# Alex Di Mango > Engineering leadership advisor. Writing on scaling teams, AI adoption, and what AI is doing to the work itself. ## About - [About](https://alexdimango.com/about/): Background, current role, and how Alex works with founders. ## Blog - [Software engineering reset. Most engineering leaders are still managing the old version.](https://alexdimango.com/blog/software-engineering-reset/): I am closing Not Just Bits, but the more important news is what happened to the work itself in the last two years. - [Why Most Companies Can’t Answer “Is AI Working?”](https://alexdimango.com/blog/why-most-companies-cant-answer-is/): Most companies can tell you how many AI licenses they bought. Far fewer can tell you what changed because of them. - [Your AI-Built MVP Works. Now What?](https://alexdimango.com/blog/your-ai-built-mvp-works-now-what/): Three things to add before you hire your first engineer - [Your First Engineering Hire Will Make or Break You](https://alexdimango.com/blog/your-first-engineering-hire-will/): Why your first engineering hire matters more than your next funding round - [Are You Supposed to Have a Career in Tech in 2026?](https://alexdimango.com/blog/are-you-supposed-to-have-a-career/): Two engineers asked me the same question last week: is a tech career still worth it in 2026? Here is how I answered. - [Tiny Teams Aren’t New. We Just Forgot.](https://alexdimango.com/blog/tiny-teams-arent-new-we-just-forgot/): Everyone talks about AI and the rise of small teams as if it’s a brand-new thing. It’s not. - [The Only Metric That Matters When Everything Else Goes to Hell](https://alexdimango.com/blog/the-only-metric-that-matters-when/): A quick guide to heartbeat metrics (and why your dashboards won’t save you) - [AI Strategy for CTOs: A Practical Guide to Getting Started](https://alexdimango.com/blog/ai-strategy-for-ctos-a-practical/): Hosted models, clean data, clear goals. The practical AI strategy that doesn't need a research team or a roadmap deck. - [Balancing Intuition and Data in Product Decision-Making](https://alexdimango.com/blog/balancing-intuition-and-data-in-product/): Data is not always smarter than experienced judgment. Three rules for knowing which to trust on a given product decision. - [Continuous Discovery for Developers](https://alexdimango.com/blog/continuous-discovery-for-developers/): Developers shouldn't wait for product to hand them specs. How engineers can be part of discovery without becoming product managers. - [Are you planning your next year SaaS strategy?](https://alexdimango.com/blog/are-you-planning-your-next-year-saas/): A good place to start? Use the Eisenhower Matrix. This framework helps you categorize tasks and initiatives based on urgency and importance, making it easier to prioritize, delegate, or eliminate them - [Why keep estimating software development?](https://alexdimango.com/blog/why-keep-estimating-software-development/): Estimates set a clear focus. Without them, teams can fall into the trap of endless tweaks and refinements. - [Buy vs Build: How to Make the Right Choice for Your Business](https://alexdimango.com/blog/buy-vs-build-how-to-make-the-right/): When your company needs new software or to replace an existing one, this framework will help you make the right decision. - [How I Built a Slack App Using ChatGPT – all without writing a single line of code.](https://alexdimango.com/blog/how-i-built-a-slack-app-using-chatgpt/): I built a working Slack bot that detects PII in messages without writing any code. The prompts, the steps, and what AI-assisted shipping actually looks like. - [Documenting Decisions Through RFCs](https://alexdimango.com/blog/documenting-decisions-through-rfcs/): When your engineering team grows past 15 people, technical decisions stop happening in the room. RFCs are how you keep them visible without slowing them down. - [Sustainable Software Architecture: 3 Quick Wins](https://alexdimango.com/blog/sustainable-software-architecture/): Why companies are quietly moving back out of the cloud, and three architectural decisions that make your bill predictable enough to plan around. - [Continuous Delivery is not a technical aspect](https://alexdimango.com/blog/continuous-delivery-is-not-a-technical/): Continuous delivery is a business call, not an engineering one. Your team's release frequency is set by leadership's appetite for risk, not by your CI pipeline. - [Simplifying the Complex: The Secret to a Small/Mid-Size Startup Data Warehouse](https://alexdimango.com/blog/simplifying-the-complex-the-secret/): Skip Redshift. Skip the data mesh. The serverless setup that gets a small startup to real analytics without three months of platform work. - [3 Key Indicators for Better Planning: Impact, Effort, and Risk as Pillars of Shared Understanding](https://alexdimango.com/blog/building-shared-understanding-of/): A simple impact/effort/risk matrix to decide what your engineering team should build next, and what to say no to. - [Building an Engineering Career Path in Startups: My Take on It](https://alexdimango.com/blog/building-an-engineering-career-path/): How to build career levels at a startup that don't feel like big-company levels in disguise. Pillars, principles, and the trap of copying a corporate framework. - [The Human Element in Organizational Success](https://alexdimango.com/blog/the-human-element-in-organizational/): Nada Kalo Ćukalović on why 'just be more open' is the wrong instruction for teams that don't feel safe, and what to do instead. - [Your Team Hits Every Sprint Goal and Nothing Moves Forward](https://alexdimango.com/blog/every-sprint-goal-nothing-moves/): OKRs die in the spreadsheet between the kickoff and the review. Three lightweight check-in patterns that catch off-track key results in week four, not week twelve. - [The First 90 Days in a New Role](https://alexdimango.com/blog/the-first-90-days-in-a-new-role/): Monica, Head of Engineering at Beyond, on how she runs the first 90 days in a new company. The framework, the diagnostic, and the mistake she stopped making. - [Improving Team Collaboration with Strengths Mapping](https://alexdimango.com/blog/improving-team-collaboration-with/): CliftonStrengths and a 15-minute exercise to find out how your teammates actually want to be managed. Useful for any team that has hit the 'why don't they just talk to each other' wall. - [Coaching: is now the perfect moment to take that first step?](https://alexdimango.com/blog/coaching-is-now-the-perfect-moment/): Stephan, an executive coach with 25 years in tech, on when career coaching is worth the time and when it is not. - [The Nine-Box Grid for Talent Management](https://alexdimango.com/blog/the-nine-box-grid-for-talent-management/): How to evaluate engineers on more than one axis. The nine-box framework for matching development plans to where someone actually is in their career. - [What “doing a good job” really means as a Leader?](https://alexdimango.com/blog/getting-things-done-right/): Your team is shipping every week and you still don't know if you're doing a good job. The difference between efficiency and effectiveness, and which one matters for leaders. ## Guides - [How do I fix my AI-generated codebase?](https://alexdimango.com/guides/ai-codebase/): Practical advice for founders who built their MVP with AI tools and need to scale. - [When should I hire my first engineer?](https://alexdimango.com/guides/first-hire/): Signals, timing, and how to structure a first technical hire. - [Do I need a fractional CTO?](https://alexdimango.com/guides/fractional-cto/): When fractional leadership fits and when a full-time CTO is the right move. - [What do VCs look for in technical due diligence?](https://alexdimango.com/guides/tech-due-diligence/): The questions VCs ask and how to prepare your codebase and team. - [How do I scale from 5 to 50 engineers?](https://alexdimango.com/guides/scaling-team/): Structures, hiring patterns, and pitfalls when growing an engineering org. - [How do I know if AI is actually working?](https://alexdimango.com/guides/ai-adoption/): The three gaps between AI access and business impact, and how to close them.