Keeping software engineers in flow and unblocked is one of the key responsibilities of software development leaders. In each episode of the Engineering Unblocked podcast, Rebecca Murphey interviews leaders who have navigated challenges of scale, complexity, and growth. You’ll hear from people with lived experience across the software development ecosystem, from CTOs and VPEs to directors and line managers to product managers, program managers, tech leads, and more.
Engineering Unblocked
Claim This Podcastby Swarmia
4.7(14 reviews)
30 episodes
Updated Weekly
Accepts GuestsHas SponsorsLocation 🇺🇸
48
Podcast Authority
BetaFairBased on show quality, social media presence, reviews, charts, and more
Quality61
Social0
YouTube0
Engagement90
Podcast Overview
Keeping software engineers in flow and unblocked is one of the key responsibilities of software development leaders. In each episode of the Engineering Unblocked podcast, Rebecca Murphey interviews leaders who have navigated challenges of scale, complexity, and growth. You’ll hear from people with lived experience across the software development ecosystem, from CTOs and VPEs to directors and line managers to product managers, program managers, tech leads, and more.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
6/2/2023
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48
Podcast Authority
BetaFairBased on show quality, social media presence, reviews, charts, and more
Quality61
Social0
YouTube0
Engagement90
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27 episodes over 2.3 years
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Recent Episodes
February 11, 2026
AI's unglamorous wins for developer productivity with Tara Hernandez from MongoDB
<p></p><p>In this episode, Tara Hernandez shares what 18 months of rigorous AI experimentation taught her at MongoDB — including why the initial results showed negative ROI, and where her team eventually found the real productivity wins.</p><br /><p>Tara explains how AI saved developers an hour a week on coding but had zero impact on product velocity, why the unglamorous outer loop improvements (Slack bots, log analysis, ticket generation) deliver bigger impact than code generation, and how developer productivity ultimately comes down to information flow between humans.</p><br /><p>She also gets into why developer experience matters more now than during the hiring frenzy, and why curiosity is what defines good developers.</p><p><br /></p><p>(0:00) Introduction<br />(1:04) How Tara became MongoDB’s first VP of Developer Productivity<br />(6:42) Teaching Pixar how to do software development in 2002<br />(11:06) Tara's three pillars of developer productivity: tools, communication, and process<br />(18:52) How the internet changed infrastructure from “not real engineering” to essential<br />(22:00) MongoDB’s 18-month AI journey: from skepticism to scientific measurement<br />(25:11) The surprising truth: AI saved coding time but had zero impact on velocity<br />(27:03) Where AI actually wins: senior engineers with agentic programming<br />(30:04) What developer productivity teams should focus on in the AI era<br />(34:14) Why the outer loop matters more than the inner loop<br />(37:08) Measuring the cost of human-to-human communication<br />(40:14) Developer productivity is really about information flow<br />(41:13) Why developer experience matters more now, not less<br />(44:33) The ethical problem with celebrating AI-driven layoffs<br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Follow <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tara-hernandez/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Tara on LinkedIn</a> </p><p>Follow <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Rebecca on LinkedIn</a></p><p></p><p>Find the <a href="https://www.swarmia.com/podcast/tara-hernandez-mongodb" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">full transcript on the Swarmia website</a></p><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>
January 19, 2026
What a year of hands-on AI coding teaches you about good software with Lada Kesseler
<p>In this episode, Lada Kesseler shares what she’s learned from a year of hands-on experience building with AI coding tools — including the three fundamental challenges that define how these tools work, and why understanding limitations is what makes you better at using them.</p><p>Lada explains why “focus” is the critical concept most developers miss, how a dedicated committer agent will catch issues that a general-purpose copilot never does, and why software craftsmanship matters more now than ever. She also gets into why using AI to critique itself produces dramatically better results, and how AI works as an amplifier that speeds up both good and bad engineering practices.</p><p><br /></p><p>Find the transcript at: https://www.swarmia.com/podcast/lada-kesseler-logic2020</p><p><br /></p><p>(0:00) Introduction<br />(2:46) The five fundamental gaps in AI development<br />(7:15) “You’re absolutely right!”<br />(8:00) The anti-pattern of the distracted agent<br />(11:09) Do agile best practices still matter in the age of AI?<br />(14:48) Why software craftsmanship is more important than ever<br />(15:46) Managing complexity: Can AI do it, or do we still need humans?<br />(18:19) The difference between vibe coding and craft<br />(20:24) How AI is an amplifier — for better or worse<br />(21:23) Good practices that are suddenly essential<br />(23:02) The superpower of refactoring<br />(25:36) Documentation: harder to maintain but more important than ever<br />(26:58) When developers don’t write code anymore<br />(32:49) AI costs and the coming reckoning<br />(33:54) When AI is not the right choice<br />(36:06) Three things senior leaders need to understand about AI<br />(39:46) Will we still be talking about this in a year’s time?<br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Watch Lada’s talk <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LSK2bVf0Lc" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Augmented Coding: Mapping the Uncharted Territory</a> </p><p>See the <a href="https://lexler.github.io/augmented-coding-patterns/talk/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">interactive map on Lada’s website </a></p><p>Follow <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lada-kesseler/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Lada on LinkedIn</a> </p><p>Follow <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">Rebecca on LinkedIn</a></p>
January 7, 2026
Being a CTO when everything is exploratory with Rob Zuber from CircleCI
<p>In this episode, Rob Zuber shares what he’s learned from over a decade as CTO at CircleCI — including why the current market requires CTOs to be more hands-on than ever, and why he doesn’t even know who his competitors are anymore.</p><p>Rob explains how his team deliberately encourages AI tool sprawl to find the gaps, how CircleCI went from instant product-market fit to navigating constant transformation, and why boring technology still wins for infrastructure even as everything else changes. He also gets into why AI works as an amplifier that speeds up both good processes and bad ones.</p><p>Find the transcript at: https://www.swarmia.com/podcast/rob-zuber-circleci(00:00) Introduction</p><p>(01:00) What it means to be a CTO right now</p><p>(03:09) The evolution of software development since 2011</p><p>(06:07) The mobile revolution and iOS tooling</p><p>(08:28) JavaScript frameworks and the rise of containers</p><p>(12:03) Staying competitive in a crowded CI/CD market</p><p>(15:32) AI is changing everything about software delivery</p><p>(18:17) Setting goals and priorities in uncertain times</p><p>(28:58) What the board holds CTOs accountable for</p><p>(34:27) The ZIRP era and its aftermath</p><p>(38:45) Why headcount became the wrong metric</p><p>(41:22) AI as an amplifier — for better or worse</p><p>(44:03) Will companies without fundamentals survive?</p><p>(46:00) The reverse camera problem</p><p>(51:52) Do we still need to understand how things work?</p><p>Links and mentionsFollow Rob on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robzuber/Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/</p>
30 total episodes available
Recent guests on Engineering Unblocked
Guests from recent episodes — sign up to see every guest that has ever appeared on this show.
Allan Leinwand
Guest
Kathryn Koehler
Guest
Julianna Lamb
Guest
Max Kanat-Alexander
Guest
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Frequently asked questions
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- What is Engineering Unblocked?
- How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates weekly.
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This podcast is available on 9 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
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Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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