#110 - Developer Efficiency feat. Rebecca Murphey // Field CTO @ Swarmia & Co-Author of Build

Become a more effective team in this CTO podcast featuring Rebecca Murphey, Field CTO of Swarmia and co-author of Build. From her years of experience working in the developer productivity organizations at Stripe and Indeed and now at Swarmia, Rebecca knows this conversation isn’t just about developer metrics and productivity - it’s about the broader picture 🖼️. How do we align🧭 our engineering work with with business outcomes💸, developer experience 😀AND developer productivity⚡. And just as important, how do we communicate what we’re doing (and not doing) to other stakeholders?

Listen to find out:
🔄 Queuing Theory as paradigm for developer workflow evaluation
⏳ How to allocate time for different engineering tasks
👥 Team Metrics vs. 🧑‍💻 Individual Metrics
📊 Metrics: DORA, SPACE, BRAINs, and more
⚖️ The ethical debate on tracking developer metrics
🤔 If you optimize for the quarter, do you de-optimize for the future?

Listen here: https://alphalist.com/podcast/110-reb...

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction to Alphalist Podcast
00:57 Meet Rebecca Murphy: Field CTO at Swarmia
01:52 Exploring Engineering Effectiveness
04:12 TRENDS: Reason to focus on Why is developer productivity trending?
04:26 1. Post-ZIRP
05:46 2. Maturing software industry wants sustainable business models
06:16 3. Push for simplicity
09:17 BUSINESS VALUE: Aligning with Developer Productivity and Experience
12:07 Queuing Theory: Predicting chaos in developer workflow
15:29 Issue with KTLO
16:07 DEVELOPER METRICS: Is there an ideal mix?
18:19 What is DORA
19:04 SPACE
21:35 Context: Surfacing actionability in metrics
24:44 The Role of Leadership in Productivity
27:21 Balancing Short-Term Desires with Long-Term Needs
28:43 Technical Debt in 4-person startup? Ignore. But hire right
29:54 Allocating Time for Different Engineering Tasks
31:09 Optimize for the quarter and you de-optimise for the future?
32:12 Ethical Debate about Developer Productivity Tools and Metrics
34:18 Team Metrics vs. Individual Metrics
36:12 Gaming metrics: bad or good?
37:32 Is it okay to measure engineers?
40:25 CTO's Role in Explaining Engineering to Non-Technical Peers