The Confident Commit

Most AI applications in production right now were shipped on vibes. A developer ran a few queries, liked what they saw, and pushed to prod. Laurie Voss argues that's the core reason so many AI products feel broken, and the fix is simpler to name than it is to do: write the tests. Laurie is Head of Developer Relations at Arize AI. He's spent his career watching developer behavior at scale...

If 90% of code is now AI-generated, what happens to the engineers who never had to write it themselves? The ability to review code well, to catch what the LLM missed, depends on mental models that only come from practice. That tension sits at the center of this conversation. Rob and Hywel dig into how software engineers actually develop expertise, why knowledge transfer and real learning are not t...

Most teams obsessing over token costs are measuring the wrong thing. The real savings from AI aren't in lines of code written faster. They're in the coordination overhead that disappears when fewer humans need to align before anything gets built. Chris Kelly, Head of Product at Augment Code, joins Rob to cover why prototypes have replaced specs, how agents enable dynamic team capacity th...

What does it actually look like to build an AI-native product and lead an engineering team through the AI era when you've been doing it longer than most? Rob Zuber sits down with Loïc Houssier, CTO at Superhuman, to talk about what it meant to be an AI company before AI was everywhere, and how that early foundation shapes the way they build, ship, and think today. The conversation covers how...

In this episode of The Confident Commit, Rob Zuber sits down with Greg Foster, Co-Founder and CTO of Graphite, for a timely conversation about what it really means to ship software fast in the age of AI. Greg challenges the "996" grind culture with a provocative billboard campaign, arguing that speed comes from smart tooling and agency rather than endless hours, and shares how AI code ge...

In this episode of The Confident Commit, Rob Zuber sits down with Johnny Austin, VP of Engineering at Upwell, for an honest conversation about what it really takes to grow as an engineering leader. The conversation explores the critical distinction between making your team happy versus setting them up for long-term success, why the most impactful engineers are those who ask questions about the bus...

In this episode of The Confident Commit, Rob Zuber sits down with Meg Adams, Senior Director of Engineering at The New York Times, for a deep dive into leading engineering teams through the AI revolution while staying true to organizational mission. Meg shares how the Times approaches AI adoption with a "measured but focused" strategy, emphasizing experimentation and opinion-formation ov...

In this episode of The Confident Commit, Rob Zuber sits down with Edreece Arghandiwal, CMO and Co-Founder of Oakland Roots Soccer Club, for an inspiring conversation about building purpose-driven organizations from the ground up. Edreece shares how the Roots challenged traditional sports business models by putting community first, turning a simple question—"Why isn't there professional s...

In this episode of The Confident Commit, Rob Zuber sits down with Cate Huston, Engineering Director at DuckDuckGo and author of "The Engineering Leader," for a deep dive into career ownership and sustainable engineering leadership. Cate challenges the common misconception that career growth equals promotion, introducing the concept of being the "directly responsible individual"...

Engineering leadership has never been more challenging, or more critical. In this episode, Rob sits down with Pat Kua, seasoned technology leader, author of three books including Building Evolutionary Architectures , and creator of the popular Level Up newsletter for technical leaders. Pat reveals how today's engineering leaders are navigating unprecedented industry turbulence: from AI disrup...

Engineering leadership isn't just about technical execution—it's about unlocking the creative potential that drives individual and team success. CircleCI CTO Rob Zuber sits down with Corey Latislaw, Head of Engineering at Trainline and executive coaching expert, to explore how creativity transforms both careers and team dynamics. Corey challenges the myth that creativity is just for arti...

Rob Zuber sits down with Tara Hernandez, VP of Developer Productivity at MongoDB and former Netscape engineer who helped create early continuous integration systems, to explore strategic frameworks for build vs. buy decisions in modern software delivery. Hernandez shares insights from scaling MongoDB's proprietary CI system—processing 10 engineer years of compute daily—and reveals how organiz...

Speed isn't just about developer productivity—it's about market dominance. Rob sits down with Brian Guthrie, Director of Engineering at Justworks and former ThoughtWorks consultant, to explore why lead time from conception to production should be your organization's north star metric. Brian challenges conventional CI/CD wisdom, arguing that asynchronous pull request processes create...

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...

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...

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 deve...

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 bui...

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...

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 uncertain...

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...

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 fro...

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 in...

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 cu...

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 nat...

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 transformati...