# Run to the Inevitable: High-Trust Engineering Teams | Josh Carroll

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/40-better-engineering-leadership-6759823/run-to-the-inevitable-high-trust-engineering-teams-josh-carroll
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/40-better-engineering-leadership-6759823/run-to-the-inevitable-high-trust-engineering-teams-josh-carroll.md
Podcast: [40% Better - Engineering Leadership](https://stenobird.com/podcast/40-better-engineering-leadership-6759823)
Published: 2026-02-06T16:00:02+00:00
Episode link: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/run-to-the-inevitable-high-trust-engineering-teams-josh-carroll--69842407
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/69842407/audio_file_podcast_josh_carroll.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/40-better-engineering-leadership-6759823/episodes/run-to-the-inevitable-high-trust-engineering-teams-josh-carroll
Duration seconds: 3173

## Resource

When Josh Carroll tells his engineers not to bring him their hard problems, he's actually doing the opposite—he's making sure they feel resourced enough to tackle anything. As an engineering leader with 20+ years of experience who's scaled teams at agencies, startups, and now Skylight, Josh has learned that leadership is problem-solving with people, not code. He shares why his old boss told him to "run to the inevitable"—why waiting to have hard conversations makes everything worse—and how discovering he has ADHD transformed his listening skills after painful 360 feedback revealed he was making conversations about himself when trying to show empathy. Josh reveals Skylight's "say the thing" principle for psychological safety, why they measure velocity by setting aggressive roadmaps they can't hit and aiming for 80-90%, and why hiring engineers just to write code leaves half their value on the table. From understanding stakeholder success metrics to avoiding pet agendas, Josh shares battle-tested frameworks for creating environments where brilliant engineers with low egos ship customer-delighting products at high velocity. Key Topics: Why "run to the inevitable" means having hard conversations immediately, not later How 360 feedback and discovering ADHD transformed Josh's leadership approach Skylight's "say the thing" principle for creating psychological safety Why hiring engineers just to write code wastes half their problem-solving value The three-sprint maximum rule: forcing teams to ship iteratively and learn fast Measuring velocity without silly metrics: aggressive roadmaps at 80-90% completion How past company dysfunction creates self-fulfilling prophecies at new companies Why Josh rarely shares his solutions anymore, even when he's seen the problem before Building…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/40-better-engineering-leadership-6759823/episodes/run-to-the-inevitable-high-trust-engineering-teams-josh-carroll/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/40-better-engineering-leadership-6759823/run-to-the-inevitable-high-trust-engineering-teams-josh-carroll.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.