Latest
-
AI-generated abandonware is hollowing out open source
When everyone can build, the scarce resource becomes maintainers.
Editor’s picks
What is a staff engineer? Technical leaders who aren’t managers
Staff engineers are technical leaders who have deep domain knowledge, walking the line between tech and the business.
New York • September 15 & 16, 2026
Cut through the hype.
Find what works at LDX3 New York
Essential reading
On our StaffPlus playlist
How to master the four Staff archetypes and elevate your impact
While the specifics of the job can vary widely, Will Larson has famously categorized the Staff+ experience into four archetypes: Tech Lead, Architect, Solver, and the Right Hand.
Understanding the role as a Staff engineer
How to define, develop and deliver in your role on the technical track.
How to balance technical direction and leadership work
But as is often the case in business, priorities constantly shift and where you focus your efforts will too. So how do you strike the right balance between working on the technical direction of the business and those tasks that require you to put your leadership hat on?
Start with an exit in mind: How to be effective by being selfish as a staff engineer
Staff engineers often get overwhelmed by long-term ownership of critical projects. This talk explores how to avoid burnout by starting every project with an exit strategy—whether transferring ownership, pausing or bootstrapping a team.
The festival for modern engineering leadership
New York • September 15 & 16, 2026
More for Staff engineers
-
Build a productive code review culture
Code reviews can be tense and stressful if done incorrectly. Avoid bikeshedding and set good cultural standards with these nine simple steps.
-
Engineering leadership is not just about code
If you’re looking to move into an engineering leadership position, you’ll have to do more than brush up on code!
-
Influencing influencers: Powerful strategies to scale your impact at work
If you looking to widen the breadth of your impact, you’ll want to brush up on some of these areas to see the best results.
-
The best feature management and experimentation software 2025
Feature flags and experimentation are critical for progressive developer teams who want granular control over their feature delivery. But which tool is the right one for you?
-
How to handle difficult conversations as a leader
Difficult conversations are never anyone’s favorite pastime. For many, it can be an anxiety-inducing trip…but it doesn’t have to be.
-
Be careful with ‘open source’ AI
Open source AI models may be appealing for developers, but there are still plenty of complex risks to assess.
Videos for Staff engineers
-
Crowdsourcing platform engineering
How Cash App built a culture of shared ownership in platform engineering–where empathy, collaboration, and visibility drive developer experience and delivery velocity.
-
In partnership with TailscaleInclusion: What works, and why I’m still talking about it
Explore practical ways to make inclusion part of everyday teamwork, from communication styles to better collaboration and decision-making.
-
In partnership with DXThe state of AI in software development: Insights across 400+ organizations
Learn where AI actually boosts developer productivity, how leading teams measure impact, and practical ways to separate measurable gains from hype.
-
In partnership with UnblockedYour agents lack context: Here’s how to fix “You’re absolutely right!”
Learn how to build the context layer AI agents need to produce organization-aware, permission-safe, genuinely useful code.
-
In partnership with PagerDutyProduction AI agents: The gap between promise and reality
Learn what it really takes to move AI agents from impressive demos to safe, reliable production systems.
-
Mentoring that actually changes careers
A practical, human take on mentoring that actually helps people grow, by sharing real experience and honest guidance.
-
The mechanics of scaling: Why delivery slows as you grow, and what to do about it
In this talk, I will show how rising incidents, fragile systems, slower delivery and constant firefighting are often signs of hitting systemic limits rather than execution failure.
-
Finding the 80/20: Lessons from delivering our first LLM feature
How to choose what actually matters when shipping your first LLM feature, balancing evaluation, trust, and delivery without overengineering.
-
Inclusive leadership across cultures: Practical patterns for global engineering teams
Concrete, repeatable patterns for leading global teams across cultures, reducing friction, building trust, and helping diverse voices contribute fully.
-
Things fall apart – Architecture to avoid progressive collapse
How to design systems so small failures stay contained, preventing cascading outages and large-scale architectural collapse.
-
30 to 70 PRs a day: How we managed to not wreck our systems
Practical platform practices that compound over time, helping teams ship faster, improve reliability, and make AI-assisted delivery actually work.
