Tech Lead Journal

“As an engineer, you don’t have to drop your technical skills, but you need to communicate like an executive. The more you communicate this way, you will have more opportunities and more impact on your job.” Pramoda Vyasarao is an engineering leader turned coach with two decades of experience at Oracle and Meta, and the author of “Beyond Your Limits”. In this episode, Pramoda shares his insights on the importance of communication for engineers, as well as his inspiring journey of achieving 52 lofty goals in over 20 years and going beyond his limits. Having joined Toastmasters in 2003 to improve his public speaking, Pramoda believes engineers should focus on developing their communication skills to advance their careers and become better leaders. He discusses his TALL framework for effective communication: talking with structure, asking insightful questions, listening deeply, and leadership development. Our conversation also delves into key topics from Pramoda’s book, “Beyond Your Limits”. Pramoda discusses the importance of setting goals and finding life’s meaning, sharing his own inspiring journey in his goal-oriented life. He explains the power of thoughts, how our thoughts can influence our feelings and actions significantly, and the three common saboteurs to achieving our goals: time, purpose, and belief. Tune in to learn practical advice on improving your communication and leadership skills, as well as how to achieve your big goals and realize your true potential.   Listen out for: Career Turning Points - [00:02:13] Going Through Layoff - [00:03:42] Joining Toastmasters - [00:05:25] Tips for Being a Great Speaker - [00:07:34] Think Like an Engineer, Talk Like an Executive - [00:09:17] Your Communication Gives You More Opportunities - [00:11:45] Written Communication Skills - [00:13:41] TALL Framework for Communication and Leadership - [00:15:24] T = Talking with Structures - [00:19:08] L = Listening Deeply - [00:21:59] ABC Framework for Leadership - [00:25:19] Why Writing “Beyond Your Limits” Book - [00:33:31] The Power of Thoughts - [00:37:39] Top 3 Saboteurs of Goal Achievement - [00:41:12] 7 Step Framework for Goal Achievement - [00:47:56] Creating Milestones & Habits - [00:51:01] Pramoda’s Biggest Goal Achievement - [00:54:28] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:57:13] _____ Pramoda Vyasarao’s BioPramoda Vyasarao, the founder of Changesmith Coaching LLC, has a rich background in computer science and boasts over two decades of experience with tech giants like Oracle and Meta. Beginning his career as an engineer and eventually transitioning into a management role, he recognized the importance of structured leadership development. This realization spurred his journey into leadership coaching. With 17 years of coaching experience, Pramoda has significantly impacted thousands of individuals across 11 countries. He specializes in fostering personal growth for senior leaders through one-on-one coaching and cohort-based courses that focus on communication, leadership, and storytelling. Pramoda is the author of the bestselling book “Beyond Your Limits.” Follow Pramoda: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/pramodavyasarao Digital Courses – changesmith.me/courses Live Courses – maven.com/changesmith 📚 Beyond Your Limits – amazon.com/Beyond-Your-Limits-Achieving-Happiness/dp/B0D5ZDX3P5 🎧 Beyond Your Limits Audiobook – open.spotify.com/show/4tHbhirBUklc2Zehq5f9NN _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/199.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Now more than ever, engineering leaders are being asked to be more transparent with how their work is getting done. Every single thing that an engineering team works on needs to benefit the business.” Laura Tacho is the CTO of DX and a leading voice in the world of developer experience and productivity. In this episode, we explore the ever important role of aligning developer experience with business goals and discuss the DX Core 4, a new developer productivity framework recently published by DX. Laura shares how engineering leaders can leverage intuition for data-driven decisions and effectively communicate the impact of engineering initiatives in business language. We discuss the importance of balancing business goals with engineering needs and delve into the process of building a strong business case for improving developer experience. Discover the new DX Core 4 framework as Laura breaks down its four dimensions, key metrics, and actionable strategies for measuring and enhancing developer productivity. Learn how DX Core 4 complements existing frameworks, such as DORA, SPACE, and DevEx, and why it suggests “diffs per engineer” as a valuable metric to measure. Understand the Developer Experience Index (DXI) and why internal developer platforms and AI play crucial roles in improving developer experience. Tune in to learn new valuable insights on developer experience and how to measure, communicate, and improve developer productivity effectively.   Listen out for: Career Turning Points - [00:02:13] Following Your Intuition - [00:05:36] Business Oriented Engineering Leaders - [00:08:06] Explaining Tech Debt - [00:12:01] Balancing Between Engineering and Business Focus - [00:16:53] Building a Case for Improving Developer Experience - [00:21:00] DX Core 4 - [00:22:46] DX Core 4 vs Others (DORA, SPACE, DevEx) - [00:25:19] The DX Core 4 Dimensions - [00:26:49] Diffs per Engineer - [00:30:32] Impact Dimension - [00:33:27] Measuring DX Core 4 - [00:34:59] Developer Experience Index (DXI) - [00:38:19] Impact of Implementing DX Core 4 - [00:41:54] Best Strategy to Improve Developer Experience - [00:44:26] Internal Developer Platform & AI - [00:47:52] The Importance of Talking to the Developers - [00:51:40] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:54:18] _____ Laura Tacho’s BioLaura Tacho is CTO at DX, a developer experience company. She’s a technology leader with a successful track record leading engineering and product development teams at companies like CloudBees, Aula Education, and Nova Credit. She’s been building developer tools and working on improving developer productivity for over 10 years, all the way from the heyday of IaaS and PaaS on cloud, through Docker and containers, CI/CD, and now as part of DX. She’s also an executive coach for engineering leaders and an expert in building world-class engineering organisations that consistently deliver outstanding results. Laura has coached CTOs and other engineering leaders from startups to the Fortune 500, and also facilitates a popular course on metrics and engineering team performance. Follow Laura: Website – lauratacho.com LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/lauratacho DX Core 4 – getdx.com/research/measuring-developer-productivity-with-the-dx-core-4 Developer Productivity Metrics Course - lauratacho.com/developer-productivity-metrics-course _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/198.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“Input, Output, Outcome, and Impact. It’s an escalating way of where to spend my time as an engineering leader, and more importantly, where my engineering team is spending their time on.” Balki Kodarapu is the VP of Engineering at Lōvu Health and a seasoned engineering leader with a wealth of experience from startups to large organizations. In this episode, Balki shares his valuable insights on how to build and lead high-performing engineering teams that go beyond just churning out code. We go deep into his practical framework for driving outcomes and impact, emphasizing why it’s crucial for engineers to understand the ‘why’ behind their work. Balki also shares effective strategies for setting, communicating, and reinforcing engineering values. We also discuss the importance of connecting with your team, practicing gratitude and curiosity, and measuring engineering metrics effectively. Tune in to gain valuable insights and practical tips for building outcome-oriented engineering teams and becoming a more effective leader.   Listen out for: Career Turning Points - [00:01:55] Impact & Outcome Driven Engineering - [00:05:50] Helping Engineering Connect to the Outcomes - [00:11:52] Balancing Engineers’ Focus Time - [00:16:18] Key Engineering Metrics: Releasing with Joy & Confidence - [00:18:46] Engineering Metrics Other Org Functions Care About - [00:23:01] Setting Engineering Values - [00:30:33] How to Create Engineering Values - [00:36:16] Communicating Values - [00:40:18] Practicing Gratitude & Curiosity - [00:43:59] 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:49:49] _____ Balki Kodarapu’s BioBalki Kodarapu, an all-in engineering leader and entrepreneur at heart. Balki has a proven track record of leading SaaS products from inception to hyper-growth, helping companies achieve 2x to 10x revenue growth, including two successful exits. He loves being a hands-on engineer, director, and VP of Engineering (all at once!), contributing daily, shaping product strategy and building high-performing teams. Currently, Balki leads engineering at Lōvu Health where his team helps create positive, joyful & healthy experiences for pregnant & postpartum moms every single day. Follow Balki: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/balki _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/197.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

“The OOOps methodology from the science of happy accidents are optionality, opportunism, and optimization.” Stephen Fishman and Matt McLarty are the authors of “Unbundling the Enterprise: APIs, Optionality, and the Science of Happy Accidents”, a book from IT Revolution. In this episode, we discuss the transformative power of APIs, the importance of optionality in technology and business, and the intriguing science of ‘happy accidents’. We delve into the “OOOps” of the science of happy accidents, which are optionality through API unbundling, opportunism through value dynamics, and optimization through feedback loops. Stephen and Matt share real-world examples of how companies like Amazon, Google, and Cox Automotive have successfully unbundled their enterprises and leveraged optionality for growth and innovation. Also, hear the story and impact of Jeff Bezos’s legendary API mandate at Amazon, which revolutionized Amazon to become the giant it is now. Towards the end, we discuss the role of AI in the future of work and how we can use AI along with APIs to embrace more optionality and create more business value. Listen to the full episode to learn more about how you can apply these concepts to your digital transformation journey and benefit from the power of APIs and optionality.   Listen out for: Career Turning Points - [00:01:51] “Unbundling the Enterprise” Book - [00:05:21] Amazon API Revolution - [00:08:39] What Drove Jeff Bezos’s Mandate - [00:14:10] Optionality Through API Unbundling - [00:17:36] Happy Accidents - [00:23:59] Opportunism Through Value Dynamics - [00:26:59] Value Dynamics - [00:30:55] Optimization Through Feedback Loops - [00:38:03] Embracing AI - [00:45:24] 4 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:02] _____ Stephen Fishman’s BioStephen Fishman (Fish) is the NA Field CTO for Boomi. He is a practicing technologist who brings creativity, rigor, and a human-centric lens to problem-solving. Known as an expert in aligning technology and business strategy, Stephen places a premium on pushing business and technology leaders to embrace iteration and the critical need to collaborate across disciplines. In addition to consulting with large organizations, Stephen is an in-demand speaker and advisor. Stephen has led multidisciplinary teams to deliver amazing results at Salesforce, MuleSoft, Cox Automotive, Sapient, Macy’s, and multiple public sector institutions including the US Federal Reserve and the CDC. Matt McLarty’s BioMatt McLarty is the Chief Technology Officer for Boomi. He works with organizations around the world to help them digitally transform using a composable approach. He is an active member of the global API community, has led global technical teams at Salesforce, IBM, and CA Technologies, and started his career in financial technology. Matt is an internationally known expert on APIs, microservices, and integration. He is co-author of the O’Reilly books Microservice Architecture and Securing Microservice APIs, and co-host of the API Experience podcast. Follow Stephen: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/stephenhfishman Email – [email protected] Follow Matt: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/mattmclartybc Email – [email protected] Book & Podcast: 📚 Unbundling the Enterprise – https://itrevolution.com/product/unbundling-the-enterprise/ The API Experience Podcast - https://boomi.com/boomi-podcast/ _____ Our Sponsors Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.Make it happen. With code. Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats. Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/196.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.