
StaffPlus London video hub
All the videos from our London events
StaffPlus London 2024 videos
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Training machines to see scenic beauty
Join me as we uncover the methodology behind this research and discuss how we plan to use it to help people connect with beauty around them, wherever they are in the world.

New York • Oct 15 & 16, 2025
Full agendas for LeadDev’s New York events are up! 🎉
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Uncover the invisible ceiling
This talk will put the spotlight on one of those biases which is the assumption that software engineering around making mobile apps is less complicated or has a smaller scale in comparison to backend or infra engineering.
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Chromosomes in the Cloud: Building a scalable genomic matching algorithm
In this case study, I will walk you through the technical journey of building Atlas – the first open-source, cloud-hosted, genetic matching algorithm – comparing the genetics of patients and donors, and returning a list of donors who could be a match for transplantation.
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Effective delegation without authority
In my talk, I will explore this common challenge and share some of the tips I find useful in my day-to-day to help influence and inspire fellow engineers to get stuff done together.
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IPv6 – did we just win
Look, ok, I’m burnt out too. After years of pushing IPv6, we are where we are. But – where is that?
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Idea to Innovation
Join me as we embark on a journey to dissect the anatomy of innovation, uncover strategies to unlock the full potential of ideas, and transform them into impactful realities. Let’s build a strong culture of innovation, and make sure that it is not just a buzzword but a tangible outcome.
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Scaling yourself by helping your colleagues grow
In this talk, I will share different techniques that help you grow your colleagues to a level where they can do a part of your job. I will explain the difference between delegating, mentoring, and teaching, and demonstrate with examples how little effort it takes to turn your everyday tasks into teaching moments, improving your understanding of your own skills in the process.
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Mastering Visual Communication for Software Development
In this session, learn from a hands-on solution architect – and thought leader in communication design and documentation – how to tailor your visuals to your audience, choose the most appropriate standards (or not) and level of detail, and apply patterns to improve accessibility for all audiences.
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Scaling leadership: Insights from the first Staff Technical Program Manager in the room
This talk offers the perspective of a Staff Technical Program manager as the first one hired in a company, deconstructing the evolutionary journey that paved the way for hiring more of them.
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Tips on scaling your leadership outside of your comfort zone
In this talk Michael will talk through lessons and tips he’s learnt when working on a project that pushed him outside of his comfort zone, and how you can effectively utilise the skills and knowledge of those around you to build alignment when leading across a broad set of teams who are often using very different technologies.
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Debug Like a Scientist
This talk will enhance your programming toolbox for the hardest bugs. Not only this – but you’ll see how to scale effective debugging to the entire team. Last but not least – you’ll leave with a set of habits to share with your fellow engineers to help them step up their debugging game.
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Tactical tech: Short-term solutions for long-term strategy
Waterloo International station was opened in 1994 serving Eurostar trains through the channel tunnel to France. The station cost £130 million to build and won the EU prize for contemporary architecture but closed just 13 years later in 2007.
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Fitness Functions: Creating Consistency across Hundreds of Services
In this talk, I will show the different ways we employ fitness functions at Jimdo to keep track of the state of our over 200 services.
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Is Staff Engineering valuable at a small company?
I’ll save you from Betteridge’s law of headlines right off the bat, my answer is “It Depends”.
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Have AI Got News for You
This talk ventures beyond the surface to offer you a compelling deep dive into the nuances of working with large language models (LLMs).
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Modeling complex systems
This talk will look at some examples of these dashboards that represent the scopes of the system. Highlight how navigating between related scopes, or components, can be more powerful than standard documentation. Finally, will end with some discussion on challenges particular to multi-tenant systems.
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Navigating complex projects: Finding the right mode of operation
In this talk, I share my journey of deciding on an effective mode of operation when engaging with complex projects.
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Sunsetting legacy: Navigating the Shop merchant eligibility data pipeline migration
In this talk, I’ll share the strategies used to disassemble our legacy data pipelines responsible for managing merchant eligibility on the Shop apps. Join me on a journey through our successes, challenges, and invaluable learnings in the meticulous orchestration of terminating our legacy data pipelines.
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Letting the Best Ideas Win
In my talk I will explain that this is generally a pretty bad idea; it won’t surface the best ideas and it doesn’t let more junior engineers develop their skills. Instead, I introduce some steps you can take to make sure that the idea adopted to solve a problem is the best idea available, even if you aren’t the one who came up with it. Perhaps counter-intuitively I will show how this increases your influence in your organisation and sets everyone up for success.
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Doing “the most important thing” is a trap.
This talk is little about why you need to say No to people more, and how things can go wrong when you don’t learn to do it enough.
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Filling the Void: Operating as a Staff Engineer in a Leaderless Scope
In this talk, we will detail our experiences as Staff Engineers functioning as Tech Leads, Glues and Facilitators in a leaderless role. We’ll discuss the real-world problems we faced, our solutions, and the lessons learned that allowed us to grow as leaders and as an organisation.
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Deming’s Wisdom for Staff+ Engineers: A Modern Take on Timeless Principles
In this talk, we’ll delve into how Staff+ Engineers can embody Deming’s timeless wisdom to enhance quality, productivity, and both employee and customer satisfaction within the modern engineering landscape.
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Architecting for scale: Revisiting fundamentals for sustainable growth
In this talk, Viktor challenges this approach by advocating for adaptability and a return to basics in system design.
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Influencing Through Getting Your Carrots In a Row
In this talk, I will go through some of the common incentives and motivators as well as real examples that I’ve encountered.
Videos from previous years of StaffPlus London
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How to zoom out (and when to stop)
A practical guide for engineers and new engineering leaders on expanding their scope effectively, recognizing when to change their perspective, and maintaining the right balance between strategic thinking and technical depth.
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Dressing to the 9s
Everybody wants high reliability, but the path isn’t exactly clear. This talk is for people who need to know what works and what doesn’t.
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Going all-in on data products
Explore how a development team fully embraced building a data product alongside their new operational product.
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Getting excited about maintaining legacy systems
Learn how maintaining legacy systems builds real-world skills in debugging, system thinking, and mentoring others effectively.
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Documentation and AI: How to write right now
Think AI can handle your documentation? Sometimes. This talk breaks down where it helps, where it doesn’t, and what still needs the human touch.
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In partnership with Eppo
From 0 to 10,000 experiments
Transform your team into a learning engine with experimentation, feature flags, and safer, insight-driven deployments at scale.
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Accessibility needs better marketing
Web accessibility is seen as a chore, something to suffer through. This view ignores the needs of people with disabilities and diminishes their worth as humans and worthy customers. How do we change the process?
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Fast, informed, impactful: How to master decision-making
Master the art of efficient decision-making and turn slow, ineffective engineering decisions into a powerful competitive advantage.
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Were our values a lie? Leading teams through diversity’s collapse
As industry shifts impact diversity, leaders must stay true to their values. This talk provides strategies to uphold your principles, build resilience, and foster inclusivity and trust, even when the company no longer prioritizes them.
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So you want to hire engineering force multipliers?
10x engineers, platform engineering, infrastructure, DevEx… What do they have in common?
They’re hard to hire, easily burned out, difficult to grow, and likely to fail. Let’s talk about how to do it right.
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In partnership with Postman
Human-first leadership, AI-powered
Discover how AI can free engineering leaders to focus on people, not process – driving innovation without losing the human core.
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Beyond “try harder”: Effective strategies to tackle bugs
“Just try harder” isn’t a strategy. Learn three proven approaches – monitoring bugs, managing legacy systems, and optimizing feedback loops – that empower teams to deliver better software.
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Debugging the most critical relationship in your work life: How to work better with an imperfect boss
Many bosses, despite their best efforts, struggle with communication, delegation, and career support for their teams. This talk explores how to navigate the complexities of working with your boss, balancing honesty with career impact, and building a more effective partnership.
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Metrics, KPIs & Developer Experience: Rethinking measurement for high-performing teams
This talk challenges traditional engineering metrics, exploring how to balance KPIs with developer experience using frameworks like SPACE, ensuring teams achieve great results without burnout.
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Balancing direction and empowerment
In this talk, Lara Hogan shares how to balance being empowering and being directive as a leader, as well as when you should switch up your approach.
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The performance curve: A legacy model in modern disguise
A critique of modern performance management, exposing its flawed assumptions and hidden biases, while offering actionable insights for leaders to build fairer, more effective systems that align with their morals and modern organizational goals.
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Accessibility of codebases: A team leader’s perspective
We explore making codebases approachable, onboarding efficiently, and learning stress-free. Discover tools, metrics, and techniques to build a codebase your team enjoys working on and feels confident contributing to.
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The sprinter’s leadership mindset
What engineering leaders can learn from the discipline, focus, and strategy of a sprinter.
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Training innovation: The key to long-term success
Innovation doesn’t just happen – it’s a skill that must be trained. Learn practical techniques for fostering innovation in engineering teams, from mindset shifts to structured frameworks.
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Leader or engineer? Navigating our technical identity crisis
Am I still technical enough? What does my team think?
Drawing from the hard-won lessons of a leadership initiative for 250 engineers, this talk uncovers unexpected truths in the conflict between technical depth and leadership.
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Lost and alone over the Pacific
On December 22, 1978, veteran US Navy pilot Jay Prochnow found himself lost over the Pacific after a navigation failure during a solo ferry flight. With no land in sight and nightfall approaching, he had to find a way to survive. This is the story of how he navigated out of the crisis – and what we can learn from his experience.
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Creating the next generation of Senior Engineers
An introduction to the science of teaching – pedagogy – how it applies to leadership and techniques to grow our teams in the era of doing more with less.
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From code to commerce: Engineering’s role in driving business growth
Learn how engineering leadership drives business success by linking technical excellence to measurable outcomes, fostering commercial awareness, and optimizing performance at scale.
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Building the AI enablement playbook
Learn how to lead AI adoption by reshaping systems, culture, and operations, not just rolling out tools.
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Don’t get toasted: A leader’s guide to mental well-being
Real tools for managers’ mental well-being – from stress management to parenting wisdom – because leading teams shouldn’t mean burning out.