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Newsletter archive
AI agents and the missing link in DevOps
AI agents aren’t just assistants anymore – they’re making decisions. Are engineers ready for the shift or are they just too skeptical?
Carving out time for large-scale engineering chores
Determine what to prioritize, set out a path, and be prepared for some hiccups along the way.
Encouraging a passion for productivity
In this edition of DirectorPlus, Neha Batra, VP of Engineering at GitHub, explains how she creates a culture of productivity.
Framing AI rollouts in the right light
How can you introduce AI into teams in a way that doesn’t invite unrest within your org? It starts with presenting it in the right light.
Latest
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Think the technical interview is dead? Think again
The technical interview is evolving as AI-assisted coding becomes the norm.
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The latest tech layoffs have all the hallmarks of AI washing
Looking closer at the latest Block and Atlassian layoffs.
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AI adoption has to be driven from the top
Not by mandate, but clear leadership and guidance over why AI is being adopted.
New York • September 8 & 9, 2027
Loved LDX3 New York? Pre-sale tickets for 2027 are now available.
Essential reading
What is a Director of Engineering? The glue keeping engineering together
A director of engineering is responsible for keeping an entire engineering function humming. Find out what skills you need to climb the ladder to this vital position.
On our DirectorPlus playlist
Strategies to hone commercial awareness and drive business outcomes
Learn effective strategies for enhancing commercial awareness in tech teams, turning engineering into a business driver through alignment, impactful initiatives, and stakeholder engagement.
The path from Director to CTO: How to follow it, or how to mentor it
This talk is aimed at both aspiring Chief Technology Officers and those who are in a position to mentor future CTOs. Explore the journey from a Director of Engineering role to a CTO, focusing on the skills and experiences needed for this transition and how experienced leaders can guide others on this path.
Making the manager of manager’s mindset
Suzan Bond covers the difference between the two roles and the key mindset shifts leaders need to make to manage managers.
The festival for modern engineering leadership
New York • September 15 & 16, 2026
More for managers of managers
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Meta and the great DEI rollback
Once an emblem of inclusivity, Meta has officially joined tech’s anti-DEI bandwagon.
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Do managers still need to be hands on?
While remaining hands-on is naturally tempting for engineers, it’s not always the most effective way to lead.
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11 red flags to watch out for during interviews
How to spot warning signs whether you’re a candidate or hiring manager.
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Gut-based engineering leadership is failing
Why instinct isn’t enough for stakeholders who need clear, actionable answers.
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Is IaC broken?
Complex rollouts and rigid procedures have taken the shine off of Infrastructure as Code. Can it be fixed?
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What engineering managers need to know for 2025
Here are 9 things you need to know as we move into 2025.
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6 engineering hiring trends to look out for in 2025
There are signs of life in the hiring market for software engineers, but can candidates handle the recruitment process?
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How to measure the impact of engineering in 2025
As we look to 2025, here’s four trends to look out for when it comes to measuring developer productivity.
Videos for managers of managers
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Obsessing over AI is optional
This talk is for overwhelmed engineering leaders and senior ICs who feel quietly guilty about not experimenting with every AI trend.
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Startup made, enterprise grade: Earning trust, scoping tight, and shipping quality with a small team
Small teams are increasingly expected to build for enterprise-scale customers, and AI is changing how they get there. This talk explores how startups can ship enterprise-ready features with lean teams, what’s changed along the way, and how they’re adapting for what comes next.
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The continuous thunderdome
This talk takes Steve Yegge’s “continuous thunderdome” as a starting point and shows how to make CI/CD work at planet scale, and how to solve the perennial problem that nobody wants to fix the build.
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How we migrated from manual deploys to agent-driven development in under six months
This talk will dig into the technical and social details of Imprint’s migration to safely transition from manual deploys to continuous deployment with substantial agent-written PRs in under six months.
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From SDLC to AI-DLC: Changing how software is built
AI agents may be making code faster to write, but they’re also shifting the bottleneck further down the delivery process. This talk explores why proven practices like progressive rollout, observability, feature flags, and automated rollback are becoming essential for teams adopting AI at scale.
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The manager’s path in the age of AI
Which management skills AI is genuinely changing, which stay non-negotiable, and how to tell the difference.
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The state of AI in software development: Insights across 500+ organizations
In this talk, Justin Reock, Deputy CTO at DX, will share a data-driven “state of the union” on AI in engineering, grounded in both quantitative data from thousands of developers and on-the-ground observations.
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Your Slack has a neurotypical bias
The communication habits that place disproportionate cognitive load on neurodivergent engineers, and a one-sprint audit with three specific rewrites you can deploy immediately.
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I thought my team knew what mattered
Why people don’t build connection to their work from what you say at all-hands, and how to translate what matters into something that sticks week to week.
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The 30 minute MBA for engineering leaders
The business fundamentals that help engineering leaders understand the financial and commercial forces that shape their work, and engage as partners rather than order-takers.
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Cold start crisis leadership
The specific leadership moves that work when you’re managing a crisis with no prior relationships, no system context, and a hard deadline, and why crisis leadership requires a different playbook entirely.
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Protecting innovation under pressure: A practical loop for product and engineering teams
The specific leadership moves that work when you’re managing a crisis with no prior relationships, no system context, and a hard deadline, and why crisis leadership requires a different playbook entirely.