One of the recurring themes we talk about a lot on the a16z Podcast is how software changes organizations, and vice versa... More broadly: it’s really about how companies of all kinds innovate with the org structures and tools that they have.  But we've come a long way from the question of "does IT matter" to answering the question  of what org structures, processes, architectures, and roles DO matter when it comes to companies -- of all sizes  -- innovating through software and more.  So in this episode (a re-run of a popular episode from a couple years ago), two of the authors of the book Accelerate: The Science of  Lean Software and DevOps, by Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Jean Kim join Sonal Chokshi to share best practices and large-scale findings about high performing companies (including those who may not even think they’re tech companies). Nicole was co-founder and CEO of Dora, which was acquired by Google in December 2018; she will soon be joining GitHub as VP of Research & Strategy. Jez was CTO at DORA; is currently in Developer Relations at Google Cloud; and is the co-author of the books The DevOps Handbook, Lean Enterprise, and Continuous Delivery.    

This episode covers the following -- since our previous deep-dive on the novel coronavirus outbreak -- including: practical implications for the U.S. healthcare system given how it works today, and where we might go in the future — with a16z general partner Julie Yoo, given our vantage point in tech; andhow the rt-PCR test works — with a16z bio partner Judy Savitskaya;…in conversation with Sonal Chokshi. Sources for updates at top: CDC's latest briefing February 26, 2020, transcriptWHO situation report #27  February 25, 2020 [we covered #6 and #25 on previous episodes]Sources for last week's episode: latest numbers: cases in the U.S. (CDC, as of February 17, 2020); global cases (WHO situation report #25, February 14, 2020); spike in diagnosing cases as reported in China (SCMP, Scott Gottlieb)situation & policy statements/reports: CDC summary (as of February 14, 2020); “Annual report on global preparedness for health emergencies”, WHO (Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, 2019)on definitions (of pandemics, endemics), other terms, and various naming conventions: “Understanding pandemics: What they mean, what they don’t mean, and what comes next with the coronavirus”, Helen Branswell, StatNews (February 12, 2020); on disease occurrence and levels (CDC); “misinfodemic“; best practices on naming new human infectious diseases (WHO); qPCR (Keith Robison)image: CDC test kit for COVID-19/ Wikimedia Commons