Eric Bowman, CTO at King, brings a wealth of experience from gaming and e-commerce. He delves into the importance of balancing outputs and outcomes for impactful results. The conversation touches on organizing teams effectively to boost productivity and minimize bottlenecks. Eric also discusses the concept of adjacent possibilities in innovation, especially concerning AI. He emphasizes the need for clear problem definitions and strategic goal-setting to foster a culture of continuous improvement. Tune in for practical insights for technical leaders!
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insights INSIGHT
Outputs and Outcomes
Focus on outcomes AND outputs to achieve impact, not just one over the other.
Outputs drive outcomes; neither alone is sufficient for value delivery.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Starting Point for Analysis
Start by understanding the relationship between engineering and product management.
Analyze how output translates into outcome and how activities generate output.
insights INSIGHT
Product Management and CTO Role
There's no single best model for product management; both single-threaded and dual-role models have tradeoffs.
CTOs should focus on the economics of value creation, cost reduction, and accelerated delivery, not just keeping the lights on.
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The book tells the story of Alex Rogo, a factory manager who is given three months to improve his underperforming plant or face its closure. With the guidance of his former physics professor, Jonah, Alex learns to apply the Theory of Constraints to identify and manage bottlenecks in the production process. Through this approach, Alex and his team transform the factory, improving efficiency, reducing inventory, and increasing profitability. The novel uses the Socratic method to teach fundamental business concepts and emphasizes the importance of continuous improvement and critical thinking in management[2][4][5].
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 🧠.
(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
alphalist.CTO Podcast - For CTOs and Technical Leaders 