars to support it. We opened up our discussion discussing what observability is and how Honeycomb helps to provide observability for distributed systems compared to the other monitoring tools available. Charity then shared her strong views on how to build high-performing teams by focusing on Continuous Delivery, the sociotechnical aspects of the team, and the 5th key metric as her addition to the widely known DORA metrics. Towards the end, we discussed the engineer/manager pendulum, how one should be conscious about it, and that we should not treat going into management as a promotion or a one-way street. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:04] Observability and Monitoring - [00:10:52] Observability Mindset - [00:13:08] Implementing Observability - [00:15:09] Observability Pillars - [00:18:35] Honeycomb Overview - [00:20:06] Honeycomb Cool Use Cases - [00:27:02] Writing Custom Database - [00:28:40] Building High-Performing Team - [00:31:20] 15-Min Continuous Delivery - [00:34:45] Testing in Production - [00:36:05] Shipping is Company’s Heartbeat - [00:38:47] Sociotechnical Aspect of Teams - [00:41:01] Good Traits to Look for in Engineers - [00:43:17] The 5th Key Metric - [00:45:51] Engineer/Manager Pendulum - [00:48:45] Effective Manager - [00:54:21] Concerns on Manager/IC Pendulum - [00:55:19] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:56:49] _____ Charity Majors’s Bio Charity Majors is the co-founder and CTO of Honeycomb, provider of tools for engineering teams to debug production systems faster and smarter. Previously, Charity ran infrastructure at Parse and was an engineering manager at Facebook, where she ran next-generation distributed systems at scale. Charity is the co-author of Database Reliability Engineering (O’Reilly), and is devoted to a world where every engineer is on call and nobody thinks on call sucks. Follow Charity: Twitter – https://twitter.com/mipsytipsy LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/charity-majors/ Website – https://charity.wtf/ Honeycomb – https://www.honeycomb.io/ O11ycast – https://www.heavybit.com/library/podcasts/o11ycast/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (incl. quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/36.

“One of the technological opportunities that we have taken during the pandemic has been transforming the mindset to thinking on products, to thinking on platforms. And I think that’s the foundations of the super app." Pablo Sanz is the CTO of AirAsia. In this episode, Pablo shared with me the tough challenges that AirAsia had to go through during the recent COVID-19 pandemic, and how it has to pivot and transform in order to survive. He explained what the AirAsia leadership team did to align the company vision and steer the business and technology roadmaps during the challenging situations while keeping the people’s morale high. Pablo also shared the recent AirAsia ambition and transformation as a company from being a traditional airline company into becoming a digital platform and ASEAN super app, and how he envisioned to build a data-driven product engineering culture within AirAsia and to continue coming up with innovations based on data-driven hypotheses. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:09] Changing Career into Tech - [00:07:08] AirAsia Recent COVID Challenges - [00:11:18] Transforming Into Super App Platform - [00:14:03] Aligning Vision - [00:18:31] AirAsia Data Platform - [00:21:02] Aligning Technology Roadmap with Business - [00:27:07] Keeping The Morale High - [00:29:35] Critical Things of a Super App - [00:33:24] Integrating with Partners - [00:35:38] Frequency of Deployments - [00:38:59] Data-Driven Product Engineering Culture - [00:40:45] From Gut-Based to Data-Driven - [00:42:50] Recent Interesting A/B Tests - [00:46:30] Embracing Innovation Mindset - [00:48:19] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:50:52] _____ Pablo Sanz’s Bio Pablo Sanz is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at AirAsia. He is a product and technology enthusiast, leading an awesome team to scale all product, design, engineering, and data, while transforming an airline into the definitive ASEAN super app. Follow Pablo: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/pablo-sanz-69409619 Email – [email protected] Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/35.

“Developer productivity is not lines of code written. It’s not the number of commits. It has to do with the ultimate problem you’re solving and the users that you’re solving it for." Beyang Liu is the CTO and co-founder of Sourcegraph, a developer tools company that brings universal code search capability for developers. In this episode, Beyang shared with me his perspective about developers’ productivity and how we should go about measuring developers’ productivity, including the danger of measuring productivity by using proxy metrics. We then discussed the rationale for universal code search and why he thinks there is a massive need for it to increase developers’ productivity, borrowing from his experience working at Google, and especially to cope in the current era of “Big Code”. Towards the end, Beyang shared how individuals can improve their personal developer productivity and what the future state of developer tools would look like. Also, listen to some of the Sourcegraph cool use cases that Beyang shared based on the feedback given by his customers. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:53] Developers Productivity - [00:07:47] Measuring Developers Productivity - [00:12:15] The Danger of Proxy Metrics - [00:16:51] Productivity in Enterprise vs Startup - [00:23:40] Rationale for Code Search - [00:26:54] Code Search Case Studies - [00:33:16] Other Useful Developer Tools - [00:38:32] Ex-Googler’s Guide to Developer Tools - [00:42:20] Improving Personal Developer Productivity - [00:46:07] Future State of Developer Tools - [00:49:32] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:54:28] _____ Beyang Liu’s Bio Beyang is the CTO and cofounder of Sourcegraph, a developer tools company bringing universal code search to every developer in open source and every software organization, including leading companies like Uber, Dropbox, Yelp, PayPal, Cloudflare, and more. Follow Beyang: Twitter – https://twitter.com/beyang LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/beyang-liu/ Website – https://beyang.org Sourcegraph – https://sourcegraph.com/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/34.

“Simplicity is an experience that makes things easy for users that leaves positive emotions." Jin Kang Møller is an award-winning customer experience strategist, design practitioner, and the author of “The Simplicity Playbook for Innovators“. She was the driving force behind FRANK by OCBC and OCBC OneWealth app that won her a Singapore Good Design Mark Gold award in 2017. In this episode, Jin shared with me her insightful perspectives on simplicity and how simplicity naturally leads to innovation. She shared with me in-detail her powerful framework, “Simplicity Diamond“, that is extremely powerful to help us embrace simplicity in dealing with different aspects of business practices, products and services. She also shared her point of view on agile and design thinking, and how we can combine both methodologies together in order to solve the right problems for our customers and users. And don’t miss her fun sharing on “pain sponge” that provides a great mindset analogy for delivering better customer experience! Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:08] Challenges Introducing Customer Experience - [00:11:38] Simplicity - [00:16:24] Simplicity Drives Innovation - [00:18:31] Simplicity Diamond - [00:23:04] Get Fueled by Empathy - [00:29:01] Dancing with Complexity - [00:35:20] Focus - [00:38:33] Speak Human - [00:43:12] Designing Lovable Experience - [00:46:54] How to Embark on Simplicity Journey - [00:52:01] Personal Simplicity - [00:54:00] Agile and Design Thinking - [00:55:42] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:59:12] _____ Jin Kang Møller’s Bio Jin Kang Møller is an award-winning customer experience strategist, design practitioner and highly-acclaimed executive trainer. She held design leadership positions to creative value and bottom-line impact for twenty years in the large financial services firms such as OCBC Bank in Singapore and Credit Suisse in Switzerland, and has led user experience consulting services for pharmaceutical companies. Her design methodologies have helped wealth management, private & retail banking and insurance businesses to drive successful customer experience and digital transformation initiatives, and won her a Singapore Good Design Mark Gold award in 2017. She is the author of The Simplicity Playbook for Innovators, a battle-tested strategy and the collection of tools to drive innovation, humanise digital transformation and to win customers’ hearts. Follow Jin: Website – https://designfulcompany.com/ LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jinkangmoller Twitter – https://twitter.com/JinZwicky Design Thinking, Innovation, Leadership at SMU Academy – https://academy.smu.edu.sg/design-thinking/about/index.html Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/33.

“The CIO is a person who uses IT to facilitate and enable a company so that it becomes more competitive, and it becomes more profitable." Alex Siow is currently a Professor in the School of Computing at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Director of NUS’s Advanced Computing for Executives. With a career that spans over four decades, Alex Siow is well-known as Singapore’s first CIO in the 1990s. He recently published a book, “Leading with IT: Lessons from Singapore’s First CIO”, which is written for the next generation of CIOs, CTOs, and other executives who work closely with technology that offers practical tips, case studies, and personal insights that shed light on the central competencies required of CIOs. In this episode, Alex shared with me his insights on the important role of a CIO, the traits of a good CIO, and how a CIO manages priority, risk and governance. Alex also shared with me his inspiring leadership philosophy and the true essence of servant leadership. Towards the end, Alex shared his views on the future of technology and remote working. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:52] “Leading with IT“ Book - [00:09:43] Role of CIO - [00:12:57] CIO and Other Title Variants - [00:14:46] CIO’s Job of Supporting the Business - [00:16:50] Good CIO Traits - [00:18:41] Aligning Business Vision, Mission, and Values - [00:21:48] Keeping Up With Technologies and Talents - [00:24:49] CIO Time Organization - [00:28:47] On Prioritization - [00:32:13] Managing Governance - [00:33:51] Outsourcing - [00:36:35] On Grooming Technical Leadership - [00:39:49] Leadership Philosophy - [00:42:24] Servant Leadership - [00:44:07] Future of Technology - [00:45:04] Remote Work - [00:48:44] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:50:31] _____ Alex Siow’s Bio Prof Alex Siow is currently Professor (Practice) in the School of Computing, NUS and concurrently Director of the Advanced Computing for Executives Centre, the Strategic Technology Management Institute (STMI) and the Centre for Health Informatics. Prof Alex’s expertise is in IT Governance, Project and Portfolio Management, Enterprise Risk Management, Management of Emerging Technology, Technology Roadmap Planning and Cloud Security. Alex recently published a best-selling book, “Leading with IT: Lessons from Singapore’s First CIO”, which was released in January 2021 by John Wiley and Sons. Follow Alex: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-siow-5213b4/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/32.

“Your digital agenda is your business agenda. You got to be very deliberate and intentional about your transformation journey. You do it because it’s the right thing to do, and you got to figure out what is that right thing for your organization." Johnny Wijaya is the Head of Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon APAC Innovation Center. In this episode, we learn from Johnny the sustainable innovation story at BNY Mellon, being an internationally renowned financial institution for over 237 years. Being at the forefront of innovation within the bank, Johnny shared the latest BNY Mellon digital innovation journey and the challenges that the bank had to overcome to rewire the legacy mindset and culture within. Johnny elaborated further what it means to be digital at BNY Mellon, its innovation playbook, and his advice on digital transformation. He also shared his personal transformation journey that he had to go through to put the innovation mindset at his core, which plays a critical part in his successful innovation leadership. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:04:45] BNY Story of Innovation - [00:13:08] Challenges to Innovation - [00:16:30] Dealing with Legacy Mindset and Culture - [00:21:47] Advice on Digital Transformation - [00:23:57] What It Means to be Digital - [00:26:39] Innovation Playbook - [00:28:46] Importance of Integrating with Ecosystem - [00:32:46] Transforming Personally - [00:36:54] COVID Innovation Acceleration - [00:38:10] BNY Innovations - [00:40:14] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:43:05] _____ Johnny Wijaya’s Bio Johnny Wijaya has over 18 years of experience in business and digital transformation from developing digital innovation strategy, to driving strategic initiatives and blueprint execution. He is currently the Director and Head of BNY Mellon APAC Innovation Center. Being a 237-year-old internationally renowned financial institution, BNY Mellon plays a critical role in providing infrastructure to global markets. Over his 7+ years at the company, Johnny has expanded and strengthened digital capabilities to execute business priorities in APAC. In the last 2 years, he has led the APAC Innovation Center located in Singapore. In addition, he also sits in the BNYM’s Enterprise Innovation Leadership team. This team focuses on driving rapid execution of ideas and concepts while creating an environment that accelerates and promotes product and service innovation. Follow Johnny: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnny-wijaya-1338605/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/31.

“Be the supply to the unmet demand. Things that you could make a huge difference on if only you just go and do it. You don’t need to seek permission. That’s how you end up growing and being noticed." Annie Vella is a technologist with almost two decades of hands-on software engineering and technology leadership experience. In this episode, Annie shared her engineering career dilemma story, why she resisted getting into management early in her career. She highlighted why women get singled out for their people skills and thus get offered management role early in their career. Annie also shared with me her unique approach to helping others grow in their career and skills through self-reflection and storytelling, including some of her favorite self-reflection questions. Towards the end, Annie shared her experience at MessageBird where she led the rapid growth of her team organically within a short time, and the importance of promoting engineering leaders from within. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:13] Resisting Management Early - [00:12:25] Tech Career Milestones - [00:17:34] Working with Underperforming Lead - [00:22:37] Women and Early Management Role - [00:26:16] Growing Through Self-Reflection and Storytelling - [00:30:08] Self-Reflection Questions - [00:34:51] Lessons Learned from MessageBird - [00:39:34] Promoting Leaders from Within - [00:46:46] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:50:47] _____ Annie Vella’s Bio Annie Vella is a technologist with a career in hands-on software engineering and technology leadership spanning almost two decades. Having worked in a range of business domains across four countries both remote and on-site, Annie empowers engineering teams to work smarter by cultivating a curiosity mindset, driving engineering excellence and inspiring engineers to grow through self-reflection and storytelling. Annie recently left her role as Engineering Manager at MessageBird in Amsterdam to return to her home country New Zealand, where she has joined Westpac as a Tech Area Lead in Auckland. Follow Annie: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/annievella/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/codefrenzy Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/30.

“If a user is even reading documentation that a technical writer has produced, they’re probably already annoyed." Helen Scott is a technical writer and Java Developer Advocate at JetBrains. In this episode, we discussed many things about technical writing, such as the technical writer role definition, the traits of a good technical writer, and how to create a good technical content, including a few gotchas that a technical writer needs to be aware of. Helen also shared with me the concept of community mentoring, and how it can be helpful for the mentee, the mentor, and the community altogether. Towards the end, Helen shared some content creation and sharing tips/hacks based on her popular blog post. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:46] Technical Writing - [00:10:48] Good Traits of a Technical Writer - [00:14:25] Elements of Good Technical Content - [00:19:59] Inlining Technical Content - [00:25:38] Examples of Good Technical Doc - [00:27:27] Open Sourcing Documentations - [00:29:38] Structure of Good Product Documentation - [00:31:31] Blog Posts to Attract Talent - [00:36:37] Community Mentoring - [00:38:04] Hacks for Content Creation and Sharing - [00:45:25] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:50:24] _____ Helen Scott’s Bio Helen is a Java Developer Advocate at JetBrains. She has over 20 years’ experience in the software industry which has been gained in a variety of roles including developer, technical writer, product owner, and advocacy. Helen is passionate about the journey of learning and discovery. She enjoys challenging herself to learn new tools and technologies and sharing the highs and inevitable lows of that journey through the content that she creates. Helen believes that the role communication plays throughout our personal and professional lives is critical and often overlooked. She strives to put communication front and centre of all her interactions and loves working with and meeting like-minded people. Follow Helen: Website – https://www.helenjoscott.com/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/helenjoscott LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenjoscott/ GitHub – https://github.com/helenjoscott Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/29.

“The output of a manager is the output of the manager’s team plus the output of the organization that they influence." James Stanier is the SVP Engineering at Brandwatch and author of “Become an Effective Software Engineering Manager”. In this episode, we explored on how one can become an effective software engineering manager and how to build and run effective engineering teams. We started off by discussing why the tech industry is facing a skill crisis because of the inability of many managers to manage people effectively and the challenges faced by engineers when transitioning to become managers. We then dived deep into the best practices to become an effective manager, such as getting oriented, delegating effectively, letting go of control, and nurturing one-on-ones with your teams. James also pointed out the hardest things that engineering managers have to deal with, which are projects and humans. We then wrapped up with James’ tips on how to handle failures and move forward. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:15] Why Writing Engineering Manager Book - [00:09:08] Skill Crisis in Tech Industry - [00:12:34] Individual Contributor Track - [00:15:33] Getting Oriented Tools - [00:17:45] Effective Manager - [00:21:47] Delegating Effectively - [00:27:06] One-on-Ones - [00:32:10] Projects and Humans Are Hard - [00:38:05] On Project Management - [00:40:26] Letting Go of Control - [00:42:24] Balancing Time - [00:46:49] Managing in Startup vs Enterprise - [00:48:29] Handling Failures - [00:50:24] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:51:55] _____ James Stanier’s Bio James Stanier is SVP Engineering at Brandwatch. He has built web scale real time data processing pipelines and teams of people: both are equally challenging. He has written about his experiences on his blog The Engineering Manager, and has turned it into a book called “Become An Effective Software Engineering Manager”. Follow James: Website – https://theengineeringmanager.com Twitter – https://twitter.com/jstanier LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jstanier/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/28.

“I truly believe that what set the superstars or people who are very successful is the ability to tell to themselves to quit. Winners quit fast and quit without guilt." Doron Shachar is an Israeli entrepreneur living in Vietnam over the past 12 years and the founder & CEO of Renova Cloud, an AWS and GCP Consulting Partner in Vietnam. In this episode, we looked at the essence of Israeli entrepreneurship as we first learned about Doron’s childhood & education in Israel and how he built valuable leadership skills throughout his years in the scouts and the army. As we unpacked the Israeli’s approach of problem-solving, risk-taking and overcoming failure, Doron then shared how he ventured into Southeast Asia and ended up staying in Vietnam. We discussed how Vietnam is evolving in terms of technology trends and adoption, including how Vietnamese businesses are adopting cloud as part of their digital transformation. Doron also shared some tips on how entrepreneurs should prepare for a successful venture into Southeast Asia. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:13] Entrepreneurship in Israel - [00:09:58] Entrepreneurship Advice - [00:16:31] Venturing to Vietnam - [00:19:25] Vietnam Among Other SEA Countries - [00:27:15] Vietnam Differentiators - [00:29:52] Cloud Adoption in Vietnam - [00:33:23] Advice to Succeed in Vietnam - [00:38:23] Upcoming Trends in Vietnam - [00:41:20] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:45:04] _____ Doron Shachar’s Bio Doron Shachar founded Jetview Southeast Asia in 2007 to join the fast growth and development of the Vietnamese mobile and telecom market. Under his leadership, Jetview has become a recognized agency and representative for new services and innovative technologies in the emerging Vietnamese market. In 2017, he founded Renova Cloud, an AWS and Google Cloud Consulting Partner with a highly integrated team of skilled engineers, architect and DevOps, providing services towards transition of the legacy workloads to frontline technologies in Cloud, DevOps and Automation. Doron earned a chemical engineering degree from Shenkar University in Israel and an MBA from Boston University in the US. In addition to being an active volunteer for human rights & quality government in Israel, he is also a passionate runner, swimmer, and fan of rock music history. Follow Doron: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/doron-shachar/ Email – [email protected] Renova Cloud – https://renovacloud.com/?lang=en Jetview SEA – http://www.jetviewseasia.com/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/27.

"Most people confuse a technical capability with technology. Ultimately, technology is a technical capability plus the human outcome that it creates." Tim Kobe is a design leader, author, and founder of Eight Inc., a global award-winning strategic design firm also widely recognized as “Apple’s best kept secret”. In this episode, we looked at how successful brands build radical impact by creating ground-breaking human experiences with design. We started off with Tim’s career journey, the founding of Eight Inc., and how he ended up working with Steve Jobs for over 12 years, including coming up with the original design of the iconic Apple’s flagship stores. Tim also shared how he sees Steve Job’s mission to democratize technology and how he helped Apple built a unique branded experience. We then dived deep into Experience Design (XD), starting with understanding the human outcomes to building the strategy and tactics to create value with a unique human experience. We also discussed how Asia is evolving in Experience Design and how COVID has been dramatically changing the world. Tim also spoke about the massive impact of AI & ML that is yet to be witnessed. Towards the end, Tim shared insights about some future trends that he is currently working on to transform the industries and shape the future in human connection from retail, banking, real estate, telecommunication, and even government! Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:06:29] Apple’s Strong Brand & Best Kept Secret - [00:11:55] Apple Stores Concept - [00:16:20] On Steve Jobs - [00:19:39] Experience Design (XD)- [00:21:14] Design Thinking - [00:27:49] Digital Products & Design - [00:28:59] COVID Impact - [00:32:32] AI/ML in XD - [00:37:08] Asia’s Promise & Notable Brands - [00:44:02] The Future Trends - [00:50:21] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:55:01] _____ Tim Kobe’s Bio Tim Kobe is a design leader, author, and founder of the globally recognized strategic and experience design firm Eight Inc. For almost 30 years in design and a leader in Innovation and Branded Experience, Eight Inc. has worked with companies such as Apple, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Nike, Coke, Knoll and Citibank. The firm takes on an interdisciplinary and holistic approach, working across traditional disciplines including strategy, architecture, exhibition, interior design, product, communications and branding. Many projects have received international design awards and have been published across Asia, Europe, and the United States. Eight Inc. has studios in San Francisco, New York, Honolulu, Tokyo, London, Singapore, Dubai, Istanbul and across China. Kobe is a keynote speaker and speaks on topics surrounding design, innovation, technology and business valuation for many internationally known forums. He has been featured and recognized for his work in prominent publications like Harvard Business Review, Bloomberg, The Economist, Dezeen and Fast Company. Follow Tim: Twitter – https://twitter.com/TimKobe LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/timkobe/ Email – [email protected] Eight Inc – https://eightinc.com/ Our Sponsor Check out Tech Lead Journal cool swags at techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/26.

“When I think about well-crafted software, it’s code that we are not scared to change. The code clearly specifies what it does. When we change one part of it, don’t break the other. You always feel that you are in control. You are controlling the code, not the other way around." Sandro Mancuso is the author of “The Software Craftsman” and co-founder of Codurance. In this episode, Sandro shared his great insights on how developers can become a software craftsman by adopting professionalism, pragmatism, and pride mindset to achieve higher levels of technical excellence. We started off with Sandro’s career journey, how he adopted the software craftsmanship mindset in his career and started the London Software Craftsmanship Community. We then dived deep into Software Craftsmanship, how it relates to agile, and the importance of a well-crafted software. We also discussed his latest work on Software Modernization, the principles behind a successful modernization, the business drivers, and common impediments. In the end, Sandro re-emphasized the importance of pragmatism and how we can improve our pragmatism in our career. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:26] Codurance - [00:12:22] Software Crafstmanship - [00:13:10] Software Craftsmanship Manifesto - [00:19:22] Well-crafted Software - [00:22:44] How to Adopt Craftsmanship Mindset - [00:25:47] Software Modernization - [00:33:07] Modernization Business Drivers - [00:36:32] Common Modernization Impediments - [00:40:37] Principles of Successful Modernization - [00:43:19] Improving Our Pragmatism - [00:47:11] Well-crafted Software & Modernization - [00:50:21] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:51:50] _____ Sandro Mancuso’s Bio Sandro Mancuso is a Software craftsman, co-founder of Codurance, author of The Software Craftsman, founder of the London Software Craftsmanship Community and international speaker. Follow Sandro: Twitter – https://twitter.com/sandromancuso LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandromancuso/ Email – [email protected] Codurance – https://codurance.com Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/25.

“When you recruit an engineer on your team, you actually want to make sure from their first day on, you give them the smoothest entry into your company and help them and assist them in as many ways as you can to become productive as fast as possible." Tanaka Mutakwa is the VP of Engineering at Names & Faces and the founder of the Tech Leadership community in South Africa. In this episode, Tanaka shared with me his best practices for onboarding new technical hires and developers into the team. We started off by discussing tech landscape, startup scenes, and tech communities in Africa (in particular South Africa). Then we dived deep into the onboarding best practices ranging from technical aspects (such as tools and technologies), domain knowledge, and importance of soft skills. Tanaka also shared with me a lifestyle brand/movement that he has been championing called “NoDaysOff”, which has a mission to inspire people to chase their goals and dreams consistently. Listen out for: Names & Faces - [00:06:06] Career Journey - [00:07:31] Tech Landscape in Africa - [00:13:13] Tech Communities in Africa - [00:19:54] Onboarding New Software Engineers - [00:24:26] Pair Programming - [00:31:36] Importance of Documentation - [00:34:15] Domain Knowledge - [00:36:44] Developers Lack of Interest in Business - [00:38:48] Understanding Tech vs Business Constraints - [00:42:40] Importance of Soft Skills - [00:44:36] Tips for Improving Soft Skills - [00:50:01] NoDaysOff - [00:52:31] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:57:12] _____ Tanaka Mutakwa’s Bio Tanaka Mutakwa is the VP of Engineering at Names & Faces. His job is to make everyone in the engineering organisation successful by influencing architectural decisions, establishing best practises, setting work cadences and cultural norms and overcoming the issues that get in the way of the team’s success. Tanaka is also the founder of a lifestyle brand / movement called NoDaysOff and the founder / organiser of the Tech Leadership community in South Africa. Follow Tanaka: Website – https://www.mutakwa.com/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/generalmutakwa LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/trmutakwa/ “The New Developer” newsletter – https://thenewdeveloper.substack.com/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/24.

“I always deliver myself against these four things: you should stay true to learning; be curious, understand what is going on; optimize for people, don’t optimize for money; and if you want to do something, there’s only one reason to do it, that you want to do it." Ajey Gore is an Operating Partner at Sequoia Capital India who was previously the Group CTO of Gojek. He helped build a strong Gojek engineering team with his passion, strategic insight, and innovative mindset, which was highly crucial in transforming Gojek to become Indonesia’s first decacorn. In this episode, Ajey shared his deep beliefs and motto of “earn people, not money” in various aspects of his career and life. We started from his sharing of his journey at Thoughtworks and what he learned there that helped shape a lot of his growth and leadership. Ajey eventually made a bold move, starting his startup journey which led him to founding CodeIgnition which was then acquired by Gojek. Ajey shared a lot about his exhilarating challenges and journey in Gojek, which includes the different Gojek scale and stages he went through, crucial technologies, and architecture decisions. He also shared his views about hiring and leadership that played critical parts to Gojek’s success. We also discussed briefly the importance of community contributions and his advice for fresh graduates to succeed in their career. At the end, I asked Ajey a philosophical question on how we should figure out what to optimize for in our life and career. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:08:11] Role in Sequoia - [00:10:36] Impact of COVID for Startups - [00:12:20] ThoughtWorks Journey - [00:14:38] Earn People, Not Money - [00:18:38] Moving to Startup - [00:22:34] Starting CodeIgnition - [00:23:50] Acquired by Gojek - [00:26:47] First Role in Gojek - [00:28:31] Gojek Scale and Stages - [00:30:01] Crucial Technologies and Architecture - [00:34:59] On Hiring - [00:39:14] On Leadership - [00:45:19] Community Contributions - [00:47:58] Advice for Fresh Graduates - [00:49:26] What to Optimize in Life - [00:51:27] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:53:48] _____ Ajey Gore’s Bio Ajey is an Operating Partner - Technology with Sequoia Capital India, based in Singapore. He works closely with Sequoia India and Southeast Asia’s portfolio CTOs and CPOs to provide insight and expertise in building and scaling engineering, data science, product and design functions, and helps them build and mentor high-performing teams across Southeast Asia. Prior to joining Sequoia, Ajey was the Group CTO of Gojek. Ajey earlier founded CodeIgnition, which was acquired by Gojek. He has also served as the CTO for hoppr, which was acquired by Hike Messenger, and was Head of Technology for ThoughtWorks. Ajey has a B. Com degree in Commerce, Mathematics, and Statistics from University of Allahabad and a PG Diploma in advanced software technology/Computer Science from NCST. Follow Ajey: Website – https://ajeygore.in Twitter – https://twitter.com/ajeygore LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajeygore/ Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/23.

“A retrospective is a time set aside where you are looking at what has happened, you’re appreciating what happened, and you’re learning from what happened. And then you improve the ways of how you’re doing things." Aino Vonge Corry is an independent consultant, agile coach, and the founder of Metadeveloper. She recently published her book ”Retrospectives Antipatterns” that describes the antipatterns and mistakes that she has made from facilitating retrospectives for the past 15 years, and what we can learn to avoid those. In this episode, we had a deep discussion about retrospectives and what we should pay attention to in order to facilitate a great retrospective, ranging from elements of a good retrospective, importance of Prime Directive, cultivating trust, facilitation skills, and coming up with good retrospective outcomes. Aino also shared her interesting story on how she ended up writing ”Retrospectives Antipatterns” and what we can learn from her experience. Towards the end, Aino shared her insights on how we can use retrospective to apply in our personal lives. Listen out for: Career Journey - [00:05:24] Teaching the Teachers - [00:10:57] Metadeveloper - [00:13:43] Retrospective - [00:14:48] Postmortem - [00:16:31] Elements of Good Retrospective - [00:17:56] Retrospective Prime Directive - [00:21:51] Trust in Retrospective - [00:23:32] Role of a Facilitator - [00:27:08] Dealing with Different Cultures - [00:30:31] Presence of Managers in Retrospective - [00:32:36] Good Retrospective Outcome - [00:35:21] Retrospective Participation - [00:36:47] Retrospective Preparation - [00:39:12] Retrospective Fatigue - [00:43:16] Retrospective Action Items - [00:45:54] Retrospectives Antipatterns - [00:47:41] Writing Book Tips - [00:50:36] How to Read the Antipatterns - [00:52:06] Personal Retrospective - [00:56:07] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:57:51] _____ Aino Vonge Corry’s Bio Aino Vonge Corry is an independent consultant, who sometimes works as an agile coach. After gaining her Ph.D. in Computer Science in 2001 she spent the next 10 years failing to choose between being a researcher/teacher in academia, and being a teacher/facilitator in industry. She eventually squared the circle by starting her own company, Metadeveloper, which develops developers by teaching CS, teaching how to teach CS, inviting speakers to IT conferences, and facilitating software development in various ways. She has facilitated retrospectives and other meetings for the past 15 years during which time she has made all the mistakes possible in that field. Follow Aino: Website - https://metadeveloper.com Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ainovongecorry Twitter - https://twitter.com/apaipi Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/22.

“Programmers have to come out of their cubicles. Innovative software development doesn’t happen with one person in a cubicle with great ideas. Because it’s not just even about code. Anybody can write code. It’s about what does the code accomplish. And if the code accomplishes something innovative, great!" Vaughn Vernon is a leading expert in Domain-Driven Design (DDD) and reactive software development. He is well-known for his best-selling DDD books and IDDD workshops. In this episode, we discussed many things about Domain-Driven Design and Event-Driven Architecture (EDA). Apart from the fundamentals, Vaughn shared many of his insights around the two, such as why developers should learn more about DDD, the most important aspect of DDD, the benefits of EDA, eventual consistency, event storming, and event sourcing. Towards the end, Vaughn also gave a sneak peek about his new book “Strategic Monoliths and Microservices” and why he wrote it. Listen out for: Vaughn’s career journey - [00:06:44] Domain-Driven Design - [00:16:47] Why DDD can be expensive - [00:21:43] Why developers need to know DDD - [00:23:59] DDD most important thing - [00:27:15] How to start with DDD - [00:30:05] Event-Driven Architecture - [00:32:28] Benefits of EDA - [00:36:00] Eventual consistency - [00:40:13] Event storming - [00:45:22] Event sourcing - [00:49:13] Vaughn’s new book - [00:53:09] Vaughn’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [01:00:26] _____ Vaughn Vernon’s Bio Vaughn Vernon is an entrepreneur, software developer, and architect with more than 35 years of experience in a broad range of business domains. Vaughn is a leading expert in Domain-Driven Design and reactive software development, a champion of simplicity, and he is the founder and chief architect of the VLINGO/PLATFORM. Along with his three best-selling books, Vaughn was recently commissioned by Pearson/Addison-Wesley as curator and editor of his own Vaughn Vernon Signature Series. Follow Vaughn: Website - https://vaughnvernon.com/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/VaughnVernon LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaughnvernon/ Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/21.

“The most important thing we can do in order to get whatever success we want—build the best product you can. Invest all your energy in making the product absolutely best that you can think of. If you really focus on building an absolutely best product possible, everything else will follow." Arno is an inspiring tech leader with decades of experience in two major creative companies—Apple and Adobe. I’m honored to have him sharing his career journey and passion in this episode. Arno shared his amazing start of his career at Apple, especially when Steve Jobs came back and led the company back to focus, which was the key success factor that brought Apple to where it is today. The entire company had to adapt to Steve Jobs’s new ways of working and to work in an iterative fast paced approach, at the time when Agile was not yet widely known, including how Arno led a complete rewrite of the macOS Finder. Then Arno shared his next illustrious career at Adobe, where he had the opportunities to explore different projects and establish his engineering leadership skills. Arno led an audacious move when he proposed Adobe to open source XMP, a bold action when open sourcing wasn’t common back then. He also shared his lessons in dealing with halted projects, and the perspective that we should embrace when that happens. Arno then shared his invaluable wisdom on how to build products that people love and what to focus on in order to create successful products. Right at the end, Arno shared with me what made him decide to end his career and pursue the things he is truly passionate about. Listen out for: Arno’s career start - [00:08:07] Journey at Apple - [00:11:44] Steve Jobs impact - [00:14:17] Apple’s key success factor - [00:19:08] Working in agile manner - [00:20:40] Building without clear direction - [00:24:38] Tips when revamping product - [00:26:53] How to decide a technical rewrite - [00:30:36] Journey at Adobe - [00:33:00] Contributing to open source - [00:37:18] Dealing with canceled projects - [00:40:33] Director of products - [00:43:56] Building products people love - [00:45:36] Arno’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:47:42] Why Arno decided to pursue his passion - [00:53:09] _____ Arno Gourdol’s Bio After a tech career at Adobe and Apple, Arno now travels around the world to capture beautiful landscapes with his camera—living life to the fullest spending time on things he is passionate about. Arno is also an active contributor to some open source projects that he is passionate about. Follow Arno: Website- https://www.arno.org/ Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/arnog/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/arnog Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/arnog/ GitHub - https://github.com/arnog Our Sponsor Are you looking for a new cool swag? Tech Lead Journal now offers you some swags that you can purchase online. These swags are printed on-demand based on your preference, and will be delivered safely to you all over the world where shipping is available. Check out all the cool swags by visiting https://techleadjournal.dev/shop. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/20.

“With machines, you know there are limitations. You can’t go beyond that. You have to upgrade your machines. Or the technology changes. But with people, the interesting part is: if you get all the parts right, the sum of the parts will be definitely greater than adding them together." Ranganathan Balashanmugam is the co-founder and CTO of EverestEngineering. He is passionate about scaling and leading distributed teams, where most of us can relate to with the remote working becoming a norm nowadays. I had a pleasant conversation with him in this episode to discuss many strategies and thought leadership on how to lead a distributed team by taking parallel from distributed system, overcoming challenges of building a team with different culture, and how to nurture a team. We started with him sharing his career journey and interesting story of him conquering the Mount Everest Base Camp, where he gained some insights and inspiration throughout the trek. Ranga then shared what led him to take his first management role and developed strategies around scaling distribution teams over the years. We then discussed about hiring and onboarding, the concept of orchestration vs choreography when managing a team, and the qualities of an excellent leader. At the end, Ranga also shared about EverestEngineering and its differentiators to ensure good engineering quality for their clients. Listen out for: Ranganathan’s career journey - [00:06:16] Trip to Mount Everest - [00:08:19] How Ranga took management role - [00:12:55] Scaling distributed teams - [00:14:43] Onboarding new joiner - [00:26:23] Orchestration vs choreography - [00:31:01] What makes a good manager/leader - [00:36:41] EverestEngineering - [00:43:13] Ensuring good engineering quality - [00:47:09] Ranga’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:27] _____ Ranganathan Balashanmugam’s Bio Ranga has worked with globally distributed teams for the last fifteen years. He graduated as a civil engineer and became a developer for nearly eleven years. He worked on web, mobile, and distributed technologies to scale software. Later he picked up operations and engineering management at Aconex, where there were teams distributed in four different time zones. He is currently co-founder and CTO of EverestEngineering, which he scaled the organization to 80+ people in the last two years, in three other regions. He is passionate about scaling and leading distributed teams. Microsoft MVP for Data Platform - 2016, 2017. Experience in building two startups. Speaker at many international conferences and meetups Experience in building distributed high-performance teams and offices. Organizer of one of the top technology meetups - Hyderabad Scalability Meetup. Follow Ranga: Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ranganathanb Twitter – https://twitter.com/ran_than Medium – https://medium.com/@ran_than SlideShare – https://www.slideshare.net/techmaddy Follow EverestEngineering: Website – https://everest.engineering Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/19.

“What I come to realize is that technology doesn’t move that fast. The fundamentals are roughly the same. It’s the fact that we don’t necessarily teach fundamentals. When you start to focus on the fundamentals, then you don’t mentally get attached to one particular implementation." Kelsey Hightower is one of the leading figures in open source, cloud computing, and Kubernetes. I’m extremely excited to have him with me sharing a lot of his insights around many things in tech. We started the conversation with what he has been doing recently—his involvement in serverless technologies and security landscape. Kelsey then shared his interesting career journey of how he got from working at fast food in high school to where he is at Google today. He also shared his advice on how one should learn and develop knowledge in the current fast changing technology landscape, and how he shifted his learning mindset to overcome impostor syndrome. Kelsey also discussed various latest updates on cloud, serverless technologies, and Kubernetes. He also shared how he has developed his fundamental understanding of certain technologies by learning them “the hard way” and publicly. We also covered his latest observation and views on microservices vs monolith. Last but not least, we close off the session with Kelsey’s Tech Lead Wisdom on his take around personal growth, learning, and his preferred way of leading by inspiring others. Listen out for: What Kelsey is up to - [00:06:39] Kelsey’s career journey - [00:10:15] Succeeding in tech from under-represented groups - [00:13:21] Understanding technology fundamentals - [00:16:45] Impostor syndrome - [00:21:19] On cloud latest and cloud native - [00:27:51] Twelve-Factor application - [00:34:00] Serverless latest - [00:36:14] Monolith vs microservices - [00:42:44] Learning things The Hard Way - [00:54:20] Kubernetes-ify everything - [01:02:15] Kubernetes resources - [01:08:54] Kelsey’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [01:12:13] _____ Kelsey Hightower’s Bio Kelsey Hightower has worn every hat possible throughout his career in tech, but most enjoys leadership roles focused on making things happen and shipping software. Kelsey is a strong open source advocate focused on building simple tools that make people smile. When he is not slinging Go code, you can catch him giving technical workshops covering everything from programming and system administration to his favorite Linux distro of the month. Follow Kelsey: Twitter – https://twitter.com/kelseyhightower Github - https://github.com/kelseyhightower Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/18.

“Asynchronous communication promotes flow. And flow is generally what we’re all looking for. Not only because it’s more productive. Not only it’s because it’s within this state that we produce the best work. It’s also within this state that we feel the most fulfilled." Gonçalo is the CTO of Doist, the remote-first company behind Todoist and Twist that has a mission of building the future of work by creating tools that promote more fulfilling ways to work and live. Doist has been a remote-first company practically since the founder started working on Todoist in 2007 and with its first remote hire in 2011. In this episode, I learned a lot from Gonçalo about Doist and its remote working history and culture, including some advantages and disadvantages of remote work. We also discussed at length about having asynchronous communication as the first preferred communication style instead of synchronous, and why it is such an important communication style to adopt in a remote team. Gonçalo then shares about Doist core values, the cornerstone of every single thing that Doist does as company, from creating processes to decision making and recruiting. Towards the end, Gonçalo also shares some engineering and technical practices that Doist does, especially the ones important for a successful remote team, including the importance of pre-allocation and prioritization. Listen out for: About Doist - [00:05:59] Gonçalo’s career journey - [00:06:52] Doist remote work history - [00:10:30] Remote work advantages & disadvantages - [00:13:01] Asynchronous vs synchronous - [00:18:53] Handling emergencies - [00:25:10] On meeting and real-time chat - [00:26:48] Hiring and onboarding - [00:30:38] Doist 5 core values - [00:39:01] Role of a manager - [00:41:07] Technical practices - [00:42:47] Prioritization - [00:48:55] Doist architecture - [00:54:04] Remote work resources - [00:55:48] Gonçalo’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:56:54] _____ Gonçalo Silva’s Bio Gonçalo is the CTO of Doist, creators of Todoist and Twist. He’s been working remotely for over a decade and managing remote teams for most of that time. He loves long-term ambition, asynchronous communication, and programming. Follow Gonçalo: Twitter – https://twitter.com/goncalossilva LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/goncalossilva/ Follow Doist: Website – https://doist.com/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/doist LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/doist/ YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/user/DoistApps Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/doistofficial Our Sponsors Are you a startup in software development which is less than 5 years old? If yes, our sponsor at JetBrains has a 50% startup discount offer which allows Startups to purchase multiple products and subscriptions for up to 10 unique licenses over a period of months. To find out more, go to https://www.jetbrains.com/store/startups. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/17.

“Having the conversation within the business, the data science teams, and the technology teams about what problems are you trying to solve? What can AI do with the data that you have? Sometimes business comes with a lot of problems that are like science-fiction." Feng-Yuan is the co-founder and CEO of BasisAI, a Singapore-headquartered augmented intelligence software company that helps data-driven enterprises deploy AI responsibly. He has a vast experience in the tech sector, working with the Land Transport Authority Singapore to make public transport more efficient; and with GovTech pushing data initiatives for Singapore’s Smart Nation projects. In this episode, I talked to Feng-Yuan about responsible AI and how to build trust in artificial intelligence, including the possibilities, challenges and dangers that AI and ML offer to businesses. We began by talking about his company, BasisAI, which offers bespoke AI solutions that are built responsibly. Feng-Yuan explained why it’s important to differentiate between what is interesting and what is useful when it comes to AI trends. We also spoke at length about deepfake, the dangers that come with it, and how to prevent such instances. At the end, Feng-Yuan also shares some wisdom about effective communication in the age of AI and ML. Listen out for: BasisAI - [00:04:48] Feng-Yuan’s career journey - [00:06:23] Feng-Yuan’s interesting projects at GovTech - [00:11:57] The fear of AI/ML - [00:17:29] AI/ML current trends & challenges - [00:20:15] The danger of AI/ML - [00:23:07] Responsible AI - [00:25:00] Explainable AI - [00:28:24] Challenges for implementing AI - [00:30:14] Managing expectations for AI projects - [00:33:12] Productionizing AI - [00:35:07] Role of ML engineers in product team - [00:38:31] Data Scientist and ML Engineer - [00:41:03] Hyper-personalized AI - [00:43:16] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:45:50] _____ Liu Feng-Yuan’s Bio Feng-Yuan Liu is the co-founder and CEO of BasisAI, a Singapore-headquartered augmented intelligence software company that helps data-driven enterprises deploy AI responsibly. In his previous capacity, he was responsible for leading and driving Smart Nation data initiatives for the Singapore government, including setting up and growing the data science and AI capabilities within GovTech. Follow Feng-Yuan: Email – [email protected] LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/feng-yuan-liu-9b09aa42/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/fengyuanliu Follow BasisAI: Website – https://basis-ai.com LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/basis-ai/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/basis_ai Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/basisai/ Our Sponsors Are you a startup in software development which is less than 5 years old? If yes, our sponsor at JetBrains has a 50% startup discount offer which allows Startups to purchase multiple products and subscriptions for up to 10 unique licenses over a period of months. To find out more, go to https://www.jetbrains.com/store/startups. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/16.

“The goal of your resume is to get a recruiter call. It’s a binary yes or no. That is the goal. As soon as you have your recruiter call, your resume doesn’t really matter that much." Gergely is a seasoned software engineer and engineering manager, previously worked in hypergrowth companies such as Uber, Skyscanner, and Skype. He is the author of “The Tech Resume Inside Out” book and “The Pragmatic Engineer” blog. In this episode, he shared about his interesting programmer-to-manager career journey path, starting from small companies and moving to hypergrowth startups. We then discussed on the importance of a tech resume and the common pitfall that people have in their tech resume, which led him to write his recent book that came up after he has been helping so many people improve their resume during the pandemic. I also had an insightful discussion with Gergely about how the Engineering team works at Uber, which brought us to touch on what Silicon Valley gets right when dealing with software engineers. Gergely also shared the reason he quit Uber recently and his future plan. We then talked about his blog, where he has been sharing many interesting technical topics that he learned throughout the years, helping him to discover many viewpoints from others and shaping him as a better communicator. We also discussed some of his popular blog posts on distributed systems and software architecture. Lastly, Gergely also shared his firsthand experience seeing Uber’s pace of change and its growing number of microservices. Listen out for: Gergely’s career journey - [00:06:51] Why getting interviews could be tough - [00:13:00] “The Tech Resume Inside Out“ book - [00:16:29] Tech resume pitfalls - [00:21:51] Working at Uber - [00:25:20] Managing Engineering team at hyperscale company - [00:27:16] What Silicon Valley gets right dealing with Software Engineers - [00:33:34] Leaving Uber - [00:37:12] Writing blogs - [00:40:01] Distributed system - [00:42:44] Other popular blog posts - [00:44:53] Uber’s pace of change and microservices - [00:49:31] Gergely’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:51:30] _____ Gergely Orosz’s Bio Gergely Orosz is an engineering lead, previously at Uber, Skype / Microsoft and Skyscanner. He is passionate about helping engineers grow. He published articles on software engineering on The Pragmatic Engineer blog, has written the book “The Tech Resume Inside Out: what a good developer resume looks like”, and is currently writing ”The Software Engineer’s Guidebook”. Follow Gergely: Website - https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/GergelyOrosz LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/gergelyorosz/ Our Sponsors Are you a startup in software development which is less than 5 years old? If yes, our sponsor at JetBrains has a 50% startup discount offer which allows Startups to purchase multiple products and subscriptions for up to 10 unique licenses over a period of months. To find out more, go to https://www.jetbrains.com/store/startups. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/15.

“Organizations should never set up a central digital transformation office. It should be owned by everybody in the organization. It’s not a CIO’s job. It’s the CEO’s job." Richard Koh is the CTO of Microsoft Singapore who played a major part in the Office 365 founding team. In this episode, I had an inspiring discussion with him around his journey founding the Office 365, the challenges he faced, and on how to approach digital transformation adoption. Our conversation started with some interesting observations on how organizations in Singapore are adapting to the COVID-19 impact, followed by the unique organizational structure Microsoft has in regional aspects and the regional CTO scope in decision making and shaping of Microsoft’s product and culture. Richard also shares how the Office 365 team was structured to instil an independent yet collaborative environment, his viewpoints about technical product management and the importance of cloud technologies. Busting the myths of digital transformation, he provided some advice about how organizations should approach it. Last, Richard also shared about his external contributions to the community, including SGTech and some wisdom on continuous learning with a growth mindset. Listen out for: Impact of COVID - [00:05:59] Richard’s career journey - [00:07:56] Microsoft’s unique regional CTO structure & scope - [00:10:09] The region macro trends - [00:13:43] Founding Office 365 - [00:15:58] The art of Product Management - [00:24:09] Building Office 365 - [00:26:26] Importance of cloud - [00:30:06] Digital transformation adoption - [00:35:02] Community contributions and other interests - [00:40:34] Responsibility Tech - [00:45:01] Richard’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:46:45] _____ Richard Koh’s Bio Richard Koh is the CTO of Microsoft Singapore. In this role, he is responsible for engaging with key executive leaders across government, industry and academia; bringing in the macro technology landscape; and helping customers leverage technology innovations for their digital transformation. His focus areas include guiding technology policies, standards, legal and regulatory matters, as well as security, privacy and compliance decisions. Richard was part of the founding product team for Microsoft’s flagship productivity cloud services suite – Office 365. Follow Richard: Full bio – https://news.microsoft.com/en-sg/richard-koh/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/richardkoh LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardkoh/ Our Sponsors This episode is brought to you by JetBrains. Do you want to learn to code? Do you have friends who are looking to learn how to code? Our sponsors at JetBrains recently launched JetBrains Academy, an education platform that offers interactive, project-based learning combined with powerful, professional development tools. Advance your Java and Python skills, with more programming languages to come. To get an extended 3-month free trial on JetBrains Academy, go to https://techleadjournal.dev/jetbrains-academy. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/14.

“Goal on the behaviors that matter. Don’t goal on your vanity metrics. Figure out what it is that, not just works for your product, but also for you as an individual." Crystal Widjaja is a startup growth advisor and a Forbes 30 Under 30. She was most recently the SVP of Business Intelligence and Growth for Gojek. She is also the co-founder of Generation Girl, a non-profit organization that introduces young girls to STEM. In this episode, I had a fascinating chat with Crystal on many things about startup and her exhilarating journey with Gojek as the first data hire. We started with the recent trends of the startup funding in US and Southeast Asia, and the impact that COVID has brought to the startup scenes. Crystal then shared her insightful tips on startup growth strategy, including the common pitfall startups need to avoid in their strategy. She also gave practical tips on how a startup can start its data analytics journey. We then talked about her recent Gojek career when she outlined her amazing journey building Gojek data team from one person (herself) to 200+ people, the challenges she had to go through and how she overcame them. Last, Crystal shared about Generation Girl and why it is an important cause to help Indonesian young girls to succeed in STEM. Listen out for: Crystal’s career journey - [00:06:04] Why Crystal quit Gojek and moved to VC - [00:09:26] Startup trends in US and SEA - [00:13:16] Impact of COVID to startup growth and funding - [00:20:10] Reforge - [00:25:56] Tips on startup growth strategy - [00:28:32] Strategy for building data analytics strategy - [00:36:55] Building Gojek data team as the first data hire - [00:45:54] Generation Girl - [00:59:30] Crystal’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [01:08:22] _____ Crystal Widjaja’s Bio Crystal Widjaja is a startup growth advisor, Reforge advisor partner, and Sequoia Scout in the SF Bay Area. Crystal has been recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 and was most recently the Senior VP of Business Intelligence and Growth for Gojek, the leading on-demand multi-service platform in Southeast Asia committed to empowering informal sectors and MSMEs through technology. She is also a co-founder of Generation Girl, a non-profit organization that aims to introduce young girls to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Follow Crystal: Website – https://www.crissyw.com/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/crystalwidjaja LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystalwidjaja/ Our Sponsors This episode is brought to you by JetBrains. Do you want to learn to code? Do you have friends who are looking to learn how to code? Our sponsors at JetBrains recently launched JetBrains Academy, an education platform that offers interactive, project-based learning combined with powerful, professional development tools. Advance your Java and Python skills, with more programming languages to come. To get an extended 3-month free trial on JetBrains Academy, go to https://techleadjournal.dev/jetbrains-academy. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/13.

“You can run an organization where you communicate clearly, and you treat people fairly, and you try to set people up for success. I have seen it work, and I can make that happen, and I remember that it is possible." Hongyi is the Director of Open Government Products, a division of the Government Technology Agency of Singapore. He leads an experimental team of engineers, designers, and product managers who build technology for the public good, such as Data.gov.sg, Parking.sg, FormSG, Go.gov.sg, and Isomer. In this episode, I had an inspiring chat with Hongyi about the Singapore government’s challenges in adopting new tech, including some major hurdles that he needed to overcome at the beginning. Hongyi then shared more about his team, Open Government Products (OGP), how he started the whole initiative, scaled it up, and importantly built some cool products that have brought tremendous impact to the public good. Hongyi also outlined his visions for OGP, that include open sourcing the products that his team has built for other governments to adopt and implement. He also touched on Singapore government’s challenges in terms of cloud adoption and hiring engineering talent. Do not miss Hongyi’s explanation on “bureaucratic deadlock” that he beautifully explained as one of the major challenges that he faced when starting OGP. Listen out for: Hongyi’s career journey - [00:04:36] Singapore government’s challenges in adopting new tech - [00:13:33] The biggest hurdles that Hongyi overcame at the beginning - [00:17:38] Open Government Products (OGP) - [00:21:04] How Open Government Products get approved - [00:24:08] Examples of Open Government Products and the impact - [00:25:38] How Hongyi scaled up OGP - [00:30:11] OGP vision - [00:31:30] Cloud adoption in Singapore government - [00:36:04] Singapore government’s talent challenge - [00:39:42] Hongyi’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:42:06] _____ Li Hongyi’s Bio Hongyi is the Director of Open Government Products, a division of the Government Technology Agency of Singapore. He leads an experimental team of engineers, designers, and product managers who build technology for the public good. Projects they work on include Parking.sg, Go.gov.sg, and RedeemSG. Prior to joining the public sector, Hongyi worked at Google on the distributed databases and image search teams. He previously attended MIT, where he obtained degrees in computer science and economics. In his free time, he works on personal projects like typographing.com and chatlet.com. Follow Hongyi: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/hongyi-li-16183230 Our Sponsors This episode is brought to you by JetBrains. Do you want to learn to code? Do you have friends who are looking to learn how to code? Our sponsors at JetBrains recently launched JetBrains Academy, an education platform that offers interactive, project-based learning combined with powerful, professional development tools. Advance your Java and Python skills, with more programming languages to come. To get an extended 3-month free trial on JetBrains Academy, go to https://techleadjournal.dev/jetbrains-academy. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/12.

“Courage needs to be emphasized even more in software development context. That’s related with respect. We cannot expect the developers will be courageous, to tell the truth, to have integrity, unless the organization, the management respect them as a professional." Joshua initially started his career as a software developer, but over time became more interested in the people aspect of software development, which then brought his interest in Scrum. He has a decade of experience as a Scrum Master and has been working with senior leaderships to improve enterprise agility. In this episode, Joshua shared his views on how we can improve the people’s aspect of the software development by treating the people more humanely. He outlined how an enterprise should adopt agility, execute agile transformation, and use outcome instead of output to drive the behavior change. He also shared his observation on how the COVID pandemic brought forward the importance of adopting agility in business and personal life. Do not miss his anecdote on how he learned about self organization unexpectedly! Listen out for: Joshua’s career journey - [00:05:43] Values and principles of humane software development - [00:12:20] How enterprise can adopt agility - [00:17:34] Agility outcome examples - [00:20:40] How enterprise should do agile transformation - [00:24:03] Agility adoption during COVID - [00:33:37] Joshua’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:36:47] _____ Joshua Partogi’s Bio Joshua is a Scrum Master and also a Co-active Coach. He initially started his career as a software developer but became more interested about the people aspect of software development. He got interested in Scrum because it emphasises the people aspect. He has a decade of experience as a Scrum Master and now became more interested with working with senior leadership to improve the whole enterprise agility. Follow Joshua: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpartogi/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/jpartogi YouTube – https://youtube.com/c/jpartogi Our Sponsors This episode is brought to you by JetBrains. Do you want to learn to code? Do you have friends who are looking to learn how to code? Our sponsors at JetBrains recently launched JetBrains Academy, an education platform that offers interactive, project-based learning combined with powerful, professional development tools. Advance your Java and Python skills, with more programming languages to come. To get an extended 3-month free trial on JetBrains Academy, go to https://techleadjournal.dev/jetbrains-academy. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/11.

“As a leader, it’s not your responsibility to do. It’s your responsibility to teach and help your team to level up. Your job is to level up your team, so that you have a team of people who can do it better and faster." Trisha Gee is a Java Champion, author, and the leader of Java Developer Advocacy team at JetBrains. She has an extensive Java experience with expertise in Java high performance systems, and she is exceptionally passionate about sharing things that help real developers. Trisha is an author of a few books: “What to Look for in a Code Review“ and “97 Things Every Java Developer Should Know“. Trisha also produces a monthly newsletter for JetBrains called “Java Annotated Monthly”, which is a great monthly summary for all things happening in the Java world. In this episode, I had a chat with Trisha about the current state of Java, and how it stands compared to other programming languages. She also gave some good tips on how to transition from old Java version to the latest Java version. Trisha shared some code review best practices and explained why reading code is harder than writing it, and that we should put more effort in making our code more readable. She suggested why a developer should use an IDE, and how using an IDE could help in increasing productivity and producing a more readable and idiomatic code. Trisha also shared some of her lessons learned from her recent transition to becoming a team lead. Listen out for: Trisha’s career journey - [00:04:54] Trisha’s lessons learned when becoming a Team Lead - [00:10:04] Current state of Java - [00:17:44] How Java stands among other languages - [00:22:47] Transitioning from older version of Java - [00:27:20] Code review best practices - [00:33:56] Why developers should use an IDE - [00:45:23] Some of JetBrains products roadmap - [00:49:51] Trisha’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:58] _____ Trisha Gee’s Bio Trisha is a Java Champion, published author, and leader of the Java Developer Advocacy team at JetBrains. Trisha has developed Java applications for a range of industries of all sizes. She has expertise in Java high performance systems, dabbles with Open Source development, and is a leader of the Sevilla Java User Group. Follow Trisha: Website – https://trishagee.com Twitter – https://twitter.com/trisha_gee Our Sponsors This episode is brought to you by JetBrains. Do you want to learn to code? Do you have friends who are looking to learn how to code? Our sponsors at JetBrains recently launched JetBrains Academy, an education platform that offers interactive, project-based learning combined with powerful, professional development tools. Advance your Java and Python skills, with more programming languages to come. To get an extended 3-month free trial on JetBrains Academy, go to https://techleadjournal.dev/jetbrains-academy. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/10.

“A Tech Lead is a person with a technical background, typically an engineer who is leading a team and particularly responsible and accountable for their technical direction." Patrick Kua is a seasoned technology leader and is passionate about accelerating the growth and success of tech organizations and technical leaders. Before going independent recently, Pat was the CTO and Chief Scientist of N26 (Berlin, Germany), where he transformed the early stage startup culture and led the Product & Technology teams for hypergrowth. Before N26, Pat spent 13+ years in ThoughtWorks as a Technical Principal Consultant, where he researched deep into the Tech Lead role and became a thought leader about it. Pat is a frequent keynote and conference speaker and also an author. In this episode, I had an amazing learning conversation with Pat about the Tech Lead role and discussed deep with him on what it takes to become a good Tech Lead. Pat also shared his journey as a CTO and Chief Scientist of N26, the challenges he faced there and what he did to transform the Product & Technology teams to align for hypergrowth. This is one of those conversations you definitely not want to miss to learn how to become a great technical leader! Listen out for: What Pat is up to - [00:04:22] Pat’s career journey - [00:07:37] Tech Lead definition - [00:16:46] Why Pat is interested about Tech Leads - [00:18:02] Tech Lead attributes - [00:21:58] Effective Tech Lead - [00:26:12] Examples of Tech Lead measures - [00:29:53] Tech Lead business angle - [00:36:27] Pat’s N26 story as a CTO - [00:38:51] How Pat grew N26 engineering team - [00:44:03] How Pat balanced his responsibility and time as a CTO - [00:51:10] Target Operating Model (TOM) - [00:53:05] Why Pat switched to become a Chief Scientist in N26 - [00:57:58] Tech Lead resources - [00:59:38] Pat’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [01:01:05] _____ Patrick Kua’s Bio Patrick Kua is a seasoned technology leader with almost 20 years of experience. He has had many years of hands-on experience, leading, managing and improving complex organisations and software systems as the CTO and Chief Scientist of N26 and as a Technical Principal Consultant at ThoughtWorks. He is a frequent keynote and conference speaker, author of three books, and runs the free popular newsletter for leaders in tech, “Level Up” and the “Tech Lead Academy“, offering training for technical leaders, or running his very popular “Shortcut to Tech Leadership“ workshop. Follow Pat: Website – https://patkua.com LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/patkua/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/patkua Our Sponsors Are you a startup in software development which is less than 5 years old? If yes, our sponsor at JetBrains has a 50% startup discount offer which allows Startups to purchase multiple products and subscriptions for up to 10 unique licenses over a period of months. To find out more, go to https://www.jetbrains.com/store/startups. Like this episode? Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/9.

“There is no permanent failure and there is no guarantee of success either. What you define as success, what you define as failure is just a definition." Sau Sheong is the CEO of SP Digital, an energytech company, part of SP Group, the leading energy utility in Asia Pacific and one of Singapore’s largest corporations. In this episode, Sau Sheong shared with me about the digital transformation journey that he embarked in SP Digital, including some success and failure stories. His achievements during this transformation journey led him to winning the “Executive of the Year for Utilities” award at SBR Management Excellence Awards 2019. Sau Sheong also shared his interesting career journey from being a software engineer, to being a CTO, and to becoming a CEO in SP Digital. Sau Sheong has written multiple programming books, and he mentioned what drives him to write those books, and why he is also very active in the tech communities. Don’t miss his sharing on some unique experiences that he had with his readers! Listen out for: Sau Sheong’s unconventional career journey from being a software engineer to becoming a CEO - [00:04:36] How SP Digital went through digital transformation - [00:09:49] Why Sau Sheong took up SP Digital CEO role - [00:25:05] Some failure stories during SP Digital digital transformation - [00:26:33] Sau Sheong’s personal awards and recognitions - [00:29:57] Why Sau Sheong dedicates his time for community contributions - [00:32:18] Sau Sheong’s writing passion and why he likes writing, including authoring books - [00:35:47] Sau Sheong’s Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:40:06] _____ Chang Sau Sheong’s Bio Sau Sheong runs SP Digital, the digital business subsidiary of SP Group. In his 25 years of industry experience, he has lead engineering teams at PayPal, Yahoo, and HP to build software products. He was previously a co-founder in a software company and was involved in startups for more than 10 years. He is active and contributes to many technology communities in Singapore and Southeast Asia (especially Go and Ruby) and has written 4 programming books. Sau Sheong has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and a Masters in Commercial Law. Follow Sau Sheong: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sausheong Twitter – https://twitter.com/sausheong Website – http://sausheong.github.io/ Our Sponsors This episode is brought to you by JetBrains. Are you a startup in software development which is less than 5 years old? If yes, our sponsor at JetBrains has a 50% startup discount offer which allows Startups to purchase multiple products and subscriptions for up to 10 unique licenses over a period of months. To find out more, go to https://www.jetbrains.com/store/startups. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/8.

“Continuous Integration is when you are integrating with the other developers on the code base as soon as possible. Continuous Delivery is when your code is in a deployable state and functionally correct." In this episode, I had a long deep conversation with Sriram Narayanan (Ram for short), a Principal Consultant at ThoughtWorks Singapore. Ram is one of my mentors and someone that I always enjoy listening to for all his wisdom and vast amount of experience in the industry. Ram has an illustrious versatile career, successfully transforming his role repeatedly, from being a developer, build & release engineer, system administrator, Agile consultant, and recently Continuous Delivery consultant. We discussed in depth about what Continuous Delivery is, including several important concepts in the DevOps world, such as Testing Pyramid, Value Stream Map, and Segregation of Duty. Ram also gave his valuable tips on how to become a successful consultant and how to manage client stakeholders well. We also touched on a few fun discussions on how one should keep up with the rapid changes in technology and deal with a plethora of industry buzzwords. Do not miss the insightful archery analogy anecdote in our conversation! Listen out for: Ram’s career journey and how he progressed in ThoughtWorks - [00:05:14] What Continuous Delivery is - [00:20:50] What Testing Pyramid is - [00:38:34] Ram’s view on “buzzword driven development” - [00:48:07] Why and how one should keep up with technologies - [00:53:27] Importance of Value Stream Map and Segregation of Duty - [01:02:41] How to be a successful consultant and deal with imposter syndrome - [01:17:55] Tips on managing stakeholders - [01:24:40] Ram’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [01:31:15] _____ Sriram Narayanan’s Bio Sriram “Ram” Narayanan has worked for 24 odd years in the IT and non-IT in various roles and capacities. He has run his own businesses, and has helped others succeed in theirs. He is a self-taught programmer and enjoys learning all the time. In his professional capacity, he currently helps customers on their journey to Continuous Delivery. In his personal time, he is working on a book on Continuous Delivery, and is a student of approaches to reverse climate change. Follow Sriram: Website – https://www.sriramnarayanan.com LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sriramnrn GitHub – https://github.com/sriramnrn Our Sponsors Are you a startup in software development which is less than 5 years old? If yes, our sponsor at JetBrains has a 50% startup discount offer which allows Startups to purchase multiple products and subscriptions for up to 10 unique licenses over a period of months. To find out more, go to https://www.jetbrains.com/store/startups. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/7.

“The thing about becoming a Tech Influencer is, content is Queen and consistency, quality and value matter. That’s the trifecta of creating content that sticks." In this episode, I had a fun conversation with Stephanie Wong, a Developer Advocate from Google Cloud. Stephanie is well known for her online developer contents ranging from YouTube videos, podcast and blog posts. She also hosts her own YouTube channel called “Steph You Should Know” where she talks about career, tech and productivity tips. Stephanie shared her story on how she started in technology even without technology education background and what led her to her current role. She also shared great tips on public speaking, storytelling, building a personal brand, and CV writing. She also gave her view on how to empower women to thrive in technology and dealing with imposter syndrome. Listen out for: Stephanie’s career journey and how she started in tech - [00:03:31] What DevRel is - [00:08:29] How to be a good Tech Influencer - [00:16:04] Tips on public speaking - [00:21:04] Importance of storytelling - [00:25:23] Tips on career advice and personal branding - [00:29:43] Women in technology and imposter syndrome - [00:33:28] Interesting DevRel experience - [00:40:29] Stephanie’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:42:18] _____ Stephanie Wong’s Bio Stephanie Wong is a speaker, writer, and architect with a mission to blend storytelling and technology to create remarkable online developer content. She is the creator of the Google Cloud Youtube series Networking End-to-End, Kubeflow 101, and Eyes on Enterprise, and the host of Google’s Next onAir broadcast. Before Google she helped businesses implement cloud technologies at Oracle. Born and raised in San Francisco, Stephanie’s active in her community, supporting women in tech and mentoring students. She hosts her own Youtube Channel called “Steph You Should Know” where you’ll find career, tech, and productivity tips and advice. She’s a former pageant queen, Hip Hop dance gold medalist, and has an unhealthy obsession with dogs. Follow Stephanie: Twitter – https://twitter.com/swongful LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/swongful/ Medium – https://medium.com/@swongful Website – https://www.stephrwong.com/ Our Sponsors Are you a startup in software development which is less than 5 years old? If yes, our sponsor at JetBrains has a 50% startup discount offer which allows Startups to purchase multiple products and subscriptions for up to 10 unique licenses over a period of months. To find out more, go to https://www.jetbrains.com/store/startups. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/6.

"With Infrastructure as Code, you’re not trying to kind of reverse engineer or understand what ended up somehow onto each system, you’re actually saying, this is how the system is built and because it’s built from that code. So there is no difference." In this episode, I had an in-depth discussion with Kief Morris, the author of the O’Reilly “Infrastructure as Code” book. We started from what is Infrastructure as Code and why we should implement this important concept for managing our infrastructure, especially in the cloud era. We also discussed Infrastructure as Code principles, patterns, anti-patterns, pipeline, testing, and also recent new tools in this space. Kief also mentioned about his upcoming 2nd edition of the Infrastructure as Code book and what new changes that he is introducing. Do not miss our Pet vs Cattle discussion! Listen out for: Kief’s career journey and how he started doing infrastructure as code - [00:03:22] How Kief got into writing Infrastructure as Code Book - [00:07:24] What is Infrastructure as Code and why - [00:10:35] Pet vs Cattle - [00:18:56] Infrastructure as Code principles & patterns - [00:20:15] Automation fear - [00:27:06] Refactoring infrastructure code - [00:30:49] Infrastructure as Code pipeline & testing - [00:36:17] Pulumi and CDK - [00:48:29] Infrastructure as Code anti-pattern example - [00:50:07] 2nd edition of Infrastructure as Code book - [00:51:40] Infrastructure as Code reverse engineering - [00:53:40] Kief’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:55:02] _____ Kief Morris’s Bio Kief is a Global Director of Cloud Engineering at ThoughtWorks. He enjoys helping organisations adopt cloud age technologies and practices. This usually involves buzzwords like cloud, digital platforms, infrastructure automation, DevOps, and Continuous Delivery. Originally from Tennessee, Kief has been building teams to deliver software as a service in London since the dotcom days. He is the author of “Infrastructure as Code”, published by O’Reilly. Follow Kief: Twitter (https://twitter.com/kief/) LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kiefmorris/) GitHub (https://github.com/kief/) Website (http://kief.com/) Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/5.

"With the kind of security breaches and attacks that we are witnessing in this era, it becomes of prior importance that we prioritize security at the top." In this episode, I am joined by Neha Malhotra who has recently been awarded one of the Top 20 Women in Cybersecurity in Singapore 2020. Neha is deeply passionate about cybersecurity and has an extensive experience in driving initiatives across multiple cybersecurity domains. She is also very active in the cybersecurity community groups and kindly volunteers her time to promote cybersecurity awareness to more people and also to champion for women in cybersecurity and technology. Listen out for: How Neha won the Top 20 Women in Cybersecurity in Singapore 2020 - [00:03:03] Some important security practices for one and all in the current digital world - [00:07:23] Why Neha is interested in cybersecurity - [00:10:45] How one can transition into cybersecurity - [00:15:16] Why Neha is active in doing community contribution and volunteering - [00:21:01] Neha’s message for women in technology - [00:23:08] Discussion on security trade-off, social media, and fake news - [00:31:27] Neha’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:37:21] _____ Neha Malhotra’s Bio Neha Malhotra is a passionate information & cyber security enthusiast, and she has recently been recognized as one of the Top 20 Women in Cybersecurity in Singapore. She works as a Cybersecurity Program Manager and volunteers to serve as a Communications Director on the Exco board of (ISC)²Singapore chapter, & is actively involved with the Singapore community across initiatives driven by Cybersecurity Agency of Singapore, (ISC)², WoSec Singapore, AISP (Association of Information Security Professionals), Division Zero, Cyber Risk Meetups, Google Developers Space. She was on the Judges Panel for The CyberSecurity Awards (TCA) 2019. Neha holds CISSP, CISM, PMP certifications and is currently researching on cloud, container security, blockchain security and IoT security. Follow Neha: LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nehamalhotrapm/) Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/4.

“Knowing and understanding are very different things. Unless I practice it along with good guidance, I may not increase my understanding." There are several Agile misconceptions in the industry lately. It has even come to a point where people are being skeptical and starting to doubt the actual value of Agile methodologies and practices. In this episode, I had a conversation with Stanly Lau, one of the early leaders of the Agile Singapore community, about these Agile misconceptions and what we can do to bring back Agile to what it was originally intended for. Stanly is an Agile Coach in Odd-e and he enjoys helping others to produce better quality software sustainably. Stanly also shared Odd-e unique culture and how it is challenging the status quo by experimenting for other ways of building and operating a successful company. Listen out for: How Stanly initially bumped into Agile - [00:03:41] Why Stanly decided to join Odd-e and why Odd-e has such a unique culture - [00:09:41] The origin of Agile, its essence and biggest misconceptions - [00:15:55] Why Stanly brought thought leaders to Singapore for Agile Conferences and workshops - [00:22:35] Stanly’s experiment going back to the industry as employee to gain self-awareness, empathy, and thus becoming better coach - [00:25:27] Stanly’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdoms - [00:32:56] _____ Stanly Lau’s Bio Stanly Lau is an experienced software development coach and trainer at Odd-e. He helps organisations become more agile by adopting better development and people practices through experiments and congruent actions. He is also one of the early leaders of the Agile Singapore community. Follow Stanly: Email ([email protected]) LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/stanlylau/) Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/stanlylau) Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/3.

Hear from Singapore's prominent community builder, Michael Cheng, on how to contribute to communities, and learn more about his latest passion for mentoring junior developers. _____ “Rather than being passive about it, why don’t I take a proactive approach to try and find people who are like-minded, who share the same ideals and goals and let them come together and just share." Michael Cheng has been a prominent community builder in Singapore, having created communities such as Engineers.SG, PHP User Group, iOS Dev Scouts, and recently JuniorDev.SG. There are many people who have benefited tremendously from his communities, and importantly, those communities have also helped to accelerate the growth of the tech and startup scenes in Singapore in the last few years. In this episode, hear from Michael on why he created those communities and what made him started in the beginning, including the challenges he was trying to solve. Michael also shared the impact that his initiatives have brought both to the communities and to him professionally. We also discussed JuniorDev.SG and how some of its programmes have been helping junior developers towards the goal of dropping their “junior” title. Listen out for: How Michael started his community contributions and why he started them? - [00:03:40] Michael’s strategy to ensure that his meetups have good traction - [00:06:35] Why Michael created Engineers.SG and the impact that it brings to the community - [00:08:00] How community contributions have impacted Michael’s professional career - [00:20:14] Why Michael created JuniorDev.SG and how it differs from the other groups he created before - [00:22:49] JuniorDev.SG activities, e.g. mentoring programme, developer’s gym - [00:27:31] Michael’s 3 Tech Lead Wisdoms - [00:35:33] _____ Follow Michael: Twitter (@coderkungfu) Website (https://coderkungfu.com/) Mentions & Links: Engineers.SG (https://engineers.sg/) JuniorDev.SG (https://juniordev.sg/) The Singapore PHP User Group Meetup (https://www.meetup.com/sgphpug/) Singapore iOS Dev Scout Meetup (https://www.meetup.com/Singapore-iOS-Dev-Scout-Meetup/) The Geek Path (https://thegeekpath.com/) Geek Brunch SG (https://geekbrunch.sg/) Confreaks (https://confreaks.tv/) Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/2.

"Leading others is leading yourself first. That's a very big work of self awareness, and you should always do that." Jerome Poudevigne is a serial CTO who has co-founded multiple startups with multiple successful exits. Recently, he has been working at Google Cloud and AWS to help startups grow and make the most of cloud technologies. In this very first episode of Tech Lead Journal, Jerome shares with us his startup wisdom from his lessons learned; advice for hiring, building culture, pitching, and managing stakeholders. He also shares with us his "Rule of 50%", a practical strategy that you can use to build your startup/product from zero scale to planet scale. Moreover, Jerome shares his interesting anecdotes about cultural differences between different regions based on his experience. Listen out for: Jerome's career highlights, lowlights, and his lessons learned - [00:04:03] How to pitch yourself to (potential) investors, and how to assess good investors - [00:06:49] Some tips for hiring, especially in a startup, and how you can assess someone's personality and culture fit - [00:09:37] How to ensure that everyone works towards the same vision of the company - [00:16:37] "Jerome's Rule of 50%" - how to build your startup from zero scale to planet scale - [00:20:49] How you should not get distracted by the latest technologies when you're starting up - [00:21:07] Stakeholders management, and how to explain about technology to non-technical stakeholders - [00:28:42] Anecdotes about cultural differences between different regions - [00:32:40] Jerome's 3 Tech Lead Wisdoms - [00:43:56] _____ Jerome Poudevigne's Bio Jerome got his first computer when he was 12 and got into programming games, hacking copy protection schemes, and putting together electronics during his school years. He decided that computers and software were too much fun, so he got a CS degree and started doing it professionally, building radar systems and avionics for Airbus.   In the mid-90s, he moved to the Silicon Valley where he got the startup bug, and soon after he co-founded his first startup, Kermeet, a Web-based event management. After it was acquired, he very soon started another one, acquired too, and then a third one, that is still growing. In-between co-founding companies, he was an independent software consultant helping out clients solving tough technical problems and other start-ups to take off the ground.    Since 2017, Jerome has been working at Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services, helping startups make the most of cloud technologies. When not traveling around Asia to a meet-up, he spends time running his small social enterprise helping people with autism. Follow Jerome: LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpoudevigne/) Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/1.

"Great technical leadership requires more than just great coding skills. It requires a variety of other skills that are not well-defined." In this trailer episode, your host Henry Suryawirawan explains why he created this brand new podcast and what you can expect and learn from it. Like this episode? Subscribe on your favorite podcast app and submit your feedback. Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Pledge your support by becoming a patron. For more info about the episode (including quotes and transcript), visit techleadjournal.dev/episodes/0.