Podcasts about technology organizations

Новый, с пылу, с жару выпуск подкаста с членом ПК DevOpsConf 2025. На пару с Игорем Курочкиным обсуждали DevOps и развитие инжиниринговых практик. Говорили бодро, обсуждали NextOps, который не то, чем кажется! Вспомнили массу приятных книг и не только. DevOpsConf 2025, 7-8 апреля 2025, Москва CFP DevOpsConf 2025 Встреча докладчиков и Программного комитета DevOpsConf 2025 Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, George Spafford — The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win Джин Ким, Кевин Бер, Джордж Спаффорд — Проект «Феникс». Как DevOps устраняет хаос и ускоряет развитие компании. Gene Kim, Jez Humble, Patrick Debois, John Willis, Nicole Forsgren — The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, & Security in Technology Organizations Джин Ким, Джез Хамбл, Патрик Дебуа, Джон Уиллис — Руководство по DevOps. Как добиться гибкости, надежности и безопасности мирового уровня в технологических компаниях Gene Kim — The Unicorn Project: A Novel about Developers, Digital Disruption, and Thriving in the Age of Data Участники @golodnyj Игорь Курочкин Telegram канал VK группа Яндекс Музыка iTunes подкаст Поддержи подкаст

Ever wondered how to navigate the complexities of FinTech innovation and leverage AI for your startup's success? In this episode, Frazer and Kris discuss: Building and scaling FinTech startups, including strategic leverage, technology adoption, and effective partnerships with banks The importance of measuring and managing complexity within banking systems to drive innovation and efficiency The transformative potential of AI in financial services, enhancing customer experiences and streamlining processes --- Kris Hansen is the CTO at Sagard. His extensive background includes a mix of technology startups and banking and payments architecture roles. Previously, Kris was the CTO and Co-Founder at Synctera, a bank-as-a-service marketplace connecting community banks and consumer-facing Fintech firms. He also served as the Chief Technology Officer at KOHO Financial, Canada's leading challenger bank, and at Portage Ventures, a Fintech-focused venture capital firm. Before these roles, he was the Head of Solution Architecture at the Royal Bank of Canada and the Chief Architect at ATB Financial. Early in his career, Kris created one of the first internet service providers in Canada and established one of the largest Hawaiian professional services firms. Additionally, through his angel investment company 4Utopia Inc., Kris is a pre-seed angel investor and advisor for high-potential technology companies.

In this podcast episode, Clay Callaway shares his journey of bringing about digital transformation in Delta Dental of California. He talks about their challenges due to siloed data within the organization and how the approach pivoted towards enterprise-wide data management. They began resolving these issues by implementing data governance and building a solid data foundation. Clay emphasizes how combining this data with the right technologies has allowed Delta Dental to think about its business in new ways and improve customer service. Highlights: 01:26 Start of the Digital Transformation Journey 01:44 The Problem of Data Silos 03:15 Shift to an Enterprise Approach to Data 03:46 Role of Data Governance and Strategy 04:57 Importance of Understanding Business Use Cases 06:01 Evolution of Data Strategy and Roadmap 07:46 Impact of Data on Business Outcomes 10:44 Role of Technology in Data Transformation 14:13 Future of Data-Driven Decision Making 18:14 Impact of Data on Customer Experience Clay Callaway is the Director of Ops Data Insights and Analytics at Delta Dental of California. He works with business leaders to make data-driven Insights a critical step in decision making. Clay has been with Delta Dental for more than 15 years of his 25+ year career; previously, he was in DDC's Technology Organization as the Director of Applications Development for Data and Analytics. In this role, he directed data strategy, data architecture, and data management to build and deliver technologies, tools, and solutions, including the implementation of a data governance office and a modern cloud data platform. He was previously an Architect and Manager, where he developed analytics, business intelligence solutions, and tools to help customers, providers, and employees navigate business challenges. https://www.linkedin.com/in/claycallaway/ ---- Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player. Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.comHave questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests? Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

Guest: Marc Steen, Senior Research Scientist, TNO [@TNO_Research]On Twitter | https://twitter.com/marcsteenOn LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcsteen/Website | https://marcsteen.nl/index.htmlHost: Dr. Kevin MacnishOn ITSPmagazine  

What does it take to build a high-performing technology organization? For Nick Maiello, it's a combination of data-driven decision-making, having cross-functional teams, and getting your culture right.And Nick should know. He has a range of experience, from starting technology companies to scaling out multiple digital transformations in a number of different industries, including consumer travel and e-commerce.Currently the Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer for Chargely, Nick goes so far as to say that the term 'technology organization' is an outdated one.We should be 'cutting edge organizations' as we leverage technology and other tools at our disposal to adopt a customer-centric approach to our businesses.Once you understand your company's 'why', what qualities should you look for when hiring talent to navigate technology's changing landscape? And when it comes to software solutions, do you custom-build or go for off-the-shelf?Balancing the long-term plan with being iterative, and learning to stay the course with a strong leadership team are more of the ingredients required for a high-performing organization.Debbie and Nick show that when efficiency is driven by necessity, things start to click. Please join us on this week's impactful episode of Scaling Tech! "Embracing P&T (Product and Technology) means embracing a customer-centric approach. Understanding the priorities of the customer comes first and you do this using customer feedback and data analytics." ~ Nick MaielloIn This Episode:- How can companies embrace the role of Product and Technology in today's digital landscape? - How can big-picture thinking benefit software engineering solutions?- Why is there a need to shift towards custom-built, cutting-edge technologies?- Understanding 'Build, Borrow, or Buy'- Why you need passionate people on board for your digital transformation- Is software eating the world? - The importance of being lean and fast in a startupAnd more!Connect with Nick Maiello:- E-mail - nickmaiello@chargely.app- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickmaielloConnect with Debbie Madden:- Website - https://www.stride.build/- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbiemadden1/- LinkedIn Page - https://www.linkedin.com/company/stride-build/

Introduction Tim Cohen has over 15 years of Crisis Management, Emergency Management, and Incident Management experience. His career includes 15 years as an open source intelligence analyst, international crisis response coordinator, manager of global operations for a global risk consultancy, emergency manager, and crisis management program manager. He has responded to kidnappings, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, cybersecurity incidents as well as managing the response to the Covid-19 pandemic for one of the top business schools in the world. Tim is currently a Staff Security Incident Commander at ServiceNow. Key Positions - Staff Security Incident Commander, ServiceNow - Manager, Corporate Incident Management, Twilio, Inc. - Program Manager, Crisis Management, Twilio, Inc. - Emergency and Business Continuity Manager, Stanford University Graduate School of Business - Manager of Global Operations, TAM-C Solutions - Special Project/Crisis Response Coordinator, TAM-C Solutions Contact Information https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothy-cohen-3612b88/

Design leader and Thoughtworks alumnus Emma Carter recently published her second book, DesignedUp. In it, she explains how designers can win a seat at the leadership table inside technolology organizations and become effective evangelists and advocates for good design principles and practices. In this episode of the Technology Podcast, Emma joins hosts Rebecca Parsons and Scott Shaw to discuss her new book and talks through some of the challenges designers face in even the most forward-thinking technology companies. She highlights that design is, today, far more than just UI design — it can, and should, touch many parts of an organization, ensuring that products and services are properly aligned with the aims, goals and needs of users. You can find Emma's book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/DesignedUp-Emma-Carter/dp/1032202017/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

On the 14th episode of Enterprise Software Innovators, hosts Evan Reiser (Abnormal Security) and Saam Motamedi (Greylock Partners) talk with Alvina Antar, Chief Information Officer at Okta. Okta is a leading workforce identity provider and helps some of the world's largest companies connect people and technology in a secure environment. Today, Alvina shares her perspective on the importance of data decentralization and her insights on best practices for product-led technology organizations. Quick hits from Alvina:On the importance of data availability: “Data and insights at the speed of the business is huge for us. [With Okta] being a high growth organization, we're positioning ourselves to accelerate our self-service capabilities and democratize data for every employee. That means not just having the enterprise data capabilities within business technology, but being able to make that data accessible to everyone [in the organization].”On Okta's IT organizational structure: “A lot of times as a business technology or IT function we get challenged with dates..the business says ‘you know, I need this at the beginning of the fiscal year, it's required.' And the dates are already given to us before we've even assessed the scope, let alone understand what's gonna take to actually deliver…We operate as a product and engineering organization for the company that's running our business. And so just as product and engineering isn't pressured [since] they're the experts of the technology that they're delivering to sell, we should have that same mindset and that is why myself and many of my peers are embracing this new product operating model, [because] it's not just a name change. You don't just move people and move their titles. It's a mindshift in thinking of operating as a product organization.”On how startups can best pitch themselves: “The startups I spend the most time with are those that take the time to understand my strategies and how their product can help me be successful. And so they're not just pitching their product in their generic way but they actually understand the challenges that I'm facing and share stories - not at the surface level but at a level that would relate to me and to my team.”Recent Book Recommendations:Zero to IPO by Frederic KerrestUnapologetically Ambitious by Shellye Archambeau--Like what you hear? Leave us a review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.Find more great lessons from tech leaders and enterprise software experts at enterprisesoftware.blog.Enterprise Software Innovators is produced by Josh Meer and Luke Reiser

My desire to generate 10 ideas a day has been reinvigorated! So today, I try to generate 10 ideas on the fly. They aren't that great, probably not even original, but I tried!

Host Jeremy Hitchcock sits down with Gentry Lane who is the CEO & Founder of ANOVA Intelligence, a venture-backed cyber national security software company that serves American critical infrastructure companies. She holds a DoD-appointed position to the NATO Science & Technology Organization tech panel on the cyber defense of military systems, is a Fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, and is a visiting fellow at the National Security Institute at George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School.

Bei seinem zweiten Versuch, das größte unbemannte Schiff zu werden, das den Atlantik überquert, musste das Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS400) fast auf halber Strecke aufgrund eines mechanischen Problems an Bord ausweichen. https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/mayflower-autonomous-ship-diverts-crossing-due-to-mechanical-failure Das Robotaxi-Startup Argo AI sagte am Dienstag, es habe begonnen, seine autonomen Testfahrzeuge ohne menschliche Sicherheitsfahrer in zwei US-Städten – Miami und Austin, Texas – zu betreiben – ein wichtiger Meilenstein für das von Ford und Volkswagen unterstützte Unternehmen. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/17/argo-ai-robotaxis-ditch-human-safety-drivers-in-miami-and-austin.html Buildots, ein Unternehmen, das ein System zur Rationalisierung der Bauindustrie entwickelt hat, hat den Abschluss einer Finanzierungsrunde der Serie C in Höhe von 60 Millionen US-Dollar angekündigt. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/s1kqfmzvq Ein von den National Institutes of Health unterstütztes Forschungsteam hat Merkmale von Menschen mit langem COVID und solchen, die es wahrscheinlich haben, identifiziert. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/scientists-identify-characteristics-better-define-long-covid Mehr als 80 KI-Experten, Forscher und Akademiker aus den USA und anderen Mitgliedsländern sind an dem Projekt beteiligt, das als strategisches „Horizon Scanning“ bekannt ist und von der NATO Science and Technology Organization und der NATO Communications and Information Agency zusammengestellt wurde. https://www.c4isrnet.com/artificial-intelligence/2022/05/18/nato-launches-ai-initiative-to-ensure-tech-advantage/ Visit www.integratedaisolutions.com

In its second attempt to become the largest unmanned vessel to cross the Atlantic, the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS400) was forced to swerve almost halfway due to an onboard mechanical problem. https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/mayflower-autonomous-ship-diverts-crossing-due-to-mechanical-failure Robotaxi startup Argo AI said Tuesday it had begun operating its autonomous test vehicles without human safety drivers in two U.S. cities -- Miami and Austin, Texas -- a major milestone for the Ford and Volkswagen-backed company. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/17/argo-ai-robotaxis-ditch-human-safety-drivers-in-miami-and-austin.html Buildots, a company that has developed a system to streamline the construction industry, has announced the closing of a $60 million Series C financing round. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/s1kqfmzvq A research team supported by the National Institutes of Health has identified characteristics of people with long-term COVID and those who are likely to have it. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/scientists-identify-characteristics-better-define-long-covid More than 80 AI experts, researchers and academics from the US and other member countries are involved in the project known as strategic "horizon scanning" put together by the NATO Science and Technology Organization and the NATO Communications and Information Agency. https://www.c4isrnet.com/artificial-intelligence/2022/05/18/nato-launches-ai-initiative-to-ensure-tech-advantage/ Visit www.integratedaisolutions.com

I år blir Nato Science & Technology Organization 70 år. Vi snakker med Forsvarets forskningsinstitutts (FFI) tidligere direktør John-Mikal Størdal. Han leder organisasjonen som samler og koordinerer rundt 6000 forskere i de ulike Nato-landene i et nettverk.

I år blir Nato Science & Technology Organization 70 år. Vi snakker med Forsvarets forskningsinstitutts (FFI) tidligere direktør John-Mikal Størdal. Han leder organisasjonen som samler og koordinerer rundt 6000 forskere i de ulike Nato-landene i et nettverk.

Today on Mushroom Hour we have the privilege of speaking with Dr. Ekaterina Dadachova. Dr. Dadachova is a Professor of Pharmacy at the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition and the Fedoruk Centre for Nuclear Innovation Chair in Radiopharmacy. Before joining University of Saskatchewan, she was a Professor of Radiology, Microbiology and Immunology in the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, USA, where she was also Sylvia and Robert S. Olnick Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research. She received her PhD in Physical Chemistry from Moscow State University in Moscow, Russia, in 1992, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in radiopharmaceutical chemistry at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization in Sydney, Australia. Dadachova's laboratory has pioneered the treatment of infectious diseases including fungal and bacterial infections and HIV with radiolabeled antibodies (so called radioimmunotherapy). Her other research interests are radioimmunotherapy of melanoma, blood cancers and osteosarcoma as well as the development of melanin-based radioprotectors for cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy, soldiers on the battlefield and astronauts in space.   TOPICS COVERED:   Research Pathways of Melanin, Melanoma and Fungi Coming Together  Black Fungi in Soil Surrounding Chernobyl  Melanin in Fungi  Basics of Radiation and Types of Radioactive Particles  Fungi in Outer Space  How Fungi Use Melanin to Protect Themselves Against Ionizing Radiation  Fungi Surviving in Antarctica  Melanated Fungi Harvesting Radiation  Radiotropism  Applied Technologies for Radiation Protection from Melanized Fungi  The Power of Eating Melanized Mushrooms  Radioimmunotherapy  Radiopharmaceuticals  Future Research & Applications  EPISODE RESOURCES:    Dr. Ekaterina Dadachova Academic Website: https://pharmacy-nutrition.usask.ca/profiles/kate-dadachova.php#Bio  Dr. Ekaterina Dadachova Papers: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=A6Ud3q0AAAAJ&hl=en  Cryptococcus neoformans (fungus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptococcus_neoformans  Cryptococcus antarcticus (fungus): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptococcus_antarcticus  Auricularia judae (fungis): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auricularia_auricula-judae

In part two of this two-part episode on The DevOpsHandbook, Second Edition, Gene Kim speaks with coauthors Dr. Nicole Forsgren and Jez Humble about the past and current state of DevOps. Forsgren and Humble share with Kim their DevOps aha moments and what has been the most interesting thing they've learned since the book was released in 2016. Jez discusses the architectural properties of the programming language PHP and what it has in common with ASP.NET. He also talks about the anguish he felt when Mike Nygard's book, Release It!, was published while he was working on his book, Continuous Delivery. Forsgren talks about how it feels to see the findings from the State of DevOps research so widely used and cited within the technology community. She explains the importance of finding the link between technology performance and organizational performance as well as what she's learned about the importance of culture and how it can make or break an organization. Humble, Forsgren, and Kim each share their favorite case studies in The DevOps Handbook.   ABOUT THE GUEST(S) Dr. Nicole Forsgren and Jez Humble are two of five coauthors of The DevOps Handbook along with Gene Kim, Patrick Debois and John Willis. Forsgren, PhD, is a Partner at Microsoft Research. She is coauthor of the Shingo Publication Award-winning book Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and The DevOps Handbook, 2nd Ed., and is best known as lead investigator on the largest DevOps studies to date. She has been a successful entrepreneur (with an exit to Google), professor, performance engineer, and sysadmin. Her work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals. Humble is co-author of Lean Enterprise, the Jolt Award-winning Continuous Delivery, and The DevOps Handbook. He has spent his career tinkering with code, infrastructure, and product development in companies of varying sizes across three continents, most recently working for the US Federal Government at 18F. As well as serving as DORA's CTO, Jez teaches at UC Berkeley.   YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT Projects Jez and Gene worked on together before The DevOps Handbook came out. What life is like for Jez as a site reliability engineer at Google and what he's learned. The story behind his DevOps aha moment in 2004, working on a large software project involving 70 developers. The architectural properties of his favorite programming language PHP, what it has in common with ASP.NET, and the importance of being able to get fast feedback while building something. The anguish that Jez felt when Mike Nygard's book, Release It!, came out, wondering if there was still a need for the book he was working on, which was Continuous Delivery. “Testing on the Toilet” and other structures for creating distributed learning across an organization and why this is important to create a genuine learning dynamic. What Dr. Forsgren is working on now as Partner of Microsoft Research. Some of Dr. Forsgren's goals as we work together on the State of DevOps research and how it feel to have those findings so widely used and cited within the technology community. The importance of finding the link between technology performance and organizational performance and why it probably was so elusive for at least 40 years in the research community. What Dr. Forsgren has learned about the importance of culture, how it can make or break an organization, and the importance of great leadership.   RESOURCES Personal DevOps Aha Moments, the Rise of Infrastructure, and the DevOps Enterprise Scenius: Interviews with The DevOps Handbook Coauthors (Part 1 of 2: Patrick Debois and John Willis) The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations, Second Edition, by Gene Kim, Patrick Debois, John Willis, Jez Humble, and Dr. Nicole Forsgren Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein Nudge vs Shove: A Conversation With Richard Thaler The Visible Ops Handbook: Implementing ITIL in 4 Practical and Auditable Steps by Kevin Behr, Gene Kim and George Spafford FlowCon Elisabeth Hendrickson on the Idealcast: Part 1, Part 2 Cloud Run Beyond Goldilocks Reliability by Narayan Desai, Google Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation by Jez Humble and David Farley Release It!: Design and Deploy Production-Ready Software (Pragmatic Programmers) by Michael T. Nygard DevOps Days On the Care and Feeding of Feedback Cycles by Elisabeth Hendrickson at FlowCon San Francisco 2013 Bret Victor Inventing on Principle by Bret Victor Media for Thinking the Unthinkable Douglas Engelbart and The Mother of All Demos 18F Pain Is Over, If You Want It at DevOps Enterprise Summit - San Francisco 2015 Goto Fail, Heartbleed, and Unit Testing Culture by Mike Bland Do Developers Discover New Tools On The Toilet? by Emerson Murphy-Hill, Edward Smith, Caitlin Sadowski, Ciera Jaspan, Collin Winter, Matthew Jorde, Andrea Knight, Andrew Trenk and Steve Gross PDF Study: DevOps Can Create Competitive Advantage DevOps Means Business by Nicole Forsgren Velasquez, Jez Humble, Nigel Kersten and Gene Kim Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations by Nicole Forsgren, PhD, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) on Google Cloud GitLab Inc. takes The DevOps Platform public Paul Strassmann The Idealcast with Dr. Ron Westrum: Part 1, Part 2 Building the Circle of Faith: How Corporate Culture Builds Trust at Trajectory Conference 2021 The Truth About Burnout: How Organizations Cause Personal Stress and What to Do About It by Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter Maslach Burnout Inventory Understanding Job Burnout at DevOps Enterprise Summit - Las Vegas 2018 Understanding Job Burnout at DevOps Enterprise Summit - London 2019 Workplace Engagement Panel at DevOps Enterprise Summit - Las Vegas 2019 Expert Panel - Workplace Engagement & Countering Employee Burnout at DevOps Enterprise Summit - London 2019 The Idealcast with Trent Green Kelly Shortridge's tweets about Gitlab S-1   TIMESTAMPS [05:22] Intro [05:34] Meet Jez Humble [10:19] What Jez is working on these days [15:56] What inform his book, “Continuous Delivery” [24:02] Assembling the team for the project [26:30] At what point was PHP an important property [31:56] The most surprising thing since the DevOps Handbook came out [35:07] His favorite pattern that went into the DevOps Handbook [43:40] What DevOps worked on in 2021 [44:46] Meet Dr. Nicole Forsgren [50:32] What Dr. Forsgren is working on these days [52:18] What it's like working at Microsoft Research [55:58] The response to the state of DevOps findings [59:18] The most surprising finding since the findings release [1:05:59] Her favorite pattern that influence performance [1:08:49] How Dr. Forsgren met Dr. Ron Westrum [1:11:06] The most important thing she's learned in this journey [1:14:46] Her favorite case study in the DevOps Handbook [1:19:12] Dr. Christina Maslach and work burnout [1:20:46] More context about the case studies [1:25:32] The Navy case study [1:29:04] Outro

Materiały dodatkowe..Prezentacje:Dissecting Bounded Contexts, prezentacja Nicka Tune z konferencji DDD Europe 2020Context Maps - a deep dive, prezentacja Michaela Plöd z konferencji KanDDDinsky 2019Książki:Accelerate: Building and Scaling High-Performing Technology Organizations, Nicole Forsgren,Jez Humble, Gene KimThe DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations, Gene Kim, Jez Humble, Patrick Debois, John WillisEscaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value, Melissa PerriInspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love, Marty CaganEmpowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products, Marty Cagan, Chris JonesThe Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win, Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, George SpaffordStrategic Microservices and Monoliths, Vaughn Vernon, Tomasz JaskułaLearning Domain-Driven Design: Aligning Software Architecture and Business Strategy, Vladik Khononov

Why does how you describe your team — down to its name — matter? Gerri Martin-Flickinger, former executive vice president CTO at Starbucks, joins Me, Myself, and AI to describe some of the technology initiatives the coffeehouse chain has been able to pursue since rebranding its technology team and articulating its mission. In her conversation with Sam and Shervin, Gerri recaps a decades-spanning career working in technology leadership roles at Chevron, McAfee, and Adobe, then explains some recent employee- and customer-facing projects Starbucks has undertaken using AI and machine learning. Read the episode transcript here. Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast from MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group and is hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh. Our engineer is David Lishansky, and the coordinating producers are Allison Ryder and Sophie Rüdinger. Stay in touch with us by joining our LinkedIn group, AI for Leaders at mitsmr.com/AIforLeaders. Read more about our show and follow along with the series at https://sloanreview.mit.edu/ai. Guest bio: As executive vice president and CTO at Starbucks, Gerri Martin-Flickinger led the Starbucks Technology team through a transformation into a best-in-class retail technology organization. She was the passionate leader behind the technology strategy that plays a critical role in propelling the Starbucks mission — “empowering partners and delighting customers, globally.” Before joining Starbucks in 2015, Martin-Flickinger was senior vice president and CIO at Adobe, where she led portions of its technology transformation to a cloud-based subscription services business. Previously, she served as CIO at Verisign, McAfee, and Network Associates and held numerous senior leadership roles at Chevron, where she began her career. Martin-Flickinger currently sits on Charles Schwab's board of directors and serves as a member of Arizona State University's Fulton School of Engineering Advisory Board, Sierra Ventures' CIO Advisory Board, and The Wall Street Journal CIO Network.

My guest for this episode of the podcast is Dux Raymond Sy, the Chief Brand Officer at AvePoint. In this episode, Dux and I discuss why technology organizations struggle to invest in successful brand marketing and the steps that technology organizations can take to drive an effective brand story.

For this 102nd Episode of Ultimate Guide to Partnering, I interview a founder that I've had the chance to work with, Raymond Bily, the CEO of BrightArrow Technologies. I met Raymond while I was Channel Chief at Blackbaud and BrightArrow was a Rising Star Partner of the Year. In this episode, Raymond shares his rich and fascinating story and how BrightArrow partners with technology organizations to deliver a complete K12 solution. Since the pandemic began, I have written, blogged, and recorded podcasts about how society has been impacted, and how organizations can come out of this time, better than before. One area where most of us have been affected is Education and Learning. I see firsthand through my engagement with partners like BrightArrow, how educators and schools are adjusting from the physical to the virtual, and back to the physical again. Technologies like BrightArrow enable a smooth transition through persistent and pervasive communications. BrightArrow has been at the center of the digital transformation happening in K12 Education as its solutions are being deployed in many new use cases since the pandemic. I invited Raymond to share his rich and fascinating story, how BrightArrow partners with other technology organizations to deliver a complete solution to customers and why customers and partners choose to work with Bright Arrow. Things you’ll learn in this episode: How BrightArrow revolutionizes the way organizations deliver messages simultaneously to large groups of people. How BrightChat is used by teachers, coaches, and administrators for secure two-way communications. BrightArrow symbiotic partnership to deliver notification as part of a broader technology solution.Raymond's rich and fascinating journey, including being one of the very first employees at Microsoft. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed spending time with Raymond Bily. Other Important Episodes Focused on Transformation in Education: 99 - Commitment to Microsoft Education Mission with Optimism, Inclusion, and Energy93 – Transformation, Challenges, and Opportunities in the US Education Sector with Jamie Harper75 – Two K12 Partners, Focused on Leveraging Technology in Bolder Ways LINKS & RESOURCES Engage with Raymond Bily Linked In, Engage with BrightArrow.Reach out to Raymond via Email rbily@brightarrow.comLearn more about BrightArrow.Partner Strategy Workshops offered by Ultimate Partnerships.Subscribe to Ultimate Guide to Partnering on Apple,  Spotify,  Google,  Audible,  SoundCloud, Stitcher, Player FM, almost anywhere you get your podcasts! About Vince MenzioneFollow or reach Vince – Linked In, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.Ultimate Guide to Partnering Facebook Drop me a line – vincem@ultimate-partnerships.com. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by Ultimate Partnerships. Ultimate Partnerships helps you get the most results from your partnerships. Get Partnerships Right – Optimize for Success – Deliver Results – Ultimate Partnerships.

Charles Flatt is joining the podcast today! He has been a software developer since 1994 and has helped over a dozen organizations succeed on over fifty projects, both small and large. Charles has an unusual breadth of business and personal experience from foodservice and retail to music, business management, hardware installation, and of course, software development.   In this episode, Charles talks about his learning as a developer and some of his successes, big lessons, and key takeaways from the course of his career. He shares actionable advice for developers, teams, and organizations on how to improve; his favorite resources and books for further learning;  the metrics that matter the most; and what he sees as being the key components of what makes a DevOps organization successful.   Topics of Discussion: [:38] Be sure to visit AzureDevOps.Show for past episodes and show notes. [1:00] About The Azure DevOps Podcast, Clear Measure, and Jeffrey’s offer to speak at virtual user groups. [1:24] Clear Measure is hiring! Be sure to check out the link in the show notes. [1:34] About today’s guest, Charles Flatt! [1:57] Jeffrey welcomes Charles to the podcast. [2:34] Charles shares his career journey before software development and how he began his career in software. [6:49] Charles speaks about where he has worked and what he has been working on in the last decade. [11:48] Charles shares some of the big lessons and key takeaways from the course of working on over fifty projects in software development. [18:21] Charles and Jeffrey discuss their favorite books on DevOps and give their recommendations on what you should be reading as a developer today. [20:50] A word from Azure DevOps Podcast’s sponsor: Clear Measure. [21:22] What Charles sees as needing to change within an organization in order to become more successful. [23:01] Charles gives some actionable advice on how to begin improving as a developer, as a team, and as an organization. [28:06] Charles and Jeffrey discuss the metrics that matter the most. [29:18] Jeffrey and Charles discuss the importance of continuous integration and what it really means to do continuous integration. [32:32] Charles recommends some go-to resources to check out after today’s podcast! [34:33] Jeffrey thanks Charles for joining the podcast!   Mentioned in this Episode: Azure DevOps Clear Measure (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! bit.ly/dotnetdevopsebook — Click here to download the .NET DevOps for Azure ebook! Jeffrey Palermo’s Youtube Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! The Azure DevOps Podcast’s Twitter: @AzureDevOpsShow Charles Flatt’s LinkedIn Azure DevOps Podcast Ep. 33: “Rockford Lhotka on Software Architecture” Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations, by Nicole Forsgren PhD The Phoenix Project (A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win), by Gene Kim The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations, by Gene Kim, Patrick Debois, John Willis, and Jez Humble Continuous Integration: Improving Software Quality and Reducing Risk, by Paul M. Duvall, Steve Matyas, and Andrew Glover Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick, by Wendy Wood Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs, by John Doerr   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

Meet: Mike Arbitman, Senior Director, Technology Organization Data and Analytics at Medidata, a technology leader skilled at defining, building, improving, and optimizing data-focused organizations delivering innovative and leading-edge solitons What you'll learn: Modernization of master data management Determining the system of record The changing complexity of data projects If you have any questions for Mike, please feel free to reach out via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelarbitman/

In this episode of The Idealcast, Gene Kim sits down with Team of Team’s coauthor and CEO of Crosslead, David Silverman, and Director of Research and Development at CrossLead, Jessica Reif, for a two-part interview.  In Team of Teams, David and his coauthors explained how the Joint Special Forces Task Force in Iraq was struggling to achieve its mission, and how they turned it into a success. Their experience led to a deep and critical rethinking of almost everything in US military services and in the commercial industry. Now at CrossLead, David works with Jessica Reif to continue researching and codifying these practices into their management framework. In Part 1 of the interview, Gene and his guests discuss the structure and dynamics of the transformation described in Team of Teams and how these leadership characteristics are needed today in the new ways of working. This leadership framework reinforces the concepts of common purpose, shared consciousness, empowerment, and trust within organizations to help teams work together more effectively in complex environments, particularly when they have to continuously adapt to change. Stay tuned for Part 2.   BIO: David Silverman Entrepreneur, bestselling author, and former Navy SEAL, David Silverman is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of CrossLead, Inc. Founded in 2016, CrossLead is a technology company whose leadership and management framework is used by leaders and companies around the globe.   In 2015, David co-authored the New York Times bestselling leadership and management book Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World. As a thought leader on culture change, high-performing teams, and leadership, he is a frequent guest speaker for business leaders and conferences around the globe. After his 13-year career as a Navy SEAL, David and a group of like-minded friends sought to reinvent the way the world does business in today’s dynamic environment. Based on their collective service in the world’s premier Special Operations Units, they devised a holistic leadership and management framework called CrossLead. Today, CrossLead is a leading framework for scaling agile practices across the enterprise. Implemented in some of the world’s most successful organizations, CrossLead drives faster time-to-market, dramatic increases in productivity, improvement in employee engagement, and more predictable business results.  Prior to CrossLead, David co-founded the McChrystal Group where he served as CEO for five years. A graduate of the United States Naval Academy, David served as a Navy SEAL from 1998-2011. He graduated Basic Underwater Demolition School (BUD/S) Class 221 in 1999 as the Honor Man. David deployed six times around the world, including combat deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Southeast Asia where he received three Bronze Stars and numerous other commendations.  David serves on the advisory board of the Headstrong Project and is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization. David lives in Washington, DC, with his wife, Hollis, and their two children. He maintains an active lifestyle as a waterman and runner.   Twitter: @dksilverman Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-silverman-648035a/ Website: https://www.crosslead.com/ Jess Reif                                                                                        Jessica Reif is the Director of Research & development for CrossLead Inc, where she leverages the latest management research to develop new approaches to increasing business agility for CrossLead’s clients. She leads CrossLead’s education efforts and has developed training programs that have been delivered to over 20,000 leaders. Previously, Jessica served as a Product Delivery Manager for applied machine learning and engineering teams at Oracle Data Cloud, where her role was to facilitate agile development among a team-of-teams. Jessica holds a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. In her free time, she enjoys golfing, baking, and hiking.  Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jess_Reif Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-reif/ Website: https://www.crosslead.com/   YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT: The philosophy and thinking behind the book, Team of Teams The organization and management required to support the large group of personnel involved in the mission described in the book The dramatic changes in the transformations mentioned in the book and how and why it worked The structure and dynamics before and after the transformation What leadership characteristics are needed in this new way of working Ops Intelligence Update Call What was required to increase the temp of operations   RESOURCES What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team by Charles Duhigg Boundaries Updated and Expanded Edition: When to Say Yes, How to Say No To Take Control of Your Life by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend Wharton’s Carton: CEOs Have Real Vision Problems by Howard R. Gold Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World by General Stanley McChrystal, Tantum Collins, David Silverman and Chris Fussell DevOps culture: Westrum organizational culture Psychological safety Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Gene Kranz How Can Leaders Overcome the Blurry Vision Bias? Identifying an Antidote to the Paradox of Vision Communication by Andrew M. Carton and Brian J. Lucas Sooner Safer Happier by Jonathan Smart The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations by Gene Kim, Patrick Debois and John Willis   TIMESTAMPS   [00:08] Intro [03:26] Meet David Silverman [05:50] Meet Jessica Rief [06:59] Writing down his experiences to teach [12:58] Who are David’s students and what he was teaching [14:05] Applying these techniques to COVID-19 [17:54] Comparing David’s experience to General Stanley McChrystal’s experience [23:30] Remembering Defense Information Systems Agency CTO Dawn Meyerriecks’ org chart [25:30] Getting out of own way [28:31] Top differences in what David was trying to achieve [33:46] Compare and contrast the leadership characteristics [37:24] Jess reflecting on changes required at various levels of leaderships [39:58] A look at structural changes or lack thereof [47:50] The chessmaster vs the gardner [49:18] Changing the middle management [56:28] DevOps Enterprise Summit Las Vegas - Virtual [58:04] The frozen middle [1:00:06] Advice to define the work [1:06:10] Ops Intelligence Update Call [1:15:29] Create concrete manifestation of the vision [1:23:30] The dynamics of having the Ops Intelligence Update Call [1:26:03] The need for middle management to augment the process [1:30:55] Gene’s favorite part of Team of Teams [1:34:43] Creating these relationships in a large scale [1:39:55] Successful execution drives strategy [1:41:51] How to reach David and Jessica [1:43:06] Outro

"Our preferred approach is effectively commercializing research outcomes before we create IP." Listen as Lisa and guest Tim Boyle discuss his journey to Tech Transfer, how his office is structured, and the role of philanthropic organizations, plus much more on this episode of Tech Transfer IP. Tim is the Director of Innovation & Commercialisation at ANSTO - Australia's Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, Founder and Lead Executive of the Nandin Innovation Centre, Adjunct Professor with Design Factory Melbourne, and Global Expert Faculty with Singularity University.  Listen as Tim shares his journey to Tech Transfer, what led him to take the position at ANTSO, and what ANTSO is and everything it is involved in. Tim also speaks about his role at the Nandin Innovation Centre, how his office is structured, and the number of disclosures his office receives per year. Tim discusses the role of corporate partners at ANTSO, their philanthropic funds, and where they invest them. Tim shares what he would do differently when he first started in tech transfer if he knew then what he knows now. Listen as Tim shares some of his office's biggest success stories and the challenges his small office faces. Tim speaks about the RTTP designation, how it is obtained, how long it takes, and the benefits of the designation. Tim gives us insight into his amazing career, what he's learned along the way, and what has meant most to him. He also discusses how he believes Tech Transfer will change because of COVID-19. In This Episode: [02:54] Welcome to the show, Tim! [03:39] Tim shares his journey to tech transfer and what led him to ANTSO. [06:10] Tim speaks about the tech transfer office he worked in at Thomson Reuters. [08:24] He discusses what ANTSO it is about and what they are involved in. [10:47] Tim shares about his role at the Nandin Innovation Centre. [13:25] How is your office structured?  [16:15] Tim speaks about how many disclosures they get per year. [19:42] Listen as Tim discusses the role of corporate partners in technology transfer at ANSTO. [22:01] Tim talks about their corporate partners also being research partners. [24:57] Tim shares their philanthropic funds and where they invest them. [26:00] What would you do differently if you knew then what you know now? [29:17] Tim discusses their approach to their relationships with corporate partners. [30:58] He shares some of his office's biggest success stories. [33:13] Tim speaks about their mentoring and learning program at ANTSO. [35:08] What challenges do you face being such a small office? [38:26] Tim discusses the ATTP organization, its mission, and its goals. [41:38] How do you think tech transfer will change because of COVID-19? [43:52] Tech transfer is a collaborative creative endeavor that translates knowledge and research that impacts the economy. [45:35] Tim speaks about the core competencies and how they can demonstrate their established track record. [49:21] Can people apply for RTTP status anytime during the year, or are the specific times? [50:43] How long does it take a person to achieve one of the two statuses? [54:18] Tim shares how important volunteering is and how it benefits a person. [56:10] Listen as Tim speaks about the benefits of having the RTTP credentials. [59:03] Tim discusses that ATTP is a global profession, although every country has different perspectives. [01:01:15] Tim shares what he has learned over his incredible tech transfer career and what has meant the most to him. [01:05:01] Thank you so much for being on the show! Find Tim: Timothy Boyle Email LinkedIn

Neste episódio, entrevistamos Daniela Soares Cruzes, que é pesquisadora sênior no SINTEF, instituição que realiza pesquisa aplicada na Noruega. O tema principal do episódio é DevOps, com um particular interesse para DevSecOps. Ao longo da entrevista, Daniela nos contou a sua percepção do que seria DevOps, mencionou um artigo de Breno França, Helvio Jeronimo e Guilherme Travassos como sendo sua fonte de consulta rápida, toda vez que precisa revisitar conceitos sobre DevOps. Mais recentemente, Daniela tem demonstrado um maior interesse com questões de segurança em times de desenvolvimento. Seus trabalhos recentes discutem como diminuir os silos entre os departamentos de segurança (com times especializados de IT) e os times de desenvolvimento de software (que muitas vezes têm pouco conhecimento sobre questões de segurança). Daniela também discute o que seria segurança suficiente em um projeto de software. Nesse sentido, Daniela destaca algumas práticas que times de desenvolvimento podem adotar para criar software mais seguros, como o uso de ferramentas de análise estática e a prática de revisão de código. Em seguida, discutimos como é o cenário atual de desenvolvimento de software na Noruega, das facilidades de se inserir em empresas de desenvolvimento, o que também é atraente para estrangeiros, dado o simplificado processo de emigração. Ao final, como de costume, conversamos sobre as próximas fronteiras da engenharia de software. Daniela citou três exemplos. Imagina quais sejam? Recomendações da Daniela Breno Bernard Nicolau de França, Helvio Jeronimo Jr., Guilherme Horta Travassos: Characterizing DevOps by Hearing Multiple Voices. SBES 2016: 53-62 https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2973839.2973845 The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations https://www.amazon.com/DevOps-Handbook-World-Class-Reliability-Organizations/dp/1942788002 Sites da Daniela https://www.sintef.no/en/all-employees/employee/?empid=4504 https://dblp.org/pers/c/Cruzes:Daniela.html https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=w_cOgesAAAAJ&hl=en Site de empregos na Noruega: https://www.finn.no/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fronteirases/message

In this bonus follow-up interview, Gene Kim and Dr. Steve Spear dig into what makes for great leadership today, including the importance of distributed decision-making and problem-solving. They showcase the real advantages of allowing more decisions to be made by the people closest to the work, who are the most suited to solve them.   Dr. Spear also shares his personal accounts of the honorable Paul O’Neill, the late CEO of Alcoa who built an incredible culture of safety and performance during his tenure. And Kim and Spear dive deeper into the structure and dynamics of the famous MIT beer game.   ABOUT THE GUEST Dr. Steve Spear (DBA MS MS) is principal for HVE LLC, the award-winning author of The High Velocity Edge, and patent holder for the See to Solve Real Time Alert System.  A Senior Lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School and a Senior Fellow at the Institute, Spear’s work focuses on accelerating learning dynamics within organizations so they know better faster what to do and how to do it. This has been informed and tested in practice in multiple “verticals” including heavy industry, high tech design, biopharm R&D, healthcare delivery and other social services, Army rapid equipping, and Navy readiness.   High velocity learning concepts became the basis of the Alcoa Business System—which led to 100s of millions in recurring savings, the Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiatives “Perfecting Patient Care System”—credited with sharp reductions in complications like MRSA and CLABs, Pratt & Whitney’s “Engineering Standard Work”—which when piloted led to winning the engine contract for the Joint Strike Fighter, the operating system for Detroit Edison, and the Navy’s high velocity learning line of effort—an initiative led by the Chief of Naval Operations. A pilot with a pharma company cut the time for the ‘hit to lead’ phase in early stage drug discovery from twelve months to six. Spear has published in Annals of Internal Medicine, Academic Medicine, Health Services Research, Harvard Business Review, Academic Administrator, and the US Naval Institute’s Proceedings He invented the patented See to Solve Real Time Alert System and is principal investigator for new research on making critical decisions when faced with hostile data.  He’s supervised more than 40 theses and dissertations. He holds degrees from Harvard, MIT, and Princeton and worked at the University of Tokyo, the US Congress Office of Technology Assessment and Prudential Bache. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/stevespear Email: steve@hvellc.com Website: thehighvelocityedge.com   You’ll Learn About: Distributed decision-making Developing group leader core Safety culture at ALCOA The need for specialization in an increasingly complex world MIT beer game Feedback builds trust Episode Timeline: [00:10] Intro [01:36] Limitations of the leader [08:03] Taking the Moses example to the assembly line at Toyota [11:12] Developing group leader core [13:32] Back to the Moses problem [14:19] Gene’s two thoughts [16:01] Planet Money’s SUMMER SCHOOL 2: Markets & Pickles [18:38] An Excerpt from The DevOps Handbook [20:57] Paul O’Neill’s job to set standards [22:35] Elements of rugged topography [23:37] Sponsored ad: DevOps Enterprise Summit Las Vegas - Virtual [24:39] Setting context [25:30] The structure and resulting dynamics [28:00] Call it out early and often [30:45] Making everyone feel responsible [36:51] Safety culture at ALCOA [37:33] “If there’s a failure, it’s my failure” [38:52] Topography of the problem [42:27] Applying to the car example [46:50] Benefits of specialization in modern medicine [50:37] Complexity will keep increasing as time goes by or is it reduced? [52:31] The need for specialization will continue to grow [53:22] MIT Beer Game through the lens of structure and dynamics [1:00:14] Feedback builds trust [1:01:21] Dirty Harry’s final scene [1:03:08] Outro Resources: SUMMER SCHOOL 2: Markets & Pickles on Planet Money Paul O'Neill interview worker safety at ALCOA Paul O'Neill on Safety Leadership Paul O'Neill Speech on "The Irreducible Components of Leadership" DevOps Enterprise Summit DevOps Enterprise Summit Las Vegas - Virtual Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World by General Stanley McChrystal with Tantum Collins, David Silverman and Chris Fussell The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations by Gene Kim, Patrick Debois, John Willis and Jez Humble The High-Velocity Edge: How Market Leaders Leverage Operational Excellence to Beat the Competition by Dr. Steve Spear “The Beer Game” by Prof. John D. Sterman The Idealcast EP. 5: The Pursuit of Perfection: Dominant Architectures, Structure, and Dynamics: a Conversation With Dr. Steve Spear The Idealcast EP. 6: (Dispatch from the Scenius) Dr. Steven Spear’s 2019 and 2020 DOES Talks on Rapid, Distributed, Dynamic Learning

Georgette D. Kiser is an operating executive for The Carlyle Group, where she helps lead due diligence and technical strategies across various Carlyle portfolio companies. Previously, she was managing director and chief information officer (CIO), responsible for leading the firm’s global technology and solutions organization and developing and driving IT strategies to include application development, data, digital, infrastructure, cyber security, program management and outsourcing. She previously held positions of increasing responsibility at T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. where she headed Enterprise Solutions and Capabilities within the Services and Technology Organization. She led and managed teams that provided creative solutions and leveraged technology for investment front office, trading, and back office operations. Prior to T. Rowe Price, Ms. Kiser worked for General Electric within their Aerospace Unit.Ms. Kiser earned a B.S. in Mathematics, with a minor in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, College Park, a M.S. in Mathematics from Villanova University, and an M.B.A from the University of Baltimore. Ms. Kiser serves on the Board of Directors of Aflac, Jacobs, NCR, and Adtalem Global Education, as well as the Carlyle portfolio company, Claritas.Heather Wishart-Smith is the Senior Vice President, Technology & Innovation for Jacobs. A registered Professional Engineer and certified Project Management Professional, Ms. Wishart-Smith is a Fellow of Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) and its National President for the 2020-2021 centennial year. Prior to her current position at Jacobs, Heather led Innovation and Jacobs Connected Enterprise (JCE) for Buildings, Infrastructure and Advanced Facilities, and before that she led the Buildings & Infrastructure Mid-Atlantic region, with oversight including design, consulting, and program management/construction management projects in the rail, highway, transit, Federal, corporate/commercial, science & technology, and related markets. A former Navy Civil Engineer Corps officer, she served at the Presidential Retreat, Camp David, under two different presidential administrations, among other duty stations. She has published and presented articles on several leadership, architectural, engineering, and construction topics in the military and transportation sectors. Ms. Wishart-Smith holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Virginia. 

In the latest Dispatch from the Scenius, Gene Kim brings you two of Dr. Steve Spear’s DevOps Enterprise Summit presentations in their entirety.   In Spear’s 2019 presentation, “Discovering Your Way to Greatness: How Finding and Fixing Faults is the Path to Perfection,” he talks about the need and the value of finding faults in our thinking that result in faults in our doing.    Spear continues to explore this lesson in his 2020 presentation about the US Navy 100 years ago, when they were at a crucial inflection point in both technology and strategic mission. It is one of the most remarkable examples of creating distributed learning in a vast enterprise.    As always, Gene provides exclusive commentary to the presentations. ABOUT THE GUESTS   Dr. Steve Spear (DBA MS MS) is principal for HVE LLC, the award-winning author of The High Velocity Edge, and patent holder for the See to Solve Real Time Alert System.  A Senior Lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School and a Senior Fellow at the Institute, Spear’s work focuses on accelerating learning dynamics within organizations so they know better faster what to do and how to do it. This has been informed and tested in practice in multiple “verticals” including heavy industry, high tech design, biopharm R&D, healthcare delivery and other social services, Army rapid equipping, and Navy readiness.    High velocity learning concepts became the basis of the Alcoa Business System—which led to 100s of millions in recurring savings, the Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiatives “Perfecting Patient Care System”—credited with sharp reductions in complications like MRSA and CLABs, Pratt & Whitney’s “Engineering Standard Work”—which when piloted led to winning the engine contract for the Joint Strike Fighter, the operating system for Detroit Edison, and the Navy’s high velocity learning line of effort—an initiative led by the Chief of Naval Operations. A pilot with a pharma company cut the time for the ‘hit to lead’ phase in early stage drug discovery from twelve months to six.   Spear has published in Annals of Internal Medicine, Academic Medicine, Health Services Research, Harvard Business Review, Academic Administrator, and the US Naval Institute’s Proceedings He invented the patented See to Solve Real Time Alert System and is principal investigator for new research on making critical decisions when faced with hostile data.  He’s supervised more than 40 theses and dissertations. He holds degrees from Harvard, MIT, and Princeton and worked at the University of Tokyo, the US Congress Office of Technology Assessment and Prudential Bache.   LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/stevespear Email: steve@hvellc.com Website: thehighvelocityedge.com   You’ll Learn About: The dire consequences when traditional retailers were late creating competitive eCommerce capabilities. Creating dynamic learning organizations. How fast feedback creates opportunities to self correct and improve in real time How the US Navy’s Battle of Midway compares to how organizations are responding to digital disruption today. Episode Timeline: [00:10] Intro [01:23] Dr. Steve Spear’s speech [01:44] What did I accomplish? [02:39] What did I discover today? [03:45] Start point with ignorance [05:21] High velocity learning [06:52] Courtney Kissler and Nordstrom [08:09] Steve’s examples of finding a potential solution [18:53] The Machine That Changed the World  [19:57] High velocity learning is mother of all solutions [23:13] Shattered Sword [29:45] Homework: Garner feedback and make it better [30:59] The importance of high velocity outcomes [35:06] Steve’s ask for help [37:37] See to Solve [38:30] Steve’s presentation at DevOps Enterprise Summit 2020 [45:34] Digital disruption [47:17] Bringing the whole Navy to solve the problem [50:00] Combat information center [53:30] Greyhound [54:48] Innovation across a group of ships [58:47] Back to Midway [1:01:23] Contrast between Japanese’s and American’s Naval doctrine plans [1:04:17] Steve’s last encouragement [1:04:32] Gene’s two observations [1:08:32] Outro RESOURCES Dr. Steven Spear’s DevOps Enterprise Summit 2020 London - Virtual presentation - enter your email address to watch The High-Velocity Edge: How Market Leaders Leverage Operational Excellence to Beat the Competition by Dr. Steve Spear Reed Hastings’ quote The Machine That Changed the World: Based on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5-Million-Dollar 5-Year Study on the Future of the Automobile by Dr. James P. Womack, Dr. Daniel T Jones and Dr. Daniel Roos Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway: The Japanese Story of the Battle of Midway by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully  See to Solve Many of the concepts in this talk were explored by Trent Hone's fantastic book: Learning War: The Evolution of Fighting Doctrine in the U.S. Navy, 1898–1945 by Trent Hone The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations by Gene Kim, Patrick Debois, John Willis and Jez Humble Greyhound

This week, Sam Falco is hosting the podcast once again! He’s invited on his colleague and friend, Adam Ulery, who is a Senior Agile Coach at AgileThought. Adam is a perpetually curious, continuous learner who is always willing to encourage others to try new things (as he very often does himself). He is very focused on helping organizations clarify and meet their business outcomes, and loves to help companies become resilient and rediscover their curiosity.   Today, they’re sharing their best tips for new Scrum Masters. When Sam and Adam were new Scrum Masters they found that there were not a lot of experienced Scrum Masters that were accessible to them. In fact, they didn’t even have access to many of the common resources that exist today! So today they want to share all that they’ve learned over the course of their careers and lend a hand to all of the new Scrum Masters out there!   Key Takeaways Tips for the new Scrum Master: Seek to understand where the team is in terms of their Scrum maturity level Observe the team without immediately trying to make changes to the way the team does things to inform yourself about where they are Ask yourself: ‘How well is what they’re doing working for them? Are they working well together as a team?’ If these things look good in-person even though they could look incorrect on-paper you may not want to change these things Do some sort of an assessment with the team to establish a baseline for where they are and how they’re executing Scrum (then periodically reassess down the line) Have the team self-assess Create a shared team vision Regardless of your experience level, educate yourself on the craft Get involved with a community group to improve your area of practice (and if there isn’t one where you are, start one) Indulge in books around your craft — they’re a great resource for taking you to the next level Go to conferences, big or small Tips for the new Scrum Master who is assigned to a pre-existing team: Start by working with them on the areas that need improvement (based off of an assessment) by getting the team’s input and having the team decide what they’d like to work on (assuming they’re mature enough to want to do that) Receive constant feedback by creating an open channel with the team to communicate Have transparency with what you’re doing there and what you want for them How to become a more effective Scrum Master: Find a mentor Be a mentor — just because you’re new doesn’t mean you have nothing to offer Become a speaker — you’ll discover you know more than you thought you did   Mentioned in this Episode: The Scrum Guide The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, by Stephen R. Covey Tampa Bay ScrumMasters Guild Ken Schwaber Agile Project Management with Scrum, by Ken Schwaber Software Estimation Without Guessing: Effective Planning in an Imperfect World, by George Dinwiddie The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates   Adam Ulery’s Book Picks: Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths That Are Destroying Your Prosperity, by Garrett B. Gunderson and Stephen Palmer The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations, by Gene Kim, Patrick Debois, John Willis, and Jez Humble   Want to Learn More or Get in Touch? Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com! Email your thoughts or suggestions to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!

This week on Agile Coaches’ Corner, Sam Falco is taking over the podcast! He’s gathered up some interesting questions on the topic of Scrum through Quora and will be going through them one by one to give his insights and key points regarding each!   Tune in to hear Sam’s take on what the purpose and benefits are of a daily Scrum meeting, the best way to resolve the issue of a team member taking up too much time at the daily Scrums, and whether or not he thinks the role of the Scrum Master should be temporary in a Scrum team until the team is self-organizing!   Key Takeaways What is the purpose, as well as the benefits, of a daily Scrum meeting? The Scrum guide states that the purpose is for the development team to plan its work for the next 24 hours To inspect the work the team has done since the last time they’ve met and adapt the plan accordingly to achieve the sprint goal It’s all about helping the development team to meet the sprint goal You should be getting a new plan out of the daily Scrum meeting that takes into consideration the new data you’ve gathered since the last time you met A team member is taking too much time at daily Scrums — what’s the best way to resolve this issue as the Scrum Master? Firstly, remember the purpose of the daily Scrum: to inspect the work and adapt the plan to achieve the sprint goal, and ask: is that still happening in the allotted timeframe? If it is, it’s really not a problem for the Scrum Master to solve It could be a real problem when it’s leading to the daily Scrum taking way too long, people begin ‘checking out’ in the middle of it, or it’s preventing the team from self-organizing Don’t jump in right away as the Scrum Master; your role is to simply make sure the development team has the event and teach them to keep it in the timebox Consider pointing out that the meeting has been taking too long to the team and allow them to solve it themselves Consider coming up with a signal when someone is taking an unnecessary deep dive into a topic (but make sure the team isn’t relying on this method to the point where they’ll struggle to self-organize) Bring up the problem at a retrospective, let the team decide whether it’s a problem or not and how they want to handle it, and then give them guidance based on that feedback Should the role of Scrum Master be temporary in a Scrum team until the team is self-organizing? The Scrum Guide argues that no, it wouldn’t be Scrum, because if you do away with any of the rules and roles in Scrum (though possible) the result becomes something that is not Scrum The presence of the Scrum Master on the team will vary depending on the team, but early on it is especially important that they need to be involved quite a bit As the team matures and learns to self-organize, the Scrum Master could shift their role from working on the rules of Scrum and how to apply them to help the team determine better engineering practices It’s not practical to think that the team will never need their Scrum Master again (as the Scrum Master does more than facilitate meetings and teach the Scrum framework) Ultimately, it’s important that the team is able to call upon their Scrum Master   Mentioned in this Episode: Quora The Scrum Guide Software in 30 Days: How Agile Managers Beat the Odds, Delight Their Customers, and Leave Competitors in the Dust, by Ken Schwaber The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations, by Gene Kim, Patrick Debois, John Willis, and Jez Humble   Want to Learn More or Get in Touch? Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com! Email your thoughts or suggestions to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!

In this episode of Adventures in DevOps the pane interviews Adam Nowak. Adam is a part of the DevOps team at Netguru. He joins the panel today to share his DevOps transformation story. Adam starts by explaining the title he chose for today’s episode. He also shares his definition of DevOps. Adam explains the age-old story of a misunderstood DevOps team that was overworked and underappreciated. The organization grew but the DevOps team didn’t scale with it, leaving them with piles of tickets and everyone else wondering what was taking so long. The panel commiserates with Adam and shares some of their own similar stories.  Reaching out to others to help solve the problem, Adam found that many DevOps teams had and are experiencing the same problem. He found help from others in the DevOps space and recommended books. His team started by making their work more visible. To do this they streamlined their communication and published documentation.  Next, they made more focused goals. Instead of trying to do everything and never meeting their goals they chose a couple things to work on and focused on that. Another change they made was to diversify their meetings, projects, and initiatives; they brought in people from all the teams to collaborate, making the projects even better.  The panel discusses the importance of empathy in the workplace and in life. Most people are trying their best and probably have a reason for doing the things that they are doing. Instead of treating others as if they are incompetent, talk them and discuss the reasons behind their actions and decisions.  Panelists Nell Shamrell-Harrington Charles Max Wood Guest Adam Nowak Sponsors CacheFly Links How we killed DevOps by creating a dedicated DevOps team | Adam Nowak The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win  Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow  The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement   The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations  Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs  Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations  Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard  https://www.facebook.com/Adventures-in-DevOps-345350773046268/ Picks Charles Max Wood: Holiday Inn  White Christmas  The MaxCoders Guide To Finding Your Dream Developer Job  Nell Shamrell-Harrington: The Mandalorian Rust in Motion  Adam Nowak: Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Jabra Elite 85h Wireless Noise-Canceling Headphones

In this episode of Adventures in DevOps the pane interviews Adam Nowak. Adam is a part of the DevOps team at Netguru. He joins the panel today to share his DevOps transformation story. Adam starts by explaining the title he chose for today’s episode. He also shares his definition of DevOps. Adam explains the age-old story of a misunderstood DevOps team that was overworked and underappreciated. The organization grew but the DevOps team didn’t scale with it, leaving them with piles of tickets and everyone else wondering what was taking so long. The panel commiserates with Adam and shares some of their own similar stories.  Reaching out to others to help solve the problem, Adam found that many DevOps teams had and are experiencing the same problem. He found help from others in the DevOps space and recommended books. His team started by making their work more visible. To do this they streamlined their communication and published documentation.  Next, they made more focused goals. Instead of trying to do everything and never meeting their goals they chose a couple things to work on and focused on that. Another change they made was to diversify their meetings, projects, and initiatives; they brought in people from all the teams to collaborate, making the projects even better.  The panel discusses the importance of empathy in the workplace and in life. Most people are trying their best and probably have a reason for doing the things that they are doing. Instead of treating others as if they are incompetent, talk them and discuss the reasons behind their actions and decisions.  Panelists Nell Shamrell-Harrington Charles Max Wood Guest Adam Nowak Sponsors CacheFly Links How we killed DevOps by creating a dedicated DevOps team | Adam Nowak The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win  Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow  The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement   The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations  Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs  Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations  Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard  https://www.facebook.com/Adventures-in-DevOps-345350773046268/ Picks Charles Max Wood: Holiday Inn  White Christmas  The MaxCoders Guide To Finding Your Dream Developer Job  Nell Shamrell-Harrington: The Mandalorian Rust in Motion  Adam Nowak: Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Jabra Elite 85h Wireless Noise-Canceling Headphones

In today’s episode, Dan Neumann is joined by Steven Granese, the Vice President of the Transform Practice at AgileThought! As the VP of Transform Practice, Steven leads a team of the top Agile Coaches, DevOps Consultants, and Product Consultants in the United States.   Together, Dan and Steven will be exploring the ‘why’ behind Scrum and examing the question of why organizations and teams should be using Scrum, in the first place. Steven often sees that the clients he’s working with lose focus on the ‘why’ behind Scrum or don’t even know what it is, to begin with! With these clients, there will be a lot of focus on the mechanics of Scrum and the framework itself (i.e. the ‘how’) without a deep understanding of why they’re using Scrum, what problems they’re trying to solve with Scrum, and what their purpose is for working with sprints with iterations. In this episode, Steven addresses how organizations can shift their perspective from a ‘how’ mentality to a ‘why’ mentality as well as many of the misconceptions and incorrect uses of Scrum (so you can be sure to avoid them!)   Key Takeaways Why it is important to focus on the ‘why’ behind Scrum rather than the ‘how’: The ‘why’ helps the team and organization understand what problem they’re trying to solve with Scrum in the first place Focusing on the ‘how’ (such as: “How do we execute Scrum?”) leads to organizations applying Scrum incorrectly Understanding the ‘why’ leads to a deeper understanding of why they’re using Scrum, the problems they’re trying to help solve with it, and what their purpose is in working with sprints and iterations The ‘why’ behind Scrum and where it makes the most sense to use: In conditions of high uncertainty In environments of high uncertainty Incorrect ways Steven sees Scrum being applied: As opposed to building a working increment of their product, getting feedback as they go, and adjusting their sprint-to-sprint plan based on the feedback (which is the heart and soul of the ‘why’ behind Scrum), they’re not allowing feedback into the process — therefore losing the ‘why’ in the process Breaking up work into milestones instead of sprints Treating the sprint demo like a sales pitch and not letting the customer experience the demo for themselves Techniques and tips for achieving the ‘why’ behind Scrum: Recognize that the market moves fast, there’s a lot of uncertainty in the world, and that the customer’s needs are changing very quickly Match the way you think about your work and deliver your work to that uncertainty (which allows you to move faster) Stop overplanning and just start working Put increments of the product into the customers’ hands and start getting their feedback Get back to the basics and simply focusing on two weeks at a time Measuring the right metrics (“You get what you measure”) Don’t just use Scrum to measure the team; use it to measure the flow of the entire system Focus on getting really quality feedback from your customers “Begin with the end in mind.” — Stephen Covey Through receiving high-quality, real feedback from a sprint demo, really listen to the feedback and adjust the plan and fix problems accordingly Understand where the market is headed (and differentiate between what the customer wants and what is actually needed) by building something and putting it in their hands to get feedback Fail fast to learn fast Build in thin slices and get feedback as you go — you will learn a ton about what users actually need and also save time by not building unneeded features Misconceptions about the Scrum framework: That Scrum is really about product delivery (“Scrum is just as much about discovering the solution as it is about delivering the solution” — Steven Granese) Scrum and other Agile frameworks are seen as a delivery mechanism (as opposed to a mechanism to discover what the customer actually needs) That you have to use Scrum (if you already know exactly what you need to build and there’s no uncertainty then there’s no need for the iterative nature of Scrum)   Mentioned in this Episode: Steven Granese Stephen Covey “Wagile” (Waterfall Agile)   Steven Granese’s Book Picks: The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations, by Gene Kim, Patrick Debois, John Willis, and Jez Humble Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations, by Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim   Want to Learn More or Get in Touch? Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com! Email your thoughts or suggestions to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!

Adrian Moisey, former VP of Engineering at SweepSouth, and now Salesloft engineer, is a huge advocate for attending tech meetups. As one of the organisers of Cape Town’s DevOpsDays, he’s learned that the way a conference is set up affects the value people get out of it. Using his experience organising DevOpsDays conferences, he shares how he thinks about creating 10x value. He talks about speaker-sponsor-attendee value through mingling, putting together a curated line-up of speakers, and leveraging the ‘open spaces’ model to create engaged conversation amongst attendees.Read the blog post here!-----------If you are keen to learn more about DevOps, two books that Adrian recommends are:“The DevOps Handbook: The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations”, by Gene Kim. A book about DevOps (as the title suggests!), but with examples of specific, technical DevOps practices and stories in action.“The Phoenix Project: The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win 5th Anniversary Edition”, by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford. This is great for people who are in upper management, and who might see what's happening on the ground but aren’t necessarily that involved with the technical side of DevOps.

Today’s episode is all about recognizing middle-of-the-day deployments; how teams such as Netflix, Facebook, and even the Azure DevOps Product Team are doing them; and taking a look at how other teams can achieve that for themselves!   Jeffrey Palermo’s guest today is Eric Fleming, a Software Architect at Clear Measure. Eric leads an intense team, developing and operating a mission-critical software system in the financial sector. He lives in Alpharetta, Georgia, and is a host of the Function Junction Youtube Channel, which is all about Azure functions. He’s also written articles for MSDN Magazine and CODE Magazine.   In this episode, Eric takes Jeffrey through his journey of inheriting a monolithic software system and the major transformations he had to execute to get it where it is today; deploying in the middle of the day! He explains the key steps he took in breaking up the monolith, the development process, who was involved, what the structure and DevOps environments looked like, and all of the details you need to know if you’re finding yourself in a similar situation!   Topics of Discussion: [:52] How to get your hands on Jeffrey’s book, .NET DevOps for Azure. [2:04] About today’s episode and featured guest. [3:00] Jeffrey welcomes Eric to the podcast! [3:06] Eric begins the story of how he inherited a software system and the journey it took getting it to deploy in the middle of the day. [9:58] Fast forward to today, what does this software system look like now? [11:50] What does Eric attribute to his ability to handle a high-throughput in only four app servers? [15:52] Eric’s process for deploying the 50-sum processes that need to be deployed. [17:32] A word from Azure DevOps sponsor: Clear Measure. [17:59] Eric speaks about their Git Repositories. [19:25] Eric explains what the structure and DevOps environments of one of his applications looks like (that is a Windows service with its own Git Repository). [21:45] Who is involved whenever part of the system is being deployed? [25:37] Has there been development process differences during their monthly deployments/monolith time? [26:22] Now that they are shipping every day/whenever they need to, what has become of their sprints? And how do they get some features done in just a day and ready to deploy within days? What does this look like and how do they implement this pattern? [31:50] Do sprints even exist in this new world? [33:31] The major transformations that Eric had to execute to get to where he is today with the software system, and some of the first steps he took to breaking up the monolith. [36:27] Would Eric have been able to start breaking the monolith apart if he didn’t have automated tests? [38:47] Resources Eric recommends to listeners in a similar situation to where he was!   Mentioned in this Episode: Azure DevOps Clear Measure (Sponsor) — Reach out to Jeffrey @JeffreyPalermo on Twitter if you have a user group or conference and would like some free copies of .NET DevOps for Azure! .NET DevOps for Azure, by Jeffrey Palermo bit.ly/dotnetdevopsproject — Visit for an example of .Net DevOps for Azure Function Junction Youtube Channel MSDN Magazine CODE MagazineEric Flemming’s Twitter: @EFleming18 NServiceBus Particular SoftwareTeamCity Octopus Deploy Sumo Logic New Relic Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations, by Nicole Forsgren PhD, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations, by Gene Kim, Patrick Debois, John Willis, and Jez Humble The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win, by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

Your host, Dan Neumann, is excited to bring you two guests for this week’s episode — repeat guest, Eric Landes, and Barry Matheney. Eric and Barry are both Agile thinkers, experts in the DevOps space, and colleagues of Dan at AgileThought.   Eric Landes is a Scrum.org certified professional Scrum trainer and currently serves as a Senior DevOps Consultant, ALM Director, and Solutions Architect. Barry also is a Senior DevOps Consultant. Previously to his role at AgileThought, he served as Director Enterprise Applications at Kforce Inc.   Today, they’re talking about DevOps and the importance of having it on Scrum teams. They cover whether it is good or bad that there are barriers between Agile, Scrum, and DevOps; what well-functioning Scrum teams look like when they have a DevOps skillset embedded into them; how to incorporate DevOps into organizations; what a DevOps skillset could bring to a team; and how DevOps can fit into even the most traditional of companies.   Key Takeaways Is it good or bad that there are barriers between Agile or Scrum and DevOps? It is disadvantageous to separate DevOps from Agile or Scrum because it is important that your team has all the skills they need to deliver software You need the DevOps skillset on your team and it should be a goal to incorporate it What do well-functioning Scrum teams look like when they have DevOps skillsets embedded into them? Self-sufficient Not limited by dependence on other teams or organizations Eliminates walls and allows for continuous delivery How to incorporate DevOps into organizations: Use baby steps Use it to inform the beginning of the development cycle and product decisions down the line What the DevOps skillset brings to a team: Experimentation or hypothesis-driven development Rapid deployment and continuous delivery Tons of not-so-visible benefits (such as auditing, compliance, security, deployability, and testability) How DevOps can fit into traditional companies: Remove constraints (such as specific deployment dates) Automate the value the compliance brings   Mentioned in this Episode: Eric Landes (LinkedIn) Barry Matheney (LinkedIn) The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations, by Gene Kim, Patrick Debois, John Willis, and Jez Humble Podcast Ep. 9: “Exploring Expert Facilitation Tips with Adam Ulery” SRE — Site Reliability Engineering Cowboy coding   Eric Landes and Barry Matheney’s Book Picks The Age of Agile: How Smart Companies Are Transforming the Way Work Gets Done, by Stephen Denning Lean Enterprise: How High Performance Organizations Innovate at Scale, by Jez Humble, Joanne Molesky, and Barry O’Reilly Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations, by Nicole Forsgren PhD, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell   Want to Learn More or Get in Touch? Visit the website and catch up with all the episodes on AgileThought.com! Email your thoughts or suggestions to Podcast@AgileThought.com or Tweet @AgileThought using #AgileThoughtPodcast!

Emily Rasowsky Show Notes   Emily Rasowsky is Customer Experience Lead for Spark Fund and Spark Fund is an organization that helps companies to upgrade energy technology. So, because that's not really an area of expertise for Yanique, she will allow Emily to explain in the very simplest of terms as we welcome her, what it is that her company really does do and how does this really impact a customer's experience regardless of your business type or industry.   Emily shared that Spark Fund and what that actually means, in layman's terms, our job is to make it as easy as humanly possible for energy managers and financial leaders to update their energy technology. So, things like lights, a jack, chillers, boilers, refrigeration, anything that goes into your space and consumes energy. We work with a lot of large organizations that don't have the same sorts of incentives or access to resources to upgrade their technology to be energy efficient. And it's crazy because buildings emit more OCO2 than cars. So, this is a huge problem. And our job, we have an integrated a team of engineers, project managers, and financiers, people who provide everything you would need to do a project. So, we take it off your hands. In essence it really is meant to be a company that makes the experience of owning and operating energy technology no longer an issue because we do this whole process on a subscription. So, we own the technology, people get out of the business of ownership which causes so much heartache and pain and bad experiences. So, we own it and they no longer have to worry about taking care of it.     Questions Are you the only type of company that offers this service? Could you share with us a little bit of some of the things that your customers have shared in terms of benefits that they've gotten in utilizing the way how your program is set up and structured, both from a financial point of view as well as an emotional point of view, do they feel less stressed, has it improved their productivity? In terms of customer experience innovations and new technologies, is there anything on the brink that Spark Fund is looking to tap into for 2019 or even in the next two to three years that you think will help to revolutionize what you're doing even more? As a technology company and you are in charge of customer experience do you find that you may hire people who are competent leaders in the technical areas that they've been hired to perform in but for some reason they lack that human side. They're so focused on the technicality of a job, they lack the interpersonal side, and do you find that hinders from that whole framework that you're trying to achieve? Could you share with us how do you stay motivated every day? What's the one online resource tool, website or app that you couldn't absolutely live without in your personal life or your business? Could you share with us what are some of the books that have had the biggest impact on you? What is the one thing in your life right now that you are really excited about – either something that you’re working on to develop yourself or people? Where can our listeners find you online? What’s one quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge you revert to this quote to kind of help you to push through on those days that are challenging or seems a bit overbearing?     Highlights   When asked if they are the only type of company that offers this service, Emily stated that right now in the market they're the only one that's integrated in all of the unique ways that they are. So, there are certain types of offerings out there that provide, let's say financing so that you don't have to worry about finding money for it. There are companies out there that provide general contracting so someone to manage the installation of a new piece of technology. But they are the first that does all of these things together. And they are definitely the first that does it on a subscription contract. So, there's also things out there that are similar they look kind of similar, but nothing is quite the setup in the same financial structure that we are.   Yanique agreed and stated that because when you do it on a subscription basis it makes it more affordable for the organizations because they pay on a month to month basis.   Emily agreed. So, the thing that we're really taking away a lot of financial pain with is when you have a piece of aging technology you never quite know. Even think about even yourself in your home when HVAC unit starts to go you don't know how much that's going to cost or what's going to be wrong with it. We take care of all of that - complete lack of clarity. For example, we have a customer, they're a school and they had to shut down an entire part of their school district, an entire part of their school facility because the heating wasn't working. So, we obviously work with them, they don't have that problem, but you think about all the pain that comes down later down the line. So yes, you're reducing your maintenance costs, you're getting energy savings but you're also reducing these costs that you can't even forecast for. And some companies that are really sophisticated have a budget for that and some companies don't have any budget and that hits them somewhat by surprise. So yes, in a lot of ways we are we're keeping it much more predictable and lower cost which is behavior science tells us when we know what to expect, it feels less painful.   Emily stated absolutely. So, the way that we work with our customers is that essentially, they can write this off of their to do list maintaining their equipment, managing their equipment. They don't have to worry about that anymore. So, what we really boil this down to and what we've experienced in the market is our customers are seeing and financially they're seeing three core benefits that are aggregated into these themes. One is they're saving money, in most cases we are not pricing in when we share our proposals with them the energy savings they're going to receive because it's very hard for us to predict those. And in the air of transparency we don't want to force them to be tied to those savings which is how a lot of people do that in the market. So, it's based off a function, they don't have to worry about is it going to work or not. We guarantee its function, so it always gets fixed and it always has something, you have a support team behind you. So, you're saving money which is obviously a huge benefit and you're getting energy savings. But emotionally you're saving time because now you don't have to worry. For example, we had one customer who showed us before working with us these are a lot of kind of pre-customers conversations. He said, “How do you know who to call when you're HVAC unit or your backup generation or your lights they break? Who do you call?”He literally pulled up his phone and goes to his contacts and types in HVAC, eight people who could potentially solve his problem. So, right there you have an overload of information, an overload of choice when all the customer wants, truly, think about getting any renovations on your home, you just want it fixed and you want it fixed well, in a timely manner and in a way where you get clear communication on what's happening in your space. So, that is one just small example of something that we do. We are a single point of contact that aggregates all of those key players, so you don’t have to figure out who you call in that situation, we are your point of contact and then we take care of all of that back and forth in detail. So, they're saving time and they're also reducing the risk because when something breaks that's often on the risk of the company, they're actually tracking that financially which we take all of that risk off of their balance sheets literally. So, with schools for example that have certain debt limits right you can't upgrade a building if you have a debt limit or debt ceiling and how much you can borrow being an institution, we can reduce that risk literally off their balance sheet and we make it because it's in a subscription you pay like you would for Netflix or Uber or any of those. It's coming out of your operational budget not your capital budget, so it provides a lot of little flexibility and ease for customers that they're not getting in other financial models.   Yanique stated that she thinks it's a wonderful idea. And she like the fact that as Emily said it's aggregated all under one roof and as a customer, I don't need to contact that person and this person because you are the point of contact and then you take care of everything from there and when you really think about it that's what people want. They're willing to pay for convenience and ease of mind and just to know that a responsible organization has this covered, and they can take that as a responsibility off of their plate.   Emily stated that what's interesting she thinks about the ways CX (customer experience) works at Spark Fund is that they are a relatively small startup. They have about 50 people who work for them and when she thinks about what's happening in the market and the types of technologies people are innovating within. She has two ways that she basically will answer this. One is of course they are investing in technology and in particular in the energy side, monitoring technology because for Sparkfund, they can understand absolutely everything that's happening in someone's building without them ever having to pick up the phone. Then they can deploy a maintenance team. They never have to tell them that there's an issue, they tell the customer, “Hey, we noticed that your machine might need a little tune up. We're going to send someone out, tell us which day in time works most effectively for you.” That is a tremendous pain point that we can alleviate. And something that is tremendously challenging if you are a segmented organization. So, you have monitoring with one company, and you have maintenance with another, you still need that human to call them from the maintenance to the vendor to connect to those two. So, we are to get off of our customers plate with things like monitoring technology and we'll only get more and more sophisticated as that technology gets more and more sophisticated. So yes, absolutely we are investing in full structural changes and by the way, that includes creating an entire new platform, a digital platform that our company will maintain and manage that doesn't give you a crazy chart. So, if you look at with monitoring companies and you're an energy manager you will get a log in that shows you all sorts of numbers and charts and so much information that some people enjoy but others it's a lot to take in and when you’re really are just going from one point to another and you're managing let's say 900 locations which is not a typical, you just want to make sure everything is running okay, nothing is a big flag you got to take care of that morning. So, we're literally on top of these technologies building a very seamless, very easy to understand customer platform and portal so those are some tech staff things that we're investing in but the other side of that is we are really investing a lot of time in and have invested a tremendous amount of time in making our company have some baseline understanding of what it means to really be a CX forward organization and I think that alone is what is driving our innovation. I can't be in every single product meeting, I can't be in every single monitoring meeting but we have people on the organization who understand this is where we're going as a company and they can innovate with this framework of understanding the baseline of behavioral science and how we use it here so this human side is so important and to be honest, one of the biggest challenges she has heard and seen in other organizations is when you don't have that organizational alignment that really moves things forward.   Yanique agreed and stated that everybody has to be aligned, everybody has to be singing the same song.   Emily stated that she thinks that's definitely natural, you have people who their strengths are in different areas of course. But she does feel that one of the things that we truly invest in at Spark Fund is making sure that people we bring on have this vision for where we're going. And one of the biggest reasons that she can say that with confidence is because their product is not just an online product and in fact, it's even more salient than that is an in-person product because you have to go to someone's space and install a piece of really big equipment that requires a huge human element. And so, anyone who is going to come and work for Spark Fund must understand just kind of as a prerequisite that you have to be very aware of what that in-person element is going to do for an online tool. Now, she thinks the benefit of having a very CX forward company is that their hiring structure is one that values obviously people who have specific expertise in particular types of code or particular types of technology build but mirrors that with a product team that understands the customer experience tremendously well and is invested in making sure that that moves forward and a user experience team. So, UI and design team that actually understands how to make these things come to life and they have repeatedly gotten very positive feedback on the experience that we've built because it has a heavy design and UI element. They never build anything that isn't collaborative between both tech and design and experience which she thinks is the benefit of having a small company and you see this in big organizations too. But they have a team that's distinct and aligned and where it needs to go and they wouldn't push something forward if it didn't have that checkbox of thought, “Hey, we did think through the experience and how things are actually going to be taken in by the customer.”   Yanique added, you've taken it on from a recruitment aspect which is very important. One of the things that she has been hearing buzzing around in the last six months or so is that technology is great, and it has advantages and disadvantages and as a business owner herself, she finds that technology does help to ease the process, increases efficiency, frees up your time, it just makes you a little bit more productive in your day because there are so many hours and the reality is you can't be everywhere at every moment but one of the things that she would love push more for 2019 or she'd like to see organizations push more. Technology is important but do you believe that at some point the human element fades or do you think the human element is always going to still be a part of the customer experience because she finds that human beings still want to speak to another human being especially when something goes wrong?   Emily agreed with that sentiment and stated that technology is huge but one of the things that is so clear to her is that as a consumer herself and also someone who really truly cares about customer experience journeys is that she thinks we get too caught up in one singular journey and we don't take a step back and look at all the different journeys that a customer is going through in order to engage with your product. An example with Uber, Uber obviously is a tech platform and they have a tremendous amount of money and resources into building that tech platform. But she thinks the people who are going to win, the customer not just that discrete experience which is one element of technology, but the actual customer are the ones who are going to sit back and think, “Okay, what did the customer have to do to get into the Uber? Where is the customer going when they leave Uber? and how are they going to connect all these experiences together?”And the reality is you do need that human element because she thinks inherently, we are people, we are connected beings, we can't just interact with our phones all day, every day but there is a lot that supports that sentiment that we need this human connection. So, there is this reality that fusing those two worlds together will lead to the winners, what she thinks is most interesting and she have experience with Spark Fund as well and kind of how they've navigated that technology heavy lense. But first start with a bigger picture. So, Amazon obviously has invested a tremendous amount of money in an online platform, but she’s based in DC and they just opened a store, a physical store with actual people who check you out at the front desk and answer your question as you're walking through and reading the titles of these books. So even though they have this amazing online platform they're also investing in in-person experiences and she thinks you're going to see that more and more. She thinks it's dangerous to do too much in tech and not also think about where the human side is and the Spark Fund, they are a small company, she mentioned this a few times and she thinks it is important to note that a lot of CX out there is focused on these big organizations that have processes and lots of resources to make widgets and all that. For Spark Fund, they experienced this very intimately with their proposal process. They were scoping out what platform that would help their customers have better and more seamless experience. And as they were doing the exploration process, the information gathering, customer conversations, one of the things they realized was their goal is to create trust with their customer and also a seamless pretty easy experience where they get the questions they have get answered right away. In talking with financial leaders and the folks that are actually decision makers on these projects, one of the things they realized was that they don't need a tech platform, they have a million of these, what they need is a spreadsheet and she doesn’t hire 6 developers to build a really good spreadsheet that they can toggle and understand how to customize based off of the numbers they want to see in front of them so that has created a lot of trust with their customers and helped them ease a lot of pain in the sales cycle. So, you don't have to always just go to high tech too, she thinks there's a low-tech version that is accessible for companies no matter how big you are, there are two ways to look at it.   Yanique agreed and stated that it's in the conversations that you have, are you really listening to what they're saying, are you just trying to sell them something that's just really out there or are you trying to actually meet that immediate need that they're indicating that they're having to you and soothing that pain that they're feeling.   When asked how she stays motivated every day, Emily stated that for her, she is constantly inspired by companies and organizations that she interacts with on a day to day basis who gets the experience right. She is a big fan of this one solid place that's nearby in DC. called Sweet Green, she's giving them a them a shout out of course. And she sees that every time, so these small things in her personal life that she seeks out because she genuinely cares about the experience and the companies that she’s going to pay money to, they inspire her. She has an insurance company that she loves, she loves the experience they create, and they have this app that when she opens up the app it shows a picture of her apartment, something so small that inspires her to keep going and keep thinking about how she can apply those things to Spark Fund. Sometimes it’s a challenging industry to be in because people are unpredictable but there are things that are universal and for her it's those moments of delight when she can speak to a customer and hear how they really alleviated their pain. Recently they created a little Spark Bot, it's a little robot. It's this little guy that follows people around and it's fun for her to think through, “What are the cute little ways that we can delight our customers?”and something so small like that and she gets that inspiration from other companies that she admire but also this idea that we really can make a difference in someone's day. She experiences it when she gets a salad, you walk out feeling better and happier. So, for her it's making sure that she is surrounding herself with the right types of companies that she wants to emulate and really have be a part of the whole fabric of this CX program at Spark Fund so it is really external for her and of course she has got an amazing team who is constantly thinking about how we can change stuff and move forward in a more positive direction. It helps to have a very customer forward, customer motivated company.   Emily stated that at Spark Fund they are a huge, huge, huge Slack company and so she would say to her if she didn't have Slack connected with her all the time, she would have missed so much but she also have to say it's allowed her to have a lot of flexibility in the way that she work because it is something that she can access any point in time and she really loves it. It allows her to be autonomous, work from home if she needs to, work at the office if she needs to and constantly being in contact everybody so she really just like the platform they've injected quite a bit of delight into it which is quite fun. And the other thing she'll say is she knows she has to address some of the personal side as well is Evernote. She is obsessed with Evernote, it is her lifeline, she has everything in there, from her to do list to her grocery shopping to little voice notes that she left to herself and if she did not have Evernote with her all the time she thinks she would be a mess because she would never know where she’s supposed to be or what am she’s supposed to be doing. So, a notes platform, a place where I can jot down ideas and it's searchable so she can pull up those things that she forgot about, that she thought of last week.   Yanique shared that for those of you that are not familiar with Slack, it's a cloud based a proprietary team collaboration tools and services. So, it's where everybody gets to connect in the organization and you're able to track projects and see how things are going throughout the course of the day even if you aren't physically in the office.   Emily agreed and stated that they have a really simple user interface. A lot of community groups that she’s a part of also use Slack.   Yanique also shared that Evernote is a note platform and it's brilliant. And it's grown so much, they've really developed that platform so much that it has way more features than it had 5, 10 years ago. You can take pictures as you said, you can send yourself a voice note, you can do scanning and send it to yourself.   Emily stated that she has had Evernote since maybe 2015 and to be able to go back that far in time, she has old notes from things she'd never thought that she would need to resurface but when you search for something and it comes out to the same, it's been so cool for her to have all that creativeness in one spot.   Emily shared that the book that really, truly made CX the thing she wanted to go into was hands down The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg. This book when she read it revolutionized the way that she thought about her own life but also her background is in marketing and communication, so she came from a digital background and also in-person previously helping companies try to move to Washington, DC. “So how do you make that experience something super seamless?” And as she was reading this book it not only had so many “aha”moments from her personal life and personal experiences but also because they talk about how you set up habits for yourself and how you create a good space and habit in time for your own personal life but also in marketing and they have some amazing examples in there like the Febreze, she’s not sure if you read this book and if this is going to go too into the weeds but they talk about this whole theory of how people are emotionally attached or they use their senses to drive emotions towards certain things which is a good argument for creating multi-sensory experiences for companies that they're not just something online to that point earlier. We've even talked about having a certain scent, like can we have people come with a certain sort of cologne or perfume when they come to install something to have a consistent experience but that they talk about Febreze and this is one of the most interesting stories anecdotes around CX stuck with her for a while that they couldn't quite figure out how to get people to adopt this cleaning product, they tried so many different types of messaging, different images, research groups subjects, all of this. And one of the things that they found after many years of this work was that people weren't necessarily interested or addicted to using a cleaning product but what they were most interested in was that sense of relief and release after they cleaned the space so the smell of Febreze and that “Ha” moment you see it in the commercials now and they were like “mmmm…..Ha”, it was the “Ha” moment that people were looking for.   Yanique shared that's how she feels when she sprays her Febreze.   Emily agreed and stated that they nailed it and it's been a very successful product for them comes in all sorts of scents now. Now you're never going to be able to un-see it when you look at those commercials, they always end with the big inhale and the sigh out through the mouth, so it's a relief.   Yanique shared that one of the things that she teaches because she’s a Customer Service Trainer and that's what inspired her to start this podcast was that customers have two needs and regardless of the industry, you're in or the product or service that you sell or your ethnicity or whatever your background is. Those two needs are their intellectual needs and their emotional needs. And through the research that she has done, books that she has read, people she has spoken to locally and internationally, people she has trained, it really boils down to how you make people feel and if you can find a way to have your product or your service connect to people emotionally, Febreze clearly figured that out as you said the relief and that's the emotional component. It will tie them to your brand, and they become so loyal to your brand that now they become your brand advertisers.   Emily agreed and stated that she thinks we try to figure out ways to do that most creatively and part of that, our structural changes, how do we create ease in the process of course investing in different technologies like monitoring ease is an entire thing. But to your point earlier there is something really important with the human element and something as small as an installation is happening in your space, can we make sure that our vendors show up with a cup of coffee, “Hey, we brought some coffee for you just to make sure that you’re caffeinated and feeling okay throughout this experience.” And obviously we try to use behavioural science any time we can and finishing really strong is something we care a lot about. So once something is over, and it sounds a little old school, but can we send them like a handwritten note and something that's thoughtful that makes them understand that we've been caring about them throughout this process.   Yanique agreed and stated that it's really the little things as you said handwritten note a while ago. There is an activity that I do in my training sessions is called a gratitude letter and it's a framework that we created where the participant has to choose an employee in their organization that they’re writing them a letter to tell them thank you for something that they've done for them. It could be something work related or something personal and it doesn't have to be anything big, I've had participants come and say they did surgery on their co-worker came to their house and washed their clothes for them or their kid was sick and they gave them some very good tips or it was the beginning of the year and your co-worker brought him a copy of a daily bread and the daily bread has really helped them to overcome some of their personal challenges, but the reason why she thinks the letter has been so impactful to the point of tears, the way how the letter is designed it forces you to pull details out of the experience, it forces you to choose adjectives to describe how it is that this person impacted you and to really show gratitude and appreciate because one of the things she has found generally speaking is that people complain a lot in life but they don’t actually take time to show gratitude and nobody writes letters anymore, it’s all about the tech, so I’m texting you to say, “Hey, thanks a mil,” through WhatsApp or whatever messaging app you use or through an email but I’m not actually handwriting you a letter or a note and it makes a very big difference.   Emily agreed and shared that we get more communication feedback responses when we take the time to write something out than we do, when we send out a mass email, so you can't discount those things. Emily truly believes in the offline experience just as much as the in-person and the more you can create a connection with the organization, the more you're going to have loyalty and for them, they measure that, they look at how many people are coming back and using them for more or more subscriptions and more different technologies they want to procure so for them it is something that they have honestly invested a lot of their marketing in because it's very high touch. They are working with big companies and it's no longer enough just to have one casual conversation, you need to really permeate an entire organization and make an impression. So, she loves that Yanique do those gratitude letters, she feels like she needs to make that a monthly sort of practice.   Yanique stated that the gratitude letter is really an amazing activity and every time she does it with an organization over the years, she’s just amazed at how the participants really take it and run with it. She has had one doctor that said the letter meant more to her than her degree as a doctor and she framed it and she put it up in her office because she said nobody has ever done anything like this for her before. So, you'd just be surprised to know, that didn't take anything, it cost nothing just to sit down and write out how you feel about what the person had done for you that you're showing appreciation for.   Emily share that what's interesting about this too is we care so deeply about these sorts of moments that we are finding ways to systematize these things, so it just becomes a no brainer, it's just a part of our process and for her they use tools to track customers and their emails and their names and all of that. But there is a note section that they are actually working on building out that has personal details there like a customer who has a daughter who recently has this particular interest or is on a soccer team, so we know these things that we can really customize small things like maybe over the holidays we send them a little ornament with a soccer ball something that is seemingly small but really does matter.   Emily shared that there's a lot of different things. She’s very excited because at Spark Fund they are beginning to look very intimately at each of the sales and accounts that they have, their customers intimately. They are really big organizations, they're working with Fortune 100 companies that have a thousand, couple thousand people who work with them and one of her jobs at this point is to look at those companies and try to understand the people pretty intimately. So, they’re doing things like elevate the sort of customer intelligence and customer experience to make it really personalized. They talk a lot about personalization and technology but what she is talking about here is personalization in relationships and those in-person relationships and she really thinks it will transform the way that their customers look and engage with them. So, things like mapping out the customers and where they sit in the organization, taking those notes and doing it on a customer and organization to organization basis. So, that's something that they're working on now and it's a slightly hybrid approach to CX, it's definitely not something that she was able to read anywhere that people were doing. So, she’s really excited to figure that out and the other side that she’s most excited about outside of her work with Spark Fund and she also lead a technology, Women in Technology Organization and they're launching a new set of programming around diversity and inclusion, so how do you get people to feel safe and secure in their environments and they are really tied CX and inclusion. She believes this to her core that if people don't feel like they are safe or that they can speak up or that they are valid, or points are valid in a company, you're not going to get really good ideas and you're certainly not going to be able to connect with different types of customers. You can't relate with somebody on a different level, then you're missing out so there's a huge component of how do you actually internalize safety within a company so that people feel like they are equal and she can connect people who have similar values and similar backgrounds with the customers that they do feel like they have someone who's rooting for them and understands them deeply within an organization. So, she’s really excited about both of those things and a lot of it goes to this idea of getting really connected with not just one person but multiple people so that you can create that surround sound experience that everyone's raving about in a company.   Emily shared that it’s called Women in Tech Campaign but one of the things that they're doing is these events that we're bringing to folks that help people physically reduce their barriers to conversation so people can relate to one another who are different from them and that's a huge skill and customer service, customer experience especially if you're getting someone who's calling and they're not happy how do you break down those barriers and open that up regardless of background and so that's really what they're focused on. And of course, tech is a very broad term, it's not just developers, it's people who are using tech like we're doing now.   Yanique agreed that stated because we're using the podcast to reach out to many different people and share all this amazing information, so yes, technology really does work, it definitely has given her a platform as customer service is something she’s extremely passionate about to reach and connect with people from all different parts of the world. And even though we’re as small as we are here in Jamaica, some of the expectations that our customers have here are no different from the expectations that a customer would have if they were in Paris or if they were in China or if they were in DC., at the at the end of the day we're all human beings at the core with emotions and we do have certain expectations.   Emily agreed and stated that to be fair these big companies Amazon, Google all of them that are international, they are training us all to expect a certain level. And it's the companies that really take that on and you don't have to be big, you don't have to be Amazon to care about it in this way. And like I said we are not an Amazon but we've made some strides and investments in making it from the very beginning work and make the experience valuable for customers and she truly believes that the innovators and the disruptors in the market are the ones that are going to look at these tried and true systems and apply a positive experience because as you said at the very beginning, people are willing to pay for that, they're willing to pay, not a huge premium but a premium for service and it's not a new concept, think about how airlines are priced, people are willing to pay for business class. And the more you can make that accessible, the more you can have those intermediate tiers, you see them get leverage and use so there's truth to all that.   Emilyshared listeners can find her at – www.sparkfund .com LinkedIn – sparkfund Facebook – @sparkfund Twitter – @sparkfunder Instagram – @emilyrasowsky Twitter - @ERasowsky LinkedIn – Emily Rasowsky   Emily shared that one the thing that she constantly repeats to herself or when she’s having a moment, it's not necessarily a quote but it's almost a reminder, it's that, “You've been through challenge and you always will get to the other side, that this too will pass.” You will have a moment and then it'll end and it's a reminder of how she has gotten through things that have been challenging before. So, it's less of a quote and more of a reminder, our grounding. “Okay, you've gone through worse.” And to Yanique’s point about gratitude, she finds in those moments to bring up something that she’s really grateful for even if it's really hard to do because sometimes it's really hard. It can just automatically take you to a different space, it’s like things are kind of going awry but it can't be that bad there are people in this world who don't have the same privileges and luxuries that she has right now and that's enough to be grateful for.   Yanique agreed and stated that we do need to remind ourselves of that sometimes because we do get caught up in everything that's going on and we're complaining, and we're just frustrated, and things didn’t go the way that we planned but sometimes God has a bigger plan for us and when one door closes another one surely opens. So, we just have to be open for that.       Links   The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg Slack Evernote

Research shows companies with highly diverse executive teams are 33% more likely to outperform their peers on profitability. Listen to a panel of HR and technology leaders assembled by Creating IT Futures’ IT-Ready education, training and job placement program discuss making this statistic a reality for your organization. 

After the acquisition of Avnet’s Technology Solutions business, Tech Data needed a new brand identity to highlight the company’s expanded reach and capabilities as a global leader in technology distributions and services. A rebrand of a company this size with or without an acquisition is a massive undertaking. In this episode, Michael Dula, Chief Creative Officer at BrandingBusiness, talks with Alex Fox, Director, Creative Services at Tech Data about the intricacies of a rebrand this size, the challenges involved, and managing and executing while keeping all members of a global company informed and included in the process.

An international team of scientists from NATO member and partner countries met in rural Germany to carry out field trials on a variety of camouflage materials. The ultimate goal for the future, is creating camouflage systems able to elude hyperspectral cameras. Research on camouflage is key to improving soldiers’ security and helping ensure success for their missions. Footage includes interviews with a scientist, Marek Strandberg, NATO Science and Technology Organization, along with various shots of scientists at work in the field using hyperspectral camera systems. Drone footage of rural German forest.

Micki Chen is Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the Verizon Global Network and Technology Organization, supervising the attorneys who support the wireless and wireline networks, technology and IT. Among the projects that her team supports are One Fiber, 5G, Network Transformation, and Big Data/Artificial Intelligence. In this episode of Lifting Up, Micki describes the zigzagged road of her career, the difference between school and the real world, and the power of learning/curiosity. Hear how Micki pushed herself to go outside of her comfort zone to find fun and success in her career journey. 

Like many of my colleagues in the technology sector, I've been incredibly excited to witness this amazing time in technology - driven by the advancement of cloud technologies and platforms, the aggregation of big data and advances in AI, machine learning, IoT and the like. The future promises to be incredibly bright. If you’ve been paying attention to recent headlines as I have, I’m sure you’ve become increasingly concerned by some dark clouds that shed a negative light on technology's unintended consequences and misuse to enable malicious behavior, cyber terrorism, and cybercrime. The New York Times recently referred to the current time as a "Second Inning". I believe that technology organizations and technology leaders have an opportunity, and potentially an obligation to inform and educate lawmakers so they better understand both the potential for good and the possible threats. My belief is rooted in what I’ve seen first-hand in my work and advocacy. I was recently reminded of this importance on a trip last month to Washington, DC and a series of conversations with technology leaders from Microsoft, elected officials and technology partners who met at our Nation's Capital in an effort to harness technology for a greater good. This most recent episode of my podcast, Ultimate Guide to Partnering is a first-hand report back from this field visit on my findings. In this episode you will learn about a framework developed by Microsoft - A Cloud for Global Good, outlining a series of initiatives and recommendations around a cloud that is trusted, responsible cloud and inclusive. You will also learn about an organization featured in Episode 6,  Voices for Innovation that works to inform legislative officials of key policy matters that shape the future of technology. In addition, I spend time with a Microsoft partner, learning first-hand about her recent experience visiting with lawmakers. My interview guests include two technology policy leaders, Jonathan Friebert and Owen Larter, who discuss Microsoft's commitment to this framework and how technology organizations can get involved. And the Microsoft partner is Carol-Lynn Grow from LawToolBox.com, who shares why these issues matter to her and how her involvement has impacted the work she does as technology business leader in Denver, Colorado. If you'd like to learn more or get involved to ensure the technology we create and advance ultimately serves the greater good, then please join me to stay informed. There are links below to learn more about the framework and the book, A Cloud For Global Good as well as links to learn more about Voices for Innovation. Important Links: A Cloud for Global Good - https://news.microsoft.com/cloudforgood/ Owen Lartner Email -  Owen.Lartner@Microsoft.com Voices for Innovation - https://www.voicesforinnovation.org/ LawToolBox.Com - http://www.lawtoolbox.com/ Carol - Lynn Grow Email - clg@lawtoolbox.com You can listen to the podcast or view the trascript here or on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher, Google Play, Player FM, other Android podcast players. As with each of my interview and articles, I appreciate your feedback. You can reach out to me on Linked In, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram or on email at vincem@cloudwavepartners.net. You can also review this podcast by going to iTunes and searching “Ultimate Guide to Partnering” and clicking on the album art and hitting the rating link. This helps others find the podcast. This episode of the podcast is sponsored by Microsoft and Voices for Innovation. TRANSCRIPT  Vince:                 Jonathan, welcome back to the podcast. Jonathan:           Glad to be back, Vince. Vince:                 It's great to have you back. You were a guest episode six of the podcast, and for our listeners who didn't tune into that episode, can you explain for our listeners your role at Microsoft? Jonathan:           I am the Director of External Affairs in Microsoft's U.S.

Kelly Vandever announces that the Permission to Speak Podcast will shift its focus to concentrate on leadership issues related to the information technology and software development industries.

It's time to dig into the mechanics a bit. First, technology. How much is too much, or is there such a thing? Paul and Dave discuss. Then a bit into organizing shows for the best chances at success, even when you don't get to rehearse as much as you'd like... or at all. Finally, listener David (no relation!) asks about earplugs... and Dave and Paul have answers! Chapters/Timestamps: 00:00:00 GigGab 139 – Monday, November 6, 2017 00:00:35 Lots of technology and polish can make a solo or duo 00:02:28 TC Helicon Ditto Mic Looper 00:06:35 MadHaus Last Week 00:10:17 Organization, understanding the flow 00:12:11 Dropbox Paper – a bandleader’s friend 00:14:20 How can a leader help a drummer? 00:18:57 Big Ears are the key to success 00:22:26 Charts can be super-helpful 00:25:36 Montgomery Ward and Sears & Roebuck 00:30:48 David-Which earplugs to use? Musician’s Earplugs Decibullz Etymotic ER20 Earplugs NU Ear Plugs EarGard DUBS Earplugs 00:38:40 GG 139 Outtro

Gene Kim, author, researcher, speaker, director, and DevOps enthusiast, joins us in this episode of Conversations in the Cloud to discuss what makes a tech company highly successful. He discusses both The Phoenix Project and The DevOps Handbook, which explore how the industry got to where it is now and how the community can contribute value by creating platforms that enable developer productivity. Kim explains that the shared goal of IT organizations is for everyone to become more productive and independently develop, test and deploy to customers quickly. For more information Kim’s book and his DevOps journey go to http://itrevolution.com/ or follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RealGeneKim.

WROCŁAWSKIE CENTRUM BADAŃ EIT+ to pierwsze polskie centrum badawczo-rozwojowe (RTO — Research and Technology Organization). Centrum we współpracy z jednostkami badawczymi z całej Polski prowadzi obecnie ponad 40 zadań badawczych w ramach dwóch kluczowych projektów w obszarach nano– i biotechnologii. Gościem odcinka jest Patrycja Radek z Wrocławskiego Centrum Badań EIT+. Jeśli chcesz dowiedzieć się jakie wsparcie można uzyskać od tego typu instytucji zapraszam do słuchania i oglądania.