Eleanor Millman, Senior Staff Product Manager, and Mina Tawadrous, Associate Director of Platform Engineering at SiriusXM, join host Justin Reock to discuss how platform teams can scale prioritization without relying on revenue. They share how SiriusXM moved beyond RICE to build a custom framework for internal platforms, using weighted factors like developer speed, reliability, cost, and trust to guide decisions across teams. The episode also explores their concept of “assumptions as code,” in w...
Apr 10, 2026•50 min•Ep. 98
In this episode of Engineering Enablement , Jesse Adametz joins Abi Noda, this time to host. Together, they explore how AI is showing up across the SDLC, not just in code generation, and how it is shifting bottlenecks across the development process. They unpack what “AI readiness” actually means in practice, and why it often comes down to developer experience fundamentals like documentation, environments, and feedback loops. They also discuss why enablement matters more than tool choice, how tea...
Apr 03, 2026•38 min•Ep. 97
Developer productivity is often framed as a tooling initiative or a morale issue. At scale, it’s a more complex socio-technical systems challenge that spans engineering foundations, leadership alignment, organizational structure, and culture. In this episode, Laura Tacho sits down with Uma Namasivayam, Senior Director, Engineering Productivity at Dropbox, to discuss how the company approaches developer experience across an organization of nearly 1,000 engineers. Uma explains why productivity mus...
Feb 06, 2026•39 min•Ep. 96
As AI adoption accelerates across the software industry, engineering leaders are increasingly focused on a harder question: how to understand whether these tools are actually improving developer experience and organizational outcomes. In this year-end episode of the Engineering Enablement podcast, host Laura Tacho is joined by Brian Houck from Microsoft, Collin Green and Ciera Jaspan from Google, and Eirini Kalliamvakou from GitHub to examine what 2025 research reveals about AI impact in enginee...
Dec 29, 2025•42 min•Ep. 95
AI engineering tools are evolving fast. New coding assistants, debugging agents, and automation platforms emerge every month. Engineering leaders want to take advantage of these innovations while avoiding costly experiments that create more distraction than impact. In this episode of the Engineering Enablement podcast, host Laura Tacho and Abi Noda outline a practical model for evaluating AI tools with data. They explain how to shortlist tools by use case, run trials that mirror real development...
Dec 12, 2025•38 min•Ep. 94
Nathen Harvey leads research at DORA, focused on how teams measure and improve software delivery. In today’s episode of Engineering Enablement, Nathen sits down with host Laura Tacho to explore how AI is changing the way teams think about productivity, quality, and performance. Together, they examine findings from the 2025 DORA research on AI-assisted software development and DX’s Q4 AI Impact report, comparing where the data aligns and where important gaps emerge. They discuss why relying on tr...
Nov 21, 2025•26 min•Ep. 93
In this episode of Engineering Enablement, host Laura Tacho talks with Fabien Deshayes, who leads multiple platform engineering teams at Monzo Bank. Fabien explains how Monzo is adopting AI responsibly within a highly regulated industry, balancing innovation with structure, control, and data-driven decision-making. They discuss how Monzo runs structured AI trials, measures adoption and satisfaction, and uses metrics to guide investment and training. Fabien shares why the company moved from broad...
Oct 31, 2025•41 min•Ep. 92
In this episode of Engineering Enablement , Laura Tacho and Abi Noda discuss how engineering leaders can plan their 2026 AI budgets effectively amid rapid change and rising costs. Drawing on data from DX’s recent poll and industry benchmarks, they explore how much organizations should expect to spend per developer, how to allocate budgets across AI tools, and how to balance innovation with cost control. Laura and Abi also share practical insights on building a multi-vendor strategy, evaluating R...
Oct 17, 2025•39 min•Ep. 91
CEO Abi Noda is joined by DX CTO Laura Tacho to discuss the evolving role of Platform and DevProd teams in the AI era. Together, they unpack how AI is reshaping platform responsibilities, from evaluation and rollout to measurement, tool standardization, and guardrails. They explore why fundamentals like documentation and feedback loops matter more than ever for both developers and AI agents. They also share insights on reducing tool sprawl, hardening systems for higher throughput, and leveraging...
Sep 26, 2025•37 min•Ep. 90
In this episode, host Laura Tacho speaks with Jesse Adametz, Senior Engineering Leader on the Developer Platform at Twilio. Jesse is leading Twilio’s multi-year platform consolidation, unifying tech stacks across large acquisitions and driving migrations at enterprise scale. He discusses platform adoption, the limits of Kubernetes, and how Twilio balances modernization with pragmatism. The conversation also explores treating developer experience as a product, offering “change as a service,” and ...
Sep 12, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 89
In this episode of Engineering Enablement , host Laura Tacho talks with Bruno Passos, Product Lead for Developer Experience at Booking.com, about how the company is rolling out AI tools across a 3,000-person engineering team. Bruno shares how Booking.com set ambitious innovation goals, why cultural change mattered as much as technology, and the education practices that turned hesitant developers into daily users. He also reflects on the early barriers, from low adoption and knowledge gaps to pro...
Sep 05, 2025•47 min•Ep. 88
In this episode of Engineering Enablement , DX CTO Laura Tacho and CEO Abi Noda break down how to measure developer productivity in the age of AI using DX’s AI Measurement Framework. Drawing on research with industry leaders, vendors, and hundreds of organizations, they explain how to move beyond vendor hype and headlines to make data-driven decisions about AI adoption. They cover why some fundamentals of productivity measurement remain constant, the pitfalls of over-relying on flawed metrics li...
Aug 15, 2025•41 min•Ep. 87
In this special episode of the Engineering Enablement podcast, recorded live at LeadDev London, DX CTO Laura Tacho explores the growing gap between AI headlines and the reality inside engineering teams—and what leaders can do to close it. Laura shares data from nearly 39,000 developers across 184 companies, highlights the Core 4 and introduces the AI Measurement Framework, and offers a practical playbook for using data to improve developer experience, measure AI’s true impact, and build better s...
Aug 08, 2025•23 min•Ep. 86
In this episode of the Engineering Enablement podcast, host Abi Noda is joined by Quentin Anthony , Head of Model Training at Zyphra and a contributor at EleutherAI. Quentin participated in METR’s recent study on AI coding tools, which revealed that developers often slowed down when using AI—despite feeling more productive. He and Abi unpack the unexpected results of the study, which tasks AI tools actually help with, and how engineering teams can adopt them more effectively by focusing on task-...
Aug 01, 2025•44 min•Ep. 85
In this episode, Abi Noda talks with Frank Fodera, Director of Engineering for Developer Experience at CarGurus. Frank shares the story behind CarGurus’ transition from a monolithic architecture to microservices, and how that journey led to the creation of their internal developer portal, Showroom. He outlines the five pillars of the IDP, how it integrates with infrastructure, and why they chose to build rather than buy. The conversation also explores how CarGurus is approaching AI tool adoption...
Jul 11, 2025•39 min•Ep. 83
In this episode, Abi Noda speaks with Gilad Turbahn, Head of Developer Productivity, and Amy Yuan, Director of Engineering at Snowflake, about how their team builds and sustains operational excellence. They break down the practices and principles that guide their work—from creating two-way communication channels to treating engineers as customers. The conversation explores how Snowflake fosters trust, uses feedback loops to shape priorities, and maintains alignment through thoughtful planning. Y...
Jun 20, 2025•45 min•Ep. 80
In this episode, Abi Noda speaks with DX CTO Laura Tacho about the real obstacles holding back AI adoption in engineering teams. They discuss why technical challenges are rarely the blocker, and how fear, unclear expectations, and inflated hype can stall progress. Laura shares practical strategies for driving adoption, including how to model usage from the top down, build momentum through champions and training programs, and measure impact effectively—starting with establishing a baseline before...
Jun 06, 2025•42 min•Ep. 82
In this episode, Abi Noda speaks with Derek DeBellis, lead researcher at Google’s DORA team, about their latest report on generative AI’s impact on software productivity. They dive into how the survey was built, what it reveals about developer time and “flow,” and the surprising gap between individual and team outcomes. Derek also shares practical advice for leaders on measuring AI impact and aligning metrics with organizational goals. Where to find Derek DeBellis: • LinkedIn: https://www.linked...
May 23, 2025•40 min•Ep. 81
In this episode, Abi Noda is joined by Laura Tacho, CTO at DX, engineering leadership coach, and creator of the Core 4 framework. They explore how engineering organizations can avoid common pitfalls when adopting metrics frameworks like SPACE, DORA, and Core 4. Laura shares a practical guide to getting started with Core 4—beginning with controllable input metrics that teams can actually influence. The conversation touches on Goodhart’s Law, why focusing too much on output metrics can lead to dat...
May 09, 2025•43 min•Ep. 79
Brian Houck from Microsoft returns to discuss effective strategies for driving AI adoption among software development teams. Brian shares his insights into why the immense hype around AI often serves as a barrier rather than a facilitator for adoption, citing skepticism and inflated expectations among developers. He highlights the most effective approaches, including leadership advocacy, structured training, and cultivating local champions within teams to demonstrate practical use cases. Brian e...
Apr 18, 2025•29 min•Ep. 78
In this episode, we’re joined by author and researcher Gene Kim for a wide-ranging conversation on the evolution of DevOps, developer experience, and the systems thinking behind organizational performance. Gene shares insights from his latest work on socio-technical systems, the role of developer platforms, and how AI is reshaping the shape of engineering teams. We also explore the coordination challenges facing modern organizations, the limits of tooling, and the deeper principles that unite De...
Apr 04, 2025•39 min•Ep. 77
In this episode, Airbnb Developer Productivity leader Anna Sulkina shares the story of how her team transformed itself and became more impactful within the organization. She starts by describing how the team previously operated, where teams were delivering but felt they needed more clarity and alignment across teams. Then, the conversation digs into the key changes they made, including reorganizing the team, clarifying team roles, defining strategy, and improving their measurement systems. Menti...
Mar 07, 2025•33 min•Ep. 75
Many teams struggle to use developer productivity data effectively because they don’t know how to use it to decide what to do next. We know that data is here to help us improve, but how do you know where to look? And even then, what do you actually do to put the wheels of change in motion? Listen to this conversation with Abi Noda and Laura Tacho (CEO and CTO at DX) about data-driven management and how to take a structured, analytical approach to using data for improvement. Mentions and Links: M...
Feb 22, 2025•39 min•Ep. 74
In this episode, David Betts, leader of Twilio’s developer platform team, shares how Twilio leverages developer sentiment data to drive platform engineering initiatives, optimize Kubernetes adoption, and demonstrate ROI for leadership. David details Twilio’s journey from traditional metrics to sentiment-driven insights, the innovative tools his teams have built to streamline CI/CD workflows, and the strategies they use to align platform investments with organizational goals. Mentions and links: ...
Jan 31, 2025•25 min•Ep. 73
Chris Chandler is a Senior Member of the Technical Staff for Developer Productivity at T-Mobile. Chris has led several major initiatives to improve developer experience including their internal developer portal, Starter Kits (a patented developer platform that predates Backstage), and Workforce Transformation Bootcamps for onboarding developers faster. Mentions and links: Follow Chris on LinkedIn Measuring developer productivity with the DX Core 4 Listen to Decoder with Nilay Patel. Discussion p...
Jan 22, 2025•32 min•Ep. 72
In this episode, Abi and Laura dive into the 2024 DX Core 4 benchmarks, sharing insights across data from 500+ companies. They discuss what these benchmarks mean for engineering leaders, how to interpret key metrics like the Developer Experience Index, and offer advice on how to best use benchmarking data in your organization. Mentions and Links: DX core 4 benchmarks Measuring developer productivity with the DX Core 4 Developer experience index (DXI) Will Larson’s article on the Core 4 and power...
Jan 08, 2025•28 min•Ep. 71
In this episode, Abi and Laura introduce the DX Core 4, a new framework designed to simplify how organizations measure developer productivity. They discuss the evolution of productivity metrics, comparing Core 4 with frameworks like DORA, SPACE, and DevEx, and emphasize its focus on speed, effectiveness, quality, and impact. They explore why each metric was chosen, the importance of balancing productivity measures with developer experience, and how Core 4 can help engineering leaders align produ...
Dec 12, 2024•37 min•Ep. 70
In this episode, Brian Houck, Applied Scientist, Developer Productivity at Microsoft, covers SPACE, DORA, and some specific metrics the developer productivity research team is finding useful. The conversation starts by comparing DORA and SPACE. Brian explains why activity metrics were included in the SPACE framework, then dives into one metric in particular: pull request throughput. Brian also describes another metric Microsoft is finding useful, and gives a preview into where his research is he...
Nov 26, 2024•32 min•Ep. 69
Click here to view the episode transcript. In this episode, Snowflake’s Gilad Turbahn, Head of Developer Productivity, and Amy Yuan, Director of Engineering, dive into how they elevated developer productivity to a top company priority. They discuss the pivotal role of Snowflake’s CTO, who personally invested over half his time to guide the initiative, and how leadership's hands-on involvement secured buy-in across teams. The conversation also explores the importance of collaboration between engi...
Nov 12, 2024•58 min•Ep. 68
Click here to view the episode transcript. In this episode, Emanuel Mueller Ramos, Head of Developer Experience at Skyscanner, discusses the evolution of his team as they transitioned from focusing on frameworks and middleware to becoming a customer-centric, impact-driven organization. Emanuel details the strategies he used to gain stakeholder buy-in, why it's crucial to rethink traditional productivity metrics, and how they made a cultural shift to prioritize developer happiness and effectivene...
Oct 25, 2024•34 min•Ep. 67
