---
aliases: ["Podcast recording — 2025-01-16"]
Is A: Event
Date: "2025-01-16"
Belongs to: "[[2025-01]]"
Related to: ["[[person-hiroshi-tanaka]]"]
Tags: ["Work", "Podcast"]
---
# Podcast recording — 2025-01-16
Recorded episode with Hiroshi Tanaka. Great conversation.

## Notes
- Episode theme: third session with Hiroshi — exploring the rise of developer productivity engineering as a dedicated function, drawing on examples from Japanese and American companies
- Hiroshi compared how productivity engineering teams are structured at major tech companies in Tokyo versus Silicon Valley, noting that the Japanese approach tends to be more holistic and includes developer well-being metrics alongside throughput measures
- His insider knowledge of how companies like Mercari and LINE approach internal developer tooling provided a rare window into a tech ecosystem that the English-speaking podcast world rarely covers
- Another strong recording; Hiroshi has become one of our most valuable recurring guests, bringing fresh perspectives each time while building on themes from previous episodes
- Key quote: "Developer productivity is not about making people work faster. It is about removing the things that make them work slower. The distinction matters because one burns people out and the other energizes them"
- Good audio quality; Hiroshi has settled into a reliable recording setup that produces consistent results

## Follow-up
- [ ] Send thank-you email to Hiroshi
- [ ] Draft show notes with the productivity metrics framework he outlined
- [ ] Schedule editing with [[person-paco-furiani]]
