Best Kata Tech Podcasts (2024)

1
024 - Rewarding Bad Behavior 47:32

22h ago47:32

47:32

Are we unintentionally doing things which reward bad behavior? Sometimes company policies incentivize people to do the wrong thing, like coming to work sick because they've run out of sick days. Although we rarely have control over company policies, we can look for ways that our teams reward bad behaviors. In this episode, Dave and Allan share some…

1
Exploring GenAI’s Impact on Tech Debt with Dan Mason 27:25

4d ago27:25

27:25

Are you a tech leader struggling to control tech debt while navigating the rapid advancements in AI? Stride’s Head of AI, Dan Mason, is here to help us unravel the complexities of using generative AI to manage and prevent the tech debt spiral. Dan explains that GenAI's effect on tech debt largely depends on how organizations use it. With proper gui…

1
How to Debug Your Team to Boost Performance with Lisa van Gelder 23:58

25d ago23:58

23:58

Did you know that some principles of code debugging can transform your tech team's productivity? Lisa van Gelder, a tech veteran with over 25 years of experience, shares her journey from debugging code to debugging entire teams. Lisa explains the concept of 'debugging' a tech team, akin to debugging code, which is crucial to identifying and resolvi…

1
023 - Technical Debt 29:13

1M ago29:13

29:13

Technical debt is a metaphor which is thrown around a lot, but what is is really? In this episode, Dave and Allan discuss the metaphor and how well it holds up when compared to financial debt. Regardless of the name, we have to spend time and money addressing this unavoidable, perennial problem. So what can we do about it?…

1
English is the New Python with Rob O’Brien and Moin Haque 27:08

1M ago27:08

27:08

In a world where traditional programming skills are evolving faster than ever, tech leaders must adapt to stay ahead. Today’s guests, Rob O’Brien and Moin Haque, discuss the emerging concept of "English is the new Python." Rob is a partner at Stride and has over 10 years of experience in product and management consulting. Moin is a lead technologis…

1
Remote Work 3 Years Later With Sean Campbell 24:02

2M ago24:02

24:02

Remote work became increasingly attractive to employees after the pandemic because of its flexibility. Consequently, organizations now have easy access to the best talents worldwide. However, managers have to constantly deal with the overlap of the employees’ home and work life. How can managers help remote workers achieve work-life balance and cre…

1
How to Enter an Industry as a Tech Leader Where you are NOT a Domain Expert with Kevin Lupowitz 20:12

2M ago20:12

20:12

Getting a new job in today’s labor market is challenging, especially for senior tech leaders exploring new domains. New technologies have emerged, making it harder for job applicants to prove their skills. How do you transition to a new industry as a tech leader without domain expertise? Today’s guest, Kevin Lupowitz, is a seasoned tech leader with…

1
How to Create a Culture of Performance in Teams with Fabio Lessa 22:19

3M ago22:19

22:19

Is your performance review process hindering your team’s optimal performance? In assessing performance, companies often share OKRs equally among team members and then review individual performance at the end of the year based on these shared OKRs. But this approach seems to offer no incentive for teamwork or higher performance. So, how should tech …

1
The Critical Role of Financial Literacy for Tech Leaders with Anil Beniwal 27:55

3M ago27:55

27:55

How do you achieve a company’s mission and financial success in tough economic times? My guest, Anil Beniwal, is here to help us navigate this balance. Anil is Arcadia's CTO and has over two decades of experience in the tech industry. He shares valuable insights on why financial understanding is crucial for CTOs, VPs of Engineering, and Heads of Pr…

1
How Spotify Optimizes Platform Reuse for Operational Efficiency with Marcus Frödin 20:55

4M ago20:55

20:55

In times of financial constraint, how can tech companies strike the right balance between innovation and efficiency? As budgets tighten and resources become scarce, leaders must make tough decisions about where to invest their time and money. One strategy that has proven effective for many organizations is platform reuse. By building internal platf…

1
SWP 075: Implementing Toyota Kata Starter 54:31

5M ago54:31

54:31

Toyota Kata Starter: What are the main management aspects you should consider when implementing this methodology? I’m starting a new series on manufacturing and operations management. In this first episode of the series, we will talk about some management aspects of implementing Toyota Kata Starter. We will discuss: What you should consider when im…

1
Agile Kata With Joe Krebs 20:54

5M ago20:54

20:54

How can we effect change in our tech teams to become more agile? Perhaps you've tried Scrum Agile and found that you're stuck with new vocabulary for the same old problems. If so, you may be ready for Agile Kata! Originating in martial arts, a 'Kata' involves deliberate, repetitive practice to master a form. By practicing business agility with Agil…

1
Conway’s Law and Breaking Down Dev Team Silo With Krishna Bala 25:55

5M ago25:55

25:55

How can we break down dev team silos for increased communication and a better-quality end product? Reversing Conway's Law is one way to go about it, and today's guest has a wealth of experience on how to do just that! Krishna Bala is the Senior VP of Engineering at Proscia, a medical imaging startup that is fighting cancer with AI-enabled Digital P…

1
SWP 074: The Problem isn’t PowerPoint 51:41

5M ago51:41

51:41

What’s the best way to make a presentation to executive management? You frustrated you are dragging your feet to prepare presentations to upper management, even though you never procrastinate anything else in your to do list. You hate PowerPoint, and is sure everyone else does the same. I’m here to provide you some tips on what to consider when cre…

1
Scaling Tech Teams To Stand the Test of Time with Brian Lanehart 23:52

6M ago23:52

23:52

Given the challenging times that we live in, how do we scale tech teams that stand the test of time? Brian Lanehart is President, CTO, Chief Risk Officer, & Co-Founder at Momnt. Pronounced 'moment', Momnt is a fintech platform that makes lending easy for your business and financing easy for your customers. Launching in March of 2020, this is a fasc…

1
Building a Tech Stack For Your Startup with Heman Duraiswamy 24:57

6M ago24:57

24:57

How do you build your tech stack so that your underlying systems are strong enough when you scale? Today's guest has 20 years of experience building scalable and robust technology stacks for companies across the board – he’s ideally suited to answer that question. Heman Duraiswamy is the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Circa, building st…

1
What It's Like To Be A Female Founder with Jean Smart 26:24

7M ago26:24

26:24

What is it like being a female founder in a post-COVID business landscape, trying to raise venture capital while also trying to raise your kids? Jean Smart is the founder and CEO of Penelope, a venture-backed 401(k) platform that's focused on serving the five million American micro and small businesses. Those of us who have worked for a small compa…

1
The DevSecOps Playbook: Deliver Continuous Security at Speed with Sean D. Mack 29:39

7M ago29:39

29:39

What is DevSecOps, and how can we embrace it as we continue improving our systems development cycle? To answer this important question is Sean D. Mack, a transformational technology leader who has literally written the book, ‘The DevSecOps Playbook: Deliver Continuous Security at Speed’. Appreciating the crucial role that security (at speed!) plays…

1
Building a High-Performing Product and Technology Organization with Nick Maiello 33:50

8M ago33:50

33:50

What does it take to build a high-performing technology organization? For Nick Maiello, it's a combination of data-driven decision-making, having cross-functional teams, and getting your culture right. And Nick should know. He has a range of experience, from starting technology companies to scaling out multiple digital transformations in a number o…

1
IBM's Retrospective Radar with Anthony Coppedge 29:54

8M ago29:54

29:54

How do we come together and share and learn? And combine that with planning for what we want to do next. Or, to put it another way, how do we take feedback and then actually act on it? Anthony Coppedge is the principal global Digital Sales Agile Lead at IBM, where he guides the training, facilitation, and coaching of sellers, marketers, product own…

1
SWP 072: Dealing with the Fear of Change 14:57

8M ago14:57

14:57

In this episode, we'll be talking about how hard is to change. We always want to change something in our lives, to get to a new place. But from the point of view of where we currently are, any change seems impossible. Sometimes it's just easier to think about quitting and just give up. We are at the top of a mountain looking away to the distance, t…

1
The Chicken Story with Brian Guthrie 26:45

9M ago26:45

26:45

Does process change need to be super complicated? Does change work best when it comes from within a team rather than an external influence? And how can we improve conversations around process change from being less inference-based to more data-driven? All these questions are raised as we hear 'the chicken story' from Brian Guthrie in today's episod…

1
SWP 071: Dealing with a conflict averse boss 16:23

9M ago16:23

16:23

In this episode, we discuss how to deal with an extremely appeasing boss, often called overly democratic or even conflict adverse leader. This is the boss who struggles with conflict and often tries to manipulates his team to achieve his own objectives. This type of manager believes that they need to have approval and consensus of their team to imp…

1
SWP 070: Things can be done in different ways 9:00

9M ago9:00

9:00

In this episode, we're going to talk about the need to know that the things you do can be achieved in different ways. In the technical field, there is a great tendency towards perfectionism when trying to find solutions. It's as if there's only one solution to be found on anything we do. It also seems that we can't afford to make mistakes and learn…

1
Transparency in Technology with Josh Tatum 23:12

9M ago23:12

23:12

What does transparency in technology look like? What should be hidden, what should not, and what are the expectations? Today's guest is Josh Tatum, the Co-Founder of Carputty (auto financing, reinvented). Josh has been a driving force in the consumer finance and technology industry for the better part of two decades and brings a wealth of educated …

1
SWP 069: The one thing I would recommend 22:41

9M ago22:41

22:41

In this episode, I’ll discuss three productivity books I read recently and my opinion about them. Here it goes the good, the bad and the ugly: 1) The Only Thing– by Gary Keller e Joy Papasan. https://a.co/d/gbAUiVR 5 Stars! Highly recommended! 2) Stolen focus – by Johann Hari https://a.co/d/1b30RB5 Average... 3 stars! 3) How to win friends and mana…

1
SWP 068: Communication is not coordination 28:06

9M ago28:06

28:06

Making everyone talk to each other is enough to coordinate your team? A scenario that is way too common. A team doesn’t communicate internally and needs to deal with external teams in the organization. When a client outside of your team asks you: “Are you talk to each other there?” When you try to do some internal communication and they say: “Do I …

1
How To Beat Burnout with Aldric Giacomoni 31:12

9M ago31:12

31:12

How do you tell if you have burnout? Are there key milestones that you should look out for on the way down? And are there healthy indicators to celebrate your recovery? Aldric Giacomoni has been a member of the New York Tech scene for over 15 years and is an old friend and colleague of host Debbie Madden. He also suffered recently from burnout, and…

1
SWP 067: Reporting to an overwhelmed boss? Here are some tips! 9:45

10M ago9:45

9:45

How to deal with a overwhelmed boss at work? First things first, you can’t change anyone. Don’t try to change your manager. Understand your objectives and what you want to take out of the situation. Look at the situation from a broader perspective. Are you the only one who is perceiving this situation or others in the organization are being impacte…

1
SWP 066: Feeling Overwhelm? Here are three suggestions! 19:30

10M ago19:30

19:30

Are you feeling overwhelmed managing your team? In this episode I’ll give you some things you should considered when you feel overwhelmed at work. IN THIS EPISODE YOU WILL LEARN The paradox of competency Reorganizing your team Resetting your expectations as a manager THE ONE TAKE AWAY FROM THIS EPISODE Feeling overloaded and overwhelmed could be a …

1
Balancing Tech Proficiency and Stakeholder Goals with Blackstone's Rob Wisniewski 34:59

10M ago34:59

34:59

How do you balance technical proficiency with stakeholder goals? Who talks to whom, and who owns the process as you build out your product management teams while showing your stakeholders their much-needed ROI? These are some of the challenges Rob Wisniewski has faced over the years as a CTO who has specialized in helping companies scale while auto…

1
Going from CTO to Business Operations with Nick Rockwell at Fastly 28:27

10M ago28:27

28:27

What are the skills you take when you go from being CTO to head of business operations – and what are the new skills you acquire? And how can a company benefit from having a former CTO looking at its systems and processes? Nick Rockwell is currently the EVP for Strategy and Operations at Fastly, having transitioned from within the company as CTO. B…

1
Making Performance Management a Top Priority with Cat Miller 27:38

11M ago27:38

27:38

Performance Management! Why is it more important now than ever? And how can you make it a top priority in your organization? In increasingly volatile times, is it worth replacing that person on the team who's giving you 20% less than the next candidate could? And when is a good time to do performance reviews? Cat Miller is the CTO of Flatiron Healt…

1
The Path to Becoming a CTO With JP Grace 30:33

11M ago30:33

30:33

What is it like to take seven months and interview literally hundreds of founders and co-founders of businesses before taking your next job as a CTO? This is the fascinating story of JP Grace, a seasoned engineering leader who's paved his way in the tech industry with his ability to drive business growth and positive change. JP Grace is the current…

1
Onshore vs Offshore Hiring in a Hybrid World with Joe Burgess 26:37

12M ago26:37

26:37

Which is better: onshore versus offshore hiring? This is an important consideration in today's hybrid world. To answer this question, Scaling Tech's Debbie Madden has brought in Joe Burgess: someone who's tried both approaches in recent months. Joe Burgess started his career as a software developer and teacher at Flatiron School, after which he tra…

1
Scaling Innovation at Etsy with Matt Holford 34:40

1y ago34:40

34:40

How do we think about innovation? And then, how do we scale it? Matt Holford is a Senior Director of Engineering at Etsy and a technology leader who's had quite a storied career working as a musician and in various creative digital service agencies. As such, he has a unique perspective on how to frame scaling innovation. How do we give staff the sp…

1
Build vs Buy - How to Be a Good Partner to Your Vendor With Ian Lotinsky 26:16

1y ago26:16

26:16

How can we be a good partner when we buy from a vendor? How do we, as the customer, get good at providing feedback? As we partner with the right SaaS companies, how do we get the most out of those partnerships right out of the gate? On today's episode of Scaling Tech, I am by Ian Lotinsky, a product and team builder who is the CTO at Great Minds, a…

1
Stage Appropriate Processes with Don Neufeld 29:39

1y ago29:39

29:39

Who do we look to as we try to implement stage-appropriate processes within our tech company? Is it the Googles and LinkedIns for their HR and staff incentive policies, or is there a better way to 'right size' our process challenges? Don Neufeld is the VPE Coach (Vice President Engineering), who offers leadership and performance coaching for VPEs, …

1
LLM Transformation Is the New Digital Transformation with Dan Mason 27:24

1y ago27:24

27:24

LLM fluency: what is it, why do tech teams need it, and why should we care about it? LLM transformation is the new digital transformation, and Dan Mason, a principal at Stride Consulting, is today's guest to help us understand all we need to know about Large Language Model transformation. Dan is a prolific product and engineering team leader who's …

1
Detecting Truth with Adobe's Content Authenticity Initiative with Andy Parsons 27:09

1y ago27:09

27:09

How do we build systems that improve the way we interact with media and with each other? Truth versus Lies when it comes to content authenticity is today's timely topic and I have brought in Andy Parsons, the Senior Director of the Content Authenticity Initiative at Adobe, to consult! There is a scientific curiosity for tech leaders around how we d…

1
Agile Fluency with Diana Larsen 35:55

1y ago35:55

35:55

How do tech leaders learn to lead without blame? Today's guest is Diana Larsen, a truly dynamic and inspirational woman who works with global organizations designing high-performance work systems, and innovating team effectiveness – a theme that is top of mind for most businesses these days. We are chatting about the Agile Fluency model, how Diana …

1
Value Stream Mapping to Improve Product Development with Rob O’Brien 38:04

1y ago38:04

38:04

How do we visualize systems to improve product development? And where are the bounds of that system? Today I'm chatting with Rob O'Brien about process mapping, value stream mapping, and more. Rob is Principal Product Manager at Stride Consulting and has over ten years of product management experience that he brings to this conversation. Rob frames …

1
Outcomes Over Output with Josh Seiden 36:34

1y ago36:34

36:34

What comes first: the outcome or the output? Today I'm chatting to Josh Seiden about one of my favorite topics: outcomes over outputs. Josh is actually the author of a book with that exact title, Outcomes over Output: Why customer behavior is the key metric for business success. Josh is also the co-author of Lean UX: Designing Great Products with A…

1
Expanding Customer Segmentation with Greenhouse CTO Mike Boufford 34:40

1y ago34:40

34:40

Mike is the CTO at Greenhouse, the hiring operating system for people-first companies that enables fair and equitable hiring. And today, he's in conversation with me about how to expand customer segmentation after you've hit your product market fit. Mike wrote his first lines of code at Greenhouse 11 years ago, and he's continued to grow with the c…

1
Creating Effective OKRs for Tech Teams with Jeff Gothelf 30:10

1y ago30:10

30:10

Are you part of a tech team that is searching for constant and continuous improvement to get better in your business every quarter, every year, and with every software or product launch? Have you had the term 'OKR' bandied about as you try to decide on your company's Outcomes and Key Results? Jeff Gothelf is the co-author of Lean UX: Designing Grea…

1
Introducing Scaling Tech 5:15

1y ago5:15

5:15

Are you a CTO, Chief Product Officer, or Tech leader? Have you been missing all the good things – the passion, the curiosity, the innovation, and the camaraderie – that came from tech conferences since the pandemic took its toll on live events? If so, fear not! I am here to bring the tech industry to your home. I'm Debbie Madden, a serial tech entr…

1
Welcome to Scaling Tech - The blueprint for successful tech teams 1:18

1+ y ago1:18

1:18

Are you a CTO, Chief Product Officer or Tech leader? Then this one's for you: If there was one tool that would help you learn best practices and avoid top mistakes so that you can achieve your goals, would you consider that tool? If you answered "yes," this is the tool you've been looking for. Debbie Madden is a serial tech entrepreneur. She is wel…

1
022 - Fending Off Frameworks 52:25

1+ y ago52:25

52:25

Software frameworks are so useful we can hardly imagine working without them. Yet they have an insidious tendency to invade, corrupt, and wrest control away from us. In this episode, your hosts discuss the good and bad of frameworks and offer some suggestions for keeping them at arm's length.

1
SWP 065: How to Lead Through Layoffs 32:32

1+ y ago32:32

32:32

How to Lead Through Layoffs? Recently, Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta announced the layoff of tens of thousands of technology workers. Now you are the one who should deal with the mess created by these changes. You need to motivate a team deeply affected by the cuts, left behind without direction and overwhelm with work... The bucket stops ther…

1
021 - Crafting Katas 1:13:08

1+ y ago1:13:08

1:13:08

In this episode, your hosts (finally!) share some actual code examples to illustrate some of our thoughts about crafting code. Follow along with the code at https://github.com/crafting-code-podcast/crafting-katas as we discuss how we implemented Conway's Game of Life in multiple languages. Testing strategies, optimizations, and feedback loops all d…

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Kata Tech Podcasts

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