What's inside high-performing engineering teams | In conversation with VP, Engineering at ServiceNow

Описание: Michael Avrahamov, VP of Engineering at ServiceNow, joins Mala Ramakrishnan to discuss what it really takes to lead large engineering teams in the age of AI.

From early startup work building developer platforms to leadership roles at Siebel, Oracle, and now ServiceNow, Michael shares how he built a niche in observability and reliability engineering—and why falling in love with hard technical problems shaped his career.

The conversation dives deep into AI-assisted coding, the risks of auto-generated code, IP concerns, and whether locking down engineers slows innovation. Michael also unpacks how ServiceNow infused AI into discovery, CMDB, and ITSM workflows—and what it means to scale responsibly with 170+ engineers.

If you’re a founder, engineering leader, or developer navigating AI productivity tools, governance, and code quality, this episode is packed with practical insight.

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Timestamps

00:00 Intro and Michael’s journey into tech
01:00 Early startup days and developer platforms
02:20 Discoverability, observability, and reliability focus
03:40 From Siebel to Oracle to ServiceNow
05:00 Reverse engineering the JVM and deep debugging
06:40 ServiceNow’s early AI efforts before GenAI
08:00 The ChatGPT pivot and accelerating product development
09:30 Infusing AI as a co-pilot into product workflows
10:50 Automating ITSM tickets with AI agents
12:00 Managing a 170-engineer organization
13:00 AI adoption vs locking down engineers
14:30 Preparing internal systems for AI usefulness
15:50 Where AI actually improved productivity
17:00 The 2 million lines of AI-generated code problem
18:30 Code quality, review discipline, and verification risks
19:40 Should AI intentionally inject errors to test humans?
20:30 Freedom vs governance in AI usage
21:40 Prioritizing roadmap vs one-off customer demands
23:00 Startup advice: protect focus and your moat
24:00 Final thoughts on leadership in the AI era

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🔗 Connect with Michael Avrahamov →   / michaelavr  

🔗 Connect with Mala Ramakrishnan →   / malaramakrishnan  

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