Connecting Your Devs' Work to the Business | A Conversation with Shopify, Slack & Stripe

**James Stanier** (0:00)
Often in the absence of clarity on what you should be doing, so clear metrics, clear impact in what you're doing, then all that really remains is the celebration of shipping things. And I think that is a very dangerous culture because you chase the shipping date, you chase the deadline, you chase the deliverable, rather than the proof that what you're doing is the right thing.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:20)
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**Dan Lines** (1:03)
Hey, what's up, everyone? Welcome to Interact and our panel today titled Connecting Developers to the Business Bottom Line. I'm your panel moderator, Dan Lines. I'm the host of the Dev Interrupted Podcast and co-founder and COO of Linear B. Today, we're going to talk about a topic that I think every engineering leader obsesses over. It's around, is my team solving the right problem for the business? And if so, how do I know?
It sounds simple enough, but it's easier said than done. I personally think about this all the time. In fact, it's one of the reasons that I co-founded Linear B. And so to help us answer this question, we've assembled some of the smartest engineering leaders in the business.
With us here today, we have Rukmini Reddy, SVP of Engineering at Slack, Rukmini, welcome.

**Rukmini Reddy** (2:01)
Hi, thanks for having me, Dan.

**Dan Lines** (2:03)
We also have James Stanier, Director of Engineering at Shopify. James, welcome to the panel.

**James Stanier** (2:10)
Hey, thank you. Thanks for having me.

**Dan Lines** (2:12)
And finally, we have Smruti Patel, Head of Engineering for Data Platform at Stripe. All right, Smruti, welcome to the panel.
Thanks, Dan.

**James Stanier** (2:23)
Hey everybody, excited to be here.

**Dan Lines** (2:25)
We have an all-star cast here. Excellent, excellent stuff. Thank you all so much for being here today. So let's get started by knowing our panelists. We'll start with you, Rukmini.
Your path into engineering is super inspirational.
Growing up, you were one of the first girls at your school to ever use a computer.
What has your background taught you about solving for the right problem?

**Rukmini Reddy** (2:53)
It's interesting. I think being a woman in tech where I was eight years old, learning logo for the first time or today, it's never easy. And I'll give you an example of what's solving for the right problem. Several years ago, I was offered the transition from an independent contributor on the team, from an IC to a manager. And there was a real business need for it because the team had scaled rapidly and I was good with people and it sensed like the right match at the right time. But as all I see is, I went through all the stages of grief when someone first talks to you about management. And when I leaned in a little harder, I think it came down to being afraid to do something new and fearful of the consequences of trying it. And just like that for its time, I had used a computer. And fear, but for me, my mantra is like fear and courage go hand in hand. And I evaluate every new business opportunity when a decision raiser of the life regret not taking this on.
Yeah, that has served me really well. And every time I've done that growth has happened for me personally.
And it's helped me focus on what's right for the business system.

**Dan Lines** (4:01)
Yeah, very cool. Thanks for sharing that story and a little bit about yourself and your background. James, we're gonna go to you next just for a quick intro. So in addition to being Shopify's Director of Engineering, you're also an accomplished author.
What has the process of writing a book taught you about engineering leadership?

**James Stanier** (4:22)
Sure, thanks for the compliment. I think what it taught me is that we're really a small group and we really need to support each other. Like through the last few years, I've met so many people, virtually physically said, oh, hey, I read your book and it really helped me. And I think the amount of material that's out there for all of us is we get better at our jobs and we bring the next generation into our jobs as well.