Paul Blay on Software Management

Insights into the world of modern software delivery and people management

With over 25 years in many different companies, writing software, leading teams and managing projects & programmes – I’ve learned a lot about what works and what definitely does not. This site is intended to share my experience around how to build and maintain great products and services, by guiding and nurturing the teams that create them. My experience is first and foremost in the embedded sector, which brings unique challenges to modern software development practices.

Outcomes

Guide your teams to high value outcomes, while enhancing autonomy, ownership and creativity using OKRs.

People

Learn to get the most out of your colleagues, get them engaged and doing their best work.

Delivery

Get your products and services out to your customers and keep them coming back for more.

Metrics

Enable your teams to make data-driven & fact-based decisions, identify trends and stave off bad habits

Embedded

Learn about the specific challenges that the embedded software industry faces when adopting agile practices & what your options are.

Resources

Go here for recommended books, tools, videos, etc.

Personal Recommendations

Some snippets from the over 20 personal recommendations I’ve received thoughout my career. See my Linkedin for the full list.

Paul is an asset to any organisation looking to build an engineering department with a focus on business value and a leader to build great management teams.
Mike Doris
Director, Displaylink
I’ve greatly valued working with Paul, and I have no hesitation in recommending him. He brings a good blend of technical acumen, strategic thinking, and people-first leadership.
David Dunn
Lead Engineer, Displaylink
… excellent at building relationships with customers and partners through clear and concise written and verbal communication. I’d be delighted to work with Paul again.
Ben Clough
Director, Displaylink
… I have found him to be a motivated, inspirational and empowering leader. He brings an infectious energy to both our team and the wider community, which serves as a powerful catalyst for growth and change for all involved.
Ragan McGill
Head of Engineering, Gentrack
Paul has made a really positive impact since he started managing the team. He has an excellent way in which he communicates with people both within and outside of the team and he has the ability to understand technical problems quickly so he can contribute towards the best decisions being made.
Josh Drake
Software Engineer, Secure Thingz
Paul’s technical knowledge and ability to adapt and learn fast has allowed him to deliver of some of the more advanced, innovative and cutting edge programmes.
Tomé V
Product Leader, Qualcomm
… keen on identifying inefficiencies and improving processes with a focus on quality and good practices. All in all, it is a pleasure to work with him.
Jose
Technical lead, Img Tech
… Paul’s commitment and dedication along with his excellent technical understanding made him a natural leader.
Gregory C
Electronics Engineer, Renesas

Posts from my blog

Painful Vibe coding with Codex

By Paul Blay on October 15, 2025

Use of LLMs I’ve been using LLMs for a while, primarily as a buddy that can help me with ideation or noticing gaps in my thinking. I rarely use the LLM output directly because it never feels complete or authentic. For written word, I find it can generate pretty generic wording with little impact or personality. Anything I do take directly, I’ll rework pretty heavily - and it’s just a judgement of whether doing the rework is more efficient than just starting from scratch.

Aligning Teams With Outcomes - A Product Application

By Paul Blay on October 13, 2025

From experience I know that great ideas are only as valuable as their applications in the real world. I’ve used OKRs and Outcome framing for quite a while, so it’s about time to showcase a real world example - what it did for us and what we learned. I’ll present this in the classic STAR format like I’m trying to answer an interview question… because that’s what I’ve been spending time doing recently.

Beyond memory tests: Designing interviews for assessing competence

By Paul Blay on October 8, 2025

I chose the old photo banner art (Photo by Debby Hudson on unsplash) because most of my recent interviews have felt more like a memory test than a competency test. “Tell me about a time a family member gave you some advice, what was it and how did your life change as a result? Did you send them a thank you card? What was on the card?” Yikes, I don’t remember!

A Policy for AI-enhanced software development

By Paul Blay on October 7, 2025

The DORA research group at Google recently came out with an AI capabilities model and capability number 1 is to have a “Clear and communicated AI stance”. Given my experience so far talking to other leaders and on the ground, here’s my proposal for what an effective AI stance could look like: Core Philosophy LLMs should amplify engineering cognition, not automate it This means… Human Ownership: Engineers must remain the authors and owners of production logic.