In this conversation, Martin Pengelly-Phillips, the VP of Engineering at Zen Educate, shares his journey from the film industry to product engineering. He discusses the importance of a product mindset, collaboration within teams, and the role of mentorship in shaping engineering practices.

Martin emphasizes the need for engineers to be problem shapers rather than just ticket takers, and he highlights the impact of AI tools in enhancing communication and efficiency. The conversation also covers practical steps for implementing product engineering practices and the challenges of scaling these approaches as a company grows.___Martin started his career building bespoke software for the film industry, where he learned full-stack depth, breadth, and product thinking in small, scrappy teams and once colour graded parts of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix despite being colour-blind.He went on to scale himself at Intercom, growing from leading one team to an org of 50 people responsible for $120M ARR, and later delivered mission-critical healthtech software at Birdie.These days he works from home in rural Ireland with his wife, two boys, and their neurotic dog — living proof that distributed working really can work.

Connect with Martin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinpp/ ___

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Product Engineers Community Podcast

00:46 Martin’s Journey in Software Development

03:49 Transitioning to Product Engineering Mindset

07:40 The Role of Mentorship in Engineering

11:50 Collaboration and Team Dynamics in Product Engineering

17:48 Zen Educate’s Culture: Problem Shapers vs. Ticket Takers

22:40 Measuring Collaboration and Team Effectiveness

25:46 Team Structure and Weekly Workflow at Zen Educate

28:46 The Role of Engineers in Technical Planning

29:42 Collaboration in Product Engineering

30:45 The Concept of Product Builders

31:48 Defining Product Engineers

32:48 Managing Handoffs Between Teams

33:33 The Impact of AI on Workflows

35:48 Evolving Responsibilities of Product Managers

38:40 Scaling Collaborative Approaches

42:45 Challenges in Implementing New Processes

46:43 Maintaining Culture as Companies Grow

50:46 Practical Steps for Implementation

___👉 Join the Product Engineers community to meet those who don’t want to stay in their lane.💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/nhdUZ5CG8Q🌍 All the links: https://productengineers.community

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