

Engineering Culture by InfoQ
InfoQ
Software engineers, architects and team leads have found inspiration to build better, high performing teams by listening to the weekly InfoQ Podcast. We have achieved that by interviewing some of the top CTOs, engineers and technology directors from companies like Uber, Netflix and more. Over 500,000 downloads in the last 3 years.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Apr 3, 2017 • 26min
Betty Zakheim of Tasktop on Software Development as a Value Stream
In this podcast Shane Hastie, InfoQ Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Betty Zakheim, VP of Industrial Strategy for Tasktop and treating software development as a value stream which starts with an idea and goes through to getting feedback from real customers.
Why listen to this podcast:
- We often forget about the aspects of the requirements which are beyond the written word
- Debunking the stereotypes of software developmentUsing the Definition of Done to encourage shifting responsibilities and agile practices left and right of the development team
- The intent and promise of DevOps is to see the business of software development as a holistic business process from ideation through to production and feedback loops
- The ideal stand-alone, cross-functional team is probably not possible in complex organizations
- The currencies of communication – how we speak to each other across disciplines and how we convey information to each other across the value stream
More on this: Quick scan our curated show notes on InfoQ http://bit.ly/2ouUWIy
You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq
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Want to see extented shownotes? Check the landing page on InfoQ: http://bit.ly/2ouUWIy

Mar 27, 2017 • 28min
Kaila Colbin on the Nature of Technological Innovation and the Implications for Society
In this podcast, recorded at the Agile New Zealand conference, Shane Hastie, InfoQ Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Kaila Colbin from the Ministry of Awesome and Singularity University about the Nature of Technological Innovation and the Implications for Society
Why listen to this podcast:
- The nature of technological innovation and the implications for society
- The doubling curve which shows how innovations advance (eg Moore’s Law)
- The doubling in price-performance trend applies to any technology once it becomes information enabled
- The convergence of multiple technologies which are on a doubling curve
- Technology advances because of usefulness – the more useful something becomes the more we invest in it
- These technologies need a more robust conversation than what we are currently having in society
- The ethical obligations of programmers – consciously exploring the implications of the work that we do; will the code we write have a net contribution to humanity
- Even if your job is safe – what is the implication of living in a society with massive inequality, political and social unrest and economic instability?
More on this: Quick scan our curated show notes on InfoQ http://bit.ly/2nGTcL9
You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq
Subscribe: www.youtube.com/infoq
Like InfoQ on Facebook: bit.ly/2jmlyG8
Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/InfoQ
Follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq
Want to see extented shownotes? Check the landing page on InfoQ: http://bit.ly/2nGTcL9

Mar 20, 2017 • 33min
Dave West on Craftsmanship, the Future of Scrum and Improving the Profession of Software Delivery
In this podcast, recorded at the Agile New Zealand conference in November 2016, Shane Hastie, InfoQ Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to David West, CEO and Product Owner of Scrum.org, about the history of Scrum, the importance of empiricism and improving the profession of software delivery.
Why listen to this podcast:
- Between 12 and 15 million people use Scrum on a daily basis
- Scrum.org’s mission is about improving the profession of software delivery, not having more people use the Scrum framework
- Empiricism and the scientific method are fundamental to being a professional in an industry
- The Scrum delivery team needs to include “all the skills you need to deliver working software” into the hands of end users so operations and deployment skills are a crucial part of Scrum
- To enable teams to be successful, management needs to provide absolute clarity of the objective, move out of the way of the teams and support the ScrumMaster in removing impediments
- The moral responsibility of software professionals to show integrity in their work
More on this: Quick scan our curated show notes on InfoQ http://bit.ly/2n6NpxS
You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq
Subscribe: www.youtube.com/infoq
Like InfoQ on Facebook: bit.ly/2jmlyG8
Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/InfoQ
Follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq
Want to see extented shownotes? Check the landing page on InfoQ: http://bit.ly/2n6NpxS

Mar 13, 2017 • 16min
Richard Kasperowski on Building High Performing Teams and the Core Protocols
In this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor in the Culture & Methods area, spoke to Richard Kasperowski at the QCon San Francisco conference.
Why listen to this podcast:
- Agile is not new, and the ideas help organisations focus on building the right thing and building it right
- High performing teams have some specific characteristics which can be measured
- Over 200 different things have been identified as “the one thing” needed for high performance
- All the research shows that the social/cultural factors are more important than technical skills for high performance
- The behaviour patterns of the Core Protocols seem to cause high performing teams
- To work well as a high performing team, the members must be able to connect with each other effectively
More on this: Quick scan our curated show notes on InfoQ http://bit.ly/2mkjFtM
You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq
Subscribe: www.youtube.com/infoq
Like InfoQ on Facebook: bit.ly/2jmlyG8
Follow on Twitter: twitter.com/InfoQ
Follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq
Want to see extented shownotes? Check the landing page on InfoQ: http://bit.ly/2mkjFtM

Mar 6, 2017 • 12min
Michael Lopp on Designing Culture for Sustainable Growth
In our podcast this week Shane Hastie speaks to Michael Lopp, VP of Engineering at Slack, about intentional culture and continuous delivery.
Why listen to this podcast:
- Leadership is a craft that needs to be learned
- Characteristics and common challenges of high-growth startups
- Aspects of culture include how do we get things done, how do we treat each other, how do we make decisions, who has power and influence, what are the things that we value?
- The importance of making values explicit and experiential
- The importance of the small group of influencers in any organisation who spread the culture to others
More on this: Quick scan our curated show notes on InfoQ http://bit.ly/2mP3Qjj
You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq
Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/infoq
Like InfoQ on Facebook: http://bit.ly/2jmlyG8
Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/InfoQ
Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/infoq
Want to see extented shownotes? Check the landing page on InfoQ: http://bit.ly/2mP3Qjj

Feb 27, 2017 • 19min
Ted DesMaisons & Lisa Rowland on How Improv Improves Collaboration and Teamwork
Ted DesMaisons, an expert in mindfulness and improvisation, joins Lisa Rowland to explore how improvisation transcends the stage into everyday teamwork. They discuss the power of saying 'yes' and embracing uncertainty to enhance collaboration. The conversation highlights how improv fosters trust, creativity, and agility in both personal and professional settings, making it accessible for everyone, including introverts. By applying these principles, teams can thrive in dynamic environments and cultivate a culture of exploration and resilience.

Feb 20, 2017 • 32min
Lianping Chen on Implementing Continuous Delivery
In this podcast Ben Linders, an InfoQ editor in the Culture & Methods area, spoke to Lianping Chen of Paddy Power about their adoption of continuous delivery.
Why listen to this podcast:
- An introduction to continuous delivery
- It is possible and feasible to go faster while maintaining and improving the quality of the products being built
- The benefits from adopting continuous delivery include reduced time from completing development to getting product into production and getting faster customer feedback
- The way you elicit and represent requirements also needs to change when adopting continuous delivery
- Implementing continuous delivery needs significant investment in time and money – don’t underestimate the costs involved and plan the adoption to deliver benefits early and get some quick wins
More on this:
Quick scan our curated show notes on InfoQ http://bit.ly/2mgLhA8
You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq

Feb 13, 2017 • 36min
Doug Kirkpatrick on Transforming Organisations Towards Empowered Self-Organising Teams
In this podcast Shane Hastie, InfoQ Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Doug Kirkpatrick, organisational change expert, author and advocate for new ways of working.
Why listen to this podcast:
• Decentralization is replacing hierarchy and bureaucracy. Organisations need to be directly connected to the outside world and agilely adapt to changes in their ecosystems
• The idea of people managing other people will fade and be replaced by people connecting to a mission and meaning, and managing themselves in the same way they manage themselves in their lives
• Mandating a change is command and control in a different guise – people need to be part of the change and opt in to be part of the changed organisation
• Two simple, yet profound, principles:
o No use of force – abandon command and control authority
o People keep commitments that they make
• Speaking up when something seems wrong is a crucial self-managing competency. If you choose not to speak up about a particular issue, you have chosen to tolerate it
Notes and links can be found on: http://bit.ly/2l35tWS
You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq

Feb 6, 2017 • 29min
Pat Reed on the need for Business Agility and Value Innovation
In this podcast Shane Hastie, InfoQ Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Pat Reed of iHoriz about value innovation, adaptive leadership and what’s needed to create real business agility.
Why listen to this podcast:
- Business agility is about adapting and thriving in extreme uncertainty
- Make value visible – really understand who your customer is and how value is derived in your organisation, then focus on only doing things that truly add value
- The management practice of “doing more with less” is both delusional and counter-productive
- We know about the need for WIP limits and the impact of context switching on productivity, yet somehow some managers believe their organisations are immune from these realities
- Value must be measured in terms of making an impactful difference to a customer or to the business
- Fast failure and learning are critical to innovation and sustainable organisation success
- Being able to adapt quicker than the competition, quicker than the customer’s changing needs is imperative for business success today
Notes and links can be found on: http://bit.ly/2lcedge
You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq

Jan 30, 2017 • 19min
Matt Sakaguchi on the Key to High Performing Teams at Google
In this podcast Shane Hastie, InfoQ Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Matt Sakaguchi about his talk at QCon San Francisco 2016 and the research Google has done on what makes effective teams.
Why listen to this podcast:
- Psychological safety – people feel comfortable taking a risk or asking a question and know they will be supported by their team mates, they feel safe to share personal and “crazy” ideas
- Dependability – the knowledge that team mates will deliver quality outputs and meet their commitments
- Structure & clarity – the team has well defined roles and responsibilities, everyone knows what they are supposed to do and they do it
- Meaning – the work has personal meaning to the individual team membersImpact – the team members can see the value they bring to the greater good through their work
Notes and links can be found on: http://bit.ly/2jNF7H8
You can also subscribe to the InfoQ newsletter to receive weekly updates on the hottest topics from professional software development. bit.ly/24x3IVq