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CRO · DisruptED

Tim Maitland

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Contributor Brief·Tim Maitland · 1 articles
Updated Jun 26, 2026

Design thinking, not velocity, defines modern engineering leadership

Maitland argues that engineering's future depends on prioritizing design thinking and architectural clarity over coding speed and developer velocity metrics. Through interviews with leaders like Ascendion's CTO Wesley Pullin, he demonstrates that the most valuable engineering work happens upstream—in problem framing and system design—not in lines of code shipped.

55M

developers touched by Jenkins ecosystem Pullin oversaw

“Design thinking, not coding speed, is engineering's future.”

Ascendion's CTO: Design thinking, not coding speed, is engineering's future

Core engineering competencies by strategic value

Design thinking and problem framing1
Architectural decision-making2
Code velocity and shipping speed3
Technical debt management4

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10%Design thinking
Design thinking and problem framing
Architectural decision-making
Code velocity and shipping speed
Technical debt management

34 years

Pullin's accumulated experience across enterprise software

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Themes:Design thinking as competitive advantageEngineering leadership beyond velocity metricsArchitectural clarity over shipping speed

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