alphalist.CTO Podcast - For CTOs and Technical Leaders

The Wix Guild model, Mentorship and Platform-as-a- Runtime Get inspired about architecture - that of computers and teams - in this CTO podcast with Aviran Mordo, VP Engineering at Wix. I really enjoyed talking with Aviran about both the technical nitty gritty of powering millions of websites as well as the Wix model which - unlike the Spotify model - is still in use at its flagship company over a decade later Listen to find out: How the Wix model works 🪗(+ hiring, personal development and communication across guilds and companies) What is Platform-as-a-Runtime 🚄 Why most microservices 🪢 are done wrong (and are costing you money) How to encourage mentorship 🫶 The infra that powers 7% of the web Listen here - Timestamps 2:10 Aviran’s Personal Journey 9:43 Wix secret sauce 12:26 Cost effective serverless environments for millions of customers. 14:58 The Wix Tech Stack 16:00 The mission to iimprove developer experience 17:00 How people do microservices wrong 21:50 Platform as a Runtime 32:00 The Wi Guild model 35:37 Aligning decisions across internal ‘companies’ 38:40 The Operational Guild Model 54:49 Improving the Guilds through Feedback + KPI of Guilds 1:00:24 Mentorship in the Org 1:06:15 Working on his networking skills BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Storyblok, Zoho and codecentric Storyblok Does your current CMS hinder agile development and deployment? Storyblok is a cloud-native API-first CMS that minimizes technical dependencies, enables your development team to create frontends with whatever technology they already know, and your business users to create content only once and publish on multiple platforms. There are numbers to back this up: Storyblok cuts down development time by 50% and provides 582%ROI over 3 years, a study by Forrester found. Go get a free demo of Storyblok and learn how it can improve your speed to market.Just go to: https://link.alphalist.com/cms Zoho You have probably heard of Zoho. They have been around for 27 years and now offer an all-in-one platform with over 50 mission-critical apps that offer everything from sales to marketing and HR to accounting. All in one platform- connecting the entire enterprise, ensuring communication between departments. But its the user privacy that Zoho offers that makes it stand out. Not only do they not make money by using your data for advertising, but they also have EU datacenters which is a huge win for GDPR compliance See for yourself. Come to their user conference, named Zoholics on 26th and 27th of September 2023 in Cologne, where you can sit down with experts and get to know the people behind the software. Plus, you get 25% off with the promo code OMR_CTO. Just go to: www.link.alphalist.com/zoho codecentric The codecentric Culture and Career Podcast is unique for a company podcast. It is just employees talking freely about their daily life - from IT consulting projects they are working to imposter syndrome. We support this because we think it's pretty cool that codecentric simply lets the colleagues talk about everything, no matter what it's about - project business, Imposter sydrome, further education or parental leave in the consulting business. For us it is definitely worth a recommendation. Listen in - the codecentric Culture and Career Podcast. Note - its in German. Just go to: www.link.alphalist.com/cc

How to restructure a large tech and product organisation Find out how to restructure your org using a matrix structure with Gertrud Kolb, CTO of eyeo (the company behind common adblockers). You will find out how Gertrud implemented changes across an already large organisation - from the team typologies to team communications. Listen to find out: How to restructure using team topology 🧩best practices in a large organisation. How to improve requirements engineering ✅ How to gradually consolidate team communications 💬 How ad-blockers are working advertisers to enable privacy-friendly 🎯 targeting Behind-the-scenes at the world’s most popular adblocker Listen here -- BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Zoho You have probably heard of Zoho. They have been around for 27 years and now offer an all-in-one platform with over 50 mission-critical apps that offer everything from sales to marketing and HR to accounting. All in one platform- connecting the entire enterprise, ensuring communication between departments. But its the user privacy that Zoho offers that makes it stand out. Not only do they not make money by using your data for advertising, but they also have EU datacenters which is a huge win for GDPR compliance See for yourself. Come to their user conference, named Zoholics on 26th and 27th of September 2023 in Cologne, where you can sit down with experts and get to know the people behind the software. Plus, you get 25% off with the promo code OMR_CTO. Just go to: www.link.alphalist.com/zoho Timestamps (1:58) - Gertrud’s Nerd Journey (8:24) - Restructuring your org with Team Topologies (15:04) - Working in an interdisciplinary & cross team way (16:00) - Navigating interdependencies with multiple products, teams and interests (21:55) - Inside Eyeo’s Matrix Organization (24:09) - Integrating new companies into the org (28:13) - Consolidating Communication Tools (33:02) - The tech behind ad blocking (41:26) - The move to Ad Filtering

Teresa Torres, author of 'Continuous Discovery Habits,' shares insights on outcome-oriented mindset, continuous feedback loop with customers, mistakes in product discovery, and pitfalls of founder-led product. Also discusses roles in organizations, the effectiveness of OKRs, factors for business and discovery success, lessons from early career at become.com, and shifting from an IT mindset to a product mindset.

Platform Engineering 101: Why you need it and how to do it Find out how to use platform engineering to scale your DevOps 🚀with this hands-on podcast with Sarah Polan, Field CTO at HashiCorp. Sarah is passionate about 2 things: DevSecOps 🔏 and automating everything 🔁 (she even automates aspects of her childcare :)). Which is why this podcast episode is all about scalability 📈 - from attrition-proof DevOps to automated audits. This is a must-listen podcast for both CTOs who are new to Platform Engineering as well as those who are troubleshooting from the trenches. Listen to find out: Why do we need platform engineering?🤔 From financial benefits to DevEx. Is DevOps dead? Why platform teams is the only scalable way to do DevOps How to get your platform and application teams to work together 🪢? How to balance 🤹 autonomy and innovation with centralisation? How to decide what to build at a platform level? 🧩 🏗 Does it differ by industry? Listen here -- BROUGHT TO YOU BY: WorkGenius WorkGenius provides a unique freelance hiring and management solution that covers the entire process from start to finish. We use advanced technology to make it easier and faster for businesses to find skilled freelancers who have been thoroughly vetted. With WorkGenius, you get a comprehensive solution for managing freelancers throughout their engagement. We simplify the hiring process, project management, payroll, and reporting, allowing organizations to make the most of their freelance talent pool and effortlessly manage their existing freelancers. Start your journey with WorkGenius - head over to www.workgenius.com/alphalist connect with an expert, and find the perfect match for your engineering needs. Chapters: 0:00:00 - Intro 0:00:50 - From Opera Singer to Secret Management to Scaling Infrastructure 0:03:27 - Coding and Music 0:04:40 - Nerding out about Secrets Management 0:07:36 - MomHack: Automating Childcare Notifications on WhatsApp with Twillio and Terraform 0:09:24 - Why we need Platform Engineering 0:10:00 - Why we need to attrition-proof DevOps with Platform Engineering 0:12:34 - Untangling Platform from Application: Teams, Tech Stack and Strategy 0:17:11 - People and Processes before Tech 0:19:07 - Goal of Platform Engineering by Industry 0:20:37 - Is DevOps Dead? How will DevOps roles evolve? 0:23:58 - Tech Strategy X Platform +Application Teams 0:27:13 - Getting Started with Platform Engineering 0:30:21 - Scaling Audits 0:37:50 - Do we over index on tech?

How to Have Effective One-on-One (1:1) Meetings as a CTO Did you know that effective 1:1s will 3X your employee engagement? 🤩 Maximise your 1:1 meetings 🤝 by leveraging the meeting science discovered by Steven Rogelberg (Chancellor's Professor at UNC Charlotte and author of 2 top-ranked books about meeting science: “The Surprising Science of Meetings” and “Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings”). As an organisational psychologist 🧑‍🔬who has advised US Congress 🏛️and Fortune100 companies on workplace matters, Steven is here to share with CTOs the evidence-based 🧐 science that will not only maximise meetings, but also realise their full potential🚀. Listen to find out: How can we realise the full potential of a 1:1 when it comes to relationships and productivity? Where do async tools fit in? What are common mistakes to avoid in your 1:1? 🫣 How often 🤔 should you meet with your direct reports? 🗓️ How do you evaluate 🧪 the quality of your 1:1s? How many DRs 👥 can a person have? Can you delegate the 1:1? Listen here -- BROUGHT TO YOU BY: WorkGenius WorkGenius provides a unique freelance hiring and management solution that covers the entire process from start to finish. We use advanced technology to make it easier and faster for businesses to find skilled freelancers who have been thoroughly vetted. With WorkGenius, you get a comprehensive solution for managing freelancers throughout their engagement. We simplify the hiring process, project management, payroll, and reporting, allowing organizations to make the most of their freelance talent pool and effortlessly manage their existing freelancers. Start your journey with WorkGenius - head over to www.workgenius.com/alphalist connect with an expert, and find the perfect match for your engineering needs. Chapter Marks (0:00:00) - Introduction (0:04:23) - What is Organisational Pyschology (0:08:00) - The Importance of One-on-One Meetings (0:09:55) - Common Mistakes to Avoid in One-on-One Meetings (0:10:09) - Who should own the 1:1? (0:11:07) - Ideal Frequency for One-on-One meetings (0:12:29) - The Ideal Agenda of a 1:1 (0:14:00) - How to run a 1:1 as a leader? How do you solve problems in a 1:1? (0:16:00) - How to optimise your time with multiple direct reports? Can you delegate? (0:18:52) - Leveraging asynchronous tools for meetings (0:20:45) - Why do people need 1:1s? (0:21:34) - How 1:1s save you time (0:22:08) - Evaluating the Quality of a One-on-One (0:26:15) - What surprised him the most about 1:1s (0:27:00) - How to open a 1:1 meeting (0:28:00) - Do senior employees need 1:1 meetings? (0:29:02) - How to build trust

Stephen Wolfram, Founder & CEO of Wolfram Research, discusses the future of programming, the use of computational thinking, LUIs, and the intersection of technology and judgment in this CTO podcast. Topics include the programming workflow of the future, the concept of a LUI, the benefits of making a company computable, and the importance of understanding AI limitations. They also touch on the role of a CTO, the importance of strategy, and reflections on past projects and advice for a younger self.

How to focus on business value in tech Find out how to use tech to deliver (not distract from) business value in this CTO podcast featuring Vikas Gupta, CTO at Choco (a digital platform connecting suppliers to their restaurants), who previously held senior engineering roles at Uber and Dropbox. Listen find out : ⚖️ How to balance product and platform initiatives 🔍What the 5 dimensions are for evaluating a language 🎩 CTPO vs 👷CTO + 🤠CPO How to determine ROI when migrating from legacy + Why he chose his tech stack Listen here -- BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Sastrify Sastrify is a software as a service (SaaS) procurement solution that automates the process of buying and managing SaaS products. It is an established partner of the Alphalist CTO Community, providing procurement, IT, and finance teams with a centralized platform to streamline their SaaS procurement process. Their value proposition includes reducing SaaS spend by up to 35% and saving up to 20 hours each month. Sastrify's procurement experts negotiate the best terms with SaaS vendors, such as Miro, Asana, or Salesforce, for both existing contracts and upcoming contract renewals. Several leading companies, including Westwing, Adidas Runtastic, and Sennder, use Sastrify to solve their procurement problems and quickly extend their runways. Sastrify will also have a booth in the Finance Forward area at the OMR festival, and interested parties can schedule a meeting with the Sastrify team by emailing learnmore@sastrify.com. Additionally, you can find case studies and more information on how Sastrify works at www.sastrify.com/alphalist. Timestamps (0:00:00) - Digitizing the Food Supply Chain Vikas Gupta, the CTO of Choco, is focused on bringing the fragmented hospitality industry to the digital space, connecting suppliers with restaurants and institutions to place orders. Vikas explains the current order process of SMS, WhatsApp, voicemail, and email and how Choco is using data to automate the process for chefs so they can focus on cooking. He also touches on how front-of-the-house processes are already digitized, but back-of-the-house processes still need to be further developed to reduce food waste and create sustainability in the food supply chain. (0:09:13) - From Programming to Food Sustainability Vikas Gupta shares his journey in tech from his early days learning to code in Pascal, his experience in Silicon Valley, and the journey that ultimately led his to joining . He recounts his experience programming games and designing board games, as well as the challenges of programming in mobile environments. Vikas also shares why he left Silicon Valley to join Dropbox and eventually , and the drive to make a positive change in the world with the food sustainability space. (0:18:19) - Tech Stack and Decision-Making Process We explore the stack and decisions behind Choco. We discuss why they chose their tech stack (AWS serverless architecture with NodeJS, React) And why he regrets not using cross platform development earlier. (They are migrating to Flutter now). We also discuss the pros and cons of monoliths versus microservices and why Flutter was the right decision for them. Vikas shares the importance of collaboration between web engineers and native engineers in order to create a platform that allows teams to move quickly and build effectively. (0:27:32) - Balancing Product and Platform Initiatives We discuss how to balance the needs of the user, the time available, and the people available when making technology decisions. We explore how leaders can create an environment conducive to having conversations around technology decisions, and how to define a timeline for a transition to a new technology. We also discuss the idea of creating Excellence Days and using 80-20 to allow engineers to focus on technical topics and platform improvements. Finally, we talk about using coloured flags - so you know when the house is on fire and you need to drop everything and fix it. (0:36:18) - Balancing Technology and Product Leadership We explore the importance of quantifying the value of legacy code and how to present that data to leadership. We approach the challenge of overhauling an entire architecture and how to align leadership on delivering business value. We discuss the process of creating a roadmap and coordinating between product, sales, and engineering teams - plus how to be flexible while maintaining focus. Finally, we look at the importance of eye-level collaboration to challenge each other in order to achieve the best outcome.

Richard Socher, CEO of You.com, discusses how AI will impact search, coding, digital marketing, jobs, and more. Topics include monetizing chat-based search, the evolution of MLOps, the future of programmers, the impact of AI on the job market, and the future of digital marketing in the age of AI. Richard also explores the uniqueness of You.com, the power of prompt engineering, infrastructure for a powerful search engine, and the future of language models. He reflects on his journey in AI and the importance of scaling language models.

AI-Driven DevOps, Incident Response & the Role of Field CTO Buckle up for a journey through the evolution of DevOps with John Engates, the Field CTO at Cloudflare, who has been leading the charge since his days as CTO of Rackspace (2002-2018). Get ready for a fascinating ride as we explore the role of AI in DevOps and gain insights from a true industry veteran. Listen to discover: How to handle incident response the Cloudflare way🚨: mission rooms, communication strategies, and best practices Why we can't just turn off the internet? 🌐 The ethical considerations behind cyber warfare The unique role of a 🧑‍🌾 Field CTO How John puts ChatGPT to work 🛠️ Listen here -- BROUGHT TO YOU BY: DoIT and Shopify DoIT Spend more time on your customers. Less on managing the cloud. As the cloud has matured, it’s become increasingly complex to navigate, resulting in engineering teams spending countless hours buried in documentation — and countless dollars/euros in needless spending. DoiT helps thousands of tech companies around the globe with local references like Camunda, Taxfix and Instana solving both essential and advanced cloud challenges. DoiT provides intelligent technology that will simplify and automate your cloud use, alongside expert consultancy and unlimited technical support. All at no extra cost Assess your saving potential now and see how much other companies like yours have saved. Shopify Shopify is the ultimate Commerce solution for brands seeking to elevate their retail business. As a leading provider of Internet infrastructure for retail, we offer reliable tools to start, grow, market, and manage businesses of any size. Trusted by brands like Netflix, Waterdrop, B.O.C., and Butlers, our platform is designed for reliability and an enhanced shopping experience.Struggling with scalability? Shopify Plus eliminates this concern by providing a seamless, omnichannel solution. Witness a demo of our innovative platform and POS at OMR23, booth A4 E05 in the premium hall. Our friendly Shopify team, along with agency partners Eshop Guide & NETSHAKE, will be there to discuss strategies to elevate your customer experience.Recharge at our in-booth coffee bar before diving into the world of Shopify. Book a meeting with our sales team onsite to learn how we can help you achieve your goals. Join the Shopify revolution at booth A4 E05 in the premium hall at OMR23 and take the first step towards growing your business with Shopify Plus. Click here to find out more about Shopify

How to use generative AI as a DevTool Dig deep into how to use generative AI as developer tool 🧑‍💻in this CTO podcast featuring Shawn ‘Swyx’ Wang. Shawn has not only headed Developer Experience at 3 Unicorns 🦄, but he is also the editor of the Latent Space AI/ML newsletter. Tune in to discover how generative AI will change programming and how to start exploring the world of LLMs. Learn: How our infrastructure 🏗️ needs will evolve with the explosion of the AI frontier How much time a CTO should spend trying out new technology vs. sticking with the tried and true ⚖️ Why AI-native databases 🗃️ are the future Best practices for using generative AI as a developer tool 🦾 Listen here -- BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Sastrify Sastrify is a software as a service (SaaS) procurement solution that automates the process of buying and managing SaaS products. It is an established partner of the Alphalist CTO Community, providing procurement, IT, and finance teams with a centralized platform to streamline their SaaS procurement process. Their value proposition includes reducing SaaS spend by up to 35% and saving up to 20 hours each month. Sastrify's procurement experts negotiate the best terms with SaaS vendors, such as Miro, Asana, or Salesforce, for both existing contracts and upcoming contract renewals. Several leading companies, including Westwing, Adidas Runtastic, and Sennder, use Sastrify to solve their procurement problems and quickly extend their runways. Sastrify will also have a booth in the Finance Forward area at the OMR festival, and interested parties can schedule a meeting with the Sastrify team by emailing learnmore@sastrify.com. Additionally, you can find case studies and more information on how Sastrify works at www.sastrify.com/alphalist.