Using GenAI to address cross-functional collaboration challenges & enhance engineering leadership w/ Clemens Mewald #152

The Engineering Leadership Podcast

Clemens Mewald, Head of Product @ Instabase, joins our podcast to share his insights on how to embrace generative AI tools to enhance engineering leadership, productivity, and problem-solving. We also chat about creative ways to implement GenAI beyond simply chatbots, questions to ask when deciding how to leverage GenAI capabilities, rethinking the productivity aspect of generative AI, and how to use it to address cross-functional collaboration challenges within your org. Additionally, Clemens reveals how he translates his deep technical / research knowledge on generative AI into meaningful business & product outcomes.

ABOUT CLEMENS MEWALD

Clemens Mewald is the Head of Product at Instabase. With over 15 years of experience in the industry, Clemens Mewald has built a successful track record as a product and technology leader in the AI and machine learning space. Previously Clemens held leadership positions at Databricks, where he spent more than three years leading the product team for Machine Learning and Data Science. Before Databricks, Clemens served on the Google Brain Team building AI infrastructure for Alphabet, where his product portfolio included TensorFlow and TensorFlow Extended (TFX). Clemens holds an MSc in computer science from UAS Wiener Neustadt, Austria, and an MBA from MIT Sloan.

"Whenever a new technique or like innovation comes out. It's not the product, right? So like AI is not the product. LLMs are not the product. A lot of people get caught up in the innovation, like the technology if you will, but people don't buy AI. People don't buy LLMs. They buy tools and products that like solve their own problems in the world. So really what you gained is like a new tool in your tool belt to solve your customer's problems, not a new thing that you can sell.”

- Clemens Mewald

We’re hosting the first ELC Annual Watch Party on 11/8!

We’re livestreaming the most popular sessions from the ELC Annual 2023 conference + hosting virtual roundtable discussions to connect you with eng leaders around the globe AND in your city.

Our first topic covers Generative AI & engineering leadership with Wade Chambers… no this isn’t about the tech - it’s about the leadership skills and competencies you need to evolve and adapt to lead in this next generation!

We have different events for Europe, East Coast & West Coast! To RSVP, find your location HERE:

Europe

West Coast & MidWest

East Coast

SHOW NOTES:

• Why Clemens got involved with Instabase & the GenAI space (2:08)
• Clemens’ observations on how eng leaders are applying GenAI tools (4:56)
• Where GenAI tools can fit the needs of an executive leader (7:00)
• The impact of generative AI on product building (9:04)
• Creative ways to apply GenAI beyond a chatbot (12:41)
• Strategies for better framing questions to leverage different GenAI capabilities (17:37)
• Understanding the unreliable aspects of generative AI tools (20:52)
• Leveraging these tools to tackle eng leadership-specific challenges (24:25)
• Rethink the productivity aspect of GenAI tools (25:59)
• Using GenAI tools to address cross-functional collaboration challenges (28:32)
• How to align / educate different stakeholders around new generative AI capabilities (32:24)
• Translating technical research on GenAI into business outcomes or products (35:22)
• The “identify, verify, amplify” framework (36:46)
• Clemens’ favorite methods for verifying in a lightweight way (39:35)
• Rapid fire questions (40:46)

LINKS AND RESOURCES

• AI Will Save The World with Marc Andreessen and Martin Casado - In this timely one-on-one conversation with a16z General Partner Martin Casado, Marc discusses how this technology will maximize human potential, why the future of AI should be decided by the free market, and most importantly, why AI won’t destroy the world. In fact, it may save it.

This episode wouldn’t have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:

Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host

Jerry Li - Co-Host

Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/

Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/

Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/