Technology

Diary of a CTO

by Himanshu Saxena

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Latest episodes

Who Pays When an AI Agent Is Wrong Chen Salomon on AI Governance

October 20, 2026 · 38 min

An AI agent gives a customer a confident, false answer. Nobody on your team wrote it. The model did. Who is responsible? Chen Salomon, VP Engineering at Sparta Commodities, explains how teams should govern AI agents—from permissions and…
What CEOs Actually Want From Their CTOs | Shailesh Hegde, CEO Hubilo | Diary of a CTO Ep 11

January 17, 2025 · 52 min

Shailesh Hegde went from QA engineer to CEO of Hubilo. He knows both sides of the table. In this episode, he breaks down what CEOs expect from CTOs, how to report without losing trust, and where most engineering leaders get alignment…
Why Platform Engineering Is a Cost Strategy, Not Just an Ops Function | Alper | Diary of a CTO S2 Ep 10

December 28, 2024 · 30 min

Alper, Head of Platform Engineering at Choco, built his career from freelance game dev to leading infrastructure at a Berlin food-tech startup. In this episode, he breaks down cost capitalisation, what metrics actually matter in platform…
DORA Metrics Decoded: What Every Engineering Leader Gets Wrong | Nathen Harvey, Google Cloud | Diary of a CTO S2 Ep 9

December 28, 2024 · 51 min

Nathen Harvey leads the DORA research program at Google Cloud. In this episode, he cuts through the noise on engineering productivity, explains why rework rate and change failure rate matter more than velocity, and shares how AI is…
Engineering at Scale for Real-Money Gaming: Lessons From Daily Traffic Spikes | Pranabjyoti Bordoloi, Junglee Games | Diary of a CTO Ep 8

November 12, 2024 · 47 min

Junglee Games handles traffic spikes every single day that most companies only see on Black Friday. Pranabjyoti Bordoloi, AVP of Engineering, breaks down how they build for speed, quality, and scale simultaneously, what real-money gaming…

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From Shy Student to Engineering Leader: How to Build High-Performing Teams | Daniel Barrow, Valocity | Diary of a CTO S2 Ep 7

October 14, 2024 · 1 hr 4 min

Daniel Barrow went from a quiet university student to leading multiple engineering teams across Australia and New Zealand at Valocity. In this episode, he shares how feedback shaped his leadership style, what it takes to manage managers…
A Mining Engineer Who Became CTO? Varun Pandey on Scaling Teams 10x and Betting on AI Early | Diary of a CTO S2 Ep 6

October 8, 2024 · 57 min

Varun Pandey had no business becoming a CTO. He studied mining engineering. Then he built a citizen journalism platform, scaled FieldAssist's engineering team from a handful to 100+, and led a full microservices overhaul mid-pandemic. In…
Urgent vs Important: How the Best Engineering Leaders Decide What Gets Done First | Toshita Pandey | Diary of a CTO S2 Ep 5

September 9, 2024 · 40 min

Every engineering leader drowns in urgent work. Few protect what's actually important. Toshita Pandey, who has led teams across startups and MNCs, shares how she draws that line, keeps her team focused on high-impact work, and builds a…
The Secret to Self-Organising Engineering Teams That Actually Deliver | Shalabh Aggarwal, CTO CredFlow | Diary of a CTO S2 Ep 4

September 8, 2024 · 39 min

Most engineering teams need constant direction. Shalabh Aggarwal, CTO of CredFlow, has figured out how to build teams that don't. In this episode, he shares how he went from hands-on engineer to CTO, what it actually takes to build…
20 Years of Engineering Leadership Distilled: Cost Capitalisation, Team Growth and Scaling Startups | Dhanush Hetti | Diary of a CTO S2 Ep 3

August 9, 2024 · 46 min

Dhanush Hetti has spent over two decades leading engineering teams across the U.S. and Southeast Asia. In this episode, he breaks down cost capitalisation, why engineering flow metrics matter more than most leaders realise, and what it…
Do More With Less: How to Boost Engineering Team Productivity Without Hiring | Shira Haddad | Diary of a CTO S2 Ep 2

July 29, 2024 · 23 min

Headcount isn't the answer. Shira Haddad went from QA to engineering leadership across health tech and maritime shipping, and she's mastered keeping distributed teams productive without growing the team. In this episode, she shares how…
Why Fast Engineering Teams Aren't Always Productive Teams | Nathan Dench, ProcurePro | Diary of a CTO S2 ep1

July 22, 2024 · 29 min

Speed is not productivity. Nathan Dench has founded multiple startups and now leads engineering at ProcurePro in construction tech. In this episode, he breaks down how to build long-term engineering productivity with small teams, limited…

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About the show

Diary of a CTO, formerly known as The Engineering Success Podcast, is a show about the real stories behind technology leadership. Hosted by Himanshu Saxena, the podcast features candid conversations with CTOs, engineering leaders, founders, and technical operators on scaling teams, making hard technical decisions, adopting AI, improving developer productivity, and leading through uncertainty. It is less about polished success stories and more about what actually happens behind the scenes when technology leaders build, break, learn, and grow.