Laura Santamaria opens the listener mailbag to answer questions, including how to say yes or no to leadership opportunities without tanking your career or trashing your work-life balance. She also explores the mid-year review process and offers tips for successful self-evaluation and paths to self-growth. Episode Links: The Line Between Management and IC Leadership –... Read more »

People consistently overestimate their ability to predict whether a new product or feature will be a success. Instead of blithely going forward with a project that takes up lots of resources and yields minimal results, today’s guest says we should get our ideas into contact with external reality as quickly as possible, and maybe do... Read more »

“Reinvent or die” is an apt adage for the ever-churning technology industry. Brad Maltz joins us to share his insights on what he calls “continuous reinvention” and how that relates to his own career and why others might want to adopt this mindset. Brad is a Senior Director of AI Solutions at Dell and has... Read more »

On today’s episode, we are  joined by Dr. Brad Topol, Distinguished Engineer and Director of Open Source Technologies at IBM, to talk about how to scale your leadership.   We explore the process of how he went from individual contributor to distinguished engineer to director and executive. We chat about how you build a career... Read more »

On this episode of Technically Leadership, we’re joined by Aleksandra Lemańska to learn about the Process Communication Model (PCM), a framework for enhancing communication. Alex calls PCM an algorithm for people, and it can be useful for improving interactions with engineers and technical folks operating in high-stress environments. We talk about how PCM works, understanding... Read more »

On this episode of Technically Leadership, Chris Leonard joins to talk about the costs of intervention in a team discussion, whether that’s to bring a team back to a topic or to make a decision that needs to be made. We discuss hero culture (both in the team and as the leader), imposter syndrome, and... Read more »

On today’s episode we’re joined by Daniel Ward to get a sneak preview of his talk on Getting the Entire Team to Speak, which he’ll give at DevOpsDay Austin. His addresses the challenges of getting people to speak up. Why is this needed? Getting input from everyone on a team lets people raise issues and... Read more »

How do you lead with influence rather than mandate? On today’s show, we talk with JJ Asghar from IBM. JJ shares his extensive experience in managing open-source namespaces like GitHub and npm for IBM. He discusses the challenges of influencing decisions without formal authority and tailoring communication styles for different audiences. JJ also advocates for... Read more »

A growth mindset not only advances you, but can help to advance those around you. Today we delve into the concept of a growth mindset with guest Sasha Czarkowski. We contrast the growth mindset with a fixed mindset, highlighting the latter’s detrimental effects on creativity and learning. The discussion also highlights the importance of psychological... Read more »

Hiring is never an easy process. On today’s show, guest Brian Hogan and host Laura Santamaria explore the intricacies of hiring top performers in the tech industry. Brian talks about how to set up a fair and structured interview process, including the use of rubrics to evaluate candidates consistently. He discusses the challenges of assessing... Read more »

Everyone has their own hot take or bit of wisdom to share regarding technical leadership.  Today, host Laura Santamaria weaves these insights on communication, collaboration, decision making and more from her guests on the first six episodes of Technically Leadership. Listen, reflect and then apply to your own leadership role. Episode Links: Laura Santamaria Packet... Read more »

Leadership has a huge impact on an organization’s culture, including tech teams. On the positive side, leaders can foster healthy, productive environments. On the negative side, they can build hostile, blame-centric viper pits. Today’s episode of Technically Leadership examines how to strive for the positive by shielding teams from internal politics, developing empathetic leadership, distinguishing... Read more »

Layoffs are a sensitive topic in the tech industry. Host Laura Santamaria discusses the emotional and practical impacts on employees and leaders. She also covers the signs of potential layoffs, and strategies for job searching post-layoff while maintaining perspective. She concludes with a tips for leaders to more effectively lead their teams through a layoff.... Read more »

The concept of psychological safety originated from research on surgical teams. Psychological safety is essential as it allows team members to voice concerns without fear of retaliation. As a leadership tool, it can help people perform at their highest levels. In this episode of Technically Leadership, guest Wesley Faulkner talks with host Laura Santamaria about... Read more »

IT work requires ongoing training and skills development. Laura Santamaria and guest Scott Robohn discuss strategies for leveling up your team to ensure they have the skills they need. Laura and Scott talk about the need for continuous learning and explore options for encouraging skill development, even in budget-constrained environments. Good leaders should guide by... Read more »

On this episode of Technically Leadership, we talk about the philosophical underpinnings of leadership. We discuss what it means to hold and drive a vision for a technical organization, how to build a strong team culture, handling layoffs and letting people go, and exploring what philosophy can teach us about leadership. Guest Matt Butcher, CEO... Read more »

This first episode of Technically Leadership explores distinctions and commonalities between the management track and the staff engineer track with guests Nick Silkey and Martin Smith. Our guests share their stories from both perspectives and offer advice for those considering similar paths in technical leadership. Episode Guests: Nick Silkey and Martin Smith Nick Silkey, Senior... Read more »

Technically Leadership is a brand new podcast on the Packet Pushers network. Host Laura Santamaria explores leadership in the tech industry, with conversations and insights to help you development your management skills. Whether you’re considering your first management role or you’re an experienced manager working your way to the C-suite, this podcast is for you.... Read more »