The Engineering Leadership Podcast

We tackle the trend toward engineering efficiency with Alamelu Radhakrishnan, Head of Engineering Operations @ Shopify. She reveals strategies to move your eng org toward greater efficiency while maintaining high levels of impact & creativity. We also share how eng leaders can identify opportunities for efficiency, giving engineering a seat at the leadership table during efficiency-focused conversations, frameworks for removing toil within your eng team, how to avoid burnout while optimizing for efficiency, and the role of decision-making in maximizing efficient eng orgs.ABOUT ALAMELU RADHAKRISHNANAlamelu leads Engineering Operations at Shopify, leading the teams responsible for building the systems and technical programs that power Shopify RnD. Her mandate is to maximize the impact of engineers on Shopify’s Missions, and her role spans across team health, engineering craft excellence, strategic planning and prioritization, and successful business operations within RnD.Prior to Shopify, Alamelu has worked with some of Canada’s most innovative product and consulting agencies, leading software delivery teams and helping organizations leverage technology across a variety of industries.Alamelu finds joy in solving business problems through technology, strives for organizational excellence, and is passionate about supporting and sponsoring underrepresented folks in the industry. Alamelu lives in Toronto, and loves food, travel, the outdoors, and horror movies."The thing that I've been telling my team is that this is not a time to get through. This is a time to lean in. Let's not treat it as, 'Oh my God, you focus on efficiency. Let's just do it, and then it'll be done. It'll be back to the fun times.' These are the fun times. They're just fun in a different way, but these constraints are making us even more creative, and these challenges are going to lead to us doing some of the best work of our lives. That's the exciting thing, and so I think the way through the fear is actually into excitement."- Alamelu Radhakrishnan   Join us at ELC Annual 2023!ELC Annual is our flagship conference for engineering leaders. You’ll learn from experts in engineering and leadership, gain mentorship and support from like-minded professionals, expand your perspectives, build relationships across the tech industry, and leave with practical prove strategies.Join us this August 30-31 at the Fort Mason Center in San FranciscoTo get early access to tickets - email us at annual@sfelc.comJoin Jellyfish's GLOW conference on 5/16 & 5/17 to maximize engineering impact!Learn from industry experts, connect and share challenges with peers as you learn effective strategies to expand your leadership!Register now at https://www.jellyfishglowsummit.com/SHOW NOTES:How Alamelu’s role @ Shopify is like an extension of eng leadership (2:52)Working yourself out of a job & identifying blind spots in the eng org (5:23)Alamelu’s approach to building a new system from scratch (7:00)Prioritization strategies when developing new systems (10:34)Inside the industry trend toward optimizing for efficiency vs. experimentation (11:45)Recommendations for how managers can find opportunities / make adjustments (14:10)Frameworks for helping your eng team overcome fear & embrace creativity (16:50)How to communicate the impact of engineering on the business (19:44)Ensure engineering has a seat at the table during efficiency conversations (21:37)The value of ad hoc vs. planned meetings (24:08)Alamelu’s perspective on helping eng teams find time for flow (26:19)Why leadership should encourage eng teams to “remove the toil” (27:44)Areas of toil that Alamelu has identified & how to address them (29:51)How to alleviate burnout while shifting toward efficiency (33:04)Decision-making as an opportunity for greater efficiency (36:24)Rapid fire questions (39:06)LINKS AND RESOURCESLand of the Giants - Big tech is transforming every aspect of our world. But how? And at what cost? In Land of the Giants: Dating Games, The Verge and New York Magazine's The Cut trace the evolution of the multi-billion dollar dating app industry.Cloud Cuckoo Land - Five protagonists dwell in the heart of Cloud Cuckoo Land: Anna and Omeir, on opposite sides of the city walls during the 1453 siege of Constantinople; teenage idealist Seymour and octogenarian Zeno in an attack on a public library in present-day Idaho; and Konstance, on an interstellar ship bound for an exoplanet, decades from now. Anna, Omeir, Seymour, Zeno, and Konstance are dreamers and outsiders who find resourcefulness and hope in the midst of peril. A book written in ancient Greek—the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise in the sky—provides solace and mystery to these unforgettable characters.This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

Welcome to the ELC Annual Pop-Up Podcast Booth! This episode features behind-the-scenes conversations of engineering leaders who joined us at ELC Annual last October. These community members jumped into our recording studio to share their best strategies for good communication and providing critical feedback; using OKRs to realign your org; lessons learned from early leadership days; balancing speed vs. quality within your eng team; how technology shifts / bets impact your org; challenges with rapidly changing workspaces between remote, in-person & hybrid; creating a culture of pride & celebrating wins; and combining empathy with the best engineering qualities to determine what you really want.Our featured guests include:Nate Lee, CISO @ TradeshiftGaurav Nigam, VP of Engineering @ WorkBoardCynthia Tham, VP of Engineering @ GMG AmericasMitchell Arnett, Engineering Manager @ Life360Jeremy Eastwood (Head of Eng @ Drone Deploy) & Dobromir Montauk (VP of Engineering @ Doxel.AI)Lizzie Masutov, Co-Founder & CEO @ QuotientShweta Saraf, Director of Platform Engineering @ NetflixWen Hsu, Founder & CEO at Wen CoachingJoin us at ELC Annual 2023!ELC Annual is our flagship conference for engineering leaders. You’ll learn from experts in engineering and leadership, gain mentorship and support from like-minded professionals, expand your perspectives, build relationships across the tech industry, and leave with practical prove strategies.Join us this August 30-31 at the Fort Mason Center in San FranciscoTo get early access to tickets - email us at annual@sfelc.comJoin Jellyfish's GLOW conference on 5/16 & 5/17 to maximize engineering impact!Learn from industry experts, connect and share challenges with peers as you learn effective strategies to expand your leadership!Register now at https://www.jellyfishglowsummit.com/SHOW NOTES:Why Nate Lee @ Tradeshift believes good communication is critical as an eng leader (7:06)Know your audience, meet them where they’re at & learn to communicate up (8:44)Strategies for delivering critical feedback (11:00)Gaurav Nigam @ WorkBoard: how OKRs can be used to resync your org (14:35)Tips for first-timers establishing realistic OKRs (17:56)Things Cynthia Tham @ GBG Americas wishes she knew when she started her eng leadership journey (20:21)Identifying & maintaining consistent behaviors as an eng leader (22:58)Mitchell Arnett @ Life360 discusses speed vs. quality (25:19)Components that lead to a culture of success around speed & quality (29:01)Jeremy Eastwood @ Drone Deploy & Dobromir Montauk @ Doxel.AI on how tech shifts impact eng orgs (32:41)Jeremy & Dobromir’s predictions for the next technology curve (37:14)Commit to change & don’t go in half-heartedly (39:55)How to navigate hybrid & remote work challenges w/ Lizzie Matusov @ Quotient (48:11)Lizzie’s advice for returning to in-person networking (50:42)Practices for navigating shifting work environments between remote, hybrid & in-person (53:07)Lizzie’s vision for successfully integrating teams & developing a sense of belonging (56:23)Tips for starting conversations around belonging within eng teams (1:02:10)Shweta Saraf @ Netflix reveals how her org has built a culture of celebration (1:04:11)Tips for building moments of self-recognition as an eng leader (1:08:11)Strategies for establishing goals & providing clarity (1:10:59)Create a safe space for experimentation (1:16:57)Wen Hsu on the most important question you can ask yourself (1:19:26)Recommendations for taking steps toward what you really want (1:22:33)How to prioritize making time to move toward your “north star” (1:25:13)This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

Sandeep Chennakeshu, Chief Operating Officer @ Uhnder Inc., joins us to discuss how eng leaders can adopt a GM mindset & strategies for building a resilient business. The author of Your Company Is Your Castle, Sandeep also reveals the key structural elements of all successful businesses, methods to improve your business’s financial fitness / cash flow, how to overcome operational inefficiencies, why strong decision-making matters when it comes to saving money, and much more.ABOUT SANDEEP CHENNAKESHUSandeep has spent thirty-four years in three industries and led teams across the globe that pioneered amazing products in wireless (2G, 3G, 4G mobile phones, Bluetooth, Mobile-Satellite technology), semiconductors for consumer, automotive, and medical electronics, and safety-critical software for cars, medical equipment, nuclear power plants, high-speed rail, and industrial robots. Along the way, he transformed companies to grow profitably in a sustained manner using the principles outlined in his book “Your Company Is Your Castle”. He is a fellow of the IEEE and a named inventor on 180 issued patents."The single metric that I use to say, 'Am I doing well?' Because how do I know that the cash I'm generating is a good or bad? I use a very simple metric. If you take the enterprise value and you multiply it by the cost of borrowing money, your free cash flow must be higher than that product. When I'm doing better than that metric, then I know that I have a future.”- Sandeep Chennakeshu   Looking for ways to support the show?Send a link to the show to your marketing team! https://sfelc.com/podcastsIf your company is looking to gain exposure to thousands of engineering leaders and key decision-makers, we have sponsorship opportunities available.To explore sponsor opportunities, email us at hello@sfelc.comSHOW NOTES:Sandeep’s most significant career milestones (2:23)Why there is no difference between an eng leader & GM (6:39)Sandeep’s passion for & background of transforming business (9:18)Key structural elements of successful companies (12:17)How a successful business resembles a castle (13:59)Strategies to improve financial fitness & generate cash flow (15:17)Metrics to determine how well you’re optimizing your cash flow (17:54)Examples of how strong decision-making led to cost savings (19:45)Frameworks for overcoming operational inefficiencies (22:12)Sandeep’s tips for categorizing / prioritizing where the cashflow’s impact hits (24:21)Why it’s important to stay ahead of the “gorilla in the room” (26:33)Resilient business models utilize stickiness & have high operating leverage (28:23)Questions eng leaders can ask to adopt a more effective GM mindset (33:30)Rapid fire questions (36:02)LINKS AND RESOURCESGetting To Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In: This worldwide bestseller by William Ury provides a concise, step-by-step, proven strategy for coming to mutually acceptable agreements in every sort of conflict.This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

Johnny Ray Austin, Head of Technology, Flexible Rent @ Best Egg, joins us to discuss Best Egg’s recent acquisition of Till and some of the strategic & operational shifts that happen post-acquisition. He shares reflections on integrating the team within the new company, communicating both within the leadership team and within the overall team, how product launch / development changes throughout the acquisition process, shifts in the org’s distribution model & its impact on eng functions, and what it’s like relearning your role in the scope of an acquisition. Additionally, Johnny reveals some of his greatest paradigm shifts throughout this period & how the acquisition is better supporting the flexible rent model.ABOUT JOHNNY RAY AUSTINJohnny (@recursivefunk) is an experienced award-winning engineering executive focused on shipping world-class products while building high-performing engineering teams. He is also an international public speaker, speaking on engineering leadership, system design, and the JavaScript programming language. Johnny is the former Chief Technology Officer for Till, a company that built financial products to help renters pay, stay and thrive in their homes. After Best Egg acquired Till in late 2022, he transitioned to Best Egg's Head of Technology for Flexible Rent, where he continues to scale the flexible rent platform to service millions of units."At the time, we were thinking about raising money and also in acquisition and we didn't really know exactly which route we were gonna go down. We shared that with the team. You know, we said, 'Hey, this is path number one. This is path two. Path three is a shutdown.' We were very open in talking about, 'This is a path. It's very unlikely, but this is a thing that could happen.' And so we chose transparency from the very beginning because one, we thought it was the right thing to do. Two, we knew the team could handle it, and three, it was really just one of those things where it was gonna make the process easier."- Johnny Ray Austin   Looking for ways to support the show?Send a link to the show to your marketing team! https://sfelc.com/podcastsIf your company is looking to gain exposure to thousands of engineering leaders and key decision-makers, we have sponsorship opportunities available.To explore sponsor opportunities, email us at hello@sfelc.comSHOW NOTES:Johnny’s pop culture reflections & tips for protecting your energy (2:42)An inside look at Best Egg’s recent acquisition of Till (6:42)What it’s been like post-acquisition to integrate the team (10:12)How leadership communicated with their team throughout the acquisition (12:25)Lessons learned about communicating during early exploratory phase (15:54)Strategies for minimizing distractions resulting from uncertainty (18:08)Helpful conversations to host between leadership for effective coordination (19:18)Questions to help gain personal alignment (21:03)How product launch / development changed mid- and post-acquisition (23:11)Introducing a new methodology to the team (26:14)The new distribution model & its impact on eng functions (28:46)Differences between BNPL & Best Egg’s rent payment model (31:31)What it’s been like for Johnny to relearn his role as part of a broader eng org (34:56)Frameworks for navigating new dependencies (37:05)Johnny’s paradigm shift around planning for scale (39:21)Rapid fire questions (41:50)LINKS AND RESOURCESDark Money: The Hidden History Of The Billionaires Behind The Rise Of The Radical Right - Jane Mayer discusses the results of the most recent election and Donald Trump’s victory, and how, despite much discussion to the contrary, this was a huge victory for the billionaires who have been pouring money in the American political system.Snowfall - Over the course of five seasons, FX’s Snowfall has chronicled how an off-the-books CIA operation contributed to the destruction rock cocaine leveled upon the vibrant community of South Central L.A.This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

This is a special episode from our new show “Engineering Founders” - Lizzie Matusov, CEO & Co-Founder @ Quotient, shares her unique founder journey – from Harvard’s dual-degree grad program & Innovation Lab to founding Quotient! She also reveals strategies for fundraising, including utilizing your relationship pipeline, incorporating story arcs into your pitch, overcoming pattern-matching bias, and how fundraising today is different than it used to be. We also cover Quotient’s major pivots, tips for not becoming too attached to your first idea & making space for new ideas, defining idea-mazing & its impact on your product, and developing clarity as a founder. For more episodes of Engineering Founders, subscribe here: https://engineering-founders.simplecast.com/ABOUT LIZZIE MATUSOVLizzie Matusov (@lizziematusov) is the co-founder and CEO of Quotient - a toolkit to supercharge engineering teams. Today, their first tool is an onboarding platform that leverages behavioral research best practices to ramp up engineers more effectively. Quotient’s mission is to democratize access to the best engineering cultures.Previously, Lizzie built software to improve access to medical-grade genetic testing at Invitae. She was also a software engineering consultant at Red Hat, where she built software applications for companies across various industries, including fintech and biotech. She holds a bachelor of science from UCLA, and an MBA and Masters of Engineering Sciences from Harvard."Let's say in a four-month period, you check in with investors or founders that you're working with two or three times. Now what they have is not just one call to base their opinion on, but an entire story arc that they can use to say, 'All right, in August they were doing this and by October they already did this, and then by December they were here. I'm now seeing sort of a preview of what I'm backing.' I think that that really helps founders sort of help investors make decisions, right? You are de-risking for them, you are sharing more of the milestones as you're doing them.”- Lizzie Matusov   ABOUT QUOTIENTQuotient is a toolkit to supercharge engineering teams. Their mission is to democratize access to the best engineering cultures.Today, their first tool is an onboarding platform that leverages behavioral research best practices to ramp up engineers more effectively. With Quotient you can build and deliver a high-quality, research-backed onboarding experience, and get data-driven insights into how your team changes and grows together.Check out Quotient and join the waitlist HERE - https://www.getquotient.com/waitlistLooking for ways to support the show?Send a link to the show to your marketing team! https://sfelc.com/podcastsIf your company is looking to gain exposure to thousands of engineering leaders and key decision-makers, we have sponsorship opportunities available.To explore sponsor opportunities, email us at hello@sfelc.comCheck Out Engineering Founders!We cover the stories, pivotal moments and critical insights from former engineering leaders turned founders - that helped them take the earliest steps to launch!You can find it wherever you get your podcasts - Spotify / Apple / Google / WebSHOW NOTES:The backstory behind Quotient (3:01)Why the atomic unit is the team, not the individual & how that impacts Quotient (4:03)Lizzie’s leadership journey before Quotient (5:25)Why Lizzie chose Harvard’s dual-degree grad program as part of her founder’s journey (8:43)How Harvard’s program helped Lizzie accelerate founding Quotient (12:43)The community aspect of entrepreneurship & Harvard’s Innovation Lab (15:48)Lizzie’s favorite grad school hacks (17:58)Frameworks behind Quotient’s key pivots (20:12)How Quotient pivoted to better support companies & the onboarding process (23:02)Tips for making space for new ideas (25:59)Defining idea-mazing & how it impacts your product / solution (28:13)Where Quotient is in terms of fundraising (31:02)How assumptions & expectations around fundraising have changed (32:43)Collect data points that show your ability to execute, lead, & grow (34:06)Strategies to help overcome pattern matching bias (36:09)How Lizzie utilized story arcs while fundraising for Quotient (38:32)Why clarity as a founder is vital & frameworks for developing clarity (41:05)The renaming process & unveiling the new name “Quotient” (44:52)Rapid fire questions (46:38)LINKS AND RESOURCESShantaram - Gregory David Roberts’ novel following an escaped convict with a false passport who flees maximum security prison in Australia for the teeming streets of Bombay, where he can disappear. Accompanied by his guide and faithful friend, the two enter the city’s hidden society of beggars and gangsters, prostitutes and holy men, soldiers and actors, and Indians and exiles from other countries, who seek in this remarkable place what they cannot find elsewhere.The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine - Michael Lewis documents the real story of the crash that began in bizarre feeder markets where the sun doesn't shine and the SEC doesn't dare, or bother, to tread: the bond and real estate derivative markets where geeks invent impenetrable securities to profit from the misery of lower- and middle-class Americans who can't pay their debts. The smart people who understood what was or might be happening were paralyzed by hope and fear; in any case, they weren't talking.The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet - Becky Chambers’ novel following a motley crew on an exciting journey through space—and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the meaning of family in the far reaches of the universe.This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

Madalina Tanasie joins us to share her unique leadership journey as she transitioned from eng to operations, then back to her current technical role as CTO @ Collibra. We also cover strategies to improve engineering efficiency within your organization, factors to consider when scaling eng teams, maximizing your ROI when it comes to R&D, dispelling concerns when implementing culture changes, frameworks for scaling up, and more.ABOUT MADALINA TANASIEMadalina Tanasie is the Chief Technology Officer and an Executive Committee member at Collibra, where she oversees and leads the Software Engineering, Architecture, Production Engineering, Test Engineering, and Security activities.Madalina has over 18 years of software engineering leadership experience and her expertise is in service-oriented architecture, cloud-native distributed systems, and product operations with a focus on engineering practices, scale, and operational excellence. Prior to joining Collibra in 2020, she was the Engineering VP for Medidata Solutions’ Unified Platform Organization, an organization she built from the ground up and led since 2010.She has been recognized as one of the Top 25 Software CTOs of 2023 by The Software Report.Additionally, she is a proud sponsor of Collibra’s Women in Technology, and an active member of CHIEF, a network focused on connecting and supporting women executive leaders. Ms. Tanasie earned her BS and Master’s in Computer Science at Polytechnics University of Bucharest."The reality is that they need process and structure to eliminate the noise and to create a space for solving really, really deep challenging problems. They actually want the process for the part that is mundane and boring and disruptive. So as they discuss about what's making their life harder than it needs to be, we are coming back to a lack of process, a lack of uniformity, a lack of clear communication channels between themselves or between other departments.”- Madalina Tanasie   Check out QA Wolf!Looking for a way to increase end-to-end test coverage, speed up your release cycles and reduce bugs from shipping to production? QA Wolf will build, run and maintain your test suite - so that you don't have to.QA Wolf gets you to 80% automated end-to-end test coverage in 4 months - and keeps you there – So your team can stay focused on shipping!Learn more & schedule a 30 min demo at qawolf.com/elcLooking for ways to support the show?Send a link to the show to your marketing team! https://sfelc.com/podcastsIf your company is looking to gain exposure to thousands of engineering leaders and key decision-makers, we have sponsorship opportunities available.To explore sponsor opportunities, email us at hello@sfelc.comSHOW NOTES:Madalina’s unexpected career journey, beginning @ Medidata (2:13)How Madalina transitioned from engineering into operations @ Collibra (4:57)Qualities that make Collibra’s culture stand out (5:46)What opportunities stood out when Madalina was evaluating the Collibra role (7:35)Four considerations to keep in mind when scaling eng teams (9:07)The Spotify model vs. Agile model & what worked for Collibra (15:19)Challenges to adopting new management models (19:18)Strategies for navigating people’s expectations (20:58)Insights gained from Madalina’s “listening tour” (23:20)Frameworks for addressing concerns around culture while scaling (25:04)Madalina’s perspectives on improving engineering efficiency (26:51)The right balance between cost of ownership and R&D (30:07)Collibra’s new product introduction process & its impact on R&D (31:28)Questions to help guide teams throughout the new framework (33:11)Rapid fire questions (34:22)This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

We cover making intentional career shifts and leadership challenges navigating multi-product expansion with Kris Rasmussen, CTO @ Figma. He shares his experience transitioning from contractor work with Figma to a full-time role & the benefits of joining an eng org during its early stages. We also address Figma’s transition from a one-product company to a two-product company, Kris’s process for determining the eng org’s core areas of focus, challenges faced when becoming a multi-product org, frameworks for determining solutions to challenging projects, and lessons learned around releasing products with heavy collaboration.ABOUT KRIS RASMUSSENKris Rasmussen is the Chief Technology Officer at Figma, where he leads the engineering, security, and data science teams. Prior to joining Figma in 2017, Kris served as engineering lead and a technical advisor at Asana, where he co-authored many aspects of the framework and infrastructure that powers the company's real-time collaborative features. Before Asana, Kris co-founded RivalSoft Inc., a web-based application that gives companies an internal hub for market information and served as Chief Architect at Aptana."One of the things that's helped me is just really kind of focusing on the outcome that I'm trying to create and trying to think about the most effective way to do that. All of us want to feel respected. We want to feel valued. We want to feel heard, but at the end of the day, we also want to create something that's greater than ourselves. We want to work on something that kind of outlives us and if you really want to do that, it doesn't really matter whose idea it was or who said what. All that really matters is that you come to the right solution as a group.”- Kris Rasmussen   Check out QA Wolf!Looking for a way to increase end-to-end test coverage, speed up your release cycles and reduce bugs from shipping to production? QA Wolf will build, run and maintain your test suite - so that you don't have to.QA Wolf gets you to 80% automated end-to-end test coverage in 4 months - and keeps you there – So your team can stay focused on shipping!Learn more & schedule a 30 min demo at qawolf.com/elcLooking for ways to support the show?Send a link to the show to your marketing team! https://sfelc.com/podcastsIf your company is looking to gain exposure to thousands of engineering leaders and key decision-makers, we have sponsorship opportunities available.To explore sponsor opportunities, email us at hello@sfelc.comSHOW NOTES:Kris’s backstory with Figma & transitioning from contractor to CTO (1:02)What factors validated Kris’s decision to join Figma full-time (4:50)Leveraging the benefits of joining an eng org during its early stages (7:27)Figma’s recent milestone shifts & how Kris’s responsibilities changed in response (9:09)Transitioning from a one-product company to a two-product company (12:15)Kris’s process for identifying the most important problems (13:57)Strategies for determining core areas of focus (17:09)Knowing when to shift to become multi-product (19:12)How processes / org structure shifted in response to Figma’s second product (21:59)Defining Figma’s vertical product-related org structures (23:22)Challenges faced when getting to the multi-product moment (24:44)Frameworks for determining when an idea is validated enough to staff it (29:57)Kris’s process for determining a solution to a challenging R&D project (31:52)Lessons learned around releasing highly collaborative products (36:06)Strategies for letting go of your ego (39:46)Rapid fire questions (40:47)LINKS AND RESOURCESOn Writing Well - On Writing Well, which grew out of a course that William Zinsser taught at Yale, has been praised for its sound advice, its clarity, and for the warmth of its style. It is a book for anybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get through the day, as almost everybody does.This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

Albert Strasheim, CTO & SVP of Engineering @ Rippling, joins us to share the riveting story of how Rippling’s leadership navigated the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. He reveals what was at stake for his company & the hundreds of millions of dollars at stake for customers & their employees, how Rippling’s core values influenced their critical decision-making, tips for communicating with clarity both internally & externally, and tactics that allowed the team to respond with precision during crisis. Additionally, Albert shares the pre-crisis strategies, habits & systems he is most thankful for that helped Rippling leadership respond successfully throughout this critical period.ABOUT ALBERT STRASHEIMAlbert Strasheim is Rippling's CTO and SVP, Engineering. Albert leads the global engineering team as it continues to expand the capabilities of Rippling’s products and the platform itself. Prior to Rippling, Albert served as VP of Engineering at Segment, where he spent more than five years building and leading the infrastructure and product teams responsible for creating Segment’s market-leading Customer Data Platform product. He was born and raised in South Africa and earned a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Engineering from Stellenbosch University. Albert lives in the Bay Area and is an avid skier and surfer."I think we had about $130 million on the way to employees of our clients. This was more than 50,000 people. They are not like rich Silicon Valley tech workers. It's everyday Americans making less than $55,000 a year. Some of them are living paycheck to paycheck and so missing a paycheck can have devastating consequences. We had to move really quickly to make sure these folks got paid. Basically, no matter what happened with SVB, those were the stakes. It's like people that critically needed money just wouldn't get it otherwise.”- Albert Strasheim   Check out QA Wolf!Looking for a way to increase end-to-end test coverage, speed up your release cycles and reduce bugs from shipping to production? QA Wolf will build, run and maintain your test suite - so that you don't have to.QA Wolf gets you to 80% automated end-to-end test coverage in 4 months - and keeps you there – So your team can stay focused on shipping!Learn more & schedule a 30 min demo at qawolf.com/elcLooking for ways to support the show?Send a link to the show to your marketing team! https://sfelc.com/podcastsIf your company is looking to gain exposure to thousands of engineering leaders and key decision-makers, we have sponsorship opportunities available.To explore sponsor opportunities, email us at hello@sfelc.comSHOW NOTES:How Albert’s team @ Rippling responded to the Silicon Valley Bank collapse (2:56)Rippling’s SVB story & how payroll was impacted by its collapse (6:24)Identifying who was needed to coordinate Rippling’s response / decision making (9:49)Albert discusses the millions of dollars of payroll at stake on Thursday (11:47)How the SVB issue progressed into Thursday / Friday (13:07)Communicating with customers during crisis & how Rippling ultimately made the payments (15:47)Tactics that allow eng teams to respond with precision during crisis (19:57)How leadership determined the right step in the right order to achieve the intended outcome (21:56)Communicating context on how to think about a problem (23:21)What the weekend looked like & the half a billion dollars of payroll at stake (24:39)Internal communication systems that lead to Rippling’s success (26:34)Tips for communicating with absolute clarity (28:40)Albert’s SVB story: picking back up on Sunday going into the week (31:24)Implementing an external communication strategy (33:07)Pre-crisis habits & leadership systems that played a significant role in successfully navigating this issue (35:12)Reflecting on the impact of this effort externally & internally one week out (38:17)Rapid fire questions (40:27)LINKS AND RESOURCESScaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building - Scaling People is a practical and empathetic guide to company building and scaling the most important resource a company has: its people. Drawing on nearly two decades of experience as a Google and Stripe executive, Claire Hughes Johnson offers actionable insights and tactical guidance on everything from crafting foundational documents to hiring and team development to feedback and performance mechanisms.An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management - Will Larson’s explores the specific challenges of engineering management—from sizing teams to handling technical debt to developing succession planning—and provides a guide to solving complex managerial problems.This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

Shailesh Kumar, Sr. Vice President of Engineering @ ClickUp, joins us to share his insights on scaling eng orgs efficiently & cost-effectively. He reveals his strategies for gaining customer insights, identifying areas to invest in, navigating cloud cost efficiency, and optimizing your software & performing a software audit. Additionally, we cover approaches to balancing headcount & team efficiency, creating clarity around a problem, increasing the net output of your eng org, identifying where / when to add headcount, and making your EPD flywheel run smoothly.ABOUT SHAILESH KUMARShailesh Kumar is the Sr. Vice President of Engineering at ClickUp, leading the Engineering, Security, and IT operations for the company. He has more than 18 years of experience in building large-scale organizations and cloud platforms for high-growth enterprise companies, including his role as VP of Engineering at Mulesoft (and Salesforce post-acquisition) and Head of Data Platform and Server teams at Tableau."You have to force yourself in having a discipline of asking the hard questions about all those ideas. What's the impact? What's the revenue goals? What's the target market? How much time are we talking about? The ideas are plenty. There are a lot of great ideas. You have to figure out which great idea is gonna turn into the highest revenue and that's a very hard exercise. I've seen many leaders know that they have to do that, but not do that very diligently and in a very disciplined way.”- Shailesh Kumar   Check out QA Wolf!Looking for a way to increase end-to-end test coverage, speed up your release cycles and reduce bugs from shipping to production? QA Wolf will build, run and maintain your test suite - so that you don't have to.QA Wolf gets you to 80% automated end-to-end test coverage in 4 months - and keeps you there – So your team can stay focused on shipping!Learn more & schedule a 30 min demo at qawolf.com/elcLooking for ways to support the show?Send a link to the show to your marketing team! https://sfelc.com/podcastsIf your company is looking to gain exposure to thousands of engineering leaders and key decision-makers, we have sponsorship opportunities available.To explore sponsor opportunities, email us at hello@sfelc.comSHOW NOTES:Shailesh’s paradigm shift regarding scaling / eng org efficiency @ ClickUp (2:32)How Shailesh is navigating ClickUp through the current cost-sensitive market (4:46)Cost-effective areas that eng leaders should consider (6:55)Shailesh’s recent insights on how to better serve customers (8:43)Strategies for identifying areas to invest in & navigating difficult conversations with customers (10:02)Questions to assess challenging areas (16:44)Optimize your software & perform a software audit (18:49)Tips on building teams to optimize engineering efficiency (20:07)How to balance headcount and team efficiency (22:37)Shailesh’s approach to challenges around team efficiency (24:22)Frameworks for creating clarity of a problem / vision & refocusing a team (25:59)What makes an EDP flywheel run smoothly (27:39)Tactics to help increase the net output of your eng org (28:48)Strategies for hiring without losing efficiency & identifying where to add them (30:36)Frameworks Shailesh uses before adding a new function to the eng org (33:32)The story behind building out the TPM function (35:18)Rapid fire questions (38:24)LINKS AND RESOURCESAmp It Up: Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity - Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman is one of the tech world’s most accomplished executives in enterprise growth, having led Snowflake to the largest software IPO ever after leading ServiceNow and Data Domain to exponential growth and the public market before that. In Amp It Up: Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity, he shares his leadership approach for the first time.This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

Kenny Shin, CTO @ Fundrise, joins us to discuss Fundrise’s journey, specialization dilemmas as an early-stage org, why specializing eng functions can help overcome plateaus in the business, plus other insights on operating in highly regulated environments like FinTech. He also reveals another dimension of the product design process – legal / regulators – and shares how regulatory environments impact the eng team’s developmental process. Plus Kenny dishes on Fundrise’s Innovation Fund, its impact on the engineering org, and how they’re re-applying tech in new sectors.ABOUT KENNY SHINKenneth J. Shin (@kennyshin7) is Chief Technical Officer of Fundrise, America’s largest direct-to-investor alternatives investment manager. He has served in this role since the company’s inception in March 2012.Fundrise’s mission is to use technology to build a better financial system for the individual investor, one that is simpler, lower cost, more reliable and transparent. They build software that enables the company to develop and manage investments uniquely well-positioned to grow and preserve their clients’ capital in any economic environment.Since launching America’s first online real estate investment platform in 2012, Fundrise has now become the largest direct-to-investor alternatives investment manager with more than 1.6 million active users, more than $3.3 billion worth of equity under management, and $7 billion worth of real estate transacted. From private credit to real estate private equity to growth-stage venture capital, Fundrise offers investors exposure to some of the most prized asset classes in the world.Prior to Fundrise, Kenny has consulted for Fortune 500 clients in financial services and technology, including Fannie Mae, Oracle, Lockheed Martin and Computer Science Corporation. Kenny has also consulted for government clients including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Defense and NATO. Kenny earned his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania."The entire industry generally has to try to abstract all of that complexity and regulation away from the end user and the companies that do that the best, that's one of their main value propositions.I think it's key to our operations because the opposite of it is you leave that complexity to a few subject matter experts in the organization and they become the bottleneck for everything.”- Kenny Shin    Check out  QA Wolf!Looking for a way to increase end-to-end test coverage, speed up your release cycles and reduce bugs from shipping to production? QA Wolf will build, run and maintain your test suite - so that you don't have to.QA Wolf gets you to 80% automated end-to-end test coverage in 4 months - and keeps you there – So your team can stay focused on shipping!Learn more & schedule a 30 min demo at qawolf.com/elc Looking for ways to support the show?Send a link to the show to your marketing team! https://sfelc.com/podcastsIf your company is looking to gain exposure to thousands of engineering leaders and key decision-makers, we have sponsorship opportunities available.To explore sponsor opportunities, email us at hello@sfelc.com SHOW NOTES:Kenny’s journey co-founding Fundrise (2:37)What Kenny’s early risk assessment looked like (4:58)Advice for young eng talent considering taking a riskier role (8:12)Fundrise’s evolution & key inflection points (9:45)How Fundrise tackled uncertainty during the pandemic’s early days (11:52)Addressing specialization dilemmas as an early-stage org (14:45)Why specializing eng functions helped Fundrise overcome its plateau (16:08)Kenny’s approach to identifying new opportunities around specialization (19:53)Challenges of operating in a constrained space, like Fintech (23:38)Why constrained industries require orgs to abstract away more complexities (25:03)How regulatory environments impact the eng team’s developmental process (26:46)Incorporating legal / regulators into your product design process (29:17)The Innovation Fund & its role within Fundrise’s overall strategy (31:52)Unexpected ways the Innovation Fund is impacting the engineering function (34:04)Rapid fire questions (36:47)LINKS AND RESOURCESCrying in H Mart - In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother’s particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food.This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/