Engineering Unblocked

Engineering Unblocked

By SwarmiaTechnology
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Engineering Unblocked episodes

  • Developer productivity drivers and detractors with Max Kanat-Alexander from Capital One

    In this episode, Rebecca sits down with Max Kanat-Alexander, Executive Distinguished Engineer for Developer Experience at Capital One, to explore the nuances of developer productivity and experience.


    The conversation dives deep into what actually drives — and what kills — productivity in engineering organizations. Max shares hard-won insights about why most developer experience initiatives fail (hint: it’s about not understanding your users), the critical difference between being productive as individuals versus as teams and organizations, and why treating engineers as “ticket takers” destroys software quality.


    Find the transcript at: https://www.swarmia.com/podcast/max-kanat-alexander-capital-one/


    Timestamps

    (0:00) Introductions
    (0:48) Max’s journey to Capital One
    (2:58) Unsuccessful developer productivity
    (5:37) Doing the ‘right’ work
    (11:01) Ticket-taker culture
    (15:25) Drivers of productivity
    (20:32) Performing KTLO work
    (25:40) Drivers and detractors of effective software delivery
    (33:16) Setting goals
    (40:42) The future of coding with AI
    (46:36) Max’s advice to junior engineers


    Follow Max on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mkanat/

    Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    50 min
  • The science of developer experience with Kristen Foster-Marks from Depot

    In today’s episode, Rebecca chats with Kristen Foster-Marks, Head of Developer Experience at Depot. They discuss questionable “ghost engineer” research, why ethical, rigorous studies matter, and how developer experience makes a difference—even in a tough economy.


    Find the transcript at: https://www.unblocked.fm/episodes/kristen-foster-marks-depot/


    Timestamps

    (0:00) Introductions
    (0:56) Kristen’s role at Depot
    (3:44) Defining science in developer experience
    (8:56) The “ghost engineers” controversy
    (16:02) Balancing peer review with research
    (19:17) What Kristen wants from quality research
    (22:09) Why developer experience matters
    (25:46) Developer experience in the modern world
    (29:58) The need for empirical studies
    (34:23) How sample sizes affect research validity
    (37:18) Replicating qualitative research
    (39:18) Applying research in practice


    Follow Kristen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristenfostermarks/

    Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    43 min
  • The state of DORA and developer productivity with Nathen Harvey from Google Cloud

    In today’s episode, Rebecca talks with Nathen Harvey who leads the DORA group at Google Cloud. Nathen shares insights from the 10th annual DORA report, covering topics like the relationship between AI adoption and software stability, the importance of transformational leadership, and the role of quality documentation.

    Find the transcript at: https://www.unblocked.fm/episodes/nathen-harvey-google-cloud/

    Timestamps

    (0:00) Introductions
    (0:24) Nathen’s journey to DORA
    (3:21) The 10th annual DORA report
    (6:20) How DORA collects data on AI
    (11:52) Testing hypotheses with qualitative data
    (13:49) Communicating technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders
    (20:04) The importance of transformational leadership
    (26:08) Qualifying productivity and value in developers
    (32:15) About quality documentation
    (35:45) Handling engineers who are afraid of DORA
    (38:55) Setting goals and continuous improvement

    Follow Nathen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathen/

    Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    Links and mentions

    • DORA Accelerate State of DevOps report: https://cloud.google.com/resources/devops/state-of-devops

    47 min
  • Mastering operational health with Iccha Sethi from Vanta

    In today’s episode, Rebecca talks with Iccha Sethi, the new VP of Engineering at Vanta. They discuss taking stock of an engineering organization as a new VP, how technical engineering managers need to be, and her work at Github, Atlassian, Invision, and now Vanta around operational health.

    Find the transcript at: https://www.unblocked.fm/episodes/iccha-sethi-vanta

    Timestamps

    (0:00) Introductions
    (0:52) About Vanta
    (4:55) Engineering and cultural challenges
    (10:50) Operational health for platform teams
    (15:19) Communicating with non-tech leaders
    (18:53) How Vanta handles incidents
    (23:36) On strategic remediation and incidents
    (29:14) Involving everyone in the conversation
    (33:19) Common operational health mistakes
    (37:06) About being an approachable VPE
    (40:44) Practices to manage team meetings

    Follow Iccha on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/icchasethi

    Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    Links and mentions

    • Vanta: https://www.vanta.com/

    45 min
  • Rising to engineering leadership challenges at Honeycomb with Emily Nakashima from Honeycomb

    Emily Nakashima, VPE at Honeycomb, shares her experience about the hard choices an engineering leader has to make about how to structure — and sometimes restructure — their engineering org.

    Emily and Rebecca talk cross-team collaboration, emphasizing eng as an equal partner to other functions, and mistakes that seemed like such a good idea at the time.

    Find the transcript at: https://www.unblocked.fm/episodes/emily-nakashima-honeycomb/

    Timestamps

    (0:00) Introductions
    (0:49) Emily’s journey to Honeycomb
    (4:45) Observability vs. Monitoring
    (7:55) About being VPE at Honeycomb
    (10:13) What makes Honeycomb unique
    (15:50) About Honeycomb’s structuring strategy
    (19:20) Cross-team collaboration
    (23:57) Examples of cross-team collaboration
    (26:20) About ownership challenges
    (29:01) Setting goals
    (33:41) Hiring software engineers
    (38:26) Pros and cons of ‘culture fit’
    (42:35) Emily’s hot take on tech

    Follow Emily on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eanakashima/

    Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    Links and mentions

    • Honeycomb: https://www.honeycomb.io/

    46 min
  • What makes a Platform Team work with Mason Jones from Zapier

    Mason Jones recently started a new role at Zapier, where he’s bringing his platform leadership experience from Lattice and Credit Karma.

    In this episode, Mason shares his thoughts on what makes a platform team work, common tradeoffs in platform development, and the challenges of making your team’s work visible and understandable to the whole organization.

    Find the transcript at: https://www.unblocked.fm/episodes/mason-jones-zapier/

    Timestamps

    (0:00) Introductions
    (0:39) Mason’s journey to Zapier
    (4:39) How Mason joined the platform team
    (8:48) Naming teams
    (11:10) The mechanics of reorienting
    (15:46) Transitioning from infrastructure to platform
    (20:44) Goal-setting using data
    (24:39) Mason’s take on product managers
    (28:48) Detangling a monolith into services
    (33:49) Federating vs. centralizing
    (37:04) How Mason approaches standardization
    (41:22) How to communicate
    (44:58) The value of case studies
    (47:08) What Mason wants to achieve in a year

    Follow Mason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/masonjones/

    Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    Links and mentions

    • Zapier: https://zapier.com/
    • Credit Karma: https://www.creditkarma.com/

    49 min
  • Pulling off a multi-month tech debt paydown project with Alice Bartlett from Financial Times

    Alice Bartlett, Tech Director for Customer Products at the Financial Times, shares what it takes to introduce modern technology to a 136-year-old company and how to successfully lead significant efforts to re-architect understandable but unfortunate decisions of the past.

    In this episode, Rebecca and Alice dig deep on one of those decisions and how she got the work funded and how she got the work done.

    Find the transcript at: https://www.unblocked.fm/episodes/alice-bartlett-financial-times/

    Timestamps

    (0:00) Introductions
    (1:06) Alice’s journey to the FT
    (5:17) About the FT’s pink paper
    (7:20) The FT’s history of innovation
    (11:52) Organizational changes at the FT
    (13:54) How Alice fixed an architectural flaw
    (19:34) The importance of communication
    (24:21) Changing an overly-complicated system
    (27:02) Blameless culture
    (29:15) How Alice keeps engagement high
    (32:40) Maintaining the new system
    (34:53) All-use cases and bugs
    (39:19) Alice’s take on tech

    Follow Alice on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicebartlett/

    Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    Links and mentions

    • Financial Times: https://www.ft.com/
    • The Pragmatic Programmer: https://www.amazon.com/Pragmatic-Programmer-Journeyman-Master/dp/020161622X

    43 min
  • The evolution of data engineering in the age of AI with Colleen Tartow from VAST Data

    Colleen Tartow, Field CTO and Head of Strategy at VAST Data, shares her experience from years in data engineering leadership roles.

    In this episode, Rebecca and Colleen talk about how “data” has evolved over the years, how AI is turning everything we know about data upside down, and how a PhD in Astrophysics got her started on this path.

    Find the transcript at: https://www.unblocked.fm/episodes/colleen-tartow-vast/

    Timestamps

    (0:00) Introductions
    (0:44) Colleen’s background
    (3:01) About VAST’s approach
    (7:18) Unique challenges of data engineering
    (10:56) Setting reasonable expectations
    (13:34) The importance of process
    (16:29) The future of data engineering
    (21:00) What Colleen misses about engineering
    (22:39) How to set goals for a data organization
    (25:58) Colleen’s perspective on people in business
    (29:58) Colleen’s unusual path to data

    Follow Colleen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleen-tartow-phd/

    Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    Links and mentions

    • VAST Data: https://www.vastdata.com/

    33 min
  • Building scaleups without hero culture with Andrea Corey from Homebase

    Andrea Corey is a VP of Engineering for platform engineering at Homebase.

    In today’s episode, Rebecca and Andrea talk about Andrea’s experience in working at scaleups, the lessons she’s learned, the pitfalls she’s trained herself to avoid, and some of the biggest problems leaders need to solve as their organization grows.

    Find the transcript at: https://www.unblocked.fm/episodes/andrea-corey-homebase/

    Timestamps

    (0:00) Introductions
    (0:46) Andrea’s background
    (4:37) Unlocking potential among teams
    (7:02) About Homebase’s team strategy
    (11:26) Tips to make ideas a reality
    (15:20) How Andrea manages multiple teams
    (18:11) Countering hero culture
    (21:44) Incident handling
    (25:19) Setting goals around incidents
    (27:23) Avoiding past mistakes
    (33:45) When to federate vs. centralize
    (37:01) Who Andrea wants to be

    Follow Andrea on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreacorey/

    Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    Links and mentions

    • Homebase: https://joinhomebase.com/
    • FreshBooks: https://www.freshbooks.com/
    • Eloqua: https://www.oracle.com/cx/marketing/automation/

    39 min
  • Change: It’s a long game with Liz Hustedt from ActBlue

    Liz Hustedt is a Senior Engineering Manager at ActBlue, an American political action committee and fundraising platform established serving left-leaning and Democratic nonprofits and politicians.

    In today’s episode, Rebecca and Liz talk about how Liz’s early experience as an ICU nurse shaped her leadership skills and style, and about managing change in a way that’s empathetic to where the organization is at the moment.

    Find the transcript at: https://www.unblocked.fm/episodes/liz-hustedt-actblue

    Timestamps

    (00:00) Introductions
    (00:50) Liz’s background
    (04:00) About ActBlue and Liz’s experience there
    (08:55) Understanding team health
    (12:35) Building trust
    (15:15) Roadmap planning
    (20:07) How Liz and her team are evaluated
    (21:21) About outcome-driven goals
    (26:26) Tips to transition towards outcome-driven goals
    (28:59) Skills needed in management
    (34:34) Managing through change
    (40:50) Milestones and who Liz wants to be

    Follow Liz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizhustedt/

    Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/

    Links and mentions

    • ActBlue: https://secure.actblue.com/

    47 min

About Engineering Unblocked

From the publisher's feed

Keeping software engineers in flow and unblocked is one of the key responsibilities of software development leaders. In each episode of the Engineering Unblocked podcast, Rebecca Murphey interviews…