Implementing scalable and powerful agentic tools across your organization w/ Ozzie Osman #269

Jerry Li (0:03)

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Ozzie Osman (0:55)

I grew up in Egypt, and my dad's from this town called Ismail on the Suez Canal. We'd go visit that town, and we'd see these massive ships going through the canal. They have a captain and a crew, and that captain and those crew are very competent. But in order to pass through the Suez Canal, an Egyptian pilot would go board and like help that crew navigate the canal.

Growing up as a guy, I used to love watching that. It's actually very exciting. You see this small boat pull up next to this massive container ship, and the pilot has to climb this ladder. To navigate the Suez Canal, two things are required. One is domain knowledge. Navigating a narrow canal is not the same as navigating the open seas. Those local pilots know that domain, they understand it. They know when the tide goes up, that the flow of water will happen this way or that way, or that the wind affects things. The captain of the ship's thinking about, how do I get from point A to point B? Like a project DRI. They have some outcome they need to deliver. And then the local pilot is thinking about, how do I make sure that I help this person navigate my domain well with the knowledge that I have, and how does my sense of ownership help ensure that this domain remains healthy for other ships to pass through? I think it's the same for functional work. Like if you're an engineer, a designer is trying to make change, you have the better domain experience, you can help support them to navigate all of that. And you're also making sure that the changes they make don't undermine the integrity or coherence of that thing that you own.

Patrick Gallagher (2:24)

Hello and welcome to The Engineering Leadership Podcast, brought to you by ELC, the engineering leadership community.

Jerry Li (2:30)

I'm Jerry Li, founder of ELC.

Patrick Gallagher (2:33)

And I'm Patrick Gallagher, and we're your hosts. Our show shares the most critical perspectives, habits, and examples of great software engineering leaders to help evolve leadership in the tech industry.

Jerry Li (2:45)

Hey Ozzie, it's so great to have you on our show.

Ozzie Osman (2:48)

So excited to be here. Thanks for having me, Jerry.

Jerry Li (2:52)

Yeah, and you're a special guest for our podcast. We go way in the back.

In terms of ELC history, we started very early in 2017, 2018, before ELC started. And you're officially part of the team as we plan and launch our first conference back in 2019 And it's been a great partner with you and see your journey.

Ozzie Osman (3:22)

Yeah, and it's been amazing watching the ELC grow from those early days. You guys have done a great job. I think it's an amazing resource for engineering leaders across the industry.

Jerry Li (3:32)

Yeah, we feel genuinely, really blessed. We just have the community and their passion around sharing and connecting with everyone in the community. This also feels like a full circle moment for me because the initial conversation you and I had is when you were still at Quora and we had a discussion around the things you want to share, engineering leader, as an entrepreneur, and we'll collaborate on events. And then now, how long have you been at Monarch as a CTO and co-founder? This is an opportunity for me to learn from you from that journey.

Ozzie Osman (3:59)

Yeah, absolutely. We've been doing this for about seven years, and it's definitely been kind of a crazy journey. Like any startup experience, I think, lots of ups and downs. But I've learned a ton, and I think progressed a lot as an engineering leader since that time. And having resources like the ELSI has been really valuable along the way.