# Will Larson

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/people/will-larson/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

Real Alpha has cut 7 moments of Will Larson (CTO, Imprint) talking, from an interview on The Pragmatic Engineer published Oct 21, 2026.

- Role: CTO, Imprint
- About: Led engineering at Stripe, Uber, Calm and Carta; author of Staff Engineer and The Engineering Executive's Primer.
- On X: https://x.com/Lethain

## What Will Larson said

- [Digg launched a rewrite without load testing or rollback capacity](https://realalpha.app/s/digg-launched-a-rewrite-without-load-testing-or-rollback/)
  The Pragmatic Engineer · Oct 21, 2026 · 6 min
  > “we made the decision to launch on Cassandra. And there's like a joke at the time” — Will Larson · [20:11](https://realalpha.app/v/Prl858_AovM/?t=1211)
- [ZIRP pushed managers toward hiring and people-focused work](https://realalpha.app/s/zirp-pushed-managers-toward-hiring-and-people-focused-work/)
  The Pragmatic Engineer · Oct 21, 2026 · 7 min
  > “salaries went up, then competition for hiring became your ability to hire and close and retain became the differentiator” — Will Larson · [52:00](https://realalpha.app/v/Prl858_AovM/?t=3120)
- [Middle managers may need to return to hands-on engineering](https://realalpha.app/s/middle-managers-may-need-to-return-to-hands-on-engineering/)
  The Pragmatic Engineer · Oct 21, 2026 · 6 min
  > “either you have to get back into the details or the world is changing so radically that the profession you know will not be valued in three years.” — Will Larson · [1:33:56](https://realalpha.app/v/Prl858_AovM/?t=5636)
- [Durable teams let leaders focus on the problems only they can solve](https://realalpha.app/s/durable-teams-let-leaders-focus-on-the-problems-only-they/)
  The Pragmatic Engineer · Oct 21, 2026 · 5 min
  > “The first thing I did was like, all right, what are some pods? And figuring out like some areas I could put together who could own areas.” — Will Larson · [1:18:10](https://realalpha.app/v/Prl858_AovM/?t=4690)
- [A CTO needs both technical judgment and bureaucratic experience](https://realalpha.app/s/a-cto-needs-both-technical-judgment-and-bureaucratic/)
  The Pragmatic Engineer · Oct 21, 2026 · 6 min
  > “If you've never been a bureaucrat, you don't know how to see things as a bureaucrat.” — Will Larson · [1:28:36](https://realalpha.app/v/Prl858_AovM/?t=5316)
- [Staff engineers are distinguished by how they resolve ambiguity](https://realalpha.app/s/staff-engineers-are-distinguished-by-how-they-resolve/)
  The Pragmatic Engineer · Oct 21, 2026 · 4 min
  > “what you need like someone at the staff or principal level to do is to navigate an ambiguity by making some trade-offs” — Will Larson · [59:49](https://realalpha.app/v/Prl858_AovM/?t=3589)
- [Central server approvals created a black market at Yahoo](https://realalpha.app/s/central-server-approvals-created-a-black-market-at-yahoo/)
  The Pragmatic Engineer · Oct 21, 2026 · 2 min
  > “And so on my team, there was like one engineer that had 30 servers from a prior canceled project he never gave back.” — Will Larson · [11:53](https://realalpha.app/v/Prl858_AovM/?t=713)

## The episode

- [The revised rules of engineering management with Will Larson](https://realalpha.app/v/Prl858_AovM/) · The Pragmatic Engineer · Oct 21, 2026