How GitLab's CTO adapts to company needs: Builder, Strategist, Guardian

Building an SRE practice is one of the hardest engineering transformations a company can attempt. The technical challenges are real, but they’re not the hardest part. The real roadblocks are cultural. ❓ Do app teams actually share accountability with SREs, or do they treat them as “the ops team in disguise”? ❓ Do your metrics measure what matters for the customer, or just what looks good in a status report? ❓ Are your early wins visible enough to build trust with leadership? Which of these is the biggest challenge you’ve seen in establishing an SRE culture?

I left T3 Software Engineering Leadership Summit Berlin with a surprising takeaway: many engineering orgs still don’t consistently measure delivery or team health. I had countless discussions throughout the years how Engineering Metrics are used on a daily basis. While people know metrics are important, most organizations haven't moved past intuition or anecdotal evidence to truly understand their performance and team dynamics. Why this matters: - Without measurement, we guess. - With guesses, we misdiagnose. - Misdiagnosis costs time, and trust. A practical way to start a metrics program without creating bureaucracy: - Start small. Pick 3–5 signals (maybe DORA) you’ll actually review weekly. - Balance flow and health. Pair delivery metrics with a team pulse. - Make it visible. Share a simple “metrics snapshot” with teams. - Make it actionable. Define “if X changes, we try Y next week.” - Review together. Metrics inform conversations, they don’t punish. My starter set: - Delivery: deployment frequency, lead time, change failure rate, MTTR - Flow: WIP or flow efficiency - Health: a short regular team check-in This isn’t about vanity dashboards. It’s about better decisions and calmer delivery. Want a lightweight one-pager to pilot this in your org? DM me and I’ll share it. PS: I’m building a practical guide for leaders on implementing engineering metrics. If that’s useful for you, tell me what questions you want it to answer.⁠

Code alone doesn’t guarantee success. Teams also need direction. That’s why we provide technical leadership — acting as Tech Leads or temporary CTOs. We define architecture, guide methodology, and mentor teams to follow best practices. The result? ✅ Clear technical vision. ✅ Higher code quality. ✅ Reduced risks in complex projects. Growing teams often face chaos without strong leadership. We help them scale with confidence. 👉 Does your team have the technical leadership it needs to grow?

Budgets are shrinking, expectations are rising. How do you lead engineering teams through the crunch? 👏 James Barnes, CEO & Co-Founder at StatusCake Uptime Monitoring, is joining us at #LeadDevBerlin to share a practical playbook for leading when resources are tight. In his talk, 𝙀𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥 𝙞𝙣 2025: 𝙏𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙪𝙙𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙨𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙠, James will show how to align technical decisions with business goals, empower teams to make smarter trade-offs, and keep people motivated when expectations stay high. You’ll learn: ▪️ Why budget constraints are a leadership challenge, not just a financial one ▪️ How to help engineers think commercially and make better calls ▪️ Ways to keep tech and business strategy aligned under pressure ▪️ How limits can sharpen focus and boost autonomy ▪️ How to position engineering as a driver of value, not just a cost This isn’t about just getting by in tough times. It’s about building teams that can thrive when constraints are high and demands keep growing. 🌟 Definitely a session not to miss. See what's planned in Berlin: https://lnkd.in/epACtNyV

Atlassian'𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 - 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝟭/𝟯 Casually scrolling LinkedIn last week, I came across a post from by Dave Meyer which spoke about the current predicament of Product Managers. The line that hooked me: “𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 ℎ𝑢𝑔𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑜𝑎𝑙𝑠.” 🔥 I read the report and didn't have to go too deep inside, the Foreword by Tanguy Crusson set the tone. Product management has undergone a phenomenal shift from being a “mysterious craft” to a true engine of growth. The report explores the myriad stakeholders a PM must work with and the growing power PMs now wield to scale impact and steer an organization’s future thus making the role more demanding than ever. The report comes in two parts: 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝟭: maps the pressures and realities of the PM role. 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝟮: offers a practical playbook for collaboration, goal-setting, and Product Ops to help product teams work better. 𝑵𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒖𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊-𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔: the pressure cooker -> what’s really weighing on PMs today. #StateOfProduct #ProductManagement #Atlassian #PMOps #Leadership

If you’ll be at LeadDev NYC next week, join me and Shelly Stuart for a workshop on leveraging your technical skills as an engineering leader. Leaders are under constant pressure to have their teams ship more, faster. But I think we’re agreed that writing code yourself isn’t the answer. On the other hand, all the skills you learned before moving into management are still valuable. Especially when you combine them with the context that you have about organizational goals. Look deeper into your systems to: understand how code moves through PRs, figure out where feedback loops stall, and remove the hidden handoffs slowing delivery. Combine your unique vantage point and technical skills to help your team succeed, by optimizing flow, reducing friction, and making delivery both fast and fun. Hope to see you there!

Day 14: “Stakeholder Alignment: Herding Cats, Successfully” -- 🐈 😸 #ReleaseManagementTips #StakeholderAlignment #DevOps #ProductManagement Different priorities, conflicting timelines, shifting requirements, it can feel impossible to get everyone aligned. But without stakeholder alignment, even the best technical plans fall apart. Successful Release Managers focus on: ✅ Communicate clearly across all parties ✅ Creating shared goals (not just individual team wins) ✅ Facilitating collaboration & problem-solving instead of silos ✅ Managing expectations early – before surprises arise When stakeholders are aligned, releases stop being chaos (or long nights/weekends) and start becoming coordinated, predictive success. 👉 How do you bring everyone to the same page when priorities pull in different directions?

In an industry obsessed with velocity, is "shipping faster" always the answer? I've learned that true technical leadership often means strategically advocating for *slowing down* to achieve sustainable speed. It's a paradox: pushing for immediate acceleration often leads to accumulating technical debt, burning out our teams, and ultimately, slowing us down significantly in the long run. As technical leaders, our role isn't just about hitting deadlines; it's about building enduring systems and fostering healthy engineering cultures. This means having the courage to: * **Prioritize Refactoring & Quality:** Carve out dedicated time for critical refactors, robust testing, and addressing known tech debt *before* it becomes a crisis. * **Defend Focus:** Shield your team from constant context switching and unreasonable demands that compromise deep work. * **Communicate the "Why":** Articulate the long-term value of investing in foundational work and sustainable practices. Frame "slower" as "smarter" and "more resilient." * **Empower Autonomy:** Trust your engineers to identify the right pace for complex problems, rather than dictating unsustainable sprints. Sometimes, the most impactful decision is to pump the brakes, inspect the engine, and ensure the entire vehicle is built for endurance, not just a short sprint. What non-negotiable practices do *you* champion to ensure quality and prevent burnout, even when deadlines loom? Share your strategies below! #TechLeadership #SoftwareEngineering #TechnicalDebt #EngineeringCulture #SustainablePace #DevOps #ProductDevelopment #Agile #TechLeadership #SoftwareEngineering

Agile Isn’t Enough Anymore --> Why Architecture Is Making a Comeback Over the last decade, we’ve mastered Agile fast iterations, constant feedback, continuous delivery. But here’s the truth: speed alone isn’t a strategy. Many of us moved fast… and built technical debt even faster. Today’s systems AI-driven, distributed, deeply integrated demand something more. We need architecture: intentional design, clear boundaries, and long-term thinking baked into how we build. I’m not saying we abandon Agile. We evolve it. Agility without architecture leads to chaos. Architecture with agility creates resilience. The best engineering leaders I know are rediscovering this balance. Because the next competitive edge in tech isn’t speed it’s structure. I’d love to hear from other tech leaders: How are you balancing speed with structure in your teams today? #Leadership #SoftwareArchitecture #CTO #Agile #EngineeringExcellence #TechStrategy

As a Software Engineer, I focus on solving problems not just writing code. Asking “How long will this take?” before discovery is guesswork, credible timelines follow understanding the context, assessing what exists, and de-risking unknowns. A better question is: “What measurable value can we deliver in the time we have?” That shift aligns stakeholders on outcomes, clarifies scope, and keeps delivery calm because a calm mind wins. How do you frame value when planning with your engineering team? #SoftwareEngineering #ProductManagement #Leadership #ProblemSolving #BuildInPublic