Output → Outcome → Impact | Product + Tech | Adjacent Possibilities
How do we actually organize people to consistently deliver value and enjoy the process? This, Eric Bowman (CTO @ King) says, is the core challenge facing any CTO. In this thought-provoking episode, Eric shares insights from his remarkable career in gaming (The Sims, King), e-commerce (Zalando), and navigation technology (TomTom), offering a unique perspective on building high-performing teams and effective tech organizations.
Listen in to explore:
🔄 Outcome AND Outputs → Impact (ala Kent Beck’s Universal Value Streams)
🤖 Theory of Adjacent Possibility + Why AI isn’t there yet
⚖️ Product + Tech: Single-threaded (Amazon) vs. Dual Role (Marty Cagan or Google)
🎯 Goals: Kanban-Style Stack Ranking that limits Work-in-Progress
📈 ROI of Tech: Does it increase revenue or accelerate delivery?
🧘 Discipline = Action & Commitment
- is it time to rethink small teams and platform engineering?
Have a listen. Eric has such a great combination of great combination of experience 🦾, knowledge 📚 and wisdom 🧠.
Listen here
Timestamps
(00:00) Introduction
(01:05) Eric Bowman's Career Journey
(02:44) The Core CTO Challenge
(05:50) Outcome AND Output → Impact
(07:57) Accountability Over Output
(09:22) Universal Value Streams
(10:57) Product + Tech Leadership Models + Dynamics
(14:16) Single Threaded Leaders vs. Dual Roles
(16:03) CTO Role: Balancing Today and Tomorrow
(17:17) CTO Role: Economics of Decision-Making
(19:20) Team Organization: Autonomy and Rethinking Small Teams
(22:48) Causal Chains, Goals and Feedback Loops
(26:52) Discipline = Action + Commitment
(29:43) Prioritise Goals with Kanban-Style Stack Ranking
(36:37) Platform Engineering: Help or Hindrance? (DORA-inspired)
(39:03) CAUTION: Compensating Measures
(40:57) Tech Investments: ROI and Value Creation
(42:56) AI and The Theory of Adjacent Possibilities
(50:35) Why Eric Dislikes the Word ‘Innovation’
(51:48) Quickfire Round: Tools and Tech
