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Ryan Peterman

👤 Speaker
1027 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

And I really liked your perspective on doing the right thing and basically giving a damn that someone outside of you is doing the right thing too and expanding your sense of ownership.

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

And I want to know, what is your motivation for that?

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

Because there's so many other people who are faced with the same inputs and they get to a very different conclusion.

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

So what motivates you to actually do the right thing when the machine doesn't necessarily incentivize you to do so?

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

I saw in your career journey, it said that you're an occasional manager.

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

And you seem like someone who really enjoys the technical aspects of things.

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

So how did you decide to occasionally dip into management?

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

Yeah, there's another piece that you wrote I thought was really good about leading by example.

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

And you actually say it's bad to lead by example, but there's a quote in there.

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

It says, modern tech workers can be an anti-authoritarian bunch at the best of times.

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

Let's say you're a tech lead or tech lead manager or manager.

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

How do you strike that balance so you don't lose credibility as a tech lead?

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

Influence without authority is huge.

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

And I think there's, I mean, even big companies like Meta, they technically don't have titles.

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

Everyone's just a software engineer.

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

Is that also how Convex is run?

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

On the topic of tech leadership, I mean, in that article, I mentioned, you know, the title was don't lead by example.

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

And I think that kind of might be confusing for people.

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

Can you explain why you think you shouldn't lead by example?

The Peterman Pod
Dropbox’s Former Most Senior Eng: Building Great Systems and Advice for the AI Era | James Cowling

That slider you mentioned, what if you give someone accountability and they blow it?