Automated ≠ Autonomous: Developer Productivity and AI | MongoDB’s Tara Hernandez

This week, our host Dan Lines sits down with Tara Hernandez, VP of Developer Productivity at MongoDB. Together, they explore the nuances of developer productivity and the impact of AI in engineering environments. Tara emphasizes that achieving developer productivity requires a focus on outcomes, reduced noise for developers, and a healthy balance between technology, processes, and communication. She also touches on the strategic framework of the "three horizons" for conceptualizing your investment breakdown across different projects and how to maintain focused on meaningful development work. Episode Highlights: 01:43 How should you think about developer productivity? 09:09 Three pillars to improve developer productivity 16:07 Automated does not equal autonomous 24:46 Making the golden path the easy path for developers 27:51 What’s exciting in developer productivity and AI? 29:57 The three horizons 38:34 Developer performance vs productivity data 40:23 What is the right way to think about goal setting for noise reduction? Show Notes:Starting Your Engineering Metrics Program Workshop Tara HernandezMongoDBGitHubCloudBeesCircleCIAtlassianEvergreen CI in GitHub Support the show: Subscribe to our Substack Leave us a review Subscribe on YouTube Follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn Offers: Learn about Continuous Merge with gitStream Get your DORA Metrics free forever