The Confident Commit

In this episode, Rob sits down with Ger McMahon, Head of ALM Tools and Platforms at Fidelity Investments, to explore the unique challenges of delivering software rapidly in a large enterprise. They dive into strategies for fostering innovation and effectively sharing ideas across diverse teams within the organization.

Ger highlights the delicate balance between building internal tools and creating customer-facing applicati...

In this episode of The Confident Commit, Rob sits down with Christine Yen, CEO of Honeycomb, to delve into the evolving role of observability in modern software development. They discuss how observability goes beyond traditional metrics and monitoring, and allows developers to be better prepared for the unknown and embrace the complexities of distributed systems. Christine shares insights on how observability not only boosts develo...

In this episode, Rob is joined by Laura Tacho, CTO at DX, to explore the continuous rising focus on developer experience and its impact on both engineers and businesses. They discuss how investing in developer experince is not just about making life easier for developers; it’s also a smart business move that cuts down on waste and boosts efficiency. Laura emphasizes the importance of trusting developers to identify their own challe...

In this episode of The Confident Commit, Rob is joined by Birgitta Böckeler, Global Lead for AI-assisted software delivery at Thoughtworks, to dive deep into the dynamic world of GenAI and its impact on software development. They explore the shifting landscape of GenAI usage and adoption over the last 18 months, tackling critical questions like how to leverage fast-moving advancements without building solutions that become obsolete...

In this episode of The Confident Commit, Rob is joined by Heidi Helfand, author of Dynamic Reteaming. Together, they explore the components of exceptional teams and strategies for building them to deliver better software faster.

They delve into the definition of performance and the importance of aligning on what "high-performing" means for individual roles and the team as a whole. They also discuss the distinctio...

In this episode, Rob sits down with Ken Rose, CTO of OpsLevel, to delve into the evolving landscape of platform teams and the pressing challenges they face. Together, they explore OpsLevel's mission to tackle the mounting complexities encountered by modern organizations.

Ken sheds light on the pressing issue of accomplishing "more with less" amidst the backdrop of economic uncertainty. With organizations ope...

In this episode, Rob is joined by Luis Ceze, CEO of OctoAI and a distinguished professor of computer science at the University of Washington. Together, they unpack the surge of interest in AI, attributing it to the convergence of factors like the unprecedented availability of data thanks to the internet boom and the accessibility of powerful computing resources.

Their conversation delves into the pragmatic challenges devel...

In this episode, Rob is joined by Carolyn Mooney, the CEO of Nextmv, a decision ops platform. As a seasoned expert in Decision Science, Carolyn delves into the nuanced differences in decision optimization and logistics across various industries, drawing from her experiences at Zoomer and Grubhub.

The conversation unfolds around the decision maturity life cycle, exploring how companies progress from manual spreadsheet decis...

In this episode, Rob is joined by Patrick Debois, a seasoned industry expert and DevOps pioneer. Patrick shares his personal odyssey within the realm of DevOps, reflecting on the current state of the industry compared to his initial expectations. The conversation delves into the convergence of business analytics and technical analytics, exploring innovative approaches developers are adopting to integrate generative AI into their pr...

In this episode Rob is joined by Dave Farley, software legend and author of books "Continuous Delivery" and "Modern Software Engineering”. 

The two tackle the essence of software development culture and the current state of software delivery. They unpack why it’s important to prioritize problem-solving abilities over technical skills when it comes to hiring, emphasizing a healthy culture and the need for con...

In today’s episode, Rob is joined by CircleCI’s own Aisling Conroy. Aisling, a key player in CircleCI’s product marketing and competitive intelligence, provides a window into the thoughts of analysts in the ever-evolving CI/CD space. Their discussion explores how the power of diverse perspectives in problem-solving can yield many different types of product offerings.

They discuss the intricate nature of software developers...

In this episode, Rob sits down with Lewis Menelaws from Coding with Lewis, a prominent social media influencer and content creator specializing in entertaining and empowering software developers. Together, they explore the evolving landscape of learning the craft, drawing comparisons between the present day and the learning experiences of 25 years ago.

The conversation delves into the transformative impact of AI on the lea...

In this episode, Rob explores the fascinating crossroads of machine learning and software engineering with Gideon Mendels, the co-founder and CEO of Comet ML. 

Gideon navigates the often ambiguous world of training ML models, focusing on building a common language between software engineers and data science teams.

Gain valuable insights into fostering mutual understanding between these two disciplines and aligning...

In this episode, dive deep into the world of AI-enabled products and the push to explore and integrate them at CircleCI. Rob is joined by Aakar Shroff, CircleCI’s VP of product. Aakar shares valuable insights into AI product development and how AI tools can be leveraged to streamline software delivery processes.

Rob and Aakar explore the fast-evolving AI landscape, including the convergence of different media formats and t...

Michael Webster, principal engineer at CircleCI, talks to Rob about testing AI-enabled applications. In this episode, learn how to face the unique challenges posed by the probabilistic and non-deterministic nature of AI output, as well as the importance of subjective evaluation criteria. 

Webster covers how model graded evals can be used to test AI applications, and the importance of caution in using this approach. 

In this episode, you’ll learn how to empower your team to do the most challenging thing when it comes to AI - getting started! 

Rob is joined by Kira Muehlbauer and Ryan Hamilton, two engineers who worked on building a groundbreaking feature at CircleCI called the AI error summarizer. Discover their insights into the process of building AI products, the challenges they faced, and the valuable lessons they learned along the...

In this finale episode, Rob Zuber explores what he has learned from the season on what makes teams great. Rob recaps how to achieve people-centered scaling and debates whether revolutions in software delivery exist. 

Plus, get to know Rob better as he recalls his favorite team of all time, not including his current team at CircleCI. 

Listen through the end to look ahead to what’s in store for season 4. Have someon...

What can successful ad hoc jazz groups teach us about trust, personal preparedness, and leadership dynamics? In this special episode Rob is joined by jazz guitarist, Jeff Massanari, to explore the similarities between high-functioning jazz groups and software teams. Through Jeff’s stories and insights, you’ll learn valuable lessons from the world of jazz that can help you quickly adapt to new teams.

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