Tech Council

 Every engineering team pays a tax. The question is: how much? In this episode of Tech Council , Duncan Mapes and Jason Ehmke spotlight the unspoken, underestimated cost of audit prep, compliance checklists, and spreadsheet-driven project tracking - the administrative tax.  Administrative tax is the accumulation of compliance requirements, audit demands, spreadsheet sprawl, and redundant manual wo...

“10x engineers? Probably jerks.” Jason and Duncan aren’t mincing words in this episode of Tech Council . They’re calling BS on the myth of the superhuman engineer and making a case for the everyday professionals who care deeply, collaborate well, and raise the bar for everyone else. This one’s for team leads, CTOs, and senior devs who want to build organizations where great work doesn’t depend on...

How do you go from launching apps to leading platforms? This week on Tech Council , Duncan sits down with Chris Boyd—a mobile dev veteran turned platform engineering leader—to talk about what changes when your team grows, your stack evolves, and your priorities shift. They talk React Native, metrics, AI, leadership, and what it takes to balance product demands with long-term engineering health. Ch...

When teams struggle with misalignment, vague responsibilities, or clashing priorities, it’s often not a talent issue—it’s a clarity issue. In this episode of Tech Council , Jason Ehmke and Duncan Mapes go deep into one powerful tool that solves these problems at the root: team charters. They begin by breaking down what a team charter actually is—beyond the corporate buzzword—and why it’s more than...

Ownership and leadership are more than buzzwords—they're the backbone of successful software teams. In this episode, Duncan Mapes and Jason Ehmke examine how to foster responsibility without micromanagement and lead with purpose in tech. Expect insights into managing trade-offs, building trust, and creating systems where autonomy thrives. The conversation covers leadership transitions, empowe...

Software development is rarely straightforward. Even with experienced teams and the best intentions, projects still miss deadlines, fail to meet expectations, or get abandoned altogether.  In this episode of Tech Council , Duncan Mapes and Jason Ehmke explore why that happens—and what teams can do differently. They dig into the importance of real-time feedback, managing scope, and maintaining heal...

AI has moved from hype to habit, but at what cost?  In this episode of Tech Council , Duncan Mapes and Jason Ehmke break down the ethical, technical, and human implications of AI in software development. From workflow automation to code generation and performance tracking, AI is changing the landscape—but not always in the ways you’d expect. The conversation explores the hidden pressures AI introd...

What kind of season is your organization in—wartime or peacetime? In this episode of Tech Council, Duncan Mapes and Jason Ehmke dig into the organizational cycle and how it shapes everything from decision-making to developer priorities. Whether your team is scaling fast, navigating a downturn, or recalibrating after a sprint-heavy phase, understanding the moment your company is in is critical to d...

Enterprise environments are complex — full of people, processes, politics, and change. In this first episode of Tech Council , Duncan Mapes and Jason Ehmke dig into the hard-earned lessons of leading change inside large tech organizations. From stakeholder dynamics and reputation capital to the tension between moving fast and asking permission, this episode gets real about what it actually takes t...

Enterprise tech loves a good debate—and this one’s been simmering for years: Should you go serverless or double down on Kubernetes? In this episode of Tech Council , Duncan Mapes and Jason Ehmke break down what it actually looks like to make that decision in a real-world engineering org. No hype, no buzzwords—just decades of experience navigating cloud complexity at scale. They dig into where serv...

What does value creation really look like in software development teams? In this episode of Tech Council, Duncan Mapes and Jason Ehmke cut through the buzzwords to explore what it means to actually create value—beyond features, deliverables, and code. Drawing from deep experience in both startups and large-scale enterprises, they unpack how developer autonomy, organizational clarity, and curiosity...

Welcome to Tech Council — the podcast where enterprise tech isn’t just buzzwords and boardroom talk. Hosts Duncan Mapes and Jason Ehmke cut through the noise with real, unscripted conversations about tech strategy, system architecture, and the everyday decisions that tech leaders face inside massive organizations. If you’ve ever found yourself navigating the chaos of scaling software, debating des...