Steering Engineering, Gartner Podcast for Software Engineering Leaders

In this episode of the Steering Engineering Podcast, we examine the fascinating and transformative potential of AI agents with our guest Haritha Khandabattu, one of Gartner’s leading experts on the topic. We delve into the evolving role of AI agents in human-AI collaboration, their ability to work together in complex multiagent systems, and how advancements in reinforcement learning are enabling these agents to plan, adapt, and optimize their behaviors over time, paving the way for more autonomous and intelligent digital ecosystems.

Haritha Khandabattu is a Gartner senior director analyst helping C-suite leaders globally. Haritha’s current focus is on AI (including generative AI) and software engineering. She helps software engineering leaders build and execute their strategies in AI, software engineering, and leadership. She also guides organizations on the strategic, organizational and technology aspects of using AI as a driving force of their growth. Before Gartner, Haritha worked in several engineering (and executive) leadership positions in banking, retail and automotive industries.

Our recommended five books are:

1. Software Engineering at Google: Lessons Learned from Programming Over Time (Titus Winters, Tom Manshreck and Hyrum Wright)
2. An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management (Will Larson)
3. Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building (Claire Hughes Johnson)
4. Build Better Products: A Modern Approach to Building Successful User-Centered Products (Laura Klein)
5. Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow (Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais)
   

Software Engineering at Google: Lessons Learned from Programming Over Time (2020, 575 pages, Titus Winters, Tom Manshreck and Hyrum Wright)

A fascinating insight into software engineering practices and tools used at technology leader Google. I love their definition of software engineering as programming integrated over time. The 25 in-depth chapters are written by Google domain experts and offer a glimpse into how scaling and sustainability are handled and traded against other concerns.

The is a big book full of useful information, but the density of multiple authors limited to a chapter apiecedoes make it challenging to read at times. Definitely recommended, but be prepared to devote a chunk of your time to study the book and get the most out of it.

An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management (2019, 288 pages, Will Larson)
A beautifully presented hardback book containing engineering leader Will Larson’s guidance on engineering management. There is a lot of strong and hard-won advice on organizations, tools, approaches, culture and careers. The content is practical and provides an unusual depth on engineering management in modern software organizations.

The figures are sometimes obtuse and the last 71-page appendix and endnotes are mostly superfluous. I also did not enjoy some of the referencing out either where no information is given other than a single word and Q-code link. Regardless, this is a great book.

Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building (2023, 432 pages, Claire Hughes Johnson)
Author Claire Hughes Johnson is a corporate officer and advisor at Stripe after spending seven years as COO while they rapidly scaled from 200 to over 7000 people. Before this, she spent 10 years at Google leading successful business teams. The book is beautifully presented, full of valuable guidance and provides practical advice of great leadership and pragmatic scaling. The examples are perfectly placed and insightful to demonstrate the advice around them.

Build Better Products: A Modern Approach to Building Successful User-Centered Products (2016, 368 pages, Laura Klein)
I am starting to love the Rosenfeld Media series — high-quality books, presented beautifully, edited expertly and eminently practical. Color is used intelligently throughout as you would expect from design-focused books.

Lean startup expert and “What is Wrong with UX” podcaster Laura Klein writes a great book on how to build new products. This practical guide is organized around exercises with expert advice from experienced practitioners at the end of each chapter. Expect lots of strategy, design, analytics and empathy; heist teams are worth the price of admission on their own.

Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow (2019, 240 pages, Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais)

Pragmatic and informative guide to organization design from IT consultants Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais. Building on their work on

Team Topologies

with real experience, the authors cover teams as a means of delivery, team topologies that work for flow, and evolving team interactions for innovation and rapid delivery. The book is well written with a good level of depth, with valuable illustrations and strong use of color and design throughout. I recommend this book to anyone interested in creating effective teams and high-performance workplaces.

Peter Hyde is surely one of Gartner’s most prolific readers and writers. He is an enterprise agile coach with deep experience in helping global organizations transform product development to achieve higher performance, increased quality, faster delivery and an outstanding customer experience.

Software engineering leaders embrace challenges — by nature. We want to build everything! But when should we not? Budget constraints, sure. But what are the other factors, and how can software engineering leaders know when pushback?

Gartner Distinguished VP Tina Nunno joins the conversations in this episode of the Steering Engineering Podcast on the what, when, and how of “saying no.” We anticipate a lively conversation about pushing back, power dynamics, and misconceptions about leadership in the software engineering world.

Tina Nunno is a Distinguished VP and Gartner Fellow in Gartner’s Executive Leadership Research Group. Tina is a recognized thought leader, publishing extensively on working with the board of directors, and executive leadership dynamics.

Most companies now offer remote work options to attract and retain talent, acknowledging its importance for work-life balance and productivity. However, while working remotely, some developers report lower satisfaction with certain developer experience attributes that appear to benefit from face-to-face interaction with peers. Does this mean your developers hate working from home? Not necessarily. In this episode of the Steering Engineering Podcast, we examine key findings from a recent survey of 500 developers about their satisfaction with 17 critical attributes of their developer experience.

Raveena Gandhi is a Gartner Principal Quantitative Researcher for the Software Engineering Leaders Peer and Practitioner Research Team. Raveena advises or leads quantitative research initiatives, ensuring data collection, analysis, and clear communication of results that directly address client needs.

Brian Minning is a Gartner Director on the Software Engineering Peer and Practitioner Research Team. Brian’s research is focused on best practice strategies for software and digital product delivery, software engineering talent management, and software engineering organizational design and leadership.

Software engineering leaders must take a holistic stance on what generative AI can do for software development versus the current, market-leader driven view of short-term gains and benefits. In this second half of a two-part series of the Steering Engineering Podcast, co-hosts Danny Brian and Brent Stewart explore predictions with Frank O’Connor, a Senior Director, Analyst and author of Predicts 2024: Generative AI Is Reshaping Software Engineering.

Frank O'Connor is a Senior Director Analyst in Gartner’s software design and development team. He helps CxOs and software engineering leaders to tackle modern-day challenges and develop successful technology and people strategies.