The Engineering Leadership Podcast

Founders often delay leadership coaching until a major crisis hits, leading to significant costs in productivity, team churn, and poor decisions. In this episode, James Birchler (Technical Advisor & Executive Leadership Coach) argues that early coaching is a game-changer for a startup's success. We explore the hidden costs of waiting and the benefits of intentionally installing leadership and communication systems before you scale. James shares specific self-awareness mechanisms, like advisory groups and feedback loops, to help founders design their day and create accountability. You'll also learn practical strategies like the "5-Minute Alignment Loop" for spotting communication breakdowns & for reinforcing clarity. Plus insights on how to "install your leadership OS" so it can scale with your company.
 
ABOUT JAMES BIRCHLER
James Birchler is an executive leadership coach and technical advisor who specializes in helping engineering leaders and founders develop greater self-awareness and build high-performing teams. He combines deep technical expertise with practical leadership development, making him particularly valuable for technical leaders scaling their organizations.
As both a founder and engineering leader, James has more than 20 years of experience leading teams at companies ranging from early-stage startups to Amazon, where his current role is Technical Advisor to the VP of Amazon Delivery Routing and Planning. Most recently, he founded NICER, a premium natural personal care company, and Actuate Partners, his executive coaching and technical advisory practice. He also held VP of Engineering roles at companies including Caffeine (backed by Greylock and Andreessen Horowitz), SmugMug (where his team acquired Flickr), and IMVU.
At IMVU, James implemented the Lean Startup methodologies alongside Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup and creator of the methodology, literally the first company to apply these principles. His team helped pioneer the DevOps movement by building infrastructure to ship code to production 50 times per day and coining the term "continuous deployment." This experience in systematic experimentation and continuous improvement now informs his coaching approach through frameworks like CAMS (Coaching, Advising, Mentoring, Supporting) and the Think-Do-Learn Loop.
James completed his executive coaching certification at UC Berkeley Haas School of Business Executive Coaching Institute. His coaching practice focuses on self-awareness, integrity, accountability, and fostering growth mindsets that support continuous learning and high performance. He writes the Continuous Growth newsletter and offers both individual executive coaching and peer learning circles for technical leaders.
Through his advisory work with growth-stage startups in the US and Europe, James helps leaders navigate common scaling challenges including hiring and interviewing, implementing development methodologies, establishing operational cadences, and developing other leaders. His approach treats leadership development like product development—with systematic feedback loops, measurable outcomes, and continuous improvement.
You can find James at jamesbirchler.com, LinkedIn, and Substack.
 
This episode is brought to you by Retool!
What happens when your team can't keep up with internal tool requests? Teams start building their own, Shadow IT spreads across the org, and six months later you're untangling the mess…
Retool gives teams a better way: governed, secure, and no cleanup required.
Retool is the leading enterprise AppGen platform, powering how the world's most innovative companies build the tools that run their business. Over 10,000 organizations including Amazon, Stripe, Adobe, Brex, and Orangetheory Fitness use the platform to safely harness AI and their enterprise data to create governed, production-ready apps.
Learn more at Retool.com/elc
 
SHOW NOTES:
Why founders should seek coaching earlier rather than waiting for a crisis to occur (2:45)
The high stakes of ignoring this critical advice & how this leads to communication & scaling problems (4:50)
The importance of effective communication channels & leadership mechanisms before pressure increases (6:12)
How investing a small amount in coaching early on can prevent hundreds of thousands of dollars in future costs (8:07)
Frameworks for cultivating self-awareness / leadership blind spots (11:06)
James's practice of "designing your day" around a desired identity, not just a list of tasks (12:30)
Why designing your day is about intentionality (15:13)
How this practice leads to better relationships & opportunities to reflect (17:44)
Reflective listening & its impact on customer relationships (19:32)
Strategies for improving self-awareness / uncovering blind spots (22:05)
An example of how awareness can lead to better results  (26:03)
Day-to-day rituals for improving self-awareness (28:14)
Signals that your communication methods are effective & getting through (30:37)
Reflect on & define the desired outcome you want to generate (33:26)
The five-minute alignment loop for creating clarity & confirming ownership as a leader (35:21)
Why creating clarity & finding alignment is key as a founder (37:02)
How the same communication & leadership patterns recur as your org scales, from small startup to large enterprise (39:46)
The increasing importance of human skills like emotional intelligence and reflective listening in an age of AI (42:03)
Rapid fire questions (44:38)
This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:
Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In our latest ELC episode, we are addressing some of the biggest challenges facing engineers today: identifying your scaling thesis, putting that thesis into practice, and addressing implementation challenges. Jaikumar Ganesh, Head of Engineering @ Anyscale, shares insights from his experience working at top tech companies like Android and Uber, and how to apply those lessons within your own orgs. We also cover strategies for identifying what to build, using data effectively when it comes to understanding AI agents, and keeping your intent (and customer success) top of mind. Additionally, Jaikumar discusses his experience as a GM and why all orgs should adopt cross-functional skillsets as part of their company culture.
 
ABOUT JAIKUMAR GANESH
Jaikumar Ganesh is an accomplished technology leader and the Head of Engineering at Anyscale. With a deep background in engineering and customer-facing roles, Jaikumar has a proven track record of building and scaling engineering organizations. He is passionate about pushing the boundaries of product and engineering innovation while ensuring customer needs are met, and is committed to building empowering organizations rooted in trust, respect, and growth. Jaikumar is excited about working with companies to harness the power of AI and distributed computing to achieve their goals. He previously co-started and co-led Uber's AI group—the central ML group at Uber—and was also on the early team at Android @ Google.
 
This episode is brought to you by Retool!
What happens when your team can't keep up with internal tool requests? Teams start building their own, Shadow IT spreads across the org, and six months later you're untangling the mess…
Retool gives teams a better way: governed, secure, and no cleanup required.
Retool is the leading enterprise AppGen platform, powering how the world's most innovative companies build the tools that run their business. Over 10,000 organizations including Amazon, Stripe, Adobe, Brex, and Orangetheory Fitness use the platform to safely harness AI and their enterprise data to create governed, production-ready apps.
Learn more at Retool.com/elc
 
SHOW NOTES:
Reflecting on scaling patterns across the 2000s, 2010s, and the AI era (03:27)
Why "copy-pasting" scaling strategies from other companies leads to failure (5:56)
How to define a scaling thesis by mapping revenue projections to infrastructure strategy (7:52)
Infrastructure shifts: From Android’s OS abstractions to Uber’s on-prem data centers (9:56)
The "Build vs. Buy" dilemma in the age of AI agents and third-party solutions (12:09)
Why "Knowing What to Build" is the new long pole in engineering productivity (20:17)
Developing "Product Thinking" within engineering and infrastructure teams (23:10)
The emergence of Context Graphs and "Source of Truth" platforms for AI agents (24:46)
How to avoid data & context graphs becoming bottlenecks (27:05)
Lessons from GM leadership: Bridging the gap between engineering, product, and sales (29:06)
The "6-20" Initiative: Uniting cross-functional teams around specific customer wins (32:45)
Training engineers to empathize with customer pain and translate technical wins into the language of sales (33:48)
Utilizing cross-departmental daily standups and leaderboards to drive aggressive "block and tackle" execution (36:18)
Tracing execution failures back to early decision-making and judgment gaps (38:42)
Rapid fire questions (45:28)
 
This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:
Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How do you transform a collection of individual tools into a cohesive, AI-powered symphony? Vineeta Puranik (CPTO @ SmartBear) dissects the strategy behind evolving a product vision from point solutions to a unified multi-product ecosystem. We explore the critical architectural distinction between "AI bolt-on" and "AI native" strategies, frameworks for seamless M&A integration, and how to design for varying levels of customer AI readiness. Vineeta also discusses the shift to test “does it match intent”, using “jobs to be done” to drive solving entire workflows not just tool capabilities, and designing user experiences for both human personas and AI agents.
 
ABOUT VINEETA PURANIK
Vineeta Puranik serves as Chief Product and Technology Officer (CPTO) at SmartBear, where she leads the company’s global technology and product strategy to empower developers and enterprises worldwide. A seasoned technology executive with over two decades of experience, she combines strategic vision with hands-on leadership to drive innovation, growth, and operational excellence.
At SmartBear, Vineeta oversees development, cloud engineers, AI, and architecture, and has been instrumental in scaling centers of excellence in India and Poland, launching the Developer Academy, and advancing the company’s hub-based product strategy – Swagger suite for API capabilities, Test Hub, and Insight Hub. Recognized for her collaborative, people first leadership and commitment to inclusion, she was named a 2024 Women Worth Watching in STEM by Profiles in Diversity Journal.
 
This episode is brought to you by Retool!
What happens when your team can't keep up with internal tool requests? Teams start building their own, Shadow IT spreads across the org, and six months later you're untangling the mess…
Retool gives teams a better way: governed, secure, and no cleanup required.
Retool is the leading enterprise AppGen platform, powering how the world's most innovative companies build the tools that run their business. Over 10,000 organizations including Amazon, Stripe, Adobe, Brex, and Orangetheory Fitness use the platform to safely harness AI and their enterprise data to create governed, production-ready apps.
Learn more at Retool.com/elc
 
SHOW NOTES:
SmartBear’s evolution from individual tools to a connected ecosystem (3:34)
The cultural shift toward vendor consolidation and avoiding context switching (5:39)
Why "Jobs-to-be-Done" must drive the workflow, not just the tool capabilities (9:35)
The shift in testing: Moving from "does it crash?" to "does it match intent?" in an AI world (14:26)
The architectural difference between "AI Bolt-On" and "AI Native" products (20:44)
The levels of autonomy: A framework for moving from manual control to autonomous testing (24:10)
Designing for different customer personas: Addressing security, policy, and AI readiness (30:01)
Rapid Fire Questions (32:50)
 
LINKS AND RESOURCES
 
Books Mentioned
Own the Room: Discover Your Signature Voice to Master Your Leadership Presence by Amy Jen Su and Muriel Maignan Wilkins.
The Leader You Want to Be: Five Essential Principles for Bringing Out Your Best Self--Every Day by Amy Jen Su.
SmartBear Tools & Products
SmartBear
[**Reflect**](https://reflect.run/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=smartbear.com&utm_campaign=prodnav&_gl=1*4gpwr4*_gcl_au*MTAzOTk0MjM2LjE3Njk0NjU4NTA.) – Mentioned as their "AI Native" product for autonomous testing.
Zephyr Scale – Mentioned regarding the Atlassian ecosystem integration.
[**QMetry**](https://www.qmetry.com/?_gl=1*1d5sv56*_gcl_au*MTAzOTk0MjM2LjE3Njk0NjU4NTA.) – Recently acquired test management product.
[**Swagger**](https://swagger.io/product/?_gl=1*gtu348*_gcl_au*MTAzOTk0MjM2LjE3Njk0NjU4NTA.) – Mentioned as the suite for API design and compliance.
 
This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:
Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tyson Singer (Head of Tech & Platforms @ Spotify) joins us to unpack how Spotify is transforming its product development lifecycle across creation, experimentation and maintenance to shift from "localized speed" to "systematic speed." We explore why the industry’s current obsession with the "Build It" phase of development is shortsighted, and how Spotify is aggressively deploying AI in the "Think It" (prototyping/strategy) and "Maintain It" (fleet management) phases. Tyson also details the internal tools driving this shift, including AiKA and Honk, and shares why the future of engineering relies on moving from I-shaped specialists to T-shaped generalists.
 
ABOUT TYSON SINGER
Tyson Singer is the SVP of Technology & Platforms at Spotify, where he leads technology infrastructure, developer experience, cybersecurity, and finance IT. Tyson is the executive behind Spotify’s internal developer portal, Backstage, and Spotify’s experimentation system, Confidence, which are now both commercially available. He has a background as an engineer, architect, and product lead, and he holds a Master’s in Computer Science from Stanford University. Tyson is also an avid outdoor adventurer.
 
This episode is brought to you by Retool!
What happens when your team can't keep up with internal tool requests? Teams start building their own, Shadow IT spreads across the org, and six months later you're untangling the mess…
Retool gives teams a better way: governed, secure, and no cleanup required.
Retool is the leading enterprise AppGen platform, powering how the world's most innovative companies build the tools that run their business. Over 10,000 organizations including Amazon, Stripe, Adobe, Brex, and Orangetheory Fitness use the platform to safely harness AI and their enterprise data to create governed, production-ready apps.
Learn more at Retool.com/elc
 
SHOW NOTES:
Tyson’s 9-year journey @ Spotify: From the "crucible" of hyper-growth to leading Tech & Platforms (3:46)
The pivot from "localized speed" to "systematic speed" (7:27)
Core principles of Spotify’s Platform org: Partnering with customers & "Taking the pain away" (10:37)
The "Think it, Build it, Ship it, Tweak it" lifecycle framework & why the industry obsession with "Build It" (coding agents) is missing the bigger picture (14:57)
How Spotify is investing in the "Think It" phase: AI prototyping with deep business context (16:49)
AiKA (AI Knowledge Assistant): Context engineering for humans and bots (18:47)
"Honk": Spotify’s internal framework for large-scale automated code changes (22:17)
Addressing the decline of code quality and the bottleneck of human PR reviews (25:50)
Probabilistic vs. Deterministic code reviews: A new approach to quality checks (29:43)
Identifying bottlenecks to company value outside of R&D (Legal, Licensing, etc.) (32:12)
Why systems change is fundamentally about people and identity shifts (35:57)
Rapid fire questions (38:49)
 
This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:
Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It started with a simple idea from James Tyack: “What if we hosted a hackathon at ELC Annual?” The result was a unique experiment where 14 senior engineering leaders stepped away from strategy to build and ship functioning apps in one weekend, unlocking new insights on AI-native workflows, "vibe coding," and the future of engineering. In this episode, we deconstruct the entire hackathon operational playbook, sharing lessons on everything from “best failure awards” and async collaboration structures to structuring ideation periods for maximum business alignment. Beyond the logistics, we explore how getting hands-on helped these leaders overcome imposter syndrome and why "rolling up your sleeves" is now a prerequisite for leading effective engineering teams. Plus, James shares how he plans to evolve the hackathon format at ELC and beyond. If you’ve been curious about leveraging hackathons to drive innovation, expose your team to new tools, or evolve how your org builds, this episode provides the blueprint for successful implementation.
 
ABOUT JAMES TYACK
James Tyack leads the Learner Success and Visual Experience teams at Coursera, creating engaging and personalized learning experiences for millions of learners worldwide. An avid user of Coursera and a lifelong learner himself, James is passionate about leveraging technology, including AI, to transform lives through education. Prior to Coursera, he led integration and growth teams at PagerDuty, driving innovation and adoption of incident response tools and best practices.
Beyond his professional work, James is the chapter lead for the South Bay Engineering Leadership Community (ELC) group, fostering collaboration among tech leaders. He is also a proud dad to a one-year-old, balancing his career and personal life with a deep commitment to growth and connection.
 
This episode is brought to you by Span!
Span is the AI-native developer intelligence platform bringing clarity to engineering organizations with a holistic, human-centered approach to developer productivity.
If you want a complete picture of your engineering impact and health, drive high performance, and make smarter business decisions…
Go to Span.app to learn more!
 
SHOW NOTES:
The results of ELC’s first-ever hackathon: 14 leaders shipping fully functional apps (2:21)
The “Scrappy” beginning: Extending the invitation and early community engagement (4:50)
The most surprising insights: Problem solving for “life outside of work” and micromanaging AI agents (5:42)
Navigating the shifting boundaries between product, engineering, and management roles (8:43)
James’ personal journey: Building 5 apps in 5 hours to stay relevant and relatable (10:05)
Deconstructing the Hackathon structure: The “Take-Home Assignment” approach (16:16)
The Hall of Fame: Creating artifacts to recognize contribution (18:00)
Iterating on the format: Pivots made for the next hackathon iteration at Coursera (18:47)
The importance of a 2-week ideation period for alignment (20:59)
A recap of the playbook: Seeding ideas, easy tooling, and safe deployment (22:15)
The future of hackathons: Cross-functional participation beyond engineering (26:46)
Rapid Fire Questions (28:15)
 
This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:
Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host
Jerry Li - Co-Host
Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/
Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/
Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.