I'm excited to share that we're launching Braintrust by Cortex, a podcast I've been wanting to create for a while now. After years of building Cortex and working with engineering leaders across industries, I’ve noticed an opportunity for conversations that dig deeper into the daily work of building great engineering teams. While high-level discussions about culture and strategy are valuable, Braintrust will focus on the messy, tactical details of what it takes to run a high-performing engineering organization day to day.
Braintrust is a series of candid, in-depth conversations with some of the most respected leaders in tech about the operational hurdles they’ve overcome, the frameworks they’ve built, and the hard-won lessons they’ve learned. We'll talk about production readiness reviews that actually work, how to execute complex migrations without freezing development, and what it really means to shift security left when the rubber meets the road.
Each episode is a candid conversation with leaders who have been in the trenches. You'll hear from CTOs, VPs of engineering, and platform leads about what they've learned, the frameworks that worked, and the mistakes they made along the way.
Where the real work happens
The difference between a good engineering organization and a great one is execution. Great engineering orgs build systems and processes that actually work in practice, not just in theory. They master the balancing act between speed and reliability, scale platforms without breaking everything, and drive change across complex teams. These operational details determine success more than any high-level vision, but they're often overlooked in public discussions.
Instead of staying high-level, Braintrust is where we’ll break down exactly how to set up a production readiness checklist, get into the real challenges of moving hundreds of services to a new platform, and share how to structure operational excellence reviews that drive actual improvements. We’re getting into the weeds on these topics, and I couldn't be more excited about it.
A look inside the playbook
Every episode is designed to give you a playbook you can actually use. We’re focusing on the nitty-gritty of engineering excellence, with episodes covering topics like:
Building production readiness processes that teams actually follow
Running successful migrations without grinding work to a halt
Designing operational excellence reviews that create real change
Balancing AI adoption with security and reliability requirements
Scaling platform engineering teams effectively
Embedding FinOps and security practices into daily workflows
Be part of the Braintrust
If you're an engineering leader looking for practical insights on how to run your organization better, this is for you. I'm really excited to share these conversations, and I'd love for you to be part of this from the start.
Subscribe to Braintrust by Cortex on your favorite podcast platform to get new episodes as soon as they're released. We'll share show notes, key takeaways, and frameworks from each episode, so you can reference the most important insights whenever you need them.
Just like our Braintrust community, this podcast is a shared space where engineering leaders can learn from each other's experiences and figure out what true engineering excellence looks like in practice.
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