In this episode, Stefan Richter, Founder and CTO of freiheit.com technologies, discusses his journey in building high-performance engineering organizations. He emphasizes the importance of a radical engineering culture and maintaining a high bar for recruitment by focusing on 'tested in life' candidates. Stefan reveals how successful project delivery relies on simplicity, disciplined processes, and full stack engineers. He also shares insights on reducing friction in workflow and creating a collaborative environment that drives innovation and continuous feedback.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Ship Software, Not Code
Stefan Richter learned from Jamie Zawinski that the goal isn't writing code, but shipping.
Zawinski's Netscape team struggled to finish a Java rewrite because they prioritized elegance over shipping.
insights INSIGHT
Great Software Is Simple
Freiheit.com's mission is to ship great software, prioritizing simplicity and minimal dependencies.
They believe great software is simple, robust, and assembled from simple components, focusing on delivering on time and budget.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Hire 10x Engineers
Hire engineers who are productive and focus on reducing friction.
Strive for a team of "10x engineers" to maximize efficiency and minimize organizational issues.
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Ship Great Software Through Simplicity and Discipline
Discover insights into building a high-performance engineering organization with Stefan Richter, founder of freiheit.com technologies. With 25+ years of experience delivering successful software projects for the Who’s Who of European businesses and industries, Stefan shares his philosophy of radical engineering culture and maintaining an exceptionally high bar in recruiting. This episode dives deep into how freiheit.com has achieved their "Never Late, Never Failed" mission through disciplined processes, carefully selected talent, and a relentless focus on simplicity.
Listen to find out:
🎯 Why shipping great software is their mission
🧑💻 How they maintain a high bar in recruiting with "tested in life" candidates
📊 Their approach to engineering career levels and continuous feedback
🏗️ Why they prefer full stack engineers over specialized roles
🧩 How they build complex systems from simple components
⚙️ Their custom-built engineering project management tool
🔄 Their program to continually find and remove friction
📈 How they've delivered every project successfully for 25 years
🔍 Why reducing entropy is critical in large software projects
🌐 Why great software should be simple and maintainable for decades
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Introduction to Alphalist Podcast
00:51 Meet Stefan Richter, Founder of freiheit.com technologies
01:40 Origins of the company and early internet days
03:24 Client portfolio and focus on engineering culture
05:04 Mission: Ship Great Software
07:10 Why freiheit.com focuses on reducing friction
08:57 How they minimize non-engineering roles
09:55 Finding and removing complexity in software
12:07 Hiring strategy and maintaining a high bar
14:22 Looking for candidates that are "tested in life"
16:34 Deal breakers in hiring
18:20 Approach to hiring senior engineers
21:17 Engineering level progression system
23:34 Focus on feedback and continuous improvement
26:07 The problem with specialized roles
28:16 Building custom project management tools
32:28 How they always deliver on time, on budget, on target and on quality
36:52 Reducing entropy in large projects
39:41 Teaching engineers to take responsibility
43:34 Building simple, maintainable software
47:40 Working with corporate clients
51:54 Transition to private equity ownership
56:36 Planning for the next quarter century
QUOTE:
"Our mission is to ship great software. Great software is actually simple, has as few dependencies as possible, as few parts as possible, like any good machine." - Stefan Richter, Founder of freiheit.com technologies
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