The Functional Tech-First Reset
by Dhanji R. Prasanna • Chief Technology Officer at Block (formerly Square)
CTO overseeing a 3,500+ person engineering organization across Square, Cash App, and Afterpay. A former Google engineer who worked on Google Wave and Google+, he is a key driver behind Block's transformation into an AI-native company through the development of their internal agent, 'Goose'.
🎙️ Episode Context
Dhanji Prasanna details Block's radical transformation from a federated financial services company into a functional, AI-native technology organization. He explains how their internal open-source agent, Goose, saves employees 8-10 hours a week by utilizing the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to give AI 'arms and legs.' The conversation covers the necessity of organizational restructuring to support AI, the fallacy of code quality equating to product success, and the future of autonomous engineering.
Problem It Solves
Addresses 'Identity Drift' where a tech company starts operating like a slow service provider due to siloed business units.
Framework Overview
A restructuring methodology that pivots from General Manager (GM) led business units to functional reporting lines. This unifies engineering standards, prevents the commoditization of developers, and enables rapid, company-wide technology adoption (like AI).
🧠 Framework Structure
Unify Reporting Lines: All engineers ...
Standardize 'Tech Identity': Ensure a...
Stop Commoditizing Headcount: Move aw...
Leverage Conway's Law: Deliberately c...
When to Use
When a multi-product company feels sluggish, fragmented, or unable to deploy new core technologies (like AI) across all business lines efficiently.
Common Mistakes
Maintaining the GM structure while trying to enforce centralized technical mandates—this creates conflict and rarely works.
Real World Example
Block moved from independent GM-run companies (Square, Cash App) to a functional structure, allowing them to deploy Goose and AI standards across 3,500 people simultaneously.
I think that moving to a functional structure completely changes that... we no longer see engineers as a commodity to just add 100 people to go and build the next product.
— Dhanji R. Prasanna