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"We are not building things anymore. We are delivering value."
One idea from Roman's guest piece dropping Monday that's worth sitting with this weekend.
Are you optimizing for metrics or impact? Is there even a difference?
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Great time at #ELC26 in Prague with the Engineering Leaders Community.
Ended up hosting two workshops on AI orchestration (was only expecting one), met a lot of thoughtful people, and had some great conversations.
Fantastic event all around.
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You stop shipping.
You start managing.
And suddenly it’s hard to tell if you had a “good” day.
On Monday: a guest post from Roman Nikolaev on what actually counts.
🔧 Why the wrapper around an AI model matters more than the model
🛣️ Leadership lessons from running billion-dollar infrastructure projects
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This week's digest is about what happens to expertise when AI starts doing the hard stuff.
🏆 Why senior engineers are losing authority (and how to rebuild it)
🤖 The entropy war AI is quietly creating in your codebase
🏥 How a founder used AI to rewrite his own cancer treatment
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Your calendar isn't just a list of meetings.
It's a representation of your true priorities.
The next time you plan your day, week, or month, try scheduling based on your priorities and values more, not just your obligations.
A lot to learn from this one.
Link in comments.
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This week: a conversation with Gregor Ojstersek – on what actually drives growth in engineering teams.
We cover his journey from engineer to CTO, the mindset shifts that mattered most, and why collaboration and emotional intelligence are non-negotiable for modern leaders.
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Tomorrow 👀
A conversation about:
• Why leadership feels harder than expected
• The mistakes most new managers make
• And what actually helps teams grow
This one is worth your time.
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“What made me a great engineer didn’t make me a great leader.”
This came up in my conversation with Gregor Ojstersek.
It’s such a simple idea—but it explains why the transition into leadership feels so hard for so many people.
More on Monday.
Interview drops Monday!
If you lead a technical team – or want to one day – this one is for you.
On Monday, we're publishing our full conversation with him. Here's a taste of what he told us:
"Engineering is more about people than tech. Great teams build great software."
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From software engineer to CTO. From 200 newsletter subscribers to over 180,000.
Gregor Ojstersek didn't follow a traditional path to leadership – he grew into it by doing something most engineers resist: asking for help, sharing what he knew, and putting the team ahead of himself.
The transition from engineer to leader is harder than most people expect.
Sharing a conversation about that on Monday.
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This week’s digest looks at where teams stay busy — but don’t always move forward:
🎨 How design systems turned designers into mockup factories
🏭 The rise of “dark factories” in engineering
📈 What the AI gold rush is getting wrong
⚙️ Why the “harness” matters more than the LLM
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Although uncomfortable, feedback is the fastest path to improvement.
After decades in the field, I’ve learned that the most valuable feedback is both tough and actionable, but it guides you to evolve in unexpected ways.
📍 Prague
🗓️ April 16, 2026
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Heading to Prague next week! 🇨🇿
Excited to be running a workshop at the ELC conference on a topic I’ve been thinking (and talking) about a lot recently: Managing and orchestrating agent teams and AI workflows.
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“Autonomy without accountability is chaos. Accountability without autonomy is micromanagement.”
— Shamim Rajani
A powerful insight from this week’s conversation about building strong engineering cultures.
🔗 Link in the comments
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📣 New guest post is live!
This month, Shamim Rajani shares what 20+ years of leadership has taught her about engineers, business, and the space between them.
From hiring philosophy to product failure, it’s a candid reflection on what actually makes organizations work.
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The most interesting leadership challenges in tech often live between engineering and business.
In tomorrow's guest post, Shamim Rajani shares lessons from more than 20 years building teams, launching products, and leading organizations.
Live tomorrow!
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After two decades building engineering teams and companies, Shamim Rajani has seen what separates organizations that thrive from those that stagnate.
She shares lessons about culture, hiring, product development, and leadership.
Drops Monday!
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Technical skill got you here. Judgment is what takes you further.
This week's digest covers 15 insights on the shift quietly separating good engineering leaders from great ones.
Your Thursday reading sorted ☕
Link in the comments 👇
