Konrad Niemiec

And when I arrived, I was super surprised at how little of what I had at Uber was actually available to me as a regular software engineer. At Uber, I could click a button and things would just deploy. I didn't have to learn about Kubernetes or anything like that. But the one big thing that really jumped out to me was around feature flagging tooling, around dynamic configuration tooling.

At Uber, we had the system called Flipper. Engineers used this tooling to feature flag, but we used it for pretty much anything we needed to get out there because we needed things to be really safe at Uber. But we also wanted to hand off the definition of Uber the product to individual operations teams in each city. Uber scaled to, at this point, over 10,000 cities.

At Uber, we had the system called Flipper. Engineers used this tooling to feature flag, but we used it for pretty much anything we needed to get out there because we needed things to be really safe at Uber. But we also wanted to hand off the definition of Uber the product to individual operations teams in each city. Uber scaled to, at this point, over 10,000 cities.

At Uber, we had the system called Flipper. Engineers used this tooling to feature flag, but we used it for pretty much anything we needed to get out there because we needed things to be really safe at Uber. But we also wanted to hand off the definition of Uber the product to individual operations teams in each city. Uber scaled to, at this point, over 10,000 cities.

And if you think about it, if Uber needs to be slightly different in all those different cities, there's no way engineers can field all the different change requests. Oh, I need to change the surge zones. I need to change the pricing.

And if you think about it, if Uber needs to be slightly different in all those different cities, there's no way engineers can field all the different change requests. Oh, I need to change the surge zones. I need to change the pricing.

And if you think about it, if Uber needs to be slightly different in all those different cities, there's no way engineers can field all the different change requests. Oh, I need to change the surge zones. I need to change the pricing.

This tooling was a way to let other folks in the business who are making decisions around how the product looks, around what the business needs, and actually apply that directly to the software. And I think that's where Flipper really shined. When I came to Sisu, we had nothing like it at first. And we had these really terrible deploys that took a long time.

This tooling was a way to let other folks in the business who are making decisions around how the product looks, around what the business needs, and actually apply that directly to the software. And I think that's where Flipper really shined. When I came to Sisu, we had nothing like it at first. And we had these really terrible deploys that took a long time.

This tooling was a way to let other folks in the business who are making decisions around how the product looks, around what the business needs, and actually apply that directly to the software. And I think that's where Flipper really shined. When I came to Sisu, we had nothing like it at first. And we had these really terrible deploys that took a long time.

We were fielding requests from products left and right. And so we introduced a feature flagging tool, one of the leading ones on the market. And after implementing it, I realized that it both didn't solve all the problems I wanted it to, but also came with its own problems. After six months or so, a team of 20 engineers had over 100 flags. We had no clue what any of them did.

We were fielding requests from products left and right. And so we introduced a feature flagging tool, one of the leading ones on the market. And after implementing it, I realized that it both didn't solve all the problems I wanted it to, but also came with its own problems. After six months or so, a team of 20 engineers had over 100 flags. We had no clue what any of them did.

We were fielding requests from products left and right. And so we introduced a feature flagging tool, one of the leading ones on the market. And after implementing it, I realized that it both didn't solve all the problems I wanted it to, but also came with its own problems. After six months or so, a team of 20 engineers had over 100 flags. We had no clue what any of them did.

And the reality was we were just trying to move fast. And in doing our job, we ended up creating a very risky situation. We ended up taking down the system for some of our biggest customers. And we also had our teammates across the aisle in product and customer success and solutions architects also causing issues, which is not something we really wanted to.

And the reality was we were just trying to move fast. And in doing our job, we ended up creating a very risky situation. We ended up taking down the system for some of our biggest customers. And we also had our teammates across the aisle in product and customer success and solutions architects also causing issues, which is not something we really wanted to.

And the reality was we were just trying to move fast. And in doing our job, we ended up creating a very risky situation. We ended up taking down the system for some of our biggest customers. And we also had our teammates across the aisle in product and customer success and solutions architects also causing issues, which is not something we really wanted to.

So I was looking back at the tooling at Uber and I was thinking, why don't I have something like that? Like, why don't I have a dynamic configuration system like we had at Uber? And it turns out also is at Google and Facebook and DoorDash and a few of these other really large tech companies with a lot of engineering resources. So that was the kernel of the idea for Leko.

So I was looking back at the tooling at Uber and I was thinking, why don't I have something like that? Like, why don't I have a dynamic configuration system like we had at Uber? And it turns out also is at Google and Facebook and DoorDash and a few of these other really large tech companies with a lot of engineering resources. So that was the kernel of the idea for Leko.

So I was looking back at the tooling at Uber and I was thinking, why don't I have something like that? Like, why don't I have a dynamic configuration system like we had at Uber? And it turns out also is at Google and Facebook and DoorDash and a few of these other really large tech companies with a lot of engineering resources. So that was the kernel of the idea for Leko.

And that's how I got started. A little over two years ago, decided to venture out on my own at the time and try to solve this problem.