In this episode of the Leanpub Podcast, Sal Kimmich offers a deep technical look at the evolving security landscape across hardware, software, and open-source ecosystems. They discuss how modern attack surfaces emerge from increasingly interconnected systems, where chip-level vulnerabilities, firmware exploits, and opaque supply-chain dependencies create complex and often invisible risks.

Sal explains why digital isolation - both architectural and operational - is becoming essential as organizations confront challenges introduced by distributed development, shadow dependencies, and automated build pipelines

This interview was recorded on November 17, 2025.

The full audio for the interview is here: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/leanpub_podcasts/FM328-Sal-Kimmich-2025-11-11.mp3. The Frontmatter podcast is available on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/leanpub, in Apple Podcasts here https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/frontmatter/id517117137, and almost everywhere else people listen to podcasts.

In this episode of the Leanpub Podcast, Leanpub co-founder Len Epp interviews software engineer and consultant Matthew Hawthorne, author of Push to Prod or Die Trying. They discuss Matthew’s journey through high-scale systems, life inside big tech, and why production incidents are the greatest teachers in engineering. Matthew explains the realities of outages, human error, systems design, and navigating organizational chaos. The conversation also explores writing candidly about tech culture, balancing transparency with discretion, and helping engineers grow through real-world failure.

This interview was recorded on November 13, 2025.

The full audio for the interview is here: [episode-audio-url]. The Frontmatter podcast is available on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/leanpub, in Apple Podcasts here https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/frontmatter/id517117137, and almost everywhere else people listen to podcasts.

In this episode of the Leanpub Podcast, Len Epp interviews César Antonio López Segura, author of Neural Networks and Adaptive Control: An Online Machine Learning Perspective. They discuss his deep technical background in control theory, his passion for bridging it with modern machine learning, and how adaptive systems can respond intelligently to dynamic environments. César also talks about his experience in independent technical publishing, his approach to making complex AI topics more accessible, and the importance of continuous learning and curiosity in advancing both research and practical applications.

This interview was recorded on October 24, 2025.

The full audio for the interview is here: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/leanpub_podcasts/FM326-Ce%CC%81sar-Antonio-Lo%CC%81pez-Segura-2025-10-24.mp3. The Frontmatter podcast is available on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/leanpub, in Apple Podcasts here https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/frontmatter/id517117137, and almost everywhere else people listen to podcasts.

In this Leanpub Podcast episode, host Len Epp interviews Rich Allen, author of User Needs Mapping: Aligning Teams Around What Matters and an independent consultant specialising in socio-technical architecture and team design. With over two decades of experience and a role as a long-serving valued practitioner of the Team Topologies community, Rich brings both hands-on technical depth and organisational insight.

Rich argues that many teams fail not because they don’t try hard, but because they lack clarity on whose needs they’re serving and how their work delivers value. He guides listeners through the essentials of the User Needs Mapping technique: starting with “Who are our users?”, then “What do they need?”, mapping the capabilities and dependencies that fulfil those needs, and finally, aligning team boundaries and responsibilities to deliver that value effectively.

For listeners involved in transformation, product, engineering or team design work, Rich’s insights offer a tangible framework to reduce cognitive load, increase alignment and re-focus effort to what matters most.

This interview was recorded on October 23, 2025.

The full audio for the interview is here: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/leanpub_podcasts/FM325-Rich-Allen-2025-10-23.mp3. The Frontmatter podcast is available on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/leanpub, in Apple Podcasts here https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/frontmatter/id517117137, and almost everywhere else people listen to podcasts.

In this episode of the Leanpub Podcast, Len Epp interviews Edward Abramowich, author of Rethinking Capital Project Delivery: Agentic AI–Driven Strategies for the New Era. They discuss why large projects often fail to deliver on time and budget, and how agentic AI - autonomous AI agents that plan, act, and learn - can transform the way complex projects are managed.

Edward explains how agentic AI improves adaptability, risk management, and coordination by acting as a “nervous system” for projects. They explore real-world applications in sectors like energy and infrastructure, cultural and organizational shifts needed for adoption, data integration challenges, and practical first steps for companies beginning their AI journey.

This conversation highlights how early adopters can gain strategic advantages through reduced execution risk and faster responses to change, while project managers evolve toward more strategic and leadership-focused roles.

This interview was recorded on September 18, 2025.

The full audio for the interview is here: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/leanpub_podcasts/324-Edward-Abramowich-2025-09-18.mp3. The Frontmatter podcast is available on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/leanpub, in Apple Podcasts here https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/frontmatter/id517117137, and almost everywhere else people listen to podcasts.

In this Leanpub Podcast episode, Leanpub co-founder Len Epp interviews Max Guernsey, III, co-author of Ready: Why Most Software Projects Fail and How to Fix It and co-founder of Producore.

With nearly 30 years in the software industry, Max shares insights from his diverse career across technologies and domains. He discusses why so many software projects fail - often due to the gap between strategy and execution - and how organizations can address these problems through better alignment and learning.

The conversation explores Max’s work in consulting, his perspective on Agile practices, and his emphasis on creating the conditions for teams to succeed. He highlights how focusing on readiness, rather than rushing to execution, can dramatically improve outcomes. Along the way, Max shares practical advice on building healthier organizations, fostering adaptive learning, and making Agile principles work in practice rather than in theory.

This episode is full of valuable insights for software developers, managers, and leaders who want to understand why failure is so common in projects and how to build the kind of environments where teams can thrive.

This interview was recorded on August 25, 2025.

The full audio for the interview is here: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/leanpub_podcasts/FM323-Max-Guernsey-III-2025-08-25.mp3. The Frontmatter podcast is available on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/leanpub, in Apple Podcasts here https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/frontmatter/id517117137, and almost everywhere else people listen to podcasts.

In this episode of the Leanpub Podcast, Len Epp interviews Luniel de Beer, co-author of Ready: Why Most Software Projects Fail and How to Fix It and co-founder of Producore. Luniel explains why so many software projects fail due to poor preparation, misaligned expectations, and weak communication between business and development teams. He shares insights from his book on how to create clarity, resilience, and real value in projects by aligning strategy with execution, strengthening collaboration, and focusing on measurable outcomes. The discussion covers both the pitfalls and practical solutions for teams aiming to consistently deliver successful software.

This interview was recorded on August 25, 2025.

The full audio for the interview is here: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/leanpub_podcasts/FM322-Luniel-de-Beer-2025-08-25.mp3. The Frontmatter podcast is available on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/leanpub, in Apple Podcasts here https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/frontmatter/id517117137, and almost everywhere else people listen to podcasts.

In this episode of the Leanpub Podcast, Len Epp interviews Romano Roth, author of The Cybernetic Enterprise: How to Build a Future-Ready Organization. Roth, a leading thinker in cybernetic transformation, discusses how enterprises can evolve beyond the “fast team, slow enterprise” dilemma that hinders large organizations. He explains how principles of platform engineering, agile scaling, and DevOps integration can help companies become adaptable, resilient, and sustainable in an era of rapid change. The conversation also covers organizational design, the role of feedback loops in business systems, and how leaders can prepare their companies to thrive in a cybernetic future.

This interview was recorded on August 21, 2025.

The full audio for the interview is here: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/leanpub_podcasts/FM321-Romano-Roth-2025-08-21.mp3. The Frontmatter podcast is available on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/leanpub, in Apple Podcasts here https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/frontmatter/id517117137, and almost everywhere else people listen to podcasts.

In this episode of the Leanpub Podcast, Len Epp interviews Klaus Haller, senior IT security architect and author of The Definitive Guide to Cloud Security Architecture. They explore Klaus’s career journey from software engineering into cloud security, and dive into the four pillars of cloud security: architecture, network/perimeter defenses, identity & access management, and workload/SOC tooling.

Klaus explains how organizations can strengthen resilience against advanced cyber threats, the role of AI in both attacks and defenses, and the importance of quality assurance in cloud environments. He also reflects on his writing process and why documenting cloud security best practices matters for both practitioners and companies moving into the cloud.

The conversation offers insights into building secure, scalable cloud systems, navigating modern cyber risks, and preparing for the future of cybersecurity.

You can find the book on Leanpub at https://leanpub.com/cloud-security-architecture.

This interview was recorded on August 14, 2025.

The full audio for the interview is here: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/leanpub_podcasts/FM320-Klaus-Haller-2025-08-14.mp3. The Leanpub Podcast is available on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/leanpub, in Apple Podcasts here https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/frontmatter/id517117137, and almost everywhere else people listen to podcasts.

This interview has been edited for conciseness and clarity.

In this episode of the Leanpub Podcast, Len Epp interviews Andriy Burkov, author of The Hundred-Page Language Models Book: Hands-on with PyTorch. Andriy shares his deep expertise in machine learning and artificial intelligence, discussing the rapid rise of LLMs like GPT, the realities behind AGI hype, and the current state of AI research and applications.

They also explore Andriy’s experience writing the new book, the challenges of teaching technical concepts in an age of short attention spans, and the lessons learned from his earlier bestseller The Hundred-Page Machine Learning Book. With a background that includes work in autonomous driving, Andriy offers a critical perspective on the limits of current technology and what’s truly feasible today.

The book has now been launched in the form of an extensive course and can be purchased here, including nearly three hours of exclusive video interviews with the author.

This interview was recorded on June 23, 2025.

The full audio for the interview is here: https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/leanpub_podcasts/FM319-Andriy-Burkov-2025-06-23.mp3. The Frontmatter podcast is available on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/leanpub, in Apple Podcasts here https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/frontmatter/id517117137, and almost everywhere else people listen to podcasts.