cto.coffee Podcast

The cto.coffee podcast is a series where I chat with varying guests about the human side of technology and developing software, preferably while having a coffee together.

You like talking about the human side of technology? I’d love to talk to you then, do reach out and let’s have a chat.

Subscribe to the podcast’s feed, follow the show on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts.


Podcast Episodes

Episode 17 - On Belonging with Abadesi Osunsade

In this episode I talked to Abadesi Osunsade, the CEO and founder of hustlecrew, and also the VP of global community and belonging at Brandwatch. We talk about all kinds of aspects of belonging in the workplace.

Episode 16 - On Humanizing the Workplace with Vivian Acquah

A conversation with Vivian Acquah, an independent workplace wellness advocate from Amsterdam. Vivian's mission is to make the world a better place for all and future generations. She tackles that by humanizing the workplace.

Episode 15 - About Coffee with Jessica Greene

In this episode, I spoke with Jessica Greene and we talk about a subject dear to my heart and what keeps our podcast going. Coffee. It's time there's an episode that lives up to the name, and Jessica helped do just that! We talked about how Jessica fell in love with coffee and became a barista, the history of coffee, the roasting process, brewing and so much more. Jessica is a Software Developer at Ecosia and a Co-Organiser at PyLadies Berlin. So of course, we also talk a bit about tech and community building.

Episode 14 - About Organizational Development with Tobias Leonhardt

In this episode, I spoke with Tobias Leonhardt. Tobias helps organizations scale by coaching them to nurture trusting cultures and helping them establish scalable organizational models, where individuals are trusted with high autonomy.

Episode 13 - About Engineering Culture Health Checks with James Bedford

In this episode I spoke with James Bedford. James started his career in construction, later became a self taught Frontend Developer and is now an Engineering Manager at Monzo.

Episode 12 - About Inclusive Events with Joanna and Beren

In this episode I spoke with Joanna Moćko-Łazarewicz and Beren Van Daele, from Isle of IT, a human centric company rooted in the testing community in Europe and the organizers of the ITMatters conference series.

Episode 11 - About Being a Generalist with April Matias

For this episode I spoke with April Matias, a Senior Quality Assurance Engineer from Berlin. April has a background in arts and humanities, worked in quality assurance for several years and has recently taken a developer bootcamp to expand her knowledge and skills.

Episode 10 - Building Team Trust with Daniel Jilg

For episode 10 I spoke to Daniel Jilg, a freelance CTO and developer. The main theme of our conversation was building team trust. Daniel shares his learnings and mistakes as a leader and CTO. We learn about his background of how he has grown from these learnings and used them to become a better leader.

Episode 09 - Being Intentional with Stephen Lewis

In this episode, I spoke with Stephen Lewis, CTO at Palatinate Tech at the time of the recording. While we touch on a lot of topics, I think the main themes of our conversation are being intentional in your leadership, failing and the multiple benefits you get by building a trusted network of peers.

Episode 08 - Empathic Management with Alex Schladebeck

In this episode, I spoke with Alex Schladebeck, CEO at BREDEX GmbH, explored her working hypothesis of empathic management, which she shortly describes as "servant leadership with hearts".

Episode 06 - "Symbolic & Observational Thinking" with Yulia Startsev

For this episode, I had the honour to sit with Yulia, who works on Firefox's Developer Tools at Mozilla and is also Co-Chair of Ecma's TC39 in 2019. We talk about symbolic and observational thinking, what it is, how it relates to software development and how it can shape the way we think about learning and teaching.

Episode 05 - "Engineering Management" with Marcus Blankenship

Marcus Blankenship, long-time management and leadership coach, agreed to join me for a chat about Engineering Management. About 'management as a profession and leadership as a skill' and to discuss the shift in Engineering Management over the last years, what this new or not-so-new kind of Engineering Management is, what it's practices are and some opinions and pointers where it's coming from.

Episode 04 - "Career Growth Frameworks" with David Morgantini

This time David Morgantini joined me for a chat about engineering ladders and career growth frameworks. David is currently building SkillsMap, a company focused on creating tools that reduce the cost of creating a growth culture in organizations.

Episode 03 - "Developer Relations and Community" with Felicitas Kugland

Felicitas Kugland joined me for a chat. Feli is a Principal Product Engineer at an agency. And while that title sounds like you've heard it before at other companies, Feli and her employer are interpreting that position in a very interesting way. Besides working on client projects, Feli's is effectively working as a Developer Relations person, as one of the first in the company, and as such is also building the meaning of Developer Relations for the company.

Episode 02 - "1on1s" with Christian Uhl

A chat with Christian Uhl about the why, what and how of 1on1s, the practice of two people (usually a manager and their direct reports) meeting regularly for various reasons.

Episode 01 - "On interviewing" with Raimo Radczewski

A relaxed chat about interviewing with Raimo Radczewski, Freelance Software Developer and Coach from Berlin.