The Retrospective
The Retrospective

The Retrospective

Jeremy Brown & Péter Szász

Overview
Episodes

Details

The Retrospective: A Podcast for Engineering Leaders

If you want to learn more about leading engineering teams, this podcast can help you improve your skills and grow in your role.

We are Péter Szász and Jeremy Brown, experienced technology leaders and your hosts.

We created this podcast to help people who manage tech teams or want to learn how to do so.

We cover principles and concepts, provide how-to guides and tools to help you meet common challenges, share stories from our experiences, and offer advice on how to be effective leaders in the tech world.

Each 20-30-minute episode discusses one topic.

We aim to cover all areas related to engineering leadership:

  • How to grow your career and become an engineering manager
  • Starting to manage a new team and helping new people join your team
  • Delivering results that align with the business goals
  • Working well with other teams in the company
  • Enabling team and individual success
  • Building and maintaining a strong organizational culture
  • Hiring practices and growing your team
  • Managing managers and scaling leadership
  • Team topologies and organizational structure

The podcast is helpful for:

  • Engineering managers and those who want to become engineering managers.
  • Those on the technical leadership track and who want to grow their leadership skills.
  • Senior managers who want to improve themselves and the managers they coach.

Recent Episodes

S2:E07 - Taking Breaks
DEC 24, 2024
S2:E07 - Taking Breaks
<p>In this episode of the ‘Retrospective’ podcast, we discuss the importance of taking breaks of various lengths to maintain energy, resilience, and mental health. We explain the concepts of macro breaks (e.g., vacations), meso breaks (e.g., long lunches, proper day-closing rituals), and micro breaks (e.g., standing up, brief stretches). We share actionable tips on planning and executing these breaks, emphasizing the need to disconnect truly during vacations, the benefits of time-blocking in your calendar, and using tools like Pomodoro for maximizing productivity. The episode also touches on the physical and mental health benefits of these practices and briefly mentions team-based breaks.</p> <p><strong>Timeline</strong></p> <p>00:00 Introduction</p> <p>00:30 The Importance of Taking Breaks</p> <p>01:16 Burnout in Middle Management</p> <p>03:42 Types of Breaks: Macro, Meso, and Micro</p> <p>05:11 Planning and Executing Effective Vacations</p> <p>11:14 Incorporating Meso Breaks into Your Day</p> <p>18:57 The Power of Micro Breaks</p> <p>27:01 Conclusion and Season Wrap-Up</p> <p><strong>Links from the episode</strong></p> <ul> <li>Engineering Managers at risk of burnout in <a href="https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/the-pulse-118">The Pragmatic Engineer</a> and <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2025-set-bring-manager-crash-090000034.html">Fortune</a>.</li> <li>Study: <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9432722/">A systematic review and meta-analysis on the efficacy of micro-breaks for increasing well-being and performance</a>.</li> <li>Study: <a href="https://desktime.com/blog/52-17-updated">Does the 52-17 rule really hold up?</a> </li> </ul> <footer><p>Share your thoughts about the episode (and the podcast) at <a href="mailto:feedback@the-retrospective.com">feedback@the-retrospective.com</a>!</p> </footer>
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29 MIN
S2:E6 - Handling Unplanned Work and Interruptions in Engineering Teams: The Firefighter Role
DEC 10, 2024
S2:E6 - Handling Unplanned Work and Interruptions in Engineering Teams: The Firefighter Role
<p>In this episode, we explore a challenge that plagues every engineering team: the constant stream of interruptions that disrupt our workflows. Drawing from our combined experiences working with dozens of engineering teams, we introduce the concept of the “firefighter” role - a structured approach to managing unplanned work that’s transformed how teams handle interruptions.</p> <p>We dive into the science behind context switching, examine why solutions often fail, and explore a practical framework that turns interruptions from productivity killers into opportunities for systematic improvement.</p> <p>Key topics we cover:</p> <ul> <li>The true cost of context switching in engineering teams</li> <li>Why common interrupt-handling approaches break down</li> <li>How to implement and rotate the firefighter role</li> <li>Turning interruptions into systematic improvements</li> <li>Measuring success and avoiding common pitfalls</li> </ul> <p>Show Notes:</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/boldstart-ventures/how-engineering-teams-handle-unplanned-work-d90415ff0d81">How engineering teams handle unplanned work</a> - this article captured my thoughts exactly and includes some really good visualisations of the different approaches.</p> <p><a href="https://ics.uci.edu/~gmark/chi08-mark.pdf">The Cost of Interrupted Work: More Speed and Stress</a> - UC Irvine study</p> <p>And a <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/944128/worker-interrupted-cost-task-switching">FastCompany article</a> about the study.</p> <footer><p>Share your thoughts about the episode (and the podcast) at <a href="mailto:feedback@the-retrospective.com">feedback@the-retrospective.com</a>!</p> </footer>
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31 MIN
S2:E04 - What Puts the Senior in Senior Software Engineer?
NOV 12, 2024
S2:E04 - What Puts the Senior in Senior Software Engineer?
<p>In this episode of The Retrospective podcast, co-hosts Jeremy and Peter delve into the characteristics that define a senior software engineer. They explore the multifaceted nature of seniority, emphasizing that it is not just about years of experience but a blend of technical expertise, business awareness, team impact, and leadership skills. Through analogies and personal anecdotes, they illustrate how senior engineers are not just adept at coding but also act as multipliers of their team’s success. They discuss the holistic view and forward-thinking mindset expected of senior engineers, drawing on examples from their own careers. The episode also touches on the importance of fostering growth in others, handling technical debt pragmatically, and effectively communicating complex technical topics. </p> <p>Advice is offered to engineering managers on how to guide team members aspiring to reach senior levels, emphasizing the importance of demonstrating these traits consistently over time.</p> <p>Here are some articles and further food for thought:</p> <p><a href="https://hackernoon.com/senior-engineers-reduce-risk-5ab2adc13c97">Senior Engineers Reduce Risk</a></p> <p><a href="https://roadmap.sh/guides/levels-of-seniority">Levels of Seniority</a></p> <p><a href="https://swizec.com/blog/why-senior-engineers-get-nothing-done/">Why senior engineers get nothing done</a></p> <p><a href="https://skamille.medium.com/an-incomplete-list-of-skills-senior-engineers-need-beyond-coding-8ed4a521b29f">An incomplete list of skills senior engineers need, beyond coding</a></p> <p>Looking a bit further ahead of the Senior level:</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/box-tech-blog/what-a-senior-staff-software-engineer-actually-does-f3fc140d5f33">What a Senior Staff Software Engineer Actually Does</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.theengineeringmanager.com/managing-managers/vp-director-what/">VP, Director, what?</a></p> <p>00:00 Intro</p> <p>00:36 Overview</p> <p>01:40 Senior People Operate on a Different Time Horizon</p> <p>05:07 The Impact a Senior Engineer Can Have</p> <p>06:38 Technical Expertise</p> <p>08:16 Team Impact</p> <p>11:44 Business Awareness</p> <p>16:02 How They Behave</p> <p>18:34 Demonstrating Leadership</p> <p>20:29 Advice for Engineering Managers</p> <p>25:42 Summing it up!</p> <p>26:18 Outro</p> <footer><p>Share your thoughts about the episode (and the podcast) at <a href="mailto:feedback@the-retrospective.com">feedback@the-retrospective.com</a>!</p> </footer>
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27 MIN