Herding Squirrels Ep 09
w Ilia Lazebnic
Director of Infrastructure at Placer.ai
Your quiet engineer wanted to open a food truck. Your infrastructure director has been to 100+ NYC restaurants this year. Ready to meet the humans behind your Slack avatars?
This week on Herding Squirrels, Ilya Lazebnik (Director of Infrastructure at Placer.ai) built some eye-opening models about what it's really like leading distributed teams across continents and generations.
What You'll Discover:
The "Show Me" Leadership Revolution - Why saying "just show me" cuts through more communication BS than a dozen Zoom calls ever could
The Multi-Dimensional Team Nightmare - Managing Gen Z developers, international time zones, and cultural differences simultaneously (spoiler: it's as messy as it sounds)
AI as Your Communication Translator - How smart leaders are already using AI to decode whether that Slack message was passive-aggressive or just poorly written
The Creative Freedom Paradox - Why the best teams need both total autonomy AND rigid guardrails (think playground with boundaries, not prison with privileges)
Plus, Ilya builds the most unsettling "worst team experience" model we've ever seen—complete with eyes watching from every angle and a figure lying flat in defeat. If you've ever felt like a junior developer drowning in imposter syndrome, you'll recognize this instantly.
The bottom line? Your distributed team's biggest problems aren't technical—they're human. And the solutions are surprisingly hands-on.
Watch Ilya transform abstract team dynamics into tangible insights using nothing but LEGO bricks and some seriously honest storytelling. No buzzwords. No corporate speak. Just real talk about what it takes to lead humans who happen to work in tech.
Ilia Lazebnik is the Director of Infrastructure at Placer.ai, where he leads the engineering teams behind their large-scale cloud systems. With over a decade of experience in DevOps, cloud architecture, and automation, Ilia is known for driving innovation, building robust infrastructure, and championing modern engineering practices. He’s a HashiCorp contributor and a passionate advocate for open source and tech community knowledge-sharing.
For more Ilia:
Episode Timeline
[00:00:00] - Introduction to Herding Squirrels podcast and guest Ilya Lazebnik, Director of Infrastructure at Placer.ai
[00:00:46] - First LEGO build: Ilya creates a model with chef's hat and flag representing his passion for food exploration in NYC
[00:01:21] - Second LEGO build: Ilya's best team experience featuring creative freedom with guardrails and protective boundaries
[00:02:45] - Discussion of balancing creativity with structure and the importance of having both autonomy and direction
[00:04:37] - Third LEGO build: Ilya's worst team experience showing vulnerable exposure with "eyes watching" and lack of protection
[00:06:22] - Exploration of imposter syndrome, junior developer challenges, and the gap between perception and reality
[00:07:29] - Ilya's leadership approach: using "show me" rather than just verbal communication to bridge understanding gaps
[00:09:31] - Discussion of how remote work and pandemic changes have transformed team dynamics and communication
[00:11:55] - Analysis of the most challenging current team dynamic: managing multiple generational, cultural, and time zone differences simultaneously
[00:15:17] - How AI is already improving team communication by helping interpret tone and intent in written messages
[00:17:38] - Ilya's leadership philosophy: people-first approach, giving credit, encouraging autonomy and idea expression
[00:20:19] - Final LEGO build: Ilya's advice for new leaders featuring diverse colored elements surrounding a central figure
[00:22:14] - Ilya's reflection on the mental gymnastics of building thoughts with LEGO bricks
Key Themes Explored
Creative Freedom with Boundaries: The critical balance between giving teams autonomy to innovate while providing necessary structure and guardrails
Multi-Dimensional Team Challenges: Managing the complexity of generational gaps, cultural differences, and time zone variations in modern distributed teams
Communication Evolution: How AI tools are beginning to help teams navigate tone, intent, and asynchronous communication challenges
Show Don't Tell Leadership: Moving beyond verbal communication to demonstrate and visualize ideas for better team alignment
Diverse Perspectives: The importance of surrounding yourself with different viewpoints and avoiding echo chambers
Global Team Dynamics: Adapting leadership approaches for teams spread across continents with different working styles and cultural contexts
Notable Quotes
"You should give people the freedom to be able to experiment and do creative things... But it should give you the guardrails so you don't fall off the edge."
"I felt that every wrong move I could do... I could disappoint someone... and everyone's watching me. But I feel it's something a lot of people in their junior years feel similarly about."
"Sometimes just talking isn't necessarily good enough to convey. Not everyone can articulate how they feel. Like, show me whether it's your work or write it or something like that."
"I want my people to be the very best they can. One, they make me look good. They'll help me progress my career. So I have no reason to block people from taking all the credit doing cool projects."
"Be surrounded by people with diverse ideas. Don't be in an echo chamber... Try to be in the center of it, hear people out, different voices, different opinions."
About the Guest
Ilya Lazebnik is the Director of Infrastructure at Placer.ai, where he leads engineering teams behind large-scale cloud systems. With over a decade of experience in DevOps, cloud architecture, and automation, Ilya is known for driving innovation, building robust infrastructure, and championing modern engineering practices. He's a HashiCorp contributor and passionate advocate for open source and tech community knowledge sharing.
Find Ilya on LinkedIn and GitHub for his infrastructure and open source work.
About Herding Squirrels
Herding Squirrels is a podcast about modern teams, hosted by Brandon Wetzstein. Through LEGO® Serious Play® methodology and engaging conversations, the podcast explores the nuances of effective teamwork, leadership, and collaboration in today's evolving workplace.
