Panel: “How Leadership Impacts Transformation Success”

Throughout my career as an engineer and engineering leader, the business saw my role and teams as cost centers. Cost control was mainly achieved through reducing the workforce, which had its own challenges. However, my passion lies in aligning software engineering efforts with business outcomes. Product and technology are integral to the business. We can connect engineering work to business outcomes. Today, we have the practices, technology, and data visibility to address this effectively.

My goal is to lead software engineering initiatives that align with business outcomes. We will enhance senior leadership’s understanding and alignment, invest in people, and leverage team design, technology, and modern industry practices. Our ways of delivering software aim to become a benchmark for competitive success.

“The problem is that most of us are working with an outdated playbook: plays that we have been programmed to run from an older paradigm of leadership—the Industrial Revolution.” – David L. Marquet

The leaders of organizations that delivered software in the previous era need to relearn how to deliver it today. To win, you will have to unlearn, relearn, and

Rethink Your Understanding^®

Regardless of the bottom-up or top-down approach, the success of organizational change depends on top leaders’ experience and understanding. Outdated models and a lack of understanding of leadership can lead to conflicts and unsuccessful change attempts.

“It’s not what you know that gets you into trouble, it’s what you think you know.” — Mark Twain.

Become a Relearning Organization: You’re Never Done

Adaptive leaders always look for ways to improve because of today’s rate of change and understanding that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. My goal with this site is to give you an inside look at my leadership style, how I serve and collaborate with others, my view on digital product delivery, and how I recognize success in product and technology.

About Me

Vice President Engineering | Technology Leader | Industry Collaborator | Effective Software Delivery | Embracing AI

Vice President Technology connecting software engineering efforts to business outcomes.

Board Director Value Stream Management Consortium

I’m a technology leader who’s spent the last 25+ years not just delivering software—but rethinking how it’s delivered.

Today, I lead Parchment Technology at Instructure, guiding global teams across Software Engineering, Quality Assurance, and Agile Leadership. My focus remains on building high-performing, self-directed teams that work with clarity, autonomy, and a connection to business outcomes.

Over the past decade, my journey has been as transformative as the teams I’ve worked with. I’ve moved from a traditional approach to project delivery to a modern, product-focused operating model—and helped others make that shift too. Along the way, I’ve worked with senior leaders to drive meaningful change by introducing Agile, DevOps, Value Stream Management (VSM), and flow-based metrics. These changes have helped teams deliver faster, more reliably, and with greater focus.

But tools and frameworks are only part of the story.
“The real transformation comes from culture, structure, and trust.”

I’ve led design transformations using team topologies and value stream-aligned structures to shift organizations from siloed delivery to outcome-focused, autonomous teams. I’ve worked to reshape cultures—moving from command-and-control to environments grounded in psychological safety, continuous delivery, and mentorship. I believe good architecture enables flow, but strong leadership is what unlocks it.

Outside of my day job, I serve on the board of the Value Stream Management Consortium and mentor emerging leaders. I’ve supported mid-career professionals transitioning into tech and continue to guide leaders through community conversations and executive roundtables.

Along the way, colleagues have described me as “uplifting, wise, inspiring, and humble”—words I strive to live up to. What matters most is helping others grow, bringing clarity to complexity, and building systems where people and outcomes thrive.

If there’s a theme to my career, it’s this:
“Technology works best when we stop treating it like a cost center and start leading it like a strategic partner.”
At this stage in my journey, I’m focused on making my most meaningful impact yet—by helping organizations build systems that empower people, serve communities, and leave something better behind.

Learn more from my mission, collaboration, and posts.

Connect or follow:

philclark RYU

Today’s Agile, Lean, and DevOps communities are among the most inspiring resources we have. While building engineering and product delivery excellence, we’re also searching for better ways to lead change—ways that actually stick. I’m committed to collaborating with senior leaders who are ready to rethink how we work, lead, and deliver. It’s not about pushing practices—it’s about shifting mindsets and learning what’s truly possible.

Some of the biggest turning points in my career didn’t come from frameworks or certifications—they came from conversations. Honest ones. In trusted spaces where experienced leaders from noncompeting organizations let down their guard, shared what wasn’t working, and challenged each other to think differently. That’s the power of collaboration when it’s done right.

Most senior leaders won’t talk about the hard stuff in public. But in the right room—where trust is built and there’s no need to posture—that’s where the real learning happens. That’s where meaningful change begins.

Working across different eras of software delivery has shaped how I see progress. The shift in mindset, the rise of automation and visibility, the pace of change, and the culture of learning have kept me deeply engaged. I’ve had the privilege of sharing this journey with some of the most thoughtful and courageous transformation leaders in our industry. Comparing our team’s evolution to industry benchmarks, I’ve seen the same patterns play out: customer experience improves when flow improves, delivery gets faster and smarter, and teams thrive in the right environment.

There’s still a lot of work ahead to help organizations deliver digital products more effectively. But I’ve learned this: sharing experiences helps. It creates momentum. It changes minds. And sometimes, it changes everything.

Let’s talk.

Stay curious. Learn to unlearn. Rethink your understanding.

What I talk about

It takes a Team

“Let me be clear, you only get things done through committed teams” – Mark Fields, former Ford Motor company CEO

Great people at all levels and great teams help drive the journey together.

I am grateful for the variety of talented teams, leaders, mentors (personal and virtual), coaches, peers, industry collaborators, publishing’s, and my experiences that have helped me to shape my understandings. The journey thus far has been a very challenging and rewarding one.

“You’re either a learning organization or you’re losing to someone who is.” ~Andrew Clay Shafer

Incredible Conversation

Conversations can help you and your team learn how others are framing their journey, identify what to amplify, and sparking questions to find unexpected sources of inspiration to succeed within their own context.

I have participated in discussions about digital transformations, contexts, and practices with thought leaders and participants from various organizations.

Non-Affiliation Disclaimer: This web site is not endorsed by, directly affiliated with, maintained, authorized, or sponsored by any organization. All company names are the registered trademarks of their original owners. The use of any trade name or trademark is for identification and reference purposes only and does not imply any association with the trademark holder of their product brand.