Tech Leaders / Architects / Staff+ Engineers Pod

Who is it for

This is a group for people who are technical day to day, aimed for the most senior developers of the company. We do our best to create some diversity within the group, while keep the type of companies similar enough so people could relate to the pains and help each other.

The role is being redefined in real time by AI-based development, and the hardest parts aren't the tools — they're the human ones: what "senior" or "staff+" even means when agents write a growing share of the code, whether your SDLC is optimized for people or for agents, and how you lead a team honestly through the anxiety and the hype without falling for the spin. This pod is a place to work through that shift with peers facing it at the same time.

Lastly, this is a group of technical people but the idea is to focus on the people / organization challenges, rather than concrete technological issues (this does happen, however, offline or on the slack channel). We feel there are enough forums for such conversation already, thus we want to keep it focused around building a team and helping the company scale.

Benefits

• A therapy-like session, but with a practical advantage of learning from others who might have dealt with similar situations before.
• Build a strong network: get to know good and talented people with similar challenges and motivation. We already saw the impact of such network solving offline specific pain-points, may it be technological or people skills related.
• Intimate enough to allow everyone in the group to be heard and hear everyone else.
• Highly valuable (cross pods) Slack channels

Typical conversation topics:

• "Leadership without authority - How do I create technical leadership?"
• "How do I promote non-popular technical activities (e.g. security) without loosing engineers?"
• "The company is growing very fast and our technical dept is accumulating faster [...], how can I deal with it?"
• "Our engineering onboarding process managed by a Google Doc and several Asana tasks, how do you manage your onboarding proccess?"
• "With AI-assisted development I'm reviewing far more than I'm writing. How is my role as a senior/staff+ engineer actually evolving, and how do I stay valuable?"
• "We're pushing AI agents deeper into our SDLC. Should our process be optimized for people or for agents — and what breaks when I pick one?"
• "The code is no longer written by the person who's accountable for it. How do I instill and maintain a culture of ownership and accountability on the team when so much of it comes from an agent?"
• "Half my engineers are anxious about their job security and the other half are over-hyped on AI. How do I have honest conversations about the uncomfortable realities without the vendor spin?"

Meetings format

How often:

A 2.5 hours session every month.

How many times:

12 sessions, a full year. For more details about what happens after the 12 months end, read our Quick FAQ.

When:

09:00-11:30AM. Leaving you enough time to work that day, without sacrificing family time.

Where:

Meetings are face-to-face, in Hebrew, locally in Israel. Depending on the people in the group, often different individuals would like to host in their company's office.

Session format:

Quick FAQ

The Pod Committee

Each group will have a designated "Pod Committee" (2-3 people from the team) to own the administrative tasks of the pod to optimize the value for the group members.

Relevant tasks would be:

• Working with the individual-driven dilemma presenter
• Notes taking during bi-annual retrospectives
• Setting up Doodle and following-up with group members (if needed)
• Adding people / Letting go of people
• Keeping tab of group members show-up

Communication

Each pod has a Slack channel where additional conversation can take place. In addition, a google group is created to make sure it's easy to send an invite (calendar) to all of the pod members for each session.

In case you weren't able to login or didn't get an access, please reach out to the organizer of the pod.

We pick the best time for everyone by a short poll via Doodle. We expect you to complete voting within 2 days after it is sent to the pod's members. The group organizer will remind individuals as needed.

Adding people / letting go of people

Adding people to the pod (recommending someone you know)

As we have very limited space for people, and we do want to make sure there is a strong fit, every individual you'd like to recommend adding to the pod will have to be approved by the Pod Committee. This is the easiest way to currently protect the time and the effectively of the pod.

Letting people go (rules)

We all know that it can be very a difficult situation (awkward and not pleasant for both sides). Most often, the timing is bad and we get it. We just want to get the most of this format.

In order to do that, we wanted to set clear expectations to avoid such feelings, or at least reduce them, in-case we need to reach that point:

• Missing out 2 consecutive meetings without good reason (communicated in-advanced to the organizer). Having important meetings, flying to meet customers or giving a talk in some conference is not a good reason, we all have those. It can happen here and there, but we expect you to show up. A good reason may be: having a newborn baby (maternity leave).
• Missing out 3 meetings in 8 months. While you might avoid the "2 consecutive meetings" penalty, it still shows that you are not really interested in committing yourself.
• Not respecting others' time by showing up late consistently. Time is precious for everyone. Be respectful, show up 10-15 minutes before the session starts to prepare coffee, say hey or use the bathroom.
• Breaching our Code of Conduct.

Costs

Joining as a member costs 12,000 ILS for a year. The payment will be done in advance, showing a high commitment to get the most out of this setting.

Some of the money might go on bringing in an external expert (i.e. an someone that dealt with similar pains the group is dealing with), hosting purpose or anything else that would help the group to level up.

How will it benefit you?

• An immediate extended network with high-trust to consult with: We will do the work of getting together a group of highly capable people from great companies to meet regularly. You just need to show up and particiapte to get the value. Think about it, who's helping your Enginering today to reduce stress, to feel less lonely in this journey?
• Keeping people accountable (i.e. letting go of people when needed): We will make sure people respect others' time and show up. When they don't, it's on us to follow up on that.
• 2 hours of intense learning: We will make sure Individual Driven Dilemmas are well prepared in advance, and guide you if you're the one who's leading it. We will moderate each session and make sure the environment is safe for everyone to participate.
• Solid takeaways from learning: We will send a summary after each session, so you'll always have it with you, e.g. this example.
• Always iterating on the format: We will make sure not only that the meetings are effective, but also to keep an eye to see how to transition from year to year (e.g. get people to switch pods if their company grows).

Is there any money back guarantee?

During the first two sessions, there will be 100% money back guarantee if you don't benefit from the format. If you decide to continue and participate as part of the group, there will be no money back guarantee (not even partial). This is to make sure commitment is high and to allow the group to work closely together.

Commitment!

In order to foster deep and meaningful conversations, people have to gain trust with this format. It comes from agreeing on the format, the rules but also that the same people will show up every time. It's up to us to be consistent about it.