Episode 44: Geordie Henderson
About Geordie Henderson
Geordie Henderson is the General Manager of AWS Messaging and Streaming at Amazon Web Services. He has been leading technology teams at organizations of all sizes for 20 years.
During the dotcom boom of the late 1990s, Geordie started his career as a developer at a boutique software consultancy in Vancouver.
In 2001, he co-founded Metalogix Software. He and his partners grew the company into an award-winning Microsoft ISV that specialized in migrating and upgrading SharePoint deployments for large Enterprises. Metalogix was acquired by Insight Venture Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners in 2008. The original technology has continued to provide value to customers and has been acquired twice more since.
In 2011, he joined Hootsuite where he took on several different roles through six years of rapid organizational growth. He first led the build-out of some of the company's first Enterprise features, then led the product management organization, and completed his time with Hootsuite as VP of Engineering.
At Metalogix, Hootsuite, and working with investors through the years, Geordie has been involved in numerous acquisitions on both sides of the deal.
In aggregate, his experiences have given Geordie a broad perspective on what it takes to build, integrate, and lead successful software organizations.
He holds a B.Sc in Computer Science from UBC and a B.A from McGill.
About this episode
Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Geordie Henderson, General Manager of AWS Messaging and Streaming at Amazon Web Services, and previously the VP of Engineering at Hootsuite.
In this episode, Mik and Geordie share insights into organizational design and innovation to build, integrate and lead successful software organizations, as well as other key topics including:
- An overview of Geordie’s experience in scaling high-performing teams at Amazon Web Services and Hootsuite, and advice to leaders on the missteps to avoid
- Implementing the correct team structures and dynamics when optimizing flow for business outcomes
- How to successfully approach creating microservices teams and managing product needs
- The concept of Single Threader Owners (STOs) and the role of product and engineering leadership when organizing around products vs. technology
- Input versus output metrics and the importance of having set goals when evolving team structure
- Advice to leaders on creating the dynamic and structure required for driving innovation within the organization
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Additional Resources:
- Geordie Henderson: Transitioning from a monolith: A three phase approach - Canadian Tech at Scale presentation
- What is Conway’s Law? by Kenneth Reilly
- Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr
- When Jeff Bezos's Two-Pizza Teams Fell Short, He Replaced Them With the Brilliant Model Amazon Still Uses Today by Jeff Haden
- Mik + One Podcast: Adrian Cockcroft
To download the transcript for this episode, click here.
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