The Retrospective

The Retrospective

By Jeremy Brown & Péter SzászBusinessTechnologyManagement
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The Retrospective episodes

  • S2 E01 - A New Format

    Join Peter and Jeremy as they kickoff the first episode of Season 2, reflecting on their learnings from Season 1 and outlining exciting changes and plans for the new season.

    They discuss their experiences with podcasting, the challenges of editing, and the valuable feedback they received.

    This episode covers their motivation to provide focused, impactful content for early-stage engineering managers and leaders, and introduces format changes like shorter, more focused episodes, audio-only format, and potential guest interviews around relevant topics.

    00:00 Intros

    00:29 Reflections on Season One

    01:23 What We Learnt and the Feedback We Got

    03:57 Plans for Season Two - focusing on Engineering Managers

    04:38 Format Changes - 20 - 30 mins, Audio Only

    05:50 One Episode Per Topic

    07:13 Interviews and Special Episodes

    08:31 Wrapping Up

    Share your thoughts about the episode (and the podcast) at [email protected]!

    10 min
  • #10 The Retrospective 1st October 2024 - Getting Hired: The Recruiter's Perspective with Peter Batiz

    Getting Hired: The Recruiter's Perspective with special guest Peter Batiz

    This episode covers the challenges and opportunities engineering managers face, the importance of adapting to market changes, and building strong relationships with recruiters. Learn strategic negotiation tactics, key questions to ask during the interview process, and how to leverage publicly available information for informed decision-making. Whether you're employed and contemplating a change or actively seeking new opportunities, gain invaluable insights and practical tips to excel in today's tech job scene. Plus, get a sneak peek into the exciting changes coming in season two.
    00:00 The Retrospective S1 E10: Getting Hired - The Recruiter's Perspective with Peter Batiz
    00:13 Introduction
    02:44 Hiring Scene Shifts after 2022
    04:00 Technical Skills in Managerial Positions
    08:17 Other Differentiators like Remote and Domain Experience
    11:24 Quality vs. Quantity of Applications
    13:53 Flexibility: The Number One Differenciator to Get The Job
    15:38 Remote Work in the Current Climate
    17:37 2024 August Hiring Market Improvements
    21:56 Economic Reasons of the Current Hiring Climate
    23:23 Current Climate is a Return to Normal
    27:22 Expectations from Managers in the Current Climate
    31:00 Company Culture Shifts
    35:23 AI and Kubernetes experience is a Differenciator
    39:58 Career Security vs. Job Security
    41:32 Successful CV Characteristics
    44:13 The role of AI in Hiring
    48:57 Show your Impact to Stand Out
    52:06 Automatic Job Application Bot
    55:14 Job Sites beyond LinkedIn
    56:33 Inteviewing Advices
    01:01:06 Recruiter Relationships
    01:07:40 Advice for EMs Considering Quitting
    01:11:19 How to Validate an Offer
    01:14:51 Negotiating
    01:21:47 Outro

    Share your thoughts about the episode (and the podcast) at [email protected]!

    1 hr 24 min
  • #9 The Retrospective 24th September 2024 - The Offer (Getting Hired as an Engineering Manager)

    Péter and Jeremy discuss the last stage of the interviewing process: the offer. They include strategies for managing job transitions, including securing roles, negotiating offers, and resigning professionally. The conversation shifts to the transformation of content creation with the rise of social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok, examining the initial advantages and later toxicities induced by engagement-driven algorithms. The discussion concludes with Péter's new website, whatistiling.com.

    Share your thoughts about the episode (and the podcast) at [email protected]!

    1 hr 46 min
  • #8 - part 2 The Retrospective 18th September 2024 - Interviewing (Getting Hired as an Engineering Manager)

    In the second part of the 8th episode of the podcast, Jeremy and Péter discuss engineering manager interview strategies, focusing on Péter’s co-authored article about interviewing for an EM position. They emphasize the importance of the hiring manager interview for showcasing decision-making trustworthiness and delve into technical tests, case studies, and the role of psychometric tests and AI-assisted coding in interviews. To round off, they discuss effectively handling job offers and meeting the prospective team to ensure a cultural fit.

    Share your thoughts about the episode (and the podcast) at [email protected]!

    51 min
  • #8 - part 1 The Retrospective 12th September 2024 - Interviewing (Getting Hired as an Engineering Manager)

    In this episode of 'The Retrospective' podcast, engineering leaders Jeremy and Peter discuss Peter’s series on getting hired as an engineering manager, focusing on the interview process. The conversation covers preparation strategies, building relationships with recruiters, adapting to the current job market, and the importance of diversity in hiring. Throughout, Jeremy and Peter provide practical advice on handling technical screenings, in-office interviews, and telling compelling career stories. They emphasize the need for thorough preparation, understanding the company, and presenting oneself effectively in interviews.

    Share your thoughts about the episode (and the podcast) at [email protected]!

    1 hr 5 min
  • #7 The Retrospective 17th June 2024:The Four Must-Have Weekly Meetings for Engineering Managers + AI Coding Experiments

    In this episode of the 'Retrospective' weekly podcast, Jeremy and Peter discuss key engineering leadership topics. Jeremy delves into his latest article on the four essential weekly ceremonies for engineering managers to ensure smooth and predictable execution. The ceremonies include the weekly kickoff, daily sync, one-on-one meetings, and the weekly review.


    Peter shares his recent experiment with AI-assisted coding, using ChatGPT for a Google Apps Script project, highlighting the benefits and challenges of leveraging AI in software development.


    Show notes:

    • Jeremy’s article on the Four Must-Have Weekly Meetings for Engineering Managers: https://www.jeremybrown.tech/the-four-must-have-weekly-meetings-for-engineering-managers/
    • Jeremy’s earlier article about sharing at 20%: https://www.jeremybrown.tech/the-20-percent-rule/
    • Explainer on Task Relevant Maturity: https://getlighthouse.com/blog/management-concept/
    • John Cutler on Troubleshooting Status Updates: [https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-252-how-to-troubleshoot-status](https://cutlefish.substack.com/p/tbm-252-how-to-troubleshoot-status?ref=jeremybrown.tech)
    • Peter’s updates including AI-assisted coding experiences: https://peterszasz.com/week-24-2024-ai-coding-search-and-creativity/
    • BI dashboard and tools article Jeremy mentioned: https://briefer.cloud/blog/posts/self-serve-bi-myth/ - AI Summary “Sales pitches often oversell the idea of "self-serve dashboards," but in reality, it often falls short as non-technical users lack the context to interpret data accurately. The key to successful self-serve BI lies in technical support for business stakeholders using flexible tools that cater to their needs efficiently. Providing technical people with tools like LLMs, Python, and easy data sharing capabilities can bridge the gap between technical complexity and business user needs.”


      • 00:00 Intros

      00:37 4 Weekly Meetings for Engineering Managers

      01:59 Why Work to a Weekly Cadence?

      03:30 Projects and Milestones

      09:03 The Weekly Team Kick-off / Planning Meeting

      20:06 Daily Sync (Standup) and Team Connection

      33:21 One-on-One Meetings

      37:16 Monthly Career Focus and Continuous Feedback and Coaching

      38:11 One-to-One Frequency

      40:15 Task Relevance Maturity Framework

      41:35 The Weekly Review Meeting

      46:04 Stakeholder Communication and Status Updates

      58:02 Retrospectives and Team Health

      01:03:23 Using AI for Coding Projects

      01:12:14 Wrapping up!

      Share your thoughts about the episode (and the podcast) at [email protected]!

      1 hr 13 min
    • #6 The Retrospective 10th June 2024: Career Security, Innovation, and the Tech Industry in 2024

      In this episode, we discuss the critical importance of career security over job security in the changing tech landscape, highlighting strategies for sustaining and advancing one's career in 2024. Then, we explore the Innovation Framework based on the Möbius Loop for balancing discovery, delivery, and options in the software development life cycle. We also urge organisations to consider capturing structured practices with the Open Practice Library. Additionally, we discuss the value of pair programming and mob programming for strengthening collaboration, learning, and problem-solving.


      00:00 Hey!

      00:25 We Are Slowing Figuring Out The Show Format and Target Audience

      02:09 Politics - The Morning After The Night Before - EU and Hungarian Election Results

      04:21 Artistic Pairing - The Twin Peaks Soundtrack

      12:30 Pair Programming and Collaboration

      24:08 What's Old Is New in Tech

      30:36 How to maintain career security in the 2024 tech climate?

      46:22 A Framework for Innovation

      50:37 Implementing Standard Practices

      01:08:47 Wrapping Up

      Share your thoughts about the episode (and the podcast) at [email protected]!

      1 hr 11 min
    • #5 The Retrospective 3rd of June 2024

      Jeremy’s article on How to Innovate: https://www.jeremybrown.tech/how-to-innovate

      • Clayton Christensen’s books on Disruptive Innovation (Jeremy was referring to “The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail”): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19203217-disruptive-innovation
      • Lex Fridman and Mark Zuckerberg interview in the Metaverse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EohIA7QPmmE
      • Perplexity, an AI search engine: https://www.perplexity.ai/
      • Kagi, the search engine Jeremy uses: https://kagi.com/
      • Tom Demarco’s book about slack: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123715.Slack
      • 2018 study on slack and innovation: https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/full/10.1287/orsc.2018.1215

        • Peter’s article about Getting hired as an EM / Searching and applying: https://peterszasz.com/get-hired-as-an-engineering-manager-part-3-searching-and-applying/

        • Craft Conference: https://craft-conf.com/
        • Book on Platform Strategy: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/208871782-platform-strategy
        • Search Engine podcast episode on the media apocalypse and how to survive it, part 1: https://overcast.fm/+BBVQRBOVak part2: https://overcast.fm/+BBVQTfeXl4
        • Example of a hyper-local website: Les Pépites du 19e - https://www.lespepitesdu19e.fr/ and Instagram (@lespepitesdu19e)


          • 00:00 Introduction and Greetings

          00:34 What the hell is this show?

          02:47 Jeremy's article on "How to Innovate"

          07:25 Do you need a healthy Culture to Innovate

          09:55 Can big companies innovate?

          18:53 Is slack (time) needed to innovate?

          28:57 Peter - Getting hired as an EM / Searching and applying

          44:55 Get ahead of the crowd strategies for job seekers

          47:08 An example of a great cold outreach

          48:54 Can networking at conferences help me get a job?

          50:54 Experiences at Craft Conf

          52:21 Emerging trends from the talks at Craft Conf?

          55:17 AI will replace developers!

          01:01:19 Supporting Conference Attendance as a leader

          01:05:13 The Media Apocalypse and Ethical Consumption

          01:07:44 The Role of AI in Content Creation

          01:14:16 The Importance of Local News and Media

          01:25:35 Reflections and Closing Thoughts​

          Share your thoughts about the episode (and the podcast) at [email protected]!

          1 hr 29 min
        • #4 The Retrospective 27th of May 2024

          Chapters (notes below):


          00:00::00 Awkward intros

          00:00:51 Reflecting on Benoit's (CPTO of Lunii) guest appearance last week and the 4 day work week

          00:14:28 What correlates with happiness?

          00:28:59 Peter's articles on getting hired as an EM - part 1 & 2

          00:32:32 Hands on/Hands off Engineering Managers

          00:39:02 You need to have multiple CVs!

          00:44:07 Drop some nuggets in your CV

          00:46:34 Is AI being used to screen me?

          00:51:16 Should I use AI to write my CV?

          00:53:01 Hot tips for how to use AI

          00:58:08 Clickbaity AI

          01:01:59 Four Key Questions for Managers That Boost Team Performance

          01:09:32 Trust and performance management

          01:15:26 Should I share my answers?

          01:18:11 Layoffs and low performers

          01:22:58 Low performers, the vampire in your team

          01:24:25 Retention risk and tracking over time

          01:25:40 Give it three months

          01:26:23 How to get started

          01:28:09 Share your work at 20% done

          01:31:55 Being right the first time and the Ikea Effect

          01:34:09 Jeremy's pivot

          01:36:48 Should our newsletters be perfect?

          01:39:49 Homelabbing woes

          01:48:44 Looking forward to next week


          Show notes

          • Our previous show about Lunii’s 4-day workweek experiment: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7199358260410245121/
          • Peter’s earlier article about a Hungarian company trying the same: https://peterszasz.com/the-end-of-a-4-day-workweek-experiment/
          • Timsons, a family-owned business focusing on employee happiness: https://www.timpson.co.uk/ you can read more about how they are run here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1J7x50pDt5DrcPJ57B7kkM9/6-things-we-learnt-from-the-ceo-of-timpson-s
          • The History of Guinness and it’s social impact - https://faithandleadership.com/stephen-mansfield-god-and-guinness
          • Peter’s newsletter including the activities / happiness correlation research: https://peterszasz.com/week-21-2024-frustration-and-happiness/
          • Not the article Peter mentioned, but a great talk on why we should not send money to Africa: https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/media/series/39/20090409-dead-aid-why-aid-is-not-working-and-how-there-is-a-better-way-for-africa
          • Hungarian charity giving targeted help to specific homeless people: https://vanesely.hu/english/
          • Peter’s articles about Getting Hired as an EM:
          • Women less likely to apply for jobs they don’t feel fully qualified for: https://hbr.org/2014/08/why-women-dont-apply-for-jobs-unless-theyre-100-qualified
          • Jeremy: AI prompting article to ask for clarifying questions: https://www.descript.com/blog/article/11-best-chatgpt-prompts
          • Growth design website to give tips in design experiences: https://growth.design/
          • Jeremy’s recent Performance Questions article: https://www.jeremybrown.tech/four-key-questions-for-managers-that-boost-team-performance/
          • …and the original one about debunking performance rating myths: https://www.jeremybrown.tech/17-debunking-performance-rating-myths/
          • Nine Lies about Work book: https://goodreads.com/book/show/40086702-nine-lies-about-work
          • Jeremy’s article about the Baseline Principles for Teams: https://www.jeremybrown.tech/21-baseline-principles-for-teams/
          • The Five Dysfunctions of a Team book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21343.The_Five_Dysfunctions_of_a_Team
          • The 9-Box Performance Evaluation Model: https://www.bamboohr.com/blog/9-box-grid
          • Jeremy’s article about sharing your work early: https://www.jeremybrown.tech/the-20-percent-rule/
          • …and his earlier one about the IKEA Effect: https://www.jeremybrown.tech/the-ikea-effect/
          • Peter’s article about Homelabbing for Engineering Leaders: https://peterszasz.com/homelabbing-for-engineering-leaders/
          • Craft Conference 10: https://craft-conf.com/2024

            • Share your thoughts about the episode (and the podcast) at [email protected]!

            1 hr 51 min
          • #3 The Retrospective 20th May 2024 - Adopting the 4-Day Workweek with Benoit Terpereau CPTO @ Lunii

            Show Notes:

            • Lunii, where our guest Benoit is CPTO: https://lunii.com/
            • Lunii’s LinkedIn announcement about going 4-day a week: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7196425731042693121/
            • Two other French companies mentioned who do 4-day a week: https://www.ldlc.com/ and https://www.welcometothejungle.com/
            • Péter’s article about a 4-day workweek experiment at Magyar Telekom: https://peterszasz.com/the-end-of-a-4-day-workweek-experiment/


              • 00:00:00 show intro

              00:02:06 Benoit joins us
              00:06:34 4-day workweek and Peter's article
              00:09:52 Lunii's journey to the 4-day workweek
              00:13:33 Why did it take a year to implement?
              00:15:27 Lunii's model - 80 100 100
              00:16:11 How have you started to adapt?
              00:18:27 Async
              00:20:39 Monday is not the same
              00:21:36 Time to learn
              00:32:12 What about Customer Support?
              00:36:29 Early responses
              00:43:19 Performance management
              00:46:55 Levelling Up Individual productivity
              00:51:37 Lunii is hiring
              00:54:12 Screentime and kids
              00:56:42 AI, Storytelling and translation
              01:05:18 The person using AI will take your job
              01:06:26 bye!

              Share your thoughts about the episode (and the podcast) at [email protected]!

              1 hr 7 min

            About The Retrospective

            From the publisher's feed

            The Retrospective: A Podcast for Engineering Leaders