SimpleLeadership Podcast

Eric Elliott is a distributed systems expert, and author of the books "Programming JavaScript Applications" and "Composing Software". He builds and advises development teams for crypto projects, and has contributed to software experiences for Adobe Systems, Zumba Fitness, The Wall Street Journal, ESPN, BBC, and top recording artists including Usher, Frank Ocean, Metallica, and many more. He spends most of his time in the San Francisco Bay Area with the most beautiful woman in the world. On today's show we discuss the leader's role in setting the tone and culture of teams and how important it is for scaling. On a technical note: Due to a hardware issue, I had to record this episode on a backup computer and although the sound quality of Eric is awesome, my sound quality is lower than normal. Hopefully, this will be fully fixed by my next episode. Links: https://twitter.com/_ericelliott https://medium.com/javascript-scene https://leanpub.com/composingsoftware https://devanywhere.io/ Show Notes: The Phoenix Project Composing Software by Eric Elliott

Liam is the co-founder and CMO of TimeDoctor.com, Running Remote Conference and Staff.com. After graduating with a masters in Sociology from McGill University, Liam opened a small tutoring company which grew to over 100 employees, and looked to solve a problem with remote employees not reporting accurate work data which turned into Staff.com. He consults on outsourcing and process design and is passionate about how to gain insights into the inner workings of how people work. On today's episode we discuss running remote teams, including hiring, performance, management, culture and mental health. Liam's Social Profiles: https://twitter.com/vtamethodman https://www.linkedin.com/in/liammcivormartin/ https://www.facebook.com/liam.martin About Time Doctor: Time Doctor is a time tracking and productivity monitoring software for remote teams. The goal with the software is to help individuals and organizations to be more productive when working remotely Time Doctor Social Profiles: https://twitter.com/manageyourtime https://www.linkedin.com/company/2184443/ https://www.facebook.com/timedoctorsoftware https://plus.google.com/+Timedoctor-Manage-Your-Time Show Notes: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/ Flexjobs Dribble Fellow Feedback App Radical Candor Running Remote YouTube Channel

John Rouda is an IT Leader and Computer Science Professor. Currently, he is an IT Director and he teaches as an adjunct professor at both York Technical College and Winthrop University. John has spoken at numerous conferences and is currently on the board of the Interface Cyber Security Conference. John’s past experiences include more than a decade of Technical management in both software development and network infrastructure. In 1999, John Rouda and 2 partners founded a business developing, hosting and marketing websites. The business was profitable each year until it was sold in 2007 to a larger competitor. John has developed dozens of mobile apps for the Apple Appstore and Google Play Marketplace. He holds two master degrees, one in Business Administration and one in Computer Science. He has written 3 books that can be found on Amazon & Audible. John regularly speaks on technology, entrepreneurship and leadership topics at events and conferences, including a TEDx talk in 2015. He hosts a technical leadership podcast called A Geek Leader that can be found on iTunes or at https://ageekleader.com. John is married to a beautiful wife and has three wonderful kids who he dearly loves. On today's episode we discuss motivation, empathy, leadership and cover the highlights John's Ted Talk. Contact: https://ageekleader.com https://johnrouda.com https://twitter.com/johnrouda Show Notes: Notes to a Software Team Leader: Growing Self Organizing Teams Dan Pink - Drive Simon Sinek - Start with Why

Saurabh is currently an Engineering Manager at Twilio. He joined Twilio about 4 years back as a senior engineer. He then moved into a tech lead position and then transitioned into management about 1.5 years ago. Since then, he has grown into managing multiple engineering teams within Twilio's Messaging organization. Before joining Twilio, Saurabh worked in a couple of fin-tech startups in the Boston area mostly in an Individual Contributor role. He has a strong passion for engineering leadership and is always looking for avenues to give back to the community. Other than computers, he is fond of reading, cars, astrophysics and travelling. On today's episode we discuss the importance of relationships and building trust. Contact Info: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saurabhdaftary/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/saurabh_daftary FB: >https://www.facebook.com/saurabh.daftary   Show Notes:   Google reWork   The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations   Flow   Using Agile Techniques to Build a More Inclusive Team - Kevin Goldsmith   Seven Habits of Highly Effective People   Radical Candor   The Manager's Path   Rand's Leadership Slack   Plato

Michelle is a Senior Backend Engineer at ChowNow, helping local restaurants grow their business by strengthening relationships with their customers. She has previously served as both an engineer and a manager for the last  7+ years in entertainment technology. She has worked tirelessly to help movies and television get made faster and cheaper, saving productions millions of dollars. A Philadelphia native, she has a background in Media Arts and is a self-taught Python developer. Michelle is now working to give back to her community through mentorship and conference speaking.   Contact Info:   michellebrenner.com   https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellebrenner/ https://www.twitter.com/michellelynneb Show Notes: Sober Stick Figure: A Memoir Business Unusual with Barbara Corcoran (Podcast)

Darragh is currently the VP of Engineering at Intercom. (One of my favorite companies). He joined Intercom in early 2012 as a product engineer and Intercom's second outside hire. Fast forward to today, and he is Intercom's VP of Engineering where he has grown and scaled the organization into a world class Engineering team. Prior to Intercom, Darragh worked at numerous other companies including Amazon.com. Darragh is mentor on the Plato network and is passionate about the outdoors and his family. On today’s show we discuss his path from IC to VP of engineering and tips on how to scale a fast growing engineering team. Contact Info: @darraghcurran LinkedIn https://www.intercom.com/  Show Notes: The Pragmatic Programmer The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

Camille Fournier is the head of Platform Engineering at Two Sigma, a financial company in New York City. Prior to joining Two Sigma she was the Chief Technology Officer of Rent the Runway, a transformative brand that offers unprecedented access to designer fashion, disrupting the way millions of women get dressed. She is an open source contributor and project committee member for both Apache ZooKeeper and the Dropwizard web framework. Prior to working for Rent the Runway, Camille served as a software engineer at Microsoft, and most recently, spent several years as a technical specialist at Goldman Sachs, creating distributed systems for managing risk analysis and firm-wide infrastructure. She has a BS in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University and an MS in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Camille is a well-respected voice within the tech community, speaking on a variety of topics such as engineering leadership, distributed systems, scaling teams, and technical architecture. In 2017 she released her book, “The Manager’s Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change.” Contact Info: Twitter: @skamille Medium: https://medium.com/@skamille  Camille Talk: http://www.camilletalk.com/ Show Notes: Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well Harvard Business Review Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Lara Callender Hogan is an engineering leader, coach, and consultant at Wherewithall. She is also the author of Designing for Performance (O’Reilly, 2014), Building a Device Lab (Five Simple Steps, 2015), and Demystifying Public Speaking (A Book Apart, 2016). Lara champions engineering management as a practice, having built and led engineering organizations as an Engineering Director at Etsy and VP of Engineering at Kickstarter. In her world tour to advocate performance to designers and developers alike, Lara has keynoted the Velocity Conference, presented at Google I/O, and given talks at companies like The New York Times to help shift them toward a culture of performance. While at Etsy, Lara co-created the initial physical device labs, and co-authored a tutorial and bookfor companies interested in building their own lab. To connect her passion for performance with her activism, Lara donates all of the proceeds from Designing for Performance to charities focused on supporting underrepresented people in tech. Lara also believes it’s important to celebrate career achievements with donuts. On today's episode we discuss proper expectation setting, mindful communication, Lara's new company and a surprise management challenge! Listen on to find out what it is!   Contact Info: Title: Co-Founder Company: Wherewithall Twitter: @lara_hogan Site: http://larahogan.me/ Slides: https://speakerdeck.com/lara  Show Notes: The Lead Developer Austin 2018 Workshop   Desk moves   Paloma Medina   Tuckman's Stages of Group Development   Etsy's Charter of Mindful Communication   The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change

Mihai Fonoage is the Vice President of Engineering for Modernizing Medicine. In this role he leads a Team of Engineers that are working on building high-quality software for medical practices to increase efficiency and improve patient care. With over 13 years of experience in the technology world, his technical prowess has strongly contributed to Modernizing Medicine’s success. Mihai has a PhD in Computer Science from Florida Atlantic University and was Modernizing Medicine’s first employee. He is a recipient of the Sun Sentinel's 2015 Top Workplace Professionals and the South Florida Business Journal’s 2014 40 Under 40 award. On today's episode we discuss Mihai's path from being an intern to becoming the VP of Engineering and his guidance for engineering managers on how to best prepare to scale to prepare for the role.   Contact Info: Company Website: www.modmed.com Personal Social Media accounts: https://twitter.com/mihaifonoage https://www.linkedin.com/in/mihaifonoage/ Show Notes: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Plato The Lead Developer London: "The Hardest Scaling Challenge of All: Yourself" The Oz Principal

Jen Dary is the founder of Plucky, an organization that works with companies and individuals to create healthy dynamics at work. She is a leadership coach and speaker; she travels across the US teaching workshops, including her popular course, So Now You’re a Manager, which trains new managers across the country for the complex work of herding humans. Jen lives in Berkeley, CA with her husband and two young sons. On today's episode we discuss one of the tricky challenges of being a first time manager - managing your former peers and friends. We also discuss Plucky Cards? What are those? Stay tuned to find out! Contact Links: https://www.beplucky.com https://www.beplucky.com/manager https://www.beplucky.com/shop twitter: @jenniferdary, @beplucky IG: @bepluckster Writing: >https://medium.com/@jenniferdary   Show Notes:   lluminature: Discover 180 Animals with your Magic Three Color Lens   Plucky Cards   Brene Brown Ted Talk: The Power of Vulnerability    Spaceman: An Astronaut's Unlikely Journey to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe   Podcast: How I Built This