Engineering leadership and technical strategy
John Munn
Engineering leader and writer focused on the messy intersection of technology and people.
I help teams cut through complexity, whether it's technical debt, scaling challenges, or organizational growing pains. Twenty years of experience has taught me that good strategy starts with understanding what's actually happening, not what the slide deck says is happening.
How I Work
20+ years leading teams through scaling pressure, architectural change, and messy delivery contexts.
Writing and advisory work across engineering leadership, architecture, and AI decision-making.
Practical guidance for leaders who need clearer judgment, not heavier process.
Writing
- Leadership
We Lost a Developer Because of Our Stack
Why stack decisions affect more than architecture: they shape hiring, retention, delivery, and the long-term health of your team.
· 8 min read - Technical
AI Systems Don't Just Leak Data. They Leak How Your Company Thinks.
The bigger AI risk isn’t the prompt. It’s the memory, retrieval, logs, and tool context that quietly exposes how your business makes decisions.
· 8 min read - Leadership
You’re Measuring AI ROI All Wrong. Here’s What Actually Matters
Most teams still measure AI savings. The real ROI shows up in workflow redesign, new capability, and strategic position.
· 7 min read
Applied work
Projects
Applied work and exploration. What I build and why.
Featured Project
Global Accord: A Climate Negotiation Game for Earth Day
A browser-based diplomacy game where you try to build a workable international climate accord across five fictional delegations. Every move shifts trust, pressure, openness, and political momentum, making the game about tradeoffs rather than perfect solutions.