Snowflake’s playbook for operational excellence

In this episode, Abi Noda speaks with Gilad Turbahn, Head of Developer Productivity, and Amy Yuan, Director of Engineering at Snowflake, about how their team builds and sustains operational excellence. They break down the practices and principles that guide their work—from creating two-way communication channels to treating engineers as customers. The conversation explores how Snowflake fosters trust, uses feedback loops to shape priorities, and maintains alignment through thoughtful planning. You’ll also hear how they engage with teams across the org, convert detractors, and use Customer Advisory Boards to bring voices from across the company into the decision-making process.

Where to find Amy Yuan: 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-yuan-a8ba783/

Where to find Gilad Turbahn:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giladturbahn/

Where to find Abi Noda:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abinoda 

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Intro: an overview of operational excellence

(04:13) Obstacles to executing with operational excellence

(05:51) An overview of the Snowflake playbook for operational excellence

(08:25) Who does the work of reaching out to customers

(09:06) The importance of customer engagement

(10:19) How Snowflake does customer engagement 

(14:13) The types of feedback received and the two camps (supporters and detractors)

(16:55) How to influence detractors and how detractors actually help 

(18:27) Using insiders as messengers

(22:48) An overview of Snowflake’s customer advisory board

(26:10) The importance of meeting in person (learnings from Warsaw and Berlin office visits)

(28:08) Managing up

(30:07) How planning is done at Snowflake

(36:25) Setting targets for OKRs, and Snowflake’s philosophy on metrics 

(39:22) The annual plan and how it’s shared 

Referenced:

• CTO buy-in, measuring sentiment, and customer focus
• Snowflake
• Benoit Dageville - Snowflake Computing | LinkedIn
• Thierry Cruanes - Snowflake Computing | LinkedIn