In this episode, we’re joined by Adrienne Braganza Tacke — software engineer, author of “Looks Good To Me”, and developer advocate at Viam. From her inspiring journey into tech, to demystifying the code review process and building team empathy, Adrienne shares the hard truths on how we can make code reviews faster, kinder, and more effective.We talk about her triple-R feedback pattern, cultural differences in feedback, and why your team needs a living working agreement.This episode is a must for engineering leaders, team leads, and developers navigating feedback fatigue or aiming to build a dev culture where everyone can grow from helping each other write better code.

⏱️ Timestamps: [00:00] Adrienne’s intro + unconventional tech journey [02:22] From helpdesk to .NET developer to DevRel at Viam [03:33] Why Adrienne wrote a book on code reviews [06:04] The emotional layer of code reviews [10:36] Cultural nuances in feedback and code review etiquette [14:11] Giving great feedback: objectivity, support, outcome [17:14] Why teams argue over code reviews & the power of working agreements [22:45] In-person vs async reviews + pair programming as pre-review [29:06] Startups vs enterprises: customizing code review processes [37:38] Should AI review our code? Adrienne’s take on AI tooling [45:07] Measuring dev productivity with caution [50:13] Adrienne’s shortcut: the Triple R Pattern [52:45] Tagging review comments: "needs fix", "nitpick", and more [54:01] Wrap-up + final thoughts on dev culture and feedback📚 References & Resources: Looks Good to Me by Adrienne Braganza, https://www.manning.com/books/looks-good-to-me Paul Slaughter’s Conventional Comments AI tool: CodeRabbit AI Developer Productivity Metric Concerns: GitHub Engineering Blog Book Reference on Feedback Culture: Radical Candor by Kim Scott

In this episode of shortcu.tt, hosts Morten and Marilag speak with Aleix Morgadas—engineering strategist, founder of Temperature, and writer on engineering strategy. Together, they explore how engineering strategy, team culture, and cognitive load shape the way modern tech teams operate.Drawing from his experience at companies across Europe, Brazil, and the United States, including ThoughtWorks Creditas & AtomicJar, Aleix offers a thoughtful take on aligning software teams, scaling leadership, and building healthy engineering cultures.

🕒 Episode Timestamps:

00:01:00 – Aleix’s path from developer to strategist

00:03:00 – Engineering culture: Europe vs. Brazil vs. the US00:06:00 – How culture impacts software delivery

00:10:00 – Why engineers struggle to describe company culture00:14:00 – Giving and receiving feedback across cultures

00:18:00 – What is engineering strategy—and why does it matter?

00:26:00 – Common strategy pitfalls and how to avoid them

00:31:00 – Roadmaps vs. strategy: where they overlap and differ

00:40:00 – Cognitive load: how to measure and reduce it

00:49:00 – Behind Temperature: using data to improve engineering teams

00:54:00 – Aleix’s shortcut to building a meaningful strategy

💡 What You’ll Learn:

How to define and implement an engineering strategy

The impact of team culture on collaboration and delivery

Why cognitive load is key to understanding developer productivity

Practical tools and frameworks for engineering leadership

🔗 Resources & Links:

Alex’s Substack – Thoughtful essays on engineering strategy

Teamperature – A tool to measure cognitive load and team focus

💬Connect with Us

Aleix Morgadas

Morten Christensen

Marilag Svennevig

In this special episode of Shortcu.tt Podcast, hosts Morten & Marilag take a retrospective look at past episodes, sharing key takeaways on starting a podcast on developer experience and what they have learned from their guests about internal developer portals

🔹 Why does developer experience matter for teams of all sizes?

🔹 When should a company invest in an internal developer portal?

🔹 What shortcuts can teams take to succeed in using idps

00:00 – 00:35 | 🎙️ Introduction – Retrospective on past episodes & what we’ve learned.

00:35 – 01:15 | 🌍 A European Perspective on Developer Experience – How engineering culture differs from the U.S.

01:15 – 02:17 | 🏗️ The Purpose of Developer Portals – Not every company needs one, but every company needs good DX.

02:17 – 03:33 | 🔎 Start Small: Rolling Out Internal Developer Portals – Avoiding complexity & focusing on pain points.

03:33 – 05:07 | 🚀 Developer Experience in Different-Sized Teams – When does it make sense to invest?

05:07 – 06:50 | 📊 The 3 Biggest Developer Pain Points – Finding APIs, documentation, and tools.

06:50 – 08:17 | ⏳ Onboarding & Productivity – Why onboarding speed is the best DX test.

08:17 – 10:03 | 🛠️ Automation & Self-Service – Reducing manual friction in workflows.

10:03 – 12:19 | 🤝 Building Strong Developer Communities – Knowledge-sharing and engineering culture.

12:19 – 14:35 | 🔄 Developer Portals & Information Architecture – The challenge of organizing and curating knowledge.

14:35 – 17:21 | 🌟 Transparency, Metrics & Self-Service – How visibility improves productivity.

17:21 – 20:42 | 🏆 Maturity & Engineering Excellence – Why teams should take ownership of their internal tools.

20:42 – 23:59 | 🔍 Inner Sourcing & Open Collaboration – How teams can contribute to internal tools & portals.

23:59 – 27:37 | 💬 Continuous Discovery & Feedback Loops – How engineers can create better DX through iteration.

27:37 – 31:14 | 📢 Why Developers Need to Provide Feedback – Breaking complacency in organizations.

31:14 – 35:00 | 🚀 The Shortcut to Better Developer Experience – Final takeaways & the next steps in platform engineering.

Connect with Us:

Morten Christensen - ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/mortenchr/⁠⁠

Marilag Svennevig - ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/marilag/

Welcome back to Shortcu.tt Podcast! In this second part of our deep dive with Thomas Jespersen, we explore developer experience in startups, scaling engineering teams, and the right architectural decisions for growth. Should small teams focus on developer platforms? How do you balance developer autonomy with consistency? Monoliths vs. microservices—what's the best choice for startups?

From Templafy’s rapid deployments to operational consistency in growing teams, Thomas shares practical insights on avoiding technical debt, optimizing workflows, and ensuring smooth engineering practices in fast-moving environments.

Key Takeaways:

• Developer experience is about reducing friction, not just tools.

• Startups should focus on automation early to avoid tech debt.

• Self-contained systems offer more flexibility than rigid microservices.

• Guilds are a powerful way to scale knowledge sharing.

• Fast, in-person code reviews keep teams productive.

00:00 Recap of Part 1 & Thomas’ insights on engineering culture.

02:00 Why simplicity and automation matter.

06:00 Setting up dev environments in hours, not days.

12:00 Automating Repetitive Tasks – CLI tools, workflows & reducing cognitive load.

18:00 The Role of Guilds in Engineering – Cross-team collaboration and knowledge sharing.

25:00 Architectural Choices: Monoliths vs. Microservices – What’s best for scaling startups?

32:00 Thomas’ Shortcut to Great Engineering Practices – Rapid peer reviews & daily deployments.

📖 Books:

• Team Topologies – Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais

• Continuous Delivery – Jez Humble & David Farley

🛠️ Tools & Frameworks:

• PlatformPlatform – Open-source engineering framework

• Feature flags, CI/CD automation – Optimizing for daily deployments

• Developer CLI tools – Automating common engineering tasks

Connect with Us:

Thomas Jespersen - ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasjespersen/ ⁠

Morten Christensen - ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/mortenchr/⁠⁠

Marilag Svennevig - ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/marilag/

In this episode ofShortcu.tt Podcast, we sit down withThomas Jespersen, a tech leader with 30+ years in the industry. As a former CTO of successful startups, including Templafy, Thomas shares his insights onengineer empowerment, managing startups vs enterprises, and achieving harmony between business, product and engineering.
From leading a company that has achieved technical excellence and deploys30 times per day to production, Thomas has shared his hard-earned lessons, some of them may be unconventional, that have true impact in buildinghigh-performing engineering teams that deliver quality at scale.

Empowered engineers are essential for building successful tech products.

Silos between business, product, and engineering lead to inefficiencies.

Startups should focus on solving customer problems, not just shipping features.

Continuous Discovery Habits (by Teresa Torres) is a must-read for product teams.

DORA metrics are key indicators of engineering team performance.

Feature flags & CI/CD pipelines are crucial for scaling engineering teams.

Deadlines should be replaced with high-confidence commitments to avoid technical debt.Timestamp:

00:00 Introduction – 30+ years in tech, from startup to scale-up journey.

02:00Simplicity in Engineering – Why "simple" doesn’t mean "easy."

06:00 Breaking Silos – Why engineers should be involved in product discovery.

12:00Delivery vs. Discovery – Moving beyond a feature factory mindset.

18:00Measuring Success – DORA metrics and replacing deadlines with high-confidence commitments.

25:00Practical Engineering Practices – CI/CD, automation, and scaling teams.

32:00Next Episode Sneak Peek – What is developer experience for small teams and startups?Mentioned Resources & References:

📖Books:

Inspired byMarty Cagan – The definitive guide to building great product teams

Continuous Discovery Habits byTeresa Torres – Making discovery a weekly habit

📊Industry Metrics:

DORA Metrics – Deployment frequency, lead time for changes, change failure rate, and mean time to recovery

🛠️Tools & Practices:

CI/CD pipelines, feature flags, and automated testing forscalable development

PlatformPlatform – Thomas’s open-source project for codifying engineering best practicesConnect with Us:

Thomas Jespersen-⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasjespersen/  ⁠

Morten Christensen -⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/mortenchr/⁠⁠

Marilag Svennevig -⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/marilag/

Key points:

The role of feedback in improving developer portals.

How to track adoption and measure success.

Best practices for scaling developer portals while balancing autonomy and governance.

The importance of fostering a community-driven engineering culture.

Tips for using metrics and surveys effectively to improve developer experience.

Timestamps

00:00 - Introduction to Shortcut podcast and episode overview.

00:39 - Role of feedback in improving developer portals.

01:43 - Quantitative feedback: Tracking metrics like active users and page analytics.

02:08 - Qualitative feedback: Interviews, surveys, and empathy sessions.

04:22 - Combining feedback types to identify pain points and prioritize improvements.

06:56 - Success metrics: Adoption rates, feature usage, and DORA metrics.

10:15 - Using surveys to measure developer satisfaction and experience.

13:21 - Tracking efficiency improvements: Time saved through self-service features.

15:48 - Measuring community interest through documentation and search trends.

17:00 - Scaling developer portals: Governance, autonomy, and shared components.

22:10 - Impact of developer portals on engineering culture and collaboration.

24:20 - Balancing opinionated platforms with team autonomy.

28:00 - Waqas’ Shortcu.tt for building successful developer portals: Start small and iterate.

Connect with Us:

Waqas Ali-   ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/waqasali47/⁠

Morten Christensen - ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/mortenchr/

⁠Marilag Svennevig - ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/marilag/

In this first part of a two-part episode of The Shortcu.tt Podcast, we dive into the world of Internal Developer Portals (IDPs) with Waqas Ali, a seasoned expert in the field. He shares his journey, insights, and strategies for designing and scaling IDPs to improve developer experience and productivity. The discussion covers topics like starting small, understanding pain points, driving adoption, and building community engagement around IDPs. Tune in to learn actionable steps to bring value to developers and organizations alike.

Start Small: Begin with a focused goal, addressing key developer pain points, and scale gradually.

Community Engagement: Building a thriving developer community is essential for feedback and sustained engagement.

Adoption Strategies: Clear documentation, demonstrating value, and leadership support are critical.

Iterate and Improve: Constantly seek user feedback to enhance the platform's relevance and effectiveness.

Timestamp:

00:00 - Introduction

01:19 - The importance of having a centralized platform for developers and how it improves productivity.

02:43 - Starting Small. Tips for initiating an IDP project, including evaluating market options versus building in-house.

04:12 - The Role of Teams: Why a dedicated team is essential for the successful implementation and adoption of an IDP.

06:07 - Addressing discoverability, documentation, and API sharing issues in large and small organizations.

08:47 - Driving Adoption: Strategies to motivate developers and teams to contribute to and use the platform.

17:10 - Leadership and Prioritization: How leadership support and aligning with business goals can accelerate IDP adoption.

20:17 - Focus on delivering one impactful feature at a time and iterating based on user feedback.

23:13 - Building and Maintaining a Community: Fostering engagement through feedback loops, meetups, and incentivizing contributors.

27:10 - Knowledge Sharing: Elevating IDPs as spaces for mentorship, collaboration, and learning opportunities.

Connect with Us:

Waqas Ali-   https://www.linkedin.com/in/waqasali47/

Morten Christensen - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mortenchr/

Marilag Svennevig - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marilag/

For today's episode of The Shortcu.tt Podcast, we’re joined by Susanne Kaiser, an independent tech consultant specializing in developer productivity and adaptive sociotechnical systems.

Susanne shares her journey from startup CTO to expert in combining Wardley Mapping, Domain-Driven Design, and Team Topologies to create architectures for flow. We dive into concepts like fast flow, cognitive load, team autonomy, and the importance of aligning organizational structures to user needs. If you’re keen to explore strategies for effective team organization and software delivery, this episode is packed with insights!

Key Points:

What fast flow means for developer productivity at a team and organizational level.

The architectural flow of Wardley Mapping, Domain-Driven Design, and Team Topologies.

How to create architectures for flow in complex systems. Strategies to navigate challenges in scaling teams and splitting responsibilities.

The role of purpose, user needs, and shared vision in driving transformation.

Resources Mentioned:

Website: https://susannekaiser.net/
The Architecture for Flow Canvas (incl. link to Miro board):

Book (pre-order): Adaptive Systems With Domain-Driven Design, Wardley Mapping, and Team Topologies: Architecture for Flow (Addison-Wesley Signature Vernon) https://a.co/d/1I7aO1O

Wardley Mapping by Simon Wardley

Domain-Driven Design (DDD) by Eric Evans

Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais

Dynamic Reteaming by Heidi Helfand

Timestamps

00:00 - Introduction, about Susanne Kaiser, and overview of the episode

06:15 - Combining these frameworks to build architectures for flow.

10:49 - How Susanne approaches organizations: Assessing the current state.

13:25 - Using Wardley Mapping to map user needs and value chains.

17:19 - Addressing challenges: Legacy systems, cognitive load, and team dynamics.

20:51 - Lessons from startups and enterprises: Common ground and unique challenges.

28:22 - The role of mindset in team composition and responsibility.

34:28 - How to manage team transitions and self-selection processes.

36:36 - Susanne’s Shortcu.tt

37:00 - Where to connect with Susanne and closing remarks.

Connect with Us:

Susanne Kaiser-

https://www.linkedin.com/in/susannekaiser1

https://susannekaiser.net/

Morten Christensen - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mortenchr/

Marilag Svennevig - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marilag/

In this episode of The Shortcu.tt podcast, hosts Morten and Marilag are joined by Casper Jensen, Engineering Director Enterprise Architecture at Pandora.

They discuss Pandora's journey towards improving developer experience and productivity, the transition from project-led to product-led organization, and the challenges and strategies involved in managing a global tech team. Casper also shares insights on the importance of cross-functional collaboration, the impact of a strong engineering culture, and the significance of broadening one's technological scope as a developer.

Key Points:

- Pandora's transition from a project-led to a product-led organization.

- The structure and role of product teams at Pandora.

- The importance of developer experience and the steps Pandora is taking to improve it.

- The challenges of integrating internal and external engineering teams.

- The role of AI in enhancing developer productivity.

- The significance of cross-functional collaboration and understanding different technologies.

- The benefits of broadening one's technological scope for better productivity.

Timestamp:

00:00 Introduction to the podcast and guests

00:45 Overview of Pandora and Casper Jensen's role

06:21 Pandora's developer experience

12:37 The Engineering community at Pandora, and its challenges

16:12 Encouraging cross-functional collaboration

24:00 - Challenges in data discoverability

28:01 Use of Backstage and exploring Kubernetes Space

33:22 Controversial question about mass adoption of technology

36:12 AI's role in developer productivity

39:34 Casper's Shortcu.tt

Connect with Us:

Casper Jensen - https://www.linkedin.com/in/casperj/

Morten Christensen - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mortenchr/

Marilag Svennevig - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marilag/

In the pilot episode of Shortcu.tt, Morten, and Marilag are joined by Rasmus Hald to discuss the importance of developer experience (DX).