Plato Engineering Q&As artwork

Plato Engineering Q&As

49 episodes - English - Latest episode: 8 months ago - ★★★★ - 7 ratings

Welcome to Engineering Q&As, where senior engineering leaders take a deep dive into a topic of their choice and answer live questions from our engaged audience.


Join us as we guide you through conversations with industry experts and thought leaders, sharing their unique perspectives on the latest trends, best practices, and challenges facing the engineering community today.


From software development methodologies to emerging technologies, we cover a wide range of topics that are relevant to engineers of all levels.  So, whether you're a seasoned engineer or just starting out, tune in to Engineering Q&As and join the conversation.

Check out our events to join us live here: https://www.platohq.com/events


If you have feedback on how we can improve our podcast or have questions, please email us at [email protected].

Management Business Education Self-Improvement engineering management engineering leadership engineering management leadership technology
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Episodes

Driving Change with Velocity, with Nextdoor's CTO

August 11, 2023 15:00 - 36 minutes - 25.4 MB

Hear an insightful Engineering Q&A with Antonio Silveira, CTO at Nextdoor, titled "Velocity at NextDoor: Team composition, coding, decision making, and anomaly detection." Silveira will unpack the importance of team unity and effective management and how these factors shape overall company success. Explore how Nextdoor is leveraging automation, tooling, and generative AI to drive high-velocity product innovation and decentralize decision-making. Hear about the influence of business on engin...

Operational Excellence, with SoFi's CTO

July 07, 2023 13:00 - 40 minutes - 27.9 MB

Hear a riveting Q&A with Jeremy Rishel, CTO at SoFi, as he delves into "Operational Excellence in a High Trust, High Regulation Environment." Gain insights from Jeremy's diverse background—ranging from a Marine officer to tech leadership roles at Twitter and Splunk—as he shares his strategies for driving excellence at SoFi. Hear first-hand accounts of critical incidents that shaped operational strategies and cemented the importance of reliability.  This session is a treasure trove for anyon...

Navigating the AI Shift, with Matterport's CTO

June 23, 2023 15:00 - 40 minutes - 27.9 MB

Hear Japjit Tulsi, CTO at Matterport, in an Engineering Q&A titled "Navigating the AI Shift: Essential Adaptations for Modern Engineers."  This discussion explores the transformative power of Generative AI and its impact on technology. Discover how AI is changing expectations and why tech teams should embrace it.  Japjit, known for his hands-on expertise and deep understanding of use cases, shares insights on AI's positive disruption in engineering and its role in filtering specialized inf...

Outcome-Driven Efficiency, with Amplitude's SEVP of Engineering

June 02, 2023 15:00 - 39 minutes - 27.5 MB

Hear Shadi Rostami, Senior/Executive VP of Engineering at Amplitude, in an Engineering Q&A session focused on Outcome-Driven Efficiency and its impact on business success.  Discover how to set metrics and goals for all teams and how engineers can be crucial in achieving this. Learn how customer-centricity and incentivizing a few bigger customers can impact business success.  Support the show

Counterintuitive Solutions to Common Problems, with GitLab's former CTO

May 19, 2023 15:00 - 41 minutes - 28.3 MB

As the former CTO of GitLab and a board member of the Linux Foundation, Eric has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing software engineers today.  In this Engineering Q&A, Eric shares his insights on how to think creatively and "outside the box" to solve common engineering problems in unconventional ways.  Support the show

Rituals for High Performance, with Coda's Head of Engineering

May 08, 2023 21:00 - 41 minutes - 28.7 MB

In today's fast-paced and competitive world, engineering teams face immense pressure to deliver high-quality products rapidly. To meet these demands, it's crucial to establish effective rituals and practices that help teams perform at their best.  Support the show

What It Takes To Stay, with Box's VP of Engineering

April 20, 2023 15:00 - 44 minutes - 30.3 MB

Are you looking for ways to build a successful and long-lasting career in the tech industry? Are you uncertain about making a career change in today's uncertain economic climate?  Tamar will share her experience of growing alongside Box and the secrets to her success in staying loyal to the company. She also discusses why cultivating a long-term career vision is more important than ever, especially during times of job insecurity.  Support the show

Doing More With Less, with Okta's President and Chief Dev Officer

March 27, 2023 18:00 - 43 minutes - 29.9 MB

With over 15 years of experience at Google and now being Chief Development Officer at Okta, Sagnik is a seasoned expert in his field.  In light of recent layoffs and budget cuts in the industry, ensuring your engineering team is operating at its full potential is more important than ever.  Support the show

Think Big But Not Too Big, with Datadog's SVP of Core Engineering

March 27, 2023 18:00 - 42 minutes - 28.9 MB

After more than ten years at Amazon Web Services and close to four years at Datadog, Ian Nowland, SVP of Core Engineering at Datadog, knows what it takes to establish a platform product, from nascent to established.  His secret? Think Big But Not Too Big. Support the show

Striving for Optimal Efficiency, with Notion's Head of Engineering

March 27, 2023 18:00 - 45 minutes - 31.3 MB

Discover how Notion, the all-in-one workspace, leverages collaboration between engineering, product, and design teams to drive innovation and achieve optimal efficiency.  Gain insights on improving collaboration in your organization and hear the story of Michael Manapat, a founding engineer in a rapidly scaling organization.  Support the show

Quality Anti-Patterns, with Figma's CTO

March 27, 2023 18:00 - 44 minutes - 30.5 MB

Learn about the standard industry practices that Figma avoids to ensure the quality of its products and gain insights into how the company approaches quality assurance with Kris Rasmussen, CTO at Figma. Support the show

"Navigating and Building Through Uncertainty", with Robinhood's SVP of Engineering

December 06, 2022 23:00 - 43 minutes - 29.9 MB

"Navigating and Building Through Uncertainty," with Robinhood's SVP of Engineering Support the show

Why every leader needs a management philosophy feat. Optimizely's CTO

August 21, 2020 22:00 - 51 minutes - 35.7 MB

Why every leader needs a management philosophy feat. Optimizely's CTO, Lawrence Bruhmuller. Thanks to our partner Lohika for co-hosting this podcast episode! Support the show

"Building high-performing, purpose-driven teams" with Collective Health's VP of Engineering

July 16, 2020 21:00 - 52 minutes - 36.1 MB

"Building high-performing, purpose-driven teams" with Collective Health's VP of Engineering, Stacie Lang-Frederick (co-hosted with Lohika) Support the show

"Goal setting for engineering teams" with Asana's Head of Engineering, Prashant Pandey

July 07, 2020 18:00 - 50 minutes - 34.4 MB

"Goal setting for engineering teams" with Asana's Head of Engineering, Prashant Pandey Support the show

Hiring Engineers in a Changing Economy

June 20, 2020 20:00 - 44 minutes - 30.5 MB

This episodes features engineering leaders from Brex, Upwork, & Flatiron Health! They'll share advice on building a strong hiring strategy while managing other priorities during these challenging times (co-hosted with Karat) Support the show

Scaling Your Team's Impact by PagerDuty's VP of Engineering (co-presented with Lohika)

June 12, 2020 03:00 - 45 minutes - 31.3 MB

Get tips on how to scale your engineering teams impact in this Q&A chat with PagerDuty's VP of Engineering, Gautam Prabhu. Thanks to our friends at Lohika for hosting this with us! Support the show

Managing High & Low Performers featuring Salesforce's VP of Engineering

June 05, 2020 03:00 - 45 minutes - 31.4 MB

Managing High & Low Performers featuring Salesforce's VP of Engineering, Chris Haag Support the show

The Technical Path to Leadership with Keith Adams, Slack's Chief Architect

May 28, 2020 19:00 - 47 minutes - 32.6 MB

This episodes featured Slack's former Chief Architect (Keith Adams) on The Technical Path to Leadership. Support the show

"Managing in a Remote World" with Zapier's VP of Engineering, Doug Gaff

May 20, 2020 21:00 - 47 minutes - 32.6 MB

"Managing in a Remote World" with Zapier's VP of Engineering, Doug Gaff Support the show

Managing in a Remote World with leaders from Slack, GitHub, and Twilio

May 14, 2020 05:00 - 45 minutes - 31 MB

Managing in a Remote World with leaders from Slack, GitHub, and Twilio Support the show

"Managing in a Remote World" with GitLab's EVP of Engineering & more

May 08, 2020 05:00 - 51 minutes - 35.7 MB

In this episode, we're joined by several members of GitLab's engineering, product, & design team to better understand how the world's largest remote-first team collaborates. Support the show

"Managing in a Remote World" with Stitch Fix's VP of Engineering, Pooja Brown

May 01, 2020 05:00 - 51 minutes - 35.4 MB

This podcast episode features a webinar we hosted recently called "Managing in a Remote World" with Stitch Fix's VP of Engineering, Pooja Brown! Support the show

"Managing in a Remote World" featuring GitHub's VP of Engineering

April 22, 2020 06:00 - 51 minutes - 35.2 MB

In this episode, we're airing the recording of an Ask-Me-Anything chat that Dana Lawson, GitHub's VP of Engineering, had with our community where she shares tips on managing remote teams! Support the show

"Managing remote teams" with InVision's Director of Engineering & Karat's Head of Solutions Engineering

April 15, 2020 04:00 - 53 minutes - 37.1 MB

This episode highlights an Ask-Me-Anything featuring InVision's Director of Engineering (Ryan Scheuremann) and Karat's Head of Solutions Engineering (Shannon Hogue) about managing remote teams. Support the show

"Managing in a remote world" featuring VP of Engineering, Christian McCarrick

April 09, 2020 05:00 - 53 minutes - 37 MB

We hosted an Ask-Me-Anything webinar on managing remote teams with VP of Engineering, Christian McCarrick, and we turned that into a podcast epsiode. Support the show

"Tips on managing a remote team" with InVison's SVP of Engineering, Asanka Jayasuriya

April 02, 2020 18:00 - 32 minutes - 22.1 MB

In this episode, InVision's SVP of Engineering (Asanka Jayasuriya) shares his thoughts on how to navigate the coronavirus crisis and offers advice to managers who are leading a remote team for the first time. Support the show

"Dealing with the COVID-19 crisis as a leader" with Carta's VP of Engineering, Ron Pragides

March 24, 2020 23:00 - 35 minutes - 24.3 MB

In this episode, Carta's VP of Engineering and Plato Mentor (Ron Pragides) shares his thoughts on the current COVID-19 crisis and offers advice to engineering managers.  Support the show

"Leading during changing circumstances" with DocuSign's VP of Engineering, Loïc Houssier

March 18, 2020 03:00 - 38 minutes - 26.6 MB

In this episode — DocuSign's VP of Engineering (Loïc Houssier) chats about the lessons he learned as a leader while his company underwent a re-organization. 1:53 - Reorgs not driven by growth 2:43 - Accepting change as a manager 3:50 - Product company moving towards portfolio company 5:30 - How to organize your company to manage innovation 9:04 - How a new idea or project becomes a revenue stream 12:09 - The mindset of incremental innovation 14:14 - Affects of a GM approach 16:43 - L...

"Leading during changing circumstances" with DocuSign's VP of Engineering, Loïc Houssier

March 18, 2020 03:00 - 38 minutes - 26.6 MB

In this episode — DocuSign's VP of Engineering (Loïc Houssier) chats about the lessons he learned as a leader while his company underwent a re-organization. 1:53 - Reorgs not driven by growth 2:43 - Accepting change as a manager 3:50 - Product company moving towards portfolio company 5:30 - How to organize your company to manage innovation 9:04 - How a new idea or project becomes a revenue stream 12:09 - The mindset of incremental innovation 14:14 - Affects of a GM approach 16:43 - L...

"Fundamental Learnings for Engineering Managers" with DocuSign's VP of Engineering, Loïc Houssier

March 10, 2020 19:00 - 39 minutes - 27.3 MB

In this episode, the VP of Engineering at DocuSign (Loïc Houssier) shares what he learned from his early days to his role a a senior leader at a well-known B2B company. Episode highlights: 1:15 - Being empathetic to reactions of the Coronavirus 3:43 - First managerial mistake 8:20 - What he learned during a break from the software industry 10:44 - Being humble in a new workplace 14:36 - How his youth sparked his curiosity 17:14 - Building new relationships, especially outside the Engin...

"Managing Distributed Teams" with Brex's CTO, Twilio's Sr Director of Eng, and GitHub's Senior Eng Manager

March 06, 2020 19:00 - 37 minutes - 25.9 MB

In this episode, senior engineering leaders from Brex, Twilio, and GitHub shares best practices around managing distributed teams. Support the show

"Navigating the rollercoaster ride of leadership" by Expensify's CEO

February 28, 2020 19:00 - 37 minutes - 25.9 MB

This episode, Expensify's CEO shares a variety of perspectives and stories — from what makes his company different to losing an engineering team to building an organization of generalists to what it's like being a CEO. Support the show

"Navigating the rollercoaster ride of leadership" by Expensify's CEO

February 28, 2020 19:00 - 37 minutes - 25.9 MB

This episode, Expensify's CEO shares a variety of perspectives and stories — from what makes his company different to losing an engineering team to building an organization of generalists to what it's like being a CEO. Support the show

"From engineer to entrepreneur" with Expensify's CEO David Barrett

February 21, 2020 01:00 - 32 minutes - 22.6 MB

In this episode, Expensify's CEO and Founder (David Barrett) shares several stories on how we went from engineering to entrepreneur. Plus, he shares what makes Expensify unique and what compelled him to start the company. Show Notes for David Barrett 1:25 — David’s early days as an engineer 2:30 — What startups should focus on 3:37 — “C++ is a great language, but English is even better” 5:44 — How to think about your professional goals 6:46 — The 1 question that David asks candidates i...

"Running international teams" with PayPal Credit's former CTO, Pete Woodhouse

February 11, 2020 19:00 - 38 minutes - 26.7 MB

Hear from PayPal Credit's former CTO, Pete Woodhouse, on how he navigated running teams around the world. Support the show

"When you miss a big deadline" with the former CTO of PayPal Credit, Pete Woodhouse

February 05, 2020 00:00 - 30 minutes - 20.7 MB

In this episode, the former CTO of PayPal Credit (Pete Woodhouse) talks about a situation where one of his engineering managers let a deadline slip, and how Pete had to step in to resolve the situation. Support the show

"Building a safe & collaborative engineering culture" with the CTO & Co-Founder of Gusto, Eddie Kim

January 29, 2020 21:00 - 30 minutes - 20.7 MB

In this episode, Gusto's CTO and Co-Founder (Eddie Kim) talks about leading engineering teams at Gusto as they scaled from 50 to 100 engineers. He also shares a story that helped him realize what psychological safety really means. Support the show

"The early days of building Gusto" with the CTO & Co-Founder of Gusto, Eddie Kim

January 21, 2020 18:00 - 34 minutes - 23.8 MB

In this episode, Gusto's CTO and Co-Founder (Eddie Kim) talks about what it was like during the company's first few years. He shares some interesting stories about building the engineering team from 0 to 50 engineers and what lessons he learned along the way! Support the show

"The importance of having a support system as a leader" with Abstract's VP of Eng (Rukmini Reddy) and SurveyMonkey's Sr Director of Eng (Shravan Sogani)

January 15, 2020 00:00 - 25 minutes - 17.7 MB

In this episode, two engineering leaders who are married discuss the importance of having a strong support system as a leader, featuring Abstract's VP of Eng (Rukmini Reddy) and SurveyMonkey's Sr Director of Eng (Shravan Sogani). The episode starts with a story where one of the parents dropped the ball on a task, and the other parent stepped in, and it was a good lesson on leadership. The episode unfolds to touch on lots of topics including building trust, being vulnerable at the worklplace,...

"How having twins impacts your outlook on leadership" with Abstract's VP of Eng (Rukmini Reddy) and SurveyMonkey's Sr Director of Eng (Shravan Sogani)

January 07, 2020 16:00 - 29 minutes - 20 MB

In this episode, two engineering leaders who are married to each other discuss how having twins has affected their outlook on leading teams. Abstract's VP of Eng (Rukmini Reddy) and SurveyMonkey's Sr Director of Eng (Shravan Sogani) open up about a harrowing childbirth experience, and they share how parenting shapes their role as engineering leaders. They talk about about the importance of bring your whole self to the workplace and how leaders can foster an environment where employees feel c...

"Keeping eng teams innovative & motivated" with Talkdesk's VP of Eng, Jason Fama

January 03, 2020 21:00 - 25 minutes - 17.3 MB

Hear how Talkdesk's VP of Eng, Jason Fama, dealt with a situation where he had to help two engineering teams maintain a strong sense of motivation and innovatio. Later in the episode, he offers advice to an engineering manager on keeping the morale high for teams that are integrated into a bigger engineering organization. Support the show

"Why eng managers need an intellectual property strategy" with Talkdesk's VP of Eng, Jason Fama

January 01, 2020 20:00 - 34 minutes - 24 MB

Hear from Talkdesk's VP of Eng, Jason Fama, on how he (and his engineering team from earlier in his career) navigated a patent lawsuit. Jason shares lessons that all eng managers can find useful. Later in the episode, he offers advice to an engineering manager on improving their interview process. Support the show

"What to do when an engineer messes up" with Stripe's Head of Foundation Eng, Will Larson

December 17, 2019 23:00 - 34 minutes - 24 MB

Hear from Stripe's Head of Foundation Eng and author of An Elegant Puzzle, Will Larson, on how we handled a situation when upper management wasn't happy with an engineer who messed up (when In fact, there were systematic Issue at play). Later in the episode, Will offers advice to an engineering manager on balancing the pressure to fix technical debt with shipping new features. Support the show

"Managing a team in a sinking ship" with Stripe's Head of Foundation Engineering, Will Larson

December 10, 2019 22:00 - 36 minutes - 25.3 MB

Stripe's Head of Foundation Engineering and writer of The Elegant Puzzle (Will Larson) shares what he learned as a manager for a company earlier in his career that wasn't doing so well. After that story, Will gives advice to an engineering leader on how to structure team roles and responsibilities as you scale. Support the show

"What to do when your new company gets acquired" by GitHub's VP of Eng, Dana Lawson

December 09, 2019 22:00 - 24 minutes - 17 MB

GitHub's VP of Engineering (Dana Lawson) shares a story from earlier in her career where joined a company as a manager and then found out they got acquired soon after. She discusses how she handled this transitional period and what she learned. After that, she offers live advice to an engineering manager trying to understand how to align on priorities at a startup. Decisive Moments is presented by Plato, a mentorship platform to help engineering managers to become better leaders (https://www...

"What do you when your new company gets acquired" by GitHub's VP of Eng, Dana Lawson

December 09, 2019 22:00 - 24 minutes - 17 MB

GitHub's VP of Engineering (Dana Lawson) shares a story from earlier in her career where joined a company as a manager and then found out they got acquired soon after. She discusses how she handled this transitional period and what she learned. After that, she offers live advice to an engineering manager trying to understand how to align on priorities at a startup. Decisive Moments is presented by Plato, a mentorship platform to help engineering managers to become better leaders (https://www...

"What happens when you ask Production Engineering to be on pager duty" with GitHub's VP of Engineering, Dana Lawson

November 27, 2019 23:00 - 30 minutes - 20.7 MB

GitHub's VP of Engineering (Dana Lawson) share a story of how she tried to institute a culture of accountability, reliability, and shared ownership — and how it went wrong. She explain how she bounced back as a manager to win her team's trust back. Dana also offer her perspective to an engineering leader (Simon Gong, Director of Eng at Box) on how to encourage your team to hit their stretch goals. Decisive Moments is presented by Plato, a mentorship platform to help engineering managers to b...

GitHub's VP of Eng, Dana Lawson: Building a culture of reliability

November 27, 2019 23:00 - 30 minutes - 20.6 MB

In this episode, GitHub's VP of Engineering, Dana Lawson, share a story of how she tried to institute a culture of accountability, reliability, and shared ownership — and how it went wrong. She explain how she bounced back as a manager to win her team's trust back. Dana also offer her perspective to an engineering leader on how to encourage your team to hit their stretch goals. Decisive Moments is presented by  Plato, a mentorship platform to help engineering managers to become better leade...

Guests

Will Larson
2 Episodes