What does International Vlogging Day mean in 2026?
On International Vlogging Day, I decided to record a single-take, unedited vlog after spotting the day in my calendar, because it reminded me of the early era of regular, raw video blogging.
Si Jobling
Tech leader, community builder
Latest posts
WWDC 2026: First Impressions
Apple's WWDC 2026 keynote just wrapped from Apple Park, and I watched the whole thing live. As ever, there's a mix of "finally" and "we'll see about that". Here are my unfiltered first impressions while it's still fresh. One immediate distraction before we get into announcements: what is going on with Craig Federighi's audio? Over-processed, flat, weirdly distant; like he was broadcasting from a…
Day 2 of #LDX3 2026: Engineering leadership, AI in hiring & juniors and manager burnout
LDX3 2026 Day 2 Recap: After 2 days of LDX3 2026, I shift focus to the people side of engineering leadership and how teams are adopting AI.
Day 1 of LDX3 2026
End of day one at LDX3 Conference 2026, I head back to the hotel early to unwind after spending the day catching up with fellow Rightmovers, former ASOSers, and other friends, noting that networking is one of the best parts of conferences.
World Cup 2026 Calendar
Football Cal's World Cup edition - 20 years on from the original, 48 teams, three countries, and Claude doing the heavy lifting on the data. Kick Off # This year marks 20 years since the original World Cup KickOff - a site I cobbled together in PHP ahead of the 2006 tournament in Germany. The clever bit was using Microformats hcalendar markup so Brian Suda's X2V transformation script could convert…
Is AI video killing the podcast star?
We're at a pivotal moment in the podcasting industry as Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music are finally implementing alternate (HLS) video support in their native apps.
Q1 2026
Fatboy Slim at Alexandra Palace. Raye in Manchester. A gastritis diagnosis after years of not knowing. Three rooms of William Morris wallpaper. PETALS Plus plans nearly live. Training underway for a 35km walk along the Jurassic Coast. A switch from ChatGPT to Claude. And a 973-day Duolingo streak still standing. Here's how Q1 2026 went - including how this post itself got made. Life stuff #…
Apple are going all in with video podcasting - and it could be a game changer
Apple Podcasts is bringing HLS video to their platform by partnering with some heavyweight hosts - here are my thoughts on how this could be a pivotal moment for the industry.
6 Nations Calendar 2026 refresh
I’ve updated my 6 Nations Calendar for 2026, and the biggest change this year is where it lives. I’ve moved hosting from Netlify to GitHub so the CI pipeline is closer to the codebase, easier to test locally, and simpler to maintain. Nothing wrong with Netlify at all, it’s just another service to keep tabs on and I want to keep the moving parts small. As part of the migration, I’ve been leaning on…
Q4 2025
October # Chatted with some students at Binghamton University in New York about the PETALS framework and how it has helped teams with improving psychological safety through real-world case studies (annoyingly, the recording didn’t work very well, only capturing my audio). What a fantastic milestone to know the framework is now influencing academics in business schools. Test print of Lizzie’s first…
Could AI be the answer to 4 day weeks? #rambles
Following the Metaverse team's push to 5x output from their engineering teams using AI, it got me thinking about how we could actually recognise and reward the humans with 4 day weeks to balance it all out.
Q3 2025
Summer 2025 turned out to be a bit of a mix for me; major milestones, unfortunate mishaps and a few big life moments. Between broken bones, pool time, and brainstorming MORE ideas, it felt like a season that somehow balanced chaos and calm. Plenty of learning, a bit of laughing, and a lot of reflection. July # As mentioned back in Q2, the House Finesse podcast feed turned 20 years old this summer.…
Fitness Pomodoros
This idea hit me in the gym, then got shaped in the pool. That’s how most of my stuff comes together; push myself physically, then let my head wander until it clicks. In the gym, I noticed something simple. My sets, rests and the clock on the wall lined up perfectly with Pomodoro timers. Twenty-five minutes of focus, five minutes of recovery. That’s how I work – why not train the same way? Later,…
Product on a Page - Done app
Why are we so obsessed about getting the next thing done when we rarely reflect on what we have already done?
Finding creativity in the pool
Like many folks in tech, my head’s usually full of noise; podcasts, playlists, Slack messages, meeting notes. But I’ve found an unlikely place where my brain slows down just enough for creativity to catch up: the swimming pool. Running fills the time, swimming clears the mind # Three mornings a week, I hit the gym before work. I start with a 30-minute run, usually fuelled by a podcast or a mix…
Q2 2025
It’s been a full-on few months. Between building products, running teams, raising money, and squeezing in the odd tattoo, here’s a look back at what’s been going on from April to June 2025. A much-needed break in Cornwall # After a pretty intense first half of the year, I finally took some time out for the late-May Bank Holiday. We headed down to Falmouth, Cornwall, staying in a family holiday…
10 takeaways from LDX3 2025
This week I had the chance to attend LDX3 (formerly known as LeadDev London), a buzzing two-day conference packed with bite-sized engineering leadership talks, practical insights, and a refreshing mix of inspiration and pragmatism. Here are 10 takeaways that stood out for me… 1. Strong delivery doesn’t mean a healthy team Metrics alone don’t tell the full story. Without context and action, they’re…
Find your own pace
I write this off the back of a new routine I’ve got into this week. Every weekday morning, I typically take the dog for a walk around the canal and fields so he can have a run and I can enjoy the great outdoors with a podcast that suits my mood. (This week, that’s been a mix of Jordan B Peterson audiobooks and podcasts about WWDC.) After that, I’ve been hitting the gym to get back into some proper…
Vulnerability ≠ Safety (But It Can Be)
This week, I saw two very different sides of psychological safety play out, and both left a mark. First up, a team meeting. It started off well; people were being honest, surfacing tough stuff that clearly needed to be aired. You could feel the bravery. But it didn’t stay safe for long. Emotions bubbled up, a few defensive reactions crept in, and the mood shifted fast. One minute we were leaning…
Building Tools for Healthier Teams
There’s a lot of talk about team health these days: retros, wellbeing check-ins, pulse surveys, the works. But in reality, many teams still struggle to see what’s going on until it’s too late. Or worse, they see it but don’t know what to do about it. This post isn’t just a product update. It’s a reflection on what I’ve been building recently — tools that aim to make team health feel more visible ,…
How can Milton Keynes become a tech hub?
Today, I was invited to a Protospace Roundtable discussion with fellow tech leaders from around Milton Keynes to discuss how the city can become a tech hub.
How can MK become a tech hub?
Today, I was invited to a Protospace Roundtable discussion with fellow tech leaders from around Milton Keynes to discuss how the city can become a tech hub. Chapters # 01:33 Inspiring the next generation with STEMx 02:27 How many people are looking for new jobs? 03:34 All those MK roundabouts 04:46 Tech week across MK 05:27 Advertising beyond social media 06:31 Hang out with the MK peeps Massive…
Product on a Podcast - Agile Therapy Workshops
Kicking off a new season of podcast episodes, reviving an old Product On A Page format I used to blog on a regularly basis. This time, it's about mental health therapy and how it correlates with agile software delivery to make it more accessible, trying to shake the stigma often associated with mental health. What are your thoughts?
How to measure team health and culture
Back in July, I was invited up to Auto Trader's headquarters in Manchester to talk to Pete on their Roadmap Product & Tech podcast about team health and how PETALS has grown over the past few years. How to measure team health and culture on Youtube I was honoured to be asked on their podcast as I've been very impressed with what they've done over the past year (we even compared notes last year…
House Finesse 2024
This year, I decided to refresh my house music podcast House Finesse with an updated format, website and sound to recognise all the different flavours we're bringing as a community now. I also wanted to shift the website from the original Wordpress setup to a more sustainable 11ty build for costs and performance improvements. As a hobby side project, I was keen to focus on the core purpose but…
Evo Inspires
I was recently asked by David Dowdall to talk to him for their Evo Inspires video series, a platform for leaders in tech to share some personal stories that could inspires others. It was an honour to be featured alongside such successful and reputable names from across the industry so I tried to share thoughts on failing fast, encouraging line managers and how to support teams in a hybrid/remote…
6 Nations Calendar
Following the series of sports calendar projects, 6 Nations Calendar provides all the kick off times for the annual 6 Nations competition directly on your own mobile or computer. Built in just two evenings using frameworks I've developed in the past, this was a great example to demonstrate the value of reusing tech to get a simple idea live in a short time frame. It's using the Sports Times Gatsby…
Apps Experimentation @ ASOS
Before I left ASOS in 2023, I recorded a discussion with Callum and Elizabeth about the experimentation approach in tech for the ASOS Tech Podcast. It was an opportunity for me to reflect on my personal time working in the old experimentation team back in 2015-2017, revisiting how things have evolved since then and explore some recent examples on how ASOS and their customers have benefited from…
Public Bookmarks
Taking inspiration from Trovster's links feed , I've decided to setup my own directory of links found from around the web with my own personal stance on them in a new Bookmarks section . It harks back to the days of Web 2.0 apps like del.icio.us where people publicly shared their bookmarks, organising with suitable taxonomy (and machine tags) and I often reshared on my Twitter account which helped…
PETALS Snapshot 9 - PETALS coaching & Google Sheet filter fixes
This is the 9th PETALS Snapshot talking about booking PETALS time, Google Toolkit filter fixes with Mike Street and the first app user story demo. 00:33 Scores 00:48 Homepage refresh 01:20 Cal.com with NextJS fail 04:02 Mike @ Liquid Light 07:38 Google Toolkit date range filter fix 09:12 User onboarding app demo 10:06 Design system spike 10:45 DevOps Notts in 2 weeks 11:57 Get in touch
Learning Design Systems for PETALS
In this video, I go about learning the latest in Design Systems to get some ideas and inspiration for the PETALS app. TIMESTAMPS 00:56 Toot for help 01:45 Current branding in Canva 03:08 Original onboarding UX flow 05:35 Sprout Social 07:08 Orbit 08:13 Atlassian Design System 22:40 Follow along SHOW NOTES Toot for help: https://managingengineers.net/@si/111370888453459540 Sprout Social Seeds:…
PETALS Snapshot 8 - Sharing at ManageOps and team trust with Laura Annabel
This is PETALS Snapshot 8 when Si reflects on his first public talk, new fortnightly dev time with Brian and a session with Laura introducing PETALS to her team. CHAPTERS # 01:29 ManageOps 04:27 Laura's team culture 07:27 Dev Time with Brian 09:35 NEW Holographic Stickers 10:37 Get in touch SHOW NOTES # Join the ManageOps community in Birmingham https://www.meetup.com/manageops/ Laura Annabel…
PETALS Snapshot 7 - All the toolkits, OKRs & leaving ASOS
This is PETALS Snapshot 7 with a new Toolkits page, using PETALS on OKRs, app foundations and Devops Notts meetup. CHAPTERS # 00:44 Leaving ASOS 03:13 Toolkits, toolkits, toolkits 05:46 Measuring team health with OKRs 07:00 Time-ranged responses in the app 10:47 Devops Notts confirmed 12:32 Final thoughts SHOW NOTES # New Toolkits page https://petals.team/toolkits Inside Bramble - Day 100: Website…
PETALS Snapshot 6 - Microsoft Forms & Google/Slack automation
This is PETALS Snapshot 6 when Si talks about the new Microsoft Form, new Snapshots page, some more fixes and some automation concepts with Slack. 00:45 Scores 01:50 DKIM Fail 02:41 New Snapshots page 03:27 Microsoft Toolkit in progress 05:33 IFTTT to Slack 07:01 Another public talk 08:11 Chipping away
PETALS Snapshot 5 - Google Toolkit fixes with Mike Street & wireframing with Brian
This is PETALS Snapshot 5 as we get back into the rhythm of it all. 00:43 Scores are up 01:04 Low serenity 03:40 Cookie banner now in place 04:32 App requirements with Brian 06:09 Wireframing in Freeform iOS 07:02 Mailing list themes 08:51 EOY reflections 10:34 First talk & memorable URLs
PETALS Snapshot 4 - Content updates and observing trends with Myles Sanigar
This is PETALS Snapshot 4, the one after a Summer break. 00:55 Scores 01:14 Low productivity 02:13 Privacy content updates 02:37 Stickers 03:33 Email automation with Zapier 04:50 Myles @ Doxy 07:56 More content & cookies 08:58 Summer is over
PETALS Snapshot 3 - Google Toolkit & where’s your happy place?
The one when Si talks about launching the new Google Toolkit to the mailing list and how to bring joy to your work. 00:45 Scores 01:07 Where is your happy place? 02:27 Google Toolkit Launch 04:00 Brand tone in email 06:10 PETALS for distributed teams 08:20 Going global 09:31 Youtube thumbnails 10:16 Podcast feed 10:34 Taking a summer break
Where's Your Happy Place?
Here's a conversation starter for any one-to-one's you're having where individuals seem quite dissatisfied or unhappy in their role. Ask them where their happy place is. This can be work-related or personal but, fundamentally, identifying what would bring out the best in them. What brings them joy? When are they "in the zone" and feeling at their best? The key is then to understand what it'll take…
PETALS Snapshot 2 - Launch feedback & personalised scores with Brian Suda
Looking back over the past 2 weeks since launching the website, working on too much at the same time but fitting in a chat with Brian Suda on how the data could be used in one-to-ones Show Notes # This is the 2nd PETALS Snapshot, looking back since launching the website, working through some of the feedback and fitting in a chat with Brian Suda about how to use the data in different contexts.…
Don’t Be Arthur
I can't be the only person in the world who thinks they've finished a job to realise later it's not quite done. My wife has a pet name for me when I fall into this situation. She calls me Arthur, short for Arthur Job (get it?) It got me thinking about distractions at work, often the bottleneck to completing work items. In Agile software delivery, there's a classic quote that's reminded to teams;…
PETALS Snapshot 1
This is the debut #PETALS Snapshot where I'll be using a framework I've created to regularly reflect on side projects - including the #PETALS website itself. This week, I've launched the website at https://petals.team/ after some early beta testing with our #OnTheSide Slack community. All suggestions, feedback and questions are open - add them to the comments or reach out directly. 00:13 What is…
Random acts of kindness
Some people are put on this planet to bring pure happiness. This week, two people have blessed us with truly random acts of kindness. Roofing Hood # We're currently repairing our kitchen roof after noticing some damage. What looked like a simple fix has quickly escalated to some substantial work, requiring quite a lot of manual work, heavy lifting and in awkward positions. My father-in-law has…
Weekly 2023.15
https://youtu.be/Jh7aqbw-EHQ Weekly 2023.15 on YouTube https://open.spotify.com/episode/2cj0te64nZSnxV3XLjdIsT?si=14__SsomQfaAGMw5xB77CQ Weekly 2023.15 on Spotify Read transcript Team meetings IRL, accountability on side project goals, RØDE NT-USB and Simon Dunmore . Admin First Monthly newsletter on Buttondown Descript templates & content style guides in progress with Canva Work Engineering team…
Si'Cast Weekly 2023.15
This is Weekly 2023.15, recorded on Monday 1st May 2023.
Weekly 2023.14
Documenting personal development plans, timeline for PETALS.team, custom domain emails in iCloud+ and The Other Place by Nathan Hystad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljCrITGwDew Weekly 2023.14 on Youtube https://open.spotify.com/episode/6vXNivrOSsGpHpTVnPz9IZ?si=zWe1tfLcSouMqETeAo_9nA Weekly 2023.14 on Spotify Read transcript Admin Best day for newsletters - end of month, start of month or…
Si'Cast Weekly 2023.14
This is Weekly 2023.14, recorded on Friday 21st April.
The Hidden Space (The Glass, #2)
author: Nathan Hystad name: Si average rating: 4.27 book published: rating: 0 read at: date added: 2023/04/23 shelves: currently-reading review: Read More
Weekly 2023.13
Inner source projects, the end of Make Life Work, Notion app and Brian Cox on Mars. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EMU6N-g-5g Weekly 2023.13 on Youtube https://open.spotify.com/episode/7ufL4TLzgMo4j54fDx25SA?si=M4KCLgALQrKd4bKlKzj2DA Weekly 2023.13 on Spotify Read transcript This is Weekly 2023.13, recorded on Friday 14th April 2023, after a long Easter weekend break. Admin (00:18) More visuals…
Si'Cast Weekly 2023.13
Inner source projects, the end of Make Life Work, Notion app and Brian Cox on Mars.
Make Life Work
When I started Make Life Work back in 2019, nobody expected work life balance to be challenged so much over the following years. 4 years and 10 seasons on, I've decided to bring the format to a natural close. Here's why. Tech Focus # Many in tech have been working remotely for decades. It's been recognised as an industry norm since the internet enabled distributed teams to communicate across the…