Authority Issues Episode 6: Matt Newkirk (Etsy)

In this episode Kendall, rachel, and Matt Newkirk discuss:

What's it like being the Babel Fish of Etsy?
Matt's humble beginnings as a programmer in Mordor (working on a text-based Lord of the Rings game :))
How are projects managed in a multi-user dungeon (MUD)?
Understanding your job as a manager is not just creating a checklist of "No's"
Matt's circuitous route through various roles that ultimately brought him to management
Finding cross-team synergies and ways to leverage common data and goals
Making it a mission to be visible at cross-functional meetings and casual get-togethers
Being loud as a way to connect various teams and information across the company
Debriefing your partner as post-work therapy
What it's like to manage a team when you don't share their technical skills
How, shockingly, no one likes being ordered to use processes they didn't get to help develop
The value of networking and connecting with others within your company, making sure you're not building the same wheel as another department
A senior manager is thinking about how to improve the output and happiness of their team as well as how their team's productivity impacts the company overall.
Paths through failure as an accelerator to leadership skill
How leadership and delegation experience helped with being a good partner when his wife was giving birth ;)
"Just Talk To People"(tm)

Special thanks to Mel Stanley for our theme music <3