alphalist.CTO Podcast - For CTOs and Technical Leaders

Reimagine version control systems with Scott Chacon, Co-founder of GitHub and GitButler. Because, even Scott, a Git Veteran, will admit it: ``` Git is a pain sometimes. 🫣 ``` There is a serious Merge Conflict ⚔️ between how modern developers code and the workflow ordained by Git in the Linux mailing list days. Version Control Systems need to be taken apart by First Principles 🧩 so they can be better adapted to the needs of modern software teams. And this is the branch he is busy with at GitButler 🔧 - which he invited us to checkout. Pull this episode to find out: - Is the Git Protocol still useful? Does it just need a better client? 🤔 - How to maximize the benefits of centralized version control systems 🫀 - Can we stream🚿 our code and commit less? + T180 calculator hacks Is there life beyond merge conflicts? 🌈 😅 Listen here to find out: https://alphalist.com/podcast/87-scott-chacon-co-founder-of-gitbutler-and-github

Is there a nice way to downsize? Mike Fisher, former CTO of Etsy, shares what he learned when the company downscaled by 27% in 2 rounds of layoffs right before he joined. Find out how you can help your team navigate this sensitive period - both pre- and post-layoff. - How much time⏳ you lose in a layoff (the productivity cost of layoff) - Why you can’t expect to cut costs ✂️ AND grow - Why Availability 🟢 needs to be prioritised as you downsize - Layoffing off Generalists vs. Specialists 🧑‍🔬 - How they migrated to the cloud ☁️

git checkout the future of software development with Thomas Dohmke, CEO of GitHub. In this broad podcast, we discuss everything from refactoring and scaling to the CTO/CEO role, from open source to AI as a Dev Tool. Every day Thomas delves into the development of software development - so his 🧠 was a great brain to pick. Listen to find out: - Why refactoring 🧩 will always be a part of growth. - What was it like being integrated ☂️ into Microsoft post-M&A - What are GitHub’s current challenges 👷 Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/85-thomas-dohmke-ceo-github

Find out the best way to measure Developer Experience 🧑‍💻in a way that truly enables ⚡ your developers (i.e. Developer Productivity) in this CTO podcast with Abi Noda - co-creator of the DevEx Framework and founder of Pull Panda. For years Abi has been on a quest to discover what developer metrics are the key to happier and more productive developers. He tried PR Analytics (he created Pull Panda🐼 - acquired by GitHub) and DORA, before teaming up with other Developer Productivity researchers 🧑‍🔬 to create a new framework which focuses on improving developer experience (DevEx) to improve productivity. Listen to find out: - Why measure Developer Productivity? 🤷(from both CTO and developer perspective) - How to survey your developers? (Sampling, Frequency and Length)📝 - How DORA is done wrong in most companies + Why he prefers bootstrapping -🥾 but got a unique type of funding for his 4th company. Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/84-abi-noda-co-creator-of-the-devex-metrics-framework BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Storyblok (https://link.alphalist.com/cms) and WorkGenius (www.workgenius.com/alphalist). TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Introduction 05:09 His Bootstrapping Inspiration 06:29 When investment is good 09:07 Why measure developer productivity? 13:28 Pull Analytics Approach 16:47 How it backfired at GitHub 17:13 Companies Misuse of Data 19:01 Why DORA didn’t work 20:40 'Shiny New Object Syndrome' 22:10 The right and wrong way to do DORA 24:39 How Developer Metrics have Evolved 33:28 Small Teams and Measuring DX 34:32 Measuring DX in larger companies 36:09 Creating a survey (frequency, length, and sampling) 41:21 Honesty in survey responses 43:48 Tips for getting started

Get inspired about architecture - that of computers and teams - in this CTO podcast with Aviran Mordo, VP Engineering at Wix. I really enjoyed talking with Aviran about both the technical nitty gritty of powering millions of websites as well as the Wix model which - unlike the Spotify model - is still in use at its flagship company over a decade later Listen to find out: - How the Wix model works 🪗(+ hiring, personal development and communication across guilds and companies) - What is Platform-as-a-Runtime 🚄 - Why most microservices 🪢 are done wrong (and are costing you money) - How to encourage mentorship 🫶 - The infra that powers 7% of the web Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/83-aviran-mordo-vp-engineering-wix

Find out how to restructure your org using a matrix structure with Gertrud Kolb, CTO of eyeo (the company behind common adblockers). You will find out how Gertrud implemented changes across an already large organisation - from the team typologies to team communications. Listen to find out: - How to restructure using team topology 🧩best practices in a large organisation. - How to improve requirements engineering ✅ - How to gradually consolidate team communications 💬 - How ad-blockers are working advertisers to enable privacy-friendly 🎯 targeting + Behind-the-scenes at the world’s most popular adblocker Listen here: www.alphalist.com/podcast/82-gertrud-kolb-cto-eyeo --- Timestamps (1:58) - Gertrud’s Nerd Journey (8:24) - Restructuring your org with Team Topologies (15:04) - Working in an interdisciplinary & cross team way (16:00) - Navigating interdependencies with multiple products, teams and interests (21:55) - Inside Eyeo’s Matrix Organization (24:09) - Integrating new companies into the org (28:13) - Consolidating Communication Tools (33:02) - The tech behind ad blocking (41:26) - The move to Ad Filtering -- BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Zoho - https://link.alphalist.com/zoho You have probably heard of Zoho. They have been around for 27 years and now offer an all-in-one platform with over 50 mission-critical apps that offer everything from sales to marketing and HR to accounting. All in one platform- connecting the entire enterprise, ensuring communication between departments. But its the user privacy that Zoho offers that makes it stand out. Not only do they not make money by using your data for advertising, but they also have EU datacenters which is a huge win for GDPR compliance See for yourself. Come to their user conference, named Zoholics on 26th and 27th of September 2023 in Cologne, where you can sit down with experts and get to know the people behind the software. Plus, you get 25% off with the promo code OMR_CTO. Just go to: www.link.alphalist.com/zoho

Find out how to do continuous product discovery with Teresa Torres who has taught over 12,000 people how to sustainably infuse their daily product decisions with customer input. You will find out why product should not be just a job title, but a mindset that the entire C-suite needs to share. Listen to find out: - What is an outcome-orientated mindset? Do we need OKRs?✅ - How to build a continuous feedback loop with customers 🪢 - Business success 👔 vs product discovery success 🫶 - What mistakes people make with product discovery 🕵️ - The pitfalls of founder-led product 🤳 (and how to avoid them) Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/81-teresa-torres-author-of-continuous-discovery-habits

Find out how to use platform engineering to scale your DevOps 🚀with this hands-on podcast with Sarah Polan, Field CTO at HashiCorp. Sarah is passionate about 2 things: DevSecOps 🔏 and automating everything 🔁 (she even automates aspects of her childcare :)). Which is why this podcast episode is all about scalability 📈 - from attrition-proof DevOps to automated audits. This is a must-listen podcast for both CTOs who are new to Platform Engineering as well as those who are troubleshooting from the trenches. Listen to find out: - Why do we need platform engineering?🤔 From financial benefits to DevEx. - Is DevOps dead? Why platform teams is the only scalable way to do DevOps - How to get your platform and application teams to work together 🪢? - How to balance 🤹 autonomy and innovation with centralisation? - How to decide what to build at a platform level? 🧩 🏗 Does it differ by industry? Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/80-sarah-polan-field-cto-hashicorp?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=referral

Did you know that effective 1:1s will 3X your employee engagement? 🤩 Maximise your 1:1 meetings 🤝 by leveraging the meeting science discovered by Steven Rogelberg (Chancellor's Professor at UNC Charlotte and author of 2 top-ranked books about meeting science: “The Surprising Science of Meetings” and “Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings”). As an organisational psychologist 🧑‍🔬who has advised US Congress 🏛️and Fortune100 companies on workplace matters, Steven is here to share with CTOs the evidence-based 🧐 science that will not only maximise meetings, but also realise their full potential🚀. Listen to find out: - How can we realise the full potential of a 1:1 when it comes to relationships and productivity? Where do async tools fit in? - What are common mistakes to avoid in your 1:1? 🫣 - How often 🤔 should you meet with your direct reports? 🗓️ - How do you evaluate 🧪 the quality of your 1:1s? - How many DRs 👥 can a person have? Can you delegate the 1:1? Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/79-steven-rogelberg-author-of-glad-we-met-the-art-and-science-of-1-on-1-meetings

It is time to stop learning the computer’s programming language, and get computers to learn our language. Prepare think different - or should we say alien 👾 - in this CTO podcast with Stephen Wolfram (Founder & CEO of Wolfram Research). Find out why we need to use computational thinking to create code in a way humans can both write ✍️ and read 📖. Listen to find out: >> What is the programming workflow of the future? 🔮 (SPOILER: Think NLU + LLM + computational layer) >> What is a LUI (Linguistic User Interface) 💬? >> Why should you make your company computable 🖥️? >> What happens at the intersection of technology and judgement?🤔 >> Why the next development in LLMs won’t be so dramatic 📈 >> Why they run on-prem 🗄️? + why they livestream code reviews?🧑‍💻 Listen Here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/78-stephen-wolfram-founder-ceo-of-wolfram-research

Find out how to use tech to deliver (not distract from) business value in this CTO podcast featuring Vikas Gupta, CTO at Choco (a digital platform connecting suppliers to their restaurants), who previously held senior engineering roles at Uber and Dropbox. Listen find out : - ⚖️ How to balance product and platform initiatives - 🔍What the 5 dimensions are for evaluating a language - 🎩 CTPO vs 👷CTO + 🤠CPO - How to determine ROI when migrating from legacy - + Why he chose his tech stack Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/77-vikas-gupta-cto-choco

Get a handle on the latest developments in AI 🤩 in this CTO Podcast featuring Richard Socher, CEO of You.com (the world’s first AI-centric chat-based 💬 search engine). This is your opportunity to learn from the AI professor 🎓who co-authored the paper that introduced the term ‘prompt engineering’, created MetaMind 🧠(now powering Einstein at Salesforce) and pioneered many of the technologies everyone is hyping about today. But for Richard, its not hype. Its just the fusion of technology and business that he has been working on for years. Listen to discover: - How can chat-based search be monetised 💸? - How have MLOps evolved 🔄? - How will AI impact the job market? - What will happen to digital marketing in the age of AI?🤷 - When will we reach AGI? ⏳ (hint: not as soon as you think) + Search Engines: From the current tech complexity to future forms. Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/76-richard-socher-ceo-you-dot-com

Buckle up for a journey through the evolution of DevOps with John Engates, the Field CTO at Cloudflare, who has been leading the charge since his days as CTO of Rackspace (2002-2018). Get ready for a fascinating ride as we explore the role of AI in DevOps and gain insights from a true industry veteran. Listen to discover: - How to handle incident response the Cloudflare way🚨: mission rooms, communication strategies, and best practices - Why we can't just turn off the internet? 🌐 The ethical considerations behind cyber warfare - The unique role of a 🧑‍🌾 Field CTO - How John puts ChatGPT to work 🛠️ Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/75-john-engates-field-cto-cloudflare

Dig deep into how to use generative AI as developer tool 🧑‍💻in this CTO podcast featuring Shawn ‘Swyx’ Wang. Shawn has not only headed Developer Experience at 3 Unicorns 🦄, but he is also the editor of the Latent Space AI/ML newsletter. Tune in to discover how generative AI will change programming and how to start exploring the world of LLMs. Learn: - How our infrastructure 🏗️ needs will evolve with the explosion of the AI frontier - How much time a CTO should spend trying out new technology vs. sticking with the tried and true ⚖️ - Why AI-native databases 🗃️ are the future + Best practices for using generative AI as a developer tool 🦾 Listen here - https://alphalist.com/podcast/74-shawn-swyx-wang-developer-experience-expert

Focus on your CTO career in this podcast with Will Larson about leaving a CTO role, finding a new CTO role, and negotiating your compensation. Will is the thought leader behind the popular blog "Irrational Exuberance" and the book "An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management" and "Staff Engineer: Leadership beyond the management track". Additionally, he is the former CTO of Calm who has also led teams at Uber, Digg, and Yahoo. Listen to find out: - How to find 🔍 the ideal CTO Role in 2023: Location 🌍, Stage, Domain, Culture 🤝 and Red Flags 🚩 - Moving on from your Current CTO role 👋: When, Why and How (succession, exit options etc.) - What to look out for in CTO💸 compensation and options - Why he predicts tech salaries will decrease in the 10 years Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/73-will-larson-thought-leader-irrational-exuberance-lethain

Like the UX of a SPA but developing it is a nightmare🤔? Then you should listen to this podcast about PESPA (Progressively Enhanced Single Page apps.🤩. You will learn from Kent C. Dodds, 💁‍♂️co-founder of Remix about this latest web architecture which combines the UX of a SPA (no full-page refreshes 🔄 with a better DX👨‍💻 (no code duplication and less mess🫣). With companies like Microsoft, Netflix, and LinkedIn incorporating it into their stack - it's the web’s next transition which you don’t want to miss out on. Listen to discover: - The Evolution ⏩of the Web Architecture: From Multi-Page Apps to Single Page Apps and everything in between - How older companies are injecting 💉SPA into their legacy MPA(Called PEMPA) - How to better the UI of error messages and validation - How can one achieve an 📵offline-first web app? - Remix vs. Nuxt vs. Flux Kent's skills as a seasoned software educator and Javascript influencer make this technical discussion a breeze to digest. ⚠️ CAUTION: LISTENING TO THIS PODCAST MIGHT LEAD TO SOME SERIOUS CODING BREAKTHROUGHS Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/72-kent-c-dodds-co-founder-remix

Learn about the future of front-end with Malte Ubl (CTO at Vercel). Malte is the creator of JSConf.eu and has extensive experience in engineering teams on projects like Wiz (the front-end framework Google still uses in most of their consumer apps) and Google Search (Desktop). Now he is at Vercel - mainstreaming the tools and techniques common in BigTech - to other tech companies. Listen to find out: >> The CTO Role: how he balances ⚖️ Product 💡 and Engineering 🔧 >> How to decide on a front-end stack - from frameworks to languages 👀 >> Where most Engineering A/B🧪 tests fail + The tech stack at Vercel Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/71-malte-ubl-cto-vercel

Learn out to run your remote 🌎 company effectively with tips from Dominik Angerer, co-founder, and CEO of Storyblok. He shares tips and insights on everything from remote recruiting to onboarding and engagement. Plus, he shares the story behind the Storyblok tech stack, and why, after years of being bootstrapped, they decided to seek funding. Listen to find out: - Remote Compensation 💸: How he uses data to adjust salaries - How to handle IT procurement 🖥️ and device management for a global team - How to source, recruit, and onboard a fully distributed team - How they split meetings into async and sync segments + What the ideal annual retreat 🏖️ looks like Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/70-dominik-angerer-cofounder-and-ceo-at-storyblok P.S. Storyblok buys their compensation datasets from here: https://www.erieri.com/

Find out how to optimize your cloud ☁️costs in this CTO podcast featuring David Linthicum (Chief Cloud Strategy Officer at Deloitte, Author of Insider’s Guide to Cloud Computing, and #1 Cloud Influencer). This is your opportunity to hear about the efficient use of cloud computing from someone whose 35-year 🫡 career includes serving as CTO at five companies, writing 15 books, publishing 7000 articles, presenting at 1000 conferences and 2000 webinars, and teaching popular courses on computing at Louisiana State University and LinkedIn Learning. Listen to find out: - What are the biggest mistakes 🫣 people make with their cloud setups? - How can you use FinOps 💸to cut your cloud costs? - How to get Cloud Repatriation (cloud + on-prem) and MultiCloud to work for you?🫶 - Why the MetaCloud/SuperCloud is the next big thing 🔥 Will cloud costs will drop soon?📉 Listen here: www.alphalist.com/podcast/69-david-linthicum-chief-cloud-strategy-office-deloitte-consulting

Find out how to price your SaaS product effectively 💸 in this podcast featuring Patrick Campbell of ProfitWell (a SaaS for subscription analytics, retention, and pricing solutions). He shares pricing insights he has learned by looking over 🧐 the data of 73 000 SaaS companies over the past decade! Listen to find out: You - How to get the right 🎯price for your SaaS Product - Freemium 🆓 or free trial? -Should you have a legacy 👴🏻 tier? - Usage-based 📈 or tier-based 📊 pricing? 🤔 - Why and how to change your price? 🔼 - Insight into the current ‘recession’ 📉 - Why it’s hard to sell an analytics product 🔍 Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/68-patrick-campbell-founder-ceo-profitwell

Find out how to bootstrap and scale fast in this CTO podcast featuring Renaud Visage - Co-Founder & ex-CTO at Eventbrite🎟. He shares what he would do differently if he would bootstrap Eventbrite again, his approach to the evolving role of the founding CTO, and climate-friendly tech. Listen to find out: - Bootstrapping: Why you should hire senior devs 👨‍💻 as soon as possible - Cloud☁️ vs. On-Prem⚙️ - How recession📉 will change the start-up ecosystem - Climate + Tech: How to factor in climate♻️ to our tech - How to embrace your evolving role as CTO Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/67-renaud-visage-co-founder-ex-cto-eventbrite

Get insight into product analytics from Dr. Thanasis Noulas, VP Engineering at TradeRepublic - whose 15+ year data career has spanned industries as diverse as trading, accommodation (Booking.com & AirBnB), Mobility (Uber) and Content (Netflix). Listen to find out: - How to be data-informed when you can’t be data-driven (e.g. in a regulated industry ​​⚠️) - How to A/B test correctly (sample size, old users/new users, tools) - Build vs.Buy 🛒 and the data tech stack. - Why you should spend more time with your overperformers 🏆​​ than underperformers - What the recent tech layoffs teach us about transparency🔮 + his quarterly calendar ​​🗓️ defragmentation hack Listen here: www.alphalist.com/podcast/66-dr-thanasis-noulas-vp-engineering-trade-republic

Find out how to ship meaningful products 👍 on time ⌛ with proper product shaping in this CTO podcast with Ryan Singer, the creator of the Shape Up Method 💪. The Shape Up Method aims to better define and prioritise 🤔 projects before they are sent to be built and shipped. Listen to find out: - How to timebox effectively 📅 (SPOILER: Its not 2 or 6 weeks) - Why tickets don’t work 🎫 - What is the ideal team composition 🎨 for each phase of the project. + Why he doesn’t give specific instructions for the build phase 🏗️ (because everyone does their own thing anyway 🙃) Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/65-ryan-singer-creator-of-the-shape-up-method

Find out how to build a profitable mobile app or game 📱in this CTO podcast featuring Carlo Szelinsky, Co-CEO & Founder @ applike group. The applike group brings in $100M+ ARR through their apps and games and now also offers tech solutions for app creators. Listen to this podcast for a step by-step-guide to mobile apps: from performance marketing attribution to in-app analytics technology and everything you need to know about monetizing your app. Listen to find out: - How to do attribution 🧐 well in 2023 (and how to deal with click🖱️ fraud) - The pros and cons of ad network mediation platforms 🧑‍⚖️ - The different ways to monetize a mobile game 🎮 - What tech stack he recommends for each app type. Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/64-carlo-szelinsky-co-ceo-founder-applike-group

Discover the technology behind a service that delivers groceries within two hours ⏳ in this CTO podcast featuring Aron Spohr, CTO @ Flaschenpost - a grocery delivery service. 🍏🍞🥚🥫 Listen to find out: - Why boring 🥱 is good in a tech stack (SPOILER: They run their ecommerce 🛒 site in .NET and C# ) - Why they went with a hybrid approach (web container + native SPA) to apps - Why they now buy before they build 🛠️ + How he hacked Deutsche Telekom 📶 at age 16

Get insight into the world of reinforcement learning in this CTO podcast with Maria Meier CTO @ Phantasma Labs (a Simulation-a-a-Service). Maria shares with us how the simulation industry🔮 is developing - particularly in the autonomous vehicle context. Listen to find out: - Why reinforcement learning 🍭 is about to catch up to the other 2 ML paradigms - Why we need to model diversity in AI 👩‍🦽👴🧒🌍 - especially when simulating urban pedestrian traffic. - How much progress the autonomous vehicle industry 🚘 has made towards Level 5. - How standardisation 📜 is unfolding in ML Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/62-maria-meier-cto-phantasma-labs

Come to a new appreciation of the code that powers most of the hardware you interact with in this CTO podcast featuring Bjarne Stroustrup - Creator of C++. Join us as we discuss the past, present, and future of C++ - a language used in everything from ATMs 🏧 to rocketships 🚀. Listen to find out: - Why we need to differentiate between coding 👨‍💻 and programming ⚒️ - Why he doesn’t want to start C++ from scratch ❇️ - The challenges of maintaining 🏗️ a language used by millions of people - How C++ 💪 trumps other languages in efficiency Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/61-bjarne-stroustrup-creator-of-c-plus-plus

Discover new ways to think about ethical engineering 😇 and technical architecture 🏗️in this CTO podcast featuring Yonatan Zunger, Creator of WXZ Layers of System Approach and Distinguished Engineer at Twitter. This is your opportunity to hear from someone whose architectural philosophy is inspiring companies like Github. Listen to find out: >> How to build a multi-layer 🍰 architecture (WXZ) that gives a reliable way to test ideas out. >> Why we need to consider ethics and privacy in everything from UI 🖱️ to AI 🤖 >> What the IC track 🧑‍💻looks like (titles and roles) >> What 4 skills 🧠 every project needs Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/60-yonatan-zunger-creator-of-the-wxz-layers-of-the-system-approach

Find out how to be more efficient by using a mix of no-code, low-code and hard-code in your tech stack in this practical CTO podcast episode featuring Andreas Wixler, the CTO of FINN 🚙. Listen to find out: >> When, why and how to migrate ➡️ your core business code from no-code to hard-code >> How to test and document an API-first set up >> How to get the entire company automating ⚙️ processes in no-code >> How to navigate no-code and low-code limits ⚠️ Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/59-andreas-wixler-cto-finn

Get clarity on how to build great software in 2022 in a world exploding with methodologies and languages with the legendary software craftsman Uncle Bob Martin. The Clean Coder ✨is known for Test Driven Development ✅ and his contribution to SOLID 🧰 and the Agile Manifesto 📜 and he is here to share how to incorporate it into a professional setup. Listen to find out: - How to do Technical Debt ⚖️ the right way. - Why your hiring 📜 should be language-agnostic 💬 - Why pair programming 🤼🏻 is better than code reviews - How Agile 🎛️ came about + the 🔮 Future of Software With over 60 years of experience and many books and courses under his belt - this is the technical architecture overview you have been waiting for. With over 60 years of experience and many books and courses under his belt - this is the architecture overview you have been waiting for. Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/58-uncle-bob-martin-the-clean-coder-behind-test-driven-development-solid-principles-and-the-agile-manifesto

Find out what it takes to enable developer productivity in a highly autonomous environment 💪 like Netflix where there are no rules ✌️- only trust and accountability 🫵. Kathryn Koehler, Director of Developer Productivity Engineering @ Netflix shares insight into lean teams, internal tooling, and yes, developer productivity. Listen to find out: - How to decide between Build 🛠vs Buy 🛒 in internal tooling - How to measure 📏developer productivity (SPACE vs NPS vs DORA) - How to support developer’s choice in language 💬(context vs. control) - Why the ideal team 👥 size is n-1 - + Why she never says she is ‘busy’ 🤹 Netflix is known for its unconventional fast-paced culture - so get ready for a wild ride.

Learn how to be the CTO that everyone wants to work for by listening to this talk by Ken Coleman. Known as America’s Career Coach, this Ramsey Personality is also the bestselling author of books like ‘From Paycheck to Purpose’, ‘Proximity Principle’, and more. Discover the winning recipe you need to attract and retain talent in today’s market from someone who has spoken to over 5000 people live-on-air who are looking to leave or join leaders. Plus, find out how to hone your servant-leadership skills by asking your team the right questions, balancing patience and progress, and choosing the right mentor. Listen to find out: - What are the 6 Rules of Engagement that will help you retain 🧲(and attract) talent in today’s market - The difference between Purpose 🧭, Vision 🔭 and Mission and how to use them to create a future-proof company. - What is the secret to leading successful autonomous and remote teams? - How to attract the right talent with a winning job description. This is a golden talk for technical leaders looking to up their game. Listen Here - https://alphalist.com/podcast/56-ken-coleman-americas-career-coach

Find out how to maintain developer productivity 🧑‍💻 in a fast scaling team in this CTO podcast featuring Rachel Potvin, VP Engineering at GitHub (formerly of Google and Ubisoft). She shares how GitHub uses things like fan-out processes, design reviews, and DevSat surveys to stay on track even as the team 3Xed💥. Listen to find out: - Why you should focus on team 👥 productivity metrics (+which ones) - How they are using the ‘Layers of the System’ 🍔 approach to work out GitHub’s future architecture 🏛️ (SPOILER: It might not be entirely monolithic forever) - How they prioritised build 🏗️ queues to minimise context switching Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/55-rachel-potvin-vp-engineering-at-github

Cal Henderson, CTO of Slack, creator of Flickr, and author of ‘Building Scalable Websites’ (O'Reilly Media, 2006) shares how Slack was built from both a tech and product perspective and what you should be doing to reclaim your focus time ⏱️. You don’t want to miss out on hearing about the Slack tech stack from someone who is a pioneer in the use of web APIs and created the basis for OAuth and oEmbed. Listen to find out: >> How Slack does focus time >> What tech stack👩‍💻 powers Slack across platforms >> Why Twitter 🐦 has allowed for better products to be created + why you need to disconnect to produce Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/54-cal-henderson-cto-slack

Find out what is new in the world of cybersecurity in this CTO podcast featuring cybersecurity expert Mikko Hypponen, the originator of Hypponen's Law (if it's smart📲, it's vulnerable😨) and Europol 🇪🇺 board member. Tune in to hear what he has to say as an expert with more than 30 years of experience in protecting users’ cyber security and privacy. Listen to find out: - Why you should see open source vulnerabilities as a supply chain problem (and why it's your job to contribute an audit 🧐). - How Bitcoin makes a great quantum-proof encryption 🔏 solution. - Should we be scared of AI-aided cyberattacks? 🏴󠁢󠁯󠁴󠁿🤖 + Cybersecurity and the Russian🇷🇺/Ukrainian🇺🇦 conflict Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/53-mikko-hypponen-chief-research-officer-withsecure

I spoke with Oren Etzioni - CEO of Allen Institute for AI (a leading AI research institute). Get an insight into what's new in the world of AI from the person whose company's incubated startups worth $300 million+ and released a number of AI tools and technologies. Listen to find out: >> How to get the scientists 🧪 and engineers 🔧on your team to work together>> >> What opportunities await you 🦸 in the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence? >> What is going to be the next big thing in the world of AI🧠, computer vision👁️ and NLP👄? + Is AI good or bad? 🤔 Listen here - https://alphalist.com/podcast/52-oren-etzioni-ceo-of-allen-institute-for-ai

Eben Upton, Co-founder & CEO of Raspberry Pi Ltd (which produces low-cost, high-performance Raspberry Pi single-board computers and microcontrollers for kids - and adults) shares what it’s like to build hardware that makes computing accessible to more people (Did you know that some components are camera shy 📸??). In the past decade, they have made 45 million Raspberry Pis while improving on the original’s performance 40X!!! Learn top tips about building great hardware (it is called hard for a reason) and why you need 10 domain experts, $1 million dollars, and a risk appetite to ⚙️ power the creations of millions of people. Listen to find out: - Why technical leaders with multiple demands on their time should stay away from the code 👩‍💻 - Why do they no longer manufacture hardware in the Far East 🌏 - What will outdated semi-conductor manufacturing facilities 🏭 be used for? - How they are handling the supply chain disruptions 🚢 and the conflict in Eastern Europe (e.g. bot scalping, rerouting, prioritization). P.S. If you like gambling - try the semi-conductor industry.

Niilo Säämänen, CTO of Wolt (best known for their delivery platform) ⚡, shares how he leads an engineering organisation of 40+ autonomous product teams through hyper-growth to serve millions of customers across 23 countries 🚀. Learn how to structure your team and product across domains, platforms, and countries while putting employee satisfaction at the forefront of your work ⭐. You’re bound to learn a thing or two from his unique approach to building impact-driven tech organisations built on autonomy, ownership and accountability 💪. Listen to find out: - How to build & maintain a company culture 🤗 in a hyper-growth company - Why autonomous teams allow you to attract and retain the most talented 🏆 engineers - How to measure engineering performance (hint: engineer satisfaction is more important than you think) - Why they use semi-annual tiered team-owned roadmaps at Wolt (and their process ⚙️ for creating them) Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/50-niilo-saamanen-cto-at-wolt

Mike Perham, the creator of Sidekiq 🦵🏼 (a background job managers for Ruby) shares how he commercialised the open-source as a solopreneur doing what he loves 💙 without the costs & management headaches 🤦 of a team or the pressures of a VC investment. Discover tips for building sustainable software (e.g. minimise dependencies) and choosing the right business model that enables you to support and maintain your software for years to come. Listen to find out:: -How to get to $4M ARR with 20% YoY growth by creating a helpful add-on ➕ to a popular open-source framework (i.e. Rails). -Why you should avoid dependencies originating from a 💸VC-backed company or non-commercialized OS project -Why you activate a ticking time-bomb 💣 when you get VC funding (better to bootstrap and get the revenue without the pressure) Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/49-mike-perham-creator-of-sidekiq-faktory

Michael Kagan, the CTO of computing giant Nvidia and co-founder of Mellanox shares insight into the world of hardware, software, AI, and of course computing. Listen to find out: - Why you should ditch deep hierarchy and allow those close to the product to make the decisions. 🧑‍⚖️ - The benefits of working with inexperienced engineers 🐤 - How to retain employees by hiring them every day 😃. + Why instead of fighting for a bigger slice of pie 🍰 - we should just bake a bigger pie Listen Here- https://alphalist.com/podcast/48-michael-kagan-cto-at-nvidia

I spoke with Daniel Krauss, the Chief Organisational Plumber at FlixBus - a leading Mobility-as-a-Service 🚍🚆. Learn how to grow a company from a ‘fastest-shippable-product monolith’🙃 to a neat ‘independent service’ architecture 😀 with ‘Team Self Design’ events, empowered teams & domain-orientated org structure. Listen to find out: - How to push technological innovation in a highly-regulated industry⛔ (and its limits). - How to adapt your tech architecture and organizational structure of your product as you scale ⇗ - Why you should never compromise on hiring the best 💪 engineers. + How he chose FlixBus tech stack

Taylor Otwell, CEO, and Creator of Laravel (a popular PHP framework) - gives tips on how to commercialize an open-source by sharing his winning recipe of a lean team, great UX/UI, time management, product management, and of course, commercial products. He also gives insight into the use of the various frameworks for full-stack engineering (SPOILER ALERT: Full-stack bootcamps should be teaching more than Javascript). Listen to find out:: - How to get to 6M$ ARR starting with an open-source project (HINT: It’s not through sponsored repositories) - Why to build a SaaS with a single full-stack engineer 🦸 you need to abandon Javascript - Why it's better to follow product vision 🧭 and ROI when building features rather than detractors' requests. - What goes on behind the scenes 🛠️ at Laravel (product management, team structure, async etc.) + A day in the life ⏰ of Taylor Otwell

David Heinemeier Hansson, CTO of Basecamp and Hey and creator of Ruby-on-Rails💎 blows us away yet again in this thought-provoking podcast about bootstrapping, scaling, remote work, and of course Ruby on Rails. Learn insights into technical leadership from someone who has been leading a remote team since 2004 (hint: You are doing Slack and Zoom wrong), believes in async work, and loves the fact that his company doesn’t have an office 🏢. Plus, after 20 years of creating multi-million dollar SaaS products - he just made his first middle management hire!! 🤯 Listen to find out: - Product discovery: Why he rather ships a product instead of doing discovery with Figma prototypes. There is no stronger confirmation than a user that pays for your product - Why they capped Basecamps size to 60 for a long time 🧑‍💼and discontinued a lot of products to fully focus - How he would bootstrap a startup in 2022 🚀 (e.g. SaaS, remote, small team, nodecode vs. handcrafted software). - Why he doesn’t work on Ruby on Rails👨‍💻 full time and why he thinks it’s good for the framework that it’s not commercial at all - How Rails 7 brings back developer productivity + pushes UX to the next level WITHOUT a lot of Javascript (No SPA inside!) with Hotwire + His favorite productivity tip? He cut down Twitter by 97% Listen here - https://alphalist.com/podcast/45-david-heinemeier-hansson-ruby-on-rails-creator-and-cto-at-basecamp-and-hey

Laura Major - CTO at motional (an autonomous vehicle company 🚗) and author of the book ‘What To Expect When You Are Expecting Robots’🤖 - talks about what it takes to build a commercially-viable SAE Level 4 self-driving vehicle 🚘. The motional team has been working with Hyundai and Lyft to get robotaxis on the streets of Las Vegas by 2023. You don't want to miss this inside scoop on the AV industry from a robotics expert with a background in the aerospace industry🚀. Listen to find out: -What goes into making AVs: sensing, data processing, testing, maintenance and more. -Why they released their NuPlan dataset as a virtual driving test for AVs -What its like competing in the autonomous vehicle industry. -How to manage your time ⌚ as a CTO + How she deals with the (unfortunate) challenges inherent in being a #WomenInTech 👩‍💻

Our next guest has a serious need for ⚡ speed ⚡! I spoke with Ilya Grigorik, Principal Engineer at Shopify, founder and former CTO of PostRank (acquired by Google), former co-chair of W3C Web Performance working group. Learn how to optimize your website for speed 💨 with tips from the web performance engineer who worked on Google’s ‘Make Web Faster’ team (y’know, the one that brought you Core Web Vitals and Page Speed Insights). Listen to find out: - Why every CTO needs how mobile networks operate 📲 before building anything mobile. - How to use perceptual latency 👁️ to your advantage - What features you should be using to #MakeTheWebFaster ⏩ - How Shopify is pivoting to serve developers with its new Hydrogen and Oxygen frameworks. + Why headless eCommerce isn’t actually head-less - it's got many heads (omnichannel). Listen here - https://alphalist.com/podcast/43-ilya-grigorik-principal-engineer-at-shopify

I spoke with Frédéric Rivain, CTO at Dashlane, a password management 🔐 solution. Learn about the future of passwords, why they are focussing on browsers instead of platforms, and how ‘half-baked agile’ works at Dashlane. Listen to find out: -Why they are moving towards browser-centric delivery (away from OS 🖥️) The impact of ManifestV3 on the extensions 🧩 community. -Why the future🔮 won’t be entirely passwordless -How they minimize the impact of breaches with their zero-knowledge📦 approach to engineering + How they structure their teams👥�, processes📕 and OKRs ✔️ at Dashlane. Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/42-frederic-rivain-cto-of-dashlane

I spoke with Snir Yarom, CTO at Codility,🧑‍💻 - a leading technical assessment platform - about data-driven technical recruiting 💼, the typical hiring process and how to attract talent in a competitive market. Listen to find out: - How to use data 📊 to optimise each stage of your technical recruiting pipeline (e.g. sourcing, screening, interviews, assessment etc.) - How to lead different tech teams across cultural divides 🇹🇭 🇮🇱 🇩🇪 (e.g. confrontational vs. non-confrontational culture). - Why ‘Meeting the Team’ 🤝 is a key step in the hiring process. + The best sources of engineers (by conversion rate). Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/41-snir-yarom-cto-codility

I spoke with Marco Palladino, Co-Founder & CTO at Kong 🐒, the market-leading API Manageent Gateway Solution. Learn deep insight into APIs, the future of the API Economy, and what it takes to build a great API from someone who has been involved in the API industry since its infancy. Listen to find out: - How to build an API for each use case (external, microservice & mobile). - Why it's only the beginning of the API economy 💹 - Why the best infrastructure software has its roots in the open-source ☸️. - How he managed to commercialise💸 an open-source project without alienating its community 👥 Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/40-marco-palladino-cto-kong

Chad Fowler - an engineer, musician, and author - transformed Wunderlist 📋 from a messy monolith to a neat multi-language microservice. Be inspired by his unique view on technology stemming from his background as a musician 🎵 and RPG player 🎮. Open your mind 🤯and prepare to reevaluate 🤔after you hear from this creative thinker who -in the course of his 25-year career - has worked as both a coder and manager at both startups and enterprise companies in the US 🇺🇸, EU 🇪🇺 and India 🇮🇳. Listen to find out: - Why we should rethink how computer science is taught 🎓 to get better coders 🧑‍💻 - Why and how he used multiple languages in his microservice architecture 🖇️ - Why startups 🚀should wait before adopting a named methodology (e.g. Agile, scrum, kanban, OKR) - Unique applications of concepts touted in the decentralized Web 3️.0 🔮 Listen here - https://alphalist.com/podcast/39-chad-fowler-cto-musician-author-and-vc

I spoke with Sagnik Nandy, CTO & President of Technology at Okta, the market leading IAM Solution 🔐. Discover deep insight into the world of identity management🆔, user feedback 👥, and why the best products provide a simplified interface to a complex solution (with customizability ⚙️ for advanced users). Don’t miss out on this opportunity to hear how to build scalable products ♾️ from someone who scaled and led Google Analytics 📊 and Google Ad 💸 products/ Listen to find out: -Why you need to build for both expansion 📈 and deprecation 📉 -The need for a passwordless future 🔏 -The challenges of integrations ☮️ (Okta integrates with 7000+ services) -How to Scale Excellence 👍 + the importance of mentorship 🧑‍🏫 Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/38-sagnik-nandy-cto-okta