Roman Kuba

The same problem, from three chairs

I’ve built software as the person writing the code, as the person accountable for the team, and as the person deciding what the team should build at all. That’s the useful part: most of the expensive mistakes I’ve seen don’t happen inside any one of those roles. They happen in the gaps between them.

The path there ran through developer tooling. I moved from engineer into engineering management at CloudBees and GitLab, where CI/CD is the product — a fast way to learn that developer experience has real users, real adoption and real churn. At CodeSandbox I ran the engineering team and moved into shaping product direction with it. At Tset I took the engineering organisation as VP of Engineering, sped it up and set it up for a stable future. Most recently, two years as Head of Product at Swat.io — my first full-time product role after years of doing that work from the engineering side.

What I keep coming back to

• Developer experience is a product. Internal tooling has users, adoption and churn like anything else. Treated as plumbing, it becomes the quiet tax on every estimate you give.
• Sovereignty is an engineering property. Not a slogan and not a compliance checkbox — a set of decisions about what you could actually remove from your stack if you had to.
• AI is a tool, not a replacement. I work with these tools daily, which is exactly why I don’t buy most of what’s claimed about them. Probably the most powerful tool we’ve ever had, and still a tool. Don’t let it do your thinking.
• Momentum, then iteration. Teams get strong by delivering real value in small steps and staying excited about it. Small steps — but never standing still.
• The tool isn’t the craft. New editor, new model, new framework: the judgment doesn’t come from the tool. That part you still have to bring.

Why Nerdwerk, why now

In summer 2026 I stepped down as Head of Product at Swat.io and handed over to a successor I’m genuinely glad is taking it on. Nerdwerk is what comes next — the thing I’ve wanted to build for more than a decade, and now I’m equipped to do it. Same work, more teams: good products, good tooling, and teams that can ship without a rockstar carrying them.

All of it at the moment Europe is deciding to build a technically stronger, more sovereign stack of its own. 🇪🇺

Teaching and learning never stops

I’ve spoken at more than 30 events and conferences and taught courses at university level. In later years that shifted inward — company-internal initiatives, building better teams, getting everyone onto the same side of the problem. The learning never stops either, and sharing what comes out of it has never once been wasted. On the big stage or in a team of five, it works the same way.