Masters of Data Podcast

Masters of Data is back! We have a new host and a new mission. On today's episode Sumo Logic's Chief Communication Officer, Aaron Feign, speaks with Dana Torgersen about goals for the podcast.Highlights of the conversation include: Talking about bringing back Masters of DataChallenges the podcast wants to addressTransformation and accelerating the adoption of technologies to battle disruptions like COVIDAlert fatigue and new technologies solving problems in securityThinking horizontally across different lines of an organization's business

Everything in modern tech — including observability — is actually a culture change. Observability is a different way of working, thinking, and composing a team. It is essentially a love letter to the future, helping the people who will support the application later. Instead of an operator sitting back and looking at a dashboard, observability tackles what can be done during the process of developing an application so that production can feel more comfortable. In James Governor's word, “observability is about troubleshooting.” James Governor is the co-founder of RedMonk, a developer-focused industry analyst company. After working as a tech journalist, James saw room for a new research firm with a different focus and thus RedMonk was born. Listen to this week's episode to hear James and Ben discuss the generational shift in technology building, and learn more about how observability can help developers. This week's episode is the last installment of the special three-part series on observability in data. Thank you for joining us!

There are three types of people in the data world: mathematicians, scientists, and engineers. Mathematicians are interested in understanding things that are true or false. Scientists are interested in furthering knowledge and enjoy answering challenging questions. Engineers are interested in building things that are useful, so they can solve a problem that's important. Engineers in the software industry are currently searching for ways to resolve the issues associated with microservices. Right now, the software industry is facing a massive architectural transformation, and engineers have the opportunity to create systems that solve important problems. That's why Ben Sigelman — CEO and co-founder, started Lightstep, to create something useful and impactful. He saw an opportunity to accelerate the industry's transformation while improving the developer and end-user experience, and he took it. Using observability, he built something that could help people gain more confidence and understanding of their own system. As an ex-Googler and co-creator of Dapper, Ben Sigelman witnessed the birth of microservices at Google. He learned a great deal from his experiences, and Lightstep is in many ways a reaction to and a generational improvement beyond those approaches. Sigelman's fascination lies in deep systems and how they break, but he is also passionate about separating the telemetry from the rest of observability. There is a lot of noise in the marketplace and confusion about how to approach observability, but Sigelman is confident that in the next 5-10 years, applications could change the way the software actually works, not just the way we understand it. Listen to Ben Sigelman and Ben Newton discuss the future of observability, and learn more about how this transformation could impact the industry. This week's episode is the second installment of a special three-part series on observability in data. Tune in each week to hear about how the world of observability in transforming into a major player in the data realm.

Observability doesn't have three pillars, and it is not a monitoring tool. While the concept of observability is often misunderstood, what it can do for ops is revolutionary and transformative. Observability is achieved when a system is understandable — which is difficult with many things failing at once in a complex system. Many large technology companies use systems to debug code and understand how it runs in production, but those tools are not available to engineers outside of those companies. That's why Charity Majors — CTO and co-founder, started Honeycomb, to tackle the issues with logging, monitoring, and metrics. Despite the confusion surrounding observability, it can help us ask the right questions of our systems in a way that is predictable, fast, and scalable over time. Utilizing observability to fully understand complicated production systems makes the systems more resilient to errors. Listen to Charity and Ben discuss the innovations and revelations of observability, and learn more about this transformational tool in data. Say goodbye to spending all your time on debugging, and get ahead of those issues now. This week's episode is the first of a special three-part series on observability in data. Tune in each week to hear about how the world of observability in transforming from a major player in the data realm.

Data doesn't live forever. The data will finish its life cycle at some point, but when that day comes what happens next? For years, large corporations have used different methods to physically destroy drives. However, modern problems require modern solutions. Nathan Jones, VP of Sales at White Canyon Software, gives us these solutions. We can turn to software destruction to help save us money and, most importantly, the environment. Utilizing software-based data destruction methods give physical drives another chance at being reused. Say goodbye to sticking nails in that drive.

The applications of artificial intelligence is seemingly never-ending. But, how do we find where AI can fit within our industries? In this episode, Dan Faggella, CEO and Head Researcher at Emerj, sits down with us to talk about where AI is currently and headed in the future. In fact, when we talk about AI it's important to recognize the significance that culture plays in furthering application, just as much as the science and algorithms.

Businesses and companies collect and rely on a lot of data. Until now, that data hasn't been the easiest to access or understand. Julie Lemieux, VP of Product Design and Research, talks to us about creating tools and processes to make data insights more accessible and inclusive. By eliminating the conflict between data teams and business users, everyone in the company, regardless of their background in data collection or reading, can confidently take the data and explore more of the insights and value the company can get from it.

The human resources, or human capital, industry has been going through massive change in how it thinks about data. Paul Rubenstein, Chief People Officer at Visier, talks us through the history and how data and analytics have been revolutionizing how HR departments work and the value they bring. In particular, Paul walks through how Covid-19 is upending how companies think about their people, but also how the data is better than ever.

Over his decades of experience, Mike Kavis from Deloitte, has seen a lot of successful, and successful cloud implementations. One clear lesson - technology is easy, but people are hard. Mike discusses how innovation has to be more than just implementing technology and tools. Successful enterprises have to break down the old silos and rethink their culture, rather than merely adopting technology layered over legacy processes and approaches to collaboration.

The rate of data growth and complexity is only accelerating. How do you decide what data is important? What data do you store for later? Simon Crosby, CTO at Swim.ai, discusses how real-time streaming analytics provides a better way to think about massive volumes of data from sources like traffic infrastructure and manufacturing. He discusses how you can use this data to build a model of your world - digital twins - and use that model to make better decisions.

Graph theory is all about relationships, and relationships are key to understand so many critical areas - like understanding the spread of a pandemic. Denise Gosnell and Matthias Broecheler from DataStax talk about what graph data is, why it matters, and fascinating use cases - including how it applies to Artificial Intelligence.

Graph theory is all about relationships, and relationships are key to understand so many critical areas - like understanding the spread of a pandemic. Denise Gosnell and Matthias Broecheler from DataStax talk about what graph data is, why it matters, and fascinating use cases - including how it applies to Artificial Intelligence.

Bill Mew returns to Masters of Data to talk about evaluating cyber risk in a time of crisis like today. Bill dispels three myths that keep companies form taking decisive action and protect their data, employees, and customers. He also explains how cyber insurance actually works and why so many companies are much less covered than they think they are.

Bill Mew returns to Masters of Data to talk about evaluating cyber risk in a time of crisis like today. Bill dispels three myths that keep companies form taking decisive action and protect their data, employees, and customers. He also explains how cyber insurance actually works and why so many companies are much less covered than they think they are.

Jeremy Proffit and his compatriots in Charlotte, NC are thinking out of the box in order to meet the overwhelming need for face protection in this crisis. Jeremy, a long time 3D printing enthusiast, started printing face shields in his house and has helped start a movement to do this at scale in a mind-boggingly short amount of time.

Jeremy Proffit and his compatriots in Charlotte, NC are thinking out of the box in order to meet the overwhelming need for face protection in this crisis. Jeremy, a long time 3D printing enthusiast, started printing face shields in his house and has helped start a movement to do this at scale in a mind-boggingly short amount of time.

One of the most controversial and discussed topics today is Artificial Intelligence - or AI, and the implications of it. Is AI good or bad. Are we being replaced? Is AI exacerbating discrimination? Our guest today are taking a much more practical view - one that seeks to capture the value of AI for business and help corporations large and small take advantage. Our guests: Marco Iansiti, the David Sarnoff Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and Karim R. Lakhani is the Charles E. Wilson Professor of Business Administration and the Dorothy and Michael Hintze Fellow at Harvard Business School.

Stacy Stephens and his co-founder created Knightscope with the lofty mission of making the United States of America a safer place. They are working towards this goal with robots - Robots that are running autonomously - every day, all day - and have demonstrably made their customers safer. Listen to how Knightscope is forging a different path than most startups and making a direct impact on their clients lives.

One of our recurring themes on this podcast is the application of data in the real world and how data science is adapting to the needs of the businesses it serves. This episode is a perfect example of that. Jorge Lozano leads the data science team at Steelcase. Steelcase was founded over a hundred years ago and is the largest office furniture manufacturer in the world. So, what does a company like Steelcase do with data and data science? Listen and find out.

If software is truly eating the world, then software release management determines how quickly it can chew. For better or worse, just writing code isn’t enough. Software Engineering teams have to manage large, complex codebases with lots of dependencies - all while trying to move fast. Rob Zuber, the CTO of CircleCI, knows this world inside and out. CircleCI helps companies get innovation to the market faster, and with better quality, and Rob is passionate about how data is a big part of that picture. So, without any further ado, let’s dig in.

Green tech. Solar Energy. What do you think when you here those words? Probably putting on your roof, right? Or maybe your local electricity provider. Wunder Capital is coming at it from a different direction. They are filling the gap to help finance commercial solar - think community solar project, solar panels on warehouses, and more. According to Dave Riess, Co-Founder & CEO at Wunder Capital, there is a lot of untapped potential.

In this episode, we talk with Nancy Gohring - a senior analyst at 451 Research. I have known Nancy for a few years, and I am always impressed with her perspective on the culture of IT Operations and the impact of the massive changes in the last few years - and that is what we talked about.

In this episode, we talk with Stephen O’Grady, co-founder and principal analyst at Redmonk. RedMonk is an industry analyst firm focused on software developers and helps companies understand and work with developers. In fact, Stephen wrote an amazing book “The New Kingmakers” that explains the rising influence of software developers. We talk with Stephen about how RedMonk uses data to help companies understand developers and how developers are taking over the world.

Ian has been a journalist, editor, and analyst for over 30 years and is currently an editor at Enterprise Times. He and I talked about his very interesting background, the need for diversity on security teams, and his passion for working with veterans.

In this episode, we talk to Dave Albert, CTO, and Co-Founder of Medit and the host of the CTO and Cofounder Talk podcast. We talk to Dave about the system he’s building at Medit for combing the immense amounts of data medical professionals need to consume and putting the information most relevant to them front and center. That, of course, raises some of the same bias and privacy challenges we see at other places today on the Internet, and Dave and his team take that seriously.

In this episode, we talk to Clark Richey, Chief Technology Officer at FactGem. Clark has spent his career working with data, and he co-founded FactGem to help companies get more out of their data. Clark is passionate about freeing data from its constraints and breaking the silos between data that hamstring good decision making in today’s business world.

In this episode, we talk to Jeremy Kaufmann, Principal at Scale Venture Partners. Scale Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that invests primarily in technology companies that are starting to bring in revenue, and they focus on companies doing business on the Internet, in the cloud, on mobile, and delivering their product as a service. Scale Venture Partners prides itself on being a data driver Venture Capital firm, and we talked to Jeremy about how they leverage data to make better investment decisions and make their portfolio companies more successful.

Our guest on this episode comes from an industry that has always been a pioneer in data and making good of data. Michael Herskovitz is an SVP and Co-Head of Global Operations and Technology at AllianceBernstein. AllianceBernstein is a global asset management firm providing investment management and research services worldwide to institutional, high-net-worth and retail investors. Michael talks us through his philosophy on making the best use of data - that data is a lifestyle, not a project. So, without any further ado - let’s dig in.

"In this episode, we get to hear from one of the most iconic and influential brands in the world - Fender - or more formally known as Fender Musical Instrument Corporation. Fender was founded in 1946 by the Leo Fender and is best known for the Telecaster and Stratocaster electric guitars. These instantly recognizable guitars have been played by the likes of Muddy Waters, Keith Richards, Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and so many more. I got to meet with the Vice President of Engineering at Fender, Josh Couch, at the Fender offices in Hollywood California. Josh, and his team, learned from the data and created new apps like Fender Tune and Fender Play that are opening up the world of guitars to a whole new set of people."

Our guest is at the intersection of innovation and creation at one of the most important technology companies in the world. Yoon Lee is the Senior Vice President and Division Head, Content and Services, Product Innovation at Samsung Electronics America. In today’s world, our lives are connected to our devices in a way inconceivable even a few decades ago. Yoon is in a unique position to understand how A.I. and an understanding of the human context can make for better experiences for users. (REPLAY from 2018)

Our guest on this episode, Angela Bassa, hails from one of the most innovative robotics companies on the planet, the aptly named iRobot - the creators of the iconic Roomba vacuum robot. Angela is the Director of Data Science at iRobot and talks to us about how iRobot's recent product announcements reveal more than just product innovation. Their new iRobot 2.0 platform is a new approach to how they build robots, software, and also the place of data science at iRobot.

We are excited to bring to you our second security experts panel discussion for 2019! We brought together a high-powered set of individuals that know security inside and out. As always, we have George Gerchow, the Chief Security Officer at Sumo Logic. And he is joined by Jadee Hanson, Chief Information Security Officer at Code42 and Teri Radichel, CEO at 2nd Sight Lab.We had a wide-ranging discussion about everything from DevSecOps to privacy.

Our guest on this episode is a repeat guest, and that’s a very good thing. Matt Ballantine is a multi-talented technologist who spends his days helping companies build and execute digital strategy with his company Stamp, and also hosts his own podcast - WB40 - with his co-host Chris Weston. I talked with Matt about his newest project which brings these two worlds together in a way that will be truly compelling for organizations struggling to innovate and communicate. He is using Podcasts as a medium to communicate, define, and get buy-in for projects.

One of the most interesting areas of innovation in machine learning and artificial intelligence is Natural Language Processing or NLP. It is basically about teaching machines to both understand human language, and then reproduce convincingly human language in returnOur guest on this episode and her company build what they call “machines that can read and write”.Amy Heineike is the VP of Engineering at Primar AI. I talked to her about how she, and her team, are using applied machine learning techniques to build software that tells stories from data. In particular, we talked about “Quicksilver” - a project to fill some gaps in Wikipedia by producing new content for people without pages.

New York Times Best-Selling Author Charles Wheelan describes his journey from economics writer to his search for the political middle in the United States.Charles is the author of Centrist Manifesto, which helped launch Unite America in 2013. He is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at Dartmouth College. Charles formerly ran for Congress as a Democratic candidate in Illinois in 2009. He is the author of the New York Times bestselling books Naked Economics, Naked Statistics and Naked Money. He also has a new book coming out on May 21 - “The Rationing” which is Political Thriller.

More and more of our world today is being evaluated, analyzed, and driven by algorithms. You need look no further than your car insurance, your kids’ educations, or your mortgage to see the results of algorithms processing and delivering verdicts on you and your ability to do something you want to do. Our guest today is Cathy O’Neil, a data scientist, mathematician, activist, and author of the New York Times best-selling book “Weapons of Math Destruction”. She has spent years talking about the dangers of, as she calls them, “creepy algorithms”, and our need to take the effects they may cause seriously - both to ourselves, and those less advantaged than ourselves.

Who knew that the food and beverage industry was ripe for disruption using the power of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data? Well, Jason Cohen did. Jason Cohen is the Founder and CEO of Analytical Flavor Systems - a startup focused on bringing the power of A.I. and machine learning to the world of flavors and sensory science. Jason started his company after studying sensory science and computer science at Penn State, as well as founding The Tea Institute, a research group devoted to tea. He is even a professional coffee, tea, and beer taster. So, he knows his stuff! (REPLAY FROM NOVEMBER 2018)

Our guest this episode is Brad Klingenberg - the VP of Algorithms at Stitch Fix. If you are one of the few people that hasn’t at least heard of Stitch Fix, Stitch Fix is an online personal styling service that both recommends additions to their clients’ wardrobes but really commits to its recommendations by physically delivering inventory to those clients. Brad and his team use statistics, machine learning and human-in-the-loop algorithms to deliver an amazing experience for Stitch Fix customers, optimize inventory management and make great fashion recommendations for their customers. The “human-in-the-loop” part means that they have cracked for using next-gen machine learning to super-charge their network of thousands of personal stylists to work faster and deliver great results at the same time.

Joshua Bloom is vice president of data and analytics at GE Digital, where he serves as the technology and research lead bringing machine learning applications to market within the GE ecosystem. Previously, Joshua was cofounder and CTO of Wise.io (acquired by GE Digital in 2016). Since 2005, he has also been an astronomy professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where he teaches astrophysics and Python for data science.

Sara Catanzaro is a principal at Amplify Partners, a Venture Capital firm that specializes in early-stage companies innovating with Machine Learning and AI. Sarah helps guide founders and innovators because of her incredible expertise built over years using data science to innovate for both the private sector and protecting US National Security.

A data scientist trained in the world of particle physics, Austin is a Senior Data Scientist at Hudl - a really cool company that provides video review and performance analysis tools for sports teams and athletes. In this episode we talk about why physics is awesome - of course - how guided missile theory and passing a soccer ball are related, and more. Much more.

Amber Case is another personification of that intersection of the human and technology. Amber Case is an American a user-experience designer, author, and public speaker. She has combined a deep understanding of anthropology and human behavior with a focus on user experience - making technology work us instead of annoying. In particular, she is the author of two great books - Calm Technology and the newest one - Designing with Sound.

A few months I had the honor and pleasure to be interviewed on the British podcast - WB40, but one of my favorite people - Matt Ballantine. Matt and I talked about why we started the Masters of Data podcast and how it has evolved.   So, I think you will enjoy this, and we will be back next week in your feed with another great original podcast episode!!   And check out the WB40 podcast at WB40.com

We thought we would replay one of the most important episodes of last year - the episode with Christian Madsbjerg, the author of “Sensemaking”. Christian’s point of view has become the basis of so much of what we do on this podcast. We don’t often read books that change how we think about the world. Our guest on this episode, Christian Madsbjerg, wrote a book “Sensemaking” that did just that. Christian’s consulting firm ReD Associates has, in their own words, led a quiet revolution in business thinking. This book is a treatise on Christian’s underlying philosophical framework for ReD’s goal to bring the humanities and social sciences into today’s businesses dominated by technology, data, and analytics. We hope that you will find that Christian’s perspective will make your rethink your assumptions about the critical importance of the humanities in today’s fast paced world.

Government Shutdowns, Bug Bountires, and Ethics - what do these have in common? Our first live panel of security experts in 2019. We recorded this live in January 2019 and are now providing the audio for your listening pleasure on the Masters of Data Podcast.

How does capitalism change in the age of big data and the data superstars like Amazon? To answer that we have a guest that is the author of a book called “Big Data” and who just recently published a book called “Reinventing Capitalism in the Age of Big Data”. Viktor Mayer-Schönberger is the Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford. His research focuses on the role of information in a networked economy. Earlier he spent ten years on the faculty of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. We talked about his new book and the concept of data-rich markets.

We discuss a tectonic shift going on in the technology industry and how leaders will be successful in this new world. Robert Christiansen is a VP and Cloud Strategist at Cloud Technology Partners, which is part of HPE - Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Robert has had a long and interesting career starting his own companies and building world-class organizations. Robert is passionate about people and helping them succeed, and it comes through.

Some clear themes have arisen on the podcast so far - trust, privacy, ethics around data. We have talked to authors, company leaders, big thinkers, influencers. Bill Mew, was a guest in June of 2018 talking to us about data privacy and the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We have brought him back on to talk about his current focus - Data Ethics. With his long experience, Bill has crafted a very solid message around what companies have to do to avoid some of the recent privacy and ethical disasters that lead to huge problems for the brand and loss of their customers’ trust.

Suma Nallapati was appointed Secretary for Technology and Chief Information Officer for Colorado, a state cabinet-level position, by Governor Hickenlooper in 2014. Under her leadership, her team has won both statewide and national awards, while also revolutionizing digital services for the state of Colorado.We caught Suma in her last week as State CIO before she transitions her responsibilities to the new administration and takes a new leadership position at DISH.

Alan J. Daly is Professor and Chair of Education Studies at the University of California - San Diego. He is also the author of new book - “Social Network Theory and Educational Change”. Dr. Daly has been researching and writing about how social networks - relationships between people - affects how successful educational reforms are. Educators and administrators are often unaware of how important their own social networks are to whether crucial reforms succeed or languish. Just like in so many other interviews we have done, we come back to that important lesson - you can’t be successful with data alone. You need to understand how data and humans intersect

Haven't listened to all of the MoD interviews? Or just forgot? That's ok. Ben Newton walks throughs the year's interviews to give you a bird's eye view. Check out last year's themes: Bringing the human to the technology. The rise of the polymath, Data Bias, Data Trust, Data Privacy, Making Decisions with Data, You can measure anything, Artificial Intelligence to Artificial Wisdom, The Data-Fueled Economy