Managing up, down, and the robots with Michael Lopp aka Rands

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Engineering Unblocked

Swarmia

27 episodes

4 days ago

Keeping software engineers in flow and unblocked is one of the key responsibilities of software development leaders. In each episode of the Engineering Unblocked podcast, Rebecca Murphey interviews leaders who have navigated challenges of scale, complexity, and growth. You’ll hear from people with lived experience across the software development ecosystem, from CTOs and VPEs to directors and line managers to product managers, program managers, tech leads, and more.

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Managing up, down, and the robots with Michael Lopp aka Rands

Engineering Unblocked

49 minutes 3 seconds

1 month ago

Managing up, down, and the robots with Michael Lopp aka Rands

In this episode, Michael Lopp shares what he's learned leading engineering teams at Slack, Pinterest, and Palantir — including why AI is delivering real but modest productivity gains, and why junior engineers churning out AI-generated code is probably slowing teams down.

Michael Lopp (Rands) brings three decades of engineering leadership experience to the AI conversation — revealing why he thinks we're experiencing another bubble similar to the dotcom era, but moving much faster. He's bullish on the technology but realistic: AI enables 5-10% productivity gains for complex work, not the revolutionary changes some expect. His framework emphasizes that good leadership still requires empathy, one-on-ones, and actually listening to your team.

Find the transcript at: https://www.swarmia.com/podcast/michael-lopp-rands/

(0:00) Introduction
(2:45) Are we living in another dotcom bubble?
(11:12) AI doesn't replace critical thinking
(15:34) The problem with measuring the productivity impact of AI
(18:01) Your job as a human is to know when you're being lied to
(19:40) What junior engineers need to learn now
(24:16) Assessing team health and psychological safety at scale
(28:12) What happens at 150 headcount
(30:21) Are companies buying AI tools without a hypothesis?
(33:11) The fakers
(35:22) Rands’ advice on leading through hard times
(42:18) Why telling managers to stop coding was a bad idea
(45:25) Rands’ hot take on the industry

Follow Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaellopp

Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/