Leading Software Teams in a Zero Downtime Organization

<p>Southwest Airlines Managing Director of Technology Priya Narayan joins Tracy Lee to unpack what it takes to lead engineering in a highly regulated, zero downtime environment. Priya traces her path from engineer to leader, balancing safety, union timelines, and customer experience while shipping change at scale. She breaks down mobile first product strategy for pilots and flight attendants, how Southwest runs Scaled Agile with innovation sprints, and the tactics for building high performing, cross functional teams that mix deep domain experts with fresh technical talent. If you lead engineers or aspire to, this is a pragmatic playbook for quality under pressure, communication growth for introverts, and making innovation a priority when deadlines will not move.What You’ll Learn:• Moving from individual contributor to leader through mentoring and business context• Leading in regulated and union environments without hurting customer or employee experience• Structuring Scaled Agile with an innovation sprint that actually ships• Building high performing teams by mixing domain experts and strong technologists• Using crew alpha and beta testing to harden quality before wide rollout• Designing mobile first tools for crews who work on the move• Communication habits that help introverted leaders be heard</p><p><br></p><p>Chapters:</p><p>0:00 Balancing innovation in regulated settings</p><p>1:32 Priya’s path to MD at Southwest</p><p>10:03 What regulation means for airlines</p><p>14:01 Building high performing crew tech teams</p><p>17:28 Scaled Agile and innovation sprints</p><p>21:56 Cross functional roles and testing with crew</p><p>27:49 Mobile first design for crew and closingTracy Lee on Linkedin: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyslee/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyslee/</a>Priya Narayan on Linkedin: <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/priyanarayantechseniorleader/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://www.linkedin.com/in/priyanarayantechseniorleader/</a>This Dot Labs Twitter: <a href="https://x.com/ThisDotLabs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://x.com/ThisDotLabs</a>This Dot Media Twitter: <a href="https://x.com/ThisDotMedia" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://x.com/ThisDotMedia</a>This Dot Labs Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thisdotlabs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://www.instagram.com/thisdotlabs/</a>This Dot Labs Facebook: <a href