Signals and Levers: Building Thriving Engineering Organizations

Signals and Levers: Building Thriving Engineering Organizations

Author: InfoQ September 18, 2026 Duration: 38:28
This is the Engineering Culture Podcast, from the people behind InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences. In this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods spoke to Elisabeth Hendrickson and Joel Tosi about systems thinking as a lens for software delivery, the cultural "levers" leaders and teams can pull to shape organizations, and building thriving, sustainable teams amid AI-driven change. Read a transcript of this interview: https://bit.ly/4xhGaTE Newsletter: Subscribe to the Software Architects' Newsletter, a monthly roundup of the patterns and technologies senior practitioners are working through, with the news and lessons from people doing the work: www.infoq.com/software-architects-newsletter InfoQ Online Certification Programs: 5-week online cohorts for senior engineers and architects, built around QCon talks. Programs now cover software architecture, AI engineering, and organizational architecture. Each week you join a four-hour live session with a confidential peer group of practitioners from other companies, apply frameworks from QCon talks to the decisions you're making at work, and earn an InfoQ certification. You leave with new approaches, or confirmation that the calls you're already making are the right ones. Learn more: certification.qconferences.com/ Upcoming Events: QCon San Francisco 2026 (November 16-20, 2026) qconsf.com/ QCon London 2027 (April 13-16, 2027) qconlondon.com/ The InfoQ Podcasts: Weekly conversations with senior software leaders about how they build systems and teams, including what they'd do differently. Listen to all our podcasts and read interview transcripts: The InfoQ Podcast: www.infoq.com/podcasts/ Engineering Culture Podcast by InfoQ: www.infoq.com/podcasts/#engineering_culture Generally AI: www.infoq.com/generally-ai-podcast/ Follow InfoQ: Mastodon: techhub.social/@infoq X: x.com/InfoQ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/InfoQdotcom Instagram: www.instagram.com/infoqdotcom/ YouTube: www.youtube.com/infoq Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/infoq.com

For anyone who's ever wondered how the best tech teams actually work, Engineering Culture by InfoQ offers a rare look behind the curtain. This isn't about abstract theories; it's a weekly conversation grounded in the real-world challenges of building and sustaining effective engineering environments. Each episode features candid discussions with the people shaping these cultures-CTOs from Netflix, engineering directors from Uber, and other seasoned leaders from across the industry. They share their hard-won insights on what truly fosters high performance, collaboration, and innovation beyond just code. The focus is on the human systems, the processes that succeed or fail, and the leadership philosophies that turn a group of talented individuals into a cohesive, impactful unit. With over half a million listens, this podcast has become a trusted resource for engineers, architects, and team leads seeking practical inspiration. You'll hear specific stories about navigating technical debt, scaling teams without losing quality, and creating spaces where great work can happen. Tune in to move beyond the technical tutorial and into the nuanced art of building something that lasts.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Engineering Culture by InfoQ
Podcast Episodes
Personality Over Skillset: How Adam Wachtel Builds Engineering Teams [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:53
This is the Engineering Culture Podcast, from the people behind InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences. In this podcast, Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Adam Wachtel, CTO at Click Boarding, about hi…
Culture & Methods Trends 2026: The Human Side of AI Engineering [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:03
This is the Engineering Culture Podcast, from the people behind InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences. This is the Engineering Culture Trends Report for 2026. Featuring a panel of QCon speakers and InfoQ contributors, they…
Formal Methods for Every Engineer in an AI-Powered Future [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:12
This is the Engineering Culture Podcast, from the people behind InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences. In this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods spoke to Gabriela Moreira about making formal methods ac…
Craig McLuckie on Culture as a Team's Operating System in the AI Era [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:29
This is the Engineering Culture Podcast, from the people behind InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences. In this podcast, Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Craig McLuckie, co-creator of Kubernetes and…
The AI Joy Gap: Why Some Developers Thrive While Others Struggle [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:23
This is the Engineering Culture Podcast, from the people behind InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences. In this podcast, Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Michael Parker, VP of Engineering at TurinTec…
Tiger Teams, Evals and Agents: The New AI Engineering Playbook [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:35
This is the Engineering Culture Podcast, from the people behind InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences. In this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods spoke to Sam Bhagwat, co-founder and CEO of Mastra, abou…
Information Flow: The Hidden Driver of Engineering Culture [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:58
This is the Engineering Culture Podcast, from the people behind InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences. In this podcast, Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Adrian Peryer about Ron Westrum's organizatio…
Beyond Code: How Engineers Need to Evolve in the AI Era [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:48
This is the Engineering Culture Podcast, from the people behind InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences. In this podcast, Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, spoke to Ben Greene about embracing AI in software eng…
The Technical Founder's Path: Code, Leadership, and Balance [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 21:29
This is the Engineering Culture Podcast, from the people behind InfoQ.com and the QCon conferences. In this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods spoke to Trisha Ballakur about transitioning from coder…