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Hunter Milligan
Hunter Milligan
Developer-Turned Performance Coach for Devs & Leaders
Technical leaders and developers are under more pressure than ever — tighter deadlines, shifting priorities, and now an AI landscape that's moving faster than anyone can fully keep up with. When the pressure is constant, even sharp, experienced people start reacting instead of leading. That's where Hunter comes in.
As a former developer and Fortune 500 consultant turned performance coach, Hunter works with technical leaders and developers who are done running on fumes. For 15+ years he's helped analytically-minded professionals stay clear-headed under pressure, lead with steadiness instead of adrenaline, and actually get more done — without the grind that burns people out.
When not traveling the states or the rest of the world, Hunter enjoys mountain biking, snowboarding, and practicing tai chi—often in unexpected places.
Presentations
Who Am I If I'm Not the One Writing the Code?
Thursday, 11:00 AM EST
You got into this because you loved building things. With your own hands, your own mind, your own code. There was a craftsman feel to it — wrestling a hard problem to the ground, the satisfaction of elegant code, the identity that came with being the person who could figure it out. That identity took years to build. And here's the part that stings: being technically savvy didn't protect you from this one. If anything, it meant you understood exactly what was happening — and couldn't stop it. In the last few months, quietly and quickly, the ground shifted. You're still here. You're still valuable. But something about how you relate to the work has changed — and nobody's really talking about it.
This session names what's actually happening — because naming it is the first step to working through it. Some in the room are energized by the shift. Others are grieving it. Most are somewhere in between and haven't had a safe place to say so. Through honest conversation with the people around you, you'll start to separate what's actually changing from what's staying true about who you are — and leave with a clearer sense of where your value lives in a world where AI writes the first draft.
Staying Grounded in the Chaos: The 4 Skills Every Tech Leader Needs
Thursday, 4:00 PM EST
Leadership isn’t just about making the right calls — it’s about staying steady while everything around you moves fast. From managing tension in meetings, juggling shifting priorities, and fielding last-minute requests, to navigating unclear direction or supporting a stressed-out team, software leaders are constantly pulled in multiple directions. That’s where FLOW comes in: a practical, four-part skillset designed to help you handle pressure, stay grounded in uncertainty, and show up with clarity when it matters most.
You’ll learn how to Focus with Breath, Let It Go, Own Your Part, and Weave FLOW into Your Day through real-world leadership scenarios and peer-to-peer practice designed to reflect the complexity of actual moments you face. These aren't abstract ideas — they’re trainable skills you can use right away to lead with more clarity, presence, and effectiveness. If you’ve been running on adrenaline, reacting on autopilot, or just trying to hold it all together, this workshop will help you become a more nimble, flexible leader who gets the job done — with a whole lot less effort and a lot more ease.
Staying Grounded in the Chaos: The 4 Skills Every Tech Leader Needs
Thursday, 5:30 PM EST
Leadership isn’t just about making the right calls — it’s about staying steady while everything around you moves fast. From managing tension in meetings, juggling shifting priorities, and fielding last-minute requests, to navigating unclear direction or supporting a stressed-out team, software leaders are constantly pulled in multiple directions. That’s where FLOW comes in: a practical, four-part skillset designed to help you handle pressure, stay grounded in uncertainty, and show up with clarity when it matters most.
You’ll learn how to Focus with Breath, Let It Go, Own Your Part, and Weave FLOW into Your Day through real-world leadership scenarios and peer-to-peer practice designed to reflect the complexity of actual moments you face. These aren't abstract ideas — they’re trainable skills you can use right away to lead with more clarity, presence, and effectiveness. If you’ve been running on adrenaline, reacting on autopilot, or just trying to hold it all together, this workshop will help you become a more nimble, flexible leader who gets the job done — with a whole lot less effort and a lot more ease.
Delegation Without Guilt: The Skills to Reclaim Focus
Friday, 1:30 PM EST
You've gone from writing code to directing AI to write it — in what feels like about six months. The leverage is real, the speed is real, and so is the creeping feeling that you're responsible for more output than you can actually get your arms around. On top of that, your team still needs direction, your calendar is still full, and somehow the work that was supposed to get easier keeps landing back on your desk — and it's costing you focus, capacity, and probably some sleep.
This session gives you a practical framework for making delegation actually stick — to your team and your AI tools. But the framework only works if you can actually let go — of tasks, of control, and of the pull to just do it yourself because it's faster. This is a working session: you'll learn as much from the people in the room as from the content. You'll leave with the skills to hand off work with trust, clarity, and accountability — and one concrete delegation you've been avoiding, with a plan to execute it this week.
Who's Accountable When AI Wrote the Code?
Friday, 3:00 PM EST
You've basically stopped writing significant amounts of code. AI does it — you check it, direct it, and sign off on it. The leverage is real and so is the uneasy feeling that comes with it. You're now responsible for output you didn't fully produce, at a volume you can't fully review, while leadership pushes for more speed. And nobody — not your org, not the industry — has figured out yet who's actually on the hook when something goes wrong.
Here's the honest truth: nobody has a clean answer yet — not your organization, not the industry, not the people writing the frameworks. So this session doesn't pretend to have one either. Instead, we'll pool what's actually working for people in the room, surface what's already helping teams stay more on top of it, and build something more useful than a handed-down answer. You'll also develop the skill to become calmer and more clearheaded when you're buried in pull requests and competing demands — and when something does go wrong. You'll leave with concrete approaches for navigating the gray zone and more practical ways to handle the pressure of leading when the rules are still being written.
ARE YOU READY TO GET STARTED?
Two and a half days of insightful sessions, inspiring ideas, and meeting your peers. Learn the skills and methods that will take your organization to the next level.
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