What makes a Platform Team work with Mason Jones from Zapier

Mason Jones recently started a new role at Zapier, where he’s bringing his platform leadership experience from Lattice and Credit Karma. In this episode, Mason shares his thoughts on what makes a platform team work, common tradeoffs in platform development, and the challenges of making your team’s work visible and understandable to the whole organization. Find the transcript at: https://www.unblocked.fm/episodes/mason-jones-zapier/ Timestamps (0:00) Introductions (0:39) Mason’s journey to Zapier (4:39) How Mason joined the platform team (8:48) Naming teams (11:10) The mechanics of reorienting (15:46) Transitioning from infrastructure to platform (20:44) Goal-setting using data (24:39) Mason’s take on product managers (28:48) Detangling a monolith into services (33:49) Federating vs. centralizing (37:04) How Mason approaches standardization (41:22) How to communicate (44:58) The value of case studies (47:08) What Mason wants to achieve in a year Follow Mason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/masonjones/ Follow Rebecca on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmurphey/ Links and mentions • Zapier: https://zapier.com/ • Credit Karma: https://www.creditkarma.com/

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Keeping software engineers in flow and unblocked is one of the key responsibilities of software development leaders. In each episode of the Engineering Unblocked podcast, Rebecca Murphey interviews leaders who have navigated challenges of scale, complexity, and growth. You’ll hear from people with lived experience across the software development ecosystem, from CTOs and VPEs to directors and line managers to product managers, program managers, tech leads, and more.