Director+: GitHub VP of Engineering on encouraging a passion for productivity

Bill Doerrfeld | July 26, 2024

The 2nd edition of LeadDev's Director+ is out! For this one, I interviewed Neha Batra, VP of Engineering at GitHub, to learn some great tactics for encouraging an internal culture of productivity.


Instead of setting stringent developer productivity expectations, GitHub's culture encourages developers to put aside time to save time. They've seen success from regularly reviewing developer satisfaction and encouraging more diverse and interdisciplinary teams.


Check out the full article for an exclusive window into what GitHub is doing to enhance internal productivity, including "drinking their own champagne," DOLs, the DRI model, cross-pollinating skills, and more.


For more on-the-ground insights from today's top engineering leaders, sign up for the Director+ newsletter here.

Read: Encouraging a passion for productivity

Other Blog Posts

How AI Agents Change API Interaction opening slide doerrfeld bill 2026 nordic apis

My slides for my keynote 'How AI Agents Change API Interaction'

By Bill Doerrfeld • October 18, 2026
Here are my slides from my opening keynote at Nordic APIs Summit 2026, exploring how AI agents are changing API interaction patterns.

The AI Pen-Testing Toolbox

By Bill Doerrfeld • October 17, 2026
My latest research for AI Security University looks at AI tools and resources for pen-testers, red teamers, and bug bounty hunters.

Agents redefine the software delivery lifecycle

By Bill Doerrfeld • October 16, 2026
My commissioned feature for Arthur D. Little's PRISM publication analyzes the big shifts underway now that generating code is becoming trivial.

Thanks for having me, SecureMaine!

By Bill Doerrfeld • October 11, 2026
Was happy to participate as a speaker and moderator at SecureMaine on October 8th, 2026.

How Meta is scaling senior engineering knowledge

By Bill Doerrfeld • October 5, 2026
My latest for LeadDev interviews a Meta engineer who built an agentic system to optimize their capacity planning, leading to real power use savings.

Alternative clouds: CIOs are still evaluating

By Bill Doerrfeld • September 30, 2026
I set out expecting to write an article about how every enterprise was jumping on trendy alternative or "neo" clouds. That ended up not being the case.

Just announced: AI Pen-Testing Conference

By Bill Doerrfeld • September 28, 2026
Join the virtual AI Pen-Testing Conference to explore how AI is changing penetration testing, red teaming, and the security testing of AI systems.

Counting down the days 'til Nordic APIs Summit 2026

By Bill Doerrfeld • September 28, 2026
Counting down to Nordic APIs Summit 2026 in Stockholm, featuring 60+ speakers exploring agentic AI, APIs, MCP, and security.

Report: Engineers still care about climate change

By Bill Doerrfeld • September 28, 2026
I covered a Yale and GitHub report on LeadDev that explores developer attitudes on climate change and curbing IT waste.

Taking a least privilege mindset to MCP

By Bill Doerrfeld • September 15, 2026
Does your agent really need access to every tool call under the sun?