Software Engineering Daily Developer Experience at Capital One with Catherine McGarvey
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Jan 13, 2026 Catherine McGarvey, the SVP of Developer Experience at Capital One, shares insights from her vast experience across startups and regulated environments. She discusses how to define developer enablement and measures developer productivity effectively. Catherine highlights the importance of balancing agility with regulatory compliance and explores the transformative role of AI in development, predicting a future where mundane tasks are automated. She emphasizes fostering an environment for peak productivity and the importance of standardization without sacrificing choice.
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Balance Speed With User Value
- Developer enablement must balance speed with building the right thing for users.
- Catherine McGarvey emphasizes combining tooling with user-focused feedback to deliver true value.
Measure Deployment Cadence And Outcomes
- Measure deployment cadence and time between deployments to track developer flow.
- Also measure whether tools change outcomes like code review quality or developer satisfaction.
Optimize Onboarding With Commit Metrics
- Track onboarding metrics like time to first commit and time to tenth commit to improve new-hire productivity.
- Be mindful that measuring changes behavior, so set expectations transparently.
