When we first saw the talk titled “Space Aliens Are Among Us, Your Product Roadmap is Realistic and Other Lies you Believe,” we knew we had to sit down with Best Egg’s Johnny Ray Austin at LeadingEng SF last year.
Johnny joined our host Conor Bronsdon to discuss how engineering leaders can navigate unrealistic expectations and pressures, drawing from his experiences and relating product roadmaps to the less-than-tangible UFO disclosure we’ve seen in recent years. The conversation explores the pressures engineering leaders face, how to align product roadmaps realistically, and how to manage ambiguity within teams.
By aligning engineering goals with business objectives and building a transparent, high-performing engineering culture, you can give your teams the context they need to drive focus and concentration toward the right outcomes.
Episode Highlights:
- 1:36 Where Johnny came up with the talk title "Space Aliens Are Among Us"
- 4:15 Advice for engineering leaders struggling with roadmap realism
- 6:44 Cutting through the noise to find the metrics that matter
- 11:41 How do teams know if they're moving fast in the right direction?
- 14:58 How do you handle teams that are getting the wrong input?
- 20:32 Lies we tell ourselves that we need to get past
- 28:32 What it’s like to create a new unit inside a company
- 33:53 Identifying and dealing with ambiguity on your teams
- 40:45 Johnny’s Thoughts on AI
Show Notes
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