Michael Lopp is an experienced engineering leader known for building products at iconic companies like Apple, Borland, Netscape, Palantir, and Slack. Since 2002, Lopp ā as heās more commonly known ā has written about engineering, management, and leadership on his popular blog āRands in Reposeā. He is also the renowned author of three books: Being Geek, Managing Humans, and The Art of Leadership.
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In todayās episode, we discuss:
- Loppās āutopiaā ā where engineers have time to create and invent
- What makes an excellent engineering leader
- The flexibility required for managerial roles in different contexts
- Navigating internal dynamics between design, engineering, and product
- How to build and grow effective engineering orgs
- The importance of understanding individual motivations
- Key lessons from over 30 years in the industry
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Referenced:
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Where to find Michael Lopp:
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Where to find Brett Berson:
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Where to find First Round Capital:
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(02:20) Beginning career at Borland
(05:41) The difficulty with shipping software at scale
(07:52) Why itās harder to ship today than ever before
(09:42) What makes a startup operationally sound
(11:23) Why engineers should have concrete time to invent
(19:42) How PMs can improve engineering culture
(21:35) An engineerās perspective on good product management
(23:36) The role of product compared to design and engineering
(26:38) How micromanagement kills creativity
(29:35) Fostering a debate culture in an org
(31:26) Declarative versus prescriptive leadership
(36:09) 3 ideas on leadership from Loppās upcoming book
(38:29) Understanding employee motivation
(42:28) Advice on discovering what motivates people
(46:06) Why teams should reorg every 6 months
(48:32) One thing all successful leaders do
(52:22) Why sound judgment is crucial for decision-making
(53:45) Crystallized lessons from working at software giants
(56:19) Why Lopp is afraid of becoming irrelevant
(57:58) The number one leadership lesson from Loppās career
(59:32) What Lopp has changed his mind on over time
(61:12) People who had an outsized impact on Lopp
