Secrets to Winning at Teamwork in Tech!

GitKraken

Oct 9, 2025

In this episode, Jayson Phillips, Head of Engineering at Magpie Literacy, tells us about his journey from marketing to engineering. He also shares insights into how he uses Obsidian as a Knowledge Management platform.

This week, our chat touches on a variety of topics including:

Onboarding philosophy: Focus on learning culture and team dynamics first rather than trying to make immediate impact
Proposal writing framework: Starts with 3-sentence problem statement, includes "blue book" section showing research work, and requires sign-offs from stakeholders
Engineering leadership scope: Oversees ~40 people across 7 teams, managing everything from specs to production

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