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Principles of Technology Leadership | Bryan Cantrill | Monktoberfest 2017

RedMonk Tech Events · talk · Watch on YouTube

Management, leadership & organizationsSoftware practice, open source & careers

What it is

Bryan Cantrill's Monktoberfest 2017 talk on leadership and organizational principles, ranging from the Gettysburg Address to Uber and Amazon. He argues for the difference between principles and values and criticizes vague corporate principles.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN treats it as a classic, must-watch talk for any discussion of company values, and especially for its takedown of Amazon's leadership principles.

  • 9 people recommended it
  • 7 different months
  • 3 strong recommendations
  • first 2018, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “this is an extremely good talk[1].”

    Cantrill's most personal talk, uplifting, funny and important.

    kbenson, 2018-02 · Strong recommendation · in “Talks I have given”

  2. “His talk on companies principles is a must-watch”

    Cantrill's talk on company principles from an engineer with integrity.

    warp_factor, 2019-02 · Strong recommendation · in “Anti-Application video for YC120”

  3. “No discussion of company values would be complete without a link to Bryan Cantrill’s classic talk,”

    Classic talk essential to any discussion of company values.

    nonfamous, 2022-02 · Strong recommendation · in “What are your company's anti-values?”

  4. “Watch the whole video, it's good!”

    Bryan Cantrill talk on technology leadership principles, related to the Uber thread.

    z3t4, 2018-03 · Recommendation · in “Arizona Government Suspends Uber's Self Driving Cars from Roads”

  5. “Bryan Cantrill has a sometimes hilarious takedown of Amazon's”

    Funny takedown of Amazon's leadership principles.

    faitswulff, 2018-11 · Recommendation · in “Quitting Amazon 5 months after I started”

  6. “It seems to resonate pretty closely with what you're building”

    Talk on principles versus values, relevant to a values-matching site.

    jka, 2019-02 · Recommendation · in “Key Values – Find Engineering Teams That Share Your Values”

  7. “He gives Amazon a lambasting over their core principles, and Uber even moreso.”

    Lambastes Amazon and Uber core principles as vague and easily ignored.

    Fellshard, 2019-11 · Recommendation · in “No Shenanigans”

  8. “I recommend watching the whole talk”

    Great talk arguing Amazon's leadership principles are unhelpful; Amazon part near minute 26.

    dev_snd, 2021-07 · Recommendation · in “Amazon announce two new leadership principles”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: bryan cantrill, company values, leadership principles, amazon, uber, engineering culture

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