Most engineering metrics programs don't fail because of bad data or the wrong tools. They fail because of culture, trust, and leadership behavior. In this session, Adeeb Valiulla and Pushkar Priyadarshi from Harness draw on a pre-session survey of 78 engineering leaders to break down the five most common ways metrics programs collapse — and what the best engineering leaders do differently to build measurement systems their teams actually trust and use. You'll leave with a clear framework for designing metrics programs that drive real decisions, not just dashboards nobody believes. What's covered: - Why buy-in and adoption — not tooling — is the #1 challenge for engineering leaders - The five failure modes that kill metrics programs (including Goodhart's Law in the wild) - How leadership behavior determines whether a metrics program succeeds or fails - The structural steps to build psychological safety around measurement - A four-step design framework and a reset playbook for broken programs - Live Q&A: preventing gaming, review cadence, measuring productivity without damaging morale, and when to retire a metric Want to see how Harness helps engineering teams measure what matters? Book a demo: https://www.harness.io/demo/software-engineering-insights?utm_source=webinar&utm_medium=cta&utm_campaign=sei&utm_content=hero Speaker Bios: Adeeb Valiulla leads AI for cost efficiency and optimization at Harness, where he partners with Fortune 500 engineering organizations to drive engineering efficiency, improve developer experience, and align software delivery with business outcomes. With a focus on measurable insights, he helps organizations turn engineering data into actionable intelligence that fuels continuous improvement. Adeeb is a core member of the DORA community and the EngineeringX Committee. Pushkar Priyadarshi leads engineering for Software Engineering Insights (SEI) at Harness — the product that helps engineering leaders run metrics programs successfully. He brings both the product builder's perspective and the practitioner's experience, having built and scaled the very tooling discussed in this session. Pushkar partners closely with customers and the engineering community to solve one of leadership's most persistent challenges: making measurement drive real change.

In this episode, recorded live at the OpenAI studio, Sulman Choudhry (Head of ChatGPT @ OpenAI) pulls back the curtain on how they structure engineering teams! We talk about shifting from silos to fluid mission-driven teams, vertical vs. horizontal teams, maximizing cross-functional collaboration between research, engineering, product and design. Plus we cover “directly responsible individuals” for high accountability, managers as systems designers, scaling decision-making to prevent leadership from becoming bottlenecks, frameworks for mentoring junior engineers, why “problem framing” is the most critical skill, and how managers can stay close to problems and maintain technical intuition.

This session will explore how leading organizations replace manual approval gates with automated guardrails, and how executives can measure success through outcomes such as speed, reliability, developer experience, and policy compliance. LEARN MORE ABOUT HARNESS HERE: Continuous Delivery: https://www.harness.io/products/continuous-delivery Continuous Integration: https://www.harness.io/products/continuous-integration Internal Developer Portal: https://www.harness.io/products/internal-developer-portal"

Founders often delay leadership coaching until a major crisis hits, leading to significant costs in productivity, team churn, and poor decisions. In this episode, James Birchler (Technical Advisor & Executive Leadership Coach) argues that early coaching is a game-changer for a startup's success. We explore the hidden costs of waiting and the benefits of intentionally installing leadership and communication systems before you scale. James shares specific self-awareness mechanisms, like advisory groups and feedback loops, to help founders design their day and create accountability. You'll also learn practical strategies like the "5-Minute Alignment Loop" for spotting communication breakdowns & for reinforcing clarity. Plus insights on how to "install your leadership OS" so it can scale with your company.

In our latest ELC episode, we are addressing some of the biggest challenges facing engineers today: identifying your scaling thesis, putting that thesis into practice, and addressing implementation challenges. Jaikumar Ganesh, Head of Engineering @ Anyscale, shares insights from his experience working at top tech companies like Android and Uber, and how to apply those lessons within your own orgs. We also cover strategies for identifying what to build, using data effectively when it comes to understanding AI agents, and keeping your intent (and customer success) top of mind. Additionally, Jaikumar discusses his experience as a GM and why all orgs should adopt cross-functional skillsets as part of their company culture.