LeadDev's PriorityZero

Allison Malloy, Director of Engineering at Shopify, joins the show to chat about her journey from aspiring astronaut to a successful career in software engineering. We talked about her unintentional path to management, the challenges of running a remote team, and her Priority Zero of unifying services across Shopify.

08:40 Transitioning to management: The unintentional leader

14:00 Managing managers and the importance of letting go

17:30 What makes a great technical manager

19:50 Working fully remote from Canada

24:00 Unification of teams and features at Shopify and expanding future capabilities

33:00 Setting the right goals for major projects and launches

Allison's recommendation: The Acquired podcast and The Art of Storytelling by John D. Walsh.

Author of The Manager's Path, Camille Fournier, joins the podcast to talk about her varied career in software engineering, the evolution of management practices in tech, Founder mode vs Manager mode, and her recent interest in platform engineering.

02:00 Doing it for the money vs the passion
07:00 Management in startups vs. big companies
14:45 The qualities of good managers
23:00 The legacy of The Manager's Path 7 years on
31:00 Camille's current focus on platform engineering
39:00 Priority Zero: effectively offboarding as an executive

Camille's recommendation: Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

Camille will also be speaking on stage LDX3 London on June 15-16, 2025. ⁠Tickets are available now.

Anil Dash, VP of developer experience at Fastly, joins the show to talk about the decline of community in software circles, the value of following your passions as a developer, what he learned working with Joel Spolsky on Stack Overflow and Glitch, and the evolution of developer tools.

6:00 Going from hobbyist to professional developer

11:00 The decline of software communities

18:00 The importance of following your passion as a developer

29:00 Working with Joel Spolsky

47:00 Adapting to a more corporate role and the pitfalls of 'founder mode'

53:00 Anil's Priority Zero: Making Fastly tools more accessible to developers by focusing on the experience

Anil's recommendation: Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin by David Ritz

Melissa DePuydt, Director of Engineering at Medium, joins the show to talk about making the switch from journalism to software engineering, her experiences with imposter syndrome, and a Scrappy vs. Scale framework for adapting your management approach to different contexts.

06:00 Transitioning from journalism to engineering
13:00 Learning to live with imposter syndrome
21:00 The Scrappy vs. Scale framework (Check out Melissa's LeadDev New York talk on the Scrappy/Scale Mindset)
31:20 Establishing stability at Medium

Melissa's recommendation: Horseback riding (yes, horseback riding)

Matt Boyle, an engineering manager at Cloudflare, joins the show to talk about joining the tech giant during the pandemic, how that influences his management style, and the vital importance of regular retrospectives.

06:00 The difference between working at big and small companies

09:00 The terrifying transition from IC to manager

15:00 The vital importance of retrospectives

18:00 Managing distributed teams and the importance of asynchronous work

21:00 Matt's Priority Zero: Ensuring high availability

24:00 The importance of continuous improvement after incidents

Matt's recommendation: Acquired podcast