Lead Time Chats
42 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 12 ratingsListen in on unscripted conversations between engineering leaders and other influential folks in tech.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Jen Dennard and Dan Pupius on Intentional Hybrid Policies
October 21, 2022 14:00 - 23 minutes - 21.8 MBIn this episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Range co-founders Jen Dennard and Dan Pupius about how companies can roll-out intentional and effective hybrid work policies. Jean, Jen, and Dan discuss: Some of the more effective hybrid return-to-office rollouts we’ve heard about, and others that…could be better. Why in-office work may not actually create more serendipitous interactions for most employees. What companies should pay attention to when im...
Nadia De Ala on Managing Up in a Hybrid Environment
October 04, 2022 14:00 - 28 minutes - 25.8 MBIn this episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Nadia De Ala, Founder of Real You Leadership, about managing up in a hybrid work environment. Nadia and Jean discuss: What holds people back from managing up Not limiting yourself to managing up - think about managing up, down, and all around How to get around the fear or taking up space and advocating for yourself Managing up with an absent or even toxic manager Asking powerful open-ended questions to...
Douglas Ferguson on Facilitating Large Meetings
September 09, 2022 14:00 - 34 minutes - 31.9 MBIn this episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Douglas Ferguson, Founder of Voltage Control, about feedback and performance conversations in a remote work environment. Douglas and Jean discuss: When a large meeting shouldn’t be a large meeting at all — and how to address meeting FOMO Ways to break down larger meetings into smaller group breakouts to include everyone in discussions Avoiding the one-to-many broadcast of information in live meetings, in...
Joaquín Roca on Feedback and Performance Conversations
August 25, 2022 15:00 - 26 minutes - 24.5 MBIn this episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Joaquín Roca, Founder of Minerva, about feedback and performance conversations in a remote work environment. Joaquín and Jean discuss: Why it’s important to give feedback that’s frequent, timely, continuous, and focused on impact. The general rule of thumb to give 5 pieces of positive feedback for each piece of constructive feedback Cadences and structures to support regular feedback Continuous feedback...
Brooks Scott on Diversity & Inclusion on Remote Teams
July 27, 2022 18:11 - 36 minutes - 33.1 MBIn this episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Brooks Scott, Founder of Merging Path Coaching, about how to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion on remote and distributed teams. Brooks and Jean discuss: How companies commonly start and end their DEI efforts with hiring more women Why it’s important to prioritize diversity and inclusion beyond the gender binary The inclusion challenge as companies return to office and under-represented people face ...
Fred Plais on Setting up a Globally Distributed Team for Success
June 23, 2022 15:00 - 21 minutes - 19.5 MBIn this episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Fred Plais, CEO at Platform.sh, about setting up a globally distributed team for success. Fred and Jean discuss: The many advantages of hiring a globally distributed team, including round-the-clock support all during office hours The importance of spending limited synchronous time very intentionally Limiting individual teams to 2 timezones (i.e. Europe and America) to maximize team overlap How a globall...
Steph Mann on Reinforcing Values on Remote Teams
June 21, 2022 17:47 - 27 minutes - 24.8 MBIn this episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Steph Mann, Co-Founder of At Your Core, about reinforcing team values in remote and hybrid teams. Steph and Jean discuss: The risk of not taking the time to codify values as your company grows Choosing values that are authentic and not overly aspirational How to reinforce values (beyond beautiful posters and stickers) with rituals, regular check-ins, and external acknowledgment The shadow side of values...
Andy Detskas on Building an Inclusive Meeting Culture
May 26, 2022 15:00 - 29 minutes - 26.7 MBIn this episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Andy Detskas, most recently Design Leadership at Strava, about navigating conflict on remote teams. Andy and Jean discuss: Bringing an experience design mindset to meeting design How to build an inclusive culture on a hybrid team How to mitigate the risk of remote employees feeling like second-class citizens Taking into different cognitive approaches when planning for meetings How inclusive teams and m...
Suzan Bond on Navigating Conflict on Remote Teams
May 13, 2022 14:00 - 27 minutes - 25.2 MBIn this episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Suzan Bond, Leadership Consultant and Executive Coach, about navigating conflict on remote teams. Suzan and Jean discuss: How conflict shows up differently on remote teams (more conflict avoidance than outbursts) Being curious about areas of disagreement, rather than being terrified of conflict Designing upfront how you want to be in disagreement in your work relationships How simply naming the tension ...
Jori Lallo on Working Effectively Across Different Timezones
April 27, 2022 14:00 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MBIn this episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Jori Lallo, co-founder of Linear, about working effectively across different timezones. Jori and Jean discuss: How to divide projects and work across timezones to reduce overhead Unexpected ways to connect socially while working on a distributed team Benefits of spanning vastly different timezones (no overnight on-call!) Figuring out how to spend async/sync time effectively
Hong Quan on Hiring for Remote Teams
April 14, 2022 14:00 - 28 minutes - 26.4 MBIn this episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Hong Quan, owner of Hire Haus, about building remote teams. Hong and Jean discuss: the main challenges in hiring for and building remote teams how companies and hiring managers think differently about hiring for remote teams how to fill in the gaps so that remote hiring doesn't feel isolating or impersonal what candidates are looking for and what’s important to them as the work environment has changed o...
Najeeb Khan on Belonging on Remote Teams
March 31, 2022 13:00 - 29 minutes - 27.1 MBIn this episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Najeeb Khan, founder of TeamLand, about team-building and belonging. Najeeb and Jean discuss: why it's important for people to have a sense of belonging on their team the challenges most teams are facing these days in terms of team connectedness and belonging the biggest differences in fostering belonging on a remote team vs a co-located one what leaders or managers can do to build belonging into their ...
Anna Sulkina on Endurance Sports and Software Engineering
December 08, 2021 16:00 - 21 minutes - 19.6 MBIn this episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Anna Sulkina, Director of Engineering at Twitter, about the parallels between endurance spots and software engineering. Anna and Jean discuss: The many parallels between long-distance running and software development How important prioritizing recovery and recharge time is Understanding the why in the short-term (why you’re running a race, or why you’re building something in a two-week sprint) Understan...
Pat Kua on Different Flavors of Tech Leadership
November 17, 2021 16:00 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBIn this episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Pat Kua, engineering leadership coach, about the different flavors of tech leadership. Pat and Jean discuss: Different archetypes of tech leadership, including engineering managers, staff engineers, tech leads, and senior ICs. The importance of influence without authority The implicit values that your company incentivizes, that may or may not be aligned with stated values Applying systems thinking fro...
Dan Na on Pushing through Friction
November 03, 2021 15:00 - 22 minutes - 20.2 MBIn this episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Dan Na, Senior Engineering Manager at Squarespace, about pushing through friction. Dan and Jean chat about: The inevitable friction that arises in fast-growing teams and companies Mindsets for thinking about pushing through friction as part of the job The normalization of deviance and how it shows up on engineering teams Focusing on what you can control vs. being a victim of your circumstances When and...
Jessie Duan on the Chief of Staff to CTO role
October 27, 2021 14:00 - 20 minutes - 18.9 MBIn this episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Jessie Duan, Chief of Staff to the CTO at Roblox, about the Chief of Staff role. They discuss: What the Chief of Staff role looks like and the different kinds of work it entails How the role is similar and different to past roles like engineering manager and tech lead The importance of influencing without authority and learning how to effectively navigate relationships throughout different functions Lea...
Kate Heddleston on Managing Burnout on your Team
October 13, 2021 14:00 - 28 minutes - 26.1 MBIn this episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Kate Heddleston, Senior Engineering Manager at Samsara, about how to manage burnout on your engineering team. Kate and Jean discuss: What is burnout, and what does it look like in its early stages How to talk to teammates about activities that energizes or drains them, to mitigate or relieve burnout Giving team members permission to work flexibly and create effective conditions for creative work Leverag...
Jen Kim on How Startups can Hire Better
October 06, 2021 13:00 - 31 minutes - 28.8 MBKicking off Season 3 of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Jennifer Kim, startup advisor and founder of Startup Recruiting Bootcamp, about how startups can hire better. Jen and Jean discuss: The current hiring environment that has shifted in favor of candidates What candidates are looking for when they read your job description How hiring highlights false positives in hiring, but overlooks false negatives The importance of screening for motivation fit earl...
Ellen Wong on Working on a Hybrid Team
September 08, 2021 22:31 - 31 minutes - 28.7 MBIn Season 2, Episode 12 of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Ellen Wong, Director of Engineering at Calm, on practical advice for working on hybrid teams. Ellen and Jean discuss: The questions you should be asking when interviewing for a remote or hybrid team. Having the team (and not just the manager) feel ownership of having healthy hybrid and remote processes that are inclusive and effective. How to set up working across timezones so that it can bri...
Sarah Milstein on Setting Remote and Hybrid Teams Up for Success
September 01, 2021 13:00 - 54 minutes - 50 MBIn this very first live episode of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, Range’s VP of Engineering, chats with Sarah Milstein, VP of Engineering at ConvertKit, about how to set remote and hybrid teams up for success. Sarah and Jean discuss: The biggest challenges hybrid and remote teams face Tactical tips for making hybrid meeting inclusive The importance of exercising your team's experimentation muscle, as there's no one-size-fits-all answer for teamwork or meetings The role of equity in fo...
Jack Danger on Technical Debt
August 18, 2021 13:00 - 29 minutes - 26.8 MBIn Season 2, Episode 10 of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Jack Danger, VP of Engineering at Pathstream, about technical debt — when to take it on, when and how to pay it down, and how to think about it. Jack and Jean discuss: How to think about technical debt as you might think about financial debt - when do you take it on, and when do you pay it down? Why you don't actually want your startup's codebase to have no technical debt How to strategically tak...
Indrajit Khare on Getting Acquired by Google
August 11, 2021 13:00 - 22 minutes - 20.6 MBIn Season 2, Episode 9 of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Indrajit Khare on what it's like to be at a startup acquired by Google. Indrajit was a lead engineer at Bump when it was acquired by Google, where he led the engineering team that built Google Photos and scaled it from 0 to 1 billion users. Indrajit and Jean discuss: Only having a day or two to prep for a standard Google engineering interview The multiple factors, including clear purpose and missi...
Beau Lebens on Distributed Team Meetups
August 04, 2021 13:00 - 23 minutes - 21.5 MBIn Season 2, Episode 8 of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Beau Lebens, Head of Engineering of WooCommerce at Automattic, about meetups for distributed teams. Beau has been at Automattic for over 12 years, a company which has been fully distributed and pre-pandemic, had regular in-person team meetups for team bonding and alignment. Beau and Jean discuss: The purpose and structure of a standard Automattic in-person team meetup Different ways Automattic te...
Lynne Tye on the Engineering Hiring Landscape
July 28, 2021 13:00 - 25 minutes - 23.7 MBIn Season 2, Episode 7 of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Lynne Tye, about how the engineering hiring landscape has changed over the past year and predictions for the months to come. Lynne is the founder of Key Values, a company that helps engineers find new roles on teams that are aligned with their own values. Lynne and Jean discuss: The different phases of engineering hiring over the past year, from sheer survival to the Great Resignation How the pan...
Chris Bee on Behaviors of Effective Engineering Leaders
July 21, 2021 13:00 - 23 minutes - 21.6 MBIn Season 2, Episode 6 of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Chris Bee, CTO at Lessen, about the common behaviors of effective engineering leaders. Chris and Jean discuss: The difficulty in delegating and letting go of control - and why it's so important Dialing in your judgement in making decisions that keep the business needs front and center Common mistakes, such as over-doing it with structure and processes when you become a manager Coaching and career...
Rachael Stedman on IC Manager Work
July 14, 2021 13:00 - 26 minutes - 23.8 MBIn Season 2, Episode 5 of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Rachael Stedman, engineering manager at Asana, about IC manager work, or work that engineering managers do outside of directly supporting their team. Rachael and Jean chat about: When to focus on supporting your team as a manager, versus investing in longer-term, more strategic initiatives Finding initiatives that you’re personally excited about and that give you energy Benefits of organizing a ta...
Sumeet Arora on moving on from a big company
July 07, 2021 13:00 - 20 minutes - 18.6 MBIn Season 2, Episode 4 of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, talks to Sumeet Arora, Chief Development Officer at ThoughtSpot, about the challenges of moving on after a long stint at a large tech company. Sumeet joined Cisco almost straight out of school and spent over two decades there, growing his career and the company. More recently, he made the decision and leap to leave for a different professional adventure. Sumeet and Jean discuss: The fear and difficulty of lea...
Kim Scott on building for systemic justic
June 30, 2021 13:00 - 24 minutes - 22.6 MBIn Season 2, Episode 3 of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, talks to Kim Scott, author of Radical Candor and Just Work, about privilege and the importance of building for systemic justice. Kim and Jean discuss: The three revelations that led Kim down the path of working on Just Work The importance of intentionally building for systemic justice Recognition of the role of privilege in how Radical Candor is practiced and received. Using “You” statements such as “You ca...
Tess Rinearson on early career engineering managers
June 23, 2021 13:00 - 22 minutes - 20.7 MBIn Season 2, Episode 2 of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, talks to Tess Rinearson, VP of Engineering at Interchain, about advice for early career engineering managers. Tess became an engineering manager at 24 and noted that she's been solicited for advice for even younger engineering managers - some as young as 21. Tess and Jean discuss: The recent trend of earlier career engineers moving into management (sometimes as young as 21 or 22 years old) Working with ment...
Camille Fournier on making boring plans
June 16, 2021 16:35 - 23 minutes - 21.4 MBIn Season 2, Episode 1 of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, talks to Camille Fournier, Managing Director of Two Sigma and author of The Manager’s Path, about boring stuff — specifically building boring tech and making boring plans. Camille and Jean discuss: Limited innovation tokens and how to decide where to spend them (hint: it’s not on cool tech)! What boring plans actually look like, especially when you do need to upgrade to more interesting tech so your team d...
Marc Hedlund on sponsorship
May 28, 2021 00:26 - 25 minutes - 23.3 MBWrapping up Series 1 of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VPE at Range, chats with Marc Hedlund about the topic of sponsorship, and how to do it in a way that actually makes a difference. Marc has been an engineering leader at companies such as Mailchimp, Skyliner, and Stripe. He also is a Director for Code2040, a non-profit that works to bring under-represented minorities into engineering and entrepreneurial roles in tech. Jean and Marc discuss: Ways to actually learn from and support under-i...
Harper Reed on giving everyone a voice in team meetings
May 28, 2021 00:24 - 40 minutes - 36.8 MBIn Episode 11 of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Harper Reed about how meetings can give everyone a voice in team meetings. Harper is currently CEO of Galactic. Formerly he was CEO of Modest, which was acquired by Paypal, and CTO of Obama for America. Host note: Harper and I originally met at FooCamp in 2013, when he attended a FooCamp unconference session I led called How to Run Efficient Meetings. When we re-connected a few months ago, I discovered that a...
Akhil Gupta on navigating uncertainty when transitioning roles
May 28, 2021 00:22 - 28 minutes - 25.9 MBIn Episode 10 of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Akhil Gupta — formerly VP of Engineering and GM at Dropbox — about how to navigate uncertainty when transitioning to higher impact roles. How do you know when you’re ready for that next role? How do you fill in gaps, and when do you take the leap? Akhil started his career at Google, and was a Principal Engineer by the time he left for Dropbox. At Dropbox, he grew the infra org from just 10 engineers, and step...
Katie Wilde on supporting your team's mental health
May 28, 2021 00:20 - 22 minutes - 20.3 MBIn Episode 9 of Lead Time Chats, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Katie Wilde, VP of Engineering at Buffer and co-author of "The Holloway Guide to Remote Work," about supporting your team's mental health — and your own — in what feels like this final pandemic stretch. Jean and Katie discuss: The difficulty of sitting with a sense of hope, and how this last stretch can actually seem more intolerable than the last year in a pandemic Debugging when you’re feeling out of whac...
Uma Chingunde on starting a VPE eng role in the pandemic
May 28, 2021 00:17 - 16 minutes - 15.1 MBUma Chingunde (VP of Engineering at Render) and Jean Hsu (VP of Engineering at Range) chat candidly about onboarding into their first-time VP of Engineering roles — during the pandemic, with kids distance learning at home! Jean and Uma discuss: Directly reporting to the CEO as a VP of Engineering and how the role compares to other engineering leadership roles. Figuring out what we needed to know to ramp up and what to let go of The wide range of activities a VP of Engineering role can e...
Kaya Thomas on common challenges early-career engineers face
May 28, 2021 00:12 - 19 minutes - 18 MBIn this episode, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Kaya Thomas, senior software engineer at Calm, about common challenges that early career engineers face. Jean and Kaya chat about: Overcoming some of the stigmas of being an early career engineer How to negotiate your first full-time job offer, especially if you have more experience than average Ways that engineering managers can support early-and-mid stage engineers on their team Knowing when to leave your first enginee...
Lara Hogan on leading effectively in a pandemic
May 28, 2021 00:10 - 21 minutes - 19.4 MBIn this episode, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Lara Hogan, author of Resilient Management, about how engineering managers can lead effectively a year into a global pandemic, even when they may be struggling. Jean and Lara chat about: Leaning into one-way asynchronous communication as much as possible — especially for announcements and status updates that don’t require a back-and-forth Using Red-Yellow-Green check-ins in 1:1s and other situations to make it as lightweigh...
Gergely Orosz on the decision to go into management
May 28, 2021 00:05 - 23 minutes - 21.7 MBIn this episode, Jean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Gergely Orosz — formerly at Uber, Skyscanner, and Skype — about the decision to go into management. Jean and Gergely chat about: Why Gergely thought management was LAME - and resisted becoming a manager The huge contrast between becoming an “accidental manager” at a startup and becoming a manager at Uber Defining his leadership by having a list he had created of all the managers he wanted to avoid being How to support new...
Juan Pablo Buriticá on common pitfalls engineering managers make at startups
May 28, 2021 00:00 - 22 minutes - 21 MBJean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Juan Pablo Buriticá, most recently Head of LatAm Engineering at Stripe, about the common pitfalls engineering managers make at high-growth startups. Jean and Juan Pablo discuss: The difference between being a manager at a high-growth startup vs. a larger, more established company The importance of understanding business needs in communicating about technical work Why you shouldn't just copy processes from other companies wholesale (like Sp...
Cate Huston on working with a coach as an engineering leader
May 27, 2021 23:58 - 21 minutes - 19.6 MBJean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, chats with Cate Huston, Engineering Director at DuckDuckGo and raccoon enthusiast 🦝 about working with an external coach. Jean and Cate discuss: The role of a external coach compared to a manager The benefits of working with an external coach, especially over multiple jobs What a good fit feels like when looking for a coach How important an engineering background is (or isn't) when finding a coach When external coaching can actually harm a situati...
Duretti Hirpa on mentoring junior and mid-level engineers
May 27, 2021 23:09 - 21 minutes - 19.4 MBJean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, talks to Duretti Hirpa, a principal engineer at Zipper, about mentoring and coaching junior and mid-level engineers. Jean and Duretti discuss: What junior and mid-level engineers most need. Why women and people of color can't always take the advice they're given What it means to be over-mentored and under-sponsored The difference in level-setting when you're coming into a new company vs. going up for promotion How internal promotions can be highly...
Will Larson on the path of the senior engineer
May 27, 2021 22:53 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MBJean Hsu, VP of Engineering at Range, talks to Will Larson, CTO at Calm, about getting into management early in his career and how it impacted his professional evolution and his books An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management and Staff Engineer: Leadership Beyond the Management Track. Jean and Will discuss: Negotiating their first tech jobs (or not negotiating their first tech jobs) The false expectation that the staff engineering route will be more predictable than the manage...