Soft Skills Engineering Episode 503: Hardware is hard and my PMs are pushing AI slop code
30 snips
Mar 9, 2026 A new CTO faces leading hardware teams without deep domain expertise and debates how to earn trust. The problems of PMs pushing AI-generated low-quality code and how that shifts bottlenecks to review and QA are explored. Practical fixes like automated guardrails, tests, and training PMs are discussed alongside strategies for talking to leadership about tradeoffs.
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Admit What You Don’t Know
- Be transparent about gaps in your domain knowledge when you lead a team outside your specialty.
- Jameson recommends admitting what you don't know and asking team members to help fill those gaps so decisions aren't made from false confidence.
Surround Yourself With Trusted Technicians
- Identify trustworthy people on the hardware team and lean on them for technical judgement and proposals.
- Dave suggests evaluating who communicates clearly, makes correct decisions, and then surrounding yourself with those people for informed choices.
Leadership Leverages Process Judgment
- CTO skills are often about judging process and spotting bad engineering habits, not every low-level technical decision.
- Dave notes your software background helps you identify poor process and bullsh*t even if you can't pick actuator alloys.