Software People Stories: Recent Episodes

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In this episode of Software People Stories, I speak with Mario Lewis, a manufacturing specialist turned IT expert with over 35 years of experience. He talks about his career that began far away from software—in mechanical engineering, manufacturing, operations, and quality—and eventually found its way into the software services world. We talk about what manufacturing can teach software teams, why domain knowledge and business understanding matter, how to stay adaptable through career transitions, and Mario’s experiment with AI-assisted software development through Project Klyve. It’s a thoughtful conversation about learning, reinvention, and doing meaningful work—even when the path is unexpected.

Highlights from this conversation:

• Early passion for aviation led to mechanical engineering, manufacturing, and operations research.
• Manufacturing taught lessons in process rigor, quality, planning, and business constraints.
• Software became a chosen path, not a passion, but Mario approached it with discipline and curiosity.
• Adaptability emerges as a key career skill across industries and eras of change.
• Mario argues that technology is an enabler; real value comes from solving business problems.
• Domain depth and tacit knowledge are becoming more important, especially in GCC-style models.
• Project Klyve tested how far AI and agentic tools could go in building a complete application.
• Advice for early-career professionals: master fundamentals, understand hardware, networks, data, and security.
• Advice for mid-career professionals: keep learning, build domain depth, and understand market forces.
• Retirement feels comfortable because IT was meaningful work, but not Mario’s core passion.

Mario began his career on the shop floor with planning and manufacturing optimization roles in machine tool and switchgear manufacturing. That early focus on physical manufacturing and basic operations grounded his transition into IT services and enterprise software, where he spent over 35 years leading delivery, consulting, operations and business teams. Along the way, in 2006, he authored a book on the realities of IT service offshoring based on his practical experience in the field.

At the end of 2024, Mario stepped away from full-time corporate roles into retirement. He spent that time building Klyve, an automated desktop software factory that implemented an SDLC to build full software applications using agentic AI. It was built around strict engineering controls, deterministic design, and local data privacy.

For Mario, managing career shifts comes down to fundamentals. Staying useful across changing industries requires an openness to lifelong learning, disciplined routine, steady execution, and personal standards while tracking industry and technology trends."

Mario may be reached at: mariolewis @ gmail.com.

The Klyve repo is at https://github.com/mariolewis/klyve_factory

His book (from 2006) is available at https://www.amazon.in/Application-Service-Offshoring-Insiders-Guide/dp/0761935258

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In this episode of Software People Stories, I speak with Saraswathi, a marketing leader with over 15 years of cross-industry experience, about the role of marketing in technology—especially how product marketers translate technical ideas into stories customers can understand and care about. We talk about digital communication, customer empathy, product adoption, AI in marketing, useful metrics, and practical career advice for anyone curious about moving into marketing. It is a thoughtful conversation on bridging products, people, and business impact.

Among the highlights from this conversation are:

• Marketing fundamentals stay consistent, but customer pain points differ across industries.
• Digital content must be concise, compelling, and quick to capture attention.
• Audience niches and personalization help messages resonate better.
• Product marketers act as the bridge between product, UX, sales, and customers.
• Training works best when broken into short, accessible, in-product learning moments.
• Email remains effective when segmented and relevant to the audience.
• AI helps with competitive research, brainstorming, mockups, and faster first drafts.
• Brand voice can be protected by giving AI clear style guides, examples, and do’s and don’ts.
• Marketing impact should connect to opportunities, conversions, and revenue—not only vanity metrics.
• Support tickets offer unfiltered customer insight and can shape better messaging and product decisions.
• Career switchers can use transferable skills and start by getting closer to customers.
• Planning, yoga, short walks, and pausing before reacting help Saraswathi stay calm and grounded.



Saraswathi Shanth Kumar (Sara) is a marketing leader with over 15 years of cross-industry experience translating complex products into compelling market stories. Her career spans advertising, journalism, SaaS, and Big Tech, leading to her current role at an edtech company in the Bay Area. Sara sees product marketing as the critical translator between product and market — and approaches every challenge with a problem-solver's mindset and a startup's appetite for experimentation. Outside of work, you can find her gardening, practicing yoga, and hiking the many trails in the Bay.

My LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/saraskumar

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My guest today is Chander Sankaran, an ERP and change management Specialist. With a professional background in finance and accounting, he has played many cross-functional roles that bridge the gap between finance and information technology.

In this conversation, Chander talks about

• Beginning his career in finance and accounting, then entering software through early ERP implementation work in a manufacturing plant in India.
• His move to the U.S. in the late 1990s
• How his accounting and operational background helped him stand out in consulting by giving him stronger context for business requirements.
• Critical factors for smooth go-lives
• The importance of change management for any enterprise technology work
• How factors such as global teams and hybrid work models require flexibility
• The benefits of AI in improving individual productivity
• Some concerns about AI’s environmental footprint and its potential effect on entry-level roles.
• He also shares practical career advice including keeping a resume updated, understanding that everyone is replaceable
• His personal practices for staying grounded

Chander S is an ERP Specialist based in Texas, and originally from Chennai, India. With a professional background in finance and accounting, he has played in cross-functional roles that bridge the gap between finance and information technology. Outside of work, Chander enjoys yoga, trekking, and volunteering in his local community.

He may be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/chander-sankaran-9027503/

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My guest today is Mathangi Sri Ramachandran, Co-Founder of YuVerse. The conversation included Mathangi ’s early fascination with data-driven decision-making → AI as a force for democratisation → empathy at scale → career choices driven by impact → sustaining a long career as a woman → the ecosystem behind innovation and patents.

00:00 – Introduction: A life and career deeply rooted in AI

Mathangi introduces herself as someone whose “heart and soul” are in AI. She talks about her role as CEO and co-founder of U-verse, a last-mile AI company focused on taking frontier AI models beyond experimentation and applying them to real business workflows and outcomes.

01:20 – What does “last-mile AI” really mean?

Mathangi explains the gap between powerful frontier models and actual enterprise outcomes. She discusses how AI transformation requires bringing together technology, workflows and the human elements of work—across banking, insurance, real estate, retail and other industries.

02:30 – A 20-year journey in data science

Long before the current generative AI wave, Mathangi was working in data science and analytics. She reflects on the long history of AI and reminds us that data-driven decision-making, machine learning and conversational technologies have been evolving for decades.

03:50 – The campus interview that changed her career direction

A simple example during a GE campus interview at NIT Trichy—using data to decide where windmills should be located—sparked Mathangi’s interest in scientific, data-driven decision-making. That idea became a defining theme throughout her career.

05:00 – Using data to improve decisions at scale

From marketing analytics to risk scorecards in financial services, Mathangi saw first-hand how large-scale data could improve enterprise decision-making. She shares her belief that moving from human judgement alone towards data-informed systems can help reduce bias and democratise access.

06:30 – Can machines deliver empathy at scale?

In one of the most thought-provoking parts of the conversation, Mathangi challenges the assumption that machines cannot be empathetic. Drawing from her experience with conversational AI, she argues that machines can deliver consistent empathy across hundreds or thousands of difficult interactions in ways that are extremely challenging for human agents.

07:40 – Why difficult customer conversations can escalate

Using debt collection conversations as an example, Mathangi explains the emotional burden placed on human agents who may handle a hundred difficult calls every day. She demonstrates how quickly a human-to-human interaction can escalate—and how well-designed conversational AI can maintain consistency and bring the emotional temperature down.

09:35 – From an idea today to an outcome tomorrow

The arrival of large language models has dramatically shortened the distance between an idea and its implementation. For Mathangi, this makes the current era one of the most exciting times to work in AI.

10:55 – What continues to motivate her after two decades?

The answer is simple: possibilities. Mathangi talks about her desire to use technology to build a better world by reducing bias, improving decision-making and democratising access to services.

11:20 – AI, financial inclusion and a more equitable world

Better decision-making can enable deeper financial inclusion and expand access to capital. Mathangi connects AI and data science to a larger societal purpose: ensuring that more deserving people can access opportunities without being excluded by individual biases or subjective judgements.

12:50 – AI and access to healthcare and emotional support

Mathangi explores the possibilities of AI in healthcare and therapy, particularly for people in underserved communities. She imagines a woman in a remote village being able to safely access a culturally aware, local-language AI companion when human support may be unavailable or difficult to approach.

14:45 – Why this is the best time to be working in AI

Ideas that once took years to reach the market can now move from concept to implementation at extraordinary speed. Mathangi reflects on why she has never enjoyed her work more than she does today.

15:55 – Where the rubber meets the road: making AI deliver impact

Looking across her career, Mathangi describes her current entrepreneurial journey as particularly impactful because she can not only build AI solutions but also take them directly into enterprises—improving processes such as customer conversations, underwriting and claims processing.

17:40 – The AI tailwind and pressure from the boardroom

AI adoption is increasingly being driven from the top. Boards are asking organisations what they have done with AI and, importantly, what measurable impact it has created. Mathangi discusses both the opportunities and the risks of this pressure.

18:35 – Leadership is hard 95% of the time

Mathangi offers a candid perspective on leadership: most days can be difficult and can test your sense of purpose. But the small percentage of moments when you see meaningful impact can make all that difficulty worthwhile.

19:15 – Choosing a bigger canvas over compensation

Throughout her career, Mathangi has made decisions based on one guiding principle: where can she create the maximum impact? At times, that has meant walking away from significant compensation and lifestyle benefits in exchange for a larger canvas on which to build and contribute.

20:55 – A lesson from her mother: “Keep your job”

Mathangi shares one of the most important pieces of advice she received from her mother. Through motherhood, travel, guilt and the many pressures women encounter, she remained determined not to compromise on her career.

21:40 – Designing life around a career, not a career around everything else

Rather than fitting her career around domestic responsibilities, Mathangi says she consciously worked to organise her personal life so that her career could continue. She reflects on the grit required to sustain a career over more than two decades.

23:20 – The invisible infrastructure behind a long career

Mathangi speaks with gratitude about mentors, organisations and, especially, her family. She explains why support at home is foundational to sustaining a demanding career—and why a headwind at home can be far harder to overcome than challenges at work.

25:00 – Staying rooted in Bangalore while building a global career

Despite opportunities to relocate internationally, Mathangi made a conscious decision to keep Bangalore as her family’s home base. Instead of treating that as a limitation, she built her career around the constraint—travelling extensively while remaining rooted in one place.

27:00 – The story behind nearly 100 patents

Mathangi credits the innovation ecosystem at [24]7.ai for creating the conditions in which patentable ideas could flourish. She discusses why innovation requires more than individual creativity—it also needs organisational encouragement, funding, legal support and processes.

28:20 – What makes an idea patent-worthy?

Not every mathematically sophisticated model becomes a patent. Mathangi explains that patentable ideas need novelty, meaningful technological application and executability. She reflects on what she learned about innovation, prior art and protecting ideas during her time in an organisation that actively encouraged invention.

29:58 – The ecosystem that enables innovation

Reflecting on Mathangi’s experience of filing nearly 100 patents, the conversation highlights how innovation is rarely an individual effort alone. A supportive organisational ecosystem—including encouragement from the team, financial resources, processes and institutional support—can make a significant difference in turning ideas into protected innovations.

31:15 – Career advice for young women: build grit and resilience

Mathangi’s first piece of advice is particularly for young women entering the workforce: develop the grit not only to grow, but first to survive and persist. She speaks candidly about the headwinds women can encounter over the course of a career, including societal biases, workplace biases and even self-imposed pressures.

31:50 – Why biases can become more visible as women progress

Mathangi reflects on something she wishes she had understood earlier: biases may become more pronounced as women move into more senior positions. Being aware of this possibility, she says, can help women build the resilience needed to navigate difficult moments without being completely shaken by them.

32:55 – “Resilience is the crux of a long career”

Her advice is simple and powerful: don’t give up. For women in particular, where the headwinds may be stronger, resilience and the ability to keep going are fundamental to sustaining a long career.

33:10 – Advice for AI professionals: start with the problem, not the technology

Whether the technology is AI, LLMs, data science, machine learning or whatever comes next, one thing remains constant: the problem. Mathangi urges technology professionals to develop genuine empathy for the person experiencing the problem they are trying to solve.

33:35 – Let the problem guide the solution

Rather than starting with a technology and searching for a problem to fit it into, Mathangi advocates the reverse: understand and empathise with a meaningful problem, and then use your skills and technology to solve it. Finding the right problem to work on, she suggests, can shape as much as 90% of a career.

34:00 – Exposure, curiosity and finding problems worth solving

Finding meaningful problems requires stepping outside one’s immediate world—speaking with people, seeking different perspectives and actively looking for opportunities to contribute. This mindset is valuable whether someone is just beginning their career or is already a senior executive.

34:25 – Ending where the conversation began: empathy

The episode comes full circle. What began as a discussion about empathy in AI ends with empathy as Mathangi’s central piece of career advice: understand the people and problems you are solving for. Alongside grit and resilience, empathy becomes the connecting thread across technology, innovation, leadership and a long career.

Quotable quotes“Machines can do empathy at scale,”

“Give me a handkerchief, I’ll make it into a huge blanket and then paint on it,”

“Whatever it is, I’m not going to compromise my career—and I’m unabashedly so.”

Brief Bio

Mathangi Sri Ramachandran is an accomplished technology leader, data scientist, and AI practitioner with extensive experience in building and scaling data-driven products, platforms, and teams. Over the course of her career, she has worked at the intersection of technology, data, artificial intelligence, and business, helping organisations translate complex technical possibilities into meaningful outcomes.

Beyond her professional achievements, Mathangi is passionate about building strong technology communities, mentoring the next generation of professionals, and encouraging more women to grow and thrive in technology and leadership roles. She brings a valuable combination of deep technical expertise, leadership experience, curiosity, and a practical perspective on how technology continues to shape the way we work and build.

In this conversation, we explore Mathangi’s journey through the world of technology and data, the experiences and choices that have shaped her career, and the lessons she has gathered along the way.

Mathangi can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathangisri/

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My guest today is Sree Krishna Kumaraswamy, known more popularly as Krishna, a data and analytics leader with over 20 years of experience spanning consulting and large enterprise technology companies

In this conversation, Krishna

• traces his journey from growing up in Chennai with an expected engineering path to discovering mathematics and statistics through the Indian Statistical Institute
• Talks about his early work in applied statistics and computer vision,applying concepts of machine learning before “data science” became a mainstream term.
• Describes how Carnegie Mellon’s Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining program deepened his exposure to algorithms, natural language processing, unstructured data, and the business applications of predictive modeling.
• Emphasizes that generative AI is powerful but costly, and the need to use it thoughtfully
• Stresses that responsibility for ethical data use is shared across organizations, including data scientists, engineers, governance teams, risk leaders, executives, and users.
• Touches on data poisoning, cyber threats, and the growing need for systems that can detect fast-moving patterns without overreacting to every small data change.
• His career advice for those aspiring to enter or switch to data science roles
• Shares his grounding principle is the “so what, who cares?” test: work on problems that matter to someone, find partners who care about the outcome, and focus on impact rather than technology for its own sake.

Krishna is a data and analytics leader with over 20 years of experience spanning consulting and large enterprise technology companies. With an academic background in statistics and machine learning, he has spent his career turning data and AI into tools that help businesses make better decisions.

Most recently, he led data and AI product teams at Salesforce, where he built self-serve analytics and AI tools used by tens of thousands of employees, and predictive systems that helped the company better serve its customers. Throughout his career, he has focused on bridging the gap between technical teams and business needs, bringing a product mindset to data science and AI.

He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two kids.

His profile : https://www.linkedin.com/in/kkumaraswamy/

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My guest today is Elangovan Shanmugam, a seasoned software professional with over 30 years of experience. Among the multiple roles Elangovan has played are Distinguished Engineer, Director of Engineering, leading strategic AI transformation initiatives in a large organization.

In this conversation Elangovan:

• Traces his journey from FoxPro and 4MB RAM days to AI engineering
• Shares how software evolved from standalone systems to connected business ecosystems.
• A major theme is that the problem often stays the same, but the solution changes.
• Elangovan describes AI agents as digital humans that help people interact naturally with systems.
• He explains that in software patents, the method of solving a problem can be patentable.
• His advice for professionals: embrace AI, keep evolving, and don’t stay in a comfort zone.

Elangovan Shanmugam is a seasoned software professional with over 30 years of experience. He has held multiple roles—Distinguished Engineer, Director of Engineering, and now leading strategic AI transformation initiatives.

Most recently, he led a 40-person organization through a fundamental shift: teaching traditional engineering teams to think and operate as AI engineering organizations.

He has worked at the intersection of deep technical architecture and enterprise leadership—helping CTOs and organizations figure out what changes when AI becomes native to how you build.

He also has the distinction of receiving multiple innovation awards and has over 20 patents issued to his credit!

He is super passionate about solving tough problems for customers!

He may be reached at: elangovan.shanmugam @ gmail.com

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In this episode of Software People Stories, Gayatri Kalyanaraman speaks with Indra Vidyaprakash, Vice President | Workday Chennai Site Leader, for a conversation spanning three decades of technology evolution. From her early fascination with programming in Coimbatore and her journey through Cornell University, Oracle, and Silicon Valley, to returning to Chennai to establish and scale Workday's India presence, Indira shares lessons learned across every major technology shift—from the internet era and enterprise software revolution to today's AI-driven future.

The conversation explores product management, customer-centric innovation, leadership, mentorship, women in technology, startup investing, and the importance of staying curious in a rapidly changing world. Through stories of reinvention, growth, and building high-performing teams, Indira offers valuable insights for technology professionals, aspiring leaders, and lifelong learners navigating their own careers

Timestamped Show Notes

00:00 – Welcome to Software People StoriesGayatri introduces Indra Vidyaprakash, Site Leader at Workday India and a technology leader whose career spans Oracle, Workday, product management, and organizational leadership.

00:44 – The Atari That Started It AllIndra reflects on her childhood in Coimbatore and how an Atari gaming console sparked her fascination with logic, programming, and problem-solving. Long before technology became a career, it had already become a passion.

02:19 – PSG Tech, Family Legacy, and the Pursuit of LearningA discussion about growing up in Coimbatore, studying Computer Science at PSG Tech, the influence of her grandfather J.R. Damodaran, and the importance of education and lifelong learning.

04:00 – HCL, Cornell, and the American DreamIndra shares her journey from HCL Technologies in Chennai to pursuing a Master's degree at Cornell University, experiencing a new educational culture, and entering the world of advanced computing.

06:30 – Landing in Silicon Valley During the Oracle EraWhat it was like to join Oracle in 1997 and witness the rise of enterprise software, internet adoption, and the dot-com boom from the heart of Silicon Valley.

08:10 – Why Engineering Alone Wasn't EnoughAfter nearly a decade as a software engineer, Indra found herself asking an important question: "Who is actually using what I'm building?" That question ultimately led her toward product management.

10:45 – Reinventing Herself Through Product ManagementIndra discusses taking a career break, exploring an MBA, learning new business skills, and ultimately transitioning into product management through curiosity and self-discovery rather than a predefined career plan.

14:08 – Learning Design Thinking Before It Became a BuzzwordHow customer empathy, usability testing, user-centered design, and direct customer interaction became foundational to her product leadership approach.

16:00 – The Magic of Product ConferencesIndra reflects on Oracle OpenWorld, customer interactions, product demonstrations, analyst briefings, and how conferences became one of her favorite aspects of product management.

18:38 – Moving from Oracle to WorkdayA story about relationships, professional networks, and following trusted colleagues into a new opportunity that would shape the next decade of her career.

20:30 – Why Culture MattersIndra explains how Workday's employee-centric culture, customer focus, and collaborative environment became major factors in her decision to join the company.

22:17 – Entering the World of HR TechnologyThe challenges and opportunities of moving into HR and Financial ERP systems, understanding customer trust, compliance, security, and building enterprise software at scale.

26:00 – NEYTHRI and Supporting Women LeadersIndra discusses joining NEYTHRI, a professional network for South Asian women leaders, and how community-building eventually led her to participate as an investor in NEYTHRI’s venture fund.

28:45 – Why Representation MattersA conversation about women entrepreneurs, access to capital, and the importance of creating opportunities for women founders and leaders.

30:00 – Returning Home After Three DecadesAfter nearly 30 years in the United States, Indra shares the story behind her decision to return to Chennai and lead the establishment of Workday's India operations.

32:00 – Building Workday ChennaiHow Workday selected Chennai, what it takes to build a new technology center from the ground up, and why creating culture is just as important as creating infrastructure.

34:00 – Scaling Talent and Building Future LeadersIndra discusses mentoring, leadership development, gender diversity, and the excitement of working with AI-native graduates entering the workforce today.

36:30 – Product Innovation, AI, and Learning Through ExperimentationLessons from introducing chatbot technology years before today's Generative AI wave, balancing innovation with customer trust, and the importance of thoughtful experimentation.

39:00 – The Importance of Small ExperimentsWhy successful innovation often begins with a small group of trusted customers, rapid feedback loops, and disciplined iteration.

42:00 – The Most Important Leadership Trait: Growth MindsetIndra reflects on the influence of lifelong learning, adaptability, and why curiosity has remained her greatest career advantage.

44:00 – AI, Accessibility, and India's Digital LeapA fascinating discussion on how AI is democratizing access to knowledge, enabling multilingual interaction, and creating opportunities across diverse communities.

46:00 – Human Connections Still MatterDespite advances in AI, Indra emphasizes that relationships, collaboration, trust, and empathy remain the foundations of meaningful work and leadership.

48:00 – Final Advice: Stay CuriousIndra closes the episode with her advice for the next generation: continue learning, embrace change, remain curious, and never lose sight of the human element behind technology.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/indiravidyaprakash/

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My guest today is Ian Hogg, the Chairman of SolvedBy.ai, an applied AI company helping SaaS vendors embed enterprise-grade forecasting, demand and decision intelligence directly into their platforms. In this conversation,

• Ian shares his background, from the Royal Navy and Xerox to building early web businesses, a SaaS platform, and an AI-focused company.
• He describes how his SaaS business began by solving his own operational problem and then expanded when others in the industry recognized the same need.
• He shares how, In enterprise AI, one needs to distinguish decision-support and forecasting systems from generative AI
• Ian highlights that AI adoption in organizations depends heavily on leadership behavior
• The conversation also covers mindset barriers, the empowerment of non-technical users, and the need to build confidence through hands-on experimentation rather than waiting for formal permission or perfect readiness.
• On branding and customer acceptance, Ian explains that people may resist AI if it feels like replacement, but respond more positively when it is framed as assistive and human-in-the-loop.
• He shares career advice for both newcomers and mid-career professionals
• In closing, he shares aspects that help him stay grounded

Ian Hogg is Chairman of SolvedBy.ai, an applied AI company helping SaaS vendors embed enterprise-grade forecasting, demand and decision intelligence directly into their platforms.

He has spent his career building, scaling and investing in software businesses, with a particular focus on workforce management, SaaS partnerships and AI-driven operational optimisation.

Ian is a strong voice on the “SaaS apocalypse” — the idea that AI will expose weak, seat-based SaaS models while creating huge opportunities for vendors that own deep workflow, data and distribution.

At SolvedBy.ai, he is focused on helping SaaS companies add the AI layer their customers now expect, without needing to build specialist AI engines from scratch.

Ian may be reached at:

https://x.com/ianhogg88

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianhoggworktechgroup/

https://solvedby.ai/

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In this episode of Software People Stories, Gayatri Kalyanaraman sits down with Rajshri Kidambi, CEO of Radus Software LLC, for an inspiring and deeply personal conversation. Rajshri shares her journey from arriving in the United States as an H4 dependent to building a successful software company serving federal agencies for over two decades. Together, they discuss entrepreneurship, motherhood, Agile transformation, government technology, resilience, AI, and the power of taking calculated risks. A thoughtful conversation about leadership, growth, and creating impact that lasts.

Timestamped Show Notes00:00 – Welcome to Software People Stories - Gayatri introduces Rajshri Kidambi, CEO of Radus Software LLC, and sets the stage for a conversation spanning technology, entrepreneurship, leadership, and life.00:57 – From Electronics Engineering to Software Development. Rajshri shares her early journey—from studying Electronics & Telecommunications Engineering in India to arriving in the U.S. on an H4 visa and transitioning into software development during the tech talent boom of the 1990s.02:38 – The Birth of Radus Software. After nearly a decade at CACI Federal, Rajshri realized she could build a company of her own. She discusses the decision to launch Radus Software and the motivation behind becoming an entrepreneur.05:43 – Discovering a Passion Beyond Programming. Moving from coding to customer interactions, Rajshri explains how becoming a subject matter expert and presenting software solutions to military stakeholders revealed her aptitude for business development and sales.07:18 – Overcoming Language and Confidence Barriers. Growing up in a Kannada-medium school, Rajshri initially struggled with confidence in professional communication. She shares how experience helped her overcome those challenges.09:11 – The Turning Point: Why She Started Her Own Company. Rajshri discusses seeing the value she created for her employer, understanding government contracting economics, and making the leap into entrepreneurship while raising young twins.11:28 – Motherhood, Career Pivots, and Personal Choices. An honest discussion on balancing career ambitions with family priorities, and why every woman's professional journey follows a different path.14:49 – Wearing Every Hat in a Startup. Rajshri reflects on the early years of Radus Software, where she managed accounting, invoicing, operations, contracts, and business development while learning entrepreneurship from the ground up.17:31 – Building Software for the U.S. Federal Government. Rajshri discusses her work across agencies including the Department of Defense, FAA, GSA, and NNSA, and explains how government technology modernization differs from the commercial sector.19:19 – Digital Transformation, Data Governance & SAM.gov. A look into large-scale government modernization initiatives, Agile adoption, business process automation, and the evolution of digital government platforms.22:48 – Agile, SAFE Frameworks, and Government Transformation. Gayatri and Rajshri compare experiences implementing Agile practices in government organizations and discuss the challenges of cultural transformation.26:01 – Working with Multiple Vendors on Large Government Programs. Rajshri explains the realities of delivering federal programs alongside large consulting firms, balancing collaboration, competition, and customer expectations.37:19 – Building Credibility as a Small Business. The journey from subcontractor to trusted prime contractor and the importance of past performance, reputation, and persistence in federal procurement.38:45 – The Highs of a 25-Year Entrepreneurial Journey. Rajshri shares one of her proudest moments—co-presenting with SAFE creator Dean Leffingwell and showcasing Radus Software's Agile product innovation.41:18 – The Lowest Point: Losing a Contract She Loved A deeply personal reflection on losing a major FAA contract after years of investment and how family support and lessons from the Bhagavad Gita helped her recover.45:06 – The One CEO Responsibility She Will Never Delegate. Why customer relationships remain the foundation of business growth and long-term success.47:15 – Looking Ahead: AI, Automation, and Agentic Systems. Rajshri discusses the future of AI, how tools like ChatGPT and Gemini are already changing the way people work, and the importance of governance and guardrails.50:52 – Human Intelligence in an AI-Powered World. A conversation about preserving critical thinking while embracing AI-assisted productivity.53:30 – Final Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs. Rajshri's closing message: take calculated risks, build something you care about, stay resilient, and enjoy the journey.

55:44 – Closing Remarks. Gayatri wraps up the conversation and thanks Rajshri for sharing her story and insights.Memorable Quotes"If I can do it, anybody can do it."

"Take calculated risks."

"Relationships are what give you business."

"You should be passionate, but not too attached to the outcome."

"The future belongs to people who can work with AI, not compete against it." (paraphrased from discussion)

Rajashri (“Raj”) Sankavaram, CEO Radus Software LLC, is the driving force behind the company’s culture of excellence, integrity, and continuous innovation. With a strong background in quality management, program delivery, and organizational leadership, she has built Radus into a trusted federal and commercial partner known for precision, transparency, and reliability. Raj is the evangelist behind the creation of Metronome Orchestrated Agile®️, the company’s flagship platform that unites human-centric design, compliance automation, and AI-assisted orchestration to simplify complex software delivery. Under her leadership, Radus has achieved recognition for its federal contracting excellence, delivering mission-critical solutions for agencies such as the IRS, FAA, NNSA, and DHA. Her emphasis on collaboration, mentorship, and quality-driven growth continues to shape Radus as a company that not only delivers outcomes but also builds enduring relationships grounded in trust and accountability.

can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/raj-sankavaram-0947427/

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My guest today is a good friend and colleague - and not to forget with whom I was a co-author for a book, Paramu Kurumathur.

In this episode, Paramu discusses how his recent development work evolved from small Google Apps Script utilities copied and adapted from online examples to building AI-connected applications via APIs to tools like Gemini and ChatGPT, including enabling Q&A over his book content.

He describes surprises from “conversing” with his books—especially that LLMs retain details he has forgotten—while noting key risks such as hallucinations and the need for precise prompts. He explains learning Cursor with guidance from our colleague, Raja, discovering that it can generate code, and rapidly producing a proof of concept that maps citizens to the Government welfare schemes using PDFs, Chroma DB, sentence transformers, and queues—work that took about a week instead of months.

The conversation contrasts older development eras with today’s dependency-heavy environments, argues many SDLC intermediate steps are compressed, and highlights transferable mid-career skills in requirements and problem translation, alongside concerns about limited debugging and testing depth.

The timestamps are approximate and do not include the time for the intro. Add about 90 seconds to locate the section

00:00 Welcome and Setup

01:16 Rediscovering Coding via Apps Script

02:02 Connecting Scripts to LLM APIs

03:21 Talking to Your Own Book

05:32 Hallucinations and Prompt Control

06:50 Learning Cursor and Building a POC

09:09 Old School Dev vs Modern Tooling

12:00 AI Changes the SDLC

13:36 Testing and Trusting AI Output

15:10 Debugging Gaps and Assumptions

16:34 Setting AI Standards

17:20 Mid Career Transfer Skills

18:48 Prompting Without Hallucinations

20:21 Courses vs Learning by Doing

23:25 Overcoming First Step Fear

25:24 LLM Limits in Astronomy

28:24 Cursor for Reliable Code

29:37 Anybody Can Code Now

31:13 Next Projects and Wrap Up

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My guest today is Evan J. Schwartz, the COO of AMCS Group North America, a global leader in sustainable cloud technology. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor and Board Advisor at Jacksonville University, mentoring graduate students in AI, cybersecurity, and technical project management.

Evan traces his technology origin from early-1980s bulletin board systems to founding a company that built graphic multiplayer BBS games and a scripted graphics language,

that he says predated HTML, reaching 33 titles across a global BBS market before the internet rapidly displaced it around 1995.

He then shifted from internet gaming into business software, automating insurance workflows and later working in commodity and “reverse logistics” industries including forestry, natural gas, and waste/recycling at AMCS, citing route optimization across 770,000 trucks that saves 17–20 gallons of diesel per truck.

He discusses why ERP adoption is hard, advocating game-design-style gradual introduction, putting people first, and having product teams do end-user jobs.

He emphasizes vendor relationships over feature requests, AI governance and risk frameworks, a “person + AI” stewardship model, and evolving education/career paths toward broad skills, clear communication, domain knowledge, and knowing what “good” looks like.

The timestamps are approximate and do not include the time for the intro. Add about 90 seconds to locate the section

00:00 Welcome and Setup

00:31 Early Computing Origins

01:20 Building BBS Games

03:02 Internet Shift to Business

05:01 Reverse Logistics Mission

06:34 ERP and AI Adoption

08:31 Gaming Lessons for ERP

11:03 People First Strategy

13:00 Empathy by Doing the Job

17:29 Vendor Trust and Roadmaps

21:31 Universities vs AI Change

24:58 Training Architects Without Coding

26:03 AI as Faster Camera

26:58 Stewardship Over Replacement

28:34 Why Hallucinations Happen

29:52 Capstones in One Class

30:37 Excel to AI Migration

33:08 M&A Governance Interop

35:45 EU AI Act Reality Check

37:56 Culture Shapes Adoption

40:31 Interstellar Waiting Trap

41:53 Career Skills for Stewards

44:41 Quiet Failure Risk

45:57 Protect Time and Values

48:52 Closing Thanks

Evan J. Schwartz is the COO of AMCS Group North America, a global leader in sustainable cloud technology. With 35+ years of experience in resource-intensive industries like waste, recycling, and natural gas, he drives digital transformation through AI and data science. Formerly AMCS’s Chief Enterprise Architect, Evan is also an adjunct professor at Jacksonville University, mentoring future IT leaders. A Forbes Technology Council member and sought-after speaker, he advocates for AI-driven sustainability and ethical tech. His bestselling book, People, Places, and Things, cements his expertise in seamless ERP implementation.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

Website: https://www.evanjschwartz.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-schwartz-live/

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My guest today is Chaitra Partha Rao, Vice President at Daimler Truck Innovation Center India – Manufacturing , Sales & Aftersales.

Chaitra shares how her childhood aspirations to become a neurosurgeon shifted to commerce due to cost constraints, eventually leading her into IT through an internship at a medical diagnostics firm automating stores processes.

She describes observing early requirement-gathering and MVP-style delivery, learning the importance of user empathy, and contrasts it with a later failure where a $15M trading interface was rejected because designers didn’t listen to analysts.

Her career spans core banking, Fidelity-style investing, equity trading transformation (including crypto/digital assets focus in 2015–2017), and automotive/trucking, emphasizing designing for human touchpoints even amid AI trends.

She discusses patience versus outcome-chasing, staying focused via “recalculating” and timeboxing, scaling systems using “day in the life” simulations, cross-cultural user commonalities, cautious optimism about synthetic data, guidance for women returning from career breaks, and grounding routines like yoga, reflection, cooking, and music.

The timestamps are approximate and do not include the time for the intro. Add about 90 seconds to locate the section

00:00 Welcome and Setup

00:42 From Medicine to Commerce

02:37 First IT Breakthrough

05:41 Curiosity Meets Automation

10:56 User Empathy in Practice

16:33 Human Touch vs AI

18:39 Patience and Ambition

22:04 Staying Focused Timeboxing

26:07 Commute Predictability Hacks

26:37 Banking vs Trading Reality

28:10 Learning Traders Language

31:27 Designing for Scale Patterns

36:38 Cross Culture User Insights

40:12 AI Synthetic Personas Limits

44:27 Returning After Career Break

49:12 Staying Grounded Daily Routine

51:13 Closing Reflections Thanks

Chaitra is a seasoned leader with 26 years of experience in IT traversing through Fintech & Automotive domains. Her formative leadership experience stems from working for Fidelity Investments , a company that shaped who she is while putting it to practice and being able to coach and nurture A teams is an opportunity that she experiences with her current organization.

She has played various roles that have taken her through learning paths that have been challenging as well as fulfilling in the areas of technology, process and team building.

She calls herself as ‘still a work-in-progress’, curious learner who takes one day at a time , enjoying it to the maximum and helping coach leaders and teams to bring their best.

She may be reached on: chaitrasreesha@gmail.com

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My guest today is Tyler Wells, co-founder of Brain Grid.

Tyler recounts 25+ years in software, from an early IBM XT to work across military communications, startups, Skype/Microsoft, and seven and a half years at Twilio building video and SRE organizations, before founding Propel Data (which didn’t find product-market fit) and then Brain Grid.

He describes an experiment-driven approach to building high-performance systems by defining hypotheses, creating a “steel thread” MVP, and prioritizing observability for 2:00 AM incidents.

He discusses how AI coding shifts focus from typing code to architecture, documentation, critical thinking, and red-teaming plans, while warning that agents need guidance on separation of concerns and DRY to avoid refactor side effects. Brain Grid emerged from using Cursor agents during Propel’s wind-down and aims to generate detailed specs, acceptance criteria, and validation loops so agents implement features reliably, with attention to token efficiency.

He also covers co-founder traits, chaos engineering, compliance challenges for solopreneurs, career advice, and staying grounded through exercise, cooking, and family.

Tyler Wells is the Co-founder and CTO at BrainGrid, BrainGrid is one of the first platforms built specifically to replace the missing product management role in AI-native software development.

He is currently building BrainGrid — helping engineering teams ship faster with AI-assisted requirements breakdown and task management. We're focused on bridging the gap between product ideas and implementation-ready work.

His Background: He has spent 25+ years building systems where failure isn't an option—from satellite communications at Hughes Space to real-time video at global scale. I led the team that built Facebook's first video calling feature powered by Skype, then spent 7+ years at Twilio building their Video Platform (WebRTC) and leading SRE/Observability across the company.

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My guest today is L.A. Balamurugan, known as Bala. With extensive experience in software development, he now plays the role of a delivery coach.

In this conversation filled with nuggets from his experience, Bala shares his career journey from a computer science degree in the early 1990s to roles at HCL, Perot Systems in the US, and Manugistics.

After earning a master’s in information systems and software engineering from George Mason University, he joined HP Labs in Bangalore as an R&D project/program manager on HP OpenView and became involved in early Agile/Scrum adoption and scaling.

He later launched a boutique consulting firm and co-founded BookMyTrainings.com (a training marketplace), grew it with angel funding, and expanded into payment collection and L&D program management before COVID led to winding it down.

He then spent about seven years as an Agile coach and recently published a startup-focused book, "What I Wish I Knew Before Starting Up," covering founder blind spots, idea alignment, co-founder choices, and emotional resilience.

00:00 Welcome and Setup

00:30 Early Career at HCL

01:53 Textile Systems Tech Stack

02:28 US Onsite Perot Systems

03:41 Supply Chain at Manugistics

05:20 Return to India and Masters

06:13 HP Labs and Agile Shift

08:10 Entrepreneurship Leap

08:57 Building BookMyTrainings

10:23 Payments and Revenue Model

11:52 SAFe Training and Coaching

13:43 COVID Impact and Book Writing

16:22 Learning New Domains Fast

19:03 Dual Hat PM and Scrum

22:48 Two Sided Marketplace Insights

25:03 Training Pain Points

26:05 Building Trust Platform

26:53 Win Win Marketplace

29:26 AI In Learning Paths

32:06 Agile Culture Vs Delivery

34:49 Writing Startup Book

40:08 Career Tips In AI Era

44:47 Co Founder Dilemma

47:24 Staying Grounded

49:56 Closing Thoughts

L. A. Balamurugan, or Bala, began his career as a computer science engineer, studying in India and later completing his Master’s in the USA. After sixteen years building software products and leading teams, he moved into entrepreneurship, founding multiple ventures including BookMyTrainings, a well known training marketplace in India. Following the pandemic and the closure of the startup, Bala now works as a Delivery Coach helping software teams deliver better products faster. His entrepreneurial journey inspired his book, What I Wish I Knew Before I Started: A Founder’s Guide to Understanding One’s Blind Spots and Equipping Before Venturing.

Bala’s Linkedin profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/labmurugan

Link to his book: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0GFNP7NTG

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In this episode, I am in conversation with Rajesh Sharma, co-founder and chief product officer of ProHance. Rajesh covers a lot of ground starting from his move from Public Sector to SaaS Founder.

Rajesh describes his path from a modest middle-class upbringing in Shimla and a mechanical engineering degree to a stable career at HPCL, then a major career reset into software after quitting his public-sector job to take an IBM course and restarting as a trainee. He later co-founded JaMocha Tech (now ProHance) in 2009 with co-founder Kishore Reddy, backed early by angel investor Sudhir Sharma, aiming to build a world-class software product from India. After experimenting with multiple products and learning that market feedback matters more than expert opinions, they focused on ProHance, a horizontal work visibility and effectiveness platform, now with 250+ customers in 23 countries, ~200+ employees, and a private equity majority investor. He emphasizes the importance of complementary co-founders, supportive family, direct founder-customer feedback loops, profitability and frugality, outcome ownership, and adopting AI internally and in-product.

00:00 Welcome and Setup

01:00 Origin Story and Courage

02:10 From Shimla to Bangalore

04:22 Quitting HPCL for IT

07:06 Starting the Company

11:06 Why Team Matters

14:02 Family Support System

16:56 Finding Product Market Fit

18:45 Choosing the Winning Product

23:18 Selling a Horizontal SaaS

24:31 Business Meets Tech

25:48 Customer Value Mindset

27:36 Product Decisions and Risk

30:36 Start Small MVP

33:01 Founder Led Feedback Loop

35:28 Scaling Global Teams

36:05 Leaders From Customers

39:16 AI Adoption and Roadmap

46:03 Staying Grounded Values

50:21 Parting Advice Start Now

Rajesh Sharma is a first-generation entrepreneur and the co-founder of ProHance, a highly successful, self-funded, profitable SaaS startup built from the ground up in Bangalore, India.

Born and raised in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, Rajesh earned his degree in Mechanical Engineering from MNIT, Jaipur. He began his professional journey with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), one of India’s leading public sector oil and gas companies.

After over 12 years at HPCL, Rajesh identified the rising potential of the IT sector and made a strategic career transition in 2000, moving from a stable corporate role to the technology industry as a software engineer. He gained practical experience in software product development with companies including Network Solutions, International Decision Systems, and JSoft.

In 2009, Rajesh co-founded JaMocha Tech with Kishore Reddy (later renamed ProHance) where he leveraged his techno-functional expertise to build a profitable, debt-free SaaS enterprise. Today, ProHance stands as a global platform with over 200 enterprise customers and an annual recurring revenue (ARR) of around $18 million. In December 2023, ChrysCapital acquired a 75% stake in ProHance, fuelling its next phase of global expansion across regions such as the Philippines, Australia, and South America.

Throughout his career, he has consistently embraced roles beyond his core expertise, applying a hands-on, practical approach that combines on-the-job learning with sound judgment. This rare combination has shaped him into a leader with deep insight into both the business and technical aspects of running any enterprise.

Rajesh continues to be deeply involved with ProHance, now serving as its Chief Product Officer (CPO) after transitioning from his earlier role as COO. In this capacity, he continues to drive ProHance’s product vision, innovation, and technology roadmap—while mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs and builders navigating their own zero-to-one journeys.

Contact info: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajesh-sharma-12298447

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Host: Chitra Gurjar

• 4 decades and counting, always energized to do something, work is my DNA
• From post and telegraph to giving tuitions to creating her own agency to study
• An advocate for herself, nurturing her desire to serve
• Turning away “assured” job offers to join Defence Labs as a Scientist at CABS
• Moved onto a “lesser assurance” to join HP
• People and culture at the heart of her 3+decade stay at HP
• Challenging status quo, try and fail, Innovation has to be a part of one’s daily life
• Stay focused on problems that you are solving and layer tools and technology to solve your problem
• Focus on incremental delivery of value
• Holding a people vision through the course of her work
• Strong belief that “AI will improve the quality of jobs”
• Learning is a constant - continue to build
• Apply training and learning programs intentionally
• Working on a market analysis - next gen quoter
• Strong belief on impact of AI on Healthcare and Education
• Believing that coaching is something everyone should learn, enable people as answers lie within each one
• Working with a non-profit Daksham skills and Dreams Designs



Arundathi has been working in technology and leadership related roles for the last 40+ years. She

started her career as a Scientist at Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO), Ministry of Defence, India.

While at DRDO, she was involved in development of Radar transmitter and controller systems.

Arundathi joined Hewlett Packard in 1996 and during her 27+ year career in HP and HPE, she has

worked in multiple roles across various business units. Under her leadership, HP rolled out multiple

market leading internet services related products on HPUX. She was on one of the key leader

responsible for setting up Global IT teams offshore centre in India in 2004. She has managed a team

of 3000+ technologists delivering for IT, across multiple technologies and multiple business areas

enabling HP(E)’s business. She has successfully lead and delivered multiple IT transformation

projects. She has also lead the people transformation to move towards digital technologies in

alignment with the market trends and business needs. She has had a short stint of 2 years at EY as

the Engineering leader for India, in Client Technology, building on Product engineering and delivery

capability. In the recent past she was the Global Program Manager for HPE’s industry leading Next

Generation IT transformation program. She leads the Global Delivery Services organisation, which is

the internal the delivery engine for GIT. She is also the India leader for HPE’s Global IT.

Arundathi has led several initiatives in people transformation towards digital transformation,

customer centricity and employee engagement. She is passionate about building teams and leaders

who are future proof and future safe. She has a strong passion towards building women leaders in

technology and mentored and coached many women through focussed initiatives. She has also had

a stint as the chairperson at HP for Prevention of Sexual Harassment at workplace.

Arundathi has as Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical and Electronics from Government

College of Technology, Coimbatore and Master of Technology from Indian Institute of Technology,

Madras (IITM). She is a certified coach.

During her free time, Arundathi loves to teach, coach, travel and read.

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In this episode of Software People Stories, Gayatri speaks with Muthusamy Vetrivel, Manager – Business Analytics at Saudi National Bank (formerly Saudi French Bank), about a career that spans over four decades of technological disruption.

Vetrivel’s journey is anything but conventional.

He began in the granite export business — negotiating documents and standing nervously at bank counters. That experience sparked curiosity: “What happens behind the counter?” That curiosity led him into banking.

In the mid-1980s, when computers first entered Indian banks, he was among a select group trained in programming through Aptech — at a time when unions resisted “computers” and they were rebranded as Advanced Ledger Posting Machines (ALPM).

From:

• Assembly language and MS-DOS
• 20 MB storage limits
• 286 machines and floppy disks
• Writing modules for savings and current accounts

To:

• Oracle databases
• LAN networks
• Core banking migrations
• And today — analyzing 5 million customer records in seconds

Vetrivel has lived through every wave of banking transformation.

Now in Riyadh, he leads Business Analytics — studying customer behavior, spending patterns, and helping the bank design better financial products while staying compliant with regulations governed by the Saudi Central Bank.

Beyond banking, he serves as a community leader with the Riyadh Tamil Sangam — supporting migrant workers, coordinating repatriation flights during COVID, promoting Tamil literacy, and building recognized Tamil-speaking Toastmasters clubs globally.

His philosophy is simple:

Be sincere.

Be honest.

Contribute a little more than expected.

A rare combination of technical depth, regulatory understanding, business acumen, and grassroots community service — this episode is a masterclass in longevity, relevance, and purpose.

Muthusamy Vetrivel is a seasoned Banking and Data Analytics Specialist with over three decades of combined experience in both information technology and banking operations. He currently serves as Manager – Business Analytics at Saudi National Bank (formerly Banque Saudi Fransi), where he leads analytics initiatives that harness customer insights, large-scale data, and business intelligence to drive product design, customer understanding, and strategic decision-making.

Vetrivel’s career uniquely spans core banking systems, software project management, and data analysis, rooted in deep experience with legacy banking platforms and modern analytics environments. Over the years, he has witnessed firsthand the evolution of banking technology — from early MIS and core banking implementations to advanced analytics workflows processing millions of records.

Beyond his professional domain, Muthusamy is also known for community leadership, particularly through his involvement with expatriate cultural and support initiatives, mentoring, and building networks that bridge technical expertise with service and social impact.

Vetrivel can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mvetrivel/

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In this special Women’s Day episode of Software People Stories, Gayatri sits down with Manisha Deshpande, VP, Digital Platform Engineering at Neurealm, for a deeply reflective conversation on career evolution, motherhood, leadership, and thriving in the AI era.

Manisha’s journey begins in the early 2000s — renting desktops with friends, coding in C++, and working at startups before “startups” were cool. A pivotal on-site experience early in her career changed how she viewed engineering — from writing code to understanding customer impact.

Across 25 years in technology — from digital asset management to identity & access management, from services to product engineering, from engineering leadership to heading UX Centers of Excellence — Manisha shares the inflection points that shaped her:

• Choosing to intentionally slow down during certain seasons of life
• Moving from domain specialist to product mindset thinker
• Bridging design and engineering
• Leading horizontally across business units
• Preparing teams for AI not just technically — but mentally

She speaks candidly about:

• Why “letting go” without regret is powerful
• The importance of showing up every day
• Building a support system beyond work
• The shift from executor to thinker in the AI age
• Why curiosity is the only non-negotiable skill

From rental 386 desktops to AI agents and workflow automation — this episode is about evolution, resilience, and staying human in a rapidly changing industry.

If you’re a software professional navigating change, motherhood, leadership, or the AI disruption — this conversation is both grounding and energizing.

Quotable QuotesHere are powerful pull-quotes you can use for LinkedIn, audiograms, or graphics:

1. “Technology is shrinking in shelf life — but curiosity never expires.”
2. “You cannot have it all at the same time. But you can choose your season — without regret.”
3. “If you remain an executor, you will be automated. If you become a thinker, you will thrive.”
4. “Letting go is not failure. It is prioritization.”
5. “Show up every day. Even when you’re slowing down, you’re still moving forward.”
6. “AI can accelerate execution — but intent and context still belong to humans.”
7. “Full stack today is not just technical depth — it is empathy, collaboration, and business awareness.”
8. “Build foundations — health, support systems, hobbies. They are your resilience engine.”
9. “Learning is not optional anymore. But evolution is a choice.”
10. “Be curious, not fearful.”

With over 25 years of experience in the IT industry, Manisha Deshpande is a highly skilled and visionary leader in digital platform engineering. She is deeply committed to design-led, human-centric product development, ensuring that engineering teams align with cutting-edge design principles to deliver impactful, scalable products.

Manisha’s expertise spans the entire product engineering lifecycle, from UX design to cloud infrastructure. She combines a product mindset with AI-powered development to accelerate delivery and drive smarter engineering decisions, creating innovative solutions that address both current and future challenges.

An advocate for diversity and inclusion, she mentors college-bound female students, providing valuable guidance to help them succeed in their careers.

Earlier in her career, Manisha held leadership roles at Persistent Systems, where she led teams in identity and access management, API management, business process management, and security solutions. She is known for her ability to build high-performing teams, collaborate for growth, and drive product excellence.

Outside of work, Manisha’s passions for painting, traveling, and hiking fuel her creativity and provide inspiration for her leadership approach.

Manisha can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/manisha-deshpande-0881b36/

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In this deeply personal and inspiring episode of Software People Stories, Gayatri speaks with Dr. Vaijayanthi Srinivasaraghavan (Viji) — a seasoned technology leader, Senior Director at UPS, and a resilient voice for women navigating complex careers and life transitions.

From learning C++ through shared manuals in the early 90s to leading global logistics technology at massive scale, Viji shares a journey shaped by grit, reinvention, and purpose. The conversation explores her early career struggles, health challenges, and defining leadership moments — including navigating motherhood, rebuilding her career, and evolving across roles at IBM before helping build UPS’s Global Capability Center in Chennai.

Viji reflects on how technology, AI, and analytics are transforming supply chain ecosystems while emphasizing that leadership today requires curiosity, empathy, and continuous learning. More than a career story, this episode becomes a powerful reflection on resilience — rewriting oneself after setbacks, embracing change without guilt, and building ecosystems that help women thrive.

Recorded as part of the Women’s Day special series, this conversation blends technology, humanity, and lived experience — reminding listeners that growth is rarely linear, but always meaningful.

Key Highlights from the Conversation* Early career beginnings as an electrical engineer learning software development in the 90s. * Overcoming autoimmune health challenges and redefining career paths. * Transformational leadership lessons from early mentors and global work experiences. * Career evolution through startups, IBM’s long tenure, and transition to UPS. * Building and scaling a Global Capability Center with a startup mindset. * The role of AI, analytics, and logistics technology in moving millions of packages daily. * Continuous learning culture — embracing AI as a hands-on skill across generations. * Personal reflections on resilience, single motherhood, cancer survival, and reinvention. * Women’s Day message centered on self-worth, removing guilt, and prioritizing wellbeing.

Quotable Quotes* “Belong — don’t blur. You are here because you deserve to be here.” * “AI is here to stay. Don’t stand on the fence — start embracing it.” * “Do not feel guilty for choosing yourself. Put the oxygen mask on first.” * “Rewrite yourself. Life will throw curveballs — and that’s okay.” * “Leadership is not just about technology; it’s about listening and empathy.” * “Only if you are okay, the people around you will be okay.”

Dr. Vaijayanthi Srinivasaraghavan (Viji) is a seasoned technology leader and Senior Director at UPS India Technology Centre, bringing over three decades of experience across software engineering, supply chain technology, analytics, and global delivery leadership. Her career spans early R&D engineering roles, semiconductor innovation, a long tenure at IBM, and now building next-generation logistics technology at UPS.

An alumna of the University of Madras and a strong advocate of continuous learning, Dr. Viji is also a published author. She co-authored the book Shape It: A Perfect Gift for Budding Engineers to Become Industry Ready, a self-development guide that shares real student stories and practical skills to help young engineers navigate evolving workplaces. ()

Known for her philosophy of “belong, don’t blur,” she blends deep technical expertise with empathetic leadership — mentoring the next generation of technologists while championing resilience, lifelong learning, and inclusive growth in the technology ecosystem.

Viji can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaijayanthisr/

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In this episode of Software People Stories, Gayatri sits down with Hiran , Co-founder of Ashwatta Sustainability Ventures (domain Ashwatta.earth) , to explore how climate innovation is evolving beyond buzzwords into real systems change. From her beginnings in chemical engineering to building a venture studio focused on translating breakthrough science into scalable climate companies, Hiran shares a grounded perspective on what it truly takes to build a sustainable future.

• Hiran shares her journey from chemical engineering to climate tech commercialization.
• Ashwatha Earth focuses on building climate companies by translating science into scalable ventures.
• Conversation framed around women leaders in climate and deep tech.

️ Climate Tech Evolution Shift from clean tech to climate tech*, but the mission remains sustainability. * Circularity and responsible material use are central themes. * Need to rethink systems that nature cannot naturally recycle. * Climate innovation goes beyond solar and wind. * Key areas: thermal storage, alternative fuels, advanced materials, and fusion. * Industrial heat and heavy transport remain major decarbonization challenges.

Startup & Solution Examples* Ashwatha Earth building PVC upcycling solutions. * Emerging climate startups in emissions tracking, digital twins, hydrogen storage, carbon capture, and biochar. * Strong in deployment, financial models, and application-layer innovation. * Gaps in deep-tech ownership, patents, and long-term risk capital. * Opportunity to move from adoption to innovation leadership.

Software & AI in Climate AI accelerates optimization, modeling, and material discovery. * Data availability is still a major limitation. * AI complements science rather than replacing it. * Institutional co-founder approach to take tech from lab to market for making Venture Studio Model* * Higher success probability compared to traditional VC power-law models. * Focus on zero-to-one building and de-risking innovation. * Local solutions can scale globally when economics and distribution are solved.

Quotable Quotes from the Episode* “It doesn’t matter whether we call it clean tech or climate tech — the goal is a sustainable future for all.” * “Electrons alone won’t solve the energy problem. Heat, materials, and chemistry matter just as much.” * “Circularity isn’t a trend — it’s learning to live within the limits of the planet.” * “The Global South is great at deploying solutions, but deep-tech ownership is where we need to grow.” * “AI can optimize what exists — but the fundamental breakthrough still has to come from science.”

Hiranmayee Vedam is a climate tech entrepreneur, chemical engineer, and Co-founder of Ashwatta Sustainability Ventures(domain Ashwatta.earth), a venture studio focused on translating breakthrough science into scalable sustainability ventures. An alumna of IIT Madras, she brings over 17 years of experience spanning process engineering, advanced materials, and climate technology commercialization. Over the years, she has contributed to research-led innovation and knowledge sharing across materials, energy systems, and sustainability, with work that bridges academic insight and industrial application. Known for her systems-thinking approach to circularity, deep-tech entrepreneurship, and production-scale climate solutions, Hiran is actively shaping pathways for Global South innovations to move from research pilots to real-world impact.

Hiran can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/hiranvedam/

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Sujatha Ramani brings together corporate precision and grassroots purpose. With leadership experience at global companies like HP and Wipro, and two entrepreneurial ventures of her own, she made a deliberate shift into the social sector to build opportunity where it matters most.

Since 2019, as CEO of Pollinate Group, she has led with clarity and conviction advancing women’s entrepreneurship, sustainability, and ethical growth across underserved communities in India and Nepal. She balances sharp execution with long-term vision, always anchored in dignity and agency.

An MBA and computer science graduate, Sujatha also finds joy in soulful singing, nurturing her garden, and passionately following Cricket, Tennis, and Football.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sujatha-ramani-226a665?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

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This is part of the specials we have every year focusing on women in IT.

In this conversation, Srini Sundararajan shares his experiences and perspectives on empowering women in the workplace, particularly in IT. Srini's key messages include:

• His upbringing which emphasized the importance of education and non-discrimination between genders.

• His early professional experiences, including managing and interacting with women colleagues for the first time.

• The importance of treating women as equals in the workforce and his approach to avoiding gender discrimination.

• His story of hiring and supporting a woman who was returning to the workforce after a seven-year break.

• Insights into managing women in his team and the different challenges they face, such as work-life balance and societal expectations.

• Instances from his career that highlight the importance of recognizing and addressing unique challenges faced by women, such as menstrual cycles and maternity breaks.

• Advice on inclusive policies like paternity leave to support working families.

• Emphasizing the role men can play in ensuring a comfortable and empowering work environment for women.

Through real-life stories and learned lessons, Srini Sundararajan illustrates the importance of empathy, fairness, and structural support in empowering women in the IT industry.

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In this episode of Software People Stories, VR Govindarajan, aka Govi, the co-founder and executive chairman of Perfios Software, shares his comprehensive journey from the early days of his career to building successful startups. Govi dives deep into his academic background, industry experience, and the various startups he co-founded, including Aztec Soft and Perfios. He emphasizes the importance of technology-focused innovation, building a product company out of India, and navigating the challenges of operating in a regulated industry. Govi also shares his insights on the value of teamwork, culture, and maintaining a larger purpose beyond just making money. Throughout the conversation, he provides valuable lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs on raising funds, managing teams, and scaling businesses globally.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:35 Govi's Background and Career Journey

01:43 Early Startups and Challenges

02:48 Building Aztec Soft and Going Public

03:10 Transition to Perfios and Product Focus

06:18 Navigating the Dot-Com Bust

08:18 Acquisitions and Selling to MindTree

13:41 Importance of Team Effort

17:34 Choosing the BFSI Sector

20:39 Challenges in a Regulated Industry

22:29 Managing B2B Sales and Integration

24:26 Focusing on Product Development

24:46 Creating a New Market Category

25:06 Challenges of Evangelizing a New Product

26:21 Leveraging Global Trends

28:07 Expanding to International Markets

34:25 Managing Code and Customizations

36:54 Importance of Local Customer Support

38:11 Leveraging AI and Data

41:22 Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

44:51 The Importance of Culture and Values

48:53 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

The timestamps are approximate and do not include the time for the intro. Add about 90 seconds to locate the section

As the Co-founder & Executive Chairman, Govi has been the driving force behind building Perfios into the Operating system for the BFSI in India and across the globe. Perfios is an acknowledged technology driven SaaS Pioneer that works across almost all financial institutions (Banking and Insurance Sector) both in India and across 18 countries in South East Asia, Middle East and North Africa. Perfios is a Unicorn and is backed by some of the best Global Investors. As a fintech Pioneer, Govi has been part of many committees in industry forums such as FICCI, CII and ASSOCHAM. He has been an active speaker at many BFSI related conferences and public institutions.

He brings over 35 years of rich experience in the IT industry across the US and India. Before co-founding Perfios, Govi was the Co-founder, CTO, and Board Member at Aztecsoft, a pioneering force in the offshore product development space. From being a startup, Aztecsoft got listed in the Indian markets and was run as a public company before being sold to another Public company. Prior to starting Aztecsoft, he played a key role in advancing database technologies at global technology leaders such as Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and IBM.

Govi holds an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts and a B.E. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

He may be reached at: govi@perfios.com

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In this episode of Software People Stories, Jordan Richards, a Digital Transformation and Knowledge Management technologist, and Founder of Tacitous (www.tacitous.com) a Knowledge Management blueprint and platform designed to help organisations capture, retain, and share critical knowledge at scale shares his extensive experience with technology and knowledge management. From his early days with the ZX 80 computer to his consulting work with oil companies, Jordan emphasizes the importance of solving real-world problems through technology. He advocates for a 'people first, process second, technology third' approach, and shares insights on how to ensure successful adoption of IT solutions by understanding user stories and daily workflows. Jordan discusses the critical importance of managing both knowledge and collaboration within organizations, especially with regard to retirees, and touches on the implications of AI and digital twins in modern business environments. He also shares personal practices that help him stay grounded and continuously updated with the latest trends in technology.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:45 Guest's Origin Story in Technology

01:43 Solving Problems with Technology

02:15 User-Centric Approach to IT Solutions

05:02 Challenges in IT Deployment

05:41 Building Effective IT Strategies

06:40 Understanding Organizational Knowledge Flows

11:14 Importance of Personas in IT Solutions

18:56 Knowledge Management and AI

27:56 Engaging Retirees: Challenges and Solutions

29:38 Building a National Repository of Expertise

32:04 Encouraging Knowledge Sharing and Consumption

34:41 The Role of AI in Knowledge Management

39:21 The Importance of Human Oversight in Technology

43:07 Staying Updated and Lifelong Learning

49:00 Personal Principles for Staying Grounded

The timestamps are approximate and do not include the time for the intro. Add about 90 seconds to locate the section

Jordan Richards is a Digital Transformation and Knowledge Management technologist, and Founder of Tacitous (www.tacitous.com) a Knowledge Management blueprint and platform designed to help organisations capture, retain, and share critical knowledge at scale. With 20+ years of international experience across high-risk and complex environments (including Oil & Gas and large-scale operations), Jordan specialises in institutional memory, lessons learned, communities of practice, and AI-enabled knowledge retention. He works with government entities, NGOs, and industry leaders to build practical, technology-enabled KM ecosystems that strengthen workforce continuity and organisational resilience.

Website:www.tacitous.com

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanrichards/

Email: collaboration@tacitous.com

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In this podcast episode, Sudipta Lahiri, Head Of Engineering and Products at Nimblework, Inc shares his compelling journey from growing up in a cosmopolitan township and studying metallurgical engineering to becoming a leader in the tech industry. He discusses his early career experiences, including a pivotal moment that led him to quit his job at SAIL and pursue further education at IIT Madras. Sudipta delves into his transition from engineering to account management and later into sales. He emphasizes the importance of attention to detail, the challenges and benefits of using AI in software development, and his personal practices that help him stay organized and effective in a fast-evolving industry. Key takeaways include the necessity of understanding the end goal, leveraging change agents for successful tool adoption, and the indispensable role of cognitive behavioral skills in leadership.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:37 Early Life and Education

03:20 First Job and Career Pivot

05:12 Graduate Studies and Entry into IT

07:59 Joining Wipro and Early Projects

12:17 Transition to Sales and Account Management

14:39 Challenges and Success in Sales

15:42 Return to India and Joining i2 Technologies

17:18 Joining Digité and Embracing Agile

19:26 Reflections on Career and Mentorship

28:21 Challenges in Developing Platforms for Developers and Managers

29:24 Focusing on Efficiency for Developers

30:34 Evolving Processes to Minimize Data Entry

33:25 Addressing Tool Adoption Challenges

34:11 Identifying and Leveraging Change Agents

40:06 Balancing Process and Flexibility

46:25 Impact of AI on Software Development

54:19 Personal Practices for Staying Grounded

The timestamps are approximate and do not include the time for the intro. Add about 90 seconds to locate the section

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sudiptalahiri/

Head Of Engineering and Products at Nimblework, Inc. (Distinguished Fellow, Kanban University, SPC4, AKT, KCP, DAD/CDA)

● Three decades of international leadership experience across diverse industry verticals

● Multi-cultural exposure ranging from a $4 billion company to running a technology start-up

● A Lean/Agile coach and practitioner passionate about helping multiple organizations and teams gain agility and enhanced productivity

● Demonstrated success in developing new products for Lean Software Development

● Entrepreneurial style with an exemplary record in strategic planning, business development, solid execution, and developing high performing teams

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In this podcast episode, Shiv is in conversation with Bhargav Bhikkaji, a tech leader, entrepreneur, and founder-CTO of MajorDomo Inc with deep expertise in cloud and Gen-AI driven enterprise software.

In this episode of Software People Stories, Bhargav shares his inspiring journey from his early interest in physics and mathematics to becoming a DevOps pioneer. Initially focused on engineering and computer networking, Bhargav's career path led him through various roles at HCL Cisco and Dell before transitioning to an entrepreneurial venture. He describes the challenges of moving back to India, starting a consulting business, and eventually founding a company that focuses on DevOps and AI deployment solutions. Bhargav emphasizes the importance of understanding customer needs, continuous learning, and staying grounded through personal practices like long-distance running.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:31 Early Interests and Education

03:13 First Steps in Networking

04:21 Career Growth and Innovations

05:13 Transition to DevOps and Kubernetes

07:23 Starting a Consulting Business

10:27 Challenges and Strategies in Networking

18:08 Patents and Open Source Debate

26:36 Navigating the Transition from Technical Expert to Entrepreneur

27:42 Understanding Customer Needs in Product Development

29:45 Balancing Immediate Customer Demands with Long-Term Solutions

32:10 Managing Multiple Roles in a Startup

33:49 The Importance of Customer Conversations and Product Market Fit

34:36 Challenges in Developing Developer Tools

37:42 Articulating the Value Proposition of Major Domo

40:41 Handling Rollbacks and Ensuring Transaction Integrity

46:52 Keeping Pace with Rapid Technological Changes

49:00 Staying Grounded Amidst the Chaos

50:57 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

The timestamps are approximate and do not include the time for the intro. Add about 90 seconds to locate the section.

Bhargav Bhikkaji is a tech leader, entrepreneur, and founder-CTO of MajorDomo Inc with deep expertise in cloud and Gen-AI driven enterprise software.

As the Founder, Bhargav leads the development of platform solutions that simplify and automate complex cloud-native and Gen-AI operations.

He is passionate about bridging the gap between cutting-edge technologies and real-world outcomes, sharing insights on GenAI, RAG, LLMOps, enterprise AI, and governance through talks, articles, and video series.

Bhargav’s work blends engineering excellence with strategic thinking, helping teams adopt scalable, secure, and cost-effective cloud and AI solutions. Outside work, Bhargav enjoys endurance running and often reflects on resilience and growth—bringing the same mindset to tech and leadership that he applies in life’s challenges

One can reach out to Bhargav Bhikkaji at

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhargav-bhikkaji and

http://x.com/bbhikkaji

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In this podcast episode, Shiv is in conversation with Anees Haidary, Global Head, Operational Excellence, Data Privacy, and Global Workforce Management at Sasken Technologies.

In this engaging episode, Anees shares his remarkable journey in the IT industry, starting from his humble beginnings in a lower-middle-class family in India to becoming a prominent figure in various leadership roles. Anees discusses his educational background in engineering, his early struggles with job interviews, and the pivotal break that led him to a successful career. He emphasizes the importance of self-belief, continuous learning, and the role of mentors in professional growth. Anees also delves into his experiences with various organizations, including IBM, and his current role, where he oversees multiple portfolios including operational excellence and data privacy. Additionally, Anees highlights his involvement in Toastmasters and the BSPIN network, advocating for networking and professional development at any stage of one’s career. He also shares his personal methods for managing time and staying grounded. The episode is filled with practical tips and inspiring anecdotes, making it a valuable listen for anyone in the software industry.

Anees is a Storyteller, Problem Solver, Inventor, Game changer, and Data Privacy and ESG expert.

Being an industry veteran for 25+ years in IT Industry, his role in Leadership at Sasken has helped define a strategy, roadmap & governance mechanism to address business critical problems, Established and sustained the Demand Supply Framework sustaining the core of business, Integrating various cultures post-acquisition, establishing data privacy and information security practice at Sasken among few large initiatives. Being a strong project management enthusiast, and successfully delivered large initiatives jointly with PMI in South Asia, he has been able to deeply influence and integrate world class project management initiatives at Sasken, and various product and services organization in his role as a PMISA champion.

Apart from MBA in HRM, Anees has completed Strategy Thinking Course from IIM Kolkata. Certified in PMP, ITILv3, CSM, ISO 9K, 14K, 27K, 27701 Lead Implementer, ISO 26262 Process Expert, ASPICE v3.1 SME, he has been able to contribute greatly to his organization’s vision and mission 60x4x3. He is also an active public speaker, and chartered Toastmasters Club in his organization, and completed a decade long relationship with Toastmasters International. He is a Certified Public Speaker from Dale Carnegie Institute USA. He heads Project Management Academy, Quality, Customer Experience Management, Data Privacy Office, Audits and Certifications, Special Strategic Initiatives, Delivery Excellence, and Global Workforce Management at Sasken Technologies Limited.

Currently he is the Champion at PMI South Asia and Project Management Mentor at Sasken. He co-authored the PM Competency Development Framework (PMCDF) initiative of Project Management Institute (PMI) and integrated into HR competency management systems at Sasken, and mentored various organizations like CISCO, Cushman and Wakefield, Robert Bosch India, Nokia India on leveraging PMCDF for advancing the noble profession of Project management through continuous assessment of PM competency. Anees is the Core member of Risk Management Committee (RMC) at Sasken reporting into the Risk committee of Sasken Board.

His white papers are published in International and National Journals and Magazines, websites & newsletters of different forums. He received many awards and honors from different organizations in advancing the field of Project Management.

He may be reached at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haidary/

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In this podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Kumaran Anandan, CTO of TinyMagiq and Enterprise Architect —shares a refreshingly honest journey across hardware, industrial automation, embedded systems, startups, consulting, and Microsoft. From writing programs on a programmable calculator (and storing them in audio cassettes!) to building deep learning habits through daily compounding, Kumaran explains why modern technologists must fall in love with failure, understand fundamentals, and stop building software without users who will pay. A thought-provoking conversation on architecture, human psychology, AI hallucinations, and what it really means to create value.

00:00 – 01:00 — Kumaran’s self-introduction: experimenting constantly and looking forward to failures.

01:00 – 02:25 — Earliest career memory: building a DBase 3+ application for a school and earning a watch as his first “payment.”

02:26 – 03:29 — Not getting campus placed, being an average student, and the early struggle of finding a job.

03:29 – 05:20 — First software experience in 10th holidays: programmable Casio calculator, BASIC programming, and saving programs using an audio cassette tape.

05:20 – 07:56 — Early career direction: interest in hardware, industrial automation, 8085 assembly programming, and learning through real-world constraints.

07:56 – 10:12 — Moving up the stack: C/C++, antivirus software, Wipro’s hardware + software work, and “mobile apps” before mobile became mainstream.

10:12 – 11:34 — Entrepreneurship journey: starting a company during the internet boom, shutting it down after the bubble burst, then transitioning to Microsoft.

11:36 – 12:29 — Kumaran’s definition of good technology: anything that protects evenings and weekends from work.

12:31 – 13:48 — A conscious career decision: taking a salary cut to work on hardware because learning mattered more than comfort.

13:48 – 15:39 — Microsoft Consulting Services: being called only for complex “fires,” shorter engagements, and high learning intensity.

15:39 – 17:23 — The daily learning habit: “Kumaran of yesterday won’t be Kumaran today,” and how small learning compounds over time.

17:24 – 19:28 — Curiosity beyond the surface: learning “under the hood,” connecting ideas across psychology, neuroscience, and technology.

19:42 – 23:16 — Microsoft culture: self-learning, asking better questions, getting pointers instead of hand-holding, and building independent thinking.

23:39 – 26:10 — Fundamentals matter: software is predictable (input–process–output), hardware is ambiguous, and AI changes predictability in software.

26:36 – 29:21 — TinyMagiq and mentoring: serendipity, a clear timeline to quit corporate life, and why enterprise software rarely creates joy.

30:39 – 33:35 — A common founder mistake: building for 14–18 months with no paying users and confusing “features built” with “value delivered.”

33:35 – 36:46 — Pricing reality check: if nobody pays even ₹100, the problem isn’t the market—it’s unclear value and weak conviction.

36:46 – 38:35 — “I don’t like code”: code as debt, and why architecture must fight unnecessary complexity.

38:35 – 41:19 — Loving failure: video games as a metaphor, why software needs failure-tolerance, and a warning to those who want “safe IT careers.”

41:56 – 44:01 — Entrepreneurship mindset: de-addiction to monthly salary, India’s services legacy, and why playing safe kills learning.

44:01 – 46:40 — “Unlearning” is reframing: the hardest failure is success because it reinforces old patterns and makes change difficult.

48:11 – 51:27 — AI hallucinations and “Maya”: why we’re already trained to handle uncertainty, and how that applies to building AI systems.

51:27 – 52:08 — Architecture simplified: an architect ensures user happiness through people, process, and technology.

52:44 – 53:06 — Closing advice: be curious about how you can enjoy failure.

Quotable Quotes

“A person who keeps experimenting… and looks forward to failures.”

“Kumaran of yesterday will not be the Kumaran who goes to sleep today.”

“The power of compounding becomes very high.”

“If you don’t have a user who wants to pay for it… what is the value of your product?”

“Even if you can’t get somebody to pay you hundred rupees… you have not delivered that value.”

“To me, a lot of code is nothing but debt.”

“People should fall in love with failure.”

“An architect is somebody who ensures happiness of the user.”

“Be curious about how you can enjoy failure.”

Kumaran Profile:

Technology professional with 20+ years experience (Unix, Windows, Cloud AI)

Conducts two podcast series: "Saturday Architecture" and "Mindset Matters"

Experience spans from hands-on development to business architecture

Known for: Connecting technical and philosophical concepts

Key Philosophies:

"If you don't have pain, you haven't done anything"

Long-term thinking reveals patterns short-term goals miss

Age brings pattern recognition advantage despite reduced raw capacity

Common sense is the most uncommon thing

Kumaran can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/akumaran/

@ctomentor is Kumaran’s twitter handle

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In this podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Shubhangi M Josiam, Digital Head APAC of Alstom about her 18+ year journey across GE and Alstom, moving from core IT and infrastructure roles to customer-facing digital transformation leadership across APAC.

Shubangi shares candid stories about career pivots, leadership programs, Lean Six Sigma, building IT from scratch post-acquisition, and navigating cross-cultural teams—ending with powerful advice for women professionals to be bold and go for roles before feeling “fully ready”.

00:00 – 01:50 — Introduction to Shubangi’s APAC digital leadership role and IT’s shift from backend to customer-facing solutions.

01:52 – 04:41 — Early inspiration for engineering, switching from electronics to information science driven by a love for programming.

04:42 – 07:56 — Entering GE through walk-ins, starting in captive IT, and learning end-to-end infrastructure fundamentals.

08:20 – 11:49 — Discovering GE’s leadership culture and choosing Lean Six Sigma for outcome-driven career growth.

12:06 – 14:28 — Leading a consumer experience transformation project and early exposure to Agile and product thinking.

14:29 – 16:08 — Managing ERP operations and learning real-world supply chain complexity during system transitions.

16:08 – 18:09 — Navigating acquisitions, making tough career exits, and prioritising personal sustainability.

18:46 – 23:51 — Joining Alstom during post-acquisition chaos and helping build IT systems from the ground up.

23:51 – 25:50 — Building digital and analytics platforms, hiring data scientists, and scaling analytics maturity.

25:51 – 27:47 — Transitioning into regional IT leadership and driving large-scale digital change during COVID.

27:48 – 29:37 — Moving into customer-facing digital rail solutions across APAC and continuous learning from the market.

30:00 – 32:19 — Managing APAC time zones through clusters while maintaining work–life balance.

32:20 – 36:45 — Leading across cultures by balancing company values with local working styles.

46:46 – 48:36 — Building trust through direct feedback, transparency, and authentic leadership.

48:38 – 50:43 — Final advice: be bold, apply even if you’re not “ready,” and trust yourself to figure it out.

Quotable Quotes “If you want to do something, go for it. Help will come—and you will figure it out.”

“Men apply saying, ‘I’ll figure it out.’ Women apply saying, ‘I meet only five out of ten requirements.’ That’s what stops us.”

“I didn’t tick all the boxes, but I figured it out.”

“Worst case, you fail. Big deal. You learn. It’s not the end of the world.”

“IT is no longer a backend engine—it’s delivering real digital solutions to customers.”

Trusted Partner in Driving Impactful Digital Transformation & Empowering Businesses Through Technology.

As the Digital Services Regional Head for APAC at Alstom, I drive transformative digital solutions tailored to the rail industry, with a strong focus on operational efficiency and customer engagement. My efforts include collaborating with diverse teams to deliver cutting-edge rail digital solutions while ensuring advanced cybersecurity measures for robust data protection. By aligning technological initiatives with business goals, our team enhances service quality and builds scalable, future-ready solutions for the region.

With over 20 years of experience in IT strategy and transformation, I have a proven track record of delivering impactful results acro…

Shubangi can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/shubhangi-mj/

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As we step into 2026, a heartfelt thank you to all our listeners for your time, trust, and continued support. Your engagement, feedback, and encouragement mean a lot to us and inspire us to keep creating meaningful conversations and content.

Wishing you and your loved ones a Happy New Year 2026—may it bring good health, fresh opportunities, and continued learning. Looking forward to growing and learning together in the year ahead!

Here is the link to the AI story mentioned in the podcast

https://youtu.be/wjgbCiZmbEE

Hope you enjoy!!

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In this episode, Hasan Siddiqui, a veteran in the IT industry, recounts his extensive and diverse career in the software and technology industry, offering valuable insights and advice along the way.

He starts with his academic beginnings, influenced by the late Professor V Rajaraman, and traces his journey through various pivotal roles at companies like Burroughs, Unisys, and TCS. He discusses his work on significant international projects, his tenure at CBS, his experiences with matrix organizations, corporate politics, and his eventual transition into academic roles and consulting.

Hasan also emphasizes the importance of lifelong learning, maintaining professional relationships, and staying optimistic and adaptable in the ever-evolving tech landscape.

00:00 Technical Difficulties and Introductions

00:52 Early Career and Influential Mentors

02:43 First Major Projects and Overseas Assignments

05:32 Learning and Adapting in France

08:43 Transition to Account Management and Return to India

12:03 Building a Career in Bangalore and Pune

18:31 Navigating Corporate Politics and Final Career Moves

32:03 Introduction to Can Bay and HSBC

32:37 Challenges and Responsibilities at GDC

35:27 Transition to Academia

37:55 Return to Industry and Career Lessons

40:40 Retirement and New Ventures

41:55 Continuous Learning and Technology Trends

45:45 Managing Large Teams and Client Relations

51:51 Networking and Building Relationships

54:09 Retirement Philosophy and Personal Practices

01:00:40 Final Thoughts and Advice

The timestamps are approximate and do not include the time for the intro. Add about 90 seconds to locate the section.

Hasan Siddiqui is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and an accomplished technology and business education leader in the international IT industry spanning corporate strategy, business development, GDC/ODC set up and operations, talent management and academics.

He has played senior management roles at Cap Gemini, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, Covansys and Symbiosis university.

He may be reached at: it.career.lighthouse@gmail.com

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My guest today is Ravikiran Pothukuchi, the leader of Dassault Systèmes’ Enterprise Portfolio business in India.

In this conversation, Ravi shares his journey from his humble beginnings in a small village in India to becoming a key player in Dassault Systems' business landscape.

Ravi dives deep into his upbringing, education, and multiple career transitions that shaped his professional life. Key highlights include his transition from an R&D role to a customer-facing role, the importance of building human connections, the value of curiosity, and how he integrated traditional knowledge with modern business strategies.

Notable quotes and insights punctuate the narrative, offering valuable lessons on adaptability, resilience, and the power of networking.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:36 Early Life and Education

03:26 Higher Education and Career Beginnings

13:24 Transition to Business Development

19:14 Leadership and Team Management

26:39 Transitioning to Customer-Facing Roles

27:33 The Challenges of Business Development

31:30 The Importance of Networking

35:21 Building Genuine Connections

40:05 Navigating Career Transitions

46:22 Personal Practices for Staying Grounded

47:02 The Five Cs Framework for Success

49:46 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

The timestamps are approximate, and after the intro that is about 90 seconds.

For more closer timestamps, add 90 seconds to the labels above

Ravikiran Pothukuchi is the leader of Dassault Systèmes’ Enterprise Portfolio business in India. In this role, he is responsible for defining the business strategy to expand the company’s Portfolio presence in India’s rapidly growing economic sectors.

Ravikiran began his career with Dassault Systèmes in 2004, initially working in various roles within the Research and Development (R&D) organization before transitioning to business development in 2011. In 2017, he assumed responsibility for increasing market share across the company’s core industry vertical, achieving a year-over-year double-digit growth for five consecutive years. He is now entrusted with the responsibility of tapping the growth potential of Dassault Systèmes’ Enterprise portfolio while diversifying into new industries and segments.

Ravikiran holds degrees from prestigious institutions, IIT-Madras and IIM-Bangalore. He is also a DAAD scholar and a member of several industry organizations, including SAE and IFCCI.

Ravi may be reached at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravikiran-pothukuchi-47750312/?originalSubdomain=in

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In this episode of the Software People Stories, my guest Ben Wilcox is the Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Security Officer at ProArch.

Ben shares his fascinating journey from building a web hosting business as a teenager to his current role as CTO and CISO at ProArch. Ben discusses the evolution of his career, his involvement in various projects, and the ever-changing landscape of security, especially with the advent of AI. He also provides valuable insights into how enterprises should approach security, the complexities of data localization, and the importance of a continuous security model. The conversation also delves into career advice for aspiring IT and security professionals.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome

00:42 Early Career and Web Hosting Business

02:49 Transition to Software Development

03:51 Joining Advisor Group and Pro

05:06 Challenges of Running a Business as a Teenager

07:55 Learning and Growth in a Larger Company

09:14 Becoming a CISO and Security Focus

12:21 Evolving Security Landscape and AI

15:01 Data Security and Insider Risk Management

20:51 Zero Trust Environments and Legacy Systems

23:58 Sleepless Nights and Security Concerns

25:50 Balancing Innovation and Security

26:11 Finding Joy in Leadership

26:54 Navigating the CTO and CISO Roles

28:55 Keeping Up with Technology Trends

31:27 Hyper-Personalization and Security Risks

36:02 The Role of Open Source in Security

41:03 Career Advice for Aspiring Security Professionals

45:35 The Impact of AI on Security Jobs

49:11 Conclusion and Contact Information

The timestamps are approximate, and after the intro that is about 90 seconds.

For more closer timestamps, add 90 seconds to the labels above

Ben Wilcox is the Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Security Officer at ProArch, where he leads the company’s cloud, security, and AI enablement strategy. With more than 20 years of experience spanning software engineering, cybersecurity, and enterprise architecture, Ben helps organizations modernize their technology foundations while navigating the evolving threat landscape.

Ben’s career began in hands-on development and infrastructure work, giving him a deep technical grounding that informs his leadership today. He has built and led high-performing engineering teams, guided complex cloud migrations, and designed modern security programs that balance innovation with risk management. At ProArch, he works closely with clients to architect AI-ready, scalable systems that drive business transformation.

Connect with Ben:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-wilcox

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In this episode of Software People Stories, Shiv is in conversation with Yaron Schneider, co-founder of Diagrid and a seasoned developer and entrepreneur deeply involved in the open source movement.

Yaron shares his origin story, starting from programming at age 11 to his current role as co-founder of Diagrid. He discusses his early foray into university education, experience in the military, and his progression within the software industry, including a notable tenure at Microsoft.

Yaron delves into the joys and pains of working in open source, detailing the challenges and rewards of maintaining a project with thousands of contributors and balancing corporate and community needs. The discussion also touches on the complexities of scaling in hybrid environments, the risks associated with supply chain attacks, and the evolving role of developers in the age of AI and low-code solutions.

Yaron concludes by offering advice for those aspiring to contribute to open source and sharing personal strategies for managing the stresses of startup life.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:25 Yaron's Origin Story

02:39 Joys and Pains of Open Source

05:21 Challenges of Open Source Coordination

06:14 Role Differences: Architect vs. CTO

08:21 Corporate Influence on Open Source

10:00 On-Prem vs. Cloud-Based Models

11:34 Scalability in Hybrid Environments

13:22 Introduction to Dapper and D Grid

18:05 Security and Supply Chain Challenges

23:27 Low-Code and No-Code Development

25:29 Transition from Corporate to Startup

27:04 Balancing Work and Personal Life

28:31 Music and Software Development Parallels

31:14 Getting Involved in Open Source

32:21 Future of AI and Software Jobs

33:50 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

The timestamps are approximate, and after the intro that is about 90 seconds.

For more closer timestamps, add 90 seconds to the labels above

Yaron Schneider is a visionary technologist and open source pioneer who has fundamentally shaped how developers build distributed applications. As co-creator of Dapr and KEDA—both graduated CNCF projects—he has enabled tens of thousands of enterprises to build more resilient, scalable cloud-native systems. Dapr is currently used by an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 enterprise users worldwide, while KEDA adoption may be even broader, though it is more difficult to estimate precisely.

Now co-founder of Diagrid, Yaron is building the next generation of platforms that make it easier to develop and operate distributed applications and AI agents. His deep expertise in distributed systems, combined with years of leadership at Microsoft on scalable cloud architecture, positions him at the forefront of the agentic AI revolution.

Recognized as an industry innovator in open source and platform engineering, Yaron bridges the gap between cutting-edge research and practical developer tools. His work continues to define how modern applications are built, deployed, and scaled in the cloud-native era.

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Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Madhavan Jagannathan (Maddy) , Instrument and Control Engineer by training, software technologist by experience, and financial explorer at heart. With over two decades of experience across HCL, Adobe, EMC, Dell, and VMware, Maddy brings together deep tech, systems thinking, and a passion for financial markets. Gayatri introduces Maddy, highlighting 17 years of friendship and his rare mix of humor, humility, and insight across hardware, software, and finance.

02:00 – The Physics of Curiosity

Maddy recalls his fascination with science, choosing physics for his undergraduate degree, and his early ambition to pursue research at IITs before pragmatically opting for instrumentation at Madras Institute of Technology.

05:00 – The Unplanned Leap into Software

A “lucky break” leads him into HCL Technologies, where a chance campus interview launches his career in software — landing him in the prestigious Cisco division during the early internet boom.

08:00 – Early Memories of the Software World

Maddy reflects on working at the intersection of hardware and network management — when internet access was rationed, innovation was exploding, and curiosity was rewarded.

10:00 – Settling into the Tech Ecosystem

He discusses how he initially longed for the process industry, only to realize that the software world offered greater opportunities, intellectual challenge, and balance — ultimately leading teams early in his career.

13:00 – From HCL to Adobe: Finding the Power of Software

Maddy shares how joining Adobe in Noida, during its early transition to SaaS, transformed his understanding of software’s reach and power.

“That one year at Adobe changed my view of what software could do.”

16:00 – The EMC and Dell Era: Process Meets Innovation

He moves from startups to EMC, where he embraces Six Sigma, process excellence, and later joins Dell, leading teams focused on data center innovation.

“Dell was about process discipline and fast engineering — a perfect blend of structure and innovation.”

20:00 – Clarifying ‘Process’: From Chemistry to Systems Thinking

Maddy reflects on how his training in process control and systems modeling shaped his understanding of software and organizational design.

23:00 – Discovering Financial Markets

His long-standing curiosity about stock markets takes root. From reading stock pages in newspapers to managing his first ESOPs, Maddy begins to explore investing and financial systems deeply.

“It started with curiosity — how a single number next to a company name could tell a story.”

26:00 – The Birth of a Trader

Inspired by his MBA classes and a growing interest in quantitative methods, Maddy takes professional trading courses — blending math, technology, and market behavior.

“Trading is where math, technology, and psychology collide.”

29:00 – Lessons from the Trading Floor

He shares insights from independent trading during COVID, emphasizing discipline, emotional control, and the realization that he’s better suited for his own portfolio than managing others’ money.

32:00 – The Intersection of Tech and Finance

Maddy discusses how his tech background enhances his understanding of market microstructures, algorithmic trading, and the growing influence of AI and quantum computing in finance.

35:00 – The Philosophy of Continuous Exploration

For Maddy, trading and technology are both lifelong explorations.

“Markets teach you more than finance — they teach you patience, humility, and the ability to think statistically about your own life.”

38:00 – Reflections on Career and Curiosity

Gayatri and Maddy reflect on his multi-layered career: from a hardware engineer and software innovator to a financial thinker who continues to connect systems, people, and ideas.

Key Themes:* Evolving from hardware and instrumentation to deep software systems * The interplay between process thinking and product innovation * Lifelong learning and curiosity as a career compass * Applying software and systems logic to financial markets * Emotional intelligence and discipline in trading

Memorable Quotes:“Trading is where math, technology, and psychology collide.”

“That one year at Adobe changed my view of what software could do.”

“Markets teach you more than finance — they teach you patience, humility, and the ability to think statistically about your own life.”

“I didn’t plan my career — I followed my curiosity, and that made all the difference.”

https://www.linkedin.com/in/madhavan-jagannathan-559bb51/

Madhavan “Maddy” Jagannadhan is a seasoned technologist and financial explorer whose career spans hardware engineering, software system leadership and independent investing. With early roots in instrumentation and network hardware, Maddy went on to lead development teams at industry names like HCL Technologies, Adobe Inc., EMC Corporation and Dell Technologies—designing software-driven systems and complex processes. Today, Maddy blends his systems thinking, curiosity and trading insight into mentoring, personal investing and bridging tech and financial markets.

Madhavan has an engineering degree in Instrumentation and Control from MIT (Anna University) and an MBA degree from Great Lakes Institute of Management.

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Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Rupam Tandon, Financial Executive with 30 years of experience across banking, asset management, and insurance. She’s also a certified Independent Director (IoD), ESG specialist, and startup mentor. She talks about her journey starting in a small town to traveling the globe and literally spreading her wings. Gayatri Kalyanaraman, Host for Software People Stories podcast and co-founder Sangatna Angels welcomes Rupam Tandon and sets the tone for an inspiring conversation about leadership, resilience, and governance. Highlights of the conversation are here

01:00 – Early Career and Foundations in Finance

Rupam shares her beginnings in Dubai’s financial industry during the 1990s — a period of rapid banking expansion — and lessons on trust, relationships, and financial discipline.

03:00 – London Years & the Global Financial Crisis

She moves to London to work with asset managers and hedge funds, witnessing firsthand the subprime crisis and collapse of major institutions like Lehman Brothers and AIG.

07:00 – Return to India & Setting Up Global Operations

Rupam explains her decision to return to India for family reasons and how she helped transition a major bank’s operations from Ireland to Bangalore — navigating SEC and FCA audits successfully.

10:00 – The Shift to Insurance and Building Communities

She discusses moving from investment banking to insurance, leading initiatives in Risk, ESG, and Cyber, and mentoring senior executives.

13:00 – Reflections on Technology & Automation

From manual processes to automation and bots — Rupam contrasts the early years of finance with today’s data-driven governance and the rise of straight-through processing (STP).

16:00 – Navigating Change and Cultural Adaptation

Growing up in Lucknow and moving across continents, Rupam reflects on adapting to different work cultures, continuous learning, and seizing opportunities.

20:00 – Decision-Making and Balancing Life & Work

Rupam shares personal stories about taking career risks, balancing motherhood, and receiving mentorship and compassion from colleagues during turbulent times.

24:00 – Continuous Learning & Board Readiness

She outlines her professional upskilling journey — courses from ISB, IIM Bangalore, and IoD — and her belief in lifelong learning as a foundation for effective governance.

27:00 – Second Innings: Purpose and Governance for the Future

Rupam shares her vision for the next decade — mentoring startups, strengthening governance frameworks, and shaping ethical, transparent organizations.

Memorable Quotes:“Success without ethics is incomplete.”

“Governance isn’t about control — it’s about responsibility.”

“It’s time for stewardship — to give back, guide, and help the next generation grow with integrity.”

“Even the strongest institutions can collapse if governance, risk, and culture are not aligned.”

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rupam-tandon/

After nearly three decades of experience across industries and markets, She is now embarking on my second innings with a focus on startup governance and scaleups. Her journey has been a diverse one, spanning Global roles (in UAE & UK, India) in business strategy, branding, communications, and stakeholder engagement. She is passionate about helping companies build strong, sustainable foundations for growth. As an alumnus of Lucknow University and the Indian School of Business (ISB), where she specialized in Negotiation as part of an Executive Management Program, I’ve honed my ability to adapt and thrive in fast-moving, high-pressure environments.

My Core Strengths:

• Strategic Oversight: Managing boards/foundations and aligning teams with business goals

• Business Model Innovation: Identifying opportunities at the intersection of strategy, branding, product development, and customer experience

• Start up consulting , Fintech, Finance based business.

• Reputation Building: Creating narratives that enhance corporate reputation and build trust

• Communications Strategy: Developing integrated communication plans to engage stakeholders and drive impact

• Mentorship & Coaching: Supporting founders, leaders, and teams to grow through personalized guidance and coaching

• Crisis Communications: Navigating through challenges to protect and strengthen brand reputation

• Networking & Ecosystem Building: Cultivating strategic partnerships and growing influential networks

• CSR & Sustainability: Defining and driving impactful corporate social responsibility initiatives

Rupam Tandon is a certified board director and former investment banker with expertise in governance, risk, and sustainability. She advises startups and SMEs on ethical leadership and board resilience, teaches ESG and stakeholder strategy to executives, and mentors emerging leaders. She advocates for policy-led reforms in India’s entrepreneurial governance landscape.

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In this episode, Shiv is in conversation with Mike Maynard, the Managing Director/CEO of the Napier Group, a PR firm.

Mike shares his unconventional career journey from electronics engineering to marketing and recounts his initial interest in mathematics and eventual pivot to electronics engineering, sparked by a school project.

Despite enjoying engineering, he realized his strengths lay in explaining technical details rather than executing them, leading him to roles in technical support and eventually to marketing.

Mike discusses the lack of planning in his career and how opportunistic decisions led him to buy a tech agency just before the dot-com crash in 2001.

He elaborates on the challenges and importance of bridging the empathy gap between engineers and marketers, emphasizing communication as a crucial factor.

The episode also explores the impact of regulatory processes on hardware companies, the importance of diligent marketing in the age of AI, and the evolving landscape of B2B podcasts.

Mike wraps up by offering career tips for those transitioning to marketing, underscoring the value of data analysis skills over traditional creative skills.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:27 Mike's Journey into Technology

01:54 Transition to Marketing

04:22 Challenges in Marketing and Engineering

09:00 Bridging the Gap Between Teams

13:27 Handling Hardware and Software Delays

18:56 Lean Approaches and Reputation Management

21:45 The Hype and Reality of Tech Products

22:10 The Silicon Valley and Bangalore Comparison

23:07 The Importance of Perseverance for Founders

24:51 Product-Led Development vs. Marketing

27:11 The Role of Gen AI in Marketing

34:20 The Future of Podcasting in B2B Marketing

38:47 Career Tips for Aspiring Marketers

42:31 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Note – above timings are approximate; exact timing may be off by a minute or so

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikemaynard/

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In this episode, Shiv is in conversation with Prasad Chodavarapu, Co-Founder & Managing Director at Aganitha.ai

In this conversation, Prasad, a tech veteran turned bio-pharma enthusiast, discusses his unique career trajectory from software development to founding a startup in the life sciences space. Prasad shares his journey, starting from his early days in tech during the nascent stages of the internet in the mid-90s, working in startups, and his transition to a large enterprise consulting role.

The conversation dives into the challenges and learnings from shifting into the bio-pharma industry, the impact of AI in this space, the complexities of scientific data, and the nuances of interdisciplinary collaboration.

Prasad also offers valuable career advice for newcomers and those experiencing a mid-career crisis, emphasizing the importance of combining disciplines and lifelong learning.

We wrap up with personal insights on how Prasad maintains balance in his life through music and family support.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:54 Career Beginnings in Software and Technology

04:04 Transition to Life Sciences and Biotech

07:25 Challenges and Innovations in Scientific Computing

09:51 The Role of AI and Data in Modern Science

16:29 Preserving and Digitizing Knowledge Systems

19:42 Startup Journey and Entrepreneurial Insights

24:17 Scientific Collaboration and Practical Applications

32:42 Modeling and Prediction Cycles

33:37 Validating Predictions in the Lab

33:42 Solving Customer Problems with Algorithms

35:33 Understanding the Drug Development Value Chain

37:41 Challenges in Clinical Trials

40:06 The Impact of AI on Science and Technology

45:19 Career Advice for Life Sciences and Computing

51:18 Personal Techniques for Managing Uncertainty

Prasad Chodavarapu is a hands-on tech business exec with 25+ years of exp. in growing tech businesses from start-up stage to a billion-dollar scale

His expertise and track record is in building multi-disciplinary teams

He is a published author, with patents in Data and Process engineering

He is a Co-Founder & Managing Director at Aganitha.ai

His interests include: Deep Science (Comp Bio & Quantum Chem) + Deep Tech (AI/ML, LLMs, Data, Cloud) for accelerating R&D at global BioPharma, Re-imagining with Agentic & Generative AI, every process & app in disease studies, therapeutic design & dev, synthesis, clinical, medical & regulatory affairs.

Among his earlier roles: HCL Tech: SVP & Global delivery head for Transformation Services

He is an alumnus of Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) & IIT Kharagpur

Channels to reach him:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chprasad/

@Omics_Chap on X,

@omics-chap.bsky.social on Bluesky

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In this special episode celebrating seven years of the 'Software People Stories

podcast, hosts Anita Shiva, Shiv, Gayatri, and Chitra reflect on their journey. They

discuss the origins, challenges, milestones, and personal experiences of managing

the podcast, offering insights into what kept them motivated. The conversation also

touches on the evolution of the podcast, notable guests, and some of the humorous

behind-the-scenes moments. Looking ahead, the hosts share their vision for the next

phase, including ideas for new formats and expanding the podcast's reach to a

broader audience.

00:00 Introduction and Nervous Beginnings

00:25 Celebrating Seven Years of Podcasting

01:29 The Origins of Software People Stories

02:55 Why Podcasting? Personal Journeys

06:29 Consistency and Habits for Success

12:11 Preparation and Rituals Before Recording

16:54 Tips for Aspiring Podcasters

22:59 Funny and Memorable Moments

31:25 The Power of Storytelling

31:49 Revealing Untold Stories

32:34 Insights from Guests

33:31 Personal Journeys and Reflections

34:42 Influences and Upbringing

37:34 Memorable Guests

44:01 Podcasting Habits and Observations

52:22 Future Aspirations and Gratitude

Thank you Listeners for making this happen

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In this special episode of 'Software People Stories,' , our guest is Dr. Krishna Prasad, known more popularly as KP from the 'Full Stack Leadership Cast.' KP shares his journey into podcasting, inspired by the host's longstanding podcast. They discuss the concept of full stack leadership, emphasizing a holistic approach to leadership that impacts business, influences people, and focuses on self-development. KP highlights his experiences from the first season, discussing the challenges of podcasting and the valuable insights gained from his diverse guests. They also delve into the prospects for the next season, including potential global guests and cross-industry learning.

00:00 Introduction and Special Episode Announcement

00:12 Welcoming the Guest: KP from Full Stack Leadership Cast

01:29 KP's Podcasting Journey and Inspirations

04:46 The Concept of Full Stack Leadership

10:57 Insights from Season One

15:47 Plans for Season Two and Listener Feedback

21:05 Where to Listen and Final Thoughts

Note – above timings are approximate; exact timing may be off by a minute or so

You can listen to the Full Stack leadershipcast on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4XtBUzCNYXDusMt0HS-T6-hl1BHXpyN9

Or on the PM Power website

https://www.pm-powerconsulting.com/full-stack-leadershipcast/

More on KP at: https://www.pm-powerconsulting.com/experts/krishna-prasad/

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In this episode, Shiv is in conversation with Naresh Choudhary, Senior Vice President, Quality & Productivity, Infosys Ltd.

Naresh shares his career journey starting from humble beginnings in Mumbai, studying engineering at VJTI, working at Arvind Mills, and eventually contributing to Infosys for 25 years. The discussion covers his transition from manufacturing to IT, the influence of mentors, various roles at Infosys, and the importance of reframing roles. Naresh also emphasizes the value of great work, networking, mentorship, and maintaining a work-life balance. He talks about driving innovation and change management effectively within a large organization through transparent communication, planning, and continuous feedback. Finally, Naresh offers personal practices like journaling, exercising, and separating work from family time to stay grounded and calm.

00:00 Welcome and Introduction

00:23 Early Career and Education

02:00 Transition to Infosys

03:43 Roles and Responsibilities at Infosys

07:16 Mentorship and Career Growth

10:28 Defining Great Work

15:32 Overcoming Self-Doubt and Imposter Syndrome

19:28 The Importance of Mentors

24:23 Networking and Time Management

29:19 Clearing the Mind for Focus

29:51 Work-Life Balance and Breaks

30:59 Organizational Change and Trust

33:51 Planning and Transparency in Change

34:51 Process Over Tools

36:04 Sponsorship and Milestone Reviews

37:46 Encouraging Knowledge Sharing

43:58 Innovation and Idea Management

47:33 Staying Grounded Amidst Responsibilities

53:00 Personal Practices for Balance

56:48 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Bio:

In his stint at Infosys over 2 decades, Naresh has worked in different roles in Software Delivery, Consulting, Quality Assurance, Open Source, Enterprise Platforms, Products, Tools & Technology that have provided him opportunities to work on key transformation programs.

Naresh has experience in Software Development, Quality System Design, Process definition, Implementation and Consulting, Product & Platform Engineering, Software Reuse, Knowledge Management, Training, Audits and Assessments. He possesses a sound understanding of various quality models, methodologies and frameworks like CMMI, ISO, Six Sigma, MBNQA, AI, Automation, Agile, DevSecOps & SRE.

Naresh participates on several product councils and advisory boards with Infosys’ global technology partners and is currently leading the effort on reimagining the tooling, engineering excellence, digital platforms, Lean and automation landscape for the enterprise

He is a self confessed Foodie, History enthusiast, Amateur Chef, Motivational Speaker

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nareshchoudhary/

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In this episode, Shiv is in conversation with George Mundassery, former SVP and Global head, AI and Automation with Tech Mahindra.

George shares his extensive journey in the IT industry, starting from his early days with Tatas in power systems to his role in automation and AI implementation. George recounts his experiences working with various technologies, including mainframes, real-time systems, Fortran 77, C, and C++, and later transitioning to commercial applications and enterprise solutions with Tuxedo and WebLogic. He also discusses the challenges and successes in delivering large-scale applications, the importance of data management, and the critical role of customer engagement and team collaboration. Additionally, George offers valuable advice for aspiring IT professionals and those navigating mid-career challenges, emphasizing continuous learning, teamwork, and adapting to change.

00:00 Introduction and Greetings

00:10 Curiosity About Architects

00:29 George's Origin Story

01:12 Early Career in Power Systems

02:44 Transition to Commercial Applications

03:38 Exciting Journey with Middleware

05:23 Experience with HCL and Startups

07:13 Setting Up Automation and AI Units

10:51 Challenges in Data Management

15:49 Role as a CTO and Technology Adoption

18:43 Importance of Non-Functional Aspects

22:29 Handling Technical Risks in Projects

28:05 Building a Strong Team from Scratch

30:17 Balancing Technology, Customers, and Overheads

33:22 Challenges and Successes in Automation and AI

37:56 The Impact of Generative AI on Software Engineering

46:29 Advice for IT Professionals at Different Career Stages

53:17 Staying Grounded in a Fast-Paced Industry

56:50 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-mundassery-2117533/

George Mundassery is a seasoned IT leader with 40 years of global service delivery experience, recognized for his pioneering contributions in Intelligent automation and AI. He has served as Global Head of Automation and AI and held senior roles at major firms like Tech Mahindra representing the face of AI and automation initiatives. Throughout his career, he had been focused on building high-performing teams and establishing competencies to deliver value and outcome to global customers through Business and IT transformation programs. George is acknowledged as a respected thought leader and member in leading organizations and think tanks, having shaped robust AI and Automation ecosystems and mentored cross-functional international teams.

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My guest today is Michael Ferranti, VP of Marketing at Unleash. In this conversation Michael recounts his journey from the banking sector to the tech world starting during the 2008 financial crisis.

He explains how the launch of Amazon's cloud services led him to join Rackspace, a leading hosting provider at the time.

Michael emphasizes the importance of culture in a company’s success and delves into his career in developer tools, touching upon the shifts in cloud computing, containerization, and microservices architecture, up to the current generative AI revolution.

He discusses the differences between building software for financial services and for developers, stressing the necessity of upskilling to maintain credible conversations with target audiences.

Key insights shared include best practices for feature management, emphasizing the importance of small batch sizes in DevOps, and the critical need for empathy and strong mission alignment in work culture.

Michael concludes with career advice for those looking to enter or advance in software marketing, highlighting the importance of curiosity and adaptability in the fast-evolving tech landscape.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:09 Michael's Journey into Tech

01:29 Early Career at Rackspace

03:28 Transition to Developer Tools

04:31 Differences Between BFSI and Developer Domains

05:42 Understanding Developer Needs

10:04 Feature Management and Testing in Production

13:10 Balancing Technical and Business Requirements

29:30 Building a Strong Company Culture

34:45 Staying Updated with Industry Trends

38:17 Career Tips for Aspiring Marketers

42:15 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ferrantim/

Michael Ferranti is a seasoned enterprise technologist and product strategist with deep experience in the developer tools and cloud-native ecosystems. Across companies like Portworx, Teleport, and now Unleash, Michael has consistently been at the forefront of how modern engineering teams build, release, and secure software at scale.

He’s led product and marketing teams through high-growth phases, acquisitions, and major category creation efforts—often sitting at the intersection of infrastructure innovation and developer experience. At Portworx, he helped define the Kubernetes-native storage and backup category. At Teleport, he worked on reimagining secure infrastructure access by replacing legacy VPNs and PAM tools with developer-first identity-based access. At Unleash, he’s helping redefine how teams manage feature delivery with open-source roots and enterprise-grade scale.

Michael speaks the language of engineering leaders because he’s worked side-by-side with them for over a decade. His approach to go-to-market is grounded in understanding real user workflows, developer psychology, and the shifting realities of enterprise architectures—from Kubernetes to DevSecOps to open-source adoption models.

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Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Sunil David, Digital Technology Consultant |Ex-Regional Director(IOT)- AT&T we discuss What does it take to evolve from installing multiplexers in the 90s to becoming one of India’s most respected IoT evangelists and startup mentors? In this episode, Sunil David shares his three-decade journey across telecom, IoT, and digital transformation.

Early Career Foundations

Sunil began his professional journey in 1994, right after completing his Electronics and Communication Engineering. Unlike many peers who shifted to unrelated fields, he was one of the “lucky few,” as he puts it, to continue working in his chosen discipline for decades.

• First role – Multiplexers & Railway Networks
• His very first assignment was with a small company where he installed multiplexers across India’s railway network. These devices connected mainframe computers to remote terminals, ensuring reliable communication across long distances. This hands-on experience with infrastructure and connectivity became the bedrock for his later work in telecom.
• CMS Computers – Networking Era
• He then moved to CMS Computers, focusing on LAN and WAN networking solutions. This gave him exposure to enterprise IT and network integration, skills that were highly relevant when India’s telecom sector was on the cusp of privatization.
• Telstra Wecom (1996) – Entering Telecom’s Liberalization Phase
• A pivotal career move came in 1996 when Sunil joined Telstra Wecom, a joint venture between Telstra Australia and VSNL (later Tata Communications). This was just two years after India opened its telecom sector to private players—a historic shift.

AT&T and Passion for IoTAfter short but formative experiences in networking, VSAT installations, and enterprise software, 2000 marked a turning point when Sunil joined AT&T. What began as a role in sales grew into a 14-year career where he rose to become Regional Head for South India, handling enterprise connectivity services.

• Focused on telecom and enterprise connectivity, including mobile, landline, and data services for large enterprises.
• Built strong CXO-level relationships, gaining insight into how enterprises viewed technology not just as infrastructure, but as enablers of business growth.
• Developed a strategic mindset: learning how to sell not just technology, but business outcomes—a skill that would become vital in his IoT work.
• After a short return to Telstra, Sunil came back to AT&T in 2017—this time with a completely different mandate: to lead AT&T’s IoT business in India and ASEAN.
• This was when IoT adoption globally was still nascent, and in India it was just taking shape. Sunil recalls that he had been personally fascinated by IoT since 2011–2012, when the idea of “things being connected to the internet”—from cars to machines—caught his imagination.

Technology Evangelism & Mentorship

• Speaking engagements became not just a platform to promote AT&T’s services, but also a way to educate enterprises and build credibility in the ecosystem.
• At AT&T, Sunil saw how business and technology intersect—sparking his next chapter as a technology evangelist with a focus on strategy, startups, and purpose-driven innovation.
• His first keynote was on 9th August 2017.
• From there, he went on to speak at 400+ industry forums, covering IoT, AI, metaverse, cybersecurity, and digital transformation. He transitioned from corporate leader to solopreneur and mentor, working with startups in AI, IoT, sustainability, and climate change.
• His contributions to CII, NASSCOM, and initiatives like Women Wizards Rule Tech, where he has mentored thousands of women in digital skills.
• How he manages his time, creates content for 32,000+ LinkedIn followers, and leverages tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity to boost productivity.
• Practical advice for professionals: continuous learning, attending industry forums, building a legacy, and balancing financial, physical, and spiritual well-being.

At this time Sunil David, works on immersing himself in a specific set of fields to be a thought leader, and fully dedicate himself to mentorship, sustainability, and giving back.

Quotable Moments from Sunil David“Imagine the value you can unlock when billions of assets—from machines in a factory to vehicles on the road—start generating data. The opportunities to monetize and transform industries are humongous.”

“We are clearly seeing the move from being reactive to predictive. Thanks to AI and IoT, enterprises can act proactively before something causes damage—whether it’s a machine on a shop floor or even human health.”

“Optimizing energy usage is not just good for the environment—it makes business sense. Lower energy bills mean direct savings, while reducing carbon emissions benefits the planet.”

“Learning never stops. We are in a lifelong journey of learning and unlearning. The day you stop learning is the day you stop growing.”

“It’s not just about financial success. You have to ask yourself—what legacy am I leaving behind? Will people remember the impact I created?”

“My forte is B2B, especially AI and IoT for manufacturing and sustainability. Staying focused allows me to truly add value to startups, rather than spreading myself thin.”

About Sunil David

Sunil David is an Independent Digital Technology Consultant with over 30 years of experience in the IT and Telecom Industry . He’s spent almost 20 years with AT&T India. In his last stint with AT&T held from March 2017 until April 2022 , he was the Regional Director – IOT( India and ASEAN ). He’s had extensive experience in Business Strategy , Sales , Business Development and Alliance & Partnership building during my AT&T stints .

Sunil is associated as a Gold Mentor with T-Hub ( Telangana Hub) based in Hyderabad one of India’s largest startup incubators supporting some of India’s most innovative technology startups specifically focused on areas around Smart Manufacturing and ESG.

Sunil is a much sought after speaker in several industry forum on topics related to IOT, AI, 5G, Digital Transformation , Industry 4.0 and 5.0 , Gen AI, Metaverse, Future of Technology , Future of Work , Digital Marketing , Cyber security , Quantum Computing, ESG etc. He has also authored a number of articles for various technology websites, B2B Tech and telecom related publications and a few prominent media houses like Fortune India, Indian Express, Moneycontrol, ET Edge , Communications Today, Voice and Data, etc.

Sunil is actively engaged with Industry bodies like CII, NASSCOM , IET, IACC etc working on a number of National initiatives around Digital Transformation advocacy and awareness for Enterprises especially SMEs, Digital Skilling for Women, Startup-Corporate connect , ESG awareness etc.

Sunil is an alumnus of Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune ( Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration with specialization in Marketing )

Sunil can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunil-david-8165971/

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In this episode Shiv is in conversation with Jason Casey, CEO and co-founder of Beyond Identity. Jason talks about his early fascination with technology, his career trajectory, and how he entered cybersecurity. He describes Beyond Identity's mission to eliminate passwords and improve identity verification. Jason shares insights on staying ahead in cybersecurity, touching on topics like AI, supply chain attacks, and trusted computing. He discusses the transition from CTO to CEO, the importance of curiosity and experimentation in both early and mid-career stages, and his personal practices for managing stress and staying grounded.

00:25 Jason Casey's Early Fascination with Technology

01:22 Journey into Cybersecurity

02:23 Understanding the Hacker Mindset

03:58 Staying Ahead in Cybersecurity

06:57 Fundamentals of AI and Security

09:01 Challenges and Innovations in AI Security

10:16 Building Secure Systems with AI

13:50 The Cost of Real-Time Security

15:24 Deterministic vs. Probabilistic Security Controls

17:19 The Role of Honeypots in Cybersecurity

18:44 Adversarial Tactics and Device Posture

21:15 AI in Software Development and Security

25:17 Trusted Computing in Aerospace and Defense

27:01 Hardware-Based Trusted Computing

28:04 Genesis of Beyond Identity

29:31 Meeting Jim Clark

32:17 Beyond Identity's Mission

34:04 Transition from CTO to CEO

37:17 Career Tips for Cybersecurity

50:06 Personal Practices to Stay Grounded

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jassoncasey/

Jasson Casey currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at Beyond Identity, where he's built an identity security platform for enterprises to make identity-based attacks impossible.

Jasson has 20+ years of experience delivering security and networking products to all markets and customer types, including global enterprises and carriers. He served as CTO at Security Scorecard, Fellow in CyberSecurity with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and as Advisor to IronNet CyberSecurity, a security startup founded by Gen. (Ret) Keith Alexander.

Prior to Beyond Identity, Jasson was VP of Engineering at IronNet CyberSecurity and oversaw development of the vendor's revolutionary collective intelligence platform and pioneered new approaches to total network observability, including limitless wire rate packet capture with truly elastic retention abilities.

He also brings a long history of innovation advocacy for Software Defined Networks (SDN) through his work founding and leading Flowgrammable, and serving as a member of the Software Leadership Council at the Open Networking Foundation. Previously he held roles in product management, business development and engineering with CenturyTel(CenturyLink), Level3(CenturyLink), and Alcatel(Nokia).

Jasson has a BSEE from the University of Texas at Austin and has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Texas A&M University.

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In this interesting conversation with Eric Müller, Product Engineering Associate Director at Work & Co, part of Accenture Song, he shares many nuggets including:

• The importance of balancing perfect architecture with practical, implementable solutions.

• Acknowledging and managing technical debt efficiently.

• Understanding business needs to prevent over-engineering.

• Creating high-performing teams through trust, communication, and ensuring appropriate tools and training are in place.

• The significance of empathy, both towards team members and clients, and developing a well-rounded worldview.

• Addressing security vulnerabilities proactively and maintaining rigorous safety standards.

• Utilizing Gen AI tools like ChatGPT with caution, emphasizing verification and human oversight.

• Personal practices that help maintain a work-life balance and ensure continuous personal growth, such as engaging in hobbies like photography and cooking, exercising, and maintaining effective communication within teams.

Eric Müller, is an Associate Director focusing on Product Engineering and Digital Security at Work & Co, part of Accenture Song, where leads engineering teams and supported automated processes to deliver high-quality digital products for the past decade. With over 20 years of experience in engineering and security, Eric has worked across various industries including banking, social media, B2B, retail, fashion, and online gaming.

His extensive background includes significant roles at Wells Fargo Bank, Charles Schwab, Razorfish, and Mekanism, where he delivered award-winning projects for clients such as Microsoft, Business Wire, Anza, and Vibrant Planet. Eric fosters empathetic leadership and transparent communication to build resilient, high-performing tech teams.

An advocate for healthy agency-client collaboration, Eric involves partners early and often in the development process. His experience has proven that stronger client relationships result in better products. Beyond his professional achievements, Eric is an amateur photographer and baking enthusiast who loves discussing security.

Eric may be reached at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericmullersf/

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My guest today is Steven Puri, founder of the Sukha, that offers solutions to help individuals increase their productivity through being in a flow state.

Steven was a senior executive at DreamWorks Pictures and 20th Century Fox, who has successfully transitioned into the tech industry.

He shares his career journey, from producing computer graphics for movies like 'Independence Day' to his ventures in the tech space, raising $21 million in venture capital.

He discusses the importance of cross-domain learning, productivity, and achieving a flow state.

Steven delves into how his background in both film and tech has shaped his approach to managing remote and hybrid teams, emphasizing the significance of meaningful work and the right conditions for flow.

He also introduces his company, Suka, that has been built based on insights into various tools and techniques. This episode offers useful insights for leaders and individuals aiming to enhance their productivity and creativity.

Among the topics he covers are:

• Career in the Entertainment Industry
• Transition to Tech and Entrepreneurship
• Challenges and Learnings from Failures
• Building Remote and Hybrid Teams
• Creative Brainstorms and Flow States
• Leadership and Team Dynamics
• Maintaining Culture in Remote Teams
• The Rise of Gig Work
• The Trigger for Suka
• Creating a Flow State App
• Overcoming Procrastination
• The Importance of Music
• Building a Supportive Community
• Synchronizing Team Flow
• Tips for Leaders to Foster Flow

Steven is the Founder and CEO of The Sukha Company with the mission to help millions of people find their focus, achieve more and have a healthy work life.

Steven's career started as a newscaster/interviewer for the #1 youth news show in the DC/Baltimore market (on WTTG-TV) and then as a junior software engineer & Thomas J. Watson Scholar at IBM.

After attending USC in Los Angeles, he began working in film production and produced computer-generated visual effects for 14 movies including Independence Day which won the Academy Award for Visual Effects.

Steven’s first tech company was Centropolis Effects that produced those CGI effects, and he eventually sold it to the German media conglomerate Das Werk when he was 28. Steven then produced some indie films and eventually went studio-side to develop and produce live-action features as a VP of Development & Production at 20th Century Fox (running the Die Hard and Wolverine franchises) and an EVP at DreamWorks Pictures for Kurtzman-Orci Productions where he worked on Star Trek, Transformers and more.

After Fox, Steven returned to building tech companies and founded The Sukha Company - ‘sukha’ means ‘happiness from self-fulfillment’ in Sanskrit. The Sukha is a focus app that bundles all the tools necessary to have a focused experience and a healthy, productive workday.

Steven lives in Austin, TX now.

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In this episode of Software People Stories, Gayatri Kalyanaraman speaks with Shikha Munjal, Associate Director Fidelity International, about her dynamic journey across technology, finance, people management and community building.

Shikha Munjal’s story begins in a small town in Haryana, where she pursued computer science engineering—a choice influenced by her father’s vision rather than her own. What started as a decision made for her soon turned into a lifelong passion for technology and problem-solving.

She began her career with Accenture in Bangalore, diving straight into the corporate world just two days after finishing her final exams. Although trained in one technology, she was placed on projects with Informatica and data technologies, which opened a new career-long interest in data management and reporting tools.

From there, Shikha moved to Headstrong (later acquired by Genpact), working primarily with Morgan Stanley’s account, and even spent nearly a year onsite in Tokyo. That global experience left a lasting impression on her work ethic—she admired the Japanese culture of discipline, continuous learning, and deep focus.

Her journey next took her to JP Morgan in Mumbai, where she strengthened her expertise in financial services and data-driven systems. But personal circumstances brought her back to the Delhi NCR region, where she eventually joined Fidelity International, her professional home for over a decade.

At Fidelity, Shikha grew into senior leadership, taking on roles that blended technology, business analysis, and product management. She emphasized not just building solutions, but delivering real business outcomes—aligning technology with the fast-paced demands of the financial services industry.

Along the way, she invested in continuous learning—pursuing certifications in Informatica, IBM, product management, financial analysis, and cloud/data platforms like Snowflake. She transitioned from being a technologist to a business leader and product owner, always guided by her growth mindset.

Beyond her corporate role, Shikha has been an active advocate for diversity and inclusion, serving as a chapter lead at AnitaB.org North India. She blends her professional identity with her personal roles as a mother, wife, daughter, and sister, often saying that her strength comes from integrating all these parts of her life.

Today, as Associate Director at Fidelity International, Shikha is shaping data strategies, product roadmaps, and inclusive leadership practices—all while staying curious, resilient, and adaptable in an era of rapid technological and business change.

Quotable Moments from Shikha Munjal’s Episode1. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts – I’ve learned to blend my roles as a mother, daughter, professional, and leader.” 2. “Comfort and growth do not coexist. The moment I feel my work is not challenging me, I know it’s time to evolve.” 3. “What keeps me going is not climbing the career ladder, but continuously adding to my profile and learning something new.” 4. “If you enjoy the process of learning, the outcomes will follow naturally.” 5. “In technology, every four to eight years your skills get challenged – you need to continuously upskill to stay relevant.” 6. “I always believed that being connected to the business side meant being connected to the real world – solving real problems, not just writing code.” 7. “We need to embrace uncertainty rather than rush to solve it. Sometimes dwelling on the ambiguity gives deeper insights.” 8. “Data today is like a marketplace—you should be able to shop for it within an organization, but with the right entitlements and governance.”

Shikha Munjal is Associate Director at Fidelity International with over 20 years of experience in technology and financial services. She has held roles at Accenture, HCL, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, and now Fidelity. A strong advocate for diversity and inclusion, she has led the North India chapter of AnitaB.org. Shikha is passionate about data, product management, and continuous learning, and believes in shaping her career with curiosity and resilience.

Shikha can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/shikha-munjal-19370113a/

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My guest today is Harish Chandramowli, Co-founder & CTO of Flair software.

In this conversation, Harish talks about his journey from his early university days in India at Amrita University to leading roles in major companies like Bloomberg and MongoDB. He articulates his shift to a niche field combining software engineering with security, his experience at Johns Hopkins University, and his eventual move into cloud security engineering.

Harish shares insightful narratives about his founding a small startup and the creation and development of Flair, a fashion tech platform, highlighting the challenges and triumphs he encountered.

Topics include his approach to managing remote teams, dealing with the pressures of startup life, the challenges of prioritization, and maintaining a work-life balance. Harish also discusses the importance of understanding customer needs and integrating AI and security in product development.

Some of the topics covered are:

• Introduction and Early Career
• Graduate Studies and Early Professional Experience
• Career at Bloomberg and MongoDB
• Startup Journey and MongoDB Experience
• Transition to Flair and Early Challenges
• Insights on Security and AI
• Building Flair and Remote Team Management
• Empowering Engineers Through Customer Interaction
• Challenges of Managing Remote Teams
• Retention and Team Dynamics
• Balancing Startup Pressures and Personal Growth
• Navigating the Fashion Industry's Legal Landscape
• Building Global Products from India
• Staying Grounded Amidst Startup Challenges

Harish Chandramowli is a second-time founder who started his career in deeply technical roles—building cloud infrastructure and security at MongoDB. Over time, he evolved from shipping code to selling ideas—learning the language of customers, diving into sales-led discovery, and translating that into product strategy. Today, Harish blends technical depth with commercial instinct to build tools that solve real operational pain with clarity and impact

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In this episode of Software People Stories, Gayatri Kalyanaraman speaks with Dr. G Uma, Professor in the Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering and Dean of Institutional Development & Alumni Relations at NIT Trichy. An alumna herself, Dr. Uma reflects on her 27-year journey in academia, her pioneering work in MEMS technology, and her deep commitment to guiding future engineers.

From humble beginnings as the first faculty in a rural college to shaping NIT Trichy’s international profile, Dr. Uma’s career blends research excellence, institution building, and mentorship. She shares candid stories of early struggles, the leap into doctoral research, building one of South India’s first MEMS Design Centers, and balancing administrative leadership with a hands-on teaching approach.

Listeners will also hear her grounded advice on health, career focus, networking, and completing what you start—whether that’s a degree or a passion project. She speaks openly about the challenges of motivating today’s students in a world of distractions and the importance of developing both technical skills and professional ethics.

Key Takeaways:

• Passion for Teaching – How a rural college role ignited her lifelong love for education.
• MEMS Pioneer – Building a MEMS Design Center in 2004, ahead of its time in India.
• Doctorate with Purpose – Why PhDs are about philosophy, not just a title.
• Mentoring Future Engineers – Using societal problem-solving and teamwork to develop leadership in students.
• Advice for Students – Stay clear on your goals, master your core field, network widely, and prioritize health.
• Institutional Vision – Balancing global branding for NIT Trichy with deep alumni engagement.

Notable Quotes:

“Only when we are able to do what we are doing at present best, can we achieve our passion.”

“PhD is not just another degree — it’s a philosophy in research.”

“Health is the most important thing in the world; without it, everything else is zero.”

Perfect for:

• Students seeking clarity on career paths in engineering.
• Academics balancing research, teaching, and administration.
• Alumni curious about NIT Trichy’s vision and outreach.
• Anyone inspired by stories of perseverance, innovation, and mentorship.

Dr. Uma started her academic career in 1992 and joined the Department of ICE, NIT, Tiruchirappalli, in 1999. She is currently serving as a Professor and Dean of the Institutional Development & Alumni Relations. Throughout her distinguished career, she has held several significant leadership roles, including Coordinator of the ISRO- STIC (Space Technology Incubation Centre), ICC Presiding Officer, Additional Chief Warden, Head of Instrumentation and Control Engineering Department, Faculty Advisor of the International Society for Automation (ISA) at NITT, Ladies Hostel

Warden and Associate Dean.

Dr. Uma has made substantial contributions to her field, having authored over 90 research papers in reputed international journals and presented more than 60 papers at conferences. She has also contributed to two book chapters and served as one of the editors of a monograph on Nuclear Instrumentation and Control. Furthermore, she holds three granted Indian patents, demonstrating her innovative work in the field. She has been the principal investigator for several sponsored research projects and has guided over ten research scholars and more than 50 postgraduate students, nurturing the next generation of engineers and researchers. Dr. Uma also played a pivotal role in two national programs on Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), namely NPSM and NPMASS, further advancing the research and development of MEMS technologies in India.

Dr. Uma has been recognized with the Young Scientist Fellowship from the Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology (TNSCST) and was recently honoured with the Distinguished Alumni Award (DAA) from MIT, Anna University. Her research interests encompass the design of sensors and actuators, Micro- Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), biomedical instrumentation, and the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in advancing biomedical technologies

Dr. G. Uma, a native of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, completed her Bachelor of Engineering in Instrumentation and Control Engineering from Government College of Technology, Coimbatore, Master of Engineering in Instrumentation Engineering from the Madras Institute of Technology, Anna University, Chennai and Ph.D. in Instrumentation and Control Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli.

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My guests today are Cultural engineer-anthropologist Allen Batteau, Ph.D. and design anthropologist Christine Z. Miller, Ph.D., co-authors of the book: Tools, Totems, and Totalities: The Modern Construction of Hegemonic Technology

Christine Miller is a professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design, and Allen, a retired professor from Wayne State University.

They share details of their interdisciplinary backgrounds, their collaborative book project, and the implications of technology on society. They discuss the concept of sociotechnical systems, the brittleness of technology, and the ethical responsibilities of designers and software developers. They also touch upon the potential impact of AI, user-centered vs. social-centered design, and the role of speculative design in fostering innovation and hope for the future of humanity.

Some specific topics that they touched upon:

• Introduction and Guest Backgrounds
• Christine's Academic Journey
• Allen's Career Path
• The Concept of Sociotechnical Systems
• Hegemonic Technology in Software Development
• AI: Artificial Intelligence or Artificial Ignorance?
• User-Centered vs. Social-Centered Design
• The Importance of Broader Perspectives in Education
• The Role of Universities in Broader Education
• The Impact of Habit-Forming Products
• Productivity and Technology
• The Evolution and Impact of the Internet
• Ethical Responsibilities in Technology
• The Urgency and Maintenance in Design
• Brittleness of Technological Systems
• Speculative Design and Future Perspectives
• Concluding Thoughts on Technology and Hope

Allen W. Batteau, a cultural anthropologist and professor at Wayne State University, is a leading authority on the intersection of technology and society. His work, funded by agencies such as NASA and the National Science Foundation, includes numerous publications on aviation, flight safety, and technology in democratic societies.

https://clasprofiles.wayne.edu/profile/ad4408

Christine Miller is a design educator and researcher at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). With expertise in socio-technical systems, her research focuses on how social and cultural dynamics influence technology design and adoption. Her interdisciplinary approach bridges anthropology, design, and business

https://www.scad.edu/academics/faculty/christine-miller

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My guest today is S Parthasarathy, better known as Spart who is the founder at CuedIn Technologies.

In this episode, Spart shares his extensive journey in the software engineering field.

Spart's story begins with his initial projects in COBOL programming at Tata Burroughs and the World Bank, working on critical systems in retail, logistics, and financial sectors.

He recounts his impactful stint at SWIFT, contributing to the foundation of what has become modern-day financial messaging systems. Spart reflects on his decision to pivot from electrical engineering to computer science, driven by his interest in the engineering of large systems.

He details his tenure at Ramco Systems, implementing document-based transactions, model-based code generation, and achieving several tech milestones, including internet integration and 32-bit upgrades.

After Ramco, Spart's continued passion for software engineering led him to co-found a SaaS-based ERP solution company, targeting SMEs. Despite early challenges and market readiness issues, he gained crucial insights into cloud-native architectures.

Spart's career path took another turn towards consulting and exploring AI, specifically focusing on probabilistic graph learning and the challenges of natural language processing in software engineering.

He emphasizes the importance of non-functional requirements, application architecture, and the potential of tools like Generative AI (GenAI) to enhance software development processes. Spart concludes by reflecting on the ongoing evolution of software engineering and his current projects aimed at making software engineering more accessible and efficient with modern tools.

Spart has 40+ years of experience in various aspects of software services area covering consultancy, business systems management, product development and Engineering management. Worked with large North American Organizations handling complex projects to implement transaction processing business solutions and data communication networks.

Key interests:

• Gen AI based solutioning for key business activities

• Gen AI enabled SW engineering

• Contextual social network driven approach for building business systems

• Predictive analytics over operational databases using Bayesian causal networks

• Implementing innovative platform based techno-commercial models for software solutions/services delivery.

• Cloud computing and SOA based multi-tenant solution Architecture

https://www.linkedin.com/in/spartp/

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My guest today is Galvin Widjaja, founder and CEO of Lauretta.io ….

In this episode he talks about:

• Origin story: Galvin Widjaja shares his origin story, including his background and how he got associated with the AI industry .
• Entrepreneurial Journey: Galvin discusses his transition from a quant finance background to becoming an entrepreneur in the AI space .
• AI and Computer Vision: Insights into Galvin's work in AI and computer vision, particularly in security applications .
• Business Challenges: Galvin talks about the challenges faced in running a restaurant chain and the importance of automation and domain expertise .
• Consulting Experience: Reflections on Galvin's consulting experience and the lessons learned in communication and stakeholder management .
• Regulation Tech Project: Details about a regulation tech project Galvin proposed and executed at DBS Bank .
• Family Influence: The impact of Galvin's family background on his entrepreneurial journey, including his father's and grandfather's businesses .
• Pivot to AI: The shift from business processing to AI and the founding of an AI security company .
• Technological Innovations: Discussion on technological innovations in Indonesia and the contributions of Indonesian software engineers



CEO & Co-Founder, Lauretta.io

Galvin Widjaja is the founder and CEO of Lauretta AI, a privacy-first computer vision company that helps organizations understand human behavior in physical spaces without relying on identity or biometrics. Under his leadership, Lauretta has become a trusted partner to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, TSA, U.S. Air Force, and major airport and defense agencies across Asia and North America. The company’s AI platform is designed to predict intent, enable preemptive alerts, and provide real-time situational awareness — all while preserving individual privacy.

Galvin’s unconventional journey into AI began not in a lab, but behind the counter of a quick-service restaurant he once ran for his father in Singapore. After early career stints in consulting, banking, and tech, a pivotal decision to reconnect with his estranged father led him to manage three migrant-serving restaurants. There, he learned that systems are only as good as the people they serve. That insight shaped his approach to AI — one built not just on precision and scale, but on empathy, equity, and lived experience.

Born in Singapore and raised partly in Indonesia, Galvin grew up in entrepreneurial households that saw both massive growth and total collapse. Those early lessons in volatility, resilience, and human complexity now inform his mission to build AI that doesn’t just react — it understands. His work focuses on helping organizations move from static surveillance to dynamic understanding, and from reactive alerts to proactive decision-making — all while respecting the humanity of the people being observed.

Galvin may be reached at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/galvinw/

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I am in conversation with Tom Elliott, founder of Ocuroot and former Engineering Productivity lead at Yext,

Introduction:

• Tom Elliott shares his career journey, starting from his early interest in computers to his current role in Dev tooling .

Career Insights:

• Tom discusses the challenges of entering the industry during the financial crash and his transition from contract work to a full-time role at VMware .
• He highlights his experience at VMware, working on early-stage projects like building login pages and authentication systems .

Shift to New York:

• Tom talks about his move to New York and his work at a small VPN startup, focusing on user-facing applications .

Experience at Yext:

• Tom shares his journey at Yext, starting as a mobile developer and gradually moving to backend development and Dev tooling .
• He emphasizes the importance of being close to the users and getting immediate feedback on the tools he built .

Challenges and Solutions:

• Tom discusses the challenges of working in large organizations, such as resolving merge conflicts and managing long-lived branches .
• He explains the benefits of trunk-based development and feature flags for managing multiple features and environments .

Observability and Deployment:

• Tom highlights the importance of observability and the use of tools like open telemetry for distributed tracing .
• He shares insights on managing different deployment environments and ensuring consistency across regions .

Quality and CI/CD Pipelines:

• Tom talks about the emphasis on quality and the importance of CI/CD pipelines in ensuring reliable software releases .
• He shares his experience of setting up CI/CD pipelines to avoid issues like broken installers .

Conclusion:

• Tom reflects on the importance of flexibility and prototyping in software development .
• He shares his thoughts on the future of AI in coding and the role of human operators in leveraging AI tools .

Bio:

During nearly 20 years in the tech industry, Tom has worked for companies large and small on both sides of the pond and all layers of the tech stack from user-facing mobile and desktop applications to the backest of backends: DevOps. He is currently building Ocuroot, his own take on a CI/CD solution, based on his experiences scaling large numbers of environments for B2B SaaS products.

Links:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/telliott1984/

• BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/telliott.me

• Blog: https://thefridaydeploy.substack.com/

• Ocuroot:https://www.ocuroot.com

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My guest today is Thanos Diacakis, Software Delivery Coach & a Fractional CTO.

We covered a wide range of topics that included:

• Insightful Experiences: Thanos shared many insightful and thought-provoking experiences and perspectives, particularly on software delivery life cycle improvements without explicitly using terms like Kanban
• Balancing Work and Personal Life: Thanos emphasized the importance of balancing work and personal life, recognizing that while work is important, personal relationships and leisure activities are equally significant.
• Fractional CTO Business: Thanos discussed the benefits of running a fractional CTO business, allowing for flexibility in managing time and delivering value to multiple clients
• Scaling Challenges: Thanos shared experiences with scaling projects, particularly with Uber's bikes and scooters, highlighting the importance of having systems in place to manage growth
• Learning from Others: Thanos emphasized the value of learning from others and cross-pollinating ideas across different clients to improve software delivery

Thanos Diacakis helps startups and growing companies overcome software bottlenecks, scale engineering teams, and deliver high-quality products faster. With over 25 years in software development, his background spans both early-stage ventures and tech giants like Uber and Included Health, where he led the technical integration of the JUMP Bikes acquisition, scaling the platform to 45k vehicles and over 2 million monthly trips. He’s seen elite teams stall when outdated processes leave them too heads-down to course-correct. With lean, evidence-backed practices, he unlocks faster delivery and greater developer satisfaction, so velocity rises while burnout falls.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

Website: https://www.cosmicteacups.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thanosd/

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In this episode of Software People Stories, Gayatri Kalyanaraman speaks with Anu Dwaraknath, Staff Technical Program Manager at Lam Research, about her dynamic journey across geographies, domains, and roles. From her early days in telecom to becoming a driving force in the semiconductor space, Anu shares stories of adaptability, continuous learning, and purpose-driven leadership.

Episode Summary

In this inspiring episode of Software People Stories, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Anu Dwaraknath, Staff Technical Program Manager at Lam Research — a global leader in semiconductor capital equipment.

Anu walks us through her transformative journey from a telecom software engineer to a program leader in the high-stakes world of semiconductors. With warmth and clarity, she shares how each stage of her career was shaped by curiosity, grit, and a willingness to embrace new challenges.

Having started in C/C++ development at Alcatel-Lucent, Anu transitioned into technical program management after earning a general management MBA in the U.S. — a shift she undertook during the 2008 recession. With no prior semiconductor experience, she joined Lam Research as an intern and steadily built her domain knowledge, moving from internal IT to core product engineering over the next decade.

Now based in India, Anu leads software initiatives on tools that power the chips behind every smart device — and actively advocates for greater awareness and participation in the semiconductor industry, especially for women in tech.

Key Themes & Highlights

Breaking Into Semiconductors with Persistence and Curiosity Joined Lam Research during her MBA through an internship focused on business analysis. * Despite being new to the domain, she took on enterprise software migrations, bridging the business and engineering teams. * Faced challenges around visa sponsorship* and recession-era job market, but leveraged every opportunity to gain cross-functional exposure.

Learning the Domain, One Layer at a Time Started in IT and internal systems, then gradually moved into product-facing roles within Lam. * Through subconscious learning from team meetings, leadership messages, and everyday exposure, she began to understand the complex world of semiconductor fabrication and capital equipment. * Upon relocating to India, she took on a more core product role — bringing her closer to engineers and customers*, leading to rapid upskilling in domain knowledge.

“I knew I was coming in from a non-product background, and I said yes — I’m ready for the steep learning curve.”

️ Building the Beginner’s Mindset Emphasizes the importance of staying mentally agile and open to new domains. * Used every role — from unpaid internships to technical program ownership — as a learning opportunity. * Believes you don’t need to know everything on Day 1*, but must carry the intent to learn continuously.

Growing Semiconductor Awareness in India Engages actively with communities like Grace Hopper (GHCI), Lean In, and PMI, often being the only semiconductor representative in the room. * Speaks at schools and conferences to demystify what semiconductors are, how fabs work, and why this field matters — especially post-COVID and in India’s Make in India* drive. * Helps others through referrals, career guidance, and mentorship — especially women interested in STEM and product roles

Quote-worthy Moments

“Your domain doesn’t have to define you — if you carry the mindset to learn, the journey takes care of itself.”

“I wanted to break out of my comfort zone — not just from engineering to management, but from one industry to another.”

“Being in semiconductors now feels like representing a movement — and I take that responsibility seriously.”

Anu can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/anu-dwarakanath-89728a15/

Anu is Process innovator, critical thinker, and a corporate entrepreneur in the making! Solid program manager who adds strategic value and brings out competitive differentiation by focusing on business transformations.

● 15 years of experience working in IT program management, specializing in waterfall (SDLC), agile and hybrid project management methodologies

● A highly collaborative leader with a track record of building effective cross-functional teams and relationships, while delivering high scale solutions

● Core competencies: structured problem solving & qualitative decision analysis, negotiation & consensus building

Links & Resources

• Lam Research
• Grace Hopper Conference India
• Leanin.org
• PMI.org

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Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Dr. Fred Jordan, CEO and Co-Founder at AlpVision and FinalSpark - Expert anticounterfeit technologies - Expert biocomputing talks about his journey to make a difference in AI and what propelled him to do that.

1. Early Career — Curiosity, Coincidence, and Counterfeits* Fred describes himself modestly as a French physicist who stumbled into entrepreneurship by "provoking luck."
2. He and his co-founder Martin Kutter began with research in digital watermarking, creating invisible marks on media.
3. Their startup AlfVision emerged from this — aimed at detecting counterfeit goods using image analysis.

4. Lessons from early failures (9 out of 10 products failed) were key to refining their success.

5. Making the Mark — Patents, Passion, and Intellectual Property* Fred emphasizes building a business around passion, but insists on profitability too.

6. He stresses the importance of understanding finance, even for technical founders.

7. As a multi-founder and active programmer, he still codes when needed — including writing software that led to a patent and successful tech deployment in China.

8. Creating a Legacy — Bio-Neurons and a Sustainable Future* Final Spark emerged from Fred and Martin’s desire to return to fundamental research, after years of commercial success.

9. Their mission: dramatically reduce the energy and resources required to run AI by leveraging real neurons instead of digital simulations — achieving up to 1 million times greater energy efficiency.
10. In their lab in Switzerland, they’ve created a testbed where biological neural tissues are grown, connected via electrodes, and streamed in real-time — with microfluidics feeding them 24/7.
11. Fred draws a direct parallel between learning in artificial neural networks (via adjusting weights) and the biological challenge of inducing learning by reconfiguring synaptic connections. This forms the crux of building a true biological computing server.
12. “When you have artificial neurons, learning is done by setting the right connections between them. We need to do the same in biology. That’s how humans learn — and that’s what we have to replicate in vitro.”
13. The long-term vision is bold:
14. Create biological servers at scale (10cm x 100m tissues) that could power AI with drastically less energy.
15. Biological intelligence becoming mainstream — just as LED lights replaced incandescent bulbs.
16. A future with hybrid bio-artificial objects — think of a glass that detects your mood and adjusts your drink accordingly.
17. Breakaway quote-worthy moments
18. “Trial and error is really precious... Being a co-founder, failures teach you very, very valuable lessons.”
19. “I’m not building something for today — I want it to make sense even from 100 million kilometers away.”
20. His thoughts on entrepreneurship:
21. “You need to be not bad at many things. Everything is holistic.”
22. “If you don't work for your dreams, you work for someone else's.”

Fred Jordan is an Experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of successful and profitable businesses. Skilled in Innovation, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Programming, Marketing, Management and Entrepreneurship. Scientific education with M.Sc. in physics and Ph.D. in signal processing.

Co-founder of:

• AlpVision: Supplier of technologies and smartphone solutions for automatic detection of genuine and fake products.

• FinalSpark: Startup using biological neural networks for the design of Artificial General Intelligence.

Dr. Fred Jordan started their journey in technology entrepreneurship after completing his PhDs at EPFL in applied mathematics. This work gave them the inspiration for their first successful start-up, AlpVision, where they excelled at overcoming engineering challenges and created an innovative solution for product authentication. The company became very profitable and is still successfully run by them.

This brought the co-founders Fred and Martin to a new, even bigger challenge, to address the problem of Artificial General Intelligence. Creating a ‘Thinking Machine’ is a dream of many engineers. A machine which can reason as a human being is considered by many as a peak performance to be achieved in engineering.

Although we currently observe the flourishing of the AI models which make impression of being able

to think, as they successfully ‘fake’ human thinking with advanced statistics, this has nothing to do with

human reasoning which is capable of creating new ideas and concepts outside its own experience. This

is what a ‘real’ thinking machine should do as well.

Fred and Martin decided to address this problem by testing the state-of-the-art methods in AI models, such as in silico spiking neural networks, genetic programming and many versions of in silico neural networks.

Multidisciplinary thinking and the interest to explore unknown areas lead Fred and Martin to work on living neurons as computation units. They established FinalSpark lab which is currently running fundamental research with one main question: How to make living neurons perform intended computations?

How to send instructions to the living neurons using electric wires and receive results – the same way

as we send the instructions by typing on our keyboard and receive the answers from in silico computers

on our screens.

Fred Jordan can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/fred-jordan-anticounterfeiting-brandprotection-authentication/

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I am very happy to bring you the inspiring story of Santosh Kaveti, CEO and Founder of ProArch Technologies.

In this conversation he talks about:

• His Origin Story: From applied mathematics to entrepreneurship, navigating challenges, risks, and business growth.
• AI in Cybersecurity & Infrastructure: The rapid convergence of AI, security, compliance, and enterprise tech strategies.
• Investing & Startup Leadership: What Santosh looks for in founders, financial planning, and scaling a business globally.
• Navigating AI Risks & Model Security: Addressing AI poisoning, prompt injection threats, and governance frameworks for enterprises.
• AI for Business & Social Good: Why AI should be seen not just as a cost-efficiency tool but as an enabler of new opportunities.
• Human in the Loop & AI Ethics: The need for human oversight and anomaly detection to keep AI decisions aligned with real-world values.
• Social Initiatives & Community Learning: How the MASTI initiative bridges music, art, science, and tech and innovation for underprivileged children.
• Balancing Business & Social Impact: Santosh’s philosophy on staying grounded, mentorship, and personal growth through meaningful work.

With over 18 years of experience as a technologist, entrepreneur, investor, and advisor, Santosh Kaveti is the CEO and Founder of ProArch, a purpose-driven enterprise that accelerates value and increases resilience for its clients with consulting and technology services, enabled by cloud, guided by data, fueled by apps, and secured by design.

Santosh’s vision and leadership have propelled ProArch to become a dominant force in key industry verticals, such as Energy, Healthcare & Lifesciences, and Manufacturing, where he leverages his expertise in manufacturing process improvement, mentoring, and consulting.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/santoshkaveti/

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• Her early inspiration while growing up in Goa with limited exposure to career options. Her Father’s intellectual influence despite personal hardships and shift in focus to technology.
• Personal tragedy sparked a resolve to become financially independent and learn deeply.
• Inspirational quote that shaped her mindset: “Even if your dreams haven’t come true, be grateful that so haven’t your nightmares.”
• Her first role at a startup withHands-on work with networking protocols (LDAP, VPN, DNS). Learning using only RFCs and O'Reilly books—no StackOverflow! Importance of building deep expertise for long-term success.
• Experiences with Troubleshooting and System Thinking; Transitioned from reactive fixes to logical, structured problem-solving. Her depth of understanding helped in debugging and system optimization.
• Career move to Yahoo where she led Service Engineering for mobile and ads across global data centers got early exposure to big data and machine learning through ad recommendation systems and built "performance and scale muscle" through working at massive scale.
• Challenges of Scale and Performance Then vs. Now: Problems remain the same, but data volumes and complexity have exploded. How modern tools (like AI/ML) can help identify relevance and anomalies in large data sets.
• Design with Scale in Mind - Importance of flipping the design approach: think scale-first, not POC-first. Encourage starting with a big-picture view, even when building a small prototype. Highlights multiple scaling dimensions—data, compute, network, security.
• Getting Into ML and Data Science with early spark from MOOCs, TensorFlow experiments, and statistics; Transition into data science role at Infoblox, a cybersecurity firm with focus areas on DNS security, anomaly detection, threat intelligence.
• Building real-world ML model applications like supervised models for threat detection and storage forecasting; developing graph models to analyze DNS traffic patterns for anomalies and key challenges of managing and processing massive volumes of security data.
• Data stack and what it takes to build data lakes that support ML with emphasis on understanding the end-to-end AI pipeline
• Shifts from “under the hood” ML to front-and-center GenAI & Barriers: Data readiness, ROI, explainability, regulatory compliance.
• Explainability in AI and importance of interpreting model decisions, especially in regulated industries.
• How Explainability Works -Trade-offs between interpretable models (e.g., decision trees) and complex ones (e.g., deep learning); Techniques for local and global model understanding.
• Aruna’s Book on Interpretability and Explainability in AI Using Python (by Aruna C).
• The world of GenAI & Transformers - Explainability in LLMs and GenAI: From attention weights to neuron activation.Challenges of scale: billions of parameters make models harder to interpret. Exciting research areas: Concept tracing, gradient analysis, neuron behavior.
• GenAI Agents in Action - Transition from task-specific GenAI to multi-step agents. Agents as orchestrators of business workflows using tools + reasoning.
• Real-world impact of agents and AI for everyday life

Aruna Chakkirala is a seasoned leader with expertise in AI, Data and Cloud. She is an AI Solutions Architect at Microsoft where she was instrumental in the early adoption of Generative AI. In prior roles as a Data Scientist she has built models in cybersecurity and holds a patent in community detection for DNS querying. Through her two-decade career, she has developed expertise in scale, security, and strategy at various organizations such as Infoblox, Yahoo, Nokia, EFI, and Verisign. Aruna has led highly successful teams and thrives on working with cutting-edge technologies. She is a frequent technical and keynote speaker, panelist, author and an active blogger. She contributes to community open groups and serves as a guest faculty member at premier academic institutes. Her book titled "Interpretability and Explainability in AI using Python" covers the taxonomy and techniques for model explanations in AI including the latest research in LLMs. She believes that the success of real-world AI applications increasingly depends on well- defined architectures across all encompassing domains. Her current interests include Generative AI, applications of LLMs and SLMs, Causality, Mechanistic Interpretability, and Explainability tools.

Her recently published book link

Interpretability and Explainability in AI Using Python: Decrypt AI Decision-Making Using Interpretability and Explainability with Python to Build Reliable Machine Learning Systems

https://amzn.in/d/00dSOwA

Outside of work, she is an avid reader and enjoys creative writing. A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, she is actively involved in GHCI, LeanIn communities.

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I am in conversation with Deepak Mittal, CEO of FFTalos Technologies.

In this insightful episode, Deepak Mittal shares his career journey from coding to consultative selling, reflecting on his evolution from a tech enthusiast to a sales leader driving large-scale digital transformation. He explores solution-based selling, the importance of understanding customer needs, and why sales is more about facilitation than persuasion.

More specifically, he covers:

• His Origin Story: From engineering and coding in the early IT days to discovering his passion for customer interactions.
• Tech vs. Sales: The shift from writing software to understanding business problems and shaping solutions.
• Consultative vs. Product-Based Selling: The difference between pitching features vs. uncovering customer pain points.
• Customer Empathy & Industry Knowledge: Why asking the right questions & listening is more powerful than a polished pitch.
• Building Relationships in Sales: The role of trust, collaboration, and stakeholder engagement in long-term success.
• The Modern Buyer: How the digital era has transformed customer research & purchasing behavior.
• Enterprise Selling Strategies: The contrast between RFP-driven sales and proactive relationship-building.
• Navigating Internal Trust in Sales & Delivery Teams: Why sales & delivery alignment is critical for customer success.
• The Human Side of Selling: Managing rejections, pressures, and the art of influencing without being pushy.

Deepak has over his career, worked in IT sector focusing on Technology, Media & Telecommunication(TMT) businesses, in sales, business development & practice leadership roles. His experience across IT Services Companies, Managed Services Providers and Product Vendors, has given him a unique 360 degrees insight into IT solutions and how they fit into larger business landscape.

He has worked across global markets and delivered significant results, in a period of great technological flux and business volatility within TMT sector. His experience has given him a good exposure & proficiency in the following areas–

1. Understanding and managing digital transformation and its impact on business strategies as well as on the workplace.

2. Understanding business drivers and their correlation with IT and Technology strategies.

3. Execution of IT & Technology strategy on-ground.

4. Understanding & enabling eco-systems to drive business outcomes.

5. Building & motivating high performing global teams

He has always tried to anchor his work in business fundamentals like customer experience, profitability & market share and leveraging technology into driving business outcomes.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/demittal/

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My guest today is Jake McKee, a pioneer in the modern customer community movement.

In this conversation, he shares:

• Hiss Origin Story: His unique career bridging product design, engineering, and community strategy.
• Community-Driven Product Development: How companies can embed passionate customers in the development cycle.
• Empathy & Relationship Building: The importance of emotional connection between brands, engineers, and users.
• Community Across Industries: From B2B to B2C, physical products to software, communities play a crucial role in success.
• Brand Strength vs. Community Engagement: Why brand prestige isn’t necessary—what matters is purpose and connection.
• Breaking Silos Within Organizations: How community initiatives foster collaboration across different departments.
• Harnessing Collective Knowledge: Using communities to gather insights, troubleshoot issues, and enhance product adoption.
• Leading Indicators vs. Reactive Responses: Using community feedback to detect trends before they become business problems.
• AI in Community Management: How AI can augment but not replace human relationships in communities.
• ‍ What Makes a Great Community Manager? Perseverance, empathy, and communication are key traits for success.

Jake McKee is one of the founders of the modern customer community movement. He led Apple’s famed Global Support Communities. He pioneered efforts at LEGO to engage its adult users in a community - which spawned breakthrough innovations such as the Mindstorms Community Driven Product Development (which landed on the cover of Wired Magazine).

For more than 10 years, Jake has been a leading industry community consultant working with clients like Cancer Treatment Centers of America, EA Games, Southwest Airlines, and Outdoorsy. His consulting practice, Jake McKee Consulting focuses on helping organizations of all sizes design, execute, and grow Community Driven Product Development programs that bring the Community Voice into the product development lifecycle.

Jake also manages the CX Sessions project, an invitation-only monthly dinner series that brings senior online community, CX, and product management leaders together for conversation, connection, and camaraderie. And just for laughs, he created a web comic for community managers called Confessions of a Community Manager.

https://jakemckee.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakemckee/

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My guest today is Stamatis Astra is the Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of Intelligent Relations. In this freewheeling conversation, he talks about:

• Introduction & Origin Story
• Stamatis shares his varied career journey, starting in theater before transitioning into technology and entrepreneurship.
• Reflects on early internet days, the rise of e-commerce, and parallels with today’s AI revolution.
• Entrepreneurial Mindset & Product Building
• The core skills of entrepreneurship remain the same, whether in film or software—raising funds, pitching ideas, and building belief.
• Confidence, resilience, and timing play crucial roles in success.
• Theater vs. Business—Script vs. Improv
• In acting, a defined script brings clarity, whereas business requires improvisation based on data and insights.
• Sales and investor pitches require a structured approach, but product development thrives on innovation and open-ended discussions.
• Remote Work & Leadership Challenges
• Discusses difficulties of leading distributed teams without face-to-face interaction.
• Emphasizes the need for engaged communication, structured meetings, and keeping discussions interactive.
• The Intersection of Media, AI & Entrepreneurship
• Shares insights from his role as a venture partner and a radio host—both involve asking deep, thought-provoking questions.
• Talks about Intelligent Relations, a PR SaaS company leveraging AI to democratize media access.
• AI's Role in Public Relations
• AI helps connect brands with journalists through automation and data-driven personalization.
• PR success hinges on storytelling—brands must embed themselves in the news cycle, not just promote their offerings.
• Career Opportunities in Public Relations
• Traditional PR relied on communication specialists; today, data engineers play a vital role.
• Engineers help structure outreach for journalists, influencers, and media platforms.
• Personal Philosophy & Staying Grounded
• The importance of family, health, and knowing the deeper motivation behind success.
• Business challenges come and go, but fundamental values remain the same.

Stamatis Astra, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of Intelligent Relations

Stamatis Astra is the Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of Intelligent Relations, where he drives the company’s mission to transform public relations through AI-powered technology and expert insights. With over 20+ years of experience in media and business strategy, Stamatis is fully committed to making earned media accessible to all businesses, helping them build meaningful connections with the media and tell impactful stories.

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Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Deeksha Senguttuvan, Founder and CEO of BabyMD and executive trustee for a pediatric cancer foundation . Deeksha brings her authentic self to share powerful stories of personal transformation, entrepreneurial grit, and unwavering compassion for children’s health.

Some highlights from the conversation

Deeksha started her Career Journey in software industry Pivot to Healthcare due to circumstances that have presented Deeksha describes herself as someone who never had a fixed plan but followed what made sense in the moment. * After a chemical engineering degree from NIT Trichy and an MBA from IIM Kozhikode, she joined the Tata Administrative Services and worked in marketing and product management. * Despite no tech background, she led cloud product management, learning tech concepts from scratch and bridging the gap between sales and engineering teams. * A personal life event led her to seek more meaningful work, Inspired by her pediatrician father, she co-founded a trust supporting pediatric cancer treatment in Trichy, where specialty care was lacking. * Deeksha led digital transformation at Kaveri Hospital during COVID, building a patient-focused digital strategy that included basics like WhatsApp-based communication — revolutionary at that time. * Motivated to align business success with patient well-being, she pursued a second MBA at Wharton to understand global healthcare and startup ecosystems. * During her MBA, she pivoted her focus back to India after realizing her strengths and market understanding were more aligned with the Indian healthcare context * She founded BabyMD during her time at Wharton and graduated early to work full-time on it from January 2024. * Deeksha emphasizes the importance of credentials and networks (like Wharton) in breaking barriers and gaining investor trust. * She met her investor through the Wharton alumni network, which led to a partnership based on mutual interest in pediatric healthcare. * She advises entrepreneurs to articulate three things: a real problem, market size, and why they’re uniquely positioned to solve it. * Advocates for volunteering as a personal and professional growth tool*, linking social work with stronger leadership and empathy.

Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs Range by David Epstein – on the value of generalists in today’s world. * Entrepreneurship doesn’t always stem from a “Eureka” moment — it can be a structured, analytical process. * Encourages small experiments to validate ideas before going all in. * Believes generalists (with wide-ranging experience) bring unique value to entrepreneurship, as explained in the book Range*.

Deeksha can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/deekshasenguttuvan/

Deeksha is Building BabyMD to be a partner in parenting and give parents easy round-the-clock access to qualified medical professionals across channels. The company’s goal is to create a future where parents don’t have to navigate through multiple avenues for their child's healthcare needs and instead find everything they require under one roof.

Executive leader with 7+ years of experience building and transforming businesses. I am passionate about utilising technology in the healthcare ecosystem to improve accessibility, affordability and quality of care.

As a part of the leadership development program of The Tata Group of companies in India I have worked across various industries and functions; utilised my diverse exposure to orchestrate the digital transformation of hospitals across patient engagement, clinical quality of care, and operational activities to make them future-ready.

Outside of work I am an avid Indian classical dancer and a public speaker passionate about motivating and mentoring!

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Shiv is in conversation with Allen Cooper, President and CEO of Ancilla Ventures. Their focus

is in providing tools to healthcare support staff to improve patient outcomes.

In this conversation, Allen talks about:

• Allen’s Origin Story: Transitioning from accounting to computer science, and entering the consulting world at Anderson Consulting (now Accenture).
• Consulting to Startups: The transition from corporate consulting to entrepreneurship.
• Building Ancilla: How Allen became a partner and eventually the sole proprietor.
• Choosing Healthcare Tech: The path to focusing on healthcare IT solutions.
• Finding Industry Problems: How products like WriteList and VR-90 were born.
• User Adoption Challenges: Strategies for getting hospital staff to engage with software solutions.
• Managing Development Team Motivation: Keeping engineers engaged despite stable enterprise tech.
• Scrum & Agile Benefits: How these methodologies helped balance planned work and incoming client requests.
• AI & Coding: How AI might change development roles, but won't replace programmers entirely.
• Advice for IT Careers: Guidance for both new entrants and mid-career professionals wondering about their next steps.
• Personal Productivity & Balance: Allen’s tips for staying organized, healthy, and grounded while running a company.

Allen Cooper is the Co-Founder and CEO of ReadyList, Inc., a mobile-friendly software that transforms how hospital ancillary and support service teams operate. Allen co-founded ReadyList with a deep passion for helping the behind-the-scenes workers who keep hospitals running smoothly. ReadyList’s software modules guide them through best-practice cleaning and room prep protocols, resulting in cleaner, safer facilities for both patients and staff. Allen believes the right kind of software can save hospital systems money, time, and even lives.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/allen-cooper-4a07598

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Shiv is in conversation with Mathias Buus Madsen, CEO of Holepunch, Copenhagen. In this episode, Mathias shares

• his journey into software development,
• beginning as a math student and evolving into a passionate advocate for peer-to-peer technology.
• He explains the foundational concepts behind peer-to-peer systems, their advantages over centralized models, and their applications in both personal and enterprise use.
• Mathias discusses how these decentralized systems enhance security, minimize infrastructure costs, and improve accessibility—especially for remote or underserved communities.
• He also compares peer-to-peer networking with blockchain, clarifying the distinct roles each technology plays.
• He touched on real-world applications of peer-to-peer tech, including its potential for rural connectivity and resilience in low-bandwidth environments.
• Mathias also reflects on his transition from hacker to entrepreneur, sharing insights into leadership, scaling a business, and the evolving landscape of decentralized internet solutions.

As CEO of Holepunch, Mathias brings his passion and extensive expertise in open-source development to the fore, having published more than 1000 modules to npm, the Node.js package manager, totalling billions of downloads every month.

Mathias Buus is a self taught JavaScript hacker from Copenhagen. He works full time on open source projects and has been working with Node.js since the 0.2 days. Mathias likes to work with P2P and distributed systems and is the author of more than 550 modules on npm, including some of the most popular ones for working with streams. In addition he has spoken about “mad science” projects at various conferences around the world.

You can also see his Github here:https://github.com/mafintosh and more info on Pear Runtime here: https://docs.pears.com/.

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Pears_p2p

Social -

Mathias X: @mafintosh

Pears X: @Pears_p2p

Keet X: @keet_io

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I am in conversation with Sundar Rajan, a serial entrepreneur, currently the founder of OneMyle, a platform that seeks to address the needs of hyperlocal digital marketing in neighborhoods. He was earlier the co-founder of JustBooks, a lending library chain, supported by an innovative technology platform.

Sundar reflects on his journey from a software developer to an entrepreneur, sharing his experiences and challenges along the way:

Early Career in IT:

• He worked in IT, building software for banking and financial services.
• His exposure to implementation and user experience shaped his professional growth.

Transition to Entrepreneurship:

• His entrepreneurial journey began unexpectedly with a family-run library project, Just Books, which turned out to be a success.
• He faced challenges balancing a job with entrepreneurship and gradually pivoted to focus on growing the library business.

Expansion and Challenges of Just Books:

• The business grew organically to over 60 libraries across cities, driven by franchising.
• He adapted to changes like the rise of digital books and evolving customer behaviors.

Shift to OneMyle:

• After exiting Just Books, he started OneMyle, a digital marketing platform aimed at connecting local businesses, communities, and creators.
• He shared insights into shaping the platform, testing features, and learning to target specific personas, including local creators.

Personal Practices and Reflections:

• Sundar emphasized the importance of reading code, context switching, and his method of note-taking (emails to himself) as tools for managing stress and priorities.
• He candidly discussed the unpredictable nature of entrepreneurship and the learning process involved.

Sundar Rajan is an Entrepreneur, Co-Founder Onemyle, JustBooks

Technology & Entrepreneurship remain big areas of interest.

Worked in IT industry for 15 years, before turning Entrepreneur.

While in IT, was involved in software product development for financial services industry.

As an Entrepreneur, have keen interest in 'Neighborhoods', especially the interaction between local businesses and residents nearby.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rsundarrajan/

r.sundar@onemyle.com

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Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Sunil (SKG) Gupta, Senior Director in Cognizant and author of the book “Unlock Yourself” about creating a purpose led and fun filled life — a seasoned corporate leader with over three decades of experience spanning supply chain, IT-BPM, SaaS platforms, and now, marketing and influencer relations at Cognizant.

Some highlights from the conversation has two major parts A Career Built on Transitions and Reinvention and making of the author

• Sunil started his career in the early 1990s in procurement, choosing the lesser-known path at a time when everyone else was aiming for sales, marketing, or R&D. His instinct for building structured systems began even then.
• By the late 90s, he was part of one of India’s earliest experiments with reverse auctions and e-procurement, trained on platforms like Ariba before they became mainstream — gaining domain expertise that would shape the next phase of his career.
• Sunil joined the IT-BPM world in 1999, sparked by a newspaper ad that challenged readers to rethink their role during the Internet boom. From there, he helped set up B2B digital platforms across multiple sectors, including food and manufacturing.
• One of his standout projects was setting up a fully hosted commodity futures exchange, offering not just software but an end-to-end platform-as-a-service (long before SaaS became a buzzword).
• At Cognizant, Sunil spent over a decade building enterprise architecture and consulting practices, including growing a team of 300+ technology and business architects. He played a key role in setting up frameworks that bridged technology with real business impact.
• He later moved to the Philippines, taking on leadership roles in BPO services and transformation, and now works in marketing and analyst relations, helping position Cognizant’s offerings with global firms like Gartner, Forrester, and IDC.

The Making of an Author – Unlock Yourself*: Sunil’s book is a blend of personal introspection, professional learning, and tools for self-coaching. * He introduces the RADHA framework – Reflect, Ask, Decide, Help, Act – to guide people through change and self-discovery. * A strong advocate for neurodiversity and learning with compassion, Sunil discusses how society needs to reframe what “normal” means in both education and the workplace. * His approach to writing and self-reflection was deeply influenced by the Theory of Constraints, coaching experiences, and even NFT community dynamics as an example of meaningful online engagement.

Key Takeaway Moments:“Procurement taught me how systems work — and how people work within those systems.”

“I realized I’ve always been in procurement… even when I didn’t know it — we’re all negotiating in life and work.”

“My transition from technology to marketing feels as exciting as my first job — it's like starting fresh, but with wisdom in your backpack.”

“Ask for help. Not because you're weak, but because you were never meant to do this alone.”

A fresh take on fulfillment, success, and redefining “being number one”

Sunil Gupta, also known as SKG, is a vibrant lifestyle step- up coach and a seasoned expert with over three decades in business strategy, program management, and corporate real estate. An IIT Kanpur alum, Sunil has enhanced his credentials with leadership programs from Symbiosis, Harvard Business Publishing, TinyMagiq, and SnehWorld. He volunteers with unicorn incubator IIT Startups and the Art of Living, Philippines. Sunil's personal advocacy is guiding first generation graduate girl students - whom he fondly calls as #BiryaniGirls.

Known for his playful nature in childhood, Sunil worked diligently through high school and eventually graduated as a Mechanical Engineer from the esteemed IIT Kanpur in 1992. He later, in 2003, completed a PG in International

Trade from Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies and in 2021, completed an Executive Leadership Development program by Harvard Business Publishing and subsequently

a 7-day residential TrainTheTrainer (T3P) program by Sneh Desai & team.

Sunil boasts over three decades of experience in multiple industries with a focus on business strategy, portfolio & program management, corporate real estate & workplace management and sourcing. Besides his work, Sunil lends

his expertise to unicorn incubator IIT Startups as a mentor and also provides career guidance to first-generation female students, the ‘BiryaniGirls’. In his personal life, Sunil is an

avid follower of The Art of Living teachings and has actively volunteered with their Philippines chapter.

His journey to find life’s meaning led him to establish the #PurposeProject, a venture to help people discover and live their true calling. Over the years Sunil has contributed to multiple

whitepapers and leading books on Theory of Constraints & Business Transformation.

At present he is working on multiple books on personal development, goal setting, habit forming and purposeful living in what he calls as #TheNewAge - the era of uncertainties with immense promises and threats. Sunil is also preparing to launch his NFT Art & short story collection.

Sunil is a staunch believer in the power of community and is dedicated to making a positive global impact through his work. He’s deeply grateful to his mentors, family, friends, and

colleagues for their influence on his life and success.

He considers himself to be a lover, actor, trader, teacher, peaceful warrior, saint, and prince, albeit with a fear of snakes, heights, and loneliness. He enjoys yoga, dogs, cycling, badminton, AI art & story creation, movies, cricket, and human connection.

Connect with him if you’re seeking someone who’s passionate, driven, and a bit quirky!

Sunil can be contacted athttps://www.linkedin.com/in/sunilkguptaskg/

https://sunilkgupta.com interests / passion

https://www.amazon.in/Unlock-Yourself-New-Age-Dialogues/dp/9360068152 - Unlock yourself in the new age - a book rooted in self-awareness, neurodivergence, personal rituals, and authentic transformation. In this conversation, he shares not just career milestones but the values and frameworks that shaped his journey.

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My guest today is David Young,Founder at Federated Computer. He has been a pioneer in cloud computing even before the term was invented. In fact, he and his team helped invent the term.

In this conversation we could recall many of the developments of a couple of decades ago as well as what keeps him engaged now, at Federated computer.

During this conversation, David touches upon:

• Introduction and Early Career Journey
• Transition to Silicon Valley and Startups
• Contrast Between Corporate and Startup Life
• Finding Problems to Solve
• Customer Empathy and Team Dynamics
• Challenges with Open Source Adoption
• AI, Open Source, and Future Potential
• Career Tips for IT and Open Source Enthusiasts
• David shares his practices and tips to Stay Grounded

About David:

CEO and founder of Joyent — the folks who invented node.js, helped stand up Twitter and the Facebook developer platform, and brought containers to market leading to the Kubernetes revolution. Seven patents. Very experienced raising and deploying venture capital. Sold Joyent to Samsung in 2016.

Started an ultra-premium ice cream company (Honeymoon Brands). Invented unique manufacturing products and processes to put ice cream in glass jars, got in to 700 grocery stores in the West, and learned grocery was a blast. Sold the company in 2018.

I've recently started an agency (Endurancy: https://www.endurancy.com) to take the marketing success I developed at Honeymoon and offer small and medium-sized brands AI-based marketing capabilities.

I’d love to work with a promising company as it develops and grows. I can bring a wealth of experience, mistakes, learnings in fundraising, product and marketing strategy, business and corporate development, engineering development to the company to help it go faster and smarter.

You can reach him @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidpaulyoung/

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Today, as part of the women’s special series in March, 2025, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Karthik Karunakaran(KK), CEO, co-founder of Mobius software and chief strategist Xtract.io, male ally for women continuing their career and a serial entrepreneur talks about his career journey.

KK started his career in Tata Steel after completing production engineering in NIT Trichy and management in XLRI Jamshedpur. * KK shares his belief in 'Make in India' and how he stayed true to his roots, influenced by Jamshedji Tata early on * Karthik shares his evolution from a tech enthusiast to a serial entrepreneur and co-founded Mobius Software, Overcoming the challenges of building a startup, especially after his education-focused venture didn’t scale as expected. * Talks about the lessons learned from previous education based ventures and how they shaped his approach to business. * Discusses how he bootstrapped his business in the early days, even covering costs by tutoring students for the CAT exam. * Experimented with team structures to create a more agile and inclusive work environment. * Focused on product innovation, testing different technology stacks and market strategies. * Implemented flexible work policies to support women professionals, ensuring career continuity. * Shares how over 80% of Mobius Software's workforce consists of women, with a strong focus on hiring from Tier 2 cities where untapped talent is available * KK talks about why he champions women in the Workforce and actively supports women's career continuity and workplace inclusion. * Believes in equal opportunities and creating a supportive work environment. * Discusses the importance of mentorship and policies that help retain women in tech. * KK shares some of the challenges in the Startup Ecosystem on funding, scaling, and leadership in the tech industry. * Shares about the biases women face in entrepreneurship and how male allies can help. * KK concludes with the Advice for Women Professionals as he Encourages women to build strong networks and seek mentorship and advocates for confidence and risk-taking in career growth.

Emphasizes the need for organizations to rethink policies to support women returning to work.

Karthik Karunakaran is the CEO of Mobius Knowledge Services. He is the driving force behind Mobius being a leader unstructured data processing and public information aggregation. He is also the founder of Xtract.io, a GenAI driven hyperautomation platform that is focussed on agenticAI processes . The firms' success is attributed to innovative solutions and proprietary technology in the data services area serving various industry giants across geographies. With a strong presence in fields like Information & Media, Retail/Ecommerce and Financial Services, Mobius mission is to empower clients through cutting-edge data solutions.

Karthik, KK as he’s fondly referred by friends, has co-founded education firm,fourth R India before embarking into the knowledge services domain.

KK has graduated from National Institute of Technology, Trichy in production engineering and management from XLRI Jamshedpur in Marketing and Finance.

Karthik can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/karthik-karunakaran/

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Today, as part of the women’s special series in March, 2025, my guest is Veena Rao, SVP & Global Head, Corporate Lending at Finastra with over 25 years’ of experience in financial services and banking technology.

In this conversation Veena shares

• Her early influences and being adaptable
• Her education and career path
• Her philosophy re career growth
• Insights from her leadership journey
• How to handle work-life integration aspects
• On Global experience and being sensitive to cultural nuances
• How she stays resilient and some personal practices that have been effective for her
• And some tips for aspiring women professionals

Veena is the SVP & Global Head, Corporate Lending at Finastra with over 25 years’ of experience in financial services and banking technology. Veena started her career with India’s leading private sector bank, ICICI Bank, working in diverse areas like project finance, corporate banking, forex treasury and relationship banking. She managed Presales for FLEXCUBE at i-flex solutions (Oracle) followed by a stint in HCL Technologies to launch the product incubation unit for banking. In her current role at Finastra, Veena holds end to end accountability for the Corporate Lending business across product, engineering, services and support. She is passionate about nurturing innovation at the grassroots focusing on ideas that create positive impact for Finastra’s customers . She is also a mentor in Finastra’s D&I program, and an active speaker at various conferences on digital transformation and open banking.

linkedin.com/in/veena-rao-profile

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Today, as part of the women’s special series in March, 2025, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Ponni Krishnamoorthy, Director and Global head of Telco cloud in Nokia talks about breaking societal expectations to achieving career goals - Ponni shares about her humble background and Her roots in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, and how her upbringing shaped her career choices and Ponni’s career journey from NIT Trichy to becoming Director at Nokia.- Ponni shares her Being the first woman engineer in her extended family.- Initial societal expectations (suggestions to become a teacher or doctor).- Love for math, problem-solving, and coding led her to engineering.- Ponni shares her Career Growth & Transition from software engineer and her inspiration to be a coding guru- She started her career with Siemens Communication Software as a developer and slowly shifted into techno-management after earning an MBA from IIM Bangalore while working full-time.- Ponni shares stories of her transition from developer to global technology leadership.- Ponni talks about taking different roles in the same firm such as global product development and end-to-end project ownership- Pooni shares her Experience with mergers & acquisitions (M&A) and predicting industry trends.- She talks about operational challenges and Leading teams across multiple countries (Finland, India, China, US) and working through sanctions during the Iraq-Iran war.- Ponni talks about Early involvement in digital twin technology (before it became mainstream).-Importance of creating a culture of problem-solving & dreaming big.- Ponni talks about her role in University Engagement & Mentorship while encouraging students and young professionals to take risks.- Pooni shares her career advice and Leadership Lessons on the importance of patience and long-term growth, avoiding the trap of jumping jobs for short-term gains.- She also shares her learning from each role before moving up the ladder and defining personal success metrics rather than following trends.Ponni is Director of Telco Cloud Data center and Telecom Test networks with Mobile Networks business group, Nokia

• Leading R&D Telco cloud data centers and services across 8 countries

• Leading the unit of end-to-end telecom test networks for testing of Nokia products and solutions

• Leading University Collaboration platform for Nokia Bangalore - connecting universities, Professional organizations , Research & management institutes

• Leading global and cross cultural teams, across Europe, India, China and USA

• Leads the Nokia Bangalore 6G research center

• Nokia certified coach having coached and developed high performing employees globally

She has been Instrumental in ramping up and setting up new product development groups, global lab service organization , R&D Cloud data centers, end-to-end test network infrastructure & services unit and transformation of organizations. Experienced in Partner management, leadership development, nurturing innovation and driving efficiency improvement programs and strategic decision making etc.

She has successfully launched various programs across Indian universities and is committed to take the latest telecom technologies and research opportunities to the doorsteps of academic world.

She is a recipient of IEEE Women Technologist of the year-2019.

A strong leader and team player with good communication and interpersonal skills.

Ponni did her computer science engineering from NIT Trichy and management from IIM Bangalore

Ponni can be reached athttps://www.linkedin.com/in/ponnikrishnamoorthy/

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Bindhu Unny is a leadership coach, podcast host and Social Entrepreneur, who straddles various mediums giving all her work a unique stamp of inherent creativity. She has 20 years of global experience working for corporates in various high-performance roles that span across Software development, Enterprise Marketing, Product Design, Customer Experience and Sales. During the course of her corporate career, she realized that she loved connecting with people, and enjoyed the process of motivating them to step out of their comfort zone to realize their full potential. She has been successfully impacting the lives of many successful individuals through her corporate workshops, individual and group coaching and public workshops for over a decade.

As a host of two podcasts - Unmasked and REConnecT, Bindhu dives beneath the surface to engage in authentic & enlightening conversations with passionate individuals and changemakers, inspiring listeners to discover their true purpose and follow their passion in life.

Beyond her corporate endeavors, Bindhu is driven to make a lasting impact on the next generation. She is a Social Entrepreneur and is a co-founder of Leela-Loka which is a community initiative that actively explores open learning methods and empowers individuals to navigate growth by embracing continuous learning, unlearning, and relearning.

Bindhu has also co-authored the book ‘The Virulent Virus’ published on Kindle and the editor of the book “The Quest of Ruby” a metaphorical story of a life journey to self-actualization.

When she is not working, Bindhu can often be seen performing at local art & theatre festivals, gardening, doing yoga and meditation.

She is a qualified Instrumentation & Control Engineer along with a Masters in Business Administration. She is also a certified coach holding a CPCC (Certified Professional Co-Active Coach) from The Coaches training Institute (CTI) and is a member of the International Coaching Federation (ICF)

Bindhu can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/bindhuunny/.

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Our regular and long time listeners know that we dedicate the month of March every year for our special women guests.

Welcome to the first special episode for March, 2025.

In this episode, I am in conversation with Vidya Kabra, a Global Tech and QA leader with over 30 years of experience in the global IT industry.

She talks about:

• Overcoming challenges from a traditional Marwadi family to pursue education and career.

• Early struggles with a startup due to lack of job opportunities in Maharashtra.

• Transition to corporate roles in Bangalore.

• Rapid growth from project management to leading quality for Toshiba worldwide.

• Challenges of managing family expectations and career aspirations.

• Importance of discipline, meditation, and effective time management.

• Utilizing domestic help and prioritizing quality time with children.

• Tips for women to communicate their career goals to family.

• Encouragement for women to pursue leadership and strategic roles in IT.

• Managing work from home vs. office dynamics.

• Creating a supportive home office environment.

• Leveraging work-from-home benefits for women in IT.

• How horizontal roles help in being more visible and enable Career Growth

• Encouragement for exploring various IT roles beyond development.

• Collaboration between developers and testers for improved quality.

• Career Tips

Vidya is a Global Tech and QA leader for around 30 years in IT industry driving Strategic Transformation at scale and Quality Automation for large Global Tech driven businesses at Wipro, Toshiba, Fiserv, HSBC, Intellect, Diebold Nixdorf.

She thrived in new initiatives and reinvented herself multiple times - At Toshiba: Processes developed across functions. Looking at the simple and practical approach to process and management dashboards, she was given responsibility to lead Process management globally for Japan and Germany centers.

At Wipro: She led Global functions - 1) Process Simplification and audit Function with Lean and Agile techniques impacting 40 percent efforts saving 2) Engineering and Quality automation with 10X ROI globally for Wipro's 3000+ projects (2 patents filed on Quality engineering effectiveness). 3) Risk management function for 3 BUs.

At Fiserv, Intellect Design Arena HSBC Core Banking , Diebold Nixdorf - Led Global Product and Process Quality Management, Audit & Delivery Excellence functions.

All the functions and initiatives she led across above organizations resulted in sustainable quality in reduced efforts with happy and productive teams. Speed mentoring of teams for growth, Solution based practical approach to any problem and result oriented approach helped create high performing teams and functions.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vidyakabra/

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Sivaguru is in conversation with the serial author and colleague at PM Power, Paramu Kurumathur.

They talk about

• The trigger for the upcoming book is related to leadership.
• How this book builds on previous books but focuses on general leadership principles.
• The three aspects of leadership involving execution, business, and personal growth.
• Importance of reconciling leadership styles in different contexts.
• Holistic leadership that applies to both professional and personal contexts.

Challenges and Solutions in Leadership:

• Handling conflicts and mediating between different opinions.
• Subordinating personal goals to team and organizational goals.
• Addressing behavioral expectations and public image as a leader.

Thought Leadership:

Book's Structure:

About Paramu

https://www.pm-powerconsulting.com/experts/parameswaran/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paramu-kurumathur-01489a6/

Some related links on the book, for more details:

Background and introduction to the book – 1

Background and introduction to the book – 2

Background and introduction to the book – 3

Synopsis of the book – Introduction

Synopsis of the book – Leading Business

Synopsis of the book – Leading Execution

Synopsis of the book – Leading Self

Synopsis of the book – AI

Additional posts that could be of interest:

Thoughts on Leadership – The Ashta Siddhis (eight super powers) of a leaderLeadership principles in the generative AI age

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I am continuing this conversation with Rachana Shenoy, Engineering Leader HPE talks about balancing career growth, avid speaker and continuous learner

In this part of the conversation,

• Rachana shares her stress and delivery pressures balancing it with employee engagement scores
• She shares some of the key techniques for budding managers
• Creating an environment of fun and accountability
• Embracing team members as a complete person rather than a skill or a resource
• Gen Z mindset doesn’t like to be a follower and being a digital native - they need ability to channelize the reusability, validation and clean code principles
• Thankful for the amount of support that was available from enterprise firms
• Extremely passionate about art, decor and that helps me to balance the profession and advocates strongly to have a passion project

Rachana Shenoy is a Seasoned Engineering leader with over 18 years of Industry experience, currently working in the Hybrid Cloud Division at Hewlett Packard enterprise. In her current role she leads development teams for both On Prem and SaaS based Cloud Native Enterprise Scale Storage Management Solutions. Rachana is passionate about building self driven and motivated teams , enabling them to build innovative solutions addressing critical customer needs.

Rachana has extensive experience in Domains like Storage, Server, Cloud, Distributed, Enterprise software development. Rachana is also a DEI evangelist and DEI Champion and has been contributing to various Diversity and Inclusion initiatives within and outside the organization. She is also an active member of Lean In Women In Tech community , and believes in paying it forward through community events and activities.

In her free time Rachana loves to dabble in creative pursuits and is a passionate artist, crafter and art educator. She is also an avid traveler and loves to explore different places, diverse culture and cuisine.

Rachana can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachana-shenoy-4014116a/

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Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Rachana Shenoy, Engineering Leader HPE talks about balancing career growth, avid speaker and continuous learner

In this part of the conversation,

• Started engineering as a natural choice due to the love of Mathematics
• Start at HP in the compiler and felt extremely overwhelmed and quickly found the mentor network
• She contrasts that with industry ready team members now
• Joined EMC in their storage management solutions understanding interoperability of OS and hardware and had an organic growth to management
• Ownership and accountability and stakeholder management were key skills that she mentors every person.
• Change is the only constant thing around the roadmap, org structure and ensuring that fluidity needs to be embraced in a large enterprise organization
• Rachana shares tips and techniques on how leadership skills are imbibed through the career like clear communication, empathize with people
• Rachana shares her tips on utilization of her time commuting within the Bengaluru for about 25 kms
• Shares how she’s managing her balance using support system including her father in-law and team members that can be trusted
• Rachana shares her decision while working in EMC during a particular acquisition and reflections that made her stronger

Rachana Shenoy is a Seasoned Engineering leader with over 18 years of Industry experience, currently working in the Hybrid Cloud Division at Hewlett Packard enterprise. In her current role she leads development teams for both On Prem and SaaS based Cloud Native Enterprise Scale Storage Management Solutions. Rachana is passionate about building self driven and motivated teams , enabling them to build innovative solutions addressing critical customer needs.

Rachana has extensive experience in Domains like Storage, Server, Cloud, Distributed, Enterprise software development. Rachana is also a DEI evangelist and DEI Champion and has been contributing to various Diversity and Inclusion initiatives within and outside the organization. She is also an active member of Lean In Women In Tech community , and believes in paying it forward through community events and activities.

In her free time Rachana loves to dabble in creative pursuits and is a passionate artist, crafter and art educator. She is also an avid traveller and loves to explore different places, diverse culture and cuisine.

Rachana can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachana-shenoy-4014116a/

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I continue my conversation with Hikari Senju, Founder and CEO of Omneky, an AI platform that generates, analyzes, and optimizes personalized ad creatives at scale.

In this part of the conversation, Hikari talks about:

• The need to focus on his customers - the advertisers’ needs
• Adapting to new technologies and standards such as cookieless future
• The inspiration to start his current company Omneky
• Building and nurturing a high-performing team
• His advice for aspiring software professionals

Hikari Senju is a computer science graduate from Harvard University with a passion for technology and design.

He founded his first startup, QuickHelp, an on-demand tutoring app, which he later sold to Yup.com and became their Head of Growth.

During his time at Yup.com, Senju observed inefficiencies in content spending and the potential of AI in advertising, which inspired him to establish Omneky in 2018.

Senju’s background in computer science, entrepreneurship, and his experience with AI technologies led him to create Omneky, an AI platform that generates, analyzes, and optimizes personalized ad creatives at scale.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hikari-senju-63780199/

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I am in conversation with Hikari Senju, Founder and CEO of Omneky, an AI platform that generates, analyzes, and optimizes personalized ad creatives at scale.

In this part of the conversation, Hikari talks about

• His background and how the influence of one of his uncles got him interested in computers
• His serial entrepreneurship arc, with two successful startups and in his third venture
• His learnings from this experience on the importance of leadership, value brought by incubators, working on two sided markets, aspects related to personalization and privacy

Hikari Senju is a computer science graduate from Harvard University with a passion for technology and design.

He founded his first startup, QuickHelp, an on-demand tutoring app, which he later sold to Yup.com and became their Head of Growth.

During his time at Yup.com, Senju observed inefficiencies in content spending and the potential of AI in advertising, which inspired him to establish Omneky in 2018.

Senju’s background in computer science, entrepreneurship, and his experience with AI technologies led him to create Omneky, an AI platform that generates, analyzes, and optimizes personalized ad creatives at scale.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hikari-senju-63780199/

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I continue my conversation with David G. Ewing, CEO of Motiv. I asked David about how he thinks AI based approaches are likely to impact the customer experience.

• He shares how this can be used as a powerful tool to improve customer experience.
• He also talks about his new venture ContentLion that helps companies centralize and manage their content
• He touches upon aspects of data security and privacy
• He shares his personal practices and some tips that help him stay focused and centered while also helping manage time.

David G. Ewing, CEO of Motiv, is a trailblazer in customer experience innovation. With over 25 years in the industry, he's transformed insights into substantial revenue for 500+ clients. A Harvard cum laude Engineering graduate, David's leadership has earned Motiv a spot on the Inc 5000 list. As president of The Entrepreneur's Association in Austin, he's dedicated to empowering fellow entrepreneurs. Beyond business, he's a devoted husband of 19 years and a passionate coach for his son's robotics team.

More information about David can be found at

Web site, https://www.davidqewinq.com ,

Motiv's website, https://motivcx.com

Linked In at Linkedin.com/in/davidgewing

Listen on!

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I am in conversation with David G Ewing, CEO of Motiv. In this first part of the conversation, David talks about:

• His initial days in Detroit, where he grew up
• Meeting the CEO of Oracle, Larry Ellison and how that influenced some of his later decisions in choosing the area of work
• When building solutions, how and why technology under the hood has to be invisible, while focusing primarily on the user experience
• Using the customer journey mapping technique to better understand customer experiences
• The importance of the team being empathetic to customers

Listen on!

I asked him about how he thinks some of the AI based approaches are likely to impact the customer experience.

The answer to that and a lot more interesting topics in the next part of our conversation - in the next episode.

Do not miss it.

David G. Ewing, CEO of Motiv, is a trailblazer in customer experience innovation. With over 25 years in the industry, he's transformed insights into substantial revenue for 500+ clients. A Harvard cum laude Engineering graduate, David's leadership has earned Motiv a spot on the Inc 5000 list. As president of The Entrepreneur's Association in Austin, he's dedicated to empowering fellow entrepreneurs. Beyond business, he's a devoted husband of 19 years and a passionate coach for his son's robotics team.

More information about David can be found at his web site, https://www.davidqewinq.com ,

Motiv's website, https://motivcx.com or on Linked In at Linkedin.com/in/davidgewing

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I continue my conversation with Gorkem Ercan, founding Distinguished Engineer and CTO of Jozu. Gorkem has experience working and leading teams with various technologies ranging from building IDEs, to building mobile phones, and CI/CD systems. He is an avid contributor and supporter of open source.

In this part of the conversation, Gorkem talks about:

Time Management and Prioritization:

• for both personal and team work.
• Using visual tools like lists and boards to track and prioritize contributions.
• Acknowledging that priorities are constantly evolving and require continuous adjustment.

The importance of Giving Back and Open Source Sustainability:

• Finding immense satisfaction in seeing his projects used by millions.
• Emphasizing the importance of economic sustainability for open source projects.
• Why Companies should consider how they can support the projects they rely on.
• Highlighting the misconception that open source is always "free" and the risks associated with this.

Frustrations with Open Source:

• Unrealistic expectations from companies who demand immediate fixes from contributors.
• Security concerns and the lack of focus on secure supply chain practices in some projects.
• Resource constraints for open source projects in implementing and maintaining security measures.

Work-Life Balance:

• Initially viewed open source contributions as a hobby, similar to other leisure activities.
• Acknowledges that open source contributions can be time-consuming and require careful consideration of work-life balance.

Encouragement for Newcomers:

• Invites listeners to contribute to the kitops.ml project, which is supported by Jozu
• Encourages contributions in various forms, including code, documentation, and more

Gorkem Ercan is a founding Distinguished Engineer and CTO of Jozu. Gorkem has experience working and leading teams with various technologies ranging from building IDEs, to building mobile phones, and CI/CD systems. He is an avid contributor and supporter of open source.

Gorkem is the creator of the wildly popular Eclipse JDT language server and vscode-java extension, as well as the YAML Language server and vscode-yaml extension. He is a committer on various projects, including Eclipse Che, Eclipse Theia and Apache Cordova. Gorkem is a member of the Eclipse Architecture Council, and he is one of the longest-serving Eclipse commiters.

LinkedInl:https://www.linkedin.com/in/gorkemercan/

Website:https://jozu.com/

link to the kitops.ml open source project https://kitops.ml/

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I am in conversation with Gorkem Ercan, founding Distinguished Engineer and CTO of Jozu. Gorkem has experience working and leading teams with various technologies ranging from building IDEs, to building mobile phones, and CI/CD systems. He is an avid contributor and supporter of open source.

In this conversation, Gorkem talks about:

Gorkem's Background:

• Early interest in computers
• Discovering open source while at university and starting to read other people’s code.
• Beginning to contribute to open source projects and eventually published his own
• Subsequent roles at Nokia and Red Hat involved significant open source work.

He also shares Tips for Newcomers to Open Source:

• Being welcoming and patient, starting small, being prepared for asynchronous feedback.
• Keep an open mind, not gettng discouraged by rejection.
• Essential skills: Proficiency with Git and GitHub, understanding of community interaction platforms.

His tips for Reviewing code:

• Functionality: Ensure the code works as intended and is bug-free.
• Style and consistency: Check if the code aligns with the project's coding style.
• Impact: Consider the potential impact on operations, users, and documentation.
• Clear communication: Include clear and concise commit messages.

Gorkem Ercan is a founding Distinguished Engineer and CTO of Jozu. Gorkem has experience working and leading teams with various technologies ranging from building IDEs, to building mobile phones, and CI/CD systems. He is an avid contributor and supporter of open source.

Gorkem is the creator of the wildly popular Eclipse JDT language server and vscode-java extension, as well as the YAML Language server and vscode-yaml extension. He is a committer on various projects, including Eclipse Che, Eclipse Theia and Apache Cordova. Gorkem is a member of the Eclipse Architecture Council, and he is one of the longest-serving Eclipse commiters.

LinkedInl:https://www.linkedin.com/in/gorkemercan/

Website:https://jozu.com/

link to the kitops.ml open source project https://kitops.ml/

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I continue my conversation with Sophia Willows, the Head of Engineering at Rye, an a16z-backed developer tools startup making APIs for online commerce.

At Rye, Sophia shapes the technical direction of the company and is responsible for building a high-performance engineering culture.

In this part Sophia discusses the challenges of creating consistent and user-friendly APIs.

She emphasizes the importance of involving developers early in the design process, using clear and consistent documentation, and leveraging tools like GraphQL to enforce structure and consistency.

The conversation shifts to the impact of AI on the future of software development.

While AI can automate certain tasks, it's unlikely to replace the need for human creativity and problem-solving skills.

Sophia encourages developers to focus on higher-level thinking and domain expertise, which are areas where AI is less likely to make significant inroads.

Finally, Sophia addresses the issue of burnout and the importance of finding a sustainable work-life balance. She suggests that developers should identify what energizes them and focus on those activities, whether they're technical or non-technical.

By understanding their own motivations and setting realistic expectations, developers can thrive in the ever-evolving field of software engineering.

Sophia Willows is the Head of Engineering at Rye, an a16z-backed developer tools startup making APIs for online commerce. At Rye, Sophia shapes the technical direction of the company and is responsible building a high-performance engineering culture.

She previously worked in EdTech as Engineering Manager for Crimson Education’s AI team. Designing and implementing their generative AI strategy, Sophia lead the development of solutions that enhanced the company’s educational offerings and personalized student learning experiences. Just before she moved to Rye, Crimson secured a $1B market valuation.

Sophia is a recognized figure in the tech community, frequently judging global hackathons and contributing to industry discussions through speaking engagements and blogging.

Handles:

*https://sophiabits.com/blog

*https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-willows

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Today, I am in conversation with Sophia Willows, the Head of Engineering at Rye, an a16z-backed developer tools startup making APIs for online commerce. At Rye, Sophia shapes the technical direction of the company and is responsible for building a high-performance engineering culture. She is a software engineer from New Zealand, shares her journey into the tech industry.

Initially aspiring to be an astronaut, she pivoted towards computer science due to physical limitations.

She gained early experience as a founding employee of a local startup, learning about the fast-paced nature of startups and the challenges of balancing academic commitments with work responsibilities.

Sophia discusses the transition from academia to industry, highlighting the importance of strong communication and problem-solving skills. She emphasizes the need to understand the various stakeholders involved in a project, including business objectives, developer constraints, and end-user expectations.

The conversation delves into the differences between building for developers and building for end-users. Sophia expresses her preference for building for developers, as it allows for a greater focus on code quality and technical excellence.

However, she acknowledges the importance of considering the end-user experience, even indirectly.

The final part of the conversation explores the challenges of creating APIs that are easy to use and understand for developers. Sophia discusses the importance of clear documentation, intuitive design, and active community engagement in ensuring a positive developer experience.

Sophia Willows is the Head of Engineering at Rye, an a16z-backed developer tools startup making APIs for online commerce. At Rye, Sophia shapes the technical direction of the company and is responsible building a high-performance engineering culture.

She previously worked in EdTech as Engineering Manager for Crimson Education’s AI team. Designing and implementing their generative AI strategy, Sophia lead the development of solutions that enhanced the company’s educational offerings and personalized student learning experiences. Just before she moved to Rye, Crimson secured a $1B market valuation.

Sophia is a recognized figure in the tech community, frequently judging global hackathons and contributing to industry discussions through speaking engagements and blogging.

Handles:

*https://sophiabits.com/blog

*https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-willows

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In today’s episode we have Chitra in conversation with Lekha Bajpai where she shares –

• Tech veteran of 30 plus years
• Started her career in Calcutta with Deep Tech across many sectors like manufacturing, commercial apps, engineering aps and supply chain
• Inspired by her father to study engineering
• First project on inter machine communication protocols, the excitement of innovation
• Working on an experiment to build a control system to ship coal
• Showcasing use cases to the business
• Supply chain software solutions – building was easy, convincing users and allaying their fears was the big challenge to roll out the solution across 350 locations in India
• Developed strong experience with ERP implementations leading to building of data warehouses, BI reporting and monitoring apps for execs
• Experience at Kantar with challenges in data preparation and processing, working with just CPU’s, expensive cloud resources
• Helping apps scale, developing market research products to support the entire data life cycle from collection to dashboards
• Encouraging POC’s and learning with data techniques
• Approaching AI today – Bring Your Own AI to work, encourage usage, take risks and also take care of Data privacy, protection, governance & compliance
• Data bias challenges for India
• Advice to young folks aspiring for a career in AI – discover different AI personas, understand business catalysts, use AI tech, drive adoption of AI, besides only aspiring to build/develop AI



M.Tech BIT Messra, Greenbelt Six Sigma, Strategic IT Management (IIM Ahmedabad), Enterprise Architecture, Certified Process Professional, Certified Data Scientist

With over 30 years of technology leadership experience, Lekha has been a thought leader and mentor in driving digital transformation and process automation across end-to-end processes and analytics.

As a CIO/CTO and a Strategic Leader, she has led technology strategy functions for multiple units in APAC and MENA, as a member of the Executive Committee of Kantar IMRB. Delivered technology products and solutions to global & local clients, transforming IT into a strategic business partner.

Worked on cutting-edge Technology adoption and Innovation, including cloud, big data environments, data warehouses & data lakes, to drive business improvements. Expertise spans across IT Strategy development & execution, Product & Application management for large scale applications & products on mobility, e-commerce, business analytics, social text analytics, chatbots, and image analysis using AI/ML and deep learning algorithms.

Has Architected enterprise platforms for analytics delivery across diverse domains – Supply chain management, Logistics, Warehousing and freight forwarding, Chemical consultancy, Civil contracting, Manufacturing, Market research, Media and digital research, Social media analytics, Digital marketing and EdTech & Job Tech.

Achieved Process Excellence within multiple organization and setup measure to monitor business process and growth. Achieved IT security processes like ISO27001 across various organizations. Streamlined IT services delivery across APAC using ITIL processes, Agile methodology & CMMI framework emphasizing on service availability and performance measurement.

Accreditations and Contributions:

Awarded the “Innovation Leader” Award by World Innovation Congress, featured in CIO Magazine “Top 30 – Ones to watch”, CIO & Leader Magazine as “11 Most Powerful Women in Tech in India” and a few others. Case study published in CIO Decisions & Network Computing, Logistics Magazine, Dataquest, & CIO Magazine. Presented technology papers at the Market Research Society of India (MRSI) on new age Technologies and won awards on “Best Analytics product” & “Best E2E Process Automation”. Actively involved as a technology expert speaker on multiple tech forums and colleges, project guide, evaluator, mentor for data science & technology students.

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In today's episode we have Chitra in conversation with Lekha Bajpai where she shares -

• Tech veteran of 30 plus years
• Started her career in Calcutta with Deep Tech across many sectors like manufacturing, commercial apps, engineering aps and supply chain
• Inspired by her father to study engineering
• First project on inter machine communication protocols, the excitement of innovation
• Working on an experiment to build a control system to ship coal
• Showcasing use cases to the business
• Supply chain software solutions - building was easy, convincing users and allaying their fears was the big challenge to roll out the solution across 350 locations in India
• Developed strong experience with ERP implementations leading to building of data warehouses, BI reporting and monitoring apps for execs
• Experience at Kantar with challenges in data preparation and processing, working with just CPU’s, expensive cloud resources
• Helping apps scale, developing market research products to support the entire data life cycle from collection to dashboards
• Encouraging POC’s and learning with data techniques
• Approaching AI today - Bring Your Own AI to work, encourage usage, take risks and also take care of Data privacy, protection, governance & compliance
• Data bias challenges for India
• Advice to young folks aspiring for a career in AI - discover different AI personas, understand business catalysts, use AI tech, drive adoption of AI, besides only aspiring to build/develop AI



M.Tech BIT Messra, Greenbelt Six Sigma, Strategic IT Management (IIM Ahmedabad), Enterprise Architecture, Certified Process Professional, Certified Data Scientist

With over 30 years of technology leadership experience, Lekha has been a thought leader and mentor in driving digital transformation and process automation across end-to-end processes and analytics.

As a CIO/CTO and a Strategic Leader, she has led technology strategy functions for multiple units in APAC and MENA, as a member of the Executive Committee of Kantar IMRB. Delivered technology products and solutions to global & local clients, transforming IT into a strategic business partner.

Worked on cutting-edge Technology adoption and Innovation, including cloud, big data environments, data warehouses & data lakes, to drive business improvements. Expertise spans across IT Strategy development & execution, Product & Application management for large scale applications & products on mobility, e-commerce, business analytics, social text analytics, chatbots, and image analysis using AI/ML and deep learning algorithms.

Has Architected enterprise platforms for analytics delivery across diverse domains - Supply chain management, Logistics, Warehousing and freight forwarding, Chemical consultancy, Civil contracting, Manufacturing, Market research, Media and digital research, Social media analytics, Digital marketing and EdTech & Job Tech.

Achieved Process Excellence within multiple organization and setup measure to monitor business process and growth. Achieved IT security processes like ISO27001 across various organizations. Streamlined IT services delivery across APAC using ITIL processes, Agile methodology & CMMI framework emphasizing on service availability and performance measurement.

Accreditations and Contributions:

Awarded the “Innovation Leader” Award by World Innovation Congress, featured in CIO Magazine “Top 30 - Ones to watch”, CIO & Leader Magazine as “11 Most Powerful Women in Tech in India” and a few others. Case study published in CIO Decisions & Network Computing, Logistics Magazine, Dataquest, & CIO Magazine. Presented technology papers at the Market Research Society of India (MRSI) on new age Technologies and won awards on “Best Analytics product” & “Best E2E Process Automation”. Actively involved as a technology expert speaker on multiple tech forums and colleges, project guide, evaluator, mentor for data science & technology students.

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Shiv continues his conversation with Greg Foster, Cofounder and CTO of graphite.dev.

Greg shares

AI's Role in Code Review:

• AI as a Code Reviewer: AI can identify simple bugs, stylistic issues, and potential inconsistencies.
• Limitations of AI: AI struggles with complex reasoning, understanding context, and making creative decisions.
• Human-AI Collaboration: Humans are still essential for high-level understanding, architectural decisions, and complex problem-solving.
• AI-Enhanced Documentation: AI can help maintain accurate and up-to-date documentation.
• AI's Potential in Testing and Debugging: AI can assist in identifying potential issues in complex systems, especially those with external dependencies.

Career Advice for Developers:

• Embrace AI as a Tool: AI can augment developer capabilities, not replace them.
• Focus on Human Skills: Strong communication, problem-solving, and project management skills remain crucial.
• Continuous Learning: Stay updated with emerging technologies and trends.
• Find Your Flow: Create an environment that supports focused work and minimizes distractions.

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In this episode Shiv is in conversation with Greg Foster, Cofounder and CTO of graphite.dev.

This is the first part, Greg talks about

His Journey into Software:

• Early Days: Started coding in high school, selling iPhone apps.
• College and Early Career: Studied CS, worked at Airbnb, learned infrastructure and on-call duties.
• Founding Graphite: Co-founded Graphite with friends to build developer tools.
• Passion for Developer Experience: Enjoys building tools that improve software development workflows.

Key Points:

• On-Call Experiences: Loved the challenge and responsibility of on-call work, but also experienced the frustrations of dealing with user issues and developer mistakes.
• Building a Startup: Balancing technical work with business operations, hiring, and team culture.
• Graphite's Mission: Improving developer productivity by focusing on code review and collaboration tools, inspired by best practices from large tech companies.

AI Integration: Exploring AI-powered tools to enhance code review and analysis.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregmfoster/

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This Episode marks six years of the podcast ! Thanks to all your love and support.

In today's conversation we have all our three hosts Sivaguru Gayatri and Chitra reflecting their own personal and professional S-curves .

They also ideate on what could be coming up next for the podcast.

Happy listening!!

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In this episode, Gayatri is in conversation with Santana Krishnan.(SK)

SK talks about

How he started building his own self from the educational perspective in Kochi.

Built his firm for independent organization which was creating early wins using agile as a way of working

Moving to ThoughtWorks and then currently consulting with many organizations' in the advisory capacity as well as executive coach.

How these leaps of faith during various transitions coincides with both professional and Personal life

How is spiritual journey has transcended over decades.

How time has helped him realize his decisions.

.Enjoy the conversations!

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Today Gayatri is in conversation with Srini on his personal and professional s-curves, where

• He talks about his multiple decades of career span across geographies.
• He talks about S-curves that failed and succeeded.
• He also constantly gives a very good framework of thought processes on how you have to think. When you move up the ladder.
• He covers around why, what is the intention behind choosing the next level , the effort it needs and the time you should give for the same to materialize understanding the risks associated.
• He also talks about the need for a mentor or a coach.

Happy Listening!!

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In this thematic conversation on S-curves, I am in conversation with my colleague and Coach at PM Power, Mohan Ram..

In this conversation, Mohan touches upon various topics, including:

• S Curves in Personal and Professional Life
• Conscious vs. Unconscious S Curves
• The Importance of Support Systems
• Letting Go and Moving On
• Preparing for New Roles
• Retrospective Analysis
• The Impact of Rapid Change
• The Importance of Perspective
• Leveraging Organizational Resources
• Humility and Learning
• The Role of Reflection and Self-Awareness
• The Power of Mentorship

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In this thematic conversation on S-curves, I am in conversation with my colleague and Coach at PM Power, Anantha Natarajan.

In this conversation, Anand, as he prefers to be called, shared various significant S-curves in his personal and professional life including

• Decision to enter the software industry,
• Migrating to Australia,
• Pursuing an MBA, and
• Transitioning to a leadership role.

He emphasized the importance of considering multiple dimensions beyond career goals, such as personal growth, family relationships, and financial stability.

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In this thematic conversation on S-curves, I am in conversation with my colleague and Coach at PM Power, Gopalan.

In this conversation, Gopal shares:some Specific S-Curves:

• Transitioning from Home to Hostel: This early experience fostered independence and adaptability.
• Shifting from Academics to Professional Life: Adapting to the different demands and expectations of the professional world.
• Evolving Roles: Taking on leadership positions, managing teams, and transitioning from technical roles to business management.
• Navigating Organizational Changes: Adapting to changes within organizations, such as mergers, restructurings, and shifts in company direction.
• Building a Startup: The challenges and rewards of founding and leading a startup.

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In this thematic conversation on S-curves, I am in conversation with my colleague, Coach and serial author, Paramu Kurumathur.

In this conversation, Paramu shares some specific S-Curve in his life:

• School Change: Moving from Trivandrum to Calicut presented challenges like adapting to a new language, culture, and classmates.
• IIT Entrance and College: Entering IIT brought Paramu face-to-face with high competition, where everyone was a topper.
• Job Market Challenges: With limited job opportunities for Aerospace Engineers in India, Paramu had to choose between a scholarship abroad with an unrecognized degree or a less promising job.
• Shifting Gears to Computer Science: This was a major turning point where luck played a role. An available seat in computer science due to others' choices opened a new path for Paramu.
• Tata Burroughs and Corporate Life: This was another big change, requiring adjustments like dressing professionally. Paramu navigated these changes while building new friendships.
• Marriage, Children, and Work-Life Balance: These personal milestones presented new challenges alongside professional ones.
• Job Stagnation and Transition to Digital: Feeling stuck in his US job, Paramu found a pull factor in the challenge of setting up a GCC for digital right Unix development.
• Startup and NGO: Foray into a startup (Bell Soft) wasn't successful, coinciding with an industry downturn. He then transitioned to a contrasting role at Action Aid, an NGO.
• Leadership and Scaling: Paramu's roles at Action Aid and Bell Soft involved leadership responsibilities, scaling up operations, and navigating organizational challenges.
• Entrepreneurship: His entrepreneurial ventures, including the startup, demonstrate his willingness to take risks and pursue new opportunities.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paramu-kurumathur-01489a6/

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I continue my conversation with Ben Johnson, the CEO of Particle 41, a company that provides fractional CTO services, software development, data science, data engineering, and AI solutions

In this part, Ben talks about:

• The importance of user adoption for successful technology implementation.
• The challenges and benefits of agile development in contract-based projects.
• The value of personal practices like journaling and mindfulness for maintaining composure and productivity.
• Career advice for aspiring technologists, including the importance of continuous learning and specializing in niche areas.
• The enduring value of expertise and the opportunities created by emerging technologies like AI and blockchain.

Benjamin Johnson, CEO & Founder @ Particle41

Benjamin Johnson is a serial technical co-founder with a track record of success and hands-on open-source programming experience. He has a wide range of being both a board-level advisor and founder but also an in-depth understanding of how things work. Through his 20+ years as a software developer and leader, he has gained extensive experience with remotely distributed development teams and business hacks.

Benjamin is the CEO & Founder of Particle41, a dev firm founded by industry veterans that aims to help companies accelerate their initiatives through Software Development, DevOps, and Data Science.

With a constant focus on results and ways to improve, Benjamin is having fun building highly scalable and highly secure applications.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminrjohnson/

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I am in conversation with Ben Johnson, the CEO of Particle 41, a company that provides fractional CTO services, software development, data science, data engineering, and AI solutions

Some of the highlights from the conversation are:

• How he started programming on the Commodore 64
• Starting a travel company and getting hands on experience with building and managing IT infrastructure
• Working in different business domains
• The importance of being adaptable and embracing new technologies.
• The value of listening to customers and understanding their needs.
• The need to balance technology adoption with practical considerations.
• The importance of building strong relationships and networks.
• The role of personality traits in successful partnerships.
• The importance of building a strong team culture and focusing on employee engagement.
• The need for quality assurance and DevOps practices in software development.

Benjamin Johnson

CEO & Founder @ Particle41

Benjamin Johnson is a serial technical co-founder with a track record of success and hands-on open-source programming experience. He has a wide range of being both a board-level advisor and founder but also an in-depth understanding of how things work. Through his 20+ years as a software developer and leader, he has gained extensive experience with remotely distributed development teams and business hacks.

Benjamin is the CEO & Founder of Particle41, a dev firm founded by industry veterans that aims to help companies accelerate their initiatives through Software Development, DevOps, and Data Science.

With a constant focus on results and ways to improve, Benjamin is having fun building highly scalable and highly secure applications.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminrjohnson/

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I continue my conversation with Douglas Ferguson, an entrepreneur and human-centered technologist. He is the president of Voltage Control, a facilitation academy that develops leaders through various programs.

In this part of the conversation, Douglas shares his story related to:

• Voltage Control: A facilitation academy focused on developing collaborative leaders.
• Facilitation skills: Valuable for individuals in various roles, not just facilitators.
• Community building: Emphasizes diversity, inclusion, and shared values.
• Entrepreneurial journey: Douglas's experiences in starting and growing Voltage Control.
• Leadership development: The importance of facilitation skills for effective leadership.

And finally, he shares career tips for those aspiring to be facilitators.

Douglas is an entrepreneur and human-centered technologist with over 26 years of experience. He is president of Voltage Control, a facilitation academy that develops leaders through certifications, workshops, and organizational coaching focused on facilitation mastery, innovation, and play. He has helped transform leaders, innovators, and creatives from Nike, U.S. SOCOM, Google, the Air Force, Gap, Tesla, MSU, Church & Dwight, Apple, Adobe, Dropbox, Fidelity, Vrbo, Liberty Mutual, Humana, and SAIC.

Prior to Voltage Control, Douglas held CTO positions at numerous Austin startups, where he led product and engineering teams using agile, lean, and human-centered design principles. While CTO at Twyla, Douglas worked directly with Google Ventures running Design Sprints, and now brings this experience and process to companies everywhere.

Douglas is currently active in the Austin startup community, where he serves on the board of several non-profits, mentors startups, and advises early-stage ventures.

Douglas is a thought leader and often writes and talks about facilitation, leadership, collaboration, innovation, culture, meetings, and Design Sprints. He is also the author of four books: Magical Meetings, Beyond the Prototype, How to Remix Anything, and Start Within, He has been published in Forbes, Fast Company, Innovation Leader, and is a regular contributor to The Future Shapers. He publishes a weekly podcast called Facilitation Lab.

When not facilitating or coaching facilitators, you might find Douglas patching up his Modular Synth, boxing, doing pilates, and taking photographs. He graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Douglas may be contacted at::

https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglasferguson/

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I am in conversation with Douglas Ferguson. Douglas is an entrepreneur and human-centered technologist. He is the president of Voltage Control, a facilitation academy that develops leaders through various programs.

In this part of the conversation, Douglas shares his story related to:

• Douglas's journey: From individual contributor to leader, emphasizing the importance of understanding and empathy in building successful teams.
• Teamwork and collaboration: Discusses storytelling, creating a positive culture, and the challenges and opportunities of working with distributed and cross-cultural teams.
• Effective meeting practices: Highlights the value of rituals, storytelling, and focusing on generation and exploration.

Douglas is an entrepreneur and human-centered technologist with over 26 years of experience. He is president of Voltage Control, a facilitation academy that develops leaders through certifications, workshops, and organizational coaching focused on facilitation mastery, innovation, and play. He has helped transform leaders, innovators, and creatives from Nike, U.S. SOCOM, Google, the Air Force, Gap, Tesla, MSU, Church & Dwight, Apple, Adobe, Dropbox, Fidelity, Vrbo, Liberty Mutual, Humana, and SAIC.

Prior to Voltage Control, Douglas held CTO positions at numerous Austin startups, where he led product and engineering teams using agile, lean, and human-centered design principles. While CTO at Twyla, Douglas worked directly with Google Ventures running Design Sprints, and now brings this experience and process to companies everywhere.

Douglas is currently active in the Austin startup community, where he serves on the board of several non-profits, mentors startups, and advises early-stage ventures.

Douglas is a thought leader and often writes and talks about facilitation, leadership, collaboration, innovation, culture, meetings, and Design Sprints. He is also the author of four books: Magical Meetings, Beyond the Prototype, How to Remix Anything, and Start Within, He has been published in Forbes, Fast Company, Innovation Leader, and is a regular contributor to The Future Shapers. He publishes a weekly podcast called Facilitation Lab.

When not facilitating or coaching facilitators, you might find Douglas patching up his Modular Synth, boxing, doing Pilates, and taking photographs. He graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Douglas may be contacted at::

https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglasferguson/

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I continue my conversation with Karthik Viswanathan, the President of Ochyo Inc, a consulting firm that specializes in serving State & Local governments around strategy development, technology enablement and business process optimization

In this part, Karthik delves deeper into the challenges and opportunities within government IT. He discusses the complexities of balancing top-down mandates with bottom-up needs, particularly in large, decentralized organizations.

Key points:

• Government structure: The unique structure of government, with different levels (federal, state, local) and political cycles, impacts IT initiatives.
• Technology adoption: While there is a growing recognition of technology's importance, the pace of adoption is slower than the private sector due to budgetary constraints, procurement processes, and risk aversion.
• Talent management: Government agencies face challenges in attracting and retaining IT talent, especially in comparison to the private sector.
• Intergovernmental collaboration: There's potential for increased collaboration and data sharing between government entities, but challenges remain in terms of standards, security, and trust.
• Consulting and government: Karthik discusses his experience in consulting for government agencies, highlighting the need for understanding the unique dynamics of the public sector.

Overall, the conversation emphasizes the complexities and opportunities within government IT, providing insights into the challenges and potential solutions.

Karthik Viswanathan is the President of Ochyo Inc, a consulting firm that

specializes in serving State & Local governments around strategy development, technology enablement and business process optimization.

He was previously the Vice President for Development & Strategy for AIinGov responsible for driving strategic partnerships and relationships to accelerate the time to market and operational efficiencies for AIinGov’s customers.

Prior to that, Karthik served in senior IT leadership roles in State and Municipal governments. He was the Assistant Secretary for Technology Services & Security to help streamline IT services for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts including CIO roles for Labor & Workforce and Department of Revenue. Karthik has also served as CIO for the City of Somerville.

He holds engineering degrees from the University of Mumbai and Texas A&M University, and an MBA from Northeastern University.

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaviswan/

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I am in conversation with Karthik Viswanathan, the President of Ochyo Inc, a consulting firm that specializes in serving State & Local governments around strategy development, technology enablement and business process optimization

In this part of the conversation, Karthik shares:

Karthik's career path:

• Started in IT after college in Bombay (now Mumbai)
• Worked in tech support for a university in the US
• Joined a research company (GTE Labs, now part of Verizon) focused on telecom technologies
• Transitioned from research to government work focusing on applying technology to improve citizen services

Government vs. Private Sector:

• Government projects can have a larger social impact
• Funding for government projects is based on impact and efficiency, not ROI
• User experience (UX) is becoming increasingly important in government services, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic
• Cloud migration and low-code/no-code development are accelerating innovation in government

Key points about impact in government projects:

• Needs to consider a "long tail" of users with diverse needs
• Focuses on human impact and reducing frustration for citizens
• Must balance efficiency and initial investment costs

Shifting landscape of government technology:

• From building systems for internal needs to user-centered design
• Cloud migration enabling faster and more scalable solutions
• Rise of low-code/no-code development for quicker implementation

Karthik Viswanathan is the President of Ochyo Inc, a consulting firm that

specializes in serving State & Local governments around strategy development, technology enablement and business process optimization.

He was previously the Vice President for Development & Strategy for AIinGov responsible for driving strategic partnerships and relationships to accelerate the time to market and operational efficiencies for AIinGov’s customers.

Prior to that, Karthik served in senior IT leadership roles in State and Municipal governments. He was the Assistant Secretary for Technology Services & Security to help streamline IT services for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts including CIO roles for Labor & Workforce and Department of Revenue. Karthik has also served as CIO for the City of Somerville.

He holds engineering degrees from the University of Mumbai and Texas A&M University, and an MBA from Northeastern University.

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaviswan/

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Sivaguru continues the conversation with Ravi Krishnappa, managing partner at July Ventures.

In this part, he shares his thoughts as below

• Emphasizes that his curiosity drives him to understand new concepts deeply, particularly through teaching.
• How teaching others can enhance one’s own understanding,
• He says that having ideas alone is not sufficient. Successful outcomes depend on understanding and addressing the underlying practical and behavioral aspects related to those ideas.
• Effective problem-solving requires being aware of current market conditions and issues.
• Entrepreneurship requires a strong sense of conviction to push beyond one's comfort zone.
• Feeling uncomfortable is a natural and beneficial part of starting something new, as it keeps you alert and engaged.
• : Entrepreneurs often experience a transition from uncertainty to clarity, where they feel confident in their decision to pursue a venture.
• He speaks about various challenges in entrepreneurial journey
• Finally he talks about the career tips

Ravi Krishnappa is a Venture Capital professional, an Entrepreneur & an avid teacher with 35+ years of experience over 2 dozen start-ups in his portfolio.

He is currently the managing partner at July Ventures (www.julyventures.com)

He is a mechanical engineer who moved onto the IT sector and is a thought leader in the area of digital applications for the industry. Over the last 30+ years he has worked in several countries including the US, UK and Switzerland.

His first startup was acquired by Oracle, and he was subsequently it’s global Executive Director. He sold his second venture which was in supply chain applications to a publicly listed company. Since 2010, he has been working to develop the Entrepreneurial eco-system, particularly in incubating ideas and working with early stage startups and their founders as a CEO coach.

He is a board director and an advisory member in a number of startups.

He has been an active member in several industry associations including TIE. He is also a trustee at several NGOs working on causes ranging from education to public transparency.

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Sivaguru is in conversation with Ravi Krishnappa, managing partner at July Ventures. He talks about

• How he Started as a mechanical engineer and ERP consultant, then co-founded Accel Venture Partners and Inatech. Transitioned to angel investing and is now a partner at July Ventures, focusing on B2B tech startups.
• He also attributes his success to an intense curiosity and a broad interest in various fields, rather than deep specialization.
• He also believes both nature (innate curiosity) and nurture (experiences and opportunities) play roles in personal development
• He also taks about learning the intersection of finance and engineering, and addressing inefficiencies in ERP systems, which shaped their business mindset and approach..
• He also talks about developed a solution to locally print data from a mainframe system, leading to a significant licensing deal with Unisys EMEA.
• He reflects on how recognizing and seizing opportunities, even if not fully realized, has influenced his entrepreneurial journey.
• The experience of seeing potential improvements and wanting more control motivated their shift to entrepreneurship

Ravi Krishnappa is a Venture Capital professional, an Entrepreneur & an avid teacher with 35+ years of experience over 2 dozen start-ups in his portfolio.

He is currently the managing partner at July Ventures (www.julyventures.com)

He is a mechanical engineer who moved onto the IT sector and is a thought leader in the area of digital applications for the industry. Over the last 30+ years he has worked in several countries including the US, UK and Switzerland.

His first startup was acquired by Oracle, and he was subsequently it’s global Executive Director. He sold his second venture which was in supply chain applications to a publicly listed company. Since 2010, he has been working to develop the Entrepreneurial eco-system, particularly in incubating ideas and working with early stage startups and their founders as a CEO coach.

He is a board director and an advisory member in a number of startups.

He has been an active member in several industry associations including TIE. He is also a trustee at several NGOs working on causes ranging from education to public transparency.

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This marks 300 episodes of the Software People Stories. The journey has been very enriching. But more of that, in a few weeks, when we complete six years of the podcast.

In addition, the guest today is a person who has been a mentor to me and whose qualities technically and as a leader, I admire.

I continue my conversation with Gunaseelan Narayanan, known as Guna. Guna is an executive coach with a long career in IT before that.

In this conversation, he talks about

• Transition from Project Leader to Delivery Excellence Leader, initial challenges with management style to embracing new technologies and effectively leading high-performing engineering teams.
• He also emphasizes the difference in project timelines between internal R&D and global customer
• The importance of empathy, communication, and tailored processes in effectively aligning different divisions or lines of business within an organization, especially in a complex matrix organizational structure.
• How his career was marked by diverse opportunities across different sectors , each offering valuable learning experiences and professional development.
• His journey into coaching and leadership development, emphasizing the shift from directive management to coaching and the importance of continuous learning and adaptation in his career.
• His Career Advice, and explanation of ethics in Technology

Guna has over three decades of experience in the Information Technology industry. Currently he is an Executive Coach, helping senior executives enhance their leadership capabilities.

He started his career as a software engineer in R&D department of Hindustan Computers Limited in 1979. He held various technical and managerial roles in HCL R&D and HCL-HP R&D before transitioning to HCL Technologies. In HCL Technologies he was in key delivery and business leadership roles including head of Engineering and R&D Services Line of Business and head of Delivery Excellence.

Guna holds M.Tech. degree in Computer Science and B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering, both from IIT Madras. He is a certified Executive Coach from Coaching Foundation India.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gunaseelan-narayanan-13246b23/

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This is a special episode for me, personally.

This marks 300 episodes of the Software People Stories. The journey has been very enriching. But more of that, in a few weeks, when we complete six years of the podcast.

In addition, the guest today is a person who has been a mentor to me and whose qualities technically and as a leader, I admire.

I am in conversation with Gunaseelan Narayanan, known as Guna. Guna is an executive coach with a long career in IT before that.

In this conversation, he talks about

• Two phases of his career
• Starting with FORTRAN programming and transitioning into microprocessors
• His career at HCL - the only company he was associated with throughout his career
• Shifting to creating user focused solutions and telecom areas
• Gaining experience with multi-national partnerships

Guna has over three decades of experience in the Information Technology industry. Currently he is an Executive Coach, helping senior executives enhance their leadership capabilities. He started his career as a software engineer in R&D department of Hindustan Computers Limited in 1979. He held various technical and managerial roles in HCL R&D and HCL-HP R&D before transitioning to HCL Technologies. In HCL Technologies he was in key delivery and business leadership roles including head of Engineering and R&D Services Line of Business and head of Delivery Excellence.

Guna holds M.Tech. degree in Computer Science and B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering, both from IIT Madras. He is a certified Executive Coach from Coaching Foundation India

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gunaseelan-narayanan-13246b23/

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In this conversation, Sapna Jhaver, Technology Leader is in conversation with Chitra Gurjar where she shares various perspectives on -

• Gen Alpha - their role as influencers, their thoughts and virtual influence of Generative AI

• Moving into leadership roles and how her theatre experience helped her with playing, understanding leadership

• Becoming inward focused to manage orthodoxy, perceptions and accepting herself

• Providing her narrative for her future self

• Messages for people aspiring to make a career in tech with dedicating time to learn, exposing ones' mind to different roles and using principles of running a business to learn about leadership

Sapna Jhawer is a Retail Technology leader known for her fusion of innovation, empathy, and resilience. As a technology leader with over two decades of experience, she is known for her strategic vision, collaborative leadership style, and commitment to driving positive change. Sapna's passion for equity and storytelling fuels her mission to empower teams, foster innovation, and create a lasting impact on society. Her authentic approach, coupled with her expertise in retail technology, makes her a trusted advisor and thought leader in her field

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In this conversation, Sapna Jhaver, Technology Leader is in conversation with Chitra Gurjar where she shares various perspectives on -- Wanting to first get into a business, thanks to being from a mainly business family- Wanting to do Chartered Accounting so she could start a business, then being peer-pressured into doing Electronics engineering- Switching mindsets from testing to development to understanding how developers first want to get things done, make them work and then test code- Taking on customer facing roles and getting into minutiae about customers in retail- Managing customer expectations and how technology can give an experience of look and feel, fit and experience of online retail shoppingSapna Jhawer is a Retail Technology leader known for her fusion of innovation, empathy, and resilience. As a technology leader with over two decades of experience, she is known for her strategic vision, collaborative leadership style, and commitment to driving positive change. Sapna's passion for equity and storytelling fuels her mission to empower teams, foster innovation, and create a lasting impact on society. Her authentic approach, coupled with her expertise in retail technology, makes her a trusted advisor and thought leader in her field

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I continue my conversation with C Subramanian - more affectionately known as CS in his circles, an accomplished banker turned IT professional, with international experience.

CS - C Subramanian's story is one of resilience, adaptation, and continuous learning. From his humble beginnings, he sought stability through education and found unexpected opportunities in the banking sector. Despite facing objections, he embraced the chance to join Canara Bank and eventually transitioned into the IT field within the organization.

His journey into IT was marked by challenges and learning experiences, particularly during the implementation of banking software. CS emphasized the importance of understanding banking requirements and effectively communicating them to software developers. He highlighted the pivotal role of taking on computer courses reimbursed by the bank, which opened doors to new career paths.

As he moved into project management, CS encountered new challenges but remained determined to succeed. He emphasized the significance of upgrading skills, adapting to new roles, and fostering teamwork. Throughout his narrative, CS underscored the importance of self-confidence, perseverance, and continuous self-improvement in achieving career growth.

CS's story serves as a testament to the power of resilience, learning, and seizing opportunities, even in the face of doubts and obstacles. His emphasis on teamwork and mentorship underscores the value of collaboration and support in professional development. Overall, CS's journey offers valuable insights for navigating career transitions and achieving success in the ever-evolving landscape of the IT sector.

A post graduate in Chemistry, worked in a public sector Bank for nearly 30 years and then moved to IT industry in BFSI. Handled various Banking projects for nearly 10 years in middle east and India in roles of Domain expert and Project Management.

Lives in Bengaluru

He may be reached at: chellappa_subramanian@yahoo.co.in

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In this episode, Shiv is in conversation with C Subramanian, more affectionately known as CS in his circles, an accomplished banker turned IT professional, with international experience.

In this first part of the conversation, CS shared his origin story, starting from a modest background with a focus on securing a stable life through education.

Despite initial plans for a career in chemistry, a friend's suggestion led him to apply for a job at Canara Bank, where he began his career. Despite family objections, he pursued the opportunity and eventually transitioned into the IT sector within the bank, leveraging courses and opportunities for advancement.

He recounted his journey from a banking employee to an IT professional, highlighting key moments such as taking on computer courses reimbursed by the bank, which unexpectedly paved the way for his entry into the IT field. He described the challenges and learning experiences during the implementation of banking software, emphasizing the importance of understanding and conveying banking requirements to software developers.

CS reflected on his transition to project management and the challenges he faced, including the need to upgrade his skills and adapt to new roles. He shared insights into managing teams, emphasizing the importance of guiding and motivating team members while continuously learning and upgrading oneself. Despite initial doubts from others, he persevered, proving himself and achieving career growth within the organization.

Throughout his narrative, CS emphasized the importance of learning, adaptation, and self-confidence in navigating career transitions and achieving success. He also stressed the value of teamwork, mentorship, and continuous self-improvement in professional growth.

A post graduate in Chemistry, worked in a public sector Bank for nearly 30 years and then moved to IT industry in BFSI. Handled various Banking projects for nearly 10 years in middle east and India in roles of Domain expert and Project Management.

Lives in Bengaluru

He may be reached at: chellappa_subramanian@yahoo.co.in

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In this episode Shiv continues his conversation with Andy Hillard the CEO of Accelerance. He leads and advocates for the globalization and collaboration of great software teams across the world.

In this second part of the conversation, Shiv and Andy discuss the challenges of working with multiple service providers and the importance of building cohesive teams. Andy emphasizes the need for trust, accountability, and common values in creating successful partnerships, regardless of whether you're working with one partner or multiple partners.

He also touches upon the impact of AI on the IT landscape. Andy highlights the proliferation of service providers due to remote work and the challenges companies face in leveraging AI effectively. He stresses the importance of trust, credibility, and a focus on what AI cannot do, advocating for investing in interpersonal skills and problem-solving abilities.

Shiv then asks for career tips, and Andy advises leaning into challenges rather than retreating from them, emphasizing action over inaction. He encourages individuals to continuously improve themselves and to maintain determination in the face of obstacles.

Finally, they discuss travel preferences, with Andy expressing interest in revisiting India and Japan due to their unique cultures and vast diversity.

Overall, the conversation explores themes of teamwork, adaptation to technological advancements, personal growth, and cultural appreciation.

As CEO, Andy leads and advocates for the globalization and collaboration of great software teams with companies in search of talent, innovation and a globally-distributed extension of their engineering function and culture.

Andy founded the ground-breaking nearshore software development services company, Isthmus Costa Rica. He began his global software services career as a Division Manager at Cognizant during their early formative years.

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In this episode, Shiv is in conversation with Andy Hillard, the CEO of Accelerance. He leads and advocates for the globalization and collaboration of great software teams across the world.

The conversation between Shiv and Andy covers Andy's extensive career journey, including his time with the Peace Corps, his experience in finance and marketing, and his transition into software development.

Andy discusses the evolution of the outsourcing industry, emphasizing the need for service providers to build trust and credibility with their clients.

He shares insights on fostering empathy and collaboration within distributed teams, particularly in the context of outsourcing relationships.

Andy highlights the importance of aligning cultural values, communication practices, and leadership styles between clients and service providers to ensure successful collaboration.

The conversation also touches on challenges and controversies in outsourcing, prompting a discussion on the risks and benefits of outsourcing arrangements involving multiple service providers.

Overall, the conversation explores strategies for building effective and trustworthy partnerships in the software development industry.

As CEO, Andy leads and advocates for the globalization and collaboration of great software teams with companies in search of talent, innovation and a globally-distributed extension of their engineering function and culture.

Andy founded the ground-breaking nearshore software development services company, Isthmus Costa Rica. He began his global software services career as a Division Manager at Cognizant during their early formative years.

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Shiv continues his conversation with Mike Bowers, Chief architect at FairCom.

In this conversation, Mike discusses how to identify someone with an aptitude for being a software architect.

Here are the key points:

• Aptitude for a software architect, abstract thinking and Practicality
• His Experience in extensive coding and understanding of different programming languages, Data structures and algorithms knowledge
• He also talks about the Qualities of a good software architect:
• How to identify if you have the aptitude:

In short, a software architect should be a well-rounded programmer with a strong understanding of design and practicality. They should be able to see the big picture and translate that vision into a functional system.

He also shares some career tips for aspiring architects.

Mike Bowers is the Chief Architect at FairCom with over 35 years of experience in software development and architecture. As the driving force behind FairCom's architecture and product roadmaps, Mike specializes in high-performance NoSQL and SQL databases, IIoT platforms, and legacy system modernization solutions. His wealth of knowledge extends to topics like database revolution, manufacturing 4.0, IIoT, edge computing, and data integration. With a deep understanding of the tech landscape, he actively contributes to the development of industry standards through his membership in the INCITS technical committee, focusing on SQL and GQL. Mike's insights resonate particularly well with audiences comprising CEOs, IT managers, software architects, software engineers, and controls engineers.

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My guest today is Mike Bowers, Chief architect at FairCom. We had a very interesting conversation that we decided to publish in two parts. In the first part of the conversation , MIke shares his career path and his perspective on how to approach software development. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the customer's needs and designing systems that are flexible and scalable. He also discusses the importance of data in software development and his experience working with different data models.

Here are the key points from the conversation:

• Mike started programming at a young age and has been passionate about it ever since.
• He has a PhD in music theory and sees connections between music and software development, particularly in terms of patterns.
• As an architect, he focuses on designing systems that are flexible, scalable, and meet the needs of the customer.
• He believes that data is a crucial part of software development and that understanding data is essential for building good systems.
• He has experience working with different data models, including relational databases and JSON.

Mike Bowers is the Chief Architect at FairCom with over 35 years of experience in software development and architecture. As the driving force behind FairCom's architecture and product roadmaps, Mike specializes in high-performance NoSQL and SQL databases, IIoT platforms, and legacy system modernization solutions. His wealth of knowledge extends to topics like database revolution, manufacturing 4.0, IIoT, edge computing, and data integration. With a deep understanding of the tech landscape, he actively contributes to the development of industry standards through his membership in the INCITS technical committee, focusing on SQL and GQL. Mike's insights resonate particularly well with audiences comprising CEOs, IT managers, software architects, software engineers, and controls engineers.

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In this conversation with Ms. Vijayashree CTO - Shikshalokam | Director- Onlineengineer Inc. she talks about her career trajectory and how she approaches technical challenges. Here are the key points:

• Vijayashree accidentally ended up in computer science after wanting to study electronics engineering.
• She has a passion for system software design and coding.
• She transitioned from a services role to a product role to focus more on the technical aspects.
• She believes in balancing the technical aspects with user needs and understanding the business domain.
• She uses a collaborative approach to design, involving the team and getting their buy-in on ideas.
• She acknowledges the need for analysis and design but also emphasizes the importance of getting things into production quickly using Agile methodologies.
• When making decisions about new technologies, she weighs the risks and benefits, using proven patterns for critical areas but also taking calculated risks to experiment with new ideas.
• She communicates the importance of non-functional requirements to her team and integrates them into the design process to ensure scalability, reliability, and maintainability.

Vijayashree talks about the challenges and the transition from working in the commercial sector to the social sector.

Key takeaways for designing for the social sector:

• Users might not have the technical expertise and may have limited internet connectivity.
• The solutions should be designed for a wider range of devices including low-end smartphones.
• Multiple languages and possibly voice interfaces should be considered.
• There might be a need to focus on offline functionality as well.

Metrics for success in the social sector:

• Adoption rate of the software by other organizations.
• User feedback and the resulting improvements made to the software.
• The impact of the software on the beneficiaries.

There are also a few interesting career advices by her

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vijayashree-urs/

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Today, my guest is Shekhar Chandra - the Global Practice Head at Irs Software Inc.

Here are the key themes from the conversation:

• Shekhar initially disliked sales because he is more of an introvert.
• However, he was eased into the role by his company and his technical background helped him gain the confidence to sell because he understood the product.
• Building a brand: Shekhar highlights the importance of building a brand for oneself, especially when venturing into entrepreneurship.
• Shekhar talks about the concept of building practices within a company to focus on specific areas of expertise.
• Shekhar emphasizes the importance of trying new things and learning from failures.
• Shekhar highlights the need for salespeople to have a good understanding of the technical aspects of the product or service they are selling.
• Shekhar then talks about the challenges faced by Indian companies trying to take their products global.
• Marketing is crucial: Building a good product is not enough.
• Companies need to focus on marketing and building alliances with other companies to be successful in the global market.
• Shekhar describes three different methods for partnering with other companies:
• Highlights some challenges faced by Indian companies when they try to take their products global.
• Shekhar also offers his advice for people in two different career stages:
• Mid-life career crisis:
• Late career:
• Shekhar Chandra - aka SC Shekar is the global practice head at Iris Software Inc.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shekhar-chandra-740953/

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Shiv our host is in conversation with Harpreet SIngh, CO-founder and co-CEO of Launchale Inc. Harpreet has been associated with conceiving and launching many innovative products that have become a standard among developer community.

In today's conversation he talks about

• How he started his career in India and then moved to the US.
• He emphasizes the importance of continuous learning and self-improvement.
• He mentions his growth mindset and his habit of reading and taking courses to stay updated.
• Harpreet acknowledges the challenge of scaling himself as a leader alongside the company.
• He talks about managing time for both work and personal growth. He highlights the importance of clear communication and context setting to empower his team and free up his time.
• He also mentions using a prioritization technique where he identifies the top three important tasks for both work and personal life.
• Harpreet acknowledges the resistance developers often have towards documentation. He discusses how he built his team by looking for individuals who value clear communication and writing skills.
• He describes how he identified a niche in the developer experience (DevEx) domain. He noticed that even after implementing CI/CD practices, companies weren't seeing the desired benefits quickly enough. This led him to explore how AI and machine learning could improve software delivery pipelines.
• Launchable's product uses machine learning to predict which tests are likely to fail based on code changes. Launchable is now expanding its offering to include intelligent test failure diagnostics using AI and machine learning.
• Harpreet acknowledges that coding style can influence the likelihood of errors. Launchable considers this to some extent, but the focus is on broader patterns and historical data to predict test failures.
• He emphasizes the importance of lifelong learning for personal and professional growth.
• He also talks about careers in testing and tech in general:

Harpreet is an entrepreneur, innovator, developer, and creative product leader who has dedicated his life to building new solutions for software teams. His latest iteration isLaunchable Inc, an AI/ML company to help developers and QA. A seasoned DevOps leader, Harpreet has been building products for developers for the last 25+ years.

Previously, he was GM for Atlassian Bitbucket and VP of Product at CloudBees. At CloudBees he helped create the Jenkins business that scaled to multi-millions in ARR.

He has an MBA from Santa Clara University, an MS in CS from the University of Cincinnati, and a Bachelors in Computer Engineering from Pune University, India.

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Today, my guest is Vinaya Mallya, is a seasoned IT professional, who has played leadership roles in the corporate sector, then was an entrepreneur building a team and moving on to create solutions to impact the social sector.

In this conversation, :

• Vinaya shares her career path, including experiences in corporate IT, startups, and the social sector.

Early Career in IT

• Vinaya's original plan was to study civil engineering, but her principal encouraged her to switch to computer science due to her gender.
• Despite initial challenges and limited practical experience, a project in COBOL sparked her interest in software development.
• Her husband, an IT engineer, encouraged her to pursue a career in the field.

Finding Passion at Infosys

• After getting married, Vinaya joined Infosys despite initial reservations.
• The initial training period was difficult, but the collaborative work environment with diverse teams motivated her.
• She discovered her passion for problem-solving, particularly collective problem-solving in a team setting.

Work-Life Balance Challenges

• Marrying young and having a demanding job at Infosys presented work-life balance challenges.
• Her supportive in-laws and husband, who encouraged her to focus on her career for the first five years, helped manage the situation.
• Traveling abroad for work required additional compromises to maintain family harmony.

Leaving Infosys and Starting a Startup

• Inspired by her father's entrepreneurial spirit, Vinaya dreamt of creating jobs someday.
• After 11 years at Infosys, the need to care for her children and the distance from her husband in Malaysia led to her resignation.
• Her mother's strong words about the impact on their children became a turning point.

Starting an Animation Franchise

• Taking a break from corporate life, Vinaya explored franchise opportunities
• Animation, a growing field, emerged as the final choice, and she started a franchise of an animation institute.
• While the business didn't generate significant profit, Vinaya takes pride in providing a platform for young talent to launch their careers.

Work in the Social Sector

• Vinaya's entry into the social sector was accidental. Initially, she volunteered one day a week, but her time commitment gradually increased to five days a week.
• The transition from corporate IT to the social sector required adjustments. Vinaya had to learn to appreciate the value of creative solutions and a less structured work environment.
• She also enjoyed building a team of all women who could relate to the challenges faced by the target population.

Challenges of an All-Women Team

• Vinaya acknowledges that managing an all-women team has its challenges, such as difficulty with travel and limited budget.
• However, she believes the team's ability to connect with the target population is a significant benefit.

Career Advice

• For Early Career Professionals: Vinaya recommends new graduates invest five years in their careers, being open to learning new skills and flexible in their work approach.
• For Mid-Career Professionals: She acknowledges that some individuals may need to decelerate their careers at a certain point due to life circumstances. However, Vinaya emphasizes the possibility of re-entering the workforce or even transitioning to a new field altogether.
• After 10 years of experience, Vinaya suggests that professionals consider how they can "give back" to their field or community.

Overall

• Vinaya's career path demonstrates the value of flexibility and lifelong learning.
• Her experiences highlight the opportunities for women in both the IT sector and the social sector.

Vinaya has close to 24 years of varied experience in the IT services industry, and more recently in the social sector. She started her career with Infosys, where she spent a decade amassing technical knowledge and honing her management and customer relationship skills. During her stint in Infosys, she got the opportunity to work in different geographical cultures spanning America, Europe & Asia. During the phase of motherhood, she shifted from the hectic corporate job to founding her own startup, a design services company for training and development of multimedia solutions. She was selected for Goldman Sachs-ISB sponsored – “10000 World Women Entrepreneurs Management Program” in 2011.

Through a common network, she found an opportunity to get associated in the social sector. At Dhwani Foundation, Vinaya engages with NGOs to help them adopt technology platforms to smoothen their operations. Her motto in life has been to keep an open mind and contribute towards any opportunity that comes along. This attitude has helped her have a very diverse career in her 2+ decades of professional life and hence has not had a boring moment so far !

Handles:

Linked in:linkedin.com/in/vinaya-mallya-a30109a

EMail: kvnyak@hotmail.com

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Today, my guest is Amita Ardha, an enterprise architect who has been focusing on sustainable development solutions.

In this conversation;

• Amita started her career in engineering and transitioned to IT due to her interest in the "why" behind

the coding.

• She realized the importance of understanding the business world and pursued an MBA with a focus on

IT and software engineering.

• She eventually became a certified Enterprise Architect but took a break to focus on personal goals and

explore sustainability.

• This entrepreneurial experience involving a reuse studio helped her develop a broader understanding of

connecting business with sustainability.

• Currently, Amita works as a part-time Enterprise Architect and is involved in sustainability initiatives.

Being a Woman in Tech

• Amita acknowledges the challenges women face in tech but emphasizes focusing on the work and

enjoying the journey.

• She advises against attributing missed opportunities solely to gender and highlights the importance of

recognizing individual journeys.

• Amita encourages women to take breaks without guilt and to keep striving towards their goals.

Sustainability in Computing

• Amita views sustainability as a journey from finite to infinite resourcefulness.
• Focus on Achievable Goals and Resource Efficiency
• Amita emphasizes using resources efficiently and highlights cloud computing as an example of improved

resource utilization.

• She shares an example of identifying hygiene issues faced by sanitation workers and the potential

benefit of providing antifungal cream.

• She recommends offering online sessions like storytelling or technology workshops to contribute

remotely.

You can see some of her work at https://www.instagram.com/bharatireusestudio/

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Every year, the Software People Stories dedicates the month of March to women guests, to call out their contributions and highlight some women’s perspectives.

Today, I am very happy to introduce our guest, Krishna Kumari, who is also a podcaster, hosting the New Indian Woman podcast.

In this conversation, Krishna talks about:

• Her first association with computers during her engineering student days and her first job
• Reflecting on the novelty and curiosity around computers and software that generated an attraction to this sector
• Being a campus hire at an IT organization and moving across various roles over the next 22 years
• Leaving the software industry and volunteering at various NGOs for about 7 years
• Getting back to IT handling the applications portfolio at a large university
• How programming languages were associated with an invisible class system among the developers with developers wanting to work only on specific languages
• Getting an opportunity to talk to one of her uber-bosses and complaining about not getting an opportunity to work on a language of her choice and how he could make a difference
• How she kept learning new technologies as they evolved, and as she moved from domain to domain
• Her tips on cross leveraging one’s experience when moving from one domain to another
• How it is important to understand the user experience and design for that
• Seeking inputs from others as feedback, one gets opportunities to discover one’s strengths
• How it is important to nurture the quality of transparency to gain the trust of team members and how she discloses her strength areas
• How a mentor was instrumental in guiding her in switching to the social sector, by making her think what her contribution to the social sector could be
• Finding a niche to contribute, by bringing her experience in process management in the corporate sector, to the social sector
• How forming genuine relationships with people is very important
• She shares the reason for starting the New Indian Woman podcast, to share experience and perspectives with more women
• Her career tips: the importance of the qualities that a person brings to the table

Listen on!

More about Krishna Kumari:

I am Krishna and I currently live in Bangalore.​

I have been interested in planning, productivity and time management related topics, right from my middle school.​

Over the years, this expanded to a journey of continuous improvement and learning from others and examining of how I can live my life in a better way. Better for myself and for the people I care.​

These learnings have helped me a lot, no doubt. I have been looking for ways to share the same with the larger community of people around me and learn more and more. And that is the genesis of this blog 'New Indian Woman' and many more things to come…​

And if you are wanting to know more about my background. I come from a small town called Alleppey(now Alappuzha, famous for its backwaters), in Kerala. My mother tongue is Tamil. On the academic front, I have done Engineering in Computer Science and then worked in the new IT industry. I started as a software developer, worked many roles in a leading IT organization. When I was performing the role of General Manager, I decided to leave the corporate world and explore.

This led me to start volunteering for different causes . During this period, I have

• been a volunteer with NGOs and citizen groups involved in a range of activities from structuring and managing a variety of programs, translating ideas to project opportunities, interacting with partner organisations to facilitate IT implementation, creating visibility of organization's operations towards stakeholder agencies and so on.
• been a visiting faculty for Undergraduate students at a University for Data Management course .
• engaged at my children’s school for multiple activities including implementation of new library software using open source tools
• helped with teaching a Sewing course for Undergraduates at a University as part of their Creative Expressions programme
• launched my own podcast(yes, available in this site)
• pursued my hobbies - the ever common reading and of course, you guessed it right, sewing!​

My learnings come from the 2 decades in the IT world (after a simple small town upbringing), my current explorations and interactions with a wide variety of people from all backgrounds . My learning also comes from being a mother to a young adult daughter and teenage son.

Get in touch

Website : http://thenewindianwoman.com

Facebook : http://facebook.com/newindianwoman

Email : krishna@thenewindianwoman.com

Twitter : https://twitter.com/thenewindianwo1

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thenewindianwoman

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Happy Women's Day!

This whole month we have all women's special podcast.

Today, Malini Gowrishankar , Founder and CEO of F5escapes is in conversation with Chitra sharing her experiences as below

• Describes herself as a nerdy 1st bencher with interest in music poetry, screen tested with Doordarshan

• Support role resolving backend issues, strong fundamentals in delivering high quality software

• the disconnect between developers v/s requirements and realizing business value, software products v/s services

• An understanding of the "why" as key to building good software

• Building software is NOT a transaction, empowering people to encourage curiosity

• A process of keeping many identities, thriving and not just surviving

• Voice acting, scripting and weekend hobbies becoming her career

• Starting f5 travels post the Nirbhaya incident to create an impact

• A trip to Sikkim to prove some perceptions otherwise and travel as a transformation

• create feeling of safety through establishing local connections and traveling in groups, solo women travel

8 years in IT as a techie / project manager, 10+ years in media as voice-over/dubbing artist and creative writer, 8+ years in travel as Founder/CEO of F5 Escapes. Passionate about women empowerment, entrepreneurship and sustainable travel. Lover of rains, books, music, nature, performing arts, animals and children. In her free time, she also trains people in voice-overs; mentors young professionals and women wanting to return to the workplace.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/malini-gowrishankar-40210515/

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In second part of this episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Bharath Kumar who is a Marketeer from a Technologist, Head Of Marketing & Cx - Zoho Creator and he’s a Marketing and Content Specialist.

• Believing the part of Authentic marketing
• Creating a Product first and playing secondary to product but how do you differentiate the values of Zoho organization along with product features
• Unlearning and becoming second fiddle to the Product
• Changing the model to inbound focus from an outbound
• Guiding through the vision instead of power
• Bharath also shares how he believes that one has to understand their own vision
• Bharath further

Bharath considers himself as an entrepreneurial marketeer. Bharath has 14+ years of professional work experience that helped him develop expertise in the areas of Lead Generation, Marketing communications, Brand management, Marketing strategy & Content marketing.

Bharath is the marketing head for Zoho Creators for the last 5 years. Prior to that, Bharath was in the product marketing team for Ramco system and TinyOwl. He was the head of communication of Tamil Nadu Circle for Airtel where he was responsible for the content delivery and creating the brand promise for Airtel. Bharath was a software engineering in Infosys for 3 years.

Bharath graduated from College of Engineering Guindy in Mining Engineering and Great Lakes Institute of management.

Bharath can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/bharathkumarb-marketer/

You can listen to the Part1 of the podcast below

https://pm-powerconsulting.com/blog/creating-your-great-day-every-day-with-bharath-kumar/

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In this special episode, as part of our book launch "A Practitioner's guide to Enterprise Agility", we had a panel discussion on Enterprise agility. As part of this panel Sivaguru was in conversation with 3 eminent guest from IT industry, Ramkumar Venkatesan, CTO Cashfree payments, Vandana Malaiya, Partner Semcostyle and S Gopalan, MD Global automation Pvt Ltd.

Listen to this episode to know what were the views on enterprise agility of our guests .

Hope you enjoy the episode!



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In today's special episode we have our authors in conversation with our host Chitra. They share their experiences and thoughts with Chitra about the story behind this book. Here is what Chitra has to say about this podcast.

The five tantras of enterprise agility which emerged from real coaching, business and consulting experiences of PM Power Consulting authored by Paramu Kurumathur only meant a sequel was a matter of time.

So when co-author and former colleague of mine Sivaguru asked if I be the host for a podcast on the new book,

I jumped at the chance.

In this conversation, the three co-authors of a practitioner's guide to enterprise agility, J.Veeraraaghavan, Paramu and Sivaguru shared their experiences around the process of creating this piece of work and what embodies its essence, working with their individual styles and ideas especially for which PM Power is a powerhouse and how it eventually all came together.

Apparently, a trio of authors makes for the perfect book recipe. They tell listeners not only about what the practitioner's guide is but also how it enables enterprises on their agility path practically with converting philosophies of the five tantras using tried and tested tools and practices backed by over 15 years of PM Power experience. Listen to this episode of the Software People's Stories podcast.

Listen on...

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In the second part of the conversation with my friend Prema Dhas Mohunraj - aka Prem, Automotive Engineer, Product Leader in the Automotive Space, Electrobit(EB), we touched upon his career and reflections, including:

• Shares his decisions and the outcomes of moving roles, company and location
• Talks about family and decisions on moving career
• Prem shares his learnings on being part of a legal case while dealing with a software quality issue
• Sharing his views on the role definition and switching his avatars based
• Riding the high on completing a software code
• Working between different meetings
• Shares his learnings and

Premadhas started his career with Robert Bosch and moved to Wipro where he led several roles for 14+ years. His most recent role was being the Quality Lead/Project Manager for a client. Premadhas moved to Electrobit (EB) as an automotive engineer and then to lead their quality practices and now in Product lead role.

Premadhas is currently in the Detroit Metropolitan Area.

Premadhas did his engineering in REC (now NIT) Trichy in Electronics and Communication Engineering.

Premadhas can be connected at linkedin.com/in/premadhas

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In the first part of conversation with my friend Prema Dhas Mohunraj - aka Prem, Automotive Engineer, Product Leader in the Automotive Space, Electrobit(EB), we touched upon his career and reflections, including:

• Shortest stint in Robert Bosch for 2 years and talks about today’s trend of people moving out in less than 2 months
• Been an automotive engineer for the better part of his career and worked in different parts of business with . Premadhas jokes that he was getting only one firm to get a pay check but very different clients and even mail ids
• Shares his view of the automotive industry - number of chips in a car to number of people who used to work in the software side during the entire transformation
• Proliferation of companies coming in the space - shortened the cycle of development - want to keep up with technology and mimicking the cellphone designs
• Talks about the connected cars and keeps the conversation on what’s happening on the road in a real-time basis.
• Shares the need to adapt in 2-3 year period to new roles (within or outside the firm) to ensure that we continue to learn from our ecosystem
• Premadhas talks about mentoring and how that support has helped him identify newer roles that he has just joined in as a Product Lead in Electrobit
• Prem shares some of his personal decisions and shares his change from being a manager to an individual contributor and it brought him to a new city to write C++ code

Premadhas started his career with Robert Bosch and moved to Wipro where he led several roles for 14+ years. His most recent role was being the Quality Lead/Project Manager for a client. Premadhas moved to Electrobit (EB) as an automotive engineer and then to lead their quality practices and now in Product lead role.

Premadhas is currently in the Detroit Metropolitan Area.

Premadhas did his engineering in REC (now NIT) Trichy in Electronics and Communication Engineering.

Premadhas can be connected at linkedin.com/in/premadhas

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In this conversation with my colleague Srinivasan Sundararajan - aka Srini, we touched upon many topics related to personal finance as well as non-financial planning, including:

• His passion for data and analytics
• Understanding that behavior matters as much or more than data and how his own approach to analytics has evolved over time
• The year end being a logical time window to reflect and plan
• Start your reflection and planning from self
• Picking the vital few aspects that need to be addressed and focusing measurements and analysis on that
• His reflection on the past year on a personal level
• While he may not be very excited about planning quarter in quarter, using a quarter as a window to review financial investments , but shorter windows based on what the goals are
• Aspects one should be clear about, both when planning and reflecting on the progress on plans
• Having discretionary and non-discretionary aspects in the goals and aspirations
• The importance of making a public commitment or having an accountability buddy
• How to use four words of Intrinsic / extrinsic, need/want driven to test motivation

The link to the blog post referred to by Srini on the four words related to motivation: https://pm-powerconsulting.com/blog/4-words-test-motivational-level/

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In this conversation, my colleague Mohan Ram shares how

• His reflection and planning cycle is not necessarily synchronized with the calendar year
• His preference to not think too far ahead in the future, but focus on the next 3 months
• How the thought process is always on in the back of one’s mind
• How to avoid the analysis paralysis, but move towards action with a golden optimal rule
• His experience and learnings from two of his bosses
• The significance of journals and journaling
• His preference for more visually laid out elements in a journal and fitting a note within half a page or one page max

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As we approach the end of a calendar year, many of us have the practice of looking back on the year that was, reflecting on the highs and lows of the year - and shape our dreams and aspirations for the coming year.

At Software People Stories, we are running a special series of conversations with people on their own approaches as well as practices and stories of how their thinking has changed over the years.

Today, it is a conversation between the two co-hosts of the podcast, Chitra and Gayatri.

In this conversation, they touch upon:

• Chitra’s practice of annual year end reflection
• Gayatri’s professional achievements in a large organization and being bit by the startup bug
• Having many goals at the start of the year and achieving many of them
• Planning for a college reunion that brought together over 250 persons
• Some ideas that did not see as much progress as desired
• Chitra shares her entrepreneurial journey in the learning space
• The strength of the co-founders supporting each other through tough times
• A new role in a new sector that she has recently taken up
• Her delving into authorship
• Their experiences and some practices as coaches and how that has influenced their ways of working
• The significance of time management and also ‘just be’ing.. And not doing anything
• What Chitra would like to build up as a practice in the coming year
• Managing your energy more than time
• Manage FOMO, by sifting through the barrage of information overload and pick the ones most relevant for you and how to get started
• The importance of having safe spaces to help explore problem spaces
• Their ideas for the coming year, that they want to work on
• Some of the techniques they talked about include: Atomic habits and pomodoro technique

Listen on, to be inspired.

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As we approach the end of a calendar year, many of us have the practice of looking back on the year that was, reflecting on the highs and lows of the year - and shape our dreams and aspirations for the coming year.

At Software People Stories, we are running a special series of conversations with people on their own approaches as well as practices and stories of how their thinking has changed over the years.

Today, my guest is Paramu Kurumathur, a colleague and a published serial author.

He talks about

• Two types of books he writes
• How he motivates himself to make progress, even when there is no deadline
• How he plans and prioritizes time across projects
• The significance of a calendar
• His thoughts on year end reflections and analogies from astronomy
• And the repeating cycles in calendars and their relevance
• The usefulness of year end reflections and new year resolutions

You can reach him on

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paramu-kurumathur-01489a6/

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As we approach the end of a calendar year, many of us have the practice of looking back on the year that was, reflecting on the highs and lows of the year - and shape our dreams and aspirations for the coming year.

At Software People Stories, we are running a special series of conversations with people on their own approaches as well as practices and stories of how their thinking has changed over the years.

Today, I am in conversation with S Gopalan, my colleague from PM Power and an industry veteran. He prefers to be called Gopal.

In this conversation he shares

• That reflections are good
• How his own perspective on annual cycles of appraisal [and feedback] have changed over time
• That he is not fond of setting goals such as losing weight within a fixed timeline, as effective, but rather prefers to take up things that would help make changes in his daily routines
• How taking micro goals per day, could possibly be accumulated and sometimes ‘binge’ completed
• The benefit of making commitments public
• How his approaches are different when reflecting on two different contexts that he is actively associated with: a loosely structured team and a more structured team with tight timelines
• What we, as coaches, need to think about differently - about tools to help us deliver more impactful engagements
• The value of reflections - to make one feel more secure and confident of the future
• You should have a plan, but be open to modifying that to adapt dynamically

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As we approach the end of a calendar year, many of us have the practice of looking back on the year that was, reflecting on the highs and lows of the year - and shape our dreams and aspirations for the coming year.

At Software People Stories, we are running a special series of conversations with people on their own approaches as well as practices and stories of how their thinking has changed over the years.

Today, I am in conversation with Anantha Natarajan, my colleague from PM Power and an accomplished coach. He prefers to be called Anand.

In this conversation he shares

• How his approach has evolved over the years, influenced by the context and environment he grew up in and moving to a larger city for studies and on to professional life
• A question he was asked by one of his mentors, about 25 years ago, about his aspirations for the future
• His practice of writing things down in his dream book
• A model that has evolved and worked for him, that he calls i-fi; moving from the present I, to the future I
• The importance of the role of a mentor
• Whether discipline is essential for these resolutions
• How considering some responsibilities as chores, obligations or blessings changes ones complete perspective
• The high level overview of his i-fi model
• About improving the quality of the inner mirror
• The relevance of choosing timelines for future plans

For more details on the i-fi model, check out Anand’s blog post.

Accessible at: https://pm-powerconsulting.com/blog/i-fi-a-model-for-designing-your-future-and-personal-change/

I hope you got some ideas to help you reflect and plan for the coming year.

If some other practices have worked for you - or possibly not worked for you, would you like to share your story?

Reach us on podcasts@pm-powerconsulting.com and please do share with your networks to spread the word.

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In this episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Bharath Kumar who is a Marketeer from a Technologist, Head Of Marketing & Cx - Zoho Creator and he’s a Marketing and Content Specialist.

In his career spanning over two decades, he shares very interesting stories –

• Started his career in Infosys as a software engineer
• Found that his interests was in organizing events, quizzes and packaging and presenting the ideas were his strengths
• During his career as a mainframe engineer, Bharath found that he was the most approachable and decided to approach a career in marketing
• He talks about creating every day a great day and understanding what according to him made him feel great
• Shares his stories on what led him to choose marketing in MBA
• Bharath shares his dichotomy of experience in Madura Micro Finance Ltd
• Endearing stories on being a communication - content management and head of circle communication for airtel
• Bharath shares some of the data orientation and how to wear the data hat and keep visibility of the brand
• Identifying the patterns of data using clarity and ethical values.
• Bharath also shares how he always has the analytical mind and the eye for color/ patterns at the same time. In fact Bharath recommends that all of us need to keep this model

Bharath considers himself as an entrepreneurial marketeer. Bharath has 14+ years of professional work experience that helped him develop expertise in the areas of Lead Generation, Marketing communications, Brand management, Marketing strategy & Content marketing.

Bharath is the marketing head for Zoho Creators for the last 5 years. Prior to that, Bharath was in the product marketing team for Ramco system and TinyOwl. He was the head of communication of Tamil Nadu Circle for Airtel where he was responsible for the content delivery and creating the brand promise for Airtel. Bharath was a software engineering in Infosys for 3 years.

Bharath graduated from College of Engineering Guindy in Mining Engineering and Great Lakes Institute of management.

Bharath can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/bharathkumarb-marketer/

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In this episode, I asked Tom Pierce, the president and founder of Integrated Information Systems (I2S) responds to my question on how the ‘integrated’ in his company name is internalized by his clients. He responded to that question and shared many more interesting thoughts in this episode. He shared:

• How their weekly 5 hour workshops for clients, to get vibrant conversations going
• How he uses music in some of his interactions
• His belief in segmentation and appropriate responses, rather than fragmentation
• His experience with music, when practicing first base alone and getting the big picture when the full team came together
• His metaphor from baseball, on being present and aware of the other players and take decisions
• Why preparation and practice trumps planning alone
• How Covid had a negative impact on collaboration
• About drawing from how children learn music to make software teams more effective
• How the artistry of code can be better when a team member ‘listens’ to the rest of the team members
• How children are very perceptive, while AI [alexa] is not
• His career tips for those considering a career in IT and those considering a switch mid-career, from non-tech to tech roles
• He also draws from his experience of holding his first grand child in his hands the first time.. Beautiful!, in responding to a question of patience and a sense of urgency or rushing through life
• How he finds time for being interested and engaged in multiple activities



Tom Pierce is the president and founder of Integrated Information Systems (I2S) of Louisville, Kentucky. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Wake Forest University (1981) and a Master’s in Divinity (1993) from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

After serving as an officer in the US Army, Tom has been immersed in the design and support of manufacturing software, as well as in the data-driven analysis of business and financial systems, primarily in large manufacturing facilities within the Aerospace Defense sector.

A self-described MRP philosopher and ERP contrarian, Tom is a passionate advocate of simple approaches to complex problems. As a stubbornly resolute moderate, his company seeks to promote intelligent integrity by avoiding the opposing traps of overly simplistic naivety and overly complicated sophistication.

For roughly four decades, Tom has focused his career and his company on the pursuit of trustworthy clarity and practical understanding of information, which is the light of all human pursuits.

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In this episode, Tom Pierce, the president and founder of Integrated Information Systems (I2S), shares:

• Many in his family had been in military service
• In his first assignment, being assigned to the analysis team because he has a background in math and computers
• Grabbing an opportunity to use a computer that was unused
• Doing some simulation modeling solutions
• Leaving the army in good terms and going back to school
• Working for a defense contractor and then starting his own defense contracting firm
• Leveraging his experience in the military to solve civilian problems
• Some generational differences in the approach to merge technology and processes
• His experience of the rules and hierarchical models of working in the military, where, on the lighter side, ‘you cannot do anything without breaking some rule’
• Some examples of streaks of entrepreneurship that ran in his family
• The last straw that pushed him into entrepreneurship: a sense of frustration about how businesses were run and having his own values and ideas of how to run a company
• Not compromising on the value of working with end users
• How tech fluency is more important than tech savviness

Tom Pierce is the president and founder of Integrated Information Systems (I2S) of Louisville, Kentucky. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Wake Forest University (1981) and a Master’s in Divinity (1993) from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

After serving as an officer in the US Army, Tom has been immersed in the design and support of manufacturing software, as well as in the data-driven analysis of business and financial systems, primarily in large manufacturing facilities within the Aerospace Defense sector.

A self-described MRP philosopher and ERP contrarian, Tom is a passionate advocate of simple approaches to complex problems. As a stubbornly resolute moderate, his company seeks to promote intelligent integrity by avoiding the opposing traps of overly simplistic naivety and overly complicated sophistication.

For roughly four decades, Tom has focused his career and his company on the pursuit of trustworthy clarity and practical understanding of information, which is the light of all human pursuits

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I continue my conversation with Jeremy Snyder, the founder and CEO of FireTail.io, an end-to-end API security startup. Towards the end of the first part, I asked Jerermy ‘how a developer should think, when using APIS - with so many moving parts - from security and performance aspects’

He answers that and continues to share his story relating to:

• The extensive experience his co-founder has with API based architectures and implementations
• How APIs can implement business functions or offer specific extracts of data held in applications
• First, understanding how APIs could be compromised, to pick the scope for what their company firetail should be addressing
• How many breaches are related to authentication and authorization
• Why a zero-trust approach is very critical and the good practice of sharing only minimum data that needs to be shared
• The importance of central logging
• How he manages to get a good night’s sleep, while playing a very crucial role in the chain of enterprise security in an API based solution
• His personal practices to handle pressure at work and stay calm
• The story behind naming their company firetail
• How he developed an interest in learning many languages
• Jeremy asked me about my linguistic interests
• His career tips

Social media: https://twitter.com/halffinn , https://www.linkedin.com/company/77663520 ,https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremysnyder/

Jeremy is the founder and CEO of FireTail.io, an end-to-end API security startup. Prior to FireTail, Jeremy worked in M&A at Rapid7, a global cyber leader, where he worked on the acquisitions of 3 companies during the pandemic. Jeremy previously led sales at DivvyCloud, one of the earliest cloud security posture management companies, and also led AWS sales in southeast Asia. Jeremy started his career with 13 years in cyber and IT operations. Jeremy has an MBA from Mason, a BA in computational linguistics from UNC, and has completed additional studies in Finland at Aalto University. Jeremy speaks 5 languages and has lived in 5 countries. Jeremy was once kicked off a train in central Sweden, and another time went several days without seeing another human, but did see lots of reindeer.

Link to my podcast:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ask-a-ciso/id1596056884

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In this conversation, Jeremy Snyder, the founder and CEO of FireTail.io, an end-to-end API security startup, shares his professional journey and perspectives. Specifically,

• How he got into IT in the late 90s, when technology was coming into businesses
• Early experience in Linux, VAX and Unix and implementing solutions for a translation agency
• Being responsible to evaluate, implement and integrate with various systems and thereby increasing the empathy for users and their situations
• Moving to work with one of the solution providers and taking up tech support roles and trying his hand at software development
• Getting into and liking the infrastructure related roles
• His experience, as an IT infrastructure professional, of working with software developers
• The ‘healthy’ struggle between the two roles and how IT teams would specify the environments to develop and deploy into
• IT teams wanting to conserve resources and giving very limited capacities for developers
• Days when 98% availability was taken as acceptable and when crashes occurred, devs and IT teams would work overtime to find fault with the other team
• Starting with Amazon AWS in 2010 when cloud computing was just evolving
• Understanding the power of virtualized environments and why that needs a different way of thinking about data centers, getting away from the server-hugger mentality
• The need for users to develop trust in the cloud model of working
• The experience with gaining customer confidence in the cloud model in terms of stability, security etc
• The harder aspect of addressing cultural issues triggered by fear of losing jobs by IT personnel
• Taking up other roles in smaller companies and understanding the security and vulnerability risks that companies could get exposed to
• Perimeter controls, endpoint protection, logging and monitoring etc
• From replicating data center structures to auto scaling infrastructure using containers and serverless architectures
• These resulting in more and more API based architectures

Social media: https://twitter.com/halffinn

https://www.linkedin.com/company/77663520

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremysnyder/

Jeremy is the founder and CEO of FireTail.io, an end-to-end API security startup. Prior to FireTail, Jeremy worked in M&A at Rapid7, a global cyber leader, where he worked on the acquisitions of 3 companies during the pandemic. Jeremy previously led sales at DivvyCloud, one of the earliest cloud security posture management companies, and also led AWS sales in southeast Asia. Jeremy started his career with 13 years in cyber and IT operations. Jeremy has an MBA from Mason, a BA in computational linguistics from UNC, and has completed additional studies in Finland at Aalto University. Jeremy speaks 5 languages and has lived in 5 countries. Jeremy was once kicked off a train in central Sweden, and another time went several days without seeing another human, but did see lots of reindeer.

• Link to my podcast:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ask-a-ciso/id1596056884

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In this episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Nanthakumar Arumugam who is a Technologist, Delivery Lead at ThoughtWorks and he’s a Quality Engineer and Financial Expert.

In his career spanning over two decades, he shares very interesting stories –

• Nantha started his career as an instrumentation engineer within Polyester firm. His interest gravitated towards the PLC programming and that led him to join the software engineering full time
• Nantha joined Ready Test Go as a Quality engineer where he got his skill in the world of startup and certification world
• Nantha shares how the waterfall way of working had provided different domains and worked in 20 different programs in a very short period of time
• He also covers how he and his team ramped up on the domain and program rapidly
• Automation as a practice he gravitated to reduce the manual regression suite
• Nantha talks about the background on how Selenium tool came in as an antidote to the mercury tools (winrunner / loadrunner)
• Nantha shares his expertise on the passage of Automation CoE and a separate team
• Nantha talks about several hats he has worn in ThoughtWorks and shares the changes on how business interactions within Technology
• He further shares the distance that’s reduced between business leads and access to leads to identify solution options
• Nantha talks about the availability of tools that has made the business outcomes come out as soon as possible
• Nantha shares some of the key wisdom on how one has to build expertise in different facets of experience

Nantha is the delivery lead and project manager in ThoughtWorks. He has been working with ThoughtWorks for a decade. He has played several roles including Quality Analyst, Quality Lead, Architect and Chennai Chapter lead prior to taking the current role. Nantha has done his PG in BITS Pilani and B.E. in University of Madras

Nanthakumar can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/nanthakumara/

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In this episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Saikat Chakrabarty who is a Technologist, Director, Engineering at Mihup and he’s a AI/ML and Computer Vision Enthusiast.

In his career spanning over a decade, he has been a Telecom engineer, prompt engineering, Interaction designer and conversational AI.

• Saikat is working in the pioneering world of building AI tools that map the man machine and the person
• He’s working in the contact center engineering by understanding the questions and asks from our customers
• Saikat started his career in creating software for LTE within 4G Telecom providers and says that he has not looked back from there
• Saikat’s team in Mihup creates the analysis of the several thousand conversations between the customer and contact center and understand the sentiment of the user
• Listen to the conversation on how the vernacular language support is being created in the AI platform to build accuracy
• Understand that initial days you have to choose the right place to work and always stay invested in oneself
• Saikat also talks about his mantra of “Don't choose an easy path and continue to learn”
• Saikat talks about his interests in Medical and Computer science and Brain networks are working. Saikat believes that the future bet is lying on medical access across the globe
• Saikat says that software changes in months not years - you have to keep yourself updated daily and that’s the only way to stay relevant
• He’s also deep believer of the growth of the technology in Tier 3 cities within India given the organizations changing to remote first or Hybrid

Saikat has been instrumental in Mihup's success as one of the leading Conversational AI companies in India. He leads the entire tech organisation at Mihup, with a team of almost 20 people working under him, ranging from Devops to MLEs, overseeing the end to end development and shipping of the Mihup products.

Saikat Chakrabarty is a dynamic leader and Senior Engineering Manager at Mihup, a pioneering conversational AI platform founded in 2016. Mihup's revolutionary approach empowers individuals to seamlessly interact with the digital world while prioritizing inclusivity and accessibility, regardless of language, accent, or dialect.

Technical Leadership:

At Mihup, Saikat has successfully managed and mentored cross-functional teams in machine learning, R&D, product development and DevOps. His expertise in managing the development of Mihup's conversational AI products has positioned him as a trusted leader in the industry. With a deep understanding of a wide range of technologies, including Java (Spring Boot), NodeJs, Golang, Angular, Python, RabbitMQ, PostgreSQL, Redis, Kubernetes, and more, Saikat has played a pivotal role in building highly scalable cloud microservices and optimizing premise-based applications.

Diverse Experience:

Saikat's wealth of experience extends beyond his role at Mihup. He has previously worked with renowned companies like Lexmark and Polaris Network Inc., where he honed his skills and passion for AI/ML and computer vision. His contributions to these cutting-edge fields have resulted in 2 patents and 6 paper publications, consolidating his exceptional knowledge and expertise.

Recognition and Awards:

Saikat's exceptional contributions and dedication to his craft have earned him notable accolades throughout his career. Notably, he was awarded the prestigious Digital Transformation Award at Lexmark Focus-2-Future, alongside the Manager Appreciation Award and several other commendations. At Mihup, he has regularly been the recipient of special rewards for his undying passion and dedication towards delivering products that customers love to use.

Saikat can be contacted at Saikat Chakrabarty:

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In this episode, I continue my conversation with Presenjit Sarkar, who is a Technologist, Innovator, Disruptor - and distinguished engineer with Rubrik inc.

In his career spanning over 25 years, he has been a researcher, inventor, startup founder among other key roles he has played.

I asked Prasenjit, if an entrepreneur should take outside help in building teams and people..

The answer to that question and a lot more in the second part of the conversation.

Today, he talks about:

• Taking professional support to build a psychological profile of a new hire
• The importance of reaching out to references and understand any challenges the candidates faced
• How he finds time to manage multiple things and also stay current on technology, competition etc
• Why one should not try to do everything oneself, particularly the founders, rather focus on the core strengths
• His thoughts on data protection and data quality
• Some career tips for roles related to data science

I asked Prasenjit in building teams and people, if an entrepreneur should take outside help..

The answer to that question and a lot more in the second part of the conversation.

Stay tuned in for the next episode.

Prasenjit Sarkar is a Distinguished Engineer at Rubrik responsible for the architecture and development of relational, NoSQL, and Big Data backup and recovery products. He has previously led initiatives to formulate product strategy, deliver industry-leading backup and recovery features, and superior performance at scales of thousands of databases.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/psarkar24/

On X - @psarkar24

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In this episode, Sivaguru is in conversation with Presenjit Sarkar, who is a Technologist, Innovator, Disruptor - and distinguished engineer with Rubrik inc.

In his career spanning over 25 years, he has been a researcher, inventor, startup founder among other key roles he has played.

Today, he talks about:

• His background, growing up years in India
• Doing his PhD and moving to corporate research, as he is more of a hands on person
• After about 15 years with IBM, as a successful research scientist, left to start a company
• Getting enterprise customers and then getting acquired by another company
• Having experience in large, small companies, startups, connected to academia
• Working in storage, big data management, backup and recovery space
• Moving from data protection to data security
• The experience of shifting from academics to corporate
• How research focuses on thought leadership, while the priority in corporate is about market leadership
• The pleasures and pains of founding a startup
• The feelings when one’s startup is acquired by someone else
• Aspects of chemistry and work styles that play out in acquisitions
• The need to be pragmatic, accept decisions, adjust and move ahead
• Tips to manage one’s personal stresses and some techniques that have worked for him, particularly during transitions
• His tips for motivating people, and sharing your founder’s vision and excitement with the team that joins you
• Managing people, their aspirations and expectation, ambitions - is more difficult to manage

The answer to that question and a lot more in the second part of the conversation.

Stay tuned in for the next episode.

Prasenjit Sarkar is a Distinguished Engineer at Rubrik responsible for the architecture and development of relational, NoSQL, and Big Data backup and recovery products. He has previously led initiatives to formulate product strategy, deliver industry-leading backup and recovery features, and superior performance at scales of thousands of databases.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/psarkar24/

On X - @psarkar24

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In this episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman has the conversation with Kamala Srinivasan who is a Technologist, Founder & CEO, Upahara, and women in tech influencer.

In her career spanning over 25 years, she has been a STEM engineer, fintech developer, women in tech influencer and startup founder among other key roles she has played.

• Kamala grew up in a home with professors and engineers she recalls how having a clean room with AC blasting made her fascinated with the technology industry
• Kamala shares her experiences of introducing reverse mentoring in India to enable senior people understand the pulse of the young people
• Started her career in the early 90s in the technology industry and worked in the financial sector
• Shares her decision making nugget to create a calculated move with the family onboard as well as a clear time
• Kamala shares that one needs to take care of self be it in your physical and mental state
• Kamala talks about her experience in fintech companies in India and US and how she found very less women in her age group. This made her take a call in the non-profit organization
• Kamala talks about creating ethically viable future and gives examples for that
• Kamala shares how her company is an app in your mobile phone to provide the application to connect people in need with people who would like to give. Her firm Upahara.com provides that service and she wants to share more about the firm in the future
• She shares some of the her book recommendation and philosophies that has helped her ground
• Kamala shares tips on networking that listeners can help stay connected and learning from others

A technologist and an exec coach with more than 20 years of experience in both nonprofit organizations and technology industries. Kamala’s broad areas of expertise include global technology product delivery and operations, go-to-market strategy, digital transformation, and SAAS in Fintech, retail, legal, and media.

Kamala’s expertise in non-profit and philanthropic fields, and in information technology has led her to seek a solution using emerging technology to create a robust platform that serves the needs of both donors and charitable organizations: a personalized, curated, discovery-based interface, connecting organizations and donors without extensive effort on both sides, like Fintech investment management products.

www.linkedin.com/in/kamalasrinivasan/

https://twitter.com/Kamalasrini

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In this episode, my co-host Gayatri continues her conversation with Dan Balcauski, founder and chief pricing officer at product tranquility, a company that helps high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products

Gayatri asked him what challenges he faced when he became a consultant

Dan shares

• How he did a solo backpacking around the world and the transformational experiences he got
• How he had to talk himself away from self-talk that would shoot any ideas for entrepreneurship
• Wanting to explore a ‘brain for hire’ model, to see if he could sell his expertise
• Validating the niche to be in - of SaaS pricing advisory
• Why he did not consider a model of being a fractional product manager role, as a consultant
• What some of the inflexion points in his career have been
• How he has been able to support global clients, remotely
• His advice for young professionals who want to take up product management as a career

Dan Balcauski, the founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, dispels B2B SaaS Pricing Illusions.

Dan is an expert in helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. He has 15 years of experience managing multiple products throughout their life cycles, from start-ups to publicly traded multinationals. A fun fact about him: before founding the company, he took a sabbatical and completed a solo, round-the-world expedition to 21 countries.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/

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In this episode, my co-host Gayatri is in conversation with Dan Balcauski, founder and chief pricing officer at product tranquility, a company that helps high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products

In this conversation he talks about

• His student days in 1999, the peak dotcom era
• Got a job in Austin, Texas
• Getting into engineering manager role, which included envisioning product roadmaps
• Developing an interest in articulating value of solutions
• Signing up for an MBA and doing work on pricing
• Seeing some of the mistakes made by others during mergers and acquisitions
• Setting up his company about 4 years ago
• How he learns from other experts and books
• His views and recommendations on pricing and inflation
• The impact of Covid on pricing patterns in hardware and software

Listen on!

• Gayatri asked him what challenges he faced when he became a consultant

The answer to that question and a lot more interesting stuff in the next episode.

Dan Balcauski, the founder and Chief Pricing Officer at Product Tranquility, dispels B2B SaaS Pricing Illusions.

Dan is an expert in helping high-volume B2B SaaS CEOs define pricing and packaging for new products. He has 15 years of experience managing multiple products throughout their life cycles, from start-ups to publicly traded multinationals. A fun fact about him: before founding the company, he took a sabbatical and completed a solo, round-the-world expedition to 21 countries.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/balcauski/

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I continue my conversation with Shailaja Venkatasubramanyan.

In the first part, she talks about how she got into Information systems and her career spanning education and startup sectors.

How she balanced professional and personal demands and challenges.

How she never hesitated to get into new areas and was always ready to learn.

In this part of the conversation Shai talks about

• Differences in teaching approaches for young adults and children
• How she likes to learn when she is interested in a topic, and not for grades etc
• People learn best when they are invested in it
• I bring a lot of enthusiasm, by being funny and a pinch of entertainment
• Giving interesting assignments (designing assignments that I would want to do)
• Also taught a strategy class: lot of case studies, that had a lot of learning value
• One of the aspects to address in teaching is to manage short attention spans
• How teamwork is important even in academic courses
• Trends and concerns related to Evolving Knowledge management
• Her career tips

Shailaja "Shai" Venkatsubramanyan is an Associate Professor Emeritus at the School of Information Systems and Technology at San Jose State University (SJSU), where she has taught and researched for over 15 years. She has a Ph.D. in Management Information Systems (MIS) from the University of Arizona, and is a Fellow of the Salzburg Global Seminar and a Master Teacher Award recipient.

Shai is passionate about using technology and data to solve real-world problems and to make the world a better place. She has also worked as a General Manager at theCoderSchool, a franchise that teaches coding and programming skills to kids and teens, and as a Knowledge Engineer at Kanisa, a Silicon Valley start-up that developed innovative solutions for online customer service. She has expertise in MIS, data analysis, databases, online customer service, and coding education. She enjoys writing, teaching, and learning about various topics related to MIS and beyond.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shailaja-venkatsubramanyan-b47742

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I am in conversation with Shailaja Venkatasubramanyan, who is an Associate Professor Emeritus at the School of Information Systems and Technology at San Jose State University. She is also a Fellow of the Salzburg Global Seminar and a Master Teacher Award recipient.

A special note on this episode: during this conversation Shailaja talks about some very personal moments in her life that some may find disturbing or moving.

In this conversation, she talks about:

• Wanting to do science, but was influenced to take up commerce
• Encouraged by her mother, choosing to study accounting in the USA
• Taking up courses in Information systems and computer science
• Being encouraged by a professor to take up PhD in information science and getting a PhD in Management Information Systems
• Finding herself amidst engineers and how she got over the initial fears
• Taking up a teaching job at Tulane University, but leaving that after a year to take up a position with a startup in California
• How she had to do literally a cross country trip one weekend a month for one more semester
• Enjoying the work culture in a startup, till they decided to start a family
• Moving to San Jose State university after a first meeting at a Starbucks
• The hectic and intense pace of life, juggling work and family, with an incident at home that needed help from the Fire department
• Realizing that it is best to focus on one thing at a time
• Going through a tough phase personally, with family health challenges
• Facing some unfair situations and harassment at work
• Not getting an empathetic hearing from seniors
• How all these experiences made her more patient
• Wanting to spend more time with her ailing father, choosing to pause her career and focus on family
• Feeling happy about her choices as she has a sense of overall satisfaction
• How she was able to find her niche, and differentiate her strengths, particularly when among others with more technical backgrounds
• An example was about learning what she needed to know for processing satellite data

Shailaja "Shai" Venkatsubramanyan is an Associate Professor Emeritus at the School of Information Systems and Technology at San Jose State University (SJSU), where she has taught and researched for over 15 years. She has a Ph.D. in Management Information Systems (MIS) from the University of Arizona, and is a Fellow of the Salzburg Global Seminar and a Master Teacher Award recipient.

Shai is passionate about using technology and data to solve real-world problems and to make the world a better place. She has also worked as a General Manager at theCoderSchool, a franchise that teaches coding and programming skills to kids and teens, and as a Knowledge Engineer at Kanisa, a Silicon Valley start-up that developed innovative solutions for online customer service. She has expertise in MIS, data analysis, databases, online customer service, and coding education. She enjoys writing, teaching, and learning about various topics related to MIS and beyond.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shailaja-venkatsubramanyan-b47742

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This is a continuation of the conversation with Kishore Kumar.

• He talks about how he started his youtube channel and trigger for his interest on astronomy after ending his formal professional career
• He talks about how he prepares , be it scripting, location , photography, tools for animation, java scripts and creativity to produce one episode on his channel.
• His views on “Time” before and after astronomy in his life.
• If you want time for something you will find it.
• His advice or tips on career questions

Kishore Kumar is a youtuber with a unique youtube channel called @ahargana. This channel has the singular purpose of explaining the astronomical basis of the Hindu panchanga using custom-built planetary orbital simulations.

Kishore was not always a youtuber. In his previous avatar, Kishore was a software professional for over thirty five years playing a variety of roles from programmer to program manager, general manager and vice president in leading companies such as Tata Unisys, Cognizant and Siemens. He has earned a masters degree in computer science from SUNY at Buffalo, USA and a bachelors degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from NIT Trichy. A lifelong self-learner, Kishore has leveraged all his learnings from his education and professional experience in the making of @Ahargana and contrary to appearance, considers it an entirely logical continuation of his life journey.

Kishore may be reached at:

Email: kishore.kumar@counterpointconsultants.com

Youtube: youtube.com/@ahargana

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kishoresridharakumar

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Kishore Kumar is a software professional turned youtuber. He shares his career journey with Sivaguru

• Starting career as system engineer later moved to programing on mainframes
• Moving to the USA and feeling the need of studies did his Masters in computer science . Learning AI way back in 1989 to 1991. How this helped later in his career
• How his career mirrors the Indian software industry which has changed shapes over years.
• How things changed from convincing the US for jobs to how later their trust on Indians helped increase workflow.
• Moving from service to product company
• His views on handling ambiguous requirements in old and new software development cycles
• Influencing teams with his systematic approach/process
• Talks about his personal transition while transitioning professionally

Kishore Kumar is a youtuber with a unique youtube channel called @Ahargaha. This channel has the singular purpose of explaining the astronomical basis of the Hindu panchanga using custom-built planetary orbital simulations.

Kishore was not always a youtuber. In his previous avatar, Kishore was a software professional for over thirty five years playing a variety of roles from programmer to program manager, general manager and vice president in leading companies such as Tata Unisys, Cognizant and Siemens. He has earned a masters degree in computer science from SUNY at Buffalo, USA and a bachelors degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from NIT Trichy. A lifelong self-learner, Kishore has leveraged all his learnings from his education and professional experience in the making of @Ahargana and contrary to appearance, considers it an entirely logical continuation of his life journey.

Kishore may be reached at:

Email: kishore.kumar@counterpointconsultants.com

Youtube: youtube.com/@ahargana

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kishoresridharakumar

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In the second part of the podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Mathan Ramanujam, Product Influencer and Hardware Designer and Director at SiMa.ai, shares his career journey

• Mathan shares on values on why would you work in a startup - Working for today’s salary or invest in tomorrow’s growth
• He also shares matching personal believes in the firm and extracting learning from failures and failure in itself
• Talks about each person needs to think of themselves as an IC irrespective of product or service world
• Mathan shares his customer to customer philosophy - Ensuring that customer need from marketing to end product launch - Development and productisation and sales & customer desk to the customer
• Putting onself in the fray in the various roles - shares learning to put oneself in the same role
• Shares his experience in doing a verification in two different decades
• Mathan shares how his Contacts have helped in getting Contracts
• Creating your own psychological safety and how one can create that in the team with 8-15 years
• How can you build high potential people by building safe environment for failure as well as skill building
• Mathan shares how he relates to being system centric and hence able to manage community between hardware and software and thus being successful in the embedded industry

Mathan Ramanujam is the director in SIMa.ai. SiMa.ai™ is a machine learning company delivering the industry’s first software-centric purpose-built MLSoC™ platform. Mathan is a front-runner, growing high performance team ground-up! He’s is using his versatile nature and cross-functional experience to to build CoE for Infrastructure IPs for ML SoC, while Challenging himself to learn ML/AI.

Mathan has over 27 years of total industry experience with 17+ years of Team responsibilities. Mathan has taken multiple Si from concept to production, specialized in Digital design, with FPGA in the semiconductor industry. Mathan started his career in Atlaz Telecom and moved to the bay area for Arasan Chip Systems Inc.in the role of USB Device, Ethernet controller and XGMII IP development - RTL.

Mathan later moved back to India took up team leadership roles in Nokia, Texas Instruments, QualComm, Western Digital and STMicroelectronics.

Mathan Ramanujam has done his B.Tech in Bharathidasan University in Electronics and Communication Engineering.

Mathan can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathan-ramanujam-4495082/

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In the first part of the podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Mathan Ramanujam, Product Influencer and Hardware Designer and Director at SiMa.ai , shares his career journey

• Mathan started his journey as a hardware engineer at Atlaz Telecom and identified that creating
• Mathan’s growth can be traced very similar to Moore’s law - shares experiences on how tools, circuitry and semiconductor industry has exponential world and how he has adapted himself
• System on the chip or SoC is the trend that’s making hardware
• Mathan realised his skill in building relationship and ability to deliver in the operational and later strategic roles
• He shares a few stories on being a product influencer and being invited to be part of panels on SoC and verification
• Harnessing the team members strength and learning from them and ensure that the value is being always delivered
• Mathan shares stories on enabling people not different from learning to swim by giving a moving target and in the end people recognizing themselves
• Mathan talks about how he has ability to tell stories and discovered it
• Mathan shares a crumple zone as a story - End zone in view
• Story on moving from US to India and shares his experiencing of supporting his family
• Mathan shares India’s cities that are opening up for the embedded and hardware design

Mathan Ramanujam is the director in SIMa.ai. SiMa.ai™ is a machine learning company delivering the industry’s first software-centric purpose-built MLSoC™ platform. Mathan is a front-runner, growing high performance team ground-up! He’s is using his versatile nature and cross-functional experience to to build CoE for Infrastructure IPs for ML SoC, while Challenging himself to learn ML/AI.

Mathan has over 27 years of total industry experience with 17+ years of Team responsibilities. Mathan has taken multiple Si from concept to production, specialized in Digital design, with FPGA in the semiconductor industry. Mathan started his career in Atlaz Telecom and moved to the bay area for Arasan Chip Systems Inc.in the role of USB Device, Ethernet controller and XGMII IP development - RTL.

Mathan later moved back to India took up team leadership roles in Nokia, Texas Instruments, QualComm, Western Digital and STMicroelectronics.

Mathan Ramanujam has done his B.Tech in Bharathidasan University in Electronics and Communication Engineering.

Mathan can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathan-ramanujam-4495082/

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Matt Genovese Founder and CEO of Planorama Design continues his conversation with Chitra and shares his thoughts on-

• Writing effective stories or work behind defining the requirements
• Working in collaboration with the development team, discussing the challenges of an API
• Issues working with IOT projects and hardware have synchronous issues and different hardware failures
• What failures to take care of and what can be ignored
• Importance of functional verification
• Along with writing user stories, discovery and thinking is also important
• Whole process of discovering problems, asking questions, naturally brings the right people in
• How diagrams help all the stakeholders understand/Visualize the flow together
• How and when a design sprint happens
• His message to someone who is aspiring hardware or software careers

–Matt Genovese is the founder and CEO of Planorama Design, bringing over 25 years of career experience in high-tech, spanning semiconductors, hardware, IoT, IT, and software product development. He has a strong track record of planning, launching, and shipping products that work. Matt’s company, Planorama Design, is a software user experience design professional services company, designing complex, technical software that is simple and intuitive to use. Staffed with seasoned engineers and user experience (UX) designers, the company is headquartered in Austin, Texas, USA.

Matt earned a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. He began his career at Motorola-Freescale Semiconductor in product & test engineering and moved into design verification of RISC processors and SoCs. Matt has also held product leadership roles for complex and technical software development. As a result of his deep professional experience, Matt strives to “get it right the first time” starting with the software application’s user experience design, down to the hardware at the bottom of the stack. Planorama helps drive product development processes that create products that work out of the gate.

Social Media Handles:

• Way to reach Matt : https://planorama.design/podcast/
• Join AI Product Hive – an AI-focused Community for Product Managers, Designers, and Development Teams (Slack) https://aiproducthive.com/

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Matt Genovese Founder and CEO of Planorama design shares how he -

• Started learning programming as a kid on 8-bit computers
• Founding Planorama Design, software experiments
• Impact of dinner table conversations around trigonometry, tinkering and electronics projects
• Need to know “why”, diving inside the black box, having the freedom to take things apart to learn
• Working at Motorola, from fabrication to production, moving into functional design and verification for SoC for Power PC based RISC processors
• Points of view on the cost of releasing bugs
• Bringing design into software engineering, getting requirements right to build the right product
• Focus on delivering hi-fidelity requirements for software engineers to do a great job, reduce time to deliver a quality product

Matt Genovese is the founder and CEO of Planorama Design, bringing over 25 years of career experience in high-tech, spanning semiconductors, hardware, IoT, IT, and software product development. He has a strong track record of planning, launching, and shipping products that work. Matt’s company, Planorama Design, is a software user experience design professional services company, designing complex, technical software that is simple and intuitive to use. Staffed with seasoned engineers and user experience (UX) designers, the company is headquartered in Austin, Texas, USA.

Matt earned a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin. He began his career at Motorola-Freescale Semiconductor in product & test engineering and moved into design verification of RISC processors and SoCs. Matt has also held product leadership roles for complex and technical software development. As a result of his deep professional experience, Matt strives to “get it right the first time” starting with the software application’s user experience design, down to the hardware at the bottom of the stack. Planorama helps drive product development processes that create products that work out of the gate.

Social Media Handles:

• Way to reach Matt : https://planorama.design/podcast/
• LinkedIn-> https://linkedin.com/in/mgenovese
• Setup an appointment -> https://tidycal.com/matt-genovese/30-minute-meeting

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This is part 2 of the conversation celebrating the milestone of 250 episodes, with our guest host Gopalan.

Gopalan was the first guest on the show and agreed to play host and have the hosts as guests!

In part 1, he was exploring aspects related to how the hosts prepare for an episode and how different formats worked for the Software People Stories.

In this part, he continues to explore his curiosity of how the minds of podcast hosts work, in handling planned and unplanned situations.

He asks

• Some things that went wrong and what went right..
• About similarities of podcast editing and movie making
• Some difficult guests, who would veer off topic
• How does one stay in the conversation, but stay detached
• Handling situations when known persons say things that you do not feel the same way about or know it may not be completely factual
• How one would resist the temptation to not get into arguments or negating something that a guest says
• Some of the podcasts that Gopal listens to

We hope you enjoyed some of our experiences in bringing you 250 episodes of stories of software people.

We believe that everyone has a story to tell that will inspire or educate others.

When would you like to tell your story?

Or, if you would like to submit somebody else’s story, and be a guest host, please record a sample or the full conversation and share it with us.

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This a very special episode for all us, hosts - and assume, for you, our listener as well.

This is the 250th episode of the Software People Stories.

About 5 years ago, A desire to learn something new and leverage that learning to pay it forward to the community, led to the launch of this podcast.

What started as Software Lifecycle Stories pivoted to Software People Stories and thanks to all your encouragement and love, we are at 250.

This episode is a little different from the usual episodes in that we have reversed the roles.

The very first guest on the show, Goplan, plays the host and the three co-hosts, me, Chitra and Gayatri are the guests.

In a freewheeling conversation, Gopal had many questions about what happens behind the scenes and inside our minds in the context of being associated with the podcast.

The topics covered include:

• What the experience has been for the hosts to have a consistent and regular schedule
• How was the experience of discovering new aspects of people that you have known for long, through the podcast conversation
• If the hosts had a structure in mind for the conversations
• How such structures work when there are multiple guests

Gopal asked for some examples of things that went right and some things that did not go as per plan.

The answers to that questions and more interesting questions, listen to the next episode, which is part 2 of this special conversation, to celebrate the milestone of 250 episodes.

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In the second part of the podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Woody Zuill, Expert Coach and co-author of Mob Programming, shares his career journey

• Balancing the speeches and consulting with consulting engagements
• Woody shares tips and tricks of being in the speaking networks
• Woody talks about joy of creating his own businesses - Almost 16 of them is creating
• Woody shares early experiments on signs and making new things
• He shares his passion of making his day productive by avoiding repeated steps and automate
• Woody shares his deep inflection points in his career that has positioned him today
• Woody also shares his ideal places to work and attracting like minded people to work
• Instead of Doing what others are expecting of us and always uplifting to oneself also
• Woody also shares deep views on how one needs to contribute for a better tomorrow

Woody has been programming computers for almost 40 years, and have 20+ years of experience as an Extreme Programmer, and 15+ years as an Agile Guide of some sort. He truly believes that code must be simple, clean, and maintainable so that we can realize the Agile promise of Responding to Change, and that we must constantly "Inspect and Adapt".

Woody is a co-author with Kevin Meadows of the book "Mob Programming, A Whole Team Approach". He’s a prolific speaker on this topic at conferences, user groups, and meet-ups all over the world.

More generally, I've delivered workshops, trainings, and coaching sessions on Agile Software Development, Mob Programming, and Software Development Practices for a number of firms including Ericsson, Schneider Electric, Qualcomm, Intel, H & M, King Games, Capital One, Twitter, and Spotify.

Woody can be connected at https://www.linkedin.com/in/woodyzuill/

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In the first part of the podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Woody Zuill, Expert Coach and co-author of Mob Programming, shares his career journey

• Shares how he joined software development after he created tools to improve his day-to-day life
• Jokingly Woody mentions how he didn’t have to clean up(unlike doing carpentry) after a hard day at writing code
• Early experimentation on pair programming and having fun and how he found that explaining ideas, listening each other and accepting each others opinions - most importantly stop interrupting others
• Talks about the story of using pair programming for knowledge transfer in a rapid manner
• Shares his principle on how experimenting is the fastest way to build cultural nuances
• Paying attention to others emotions and deeply listening enables - Listen as if the next sentence is the most important thing we are going to listen
• His motto - Be the best team member that you can be
• Woody shares tips and tricks on deep listening skill and staying curious
• Aha moments Woody has had how “Teams” have evolved
• How can you lead from without any of the influence and how that led him to become a speaker and teacher

Woody has been programming computers for almost 40 years, and have 20+ years of experience as an Extreme Programmer, and 15+ years as an Agile Guide of some sort. He truly believes that code must be simple, clean, and maintainable so that we can realize the Agile promise of Responding to Change, and that we must constantly "Inspect and Adapt".

Woody is a co-author with Kevin Meadows of the book "Mob Programming, A Whole Team Approach". He’s a prolific speaker on this topic at conferences, user groups, and meet-ups all over the world.

More generally, I've delivered workshops, trainings, and coaching sessions on Agile Software Development, Mob Programming, and Software Development Practices for a number of firms including Ericsson, Schneider Electric, Qualcomm, Intel, H & M, King Games, Capital One, Twitter, and Spotify.

Woody can be connected at https://www.linkedin.com/in/woodyzuill/

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In the second part of the podcast episode, Shiv Sivaguru continues his conversation with Mohan Ram

Mohan talks about

• The challenges in working with details as well as abstractions
• The cost of not understanding implicit requirements and the importance of progressive elicitation of requirements
• How coaching and observations of people who were doing well in these aspects
• Why crossing the initial hurdle of winning the confidence of your clients / users is extremely critical for the success of a project
• His personal philosophy in working under contractual constraints - of cost or timelines
• How Agile approaches are suitable to work more effectively under dynamic scope conditions
• How individuals can find a balance between having or not having an aptitude for technical or managerial flavors of work
• How he developed an interest in philosophy and constant learning
• What he would like to do with the ancient wisdom, in applying them to day-to-day contexts
• His thoughts and tips for career questions

Mohan Ram is a Principal Consultant at PM Power Consulting, he works with Clients in their Agile Transformation initiatives, Digital Innovation and Transformation journey and helping build Individuals and Teams that are capable of effectively Delivering outcomes and Managing these Transformations in a Confident and Sustained manner.

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In the first part of the podcast episode, Shiv Sivaguru is in conversation with Mohan Ram, a senior professional in the IT industry who has played various roles related to networking software development to business line management and now a coach with PM Power Consulting.

Mohan shares

• His growing years in a conservative family in Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu
• About how his life was comfortable, not luxurious and how those days and culture had a strong influence on his life
• Getting into IT. probably more by chance and then liking the opportunities to apply logical thinking and solving problems for others and the gratification of seeing users benefitting from the solutions
• Moving to systems engineering and networks and looking at those technology areas and find applications in the commercial world
• The opportunity to be mentored and coached by good managers
• Discovering his strength of going beyond just technology and connect with customers, into more techno commercial roles
• His feeling of being thankful for being at the right places at the right times
• His interest in ancient wisdom, yoga, vedanta, music etc - all towards finding and keeping a balance in life
• Looking forward to the next phase of his life
• The support and concerns that he received from friends and family
• The opportunity to work with geek, to contribute to create and refine a network operating system with one of the early startups in the networking space, that triggered his curiosity to get into software
• Getting into creating software products as well as services, particularly managed services
• Seizing an opportunity to address new and greater challenges nd moving from C-DAC to HP
• The two important switches:
• Coming out of monotony
• Seeing a bigger opportunity
• An important aspect of being a good mentor; and learning to look at the forest and not get lost among the trees - leveraging his strength of paying attention to detail
• Switching to project and program management roles and stress the need to understand the nuances of project management

I asked him about how he was able to work in zones of abstraction or ambiguity, while interacting with customers - to understand requirements and come up with an approach or solution and create a project plan to execute, when his strength of attention to detail.

The answer to this question and a lot more in part 2 of the conversation.

Mohan Ram is a Principal Consultant at PM Power Consulting, he works with Clients in their Agile Transformation initiatives, Digital Innovation and Transformation journey and helping build Individuals and Teams that are capable of effectively Delivering outcomes and Managing these Transformations in a Confident and Sustained manner.

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In the second part of the podcast episode, Shiv Sivaguru is in conversation with Vadeesh Budramane,Founder and CEO of AlgoShack, shares his career journey

• Shares his thought processes on why a product company to be started
• He also shares the decision parameters that he considered and that’s common across entrepreneurs
• Journey to be gratifying to the founders and early employees
• Celebrating every small milestone from ID issuance, website, logo and creating a sense of moving in the right direction
• Ability to make an impact in the automation - Vadeesh talks about creating an inclusive environment
• Vadeesh shares the principles in which AlgoShack is created in terms of usage of tools and techniques and democratization of quality engineering
• He further shares how AI is embedded in the test process
• Vadeesh talks about creating fit-for-purpose solutions that’s specific in the domain
• Vadeesh talks about his advice to people joining the testing industry
• Enabling automation testers to modularise and optimise test cases constantly keeping users and non functional scenarios in mind

Vadeesh is currently CEO at AlgoShack and he has held several roles such as Senior Vice President at Sutherland Global Services, Director & Head of Healthcare Vertical at Computer Sciences Corporation and Managing Director at FCG.

Vadeesh has 32 years of experience focused on product engineering, innovation & IP creation. In his 15+ years of experience in senior leadership positions, Vadeesh has been responsible for strategic planning, end-to-end operations, and P&L. He has built globally competitive leadership teams, orchestrated strategic customer engagements, and created significant value for stakeholders.

Vadeesh is a leader with experience in managing offshore delivery center and vertical delivery with a team size of 3000+ people & $250m P&L. He has experience across healthcare, ISVs, telecom, and real-time embedded systems industry verticals and North America, UK and Europe markets that include global delivery, customer engagement, business development and P&L responsibilities.

A leader with hands-on experience in seeding and developing globally competitive leadership teams, developing competencies, transforming delivery organizations and driving business models for outcomes.

Vadeesh can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/vadeeshbudramane/

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In the first part of the podcast episode, Shiv Sivaguru is in conversation with Vadeesh Budramane, Founder and CEO of AlgoShack, shares his career journey

• Vadeesh talks about starting in the embedded programming with Time Division Multiplexing and has built and learnt numerous protocols and standards
• He has also multiplexed his time across different domains such as Automotive, Medical instruments, Healthcare and Telecommunication
• Vadeesh shares his experience why he started the firm AlgoShack focused on the QE
• Combat the challenge of building quality software by automating automation testing
• He shares his experiences on how critical devOps processes in the medical field and thinking about holistic environment
• He shares how he has built a keen sense of understanding the domain of telecom with different protocols
• While he took up assignments in Healthcare, the type of stakeholders and touchpoints has moved him back to a learner of the domain
• Vadeesh shares his passion of teaching and learning and thanks his Wipro days to inculcate that and further strengthened while working for HCG
• Vadeesh decided to start a firm in test automation for embedded systems and we will hear more about the start up journey in the next episode.

Vadeesh is currently CEO at AlgoShack and he has held several roles such as Senior Vice President at Sutherland Global Services, Director & Head of Healthcare Vertical at Computer Sciences Corporation and Managing Director at FCG.

Vadeesh has 32 years of experience focused on product engineering, innovation & IP creation. In his 15+ years of experience in senior leadership positions, Vadeesh has been responsible for strategic planning, end-to-end operations, and P&L. He has built globally competitive leadership teams, orchestrated strategic customer engagements, and created significant value for stakeholders.

Vadeesh is a leader with experience in managing offshore delivery center and vertical delivery with a team size of 3000+ people & $250m P&L. He has experience across healthcare, ISVs, telecom, and real-time embedded systems industry verticals and North America, UK and Europe markets that include global delivery, customer engagement, business development and P&L responsibilities.

A leader with hands-on experience in seeding and developing globally competitive leadership teams, developing competencies, transforming delivery organizations and driving business models for outcomes.

Vadeesh can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/vadeeshbudramane/

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In the second part of the podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Fred George,Consulting Developer in Scienta AS and master change agent, shares his career journey

• Fred shares his experience in creating and nurturing thinking diversity in his London project
• Ensuring that you create a blameless culture and a wonderful experimentation and that’s what enables innovation to flow and no permission culture
• He shares about creating change management in behaviors starting with extreme rigor in processes. Once the barriers are broken in, processes are completely taken out and that’s when you become truly agile
• Understanding the five key principles on agility
• Fred shares about rewilding and increasing experimentation
• He shares his expertise on balancing his brand, building products and consulting
• Fred shares about inculcating no-fear environment and ensuring that he picks the team around him
• Fred shares his thoughts around how AI needs to be looked at as a way to do your repeated steps - Understanding the essence of the work
• Stay in the learning journey and that’s what enables you to be successful

Fred can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/fred-george/

Fred considers himself a hands-on software developer with executive responsibilities and experience. Early experimenter in micro-service architectures from 2005, and father of the post-Agile process termed Programmer Anarchy. Earlier implementer of new technology for his entire career, including computer networking in the 70's, LAN's and GUI in the 80's, and OO and Agile in the 90's. Very early adopter of Kanban processes. He has used over 70 programming languages in his career.

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In the first part of the podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Fred George, Consulting Developer in Scienta AS and master change agent, shares his career journey

• Fred is a career IBM developer and speaks about the skills he developed
• Fred shares his experience in gaining an MBA degree and speaks about how IBM is great in building great people around your
• Talks about how one needs to imbibe oneself in the talking to executives
• Shares some of the stories on ensuring that fears are quelled and anticipate the people who are fearing
• Talks about hard and complex problems that he welcomes to solve
• Fred’s mantra is “I can't do everything well, but Most things can do as well as anyone else”
• Fred shares how he ensures that he gets the right set of team members and mentor them around you.
• Ensuring that management are taken into confidence in the journey using transparency and metrics
• Fred shares his movement from being in the management cadre in IBM to a consultant and ensuring that he taught himself new language skills. Fred knows about 75 languages over the period of time
• Fred shares his experience on how job descriptions have become very convoluted and complex and that’s leading to dysfunctions
• Fred shares about the new concept of thinking Diversity and what type of innovations that are coming in

Fred can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/fred-george/

Fred considers himself a hands-on software developer with executive responsibilities and experience. Early experimenter in micro-service architectures from 2005, and father of the post-Agile process termed Programmer Anarchy. Earlier implementer of new technology for his entire career, including computer networking in the 70's, LAN's and GUI in the 80's, and OO and Agile in the 90's. Very early adopter of Kanban processes. He has used over 70 programming languages in his career.

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In the second part of the podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Karl Scotland, Agile Transformation Services Practice Manager at TEKsystems Global Services and a master facilitator, shares his career journey

• Karl shares his journey of how he became a master facilitator and that started when he was experiencing tremendous resistance with Scrum. (Karl moved to using Kanban and lean concepts :) )
• Later when he was designing for larger change, Karl came across using X-matrix - with an agile transformation flavor embedded
• Karl talks about his realisation that one should not think about just to implement scrum/kanban
• Agility needs to be baked is created my own sense of self discovery - Achieving flow
• And the next step was to start looking for evidence to look for and think about strategy as always about tough choices
• Something similar to Agile manifesto - A even over B
• Karl shares his views on Tool selection and it should not define process. Usage of tool should stay at the tactical side
• Choice of tool should always be to help us capture flow data and understand blockers on
• Interesting story on the balancing the speaking and consulting engagement
• Shares the passion on building community events

Karl can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kjscotland/

Karl helps businesses become Learning Organisations. Karl has held several engineering and management positions in Neural technologies, BBC, Cisco, Yahoo and Rally software.

Over the last 20 years Karl has been an advocate of Lean and Agile approaches to achieve this, working with companies including the BBC, Yahoo!, EMC Consulting, Rally Software, Cisco, SDL, Legal & General and Alegis. During this time, he has been a pioneer of using Kanban Systems and Strategy Deployment for product development, a founding member of both the Lean Systems Society and Limited WIP Society, as well as being active in the community and a regular conference speaker. Karl is a co-founder of the Lean Agile in Brighton.

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In the first part of the podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Karl Scotland, Agile Transformation Services Practice Manager at TEKsystems Global Services and a master facilitator, shares his career journey

• Started his education with a passion with music and quickly found that he was enjoying the software part of the music over creative music
• Karl has held several engineering and management positions in Neural technologies, BBC, Cisco, Yahoo and Rally software
• Later on he moved to become a consultant in helping organizations transform themselves to writing clean code, good practices and happier people
• Karl shares his thesis on why technology roles have become extremely complex - while we started writing C++ code, there were relatively less requirements and hence the need to change became less relevant. But as software and technology become ubiquitous, the roles also needed to be wider and deeper
• Karl talks about curiosity and learning and how he has built it within himself. He talks about the story where the subject matter experts
• Approach from the perspective of what does organizations need to do to become change initiators themselves
• Karl shares his model of Agenda Shift hypothesis
• Karl loves the perspective of ‘Cynics will become your biggest supporters’ - as they want to share the obstacles that’s preventing them from making it happen
• Hypothesis driven change creates a sense of ownership on their obstacle

Karl can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kjscotland/

Karl helps businesses become Learning Organisations. Karl has held several engineering and management positions in Neural technologies, BBC, Cisco, Yahoo and Rally software.

Over the last 20 years Karl has been an advocate of Lean and Agile approaches to achieve this, working with companies including the BBC, Yahoo!, EMC Consulting, Rally Software, Cisco, SDL, Legal & General and Alegis. During this time, he has been a pioneer of using Kanban Systems and Strategy Deployment for product development, a founding member of both the Lean Systems Society and Limited WIP Society, as well as being active in the community and a regular conference speaker. Karl is a co-founder of the Lean Agile in Brighton.

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In this podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Vikrant Viniak, Senior Managing Director of Accenture and a prolific speaker on Technology at the frontier, shares his career journey

• Started as a mechanical engineer in the areas of supply chain. After taking his management degree in Chicago he chose to become a consultant
• Shares his reasons for reinventing himself every 3-5 years and starts the root cause for it
• Talks about personal board of directors creating mentors around and why one need to reach their own potential
• Talks about pushing himself physically, mentally and professionally by continuous improvement on oneself
• Vikrant shares the art of building Reseliance by creating a beautiful 15 min ‘me’ time over a period of time
• Vikant shares his belief that he likes to listen from each and every person he comes in contact with. This helps in learning and unlearning in a more seamless way
• Also he’s found his passion in physical fitness
• His Ethos, As written by Robert Frost - The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.
• Vikrant shares his stories in taking and receiving feedback and it has also helped to become more genuine
• Vikrant shares how he has applied rapid changes that are happening and expectation of business leaders on where technology is heading. He shares how he keeps up with the rapid pace of learning
• Vikrant shares his key wisdom around being kind to yourself, learning and constantly learn to unlearn

Vikrant V is a Senior Managing Director in Accenture for the last 16+ years. In his current role as Senior Managing Director at Accenture Strategy, he has worked in Telecom, Media and Technology Industry. He’s a dynamic business leader who is passionate about challenging myself to solve complex problems using creative thinking; bold and iconoclastic action; and data-driven analysis and decision making. He enables his clients with their most strategic imperatives including Digital Transformation, Driving Growth through Digital Operating Models, Everything As a Service (EaaS) transformations, ESG, and Strategic Partnerships.

An avid runner and fitness enthusiast who loves people and technology. In his professional and personal life, he has committed to going the extra mile in supporting, mentoring and coaching people to achieve their goals. I like to push my physical and intellectual boundaries.

Vikrant started his career as a software engineer in Wipro and moved to become a supply chain consultant. After completing his management graduation in Quinlan School of Business, Loyola university in Chicago, he became a consultant. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering in NIT Trichy, India.

Vikrant can be contacted here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikrantviniak/ or

Follow in twitter - https://twitter.com/vviniak?lang=en

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In the second part of the podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Dave Farley, Independent Software Developer and Consultant, Founder and Director of Continuous Delivery Ltd.

• Dave shares his perspective on the new fads that are constantly coming in and what he’s rooting himself into the basics
• Critical to focus on Fundamentals - exercise on learning, ensure that you have modular and building blocks, get feedback constantly, separation of concerns
• Having these basic models in place will be always durable
• Dave shares secret in balancing the content creation and software consulting as well as community building
• He also shares the reason why he started the conference speaking - recruit people!
• Dave believes in being generous in sharing ideas and creating collective and learning from colleagues
• Dave shares some of the key inflection points in his career from being consultant to LMAX product and starting his own consulting as well as his recent experience of building a YouTube channel
• Dave shares identify areas that gives one joy and identify areas of influencing. Whats your professional duty and taking pride in what you do

Guest Introduction

Dave Farley is a pioneer of Continuous Delivery, thought-leader and expert practitioner in CD, Devops, TDD and software development in general.

Dave has been a programmer, software engineer and systems architect for many years, from the early days of modern computing, taking those fundamental principles of how computers and software work, and shaping ground-breaking, innovative approaches that have changed how we approach modern software development. Dave has challenged conventional thinking and led teams to build world class software.

Dave is co-author of the - Continuous Delivery, and a popular conference speaker on Software Engineering. He built one of the world’s fastest financial exchanges, is a pioneer of BDD, an author of the Reactive Manifesto, and a winner of the Duke award for open source software with the LMAX Disruptor.

Dave is passionate about helping development teams around the world improve the design, quality and reliability of their software, by sharing his expertise through his consultancy, YouTube channel, and training courses.

Dave can be contacted here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-farley-a67927/

Published works - ​​ https://continuousdelivery.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/The-Deployment-Pipeline-by-Dave-Farley-2007.pdf

https://www.amazon.com/Continuous-Delivery-Pipelines-Better-Software/dp/B096TTQHYM

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCfqyGl3nq_V0bo64CjZh8g

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In the first part of the podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Dave Farley, Independent Software Developer and Consultant, Founder and Director of Continuous Delivery Ltd.

• Dave started his career as a visual designer even before user experience became center stage
• He later became a systems engineer in designing large complex software
• Dave shares his experience in working with stalwarts in ThoughtWorks building software in an agile fashion and the kind of innovations that the team were doing in developing terms that have became common place now
• Dave shares his experience in architecting LMAX as the Financial exchange in a truly continuous delivery
• He says that it's impossible to break compliance in a continuous delivery environment and makes a clear business case for financial sector to rapidly adopt the modern software practices
• Started experimenting the idea of Extreme programming with colleague Jez with a single chapter and extended the notion of continuous delivery
• He’s inspired by Feymann’s theory that, If you can synthesize an idea in a way a child can understand, your solution is half done
• Dave shares his 10X teams and not necessarily 10X developers
• He further shares the story of overlapping developing teams in lean manufacturing and how transformation of people in taking accountability
• Dave talks about software practices by decade and he’s enjoying being part of the journey.

Dave Farley is a pioneer of Continuous Delivery, thought-leader and expert practitioner in CD, Devops, TDD and software development in general.Dave has been a programmer, software engineer and systems architect for many years, from the early days of modern computing, taking those fundamental principles of how computers and software work, and shaping ground-breaking, innovative approaches that have changed how we approach modern software development. Dave has challenged conventional thinking and led teams to build world class software.

Dave is co-author of the - Continuous Delivery, and a popular conference speaker on Software Engineering. He built one of the world’s fastest financial exchanges, is a pioneer of BDD, an author of the Reactive Manifesto, and a winner of the Duke award for open source software with the LMAX Disruptor.

Dave is passionate about helping development teams around the world improve the design, quality and reliability of their software, by sharing his expertise through his consultancy, YouTube channel, and training courses.

Dave can be contacted here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-farley-a67927/

Published works - ​​ https://continuousdelivery.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/The-Deployment-Pipeline-by-Dave-Farley-2007.pdf

https://www.amazon.com/Continuous-Delivery-Pipelines-Better-Software/dp/B096TTQHYM

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCfqyGl3nq_V0bo64CjZh8g

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In this episode, Shiv continues his conversation with a colleague in PM Power, Venu Subrmania Iyer.

In the previous episode, he asked Venu if testing should always be independent or it can be embedded in the development process itself

He shared his answer to that question and more

• From earlier models of independent testing centers, testing is being shifted left [particularly in Agile approaches], but there is a need for both approaches
• How he got exposed to Agile approaches, by starting with organizational transformational initiatives
• How management support and culture are critical for any transformation project
• What he considers as critical for success in agile transformation projects
• How his perception and appreciation for Agile approaches changed from the days of being a tester to getting into a transformation initiative
• On applying Agile based on the context and determining the best options
• The importance of having shared or collaborative goals for team success
• His thoughts on what skills are needed to be an effective tester
• His tips for persons considering a career in testing

Venu has been in the embedded technology space for 24 years, working on cutting-edge R&D in the areas of Consumer Electronics, Display Systems, Semiconductor & Automotive domains. Starting his career as a Hardware Engineer in Philips,later switched to Software Testing due to his passion for finding software defects. He was 1st independent software testing engineer in Bosch Car Multimedia, Bangalore and later played several leadership roles in testing, Project Management and Quality assurance.

Prior to joining PM Power consulting, I was Director, Delivery and test in Harman for Automotive Digital cockpit and Telematics software solutions. I have played leadership role for delivery management, software testing and supplier delivery management.

More about Venu : https://pm-powerconsulting.com/experts/venu/

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In this episode, Shiv is in conversation with a colleague in PM Power, Venu Subrmania Iyer. Venu, who started his career as a systems engineer, shares

• Starting with hardware, software and testing
• Born in Kerala and grew up in Alleppey and grew up in Kottayam
• Studied Electrical Engineering
• Passion for engineering was inspired by an uncle and it was a difficult journey due to personal situations
• How he goes about in identifying solutions
• His passion was in electrical engineering, designing various elements in power engineering
• Wanting to get into some public sector enterprises, but getting into a multinational - as a customer service engineer to service TV systems and DVD, Audio systems
• Locating problems and isolating them based on simple documentation, using systematic approaches
• Using only 2 tools: multimeter and CRO [cathode ray oscilloscope]
• How he was able to adapt to a problem resolution approach from a designer-inventor aspiration [from R&D to service mindset]
• The pressure of solving issues while customers were watching over your shoulder and doing all it takes, including visiting a consumer court
• Moving to the software domain - as a hardware engineer and working with test engineers, taking an interest and choosing to get into systems testing
• Setting a personal goal to get into software and system testing
• Attending training from ISTQB and getting a formal certification
• Moving to an automotive company as the first independent test engineer
• Growing his team to over 200 in about 10 years
• How he was able to pick up the technology and domain aspects and the importance of having a team with complementary skills
• His approach to personal scaling by investing in developing others
• His thoughts on creating the awareness of testing in developers
• Injecting defects into software under test, to train testers
• Transitioning to managerial roles and then to a display manufacturing company
• Taking up a delivery role, to get experience on the right side of the V model
• The answer to a question on : His view on whether testing should always be independent or it can be embedded in the development process itself in the next episode

Venu has been in the embedded technology space for 24 years, working on cutting-edge R&D in the areas of Consumer Electronics, Display Systems, Semiconductor & Automotive domains. Starting his career as a Hardware Engineer in Philips,later switched to Software Testing due to his passion for finding software defects. He was 1st independent software testing engineer in Bosch Car Multimedia, Bangalore and later played several leadership roles in testing, Project Management and Quality assurance.

Prior to joining PM Power consulting, I was Director, Delivery and test in Harman for Automotive Digital cockpit and Telematics software solutions. I have played leadership role for delivery management, software testing and supplier delivery management.

More about Venu : https://pm-powerconsulting.com/experts/venu/

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In this episode, I continue my conversation with our guest Robert Cooke, founder of 3forge, a provider of data virtualization and visualization technology. In this conversation, Robert shares

• What was the startup bug that bit him.. The urge to reinvent how software is developed based on experience, after getting a feeling that 90% of the code written is quite similar across teams and organizations and how that can be a base for reuse
• Solve it once, solve it well, reuse it.
• His approach to abstracting many of the operations needed, for example, the user interface widgets and experience, to reduce the work needed to create and deploy solutions quickly
• The story behind the name of his company 3forge -- started asForge financial framework and then evolved into 3forge
• His thoughts on processing data in real time v/s in batch or offline mode
• His thoughts on defensive coding and a 2 minute intro to defensive coding
• How he manages his time and what stresses him

Robert Cooke is the Founder and Principal Architect at 3Forge, a New York-based provider of data virtualization and visualization technology. 3Forge has achieved significant growth over the years as a result of increasing demand for its award-winning, web-based browser AMI platform.

Robert’s accomplishments have spanned across electronic trading, middle and back office, regulatory reporting, compliance and risk management.

His LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-cooke-a7835b69/

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In this episode, our guest is Robert Cooke, founder of 3forge, a provider of data virtualization and visualization technology solutions. In this conversation, Robert shares

• His origin story of starting with computers when he was a kid in the 80s
• His liking to build things - in wood or lego
• Discovering that he could build a lot more without needing a lot more money, with computers
• Developing Video games, accounting software - helping manage things in college with software solutions
• His experience with writing code in 128k memory
• Working in silicon valley in 2000s, getting a job in an insurance company
• 4Vs of data: volume, velocity, variety and validity of data
• Last 15 years has been about solving problems with the 4Vs
• Being a self proclaimed software addict, sometimes upto 10-12 hours per day
• His early experience with writing software for his club, in his teens - when hardcoding was more natural
• Learning later that parameterization, lookup tables etc were more elegant and generic
• Starting his company in 2012
• Same software for all customers, with a single branch of code
• Anyone who takes the art form of writing code seriously, will get better with time
• His transition from being in individual contributor to delivering as a team
• The advantage of getting different insights from team members
• Naming, logical architecture decisions become important when working in teams
• The need for consistency across team members..but what is right or wrong
• Learning from the NEC - National Electrical Code - that codifies the minimum requirements for safe electrical installations in a single, standardized source
• We do not have anything similar in software
• Very hard to get rid of code, but it can be a therapeutic process
• Insert or create is easy; update or modify is somewhat difficult and deleting is extremely hard
• About the urge to do Ctrl-A and delete.. And rewrite code from the scratch
• How he balances his engineering thinking and artist’s thinking [developing software as a work of art, as there are so many ways to solve a problem]
• Balancing maintainability, the efforts needed and how well the software performs
• He looks for people with strong math and logic background and problem solving, not necessarily experience in coding
• Hardest part on software development is debugging somebody else’s code

More on his entrepreneurial experience, tips on defensive coding and a whole lot more in the next episode

Robert Cooke is the Founder and Principal Architect at 3Forge, a New York-based provider of data virtualization and visualization technology. 3Forge has achieved significant growth over the years as a result of increasing demand for its award-winning, web-based browser AMI platform.

Robert’s accomplishments have spanned across electronic trading, middle and back office, regulatory reporting, compliance and risk management.

His LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-cooke-a7835b69/

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In this podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Sat (Sathyanarayanan) Vijayaraghavan, Founder and CEO at Adept Labz AKA "Ajira.Tech" and CASA Retail AI

• Sat started dabbling with computers at the age of 11 and started keenly interested in problem solving
• Sat also shares his interests in computers while also sharing his earlier thoughts of following his fathers business and gently moved towards software technology
• Joined Cognizant as one of the earlier employees and moved to back to US and showed early interest in the field of product development and consulting.
• At this time (late 90s), Building a web page was a cutting edge and started building a product in work flow development. Sat shares his learnings of nuts and bolts of problem solving
• His next experience was with Diamond cluster consulting that sharpened his strategy consulting skills for about 5.5 years and built the first marketplace
• Sat later talks about his decisions of location from India to US to across the globe and his love for problem solving
• Sat covers the initial set of vision that started in a Tea shop Mangalambika and conceptualized the company
• Sat shares his stories of creating a brand new firm Ajira in 2016. He also shares the struggles and wiggles that he had to ride out of
• Sat has sold off his first venture and building the next set of ventures
• What is the impact that we are leaving behind in the workplace that we are in. Sat shares some profound ideas from his experience and links it to general happiness and financial freedom
• Differences between being a executive and Founder and risks and struggles of being an entrepreneur
• Sat shares how as a start up first question to answer is there a person out there who will be ready to pay for it and ensure that you build fault tolerance from the get go.

Sathyanarayanan (SAT for his friends) did his bachelor engineering in Venkateshwara college in Chennai and post grad in Cincinnati college. Started working for Cognizant. Moved on the Diamond Cluster and later to Wpro. He became the General manager and the vertical head for Retail in ThoughtWorks.

Sat has about 23 years of overall IT management and delivery experience with 4 years in management (P&L responsibility, operations etc), 6 years in technology strategy and 9 years in global software sourcing; 8+ years in US working with ‘C’ level executives of Fortune 500 firms

He has been a Founder and CEO of Ajira, General Manager of Chennai at ThoughtWorks, Retail practice development at Wipro and created Retail practice at ThoughtWorks

Sat shares a passion for enterprise architecture having architected some of the largest online and trading platforms for Fortune 500 customers. He has also defined strategic enterprise architectures for several Fortune 100 customers

He is a true Thought leader with international publications in global retailing, customer experience, cross channel retailing, supply chain and eCommerce

Sat can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/satvijayaraghavan/

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In this podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Bindu Sunil, Sector Head and Engineering Director - Cloud Data Platforms and AI in Wipro.

• Shares her story of first innovation in chip design using C program in Kirloskar
• Shares her predicament on skilling on embedded programming while working
• Started her Tata Elexsi journey as an embedded programmer and then pivoted again to learn Python program
• Bindu shares her experience of building the teams being a techie at heart
• Learnt the basics of cloud right at the beginning of 2012
• Shares her growth story within Wipro cloud
• Talks about being Cloud advisory, program director, cloud center of excellence within Wipro
• She then moved to become a practice leader in the cloud platform
• Bindu shares how she has rediscovered herself from hardware engineer to Cloud Practice head
• Bindu shares how her perspective changed from a constraint based environment to cloud

Bindu Sunil is the Director of Engineering with 21 years of experience, developing and applying new technologies to manage and deliver complex projects spanning Internet Scale Computing, Cloud platforms, AI/ML in Medical Devices and Healthcare, Consumer Electronics, Electrical manufacturing domains on Data platforms, AI, Cloud (AWS), Embedded Systems, and Firmware technologies. R&D leadership in various roles - engineering manager, program manager, delivery manager, cloud consultant, and practice lead.

Bindu can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/bindusunil/

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In this podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Pramitha Ramaprakash, CEO of Transcend Satellite Technology

• Pramitha talks about her passion in aerospace and how that shaped her early experiences while working in Wipro
• She talks about Satellite launching as an extremely cool team sport as there are several field that come together
• Further she shares what it has taken to launch herself (literally) in the field
• She talks about her dream to launch 75 Indian student satellites in the next decade
• Shares her experiences of bridging the students learning with the deeper corporate needs in the satellite industry
• She shares about sustainability in the space and how her firm is bringing visibility and transparency towards this goal
• Pramitha believes that today’s students are highly motivated towards this field and only need guidance and support. That way she is extremely grateful towards the kind of interactions that she’s been bestowed
• She shares how the building blocks approach is the way ahead
• Pramitha shares several decisions that she’s taken and how the positive outlook energizes her day
• She covers the kind of cross functional skills and anyone can join the space industry
• She shares her mantra “Do Not Limit Yourself”

Pramitha Ramaprakash is an industry leader in the field of Satellite education, She’s the CEO of Transcend Satellite Technology. She’s a co-author of Payload design and System design for CubeSats (1U to 27U) and Microsatellites. She’s also designed Payload Design for EO, Remote sensing, communication and IoT Payloads as well as Designed the Payload Interface Computer using Raspberry Pi for MirrorSat of AAReST Satellite Mission as part of MSc Space Engineering dissertation.

She had held several hardware engineer roles in Wipro, BAE systems, Concurrent Technologies, Cadac holding, Intel and Dell prior to starting her own firm in the field of Space education

Pramitha can be reached at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pramitharamaprakash/

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In the this podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Puja Issar, Managing Director of AnitaB.org India

• Puja started her career in the investment banking world in United Kingdom dealing with multiple banks and large corporates. She talks about the stresses of the job and the highs that came with it
• Puja talks about her career in 3 different decades with the first decade in advising large corporates on M&A deals
• Her second decade she talks about her foray into the world of Not for profit segment
• She shares her experiences of enabling school girls in the india’s rural sector with their first computer and how it has transformed her as a person
• She talks about bringing her experience of working in corporate in the not for profit and creating a rewarding experience for herself and the volunteers as well
• Her third decade of work experience she has started as Managing Director for AnitaB.org where she mixes both corporate and her philanthropic angles as well
• She covers her excitement of launching GHCI in November 2023 that will have more than 6000+ women technologists across the globe
• Listen to Puja to share about more excitement around the Grace Hopper India conference
• Puja talks about having macro goals for oneself that acts as a guiding beacon and ensuing that one has micro goals that can be ticked off on a regular basis

Puja Issar is a Result driven senior executive with proven ability to evaluate ,identify and execute meaningful business across national and international boundaries. Skilled imaginative analytical strategist with excellent track record in creating strategic objectives and developing value creating business models.Wealth of experience and knowledge and awareness of alternate management approaches has been a key to success. Extensive experience in planning ,implementing and managing strategic initiatives and building and scaling of business lines across Financial services,hospitality ,real estate and not for profit sectors.

Puja is a chartered accountant with CFA and MBA from Henley business school

Puja Issar can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/puja-issar-a2264a48

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In this podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Vaishali James, ex-CMO of OpenTap, Community Director for AnitaB.org and mentor at HopeWorks Foundation

• Vaishali starts the episode with a very funny interaction of giving a technology solution ahead of its time
• She shares her tryst with doing an engagement on brand alignment and how simple steps could be taken at different levels to create that viable and clear brand promise to the end customer
• Vaishali talks about the cross section of people who have to come together to understand each other's vantage point before creating a coherent marketing story.
• She shares about why she took the plunge towards the startup - OpenTap that worked in the financial inclusion space
• She also shares experiences as the co-Founder and what it takes to be in the financial space
• Impact of Covid and what it took for the company and needing to shutdown the firm
• Vaishali shares how her own modest upbringing has influenced her to create an ecosystem where women can depend on one another for a sense of sisterhood
• Vaishali shares her experiences of being a mentor and community director for the AnitaB.org and Hopeworks foundation and how its deeply ful filling
• What it took to unlearn from hi-tea in corporate world to having coffee with the customers in their humble houses

Vaishali is the brand aficionado and a deep understanding of developing products. She has worked for 19 years in different roles as a marketeer for Servion Software. Later she became the co-founder and CMO for OpenTap for 5 years.

Vaishali has the additional benefit of understanding / working on designing and aligning organizational strategy across all functions with the brand strategy to ensure that brand conversations externally and internally talk the same language. So that, the entire organization works towards living and breathing a single ideology to ensure that the promise and the experience is consistent – both internally and externally.

Vaishali can be reached in https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaishali-james-25066815/

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In this episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Palashi V, research scholar with Cornell University

• Palashi started her career as a software engineer where she played the role of business analysts
• Her interests in social impact stemmed from Dhirubhai Ambani College where she did her thesis in web tools that empowered women
• Palashi decided to pivot from software towards the intersection of social impact and technology
• She shares her learnings in training technology tools for underprivileged kids
• Palashi shares her vision of creating an equitable environment for marginalised social segments.
• She shares how she’s working in information science and data but powering change
• She also covered how corporate social responsibility can be extended towards more deeper change and that forms like a continuum
• Palashi shares how her research is shaping up and how this education has transformed her thinking

Palashi’s research interests lie at the intersection of Information Science, Science and Technology Studies and South Asian Studies. For her dissertation research, she focused on the relationship between computing, gender and caste in India.

She’s a trained Information and Communications Technology engineer with experience in SAP and core java development. Her work focuses on the social impact with the background of gender and technology, specifically with feminist organizations and initiatives in India closely engaged with issues of women's rights and technology.

Palashi has worked in technology consulting, marketing and non-profit sector before starting her PhD.

She was also the founder and editor-in-chief at Fangirl.in, an collaborative e-zine that promotes independent art/music and artists in India.

More information about me on her website - https://palashi.xyz/

For more details and contact Palashi here https://www.linkedin.com/in/palashiv/

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In this episode, I continue my conversation with Jeremy Kriegel. He talks about

• How UX can help users stay focused and also providing opportunities to take a break or breather to stay productive
• Micro level thinking and system level thinking
• May need local inefficiencies for overall system wide efficiency
• Analogy of a relay race team member, who needs to wait for the moment to take the baton and run
• The zappos example of helping customers
• On the balance between personalization and privacy
• The skills needed for an effective UX professional
• Curiosity, humility and influencing skills
• UX professionals as change agents, or as sales people
• Clever v/s usable design
• The benefit of spending time to understand the problem and analyze solutions and approaches before jumping in to create wireframes etc
• The limitations of canvas based design tools
• The reason for starting his podcast, saving UX
• Significance of lean approaches and fast learning loops in UX
• The role of design in customer loyalty
• Impact of AI based approaches on UX professionals
• His career tips for new entrants as well as persons considering a career switch to UX domain

Jeremy Kriegel is a UX leader, very active on various professional forums.He is also the host of the podcast ‘Saving UX’

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremykriegel/

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In this episode, I am in conversation with Jeremy Kriegel, a UX leader and the host of the Saving UX podcast.

Jeremy shares

• Getting into UX accidentally
• Started in the mid 90s, Undergrad in CMU, Art and English
• Studying electronic and time based media and working with robotic sculpture
• A friend asking for help with creating a website
• Hiring friends and colleagues to start an agency
• Getting introduced to HCI and taking a more formal approach to learning UX
• How his stint with Xerox was a great learning experience
• Moving on to various companies across industries
• One common theme has been agile ways of working
• Working with xerox printers that were complex -- from tree to book - and managing the various steps and interactions
• The relevance of user research and how or why many organizations do not do that
• About creating processes that meets a team’s needs
• How creativity is part of everyone’s work
• Jeff Patton’s guidance on creating a holistic vision in lightweight way and a tree analogy
• Shares a story about an experience with working on a poker platform that needed to comply with new taxability regulations in France
• His thumb rule of gathering inputs from 8 people, for a more comprehensive understanding
• Quantitative gives a lot of what, but not why..
• Letting go of internal bias [not asking leading questions etc]
• Why role based personas approach need to be re-looked at, to identify inflexion points to understand how their needs change over time
• Learning from the model used by many games
• The benefit of not optimizing for first use experience
• Helping the user stay focused and accomplish their goals; with post-pandemic, how can UX discipline help not only stay focused, but also provide breaks to refresh themselves

Jeremy Kriegel is a UX leader, very active on various professional forums.He is also the host of the podcast ‘Saving UX’

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremykriegel/

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In the second part of the podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Rohit Salecha, Security Engineering Manager in Disney+Hotstar and book author of GitOps

• Rohit continues to share the areas that he’s planning to learn in terms of Web3
• He shares how he ties complex technologies and the necessity that has driven him to learn it as he’s responsible for security
• He shares some of the key areas he wants to improve in being a manager for other team members as well as give back to the community that has helped him
• Rohit gives a nugget of wisdom to keep coding and continue to learn

Rohit Salecha is a technology geek who loves to explore anything that runs and understands binary. As a security engineer he is passionate about learning the length,breadth and depth of technology.

Being more on the defensive side he has evangelised secure software development at various organizations for more than a decade.

Rohit is driven by “everything as code” mantra and strongly believes that the security team must strive towards making themselves irrelevant. In his free time he is either reading books or watching movies. He is a fitness freak who loves to jog,swim and cycle on different terrains.

More details checkout his linked in page -

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohitsalecha/

https://rohitsalecha.com

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In the first part of the podcast episode, Gayatri Kalyanaraman is in conversation with Rohit Salecha, Security Engineering Manager in Disney+Hotstar and book author of GitOps

• Rohit talks about his passion towards electronics and how he was experimenting in many of the areas. He also shares how he joined the software journey by accident
• Rohit believes that every engineer out there needs to be exceptional in what they do, but also know how to do basic coding. When he talks about coding he’s not only discussing about software as Java, C++ but also no code, system design level understanding as well
• Rohit started as a software engineer in Mastek and realised that he was passionate about how the embedding security in the software modules that he was developing
• After a few years of being a software engineer, he join NII consulting with specialisation in secure software. In each step, he talks about the want to expand his knowledge and thirst in this area
• Rohit is the author of the book GitOps and he shares some of the key challenges that he encountered in writing the book including creating a fully functional design, code and keeping up with the versions of the software modules

Rohit Salecha is a technology geek who loves to explore anything that runs and understands binary. As a security engineer he is passionate about learning the length, breadth and depth of technology.

Being more on the defensive side he has evangelised secure software development at various organizations for more than a decade.

Rohit is driven by “everything as code” mantra and strongly believes that the security team must strive towards making themselves irrelevant. In his free time he is either reading books or watching movies. He is a fitness freak who loves to jog, swim and cycle on different terrains.

More details checkout his linked in page -

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohitsalecha/

https://rohitsalecha.com

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In this second part of my conversation, Bill Hall, President of Simulation Studios shares

• Some of his professional failures when he was given large responsibilities at a very young age
• How sims enable executives to get a feel for the impact of their decisions and learn from that experience
• The role of software in the simulation exercises he runs
• A quick walkthrough of how a sim is run
• Aspects of an organization that need to be built into a simulation
• Qualities that would help someone be like Bill
• No fear of failure or encouraging failure as an opportunity to learn
• Giving things a go and learning from the experience
• How he communicates with all levels of roles in any organization
• How he understands the context of an organization quickly
• Using butcher paper to spatially and visually organize his thoughts
• Taking a break and breathing in nature - to organize thoughts and doing a brain dump
• Cascading learnings in an organization by training learners to also be trainers
• Relevance of simulation based tools to enable high performing teams quickly
• What he reads
• Limits of simulation

Bill partners with companies and individuals to build highly strategic mindsets resulting in accelerating change. Utilizing business simulations, leadership development, and business coaching, Bill helps shift mindsets and build skillsets resulting in driving positive change more quickly and with less friction. Currently President of Simulation Studios, Bill closely partners with companies and people in all types of corporate development scenarios. Bill has successfully worked for and with companies such as Apple, Sony, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Korn Ferry, Caterpillar, Sephora, and many more. Prior to Simulation Studios, Bill managed Skype’s global strategic software business, was in executive marketing roles at AOL and Nortel, and enjoyed working with Steve Jobs on various strategic projects during his 15+ years working with Apple where he was a five-time Apple MVP, and a Golden Apple Award winner. Bill authored a #1 Training and Development Amazon best-selling book, been featured in major publications and podcasts, and earned an MBA in Entrepreneurship and a Strategy Execution certificate from Harvard Business School. Bill spends the majority of his time with his family in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Book Link:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CMBP1TA

Forbes Articles:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/people/billhall1/?sh=373b957726aa

Contact Info:

Contact at SimulationStudios.com and ask for Bill

LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/wphall

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In this conversation, Bill Hall, President of Simulation Studios shares

• How he used to be part of a band
• Then deciding to go to college and doing some work for Apple
• Getting into roles that needed to turnaround organizations
• Importance of getting people to be behind the turnarounds
• Getting an inspiration to start simulation studios
• The importance of unlearning in a turnaround situation, along with relearn and learn new
• Challenges of changes in an organization across teams, geographies etc
• Technology should not come in the way of learning
• Team and learning architectures for transformations
• Using personality profiling tools, such as MBTI
• How he got into simulations or games, as he calls them
• How a typical sim session looks like
• Attributes of an effective sim
• Identifying metrics and justifying investments for a turnaround

I asked how simulations help with individual contributors taking up transformation leadership roles.

The answer to this question and more in the next episode.. When Bill starts taking about some failures he had faced in his career

Bill partners with companies and individuals to build highly strategic mindsets resulting in accelerating change. Utilizing business simulations, leadership development, and business coaching, Bill helps shift mindsets and build skillsets resulting in driving positive change more quickly and with less friction. Currently President of Simulation Studios, Bill closely partners with companies and people in all types of corporate development scenarios. Bill has successfully worked for and with companies such as Apple, Sony, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Korn Ferry, Caterpillar, Sephora, and many more. Prior to Simulation Studios, Bill managed Skype’s global strategic software business, was in executive marketing roles at AOL and Nortel, and enjoyed working with Steve Jobs on various strategic projects during his 15+ years working with Apple where he was a five-time Apple MVP, and a Golden Apple Award winner. Bill authored a #1 Training and Development Amazon best-selling book, been featured in major publications and podcasts, and earned an MBA in Entrepreneurship and a Strategy Execution certificate from Harvard Business School. Bill spends the majority of his time with his family in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Book Link:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CMBP1TA

Forbes Articles:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/people/billhall1/?sh=373b957726aa

Contact Info:

Contact at SimulationStudios.com and ask for Bill

LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/wphall

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In this episode, I continue the conversation with Steven Aberle, founder of a company in stealth mode, working on domain aware, large language model based processing for very niche applications.

In the previous episode, Steven spoke about his origin story and also how he got into and some of the technical challenges related to a domain aware large language model solution - and his patent in that area.

He continues to share about

• How the same engine can still retain some originality and uniqueness
• How updates to the base model can happen, to mature the model over time
• How ingesting content from various sources is becoming easier with APIs
• Then the reverse podcast starts! The questions are Steven’s and responses are mine
• Steven asked about where young companies could go wrong
• Founders’ passion
• Chemistry with the investors
• Scaling too fast
• His own trigger to jump into this venture.. That it was born out of hating some of the persistent pain points in the area of work
• His philosophy of ‘what you do is what you are’
• Fremen culture - from Dune
• The importance of being frugal during the startup phase and being funded by customers
• His experience of playing a CEO role; the moment when he made the decision and support from his family
• You must take care of the people in the community you are trying create and be fanatic about solving their problems
• His personal practices to stay calm
• Not measuring success only by monetary standards

Steven Aberle is the Co-Founder of The Rohirrim, a start-up bringing Domain-Aware Generative AI to the Enterprise. He has 18 years of leadership and executive-level technology capacities and is a recognized expert in unstructured data processing at scale. Steve holds the patent for Domain-Aware Generative AI, Generative Stitching and Vector-Attributable Large Language Models.

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Hope you had a wonderful start to the new year.

This episode is special for multiple reasons.

This is one of the few episodes when I had the conversation with a guest in person - and that was also video recorded, with a fireplace in the background, on a cold day!

You would be able to watch this conversation as a video on the PM Power youtube channel.

This episode was recorded in November, 2022 - much before ChatGPT was made available to the public and the subsequent increased interest.

My guest today, Steven Aberle, is a founder of a company that is in stealth mode, working on domain aware, Large Language model based processing for very niche applications.

In this conversation, Steven shares

• How he joined the military half way through college and then went back to finish his studies
• Getting interested in IT during the military service
• Navigating away from the back end to the front and, focusing on how the users interact with the systems
• Being in the Washington DC area, getting to work on Defense related areas
• Working on defense proposals, that need to be technical, unique and bring out the uniqueness of the proposed approach
• Creating a piece of patented technology for domain aware generative AI, based on Large Language models and transformers
• The challenge for small technology companies to break into the defense procurement space
• Couple of challenges with the open LLMs
• Trained on open content available, thereby missing contextual insights that are more valuable
• None of the data that is generated, can be attributed to the source material [explainable AI]
• How he organizes his own learning even when moving across specialization areas
• It is always about the data
• His exposure and experience with ETL approaches, including working with unstructured data
• About being a full stack engineer, to be aware of many areas
• Not be as much of an expert as one may want to be in any one area, but connect the learnings to the new areas as well
• His approach for being a T-shaped individual, going deep into LLM, on how they are trained
• Transformers are the next big wave now, after the cloud a couple of decades ago
• The concept or role of a solutions architect and how that may be implemented in a large language model
• Aspects related to LLMs and content / data more than just text, to also include images, figure descriptions etc
• How generative AI has made the life of graphic designers / UX specialists much easier
• Capturing conversations with solutions architects, use a transformer to generate a proposal-language based output

His answer to that question and a lot more - including questions he asked me, related to startups - effectively making role reversal - the guest becoming the host!

Steven Aberle is the Co-Founder of The Rohirrim, a start-up bringing Domain-Aware Generative AI to the Enterprise. He has 18 years of leadership and executive-level technology capacities and is a recognized expert in unstructured data processing at scale. Steve holds the patent for Domain-Aware Generative AI, Generative Stitching and Vector-Attributable Large Language Models.

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This is another year end special episode.

As coaches engaged with various organizations and teams, PM Power coaches are always learning, adapting, helping others internalize good practices in work and life situations.

We have the personal reflections of some of the coaches at PM Power Consulting on what they have learnt during the year and what they plan to learn in the coming year.

As Shiv - Sivaguru - reflected on 2022, these were his thoughts

• He talks about hybrid working model
• How he could start reading books again
• How we handle longer podcasts
• What he would like to do for 2023

Anantha Natarajan, or Anand, as he likes to be called, shared this

• Vision, Love and Courage : 3 words that are his key reflections of 2022
• How he learnt the importance of coaching in his life
• The vital life lessons from his experience
• Focus areas for the upcoming years 2023

This is what JV, had to say

• How things have changed after Covid.
• How at Pm Power we found innovative ways to handle online workshops
• Helping customers in their Enterprise Agile transformation journey
• What we can expect in 2023

Next, here are the thoughts from Zafar Ahmed

• Engaging with people in person though technology had brought us together virtually
• More and More organizations are embarrassing Agile
• If Agile coaching needs domain knowledge or is it domain independent

Always Mindful, Vishu's reflections are next.

• Engagements and contributions in Agile transformation, leadership development
• How fulfilling was Mindful leadership coaching

Below is the link to know more about our PM Powerian’s

https://pm-powerconsulting.com/experts/

Also, watch what our PM powerian’s have to say on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3F2N5Abhcz-OEcqg9B20OQ

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This is a special episode.

After a long time, the co-hosts of the show had an opportunity to get together to reflect on what the impact of this podcast has been on our own lives and ways of working.

We also talk about what else or more we can do for you, our listeners in the coming year.

We hope that this podcast has brought cheer and some inspiration over the last 200+ episodes and thank you for the love and support.

Do share your reflections as well with us.

You can subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast client, so that you don't miss any of the exciting episodes.

You can also subscribe to the PM Power newsletter, S-curve - on LinkedIn. 

Thank you

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In this episode, the conversation continues with Bhaktha Muralidhran, AVP, Unified Communications at Sompo International..

In the first part, he shared:

• A brief history of some of the computer networking technologies based on his experience
• Working on some of the emerging standards at that time
• Exploring roles in sales and marketing support
• Preferring to work with customers and solve their problems using appropriate technologies
• I asked him about: how comfortable it was to be working with customers and supporting them, coming from an engineering or developer mindset?

We continue the conversation with Murali sharing

• The importance of understanding the customers’ temperament, beyond technology glasses
• Being comfortable with not developing cutting edge technology
• The experience of being part of a sales team
• The importance of considering the cost of solutions
• His move to the current role, working with a Japanese firm
• The impact of covid on the collaboration infrastructure
• Some interesting metrics about when meetings really start
• The shift from being an individual contributor in technology to an enabling role
• Some options he considered from a career advancement perspective
• The stress when one has to let team members go
• His suggestions on what can be done to increase and improve the adoption of technology, to be more effective

Over three decades of experience in software development in computer networking technologies and support. Experienced in managing a team of engineers. Led several projects from concept to delivery.

Specialization: VoIP, Cisco Collaboration technologies, UNIX, Embedded Programming, TCP/IP, QoS, SNMP, Wireless, ATM, Frame Relay

https://www.linkedin.com/in/baktha-muralidharan-2221344/

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In this episode, Bhaktha Muralidhran, AVP, Unified Communications at Sompo International shares:

• His first job to develop electronics solutions for use in the Indian Navy, for data collection
• Getting an exposure to software towards the end of his course and liking it
• After masters, getting a job at Digital and getting an opportunity to work on ethernet that was just becoming more widely adopted
• Creating an ethernet with existing hardware and infrastructure, in the lab - to connect computers
• Exploring client server approaches in the early days, understanding the close relationship between computers and networking
• Developing a print server and later working on frame relay technology and network management
• Learning SNMP [Simple Network Management Protocol] that opened up new opportunities for his career
• Moving to Lucent, when AT&T was split up
• Working on MIB - Management Information Base - for knobs that could be manipulated to change the behavior of networks
• How DSL technology enabled having multiple phones [numbers] in a home
• Moving to Cisco, when the company was acquired
• Preferring to work more with technology and interfacing with people - read customers - and so, taking up roles in service, over software development
• Why one needs appropriate technology and not necessarily the latest technology, when IT is an enabler for the core business

Over three decades of experience in software development in computer networking technologies and support. Experienced in managing a team of engineers. Led several projects from concept to delivery.

Specialization: VoIP, Cisco Collaboration technologies, UNIX, Embedded Programming, TCP/IP, QoS, SNMP, Wireless, ATM, Frame Relay

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In this episode, the conversation continues with Maha Mahadevan, CEO of BOSS Solutions - a company providing technology solutions for the damage prevention industry. Maha talks about

• How he built and kept the team together and stay motivated
• How he bridges the gap between developers and actual users
• How they sharpened the positioning and chose industry segments to operate in
• How to handle scale and stay current, as the # customers and team size grows
• His secret sauce about acquiring and retaining new customers and growth
• The importance of new member selection, onboarding and cultural integration for building a high performing team
• Motivating team members
• His career guidance tips for mid career transitions as well as entry level
• Domain expertise and experience in industry segments

Maha Mahadevan is the founder CEO of BOSS Solutions, an Atlanta GA based company providing SaaS solutions BOSSDesk for service management  and BOSS811 for Onecall ticket management  for the damage prevention industry. The company started off as an IT staff augmentation business and transformed into developing innovative solutions  providing SaaS solutions to a sizable customer base across the US. Maha has a bachelors in engineering from the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore and Masters from the Indian Institute of Technology,  Bombay. He is a regular tennis player and practices yoga. He enjoys traveling and spending time with  family and friends.

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In this episode, Shiv is in conversation with Maha Mahadevan, CEO of BOSS Solutions - a company providing technology solutions for the damage prevention industry. Maha shares

• His origin story of getting into IT after graduating in electrical engineering
• Getting a call from a friend asking if he would like to start a business
• Wanting to create IT solutions
• How he approached a selling role, that was needed for the startup
• Providing staff augmentation services to start and developing a solution to help with Windows NT migration
• Extending the solutions with additional products, some based on suggestions or requests from customers
• How a ticket management solution could be enhanced to manage a solution for utilities and serving many customers for over seven years
• In hindsight, learning that drastic steps and dropping the old could be very risky - and happy that his bets have proven successful in the longer run
• The context when he chose to become an entrepreneur, and the risks he faced at that time
• His advice: do it as if there is no other option, network and tap into your network
• How to retain confidence, when things may not appear to go the way one would like to
• Being ready to adapt and change, when in uncertain situations
• His personal practices to stay calm under all circumstances
• How to communicate the value of IT solutions - in terms of benefits and not features
• Whom to engage in a customer organization, not just what to communicate
• How he built and kept the team together and stay motivated

Maha Mahadevan is the founder CEO of BOSS Solutions, an Atlanta GA based company providing SaaS solutions BOSSDesk for service management and BOSS811 for Onecall ticket management for the damage prevention industry. The company started off as an IT staff augmentation business and transformed into developing innovative solutions providing SaaS solutions to a sizable customer base across the US. Maha has a bachelors in engineering from the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore and Masters from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. He is a regular tennis player and practices yoga. He enjoys traveling and spending time with family and friends.

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In this episode, the conversation continues with Jutta Eckstein, an independent coach, consultant and trainer, based in Germany.

In the first part, she shares-

• Her origin story as a product engineer
• Transition from an engineer to a coach
• The importance of listening

We continue the conversation with:

• In her initial explorations with organizations, one pattern she found is
• The understanding for leaders to introspect and understand their own responsibilities
• That it is not always only technical aspects, but also the social aspects
• How having a common purpose helps in aligning team members together
• Also creates a better buy-in and the work she had done with Diana Larsen on the book liftoff
• How she finds and manages time to do so many things - liking her job and what she does!
• Doing what she feels is important
• The advice she got from Alistair Cockburn - what is the maximum money you want to make in a year?
• Making time to help others, not for money, at least immediately
• How she reconciles different perspectives she gets from her network - by keeping some ME time, doing yoga, exercises etc and not forgetting self care
• Her thoughts on sustainability - that is her current passion as the planet is on fire
• Social, environmental and economic pillars
• Diversity, inclusion, accessibility, equity
• Carbon footprint, waste
• Holistic picture of the product: is or product improving lives everywhere or in a limited area
• The carbon impact of products during their lifecycle is more during the usage
• How to find a balance between consuming more computing resources and the carbon footprint
• Some career tips in the area of IT and sustainability

Jutta Eckstein works as an independent coach, consultant, and trainer. She has helped many teams and organizations worldwide to make an Agile transition. She has a unique experience in applying Agile processes within medium-sized to large distributed mission-critical projects. Jutta has recently pair-written with John Buck a book entitled Company-wide Agility with Beyond Budgeting, Open Space & Sociocracy (dubbed BOSSA nova). Besides that, she has published her experience in her books Agile Software Development in the Large, Agile Software Development with Distributed Teams, Retrospectives for Organizational Change, and together with Johanna Rothman Diving for Hidden Treasures: Uncovering the Cost of Delay in your Project Portfolio.

Jutta is a member of the Agile Alliance (having served the board of directors from 2003-2007) and a member of the program committee of many different American, Asian, and European conferences, where she has also presented her work. She holds a M.A. in Business Coaching & Change Management, a Dipl.Eng. (MSc.) in Product-Engineering, a B.A. in Education, and is trained as pollution control commissioner on ecological environmentalism.

links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juttaeckstein/ https://www.jeckstein.com/

https://www.agilebossanova.org

https://jeckstein.com/sustainability

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In this episode, Jutta Eckstein, an independent coach, consultant and trainer, based in Germany, shares

• Her origin story of starting as a product engineer, with an interest in software development
• Started as a trained teacher and when the need for teachers dropped, went on to study product engineering and studying Pascal - and completely falling in love with software development
• Also getting trained as pollution control commissioner, when she could move from street protests to actually working to keep pollution under control
• Her early experience with Pascal and Assembler, and Smalltalk being her all time favorite
• Being part of the professional communities such as OOPSLA, and getting an orientation on the techniques and practices that got crystallized as Agile practices
• Her transition from an engineer to a coach : discovering her strength based on a trigger by her project manager
• Moving into areas of architecture and design and becoming a team coach
• The difference between a consultant and coach roles
• Studying business coaching and change management, to get a formal understanding and foundation
• How that enabled developing connections with people across various industries
• My task is not to create the right mindset, my task is coming with the right mindset myself
• The importance of listening, coming with experience, and working with experts
• Starting with a retrospective
• Starting with a few questions: clients having prior experience with change
• Why do you think it will be successful this time
• What hinders you from starting now
• If she discovered anything surprising in these initial explorations… her response of a pattern she sees.. In the next episode

Jutta Eckstein works as an independent coach, consultant, and trainer. She has helped many teams and organizations worldwide to make an Agile transition. She has a unique experience in applying Agile processes within medium-sized to large distributed mission-critical projects. Jutta has recently pair-written with John Buck a book entitled Company-wide Agility with Beyond Budgeting, Open Space & Sociocracy (dubbed BOSSA nova). Besides that, she has published her experience in her books Agile Software Development in the Large, Agile Software Development with Distributed Teams, Retrospectives for Organizational Change, and together with Johanna Rothman Diving for Hidden Treasures: Uncovering the Cost of Delay in your Project Portfolio.

Jutta is a member of the Agile Alliance (having served the board of directors from 2003-2007) and a member of the program committee of many different American, Asian, and European conferences, where she has also presented her work. She holds a M.A. in Business Coaching & Change Management, a Dipl.Eng. (MSc.) in Product-Engineering, a B.A. in Education, and is trained as pollution control commissioner on ecological environmentalism.

links: @JuttaEckstein | https://www.linkedin.com/in/juttaeckstein/ | https://www.jeckstein.com/| https://www.agilebossanova.org | https://jeckstein.com/sustainability

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In the previous episode, Scott Ford, the co-founder and CTO of Corgibytes, a company focused on modernizing legacy code, shared

• His interest in legacy code
• Patterns he has seen evolve in solution development over the years
• Using metaphors of archeology and home renovation in the context of understanding and breathing new life into old software
• And more

This is the second part of the conversation with Scott Ford, where he shares

• The origins of his company corgibytes, with a focus on helping companies take something that already exists and make it better
• This includes analyzing the structure of the code, test suites etc or the way the teams are structured and workflows, to help address a business need
• How his team focuses on the craft more than the urgency to ship something out quickly
• He talks of the mindsets for makers and menders in the software development space
• That it is no a binary, but more of a spectrum that one can and may need to move in
• Many makers may want to move on after 80%, when they may be bored; the menders can step in and help complete the remaining 20%
• Why he felt the need to have a co-founder and how he found the ideal partner, in business and life
• How he started with developing websites and small apps, and then pivoted to the current focus
• The process they have evolved over the years for the inspection and understanding existing code
• Using Cyclomatic complexity, duplication of code, coverage, churn etc, to identify hotspots
• His career tips

M. Scott Ford is the Co-Founder & CTO of Corgibytes, where he has quietly led a software maintenance revolution for the past decade. Where most people find nothing but frustration, shame, and bugs in legacy code, Scott has centered his work around his genuine love of software modernization and helping others use joy, empathy, and technical excellence to make their systems more stable, scalable, and secure. Scott’s ideas have been featured in books such as The Innovation Delusion and as a guest lecturer at Harvard University. Scott is the author of three courses on LinkedIn Learning and he is the host of the Legacy Code Rocks! Podcast.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mscottford/

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In this conversation with Shiv, Scott Ford, the co-founder and CTO of Corgibytes, a company focused on modernizing legacy code, shared

• How he found his interest in legacy code after about 10 years of working in various roles and organizations
• Being given bugs to fix, in his early career - and after addressing them well, taking on more responsibilities
• Deriving joy in fixing code or refactoring more than just writing new features
• Having a trigger moment while watching a PBS show on home improvement ‘This old house’, that gave due credit to the earlier architects and designers and respect their decisions, rather than calling the old work as bad or stupid
• Wanted to add new functionality to something that may not have been thought of in the original design - and apply the same principles to modernizing old software
• How he navigates and understands documentation or lack of it - for the old code
• How documentation is best recorded after an experiment is concluded, when writing code experimentally and incrementally
• Likening modernization of code to an archeologist’s way of working
• When boredom might make the code more complex, to keep oneself challenged, even to solve simple problems
• Seeing flips back and forth between static and dynamically typed languages influencing styles of coding over the years
• Similarly, centralization and decentralization themes also keep switching from time to time over the years
• How he leverages his strength of being a polyglot - among computer languages, by actually working on real world problems using these languages

Scott’s experience and thoughts on being an entrepreneur will be covered in the next episode.

M. Scott Ford is the Co-Founder & CTO of Corgibytes, where he has quietly led a software maintenance revolution for the past decade. Where most people find nothing but frustration, shame, and bugs in legacy code, Scott has centered his work around his genuine love of software modernization and helping others use joy, empathy, and technical excellence to make their systems more stable, scalable, and secure. Scott’s ideas have been featured in books such as The Innovation Delusion and as a guest lecturer at Harvard University. Scott is the author of three courses on LinkedIn Learning and he is the host of the Legacy Code Rocks! Podcast.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mscottford/

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This is part 2 of a repeat episode of one of my conversations, first published in 2019. Since then, we have crossed 200 episodes and the listenership has also grown.

Some of you have been asking how you can know more about some of the topics covered in recent episodes.

We felt that there could be related points shared by other guests in earlier episodes, but for new subscribers, it may not be easily discoverable.

So, we thought that we would bring you select past episodes from time to time, to discover more people and their stories.

Also, over time, the formats of the intro and show notes have also changed.

This conversation with Dorai Thodla is the second of two parts. The first part was published last week and Dorai spoke about his serial entrepreneurship experience and how he innovatively finds problems to solve etc. In this part he continues to share his thoughts and experience on:

• Helping students learn to code by starting with coding
• The joy of achievement when creating software that works
• And how reuse and other software engineering concepts may be introduced gradually to build larger solutions
• How a solution such as a bookstore can be used as an example to learn breaking the larger solution to smaller pieces that can be implemented incrementally
• Using the KWAC architecture - essentially, learning by watching someone - as an apprentice, where the instructor also shares the thought process behind what is being done
• Leveraging learning patterns among students, to learn in groups and each person guiding others
• About his experience from organizing hackathons and activating communities
• How he finds and manages time to do so many things and where he derives his energy and inspiration from

Dorai is the founder and CTO of Technology Strategies LLC, based in the United States. He is a mentor at KCG College of Technology Chennai. He is passionate about teaching students and mentors product startups. Dorai also gives talks on emerging technologies and their impact while consulting with companies on how to build tech communities. He believes in the paradigm of “building to learn” by encouraging teaching via “doing” so students see their learning transform into a product that extends around a complete stack.

Dorai lives in Chennai and spends time in the Bay Area and Seattle outside of India. He is currently involved with the following initiatives :

Build2Learn ( http://www.build2learn.in/ ) and

InfoAssitants ( http://infoassistants.com/ ) – a set of tools for collecting and analyzing information.

Dorai can be reached via

LinkedIn

@dorait

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This is a repeat episode of one of my conversations, first published in 2019. Since then, we have crossed 200 episodes and the listenership has also grown. Some of you have been asking how you can know more about some of the topics covered in recent episodes.

I felt that there could be related points shared by other guests in earlier episodes, but for new subscribers, it may not be easily discoverable.

So, we thought that we would bring you select past episodes from time to time, to discover more people and their stories. Also, over time, the formats of the intro and show notes have also changed.

This conversation with Dorai Thodla will be published in two parts, to keep the episode length to around 30 minutes.

In this first part, Dorai shares

• His serial entrepreneurship journey
• His definition of a microproduct and how one can build very small things and still be very successful
• How he identifies problems to solve, by soaking in the problem space
• His experience of concepts associated with a lean startup - to validate ideas quickly
• A story of one of his products that has been innovatively repurposed by users to create a vertical applications to make their work easier, beyond what the product was originally intended to do
• How he builds in quality in horizontal products that may be used by various personas of users

The answer to this question and more stories from Dorai, do not miss the next episode.

In part 2 of my conversation with Dorai Thodla, he shares more details about his Build to Learn concept, to help students learn programming by doing. Do not miss next week.

Dorai is the founder and CTO of Technology Strategies LLC, based in the United States. He is a mentor at KCG College of Technology Chennai. He is passionate about teaching students and mentors product startups. Dorai also gives talks on emerging technologies and their impact while consulting with companies on how to build tech communities. He believes in the paradigm of “building to learn” by encouraging teaching via “doing” so students see their learning transform into a product that extends around a complete stack.

Dorai lives in Chennai and spends time in the Bay Area and Seattle outside of India. He is currently involved with the following initiatives :

• Build2Learn ( http://www.build2learn.in/ )
• InfoAssitants ( http://infoassistants.com/ )

a set of tools for collecting and analyzing information.

Dorai can be reached@

https://www.linkedin.com/in/doraithodla/

[@dorait] https://twitter.com/dorait

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In part 2 of my conversation with, Yev Khessin, CTO and founder of DIMO (Digital Infrastructure for Moving Objects) - with a goal to ‘build something disruptive’, continues to share his story and shares his thoughts and experiences related to

• How he decided to startup DIMO
• Finding a partner and picking a few use cases in the automotive space that need to be addressed
• The experience of launching a company as a team - and why that was needed to address a large problem space
• Getting together during Covid, taking up a couple of consulting assignments to validate their assumptions
• The role of a chief architect, particularly in a close team of founders
• How the founders defined their individual roles to ensure that there is little overlap, but address different parts of the roadmap
• His personal style of being a servant leader and the need for various teams to come together
• How he keeps track of evolving technologies and identify the right ones for DIMO
• The tech stack they are using
• Leaving things with the persons closest to the code or the customers
• How consistency of user experience is ensured, with multiple teams
• Leveraging the large community with testing, validation to help rapid iteration
• The implication of personal and shared data preferences in making a connected system effective
• And, how DIMO addresses this challenge, with fine grained options to the users
• The role of smart contracts in the DIMO ecosystem
• His views on Electric Vehicles or alternative fuel vehicles and the implication of complex software that may be energy guzzling
• The implication of recycling for battery powered vehicles
• His career tips related to entering the automotive solutions space

Yev is the CTO and founder of DIMO (Digital Infrastructure for Moving Objects) - with a goal to ‘build something disruptive’.

Yev has spent 10 years working in lead engineering and technical product with automotive manufacturers and suppliers on IoT connectivity, embedded software, self driving and electric vehicles. As a car lover through and through, he believes that we are at a crossroads similar to the moment when we went from horses to cars. Creating a better connected device protocol, governed by the people who use it, is the only sane way to advance how we get around.

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In this episode, Yev Khessin, CTO and founder of DIMO (Digital Infrastructure for Moving Objects) - with a goal to ‘build something disruptive’, shares his thoughts and experiences related to

• Starting to code at a very young age and getting interested in cars
• Doing computer science in college and working in the automotive space
• Moving to Michigan and working across various departments - internal toolonigm product planning, handling recalls etc
• Moving to OnStar - in the connected vehicle space
• Starting a consulting company on autonomous cars
• Ford, VW, Mitsubishi - as clients
• From dumb cars to smart cars
• What it takes to programming an ecosystem and the thinking needed for thinking at that scale
• Moving at a high speed, being and staying connected and complying with local regulations
• Difference between earlier approaches of building vertically integrated systems to a flatter peer-connected model
• Ford, connected fleet: parking, user requesting and unlocking a car - in Miami; everything worked till we went to a different city
• Every city, parking lot having different APIs
• Role of open source products and specifications helping with security and making it a more level playing field
• Understanding the difference between centralized and decentralized systems, being born in Ukraine
• Where the human fits in, when we think of autonomous vehicles..
• DIMO is very generic; we started with a vehicle: second biggest purchase that most people make
• DIMO lets you own your vehicle and the data that comes from it
• Ability to record and maintain historical data that is personal and can help with safety
• The black box v2 as a neutral body on a car
• Battery health in the context of EVs
• Trust and experience depends on developers writing software for the platform; making DIMO an open platform
• Ability to retain the personal preferences and custom experiences across OEMs to make the experience much better for an individual
• Will continue the conversation on how Yev got into the startup mode and how the founding team at DIMO came together -- in the second part of our conversation - in the next episode.

Yev is the CTO and founder of DIMO (Digital Infrastructure for Moving Objects) - with a goal to ‘build something disruptive’.

Yev has spent 10 years working in lead engineering and technical product with automotive manufacturers and suppliers on IoT connectivity, embedded software, self driving and electric vehicles. As a car lover through and through, he believes that we are at a crossroads similar to the moment when we went from horses to cars. Creating a better connected device protocol, governed by the people who use it, is the only sane way to advance how we get around.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/yevgeny-khessin/

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In this episode, Sam Fonoimoana, Founder and CEO of Datajoin – a B2B marketing analytics company, shares his thoughts and experiences related to

• Growing up in Hawaii and California and studying at BYU
• Choosing business as a career in joining his Father in law’s export business
• Getting into MBA to study Finance
• Starting with a role to plan budgets and review progress with various departments in a publishing company
• Learning to code, to get various reports to analyze data, as an analyst
• How he gets and associates context with data, to infer meaning
• His philosophy of following the money: get customers, retain customers
• His trigger to start his company, Datajoin, to connect data from the web and data that resides within an enterprise using context
• Experience of working with techies, after the export business
• His experience from being part of sports teams influencing the core values at Datajoin - that include Aloha! and ‘it takes a village to raise a child’
• Confidence he got from his mother - about being able to get anything he wanted to achieve
• His joy and frustrations with Information technology
• How he sees the impact of AI/ML techniques on data analytics
• His career advice, for people considering a career or aspiring to shift to Data techniques

Sam Fonoimoana started his career in Finance (FP&A) and transitioned into Marketing Analytics helping companies such as Adobe, DOMO and Ancestry.com. He also taught Marketing Analytics at BYU Hawaii in beautiful Laie, HI.Today, he is the Founder and CEO of Datajoin – a B2B marketing analytics company that is the go-to solution for connecting first-party data across the MarTech stack through their proprietary “Micro Integrations”. Their customers include Cisco, ARM, Adobe and Equifax.Sam is the first VC-backed tech Founder and CEO of Polynesian descent in Utah having closed a seed round led by Sepio Capital.Sam and his wife Sabrina never have a dull moment with their children. They have 3 beautiful daughters and 4 wonderful sons. All 4 of their sons have been diagnosed with autism. When Sam is not at his computer, he can be found with his family at the park, rec center, restaurant, or on a road trip!Sam received his MBA in Finance from Brigham Young University.

You can reach him at

Twitter.com/samfonoimoana

Linkedin.com/in/sam-fonoimoana

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We continue our conversation with Ramesh Rajagopal, a coach at PM Power Consulting. In the first part he shared his origin story and also experiences of his childhood and career. In this episode, he continues to share more details about

• Leveraging his lean manufacturing experience to get into Agile approaches and becoming an Agile evangelist
• Working in a company wide transformation planning process
• Being summoned to the office one day,early morning - to be told that his position being made redundant, just a few months before a planned retirement
• The support he got from his wife
• Getting an opportunity to work in Malaysia
• Becoming a trainer and exploring certification opportunities - such as SPC when he was 63
• The transferable skills from his manufacturing career that he was able to use in IT as well
• Importance of communication and the need to relate to the people one interacts with.
• The importance of respecting dignity of every person and understanding their value systems
• Teamwork and giving credit wherever it is due
• Being a continuous learner
• Being a listener 90% of the time while interacting with others
• How to become a better influencer to ensure results, by maintaining a respectful relationship and not limit interactions to only transactions
• Understanding the aspirations and motivations of individuals first before helping
• His personal practices to develop empathy as a person based on
• The Sahaja Marg or heartfulness approach
• His career advice and tips for persons who want to get into IT from other domains

He started my career as an R&D engineer at the Engineering Research Centre at Tata Motors (TELCO) in 1981, then he joined L& T during 1984, initially as a Design Engineer for Earthmoving machines. Later, he moved into Manufacturing Planning. He joined GE India Technology Center during end 2000, as a Project Manager-Delivery and stayed with the organization as it later changed hands to become GXS and OpenText. He also worked as a consultant for the Agile Transformation group for 4 years at Standard Chartered Bank, Kuala Lumpur helping teams and teams of teams to adopt to the new ways of working – from Technology teams, Retail Teams to Data and Privacy teams.

With over four decades of experience which includes over 20+ years in software Product development, Delivery, Quality and several years in manufacturing domains of Automobile and Earth moving equipment, mow a Principal consultant at PM Power, part of Agile Transformation and DevOps Service lines.

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This is part 1 of a 2 episode conversation. In this episode, Ramesh Rajagopal, a Coach at PM Power Consulting, shares his experience related to

• Growing up in Madurai, a major temple town
• Learning Tamil, though his grandparents were from Karnataka
• His temple visits, on the way to school as well as on specific occasions
• Moving to Bangalore and seeing the changes over the decades
• Passing out as topper in his school for the SSLC grade
• Choosing to switch colleges to study with his cousin
• Developing a talent - in his own words  -of sleeping in moving buses, whether sitting or standing
• Learning the importance of extra curricular activities
• Applying to TELCO, based on a newspaper ad
• Asking for a role in R&D, though TELCO was a predominantly manufacturing organization and getting it
• Not being able to join as planned, due to his father’s health, but being able to make it a little later, when things got better
• Understanding that work culture varies from context to context and his interesting experience on the shop floor with his manager
• Importance of practical experience on the shop floor
• Taking interest in and learning computers
• Leveraging his engineering and manufacturing experience to help the software development teams in L&T
• Joining GE and diving deeper into software engineering
• With a focus on systems, getting an opportunity to lead the quality function
• Four stages in career development: learning, doing, guide others, shape people by laying the path
• Getting into Agile approaches

He started my career as an R&D engineer at the Engineering Research Centre at Tata Motors (TELCO) in 1981, then he joined L& T during 1984, initially as a Design Engineer for Earthmoving machines. Later, he moved into Manufacturing Planning. He joined GE India Technology Center during end 2000, as a Project Manager-Delivery and stayed with the organization as it later changed hands to become GXS and OpenText. He also worked as a consultant for the Agile Transformation group for 4 years at Standard Chartered Bank, Kuala Lumpur helping teams and teams of teams to adopt to the new ways of working – from Technology teams, Retail Teams to Data and Privacy teams.

With over four decades of experience which includes over 20+ years in software Product development, Delivery, Quality and several years in manufacturing domains of Automobile and Earth moving equipment, mow a Principal consultant at PM Power, part of Agile Transformation and DevOps Service lines.

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In this episode, K Ramkumar, known as Ram or Kram - Director Product Mangement, Salesforce, in conversation with Gayatri shares

• Starting his passion in software in the way of coding Fortran in his alma matter BITS Pilani.
• Ram talks about starting in the software development working in small organisation in their ecommerce portals before moving into collaboration software
• Within the span of 25 years Ramkumar has travessed the depths of collaboration, communication and security using cloud and data analytics technologies
• Ramkumar describes his journey as continuing to expand in complex areas due to his deep problem solving skills
• Ram talks about taking a plunge in the product management after nearly spending a decade in engineering. He also shared some of his vulnerable moments when he moved from being a team leader of 20 individuals to an individual contributor.
• Product management certification in IIM and ISB has helped but his innate curiosity is what has catapulted to being a product leader today
• Ramkumar advises professionals to try different areas within software from business analysis, program management, scrum mastery, automation, data analytics and product management before assessing the area of specialisation
• Ramkumar shares of the his keen sense of understanding where the customers needs and marry that with technology potential and continuous experiment
• Ramkumar’s key advise to software professionals is to stay curious and continuous learn technologies with a beginners mindset

Ramkumar is an engineering graduate of BITS Pilani, with management education from IIM B, certification from ISB. Ramkumar is the Director of Product Management for Salesforce. He specializes in the field of security.

Ramkumar started his career in India in Novell, Siemens before moving to the US to join startup boom in ecommerce.

He leveraged his email/collaboration experience in Cisco and released several notable products for Cisco Systems. His products have won several awards.

Ramkumar joined the product management in Cisco systems as an experiment. Ramkumar is a recipient of Presidents’ award for Salesforce along with several coveted awards.

Ramkumar can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramkumarkaleeswaran/

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We continue our conversation with Sowmya Gopalan and Ramya Gopalan, the first software twins to be featured on this podcast.

In the first part they shared their origin story and also experiences of working in cutting edge technologies.

We paused with a question on how they pay it forward to nurture young professionals.

In this episode, Sowmya and Ramya continue to share

• How one might feel hesitant to approach colleagues or seniors, when starting on a career
• Nurturing the quality of giving space to others in their seniors, particularly to the junior members in the team
• Being open to solutions and valuing inputs from all; about sharing tasks to be done equally among the team members
• Their experience of being women in tech
• Being in a team with more women
• Now the ratios are more skewed
• Feeling more comfortable when there are more women colleagues
• Moving into teams where being the only woman in the team
• Though bonding well with colleagues irrespective of gender, having women colleagues being more supporting
• Having a lady mentor when starting one’s career being of great help
• Their thoughts on metaverse and spaces removed further from reality and need for better regulation and ethics
• Their thoughts on the importance of data in machine learning and how to address situations where there may not be sufficient data
• About using non verbal cues in video processing
• About extracting intelligence from any kind of audio signals
• Their career advice for persons starting in IT
• Their approach to balancing work and life.. Work life harmony!

Sowmya Gopalan has 12+ years experience in researching and developing computer vision technologies for consumer electronics. With a formal background in signal processing, I specialize in researching, prototyping and developing robust software solutions for image and video understanding. I tend to be most satisfied when I have the opportunity of seeing a product through its entire lifecycle - from concept, to PoC, to production software. I thrive in collaborative, kind and multi-disciplinary settings where interest and drive matter more than qualification. Outside work, you will find me trying out new recipes in the kitchen with Ramya, or reading a book in the historical fiction genre - I am curious about the world wars and modern history in general, so if you have a good book to recommend, feel free to drop in a line at

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sowmya-gopalan-1840719/

Ramya Goplan is a software engineer who has worked on various consumer electronic products during her 12 year tenure in Amazon. Her interests and expertise include working on applications that are rooted in traditional signal processing and machine learning science. Having worked on the speech enhancement pipeline for the first gen and next gen Echo and Alexa products, she is slightly partial to speech and audio tech. She finds taking an idea from prototype to optimized embedded C/C++ implementation extremely enjoyable and satisfying. Outside work, Ramya loves to cook, sketch and listen to podcasts about health and wellness; Huberman Lab being her current favorite.

You can reach Ramya at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramya-gopalan-b3bb506/

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First, our heartfelt thanks to all you listeners for the love you have shown and for permitting the Software People Stories to be part of your listening time over the last 200 weeks!

Your wishes and encouragement is what has kept us going and will continue to do so.

Thank you

This is a very special episode for the Software People Stories. This is the 200th episode.

So, for this occasion, we have 2 guests - Sowmya Gopalan and Ramya Goplan - twin sisters, now working at two of the IT giants, doing leading edge work. They have very interesting stories of their careers and perspectives.

This episode is also special, as we have all the three hosts present!

We will be publishing this conversation in 2 parts.

This is part 1 , where Sowmya and Ramya share

• How they got into IT and chose engineering for studies:
• Sowmya:
• electronics and communication
• Masters in signal processing
• Internship in interdigital : cognitive radio applications
• Interest in images and videos
• Joining Amazon for a startup like project working on cutting edge technologies
• Computer vision features of Amazon Echo
• Then joining Apple, continuing to work on camera and photos app
• Ramya
• Being clear about not doing biology, and preferring match and computer science
• Telecom as specialization in undergraduate
• Getting in to same university and having the same advisor
• Interning in the same company
• Audio signal processing
• After 8 years, getting into health org, applying AI/ML etc
• Their experiences and thoughts on developing embedded solutions
• Using the customer satisfaction parameters as primary indicators of readiness of a release
• About the dependency management and change control practices at Apple
• The thrill of knowing that the first code written getting into production
• How aware the developers are of customer issues and usage experience, being emphasized by the customer obsession culture at Amazon
• One disappointing experience when the market acceptance of a child safety feature was somewhat underwhelming
• Their experience of having 21 patents between the two of them and tips for others to think of developing patentable ideas
• If they have tried pair programming between the two of them
• How they bounce off ideas and support each other
• Their mantra: start simple, keep improving, keep fundamentals strong, how textbooks and theory always help
• If they had any thoughts of creating something together
• Whether they lean in on each other and how they support each other
• And, the difference having or not having such support makes on an individual
• Having a safe space when the other person is non-judgemental and trustworthy

We conclude this episode with the question of how they nurture or develop younger professionals.

The answer to that question and a lot more insights, some technical and many on the softer aspects such as work life harmony will be in part 2 of this conversation. Do not miss the next episode, coming up in a week.

Sowmya Gopalan has 12+ years experience in researching and developing computer vision technologies for consumer electronics. With a formal background in signal processing, I specialize in researching, prototyping and developing robust software solutions for image and video understanding. I tend to be most satisfied when I have the opportunity of seeing a product through its entire lifecycle - from concept, to PoC, to production software. I thrive in collaborative, kind and multi-disciplinary settings where interest and drive matter more than qualification. Outside work, you will find me trying out new recipes in the kitchen with Ramya, or reading a book in the historical fiction genre - I am curious about the world wars and modern history in general, so if you have a good book to recommend, feel free to drop in a line at

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sowmya-gopalan-1840719/

Ramya Goplan is a software engineer who has worked on various consumer electronic products during her 12 year tenure in Amazon. Her interests and expertise include working on applications that are rooted in traditional signal processing and machine learning science. Having worked on the speech enhancement pipeline for the first gen and next gen Echo and Alexa products, she is slightly partial to speech and audio tech. She finds taking an idea from prototype to optimized embedded C/C++ implementation extremely enjoyable and satisfying. Outside work, Ramya loves to cook, sketch and listen to podcasts about health and wellness; Huberman Lab being her current favorite.

You can reach Ramya at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramya-gopalan-b3bb506/

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This is the second part of the conversation with Janakiraman Srinivasan, known as Jani.

In the first part, Jani spoke of his initial years in IT and the long career he had with Wipro. We ended that episode when it was a segue into his entrepreneurial roles.

In this episode,Jani continues to share more stories related to

• The startup bug that led him to be a co-founder of Mindtree
• Getting an international experience, and the tech boom and startup culture in the silicon valley creating a strong impression
• The emotional connect he had with Mr. Ashok Soota
• Changes in his experience between two startup contexts 19 years apart
• How these changes influenced some of the policies and strategies in the second startup
• The benefit of complementary strengths among the co-founders
• The experience of incubating startups within mindtree
• How he moved on to set up Nuvepro
• How he keeps himself updated on emerging and futuristic technologies
• And how he finds time for all this
• His emotionally stressful phases, when thinking of or making transitions across organizations
• The importance of people in the success of a company
• His career advice for people considering a career in IT and for those already in IT

Janakiraman Srinivasan is currently the Chairman of Nuvepro Technologies, a startup in Cloud Technologies and also President of Indo Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (IJCCI) - Karnataka.

Prior to above, Janakiraman was the President & CTO of Mindtree Ltd, and was one of the Co-Founder and Board Member too. He served Mindtree from 1999 to 2014.

Prior to Mindtree, Janakiraman served as the Chief Executive of Global R&D Unit of Wipro where he started his career as one among first five employees in 1980.

Janakiraman was one of the Co-Founder of India Semiconductor Association (ISA) in 2002 and served for six years in its executive council, and later as its Chairman and Advisor too.

Janakiraman did his BE at Regional Engineering College - Trichi (1973-78) and MTech from IIT-Chennai (1978-80). He is a Distinguished Alumni of REC for his Entrepreneurial Excellence.

Janakiraman has served the board of Yokogawa India Ltd till March 2019 for four years. Currently a Board Member in startups Nuvepro Technologies, Innohub Technologies, Sanohub Technologies and Netra Accelerator Foundation. He is actively involved in promoting startups and entrepreneurial environment in Karnataka.

Jani may be contacted at janiuma @ gmail.com

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In this episode, Janakiraman Srinivasan, known as Jani - an IT industry veteran, in conversation with Shiv shares

• His childhood days in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu
• His Bachelors from REC Trichy and Masters from IIT Madras and getting into Wipro as a campus recruitee as Employee # 3
• His father’s role in getting him good education
• The experience of being among the first employees in a newly launched company in a truly entrepreneurial environment
• Setting up an R&D team and activity in Bangalore and then setting up a factory in Mysore
• How they needed to dismantle the door, to get the first computer out
• The significance of bonds with colleagues
• The early culture at Wipro that stressed on many core values
• His experience in transitioning across various roles - from technical to business responsibilities
• Setting up a system integration or engineering group
• Wanting to move base to Chennai for personal reasons, taking up a role of a field specialist for the southern region
• Taking up the role of a regional field engineering manager, as the person playing that role moved on
• The transition to an individual contributor to leading a 50 member team and manage the business operations
• Becoming the product manager for the micro systems [PCs], that was a volume, low margin business that still needed superlative customer support experience
• Around 1991, being ‘elected’ to become the R&D head, when the then head took up a role to set up Wipro Systems
• Launching the Product Engineering Services business to take the R&D expertise to customers
• Around 94-95, when quality standards were becoming more popular and mandatory, becoming CEO of Global R&D
• Growing the R&D team from about 350 to 2200 persons

In part 2, we hear Jani’s story with mindtree and beyond.

Janakiraman Srinivasan is currently the Chairman of Nuvepro Technologies, a startup in Cloud Technologies and also President of Indo Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (IJCCI) - Karnataka.

Prior to above, Janakiraman was the President & CTO of Mindtree Ltd, and was one of the Co-Founder and Board Member too. He served Mindtree from 1999 to 2014.

Prior to Mindtree, Janakiraman served as the Chief Executive of Global R&D Unit of Wipro where he started his career as one among first five employees in 1980.

Janakiraman was one of the Co-Founder of India Semiconductor Association (ISA) in 2002 and served for six years in its executive council, and later as its Chairman and Advisor too.

Janakiraman did his BE at Regional Engineering College - Trichi (1973-78) and MTech from IIT-Chennai (1978-80). He is a Distinguished Alumni of REC for his Entrepreneurial Excellence.

Janakiraman has served the board of Yokogawa India Ltd till March 2019 for four years. Currently a Board Member in startups Nuvepro Technologies, Innohub Technologies, Sanohub Technologies and Netra Accelerator Foundation. He is actively involved in promoting startups and entrepreneurial environment in Karnataka.

Jani may be contacted at janiuma @ gmail.com

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In this episode, Victor Jayakaran- shares his story and experiences related to:

• His graduation from the Madras Institute of Technology and post graduation from the Indian Institute of Science
• Getting a campus placement at ITI and applying for a job with ISRO
• On his guide NJ Rao’s suggestion, choosing to join a small and growing company, Wipro
• Joining Wipro in August 1979 and starting work at an IISc lab
• Being part of the team that decided what systems to go for
• Working on technology transfer, with a view to make it as ready to use as possible for their customers
• Moving on to a hardware specific role, doing everything from system design, testing, purchasing the BOM
• Interfacing with the Govt. of Karnataka for setting up the Mysore factory
• Moving to Mysore as part of the team that set up the facility
• Returning to bangalore in 1983 - 88 MG Road
• Being into hardware, subsystems design etc
• When Wipro Systems Limited was set up, moving a part of that team
• Getting back to Wipro Infotech
• Hardware, software [OS port], to VLSI technologies
• Exploring opportunities in VLSI design
• Recalling that he had the best bosses in all his roles
• GL, purchasing, sales processing etc apps as part of delivering computers that can be readily used
• On taking up and playing different roles across organizational functions
• Experience of working with other organizations that operate at different paces
• Working in an open culture, where everyone’s ideas and experience are welcome
• Working 18 hour days - in a charged up atmosphere, as part of a very small team
• Getting opportunities to meet customers, when they had issues!
• Making problems into an advantage
• Techie customers like to buy from techies, rather than sales roles
• His experience of working with Japanese customers, who were very detail oriented
• Growing to be a leader of others who were peers till the previous day
• Learning to be objective in assessments and sharing reinforcing feedback
• On the emphasis on processes in Wipro, that helped doing things systematically and consistently
• The friendship bonds that kept him in the organization over time
• The courage a leader needs to bring in the right people as well as be ready to let go of people who don't fit
• About the experience of a spin-in, that could not meet the initial set business goals
• One important ingredient for startup success: fire in the belly
• How technologically deep should a leader be? The team should be confident of your vision
• Genuineness of the leader is critical to build a successful team
• His experience and views on work-life balance, particularly after getting married
• Getting an advice from one of his bosses about working Smart v/s working hard
• His career tips for entry level and mid career IT professionals
• Enjoy the work
• build camaraderie

Victor Jayakaran, did his B.Sc (Physics), at A.M. Jain College, Madras. He then did his graduation in Electronics From the Madras Institute of Technology. He then did his M.E. from the School of Automation, at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 1979. He then started with Wipro as their first employee, to be part of Wipro’s Information Technology Business. He was with Wipro for more than 20 years, from 1979 starting off as their first employee (R&D Engineer), till 2000, when he was the Vice President of Engg at EnThink, Wipro’s startup venture. He then left them in May 2000, to join SCM India as President of its India operations, which was one of the two core development centers, worldwide, in the domain of Digital Media and Smart Card readers and terminals. Then in 2006 he stepped out of SCM to create SCOLIS Technologies which later was acquired by the Identiv Group and merged with his former company SCM. He headed the new Identiv Tech Center in India, located in Chennai till 2016, when he retired from hands-on operations.

Victor is married to Sunithy, and they have two grown up children, both of whom are married and are blessed with four grand children. Victor and Sunithy as part of the team of trustees, started and are running Amazing Love Home, a home for the elderly near Chennai, since 2009.

Victor may be contacted at: vjayakaran@gmail.com

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In this episode, Sai Krishna, a serial entrepreneur, who calls himself a metaverse plumber, loves creating interesting applications based on emerging and maturing technologies. In this conversation, he shares

• How a decentralized squad model, working with local partners and having an engineering focus for differentiation would help scale and localize, as needed
• How to build an organization to realize the vision of the founders
• Cadence of 2 weeks or 12 weeks, multi-skilled squads
• Willingness to learn and time to feedback
• A founder’s feelings related to exit decisions
• Founder’s formula: have fun, optimize for joy
• A founder’s job is to make everyone in the team to reflect back and feel the impact of their work
• Metaverse: hype or old wine or something substantial?
• Why 3D printing technology underdelivered on its promise
• How finances (and capital) are critical to help new technologies become practical and increase wide adoption
• How commoditized solutions can trigger a race to the bottom affecting the survivability of a company
• Impact of new technologies on the carbon footprint
• Oblivious, brash and corrective : the three stages of companies operating to exploit new and emerging technologies
• Tips for anyone looking to get deeper into the metaverse ecosystem
• Step1: understand what variables you want to optimize for
• Financial gains, Wealth: building a company is probably the hardest
• Joy of learning being part of an emerging space
• Solving a problem that itches you
• Find a reason to resonate with the cause
• The market also needs to be ready
• Would you see it as a decades long journey, 15 hour days.. Yes, not just as an option to make quick money
• Cobbling a team of like minded lunatics..
• If he chose to be in AI because AI is in his name!

Sai has spent more than 9 years in building deep tech startups. He was an early believer and pioneer in the Metaverse, and built & backed startups in the domain. Notably:

• His Virtual & Augmented Reality venture, Scapic was acquired by Walmart/Flipkart

• He backed a venture studio for the Metaverse, Cope. Studio, which was acquired by Polygon/Matic

• His marketplace for Metaverse assets, Reality Tools, was acquired by MotionPage

Sai currently leads Flipkart Labs, where he focuses on new deep tech initiatives such as Camera (Augmented Reality) & Firedrops (NFTs & Web3) in the Walmart Group. He is currently an advisor at Polygon & Polygon Studios. He is alum of Stanford University Graduate School of Business, recipient of the Indian National Startup Awards and a fellowship recipient from Ondeck.

He's been awarded by organizations such as Facebook, the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards, Wharton and IIM. Sai has delivered 80+ keynotes at international conferences, IIT-Bombay, NSRCEL & more.

When it's not about work, Sai is quintessentially south Indian, with an affinity to dosas and filter coffee. You can reach out to Sai at oho@5saitec.com on anything around building moonshots.

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In this episode, Sai Krishna, a serial entrepreneur, who calls himself a metaverse plumber, loves creating interesting applications based on emerging and maturing technologies. In this conversation, he shares

• His adventures and misadventures in IT
• Hailing from a south Indian family that emphasized education
• Moving to Bangalore to continue his education in RV College
• His attraction to build products, more with an intention of having fun in doing it
• His first product in the education space
• Understanding the need to think like an entrepreneurship and getting sponsored for an entrepreneurship program at Stanford
• Starting his company Scapic - with AR/VR as core technologies and being acquired by Flipkart
• His approach to identifying problems to solve
• Shiny toy syndrome: to pick something that looks cool; these may not be a venture worthy idea
• Choosing a problem that matches your expertise: your and your team’s complementary skills; this helps accelerating to market
• Select entrepreneurs: going after massive market opportunity
• Lousy team, great market, market wins
• Great team , lousy market, market wins
• Great team, great market - nonlinear outcomes
• How to think scale
• Visualizing the finish line: that is not a goal post; focus on the next milestone
• The importance of obsessing over the first cohort for a startup
• The value of creating a playbook after validation and further experimentation with the second and third cohorts
• Differences between B2B and B2C solutions
• How a decentralized squad model, working with local partners and having an engineering focus for differentiation would help scale and localize, as needed

Sai has spent more than 9 years in building deep tech startups. He was an early believer and pioneer in the Metaverse, and built & backed startups in the domain. Notably:

• His Virtual & Augmented Reality venture, Scapic was acquired by Walmart/Flipkart

• He backed a venture studio for the Metaverse, Cope.Studio, which was acquired by Polygon/Matic

• His marketplace for Metaverse assets, Reality Tools, was acquired by MotionPage

Sai currently leads Flipkart Labs, where he focuses on new deep tech initiatives such as Camera (Augmented Reality) & Firedrops (NFTs & Web3) in the Walmart Group. He is currently an advisor at Polygon & Polygon Studios. He is alum of Stanford University Graduate School of Business, recipient of the Indian National Startup Awards and a fellowship recipient from Ondeck.

He's been awarded by organisations such as Facebook, the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards, Wharton and IIM. Sai has delivered 80+ keynotes at international conferences, IIT-Bombay, NSRCEL & more.

When it's not about work, Sai is quintessentially south Indian, with an affinity to dosas and filter coffee.

You can reach out to Sai at oho@5saitec.com on anything around building moonshots.

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In this episode, Usha from PM Power Consulting is in conversation with Chitra and shares her 3 plus decades of experience in software and technology around -

• Working at Raman institute for 10 years, her first exposure to computing
• A research institute expects you to do your own learning, but of course
• Writing programs for 'astronomical' data analysis and structures of crystals in pascal & Fortran,
• Finding logic was easy, testing with missing data and reconstructing it was challenging
• Becoming self-reliant, so finding solutions is now natural
• Building test harnesses from scratch,
• Joining i2 tech in supply chain planning
• Setup the first performance testing lab, getting things started
• Working with resource constraints while setting up the performance lab
• Learned how software products were sold, understanding product ROI
• Learning from Eliyahu Goldratt's book and seeing those principles applied in product development
• Customer experiences & product delivery
• A stint in Australia via Siemens in the telecom domain - testing & system integration
• The evolution towards collective responsiblity from specialized roles & functions
• Concept of quality and embracing culture around it, getting people aligned around quality goals
• Views on establishing test procedures, measuring effectiveness & ROI
• Customer experiences right under their noses
• Importance of building the right teams
• Important to follow your heart & passion

Usha is a Consultant with PM Power. She has worked for companies like Tech Mahindra, Siemens and Mindtree before founding LastMile Consulting Technology Solutions.

She has been a practitioner of Agile for 15+ years. She trains and helps large teams adopt agile methods

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In this episode, Abhay Havaldar shares his story and experiences related to:

• Starting his IT career with a role in testing software and going on to play other roles of marketing support and sales
• Product management and support with a dealing room package
• Always willing to experiment and joining a venture capital firm - Draper International
• Early stage investing, General Atlantic, India - and a boutique investment firm
• Why he got into IT
• How he positions an IT solution to a prospective client
• His experience of product management, explained in today’s terminology, as Software as a Service
• His experience with developing software solutions under a contract and the benefit of listening skills to add context to contracts
• The power users wield in product led growth models
• His starting out being a venture capitalist as a partner directly with the legendary Bill Draper
• His approach of investing in the plan first, than the market opportunity that is forecast
• The importance of evaluating all risks and being humble
• His thoughts on scaling startups and the Powerlocker model adopted by his form
• His views on reviews by investors in the context of fundraising and context of goals
• How he approaches theme based investing
• His approach to learning from others
• Being wrong is a great time to learn
• His experience and perspectives on the social sector
• The importance of being comfortable with storytelling, particularly for entrepreneurs

Experienced Board Member with a demonstrated history of working in the venture capital and private equity industry. Skilled in Corporate Finance, Venture Capital, Investment Banking, Strategy. Strong business development professional with a MSc (Sloan Fellow) focused in Business Administration and Management, General from London Business School.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhay-havaldar-a4a46523/

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In this episode, K Nageswara Rao - known as KNR - shares his story and experiences related to:

• Four threads related to his career
• Individual contributor, team leader
• Connecting digital switches in the telecom industry; each switch being a digital exchange
• Traveling to locations that he is not supposed to talk about, due to security reasons
• Joining Tata Unisys and learning a lot in terms of working with teams
• Working on the operating system : Unix SVr4
• Moving to the Solaris OS group with Sun microsystems
• Creating a community for Open Solaris, engaging with various stakeholders, including students
• Next thread: leading R&D and product teams in India for large multinational organizations
• Gaining ability to work with people
• Fundamental challenges faced by him 20-25 years ago, still existing
• Third thread: driving innovation culture
• Fourth thread: influencing people’s lives: through processes and systems in companies or through coaching
• Quitting a corporate job to start - What is my North - a coaching company, continuing to help individuals grow
• How he combines or switches between working with people or with machines [embedded or systems software] using systems thinking
• How it helps when one abstracts specifics and infers patterns
• Asking open ended questions and helping people figure out the answers
• About the impact of not having direct customer connect and experience, when developing products and solutions
• Importance of the ability to pay attention to detail and not jump to conclusions
• How an articulated shared vision by the leaders enables every individual to rally around a larger cause
• The need to accept contrarian views
• How humility is a strong characteristic for a great leader
• Establishing genuine connections with people
• If humility a trainable skill
• How humility can co-exist with confidence
• If it was easier to connect computers, compared to connecting people
• Creating an environment where people want to help others
• The role of constructive or creative dissonance in nurturing great communities
• Compassion being the common theme between being line managers and being a coach
• Creating a startup culture within a large organization
• Aspects related to product leadership
• What he has enjoyed being in IT
• His career tips for people considering a career in IT or mid-career professionals

After 34 years of a strong leadership career in IT, KNR decided to pursue his passion for helping people achieve success. When he quit his job as VP of Engineering in Unisys last year he started “What’s My North?”, to help people achieve success through Personal Transformation. Before Unisys, KNR has worked in Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Tata Unisys and ITI, primarily in Embedded Systems and Operating Systems.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayenarr/

thecoachknr@gmail.com

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In this episode, Karl Hughes, founder and CEO of Draft.dev, shares

• Starting his career, working with startups as a software engineer
• Taking on engineering management and CTO roles
• Covid triggering a shift to get into technical writing for developers
• How to think of documentation for developers, as an intentional activity
• His views on Agile approaches and documentation and the need to right size the documentation
• How the product maturity influences the need and depth of documentation
• Why writing is the most effective way to document and communicate
• His thoughts on effectiveness of visual communication
• Writing for a diverse audience and the role of video for communicating with developers
• Importance of reviews and feedback for greater effectiveness of written content
• How he got interested in writing
• If writing is a teachable or learnable skill
• How he balances and manages his time between the maker and manager modes of working
• His experience with Shark Tank, when his company was invited to pitch at Shark Tank
• Working with a global, distributed team of software engineers
• Whether audio has a role to play as a medium for communicating with developers
• His career tips for getting into writing

Bio: Karl Hughes is a former software engineer and CTO in Chicago. He is now the Founder and CEO of Draft.dev, a specialized technical marketing agency that creates content designed to reach software engineers.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KarlLHughes

Draft.dev writer application: https://draft.dev/write

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In this second  part of the conversation with an IT industry veteran, Satyendra Kumar, he shares

• His perspective on Agile approaches
• Agile approaches are good for certain contexts such as: products, supported by DevOps and other techniques
• May still be reluctant for systems such as critical, real-time systems [nuclear, aircraft etc]
• For services work, need to be careful; unless there is a strong risk management approach, it may be risky to use Agile approaches
• Examples from his experiences in helping large organizations
• His approach to understanding an organization to enable change, by starting with a business problem
• His tips to address data quality and quantity, by looking at the metrics system and identifying the right lead indicators
• The need for the quality function to learn and evolve
• A sneak peek into his upcoming book on building excellence in organizations

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In this first part of the conversation with an IT industry veteran, Satyendra Kumar, he shares

• Coming from a humble background and doing his initial education in a village
• Getting into Delhi University based on his good academic performance
• Having to take up a job, to meet some family needs
• How he chose a job in a defence agency and rising to a senior level
• Leaving his job and getting into consulting and quality
• Setting up the Tata Business Excellence Model for the group
• Working with different business units in different domains
• Switching to an IT organization before joining and spending 14 years at Infosys
• Continuing to work with different organizations post retirement from Infosys
• How learning came naturally to him, particularly in very new, challenging and different environments
• How he gains confidence about being able to do anything, amidst uncertainty
• The experience based on a major decision to switch from the comforts of a government jab, to a small apartment in a distant suburb
• How he thinks scale in conceiving and implementing organization wide initiatives, while making sure he has enough bandwidth to plan for the future and growing his team to 700
• His experience of recruiting people from non IT organizations
• How to get comfortable with delegation, with trust in the team
• His experience of creating an awareness and acceptance of processes among technical teams
• The tendency in quality professionals to become more of audit persons than having a direct connect with the senior leadership, to help them steer the business
• Why there should be shared goals for improvement between the quality function and the business units

In the next part, Kumar shares the answer to the question on his experience and perspectives related to Agile approaches and many more interesting points. Do not miss that..

Independent Advisor and Consultant to several large and medium scale institutions and enterprises since 2013. Was the Global Head and Senior Vice President– Productivity & Quality, Technology Tools & Software Reuse at Infosys Limited ( 2000 – 2013). Worked as Vice President at IMR Global, USA between 1998 and 2000. Worked as Deputy Chief Executive for Tata Quality Management Services – Tata Group between 1996 and 1998. Has consulted for over 50 national and multi-national clients in areas of Business Excellence, Operational Efficiencies, Customer Satisfaction Management, Business Continuity Management, Project and Program Management, and Quality Management. Had been Board member ( QuEST USA) , On the Panel of Judges - Wisconsin State Award ( USA) , Administrative Reforms Committee of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and Chief Technical Advisor to the Confederation of Indian Industry – Institute of Quality.

Has been a recipient of IEEE-Software Engineering Institute ( Carnegie Mellon University) International award (2011) and honoured with the “ Life Time Achievement Award for Quality and Business Excellence “ by a IT Industry association

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In this episode, Harish Achappa KM shares

• Choosing mechanical engineering as a subject of study and getting into TCS engineering services
• Working on valves and compressors
• Getting into programming as part if his work
• The experience of having a paid vacation in Italy!
• How his interest in programming developed after starting to use C, C++ as a hobby
• Noticing differences in projects done at client locations v/s in India
• Working directly with users and feeding off the energy based on common questions
• Getting quicker feedback
• Understanding that some of the work cannot be done remotely
• Avoiding assumptions and getting clarifications in context
• Requesting to work in a development project
• Getting an opportunity to work on a public infrastructure project
• Learning the value and benefit of parametrization while programming
• Taking some time to find his feet in a fully software coding role
• His experience of taking up a product manager role, enabled by his ability to ask a lot of clarifying questions
• On product thinking, even for an enterprise solution
• His career advice
• Curiosity and willingness to learn: drive
• Consolidating the learnings
• Taking the responsibility for one’s frustrations
• Are you motivated to build, generate ideas or both

Harish is a product manager with over 23 years of experience; he has been a developer, boot-strapped a firm and been a consultant.

You can reach him at https://www.linkedin.com/in/hachappa/

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In this episode, Brij Sethi, a Principal Consultant at PM Power, shares

• His growing up days in Pantnagar, near NainiTal
• His passion for reading books
• His liking for mathematics and wanting to be an engineer
• Being bitten by the electronics bug and electronics engineering in college
• Joining a masters in management in systems in IIM Ahmedabad
• Learning Transactional Analysis
• Getting into a project to make ECG machines as an engineer, forgetting his MBA
• Joining WIPRO in 1993 and working on many challenging projects
• His strong feeling in 1998 to be a facilitator, including facilitating 6 sigma projects
• Taking up the CTO role with HP, and enabling filing a record number of patents across teams
• Wanting to teach and getting back to Wipro
• Creating education related media and starting a company
• How he connects various ideas picked up from books and other sources, by letting go
• Be simple in what he has to share
• Using Obsidian to keep connected points
• Making conscious efforts to digest what he reads
• Applying TA in business contexts
• Transitions across different ways or states of thinking
• Consciously spending time in capturing his state of mind before switching states
• Being low on J orientation, can accept contradictions and unresolved stuff
• Tip from his mentor: Need to wear a facilitator hat and outcome hat
• His experience of working in a social sector context
• A story on the approach of influencing with PowerPoint slides
• Why, Who and What - three questions for a facilitation session
• Creating an empty space for ownership
• The experience of a father-son founding team
• The trigger and satisfaction on launching his podcast
• His career advice
• Leave yourself open, take some risks

Brij is a Principal Consultant with PM Power. He has worked for Wipro and HP for many years and more recently founded a Media Studio to make educational content. He facilitated deep expertise in HP during his tenure as CTO. The number of patents filed in 1 year went up from 6 to 184.

Brij is a trained in group facilitation. He helps agile practitioners do personal action planning, undo team dysfunctions by themselves and dream a future by tinkering to a customer context. He also talks about career readiness in his podcast - Ready to work - on brijsethi.com.

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In this episode, Thyagarajan, known as Raja - a Senior Management Executive and Chief Operating Officer with nearly 4 decades of experience in the IT industry involving International and multi-cultural environments, shares his story including points related to:

• How his uncle and brother were influential in getting into software after doing an MS in management
• Being part of a team that started a company, and being an entrepreneur without knowing it
• Being a pioneer in the Indian IT industry, by having an approach of creating tools to improve development productivity or products to solve customer problems
• Innovating techniques to create solutions, long before others, when there were no standards to do some things
• Challenges of running a company that offered professional services as well as products
• Transitioning from a developer to more managerial roles
• Some of the lessons learned in being an entrepreneur
• Applying technology based thinking to create generic solutions
• Testing in a development environment versus running in a production environment and related lessons learnt
• Balancing and prioritizing requests from various users and having a process to build the solution in an evolutionary manner
• The ways in which software development has changed over the years
• What it takes for someone to shift from a service / project mindset to a product mindset

Raja is a Senior Management Executive and Chief Operating Officer with nearly 4 decades of experience in the IT industry involving International and multi-cultural environments.

His experience includes:

Managing operations of an IT company, with its offshore center in India and marketing/sales offices in the US, that has over 200 employees.

Handling IT projects and product development hands-on combined with heading the operations, ensures understanding of the operations in Toto.

All round leadership experience of managing all aspects of the business - S&M, Technology, Delivery, HR and Finance.

Innovatively creating products and services and delivering through hands on leadership

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In this episode, Muktesh Murthy, a practice head in the information security space, shares his story and touches upon

• Doing his schooling in many places, as his father was in the Army
• His interest in accounts, commerce and economics and hospitality management
• Starting his career in hotel management and then getting into a computer course, as he wanted to get into roles where he can directly influence the results
• Doing some development work, then managing an account and later on becoming an information security professional
• His motivation to acquire various certifications and desire to learn from everyone
• How he expanded his knowledge around standards, as new specializations were introduced in the areas of information security, business continuity etc
• His style of working where he prefers to sit with teams and help them create relevant documents, so that they are confident of doing it themselves in the future
• How he balances the need to be objectively critical and at the same time, nurture positive relationships with people
• The importance of getting and sharing the big picture with the entire team
• How the SHE policy has been incorporated into every meeting
• Outthinking the attackers
• Career tips to become an infosec professional

An MBA, PMP and ITIL certified professional with over 29 years of overall experience of which over 26 years has been in the Information Technology field and 3 years in the Hospitality Industry. Presently working as Practice Head in Tech Mahindra, Bangalore.

The 26+ years in IT has seen rich and diverse experience in Information Security, Risk and Compliance, Process Consulting, Delivery Management, Program and Project Management, Operations Management, Vendor Management, Account Management and Quality management to name a few. Have extensive experience in domains like Insurance, Logistics, Manufacturing, Health Care, Education etc.

Presently the past president at the Project Management Institute (PMI) Bangalore Chapter from Jan 2022 to Dec 2021. Served as the President of PMI Bangalore from April 2020 to Dec 2021 and on the board since 2015.

His certifications include

• Project Management: PMP, Prince2Agile Practitioner, SAFe Agilist

• Service Management: ITIL Intermediate, ITIL Foundation, ISO 20000-1

• Compliance: PCI-DSS, COBIT, ISO 27001, ISO 22301, ISO 27701, ISO 9001

• MBA: IT and Marketing

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In this episode Cynthia Swarnalatha Vice President – Engineering, SW CoE, Compute Business Group & HPE India Site R&D leader, is in conversation with Chitra Gurjar on a variety of stories and matters that that span 3 decades and include

• Choosing to study computer science with her love of math, being the 2nd batch of CompSc graduates from her college
• Having a “give-it-my-best” approach and curiosity to learn attitude starting with a role in customer tech support
• Navigating learning, delivering and communication by reaching out to people, asking questions and consciously looking at “What I can do differently”?
• Plunging into new roles and a 3 yr self-checkpoint rhythm to see where she is
• Transition from IC to manager roles and embracing the decision making challenge
• Being a “customer first” person in all roles she has played
• Keeping focus on the problem space - an approach to customer driven innovation
• Her view on “iterative development” and agile in large organizations
• Managing transformations
• Managing global teams
• 4 point message for aspirants in tech - anticipate change, adaptability, curiosity and passion

A global engineering leader with over 3 decades of experience spanning various technology domains. Cynthia’s diverse career includes roles with many enterprise organizations like Wipro, Motorola, Cisco, NetApp, [24]7.ai, Intuit, Pega Systems and now at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. She has led diverse functional teams in Product Development, Quality Assurance, Engineering tools & infrastructure, Solutions Delivery and Operations.

She has also led global engineering charters out of India and has been recognized for organizational transformation, institutionalizing processes, building high performing teams and creating an exemplary work culture within the teams I led. She’s passionate about driving value through strategic growth, ownership and delivery of key product development and innovation.

She is a strong champion of Diversity & Inclusion and has been the executive sponsor for the Technical Women’s community in her previous companies. She has served on the NASSCOM Regional Product Council for Karnataka, and has been part of ABI’s Grace Hopper India Conference advisory council.

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In this episode, Scott Schober, the president and CEO of Berkeley Varitronics Systems shares his experiences related to:

• Getting into the family business years ago, in niche areas solutions in wireless and security / cyber security
• Starting in 6th grade to learn about electronics
• Pivoted from wireless test equipment, shifted more towards security
• Being surrounded by electronics, computer etc in the home-based enterprise
• Playing on the Atari as a kid and getting interested
• How he always encourages people when they're looking for a career to not  look for something that's just going to make you a lot of money  or it's flashy or this or that, or it is the trend, but find something that one would love to do because when one wakes up every morning one will  get excited because one is  challenged.
• How one can learn by identifying bugs in other people’s code
• How some requests from customers triggered the idea of using cell phones to locate people that led to the development of a product Wolfhound Pro
• How satisfying it was to know that this product helped locate a person who was buried under 2.5 meters of snow
• How being a hardware / firmware company creating niche solutions and leveraging software has led to many innovations
• How another of their technologies help prevent railroad accidents caused by texting while driving a train
• How he strongly feels that using technology for good to make a difference is very important.
• Using firmware based solutions to thwart cybersecurity threats
• How he gets targeted, as he educates people on handling cyberthreats
• Why one needs to get into the mind of a cyber criminal to develop solutions to stop them
• How they came up with a unique solution to detect mobile phones, even when they are switched off, in prison environments
• How an innovative device to detect phone activity has been successfully applied to prevent exam fraud by students
• His career advice for people aspiring to get into cybersecurity
• His brilliant tip on putting out misinformation on social media about oneself.. You should not miss this

Scott Schober is the President and CEO of Berkeley Varitronics Systems, a 50-year-old, New Jersey-based provider of advanced, world-class wireless test and security solutions. He is the author of three best-selling security books: Hacked Again, Cybersecurity is Everybody’s Business, and Senior Cyber.  Scott is a highly sought-after author and expert for live security events, media appearances, and commentary on the topics of ransomware, wireless threats, drone surveillance and hacking, cybersecurity for consumers, and small business. He is often seen on ABC News, Bloomberg TV, Al Jazeera America, CBS This Morning News, CNN, Fox Business, and many more networks.  Scott also serves as the CSO and Chief Media Commentator for Cybersecurity Ventures and is a Senior Advisor for Cyberlitica.

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In this conversation with Shiv, Tarush Aggarwal, CEO at 5X, shares his experience and views on:

• Starting as a software engineer and realizing that his interest lay in the bigger picture
• Working on a benchmarking application that later became an analytics theme
• Discovering the big picture from a lot of detailed data
• How zooming in and out of data lets one discover insights
• Data engineering being the bridge between business and the engineering team
• Handling unstructured data and data warehousing based on SQL
• Unstructured data still having some niche applications
• Having the contextual information on top of data
• Predictive analytics is like building a skyscraper
• It takes time to understand the company’s data to start having effective models
• His trigger moment to turn entrepreneur: being in Bali on the first day of covid
• Why 5X as the name for his company - inspired by Robin Sharma
• An unfamiliar familiar feeling - turning CEO
• Working with people and emotions as well as data without emotions
• Tips for people consuming data based solutions
• Why one should focus on data as a key strategy for any company
• His tips for people considering a career in data : where the playbook is just getting started to be written : #the moderndatastack

Tarush is one of the leading experts in leveraging data for exponential growth, with over ten years of experience in the field.

After graduating with a degree in Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon in 2011, he became the first data engineer on the analytics team at Salesforce.com. Data was in its infancy, and the log metric framework which Tarush built was critical in allowing Salesforce to analyze data across customers and provide benchmarks across different industries and verticals.

Most recently Tarush led Data for WeWork. WeWork leveraged data to be able to grow 10x in 3 years, supporting a footprint of 800+ offices in 120+ cities in 23+ countries with over 12,000 employees, making WeWork one of the fastest-growing companies in the world. Tarush scaled the data org from 2 to 100+ and their unique approach allowed them to stay lean while supporting every functional area of the business. In 2019 he moved to China to help establish WeWork’s Asia operations and focus on the hyper-growing Chinese market.

Social handles & reachout email -

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyOHdgLesV3FesXXl9-8V_w

Twitter - https://twitter.com/DataWith5x

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/datawith5x/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/DataWith5x

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/datawith5x

Email - hello@5x.co

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In this episode, Chitra is in conversation with Baiju Joseph, Product Operations leader where he shares events from his career

• Starting out at AIR (All India Radio) as a broadcasting engineer & self-learning programming , developing a few apps for his workplace
• Work break after joining Novell, getting the latest and best system test training, and leadership training, acknowledging the influence of mentors
• Doing various leadership roles at Ariba, handling delivery, setting up quality engineering, dev ops, labs & teams and handling operations as well as facilities for the India development centre
• Being part of the initial leadership team, setting up the right culture and building people focused teams
• How he has assimilated and practiced Agile values and principles through his career and learning how to setup “distributed agile”
• Discussing innovative methods to help companies adopt and realise benefits of agile software development, including street plays
• Leading the quality engineering group at Yahoo, for emerging products, setting up quality engineering team, release engineering team
• Lessons from building products, starting with the “Why” and trying to share the same “belief systems” between customers and producers
• New product evolution experience
• Reminiscing events that didnt quite pan out as they should have and reflections
• Building and ecosystem for tolerance, early failure detection through dev ops chains & microservices, canary practices and deployments, sensing signals, the canary confidence factors, zero touch deployments
• Hire for attitude and train for skills, a learning from his past and other messages for young aspirants

Baiju Joseph Thalupadath is working as a Product Operations leader with a large US telecom company. Prior to that Baiju was working with Yahoo Small Business leading the Quality & DevOps teams. He has around 20+ years of IT experience. Prior to Yahoo, Baiju has experience working with Ariba Inc , Novell Inc and the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.

Baiju Joseph is a proven Engineering leader with a unique mix of Quality Engineering, DevOps, Production Engineering and Software Development leadership experience. He has extensive experience leading agile, CI/CD/CT, and DevOps transformations. Baiju has built and led global teams shaping the culture of collaboration, customer focus, and velocity.

Baiju is a seasoned Agile coach. Delivered talks on Agile, DevOps, Quality Engineering, Leadership, Website performance etc... in conferences, industry forums, and universities.

He holds an M.S. in Software Systems from BITS, Pilani, B Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering and Diploma in Management.

Email : baijuglad@yahoo.com

LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/baijujoseph/

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In this conversation - as part of the Women’s month in 2022 - Shiv is in conversation with Poornima Shenoy, CEO - Hummingbird Advisors.

Poornima shares her thoughts and experiences related to:

• Wanting to be in advertising when she started to work 30 years ago
• Starting her own company - Nexus - into recruitment and getting Wipro and Infosys as their first customers
• How the IT industry grew by attracting people with non IT backgrounds and how passion and integrity were the key skills that helped them succeed
• How her gut has always played a key role in her success - a combination of hard work and some luck
• Not sure if you can develop your gut, no substitute for hard work
• Her career in three phases : entrepreneur, Corporate world - for profit companies, not-for-profit world NASSCOM Semiconductor Association,
• Her experience in setting up the India Semiconductor Association, a first of its kind in India
• Her perception of differences between software and hardware professionals, without stereotyping
• Entry of women into the sector is not so much of a problem as it is to retain them in the sector
• WFH: problem to find physical space for people who live in shared spaces’ but it is a plus when people needed to run around to manage day to day chores
• There are benefits that come with a corporate job; but, as an entrepreneur, nothing can be taken for granted to enable switching off
• First time entrepreneurship was because she could not get along with her boss
• Women should not hesitate to talk about money: salary, funding, accounts etc
• About her book for women entrepreneurs: wanting to write from her teenage years, but kept postponing it after some other milestone
• Name of the book: ‘Accelerating her business’
• Her experience in getting funding as a woman entrepreneur
• Starting conversations first with your family

Poornima Shenoy Is the CEO of Hummingbird Advisors which works with young companies. She is on the Boards of 4 companies –Dixon, NSEIT, Co-Forge BPM, and Padget Electronics. She is a TiE Charter Member and a British Chevening Scholar.

Poornima is the Co-author of Accelerating Her Business which focuses on women's entrepreneurship.She lives in Bangalore with her family.

Twitter:@PornimaShenoy

linkedin.com/in/poornimashenoy

Email: poornimashenoy0@gmail.com

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In this episode, Gayatri is in conversation with Jaya Vaidhyanathan, CEO BCT DIgital . She shared her story, experiences and thoughts related to:

• How she started her career as an investment banker in wall street and moved to Accenture and HCL to head their large deal space in the financial sector
• With her technology background and her financial acumen, she found her footing in several leadership roles in HCL, Accenture and Standard Chartered
• After holding several executive posts, Jaya looked for opportunities where she can contribute back to the country
• Her organization BCT Digital builds products using the latest digital technologies including the predicting analytics and AI Space.
• She shares her early exposure by her mother to talk on different podiums that made her find it easier to articulate on any topic
• As an entrepreneur, she views her role as dream convertor. When employees join the startup, they are putting their livelihoods at stake and Jaya often feels that any questions that the team is asking needs to be answered
• Jaya uses the term - more you chip the stone, sculpture emerges and that’s a team effort
• Creating a compelling journey and excited about the vision of where you want to take the org is the formula she finds it her mantra
• She shares some stories on how you can create support system and help them be part of your journey
• Having dogged focus despite having struggles is something she learnt, particularly moving from executive leadership to an entrepreneur
• Hard work is not the same as perseverance. Everyone works hard, Perseverance is when you keep at it when things are not moving the way you want it
• Focus is about building expertise and able to stay the course
• Being an intern has helped her understand the next AI technology or the Web3.0 with a new lens.
• Perseverance, Discipline and Focus along with Tossing aside your Ego is her mantra
• Smiles come when roadblocks are removed and big goals are achieved. She attributes her mom for being a constant inspiration to where she is.

Jaya is currently the CEO of BCT Digital. BCT Digital is a global technology company specializing in digital transformation, predictive analytics, and AI space for the Banking and Financial Services Industry. With over two decades of experience in large organizations like HCL, Accenture, and Standard Chartered Bank globally, she has been instrumental in building businesses from the ground up and transforming them into multi-billion-dollar businesses and building team of 60000 + employees. At Accenture, as its Managing Partner for its Financial Services business, she was part of the seeding team to build Accenture India. Jaya has served on the boards of Mahindra Sanyo Steel and Altran. Currently, she serves on the board of UTI Asset Management Company and IndiGrid and NGO boards such as Mastermind Foundation and Kaarwan Foundation. Jaya holds an MBA in Finance & Strategy from Cornell University, the USA, and a BE in Computer Science & Engineering from Madras University, India. She is also a CFA Charter Holder.

Jaya can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaya-vaidhyanathan-26039510/

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In this episode, Shiv is in conversation with Anjali, a 11 year old girl, who has been into coding since she was 7. Anjali shares:

• Her interest in horses and dogs, and other interests
• How she got into coding
• Calling herself an introvert, but enjoying competition
• Using logic to interact with animals
• What she likes and doesn't like about coding
• Creating a tic-tac-toe to play with an AI opponent
• About writing programs alone or with others sometimes
• How she comes up with ideas when entering a competition
• Where programming can be applied
• How she finds time to program.. Do not miss it!
• How she influenced a friend to learn coding
• The pranks she and her friend play during online classes
• What she would love to be known for : making a robot that passes the turing test
• Her experience with using big computers
• How she gets into a calm state of mind - to write programs or even in other situations
• How to get a 5 year old to start coding
• If there is a difference between boys and girls on how they learn coding
• On programming as a class subject and as a hobby
• Her message for older women in IT

Anjali Jayaraman is in Grade 7 and lives in Chennai. She loves horse riding and puppies. She is good at debating. Besides coding, her favourite activity is to create worlds in Minecraft and play video games.

Her project ‘Toothzy’ was chosen for 'Best Design/UI’ in the 2021 California AI + Healthcare Summit Ideathon competition.

https://www.girlscomputingleague.org/

Link to the project: https://youtu.be/xxwI36-weJs

Certificate https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LBiLp47trP28jvIfuv_c3Jwlj3nERAQY/view?usp=drivesdk

She got a $700 scholarship for ‘Introduction to Quantum Computing for High school Students’ https://www.qubitbyqubit.org/

Her idol is Warren Buffet and she wants to be either an entrepreneur or an Investor in technology business when she grows up.

Her other projects: https://youtu.be/UlcywVyvWxM Teaching AI to Shakespeare: To AI or not to AI

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In this conversation, Krupa, a senior HR professional, shared her story, experiences and thoughts related to:

• Her first job, by chance, to get into IT training
• Moving to software firms later
• Having a natural inclination to be in HR
• Her family [of HR people]
• How the relationship between HR and technical persons has evolved over the years
• Increasing use of analytics by HR
• Data alone cannot be the basis for interacting with an individual
• How the first level or reporting manager is the starting point for HR
• How organizations are sensitive to an individual's natural preference for a career path to grow
• Addressing challenges in working with peers till yesterday, team members today
• Her experience with managing mergers and acquisitions, from a cultural integration perspective of teams and individuals
• Making rules apply seamlessly with the global and local contexts being taken into consideration
• Need for empathy, listening abilities to make the new employees feel included and treated fairly
• How she de-stresses and some of her hobbies
• Options for technical persons taking up a HR role or HR persons taking up business responsibilities
• The indeed to invest in oneself into the chosen line and constantly upskill

An HR professional with over 20 years of experience. Still excited to learn the ever changing human dynamics at work place. Working with HCL over 15 years and currently as Associate Vice President HR heading Industry Software and IoT WoRKS.

A person filled with few hobbies that believe is a must to keep one Alive and enthusiastic. An avid biker, a poet, an amateur Singer and blog little joys of life.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/krupa-n-s-694655/

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In this episode, Gayatri is in conversation with Joseph Wong, General Manager, Asia Pacific & Japan, OpenLegacy and Board Member of AppSolute Ltd talks about his career journey, Joseph shares

• Born in Hong Kong, moved to Canada to complete his studies and worked in the US, Australia and now working in Hong Kong
• Joseph understood early on that he enjoyed working in smaller companies and scaling it
• His consulting experiences helped him enjoy very different domains starting from gaming to CRM and Middle tier and talent management functional domains
• His success mantra is to understand the domain as deeply as possible and build competencies in self. This ensures that he’s never bored
• Along with functional domain changes Joseph shares changing from technology to pre-sales to sales and executive leadership roles he has taken in different parts of the career
• Joseph shares that moving continents was easy from the work but convincing family and personal settings
• Joseph set up the Australian team for his firm. He shares balancing the growth and setup the culture with the right people and continuously making the right decisions. He uses the taking the Long Term View
• He considers himself as a generalist and becomes an pseudo expert in the area
• Every role that he has played has helped him understand the world better and ensuring problems a little better
• Being in sales has made Joseph to become a likeable person and goes with a mindset of understanding the customer’s problem and solve a bit even if a sale doesn’t happen.
• Joseph shares that he consciously doesn't over promise and that has helped in forging great relationship
• World is changing from descriptive to predictive to prescriptive in nature. Technology is going to change to a point people will have a lot of time in their hands and work on what they like and are passionate about
• Its important to move out of our comfort zone even if change is hard.
• If you are not growing, you are falling behind

Joseph has over 20 years of global management, sales and consulting experience, his main career objective to play a pivotal role at the C-Suite while driving hyper-growth for organizations with ambition in Asia. Entrepreneurial at heart, Joseph has a track record of thrice orchestrating the hockey stick growth trajectory of companies in Asia Pacific. The rare combination of logic, creativity and empathy renders Joseph an ideal leader in attracting and motivating top talent to surpass corporate objectives. Joseph loves working in smaller companies compared to large firms and that

As a thought leader in IT middleware, cloud computing and human capital realms, Joseph is an active public speaker, executive advisor and author of various publications.

When not in the office, he enjoys scuba diving and snowboarding. Mathematical teasers, poker games and reading are his other favorite pastimes.

Joseph can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephwong/

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In this episode Shiv continues the conversation with Jacob Kurian, an Indian IT industry veteran and presently Hon. Secretary, The Association of People with Disability, Bangalore.

In the previous episode, Jacob talked about a cold-relationship with a senior executive at Unisys and how that changed. He mentioned a call received from GE to explore the possibility of getting software developed in India.

Jacob shares:

• What happened to the GE opportunity and how that was a significant event for the Indian IT services industry
• His personal decision to return to India in 1993
• Joining Titan Industries as CMO and CIO
• Learning how difficult it is to get users to converge on IT requirements
• From a software services company to in house IT services, where production issues can be seen to impact core business
• His answer to the question: What does it take a techie to become an entrepreneur
• Need for short release, validate cycles and not making good the enemy of perfect

Jacob Kurian was an unintentional entrant into the fledgling Indian IT sector in 1984 and had a front row seat, as it transformed from a largely augmented staffing model to the global powerhouse it is today. Tata Burroughs, later Tata Unisys as the largest MNC in the sector, played a pioneering role in establishing offshore development, turnkey end-to-end software projects and even India’s first financial sector products, decades ahead of Finacle and others. After great success in leading the largest business group for software services in Tata Unisys, he returned to India in 1993 with the intention of leaving the IT sector and looking for new career challenges. He made the radical shift to watches and jewelry at Titan Company. While he rose to CMO and later COO at Titan, he was also tasked with revamping the information systems at Titan. In four years as CIO of Titan, he gained some invaluable insights into the challenges that large end users face in a rapidly changing technology environment. Post retirement, as the Hon Secretary of an NGO, he is wrestling with the challenges of bringing technology to the development sector where tech talent and budgets are non-existent.

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In this episode, Shiv is in conversation with Jacob Kurian, an Indian IT industry veteran and presently Hon. Secretary, The Association of People with Disability, Bangalore.

Jacob has so many stories to share, that we decided to publish this in 2 parts.

In the first part, Jacob shares

• His early childhood and how his father was a great influence in his wanting to be an engineer
• What his life lessons were, staying in a hostel for further schooling
• His first role related to project management in the construction industry and how he did not like that much
• But, a couple of times later in the career, how this experience created opportunities for new roles
• Taking the role of a product manager in one of the earliest, successful products in the forex and money market space in the international market
• The opportunity he had to wear a sales and marketing cap, even though he calls himself an introvert and set up and streamline the sales activities in the US region
• How he was ignored by a new person who had taken over professional services, who should have been his customer
• And how a large opportunity from GE changed this person’s equation with Jacob

Just as things got more interesting, and Jacob started to share the story of GE’s entry into India for outsourcing, we ran out of time for an episode.

Please listen to the first part of his story in this episode and do not forget to listen to the next episode, that will feature the second part of our conversation - where he shared what happened with the GE opportunity and his transition to a manufacturing company as CIO and Marketing head.

Of course, if you subscribe to the Software People Stories on your favorite podcast client, you will be notified when the next episode is published in a week.

Listen on!

Jacob Kurian was an unintentional entrant into the fledgling Indian IT sector in 1984 and had a front row seat, as it transformed from a largely augmented staffing model to the global powerhouse it is today. Tata Burroughs, later Tata Unisys as the largest MNC in the sector, played a pioneering role in establishing offshore development, turnkey end-to-end software projects and even India’s first financial sector products, decades ahead of Finacle and others. After great success in leading the largest business group for software services in Tata Unisys, he returned to India in 1993 with the intention of leaving the IT sector and looking for new career challenges. He made the radical shift to watches and jewelry at Titan Company. While he rose to CMO and later COO at Titan, he was also tasked with revamping the information systems at Titan. In four years as CIO of Titan, he gained some invaluable insights into the challenges that large end users face in a rapidly changing technology environment. Post retirement, as the Hon Secretary of an NGO, he is wrestling with the challenges of bringing technology to the development sector where tech talent and budgets are non-existent.

Can be reached @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-kurian-9881a510/

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In this episode, Gayatri is in conversation with Kartic Vaidyanathan, Founder of Play 2 Learn and visiting faculty at IIT Madras shared his journey

• Talks about accidentally becoming part of the technology journey due to the sheer popularity of studying in a premier institute
• Kartic shares the story of becoming a visiting faculty teaching life and coping skills in IIT Madras
• Kartic shares the need for EQ and life skills are needed to build better adults and he also credits for the visionaries in the college to encourage non-engineering courses
• Kartic also talks about the need for one to be having directional awareness of oneself
• Kartic talks about the evolution of quality engineering through his journey in the product and services sector
• Kartic narrates his start up journey being highly energetic and ‘Being an average of the people around you’
• Decisions around why he shifted from a product org to a services sector and staying out of your comfort zone and being in the learning zone
• Neutral way of looking at the code was the need that exploded testing and validation services
• Spent about 15 years in software delivery before chancing upon gamified learning, which he has been practicing for the last 12 years. ( last 4 years full time ).
• Learning has shifted just like the evolution of testing
• Games provide a fail safe environment and makes a smaller area of learning from each other and creating games to the level of the learner within the same batch
• Learning in a classroom also moving from a command control to a democratic view of the world
• Kartic advocates, everyone to identify their passions and cultivate curiosity and quotes Thomas Friedmans' advice passion Quotient(PQ) + Curiosity Quotient (CQ) > Intelligence Quotient( IQ)
• Kartic also talks about the 4 pillars one should always focus on lifelong and cherish - fitness, relationships, learning+Skill and spiritual growth

Kartic as Consultant: As a part of LetsPlayToLearn, we help clients from corporates and educational institutions enable joyful learning through the power of play/games. This provides a fail-safe environment, encourages a growth mindset, and provides motivational elements especially when topics are monotonous or difficult. Depending on the problem, situation, and domain, we have help with a variety of solutions that include simulation games, game platforms, board/card games, activity games, and many more. We also have tie-ups with a lot of industry-leading channel partners in this space.

Kartic in Teaching: Co-facilitates sessions on LifeSkills, HHS (Habits, Happiness, and Success) at IIT Madras students. These are much-needed skills that most individuals of our generation learnt the hard way navigating life but are now made available (at least some exposure) to UG students at the start of their careers.

The conversation with Dr. Ramya that is referred in this podcast can be accessed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDwrzD-sux4

Refernce to Tom Friedman’s advice https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/deloitte-review/issue-21/tom-friedman-interview-jobs-learning-future-of-work.html

Kartic can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/karticv/

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In this episode, Gayatri is in conversation with Prakash Bulusu, Vice President Customer Behavior Analytics at Amazon Inc.

• Prakash works with Peta bytes of data on a regular basis to identify and predict what consumers would like to use
• His early memory of computers started with using AC while playing Nintendo games and amazed at the computer networks in his alumni NIT Trichy
• Shares an interesting story on why he took up his MS after 3.5 years of undergrad. His fascination in e-commerce and US education system that grounded towards curiosity
• Understanding that the future is in e-commerce and large data processing was a big step from his internship in ISRO
• Decision to shift from sunny Florida to a green Seattle knowing Amazon and the possibilities of e-commerce
• Drivers for moving into search and data based modeling for Microsoft and looking at early DevOps model
• Talks about moving away from compile satisfaction[code named as compile sook] to Release satisfaction
• Being a first time manager encouraging the team and mentoring in a subtle way
• Interdisciplinary thinking together processes aided by the three page narrative - stepping away from command-control ppt to a democratic narrative
• Strengthening one’s communication skills using the clarity of thought was the biggest leap that Prakash took the longest
• Understanding the changes in the data sciences is like knowing the sinusoidal wave - sometimes its asynchronous and sometimes its in sync.
• Prakash talks about decision making in the customer behavior analytics - machines taking more decisions objectively and humans weighing in where ambiguity plays a part
• Prakash shares how future would be in the convergence of Quantum computing, Data sciences and 5G with ethics being the foundation
• One wisdom Prakash wants to share is that Technology is rapidly changing and each of us have to adapt quickly with that

Prakash Bulusu, Senior leader with a proven track record across Software, Analytics and Consumer Business in E-Commerce, Search, Marketing and Online applications.

Specialties: Large scale distributed and data intensive Software Engineering, Data Analytics, Machine Learning Applications, Data Platform, Computational Marketing, Understanding Customer behavior, Data Science, Email Marketing automation, Product Search relevance and Data quality, e-commerce, Experimentation (A/B testing) and Experimentation Platform, Software test design and automation.

Prakash Bulusu can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/prakashb/

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In this episode, Gayatri is in conversation with Pallav Prakash Indian Navy veteran and program manager at Zum

• Talks about starting in technology in early 1980s by way of merit and got passionate about computers
• He talks about implementing high critical projects in submarines and speaks about them as ‘point of no return’
• Talks about the pride of careering a Indian passport stemming from the Indian software people across the globe with special mention towards women
• Talks about the pride moment of digitisation of files and decision making system across multiple years in Navy
• Shares about the stories of maintenance of the hardware and the missile guidance was architected and built self reliantly
• He shares with pride that Inventory management is one of the largest across the globe with first being Air force and second as Indian navy
• Talks about the software that has been indigenously developed and given confidence at the heart of every frontline person that warfare is top notch
• His journey to move to US to understand different culture and taking an internship program with school
• He has been an india head for AnitaB and his views on equitable data and the level of impact software could make
• Now Pallav is working for zum to solve the school bus transportation in a carbon neutral model and how one has to be inside the problem to solve it and not on top of it
• How can software communities come together to improve society as a whole is a question Pallav leaves with all listeners
• Shares the story of the girl who pursued computers to get the comfort of AC to changing the landscape and provide an environment for others

Pallav brings over 20 years of leadership experience in diverse business and technology. He has successfully managed large cross-functional, multi-national teams deploying strategies to take operations, programs and products on a high growth path. Pallav is a career program manager implementing high stake programs for the Indian Navy. He has done full time MBA from The Johns Hopkins University and a Management program alumnus (with specialization in Marketing) from Indian Institute of Management Lucknow. He has worked in Indian navy in executing several high tech projects as well as being chief of staff in Indian Navy in executing some of their HR programs.

Pallav is a proven leader in managing offshore multisite programs and projects with client interface with passion towards furthering the mission of Women in Technology

Pallav can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/pallav-prakash/

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In this episode, Shiv is in conversation with Nani Narayanan Srinivasan, who is the leader, Data Sciences at HomeUnion and has been in the IT industry for over four decades.

In this conversation, Nani talks about:

• Studying metallurgy and getting exposed to programming to design a blast furnace.
• Wanting to be in the systems software, Telecom and R&D side of computing.
• Opportunity to work on a project which was more of R&D, to implement a hot standby and takeover algorithm for mainframes.
• Realizing the need to understand a client’s business side, learning banking as a domain.
• How the thinking process is similar across solving business problems or systems software solutions.
• The need to understand why something needs to be done to be able to think strategically and understand the business.
• Handling time constraints for a consultant, who is expected to solve problems in a short time.
• Prioritize what is to be done, before jumping into how it is to be done.
• A ‘horror story’ when a design worked in principle and in the test environment, but resulted in a ‘race’ condition that led to the system being unusable in a production environment, and how this problem was resolved.
• Considerations of teams to be scalable: how this may be different based on the size of the company.
• How to bring efficiency with remote teams, or even when the team members are not of a homogeneous background.
• The need to understand various members, backgrounds and the business context to build high performance teams.
• The Prostyle model explained in the book Producing results with others.
• Career tips: for new entrants to the field : a combination of data science, bio-studies, to get into analytics or data science careers; or security for those looking at software application solutions.
• Data science as a technique will get embedded in everything we do, like internet has now become a basic component in most solutions.
• Learning Python, Kotlin, R etc for those interested in programming.
• For the mid-career professionals, understand the business side and go with the flow of business; in whatever you do, contribute to the revenue side of business, for an assured career.
• Many technologies are coming back - like old wine in new bottles.

Entrepreneur and seasoned technology professional with senior leadership roles in Financial Services (Real Estate Investment, Banking/ Mortgage), High Tech R&D, Telecommunications and SI Consulting. Led successful delivery of large and complex engagements in product development, data sciences and modeling, CRM, online banking, web applications, and mortgage servicing – many with original contributions to Intellectual Property. Guided teams implementing over 200+ industrial strength websites. A strategic thinker, designer and architect of key products with hands on practical delivery approach.

You can reach him at https://www.linkedin.com/in/nanin/

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Wishing you all a very happy new year 2022!!

In this episode, Gayatri is in conversation with Sriram Rangarajan, Accomplished Data Analytics Leader at IBM shared his data journey

• His role as an enterprise data architect and what lenses he has to wear
• Ways to get started collecting, analysing and gaining insights from data
• How can young engineers joining the data ecosystem look at data
• Data to be viewed through the business process and lifecycle
• Ways of managing complexities across organization and system boundaries
• Onboarding application teams right at the start instead of making it an after thought
• How can you manage data errors and keep the sanctity of data clean
• Challenges that are encountered while handling master data, data definition and gaps in data setup
• Working with regulatory bodies and keeping the right level of data without infringing into compliance
• Perspective of work has changed across three decades from task centric, business centric and what-if possibilities
• Ensuring that foundations are clearly understood on data prior to diving deeper into technology

Sriram started his career with TCS after his graduation from JNU. Sriram has worked in IBM, NetApp Inc, and Informatica, demonstrating in-depth knowledge of Data Governance, Data Integration, Master Data Management, Data protection, privacy, and data lifecycle management. Sriram is a data analytics and strategist at heart with robust experience acquired over the years in delivering optimal results in high-growth environments. He excels at cultivating collaborative professional relationships and delivering data-driven and business-centric solutions; Result-driven with extensive expertise across scalable enterprise architecture, value-driven data science, and full-stack engineering.

Sriram can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrsriram/

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Continuing our special series for the year end, Shiv asks colleague PM Powerian Sivakumar (Shiv)  how he has developed a curiosity mindset and how he weaves them into stories and more.

This series of conversations will help you reflect on the year that was and identify some actions you may want to take in the new year.

You can reach him @

https://pm-powerconsulting.com/experts/sivakumar/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivakumar-subramanyan-1a78101/

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Continuing our special series for the year end, Shiv asks colleague PM Powerian Vasu how he is so observant and able to take copious notes during meetings and more

This series of conversations will help you reflect on the year that was and identify some actions you may want to take in the new year

You can reach him at

Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/svasudev/

https://pm-powerconsulting.com/experts/vasu/

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Continuing our special series for the year end, Shiv asks colleague PM Powerian Gopalan how he stays calm even under pressure and more

This series of conversations will help you reflect on the year that was and identify some actions you may want to take in the new year.

More about Gopal at

https://pm-powerconsulting.com/experts/gopalan/

Can reach Gopal @

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gopalgopalan/

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In this episode, Paramu Kurumathur, Consultant at PM Power consulting talks about various situations in his career. When he had the opportunity to latch on to an idea, develop it to concrete action.

He talks about how there are many ways to do that and that age is no bar, based on his own experience.

Specifically, he talks about the following approaches that have helped him-

• Explore, expand an idea
• Collaborate
• Research, learn, internalize, let it simmer : one day, it will come out
• Look for metaphors, analogies
• Define some boundaries.. scope.. 108 facts..
• Look for gaps in models /
• Getting a coach / teacher; being self aware

Know more about him here

https://pm-powerconsulting.com/experts/parameswaran/

You can reach him at

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paramu-kurumathur-01489a6/

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In this episode, Raghu Viswanathan, knows as Raghu, shares his story with details of

• Being an alumnus of the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, which got the first computer in India
• His initial ‘hate’ for computer science, mainly due to the use of punched cards!
• Joining TCS [Tata Consultancy Services] as a management consultant
• Having to play the role of an IBM expert on his first overseas project, as an individual contributor with no other colleagues with him
• Being asked to teach IBM to the client and seeking support from his manager
• Gaining confidence after that successful assignment
• Writing code the traditional way - in Australia - from creating pseudo code and getting it reviewed before writing a single line of code
• If you want to work on a good project, think through, write pseudocode, consult with people
• How the rigour at ISI prepared him for increased confidence in the future
• The importance of understanding the domain for a developer
• How, understanding the business [and implications] help in one situation to not only avoid a penalty, but also help the bank make money
• The evolution of the concept of offshoring or distributed working in his organization
• Finding major lifestyle changes in young Indian professionals when he came back to India
• Feeling happy about India’s progress over the years
• Trekking and volunteering and pacing his activities
• The joys of retirement
• How he discovered the interest in trekking
• His career tips
• His perspective in Decentralized Finance [DeFi]

Viswanathan Raghu, Started his career as consultant in TCS. Later working with Various firms like UBS(Formerly Swiss Bank) ,Bank of New York, Societe Generale, Deutsche Bank and Russel Investments.

Was head of change for Finance in Deutsche bank's service center in Mumbai before relocating back to US. Responsible for implementing Process efficiencies in the offshored processes. Implemented Finance’s strategic transformational program for Financials and Regulatory reporting. Program enabled offshoring of globally consistent re-engineered processes to the service center.

Also Managed -Vendor delivery management, Departmental management, IT Program / Project management, Globally managed large and diverse teams for the full project life cycle.

His Specialties: International delivery experience in US, European and Asian work cultures. Vendor business application product implementation. Wide Investment banking domain knowledge & management experience across functions. Cross functional IT program management. Full life cycle experience in managed services implementation. Global manager of large and diverse teams for the full project life cycle. Prepared budgets and managed financials for an entire department.

You can reach him @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/vraghu/

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In this episode Raksha Rao, CEO and Co-Founder of Parjanya Creative Solutions using interactive media technologies in the space of health, fitness and arts, is in conversation with Chitra Gurjar

• A trained classical vocalist, starting at age 4 and working with music via interactive media
• Melding technology and health & fitness
• Learning and pushing herself with challenges and problem solving, always interested in the "Why", beginning of entrepreneurship
• A desire to see the larger picture and the timing being right
• Trigger to move back to India, technology, family, support
• Starting a company in just before the pandemic broke
• Inspiration from remote music concerts, influence on building interactive apps, spatial audio
• Body movement tracking app and teaching yoga remotely, help people visualize where they need help
• Her experiences around building the company from hiring, building a culture of adaptability and change
• Work, passion and hobby being one
• Lessons a woman entrepreneur - Learning from others, value yourself, be your own champion
• Life lessons - Building the right thing & build it the right way; have a learning mindset; be open to change

"Raksha is the CEO and Co-founder of Parjanya Creative Solutions. Born in Bangalore, India, Raksha worked as a software engineer for a few years and then moved to the US in 2012. She pursued her MBA in Information Science at California State University and worked as a backend engineer at several different firms small and big including Zillow, one of America’s largest real estate tech firms. Being a professional musician with over 20 years of practice and performing experience, along with setting up and getting the bootstrapped company off the ground, Raksha also pursued and completed her Masters in Music while being the mother of an active 3 year old. At Parjanya, Raksha is passionately focused on building user centric, cutting edge products that push boundaries of technology. As the CEO and a woman entrepreneur, Raksha is determined to grow Parjanya as a company that can offer the most incredible and innovative solutions while helping and mentoring other young and determined female developers and designers “

Social media handles:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/raksharao

Twitter: https://twitter.com/raksha_rao

Company website: www.parjanya.org

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In this conversation, Nash Narasimhan, GM of Ecommerce business of HP India, shares his experience and perspectives related to

• His academic qualifications include being an engineer and MBA
• Starting his career with Eicher and then moving to Muscat and becoming a product manager for a Ford dealership
• Returning to India for a role, actually two - with HCL and then moving to DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation)
• Getting an intrapreneurial opportunity to set up the online store for Compaq, when internet and ecommerce were just beginning in India
• Becoming the largest ecommerce company in India in a very short period
• Moving to Singapore for a Channel partner development role
• Returning to India to head the technical services division
• Playing the CMO roles for large business units in APAC
• Coming back to India to play a leadership role with the ecommerce and PC business and also hold the responsibility for the digital GTM
• Having witnessed 4 major and many small mergers
• Cars to computers to cloud to commerce- 4Cs
• His approach to manage and perform in these transitions across domains and businesses
• Risk appetite, being a Biker, taking calculated risks,
• Transition 1: leveraging the marketing experience [4Ps being the same across industries], product management was the same
• Transition 2: company was the same
• Transition 3: leveraging the BCP experience in the services business, to make ecommerce available 24x7
• Anchoring on onen common factor to leverage and one uncomfortable or new factor to spur learning
• Letting results speak for oneself
• Being a good manager helps in thriving in a merger
• The strength of empathy for people needed for a leader to bring about a smooth merger
• The shift in thinking and approach needed when moving from selling hardware [boxes] to selling software, services and solutions that may be less tangible
• The idea of products being consumed as services
• Apart from product, price, place and promotion, one has to add process, people and proof
• His experience of working with software delivery teams
• Career advice:
• courage to go after your passion and keep reinventing yourself
• Look for satisfaction over success
• Do your job as an act of service

Nash Narasimhan Tupil is Digital Business leader with over 3 decades experience in the IT industry. He is currently country GM of Ecommerce business of HP India. Prior to this CMO of multi billion dollar HP Asia Pacific and Japan enterprise business.

He is a motorbiker, blogger, photographer and digital enthusiast.

Can be reached @ https://in.linkedin.com/in/nashtupil

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In this episode, Raghu Srinivas, Change and Transformation Lead in HSBC, is in conversation with Gayatri Kalyanaraman sharing his career journey and decisions that led him to where he is

• Raghu started as a developer in TCS after completing his education in Bangalore
• He was inspired by him mentor to broaden his horizon and desire to move to Business
• Made an internal transition to business and now leads the strategic transformations in HSBC
• Raghu believes that having a good business sense is like a spine that has to be strong and flexible based on conditions
• He talks about the business disruptions that have happened and compares consciousness and understanding of the ecosystem
• Raghu shares the experiences of working in business starting with the business case and seeing the change through the lifecycle
• Raghu shares his stories on being a technocrat of bridging the business and technology seamlessly and sharing his wisdom in a wise manner
• Common sense of vision, purpose, commitment that’s built over trust brings large teams together to work, communicate and collaborate better
• Raghu shares the constraints that his generation has put on self and how that needs to go off as we usher in the millennials
• Raghu shares a vision of banking that would lead to normalised set of offerings prior to taking off

Raghu Srinivas is a VP, Strategic Business Change Manager in HSBC. He has 2 decades of years of experience in shaping, managing, delivering and embedding strategic organizational change and delivering cutting edge technology solutions.

His vast experience covers a range of activities in project/program lifecycle involving hiring, budgeting and forecasting, contracts management and Request for proposals(RFP), project initiation project planning/execution, leading to benefits realization tracking and project/program closure.

His expertise in Business Analysis has enabled to apply the right tools and techniques for enterprise business analysis, assess capabilities, perform the required gap analysis, assess “Where to play”/”How to Win” strategies, identify strategic choices and make the right recommendations.

Raghu has more than 10 years of experience in playing people management roles, capability building, motivating individuals to achieve team objectives and at the same time enabling them to achieve their individual career goals.

His vision is to be actively involved in driving department/organization strategy, enabling business units, people, teams and be the driving force for business change management overall

Raghu can be contacted @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/raghu-s-51b07a11/

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In this episode, Krishna Prasad, known as KP - Coach at PM Power shares his experience related to

Being a coach

Why middle management is usually underserved in terms of coaching help

How he had handled his own personal transition from an individual contributor to a middle manager

His expertise Areas – New Product Development, Product Management, Lean-Agile Transformation, Digital Transformation, Leadership

His education background includes, Ph. D from Indian Institute of Science, Masters in Software Engineering from BITS, Pilani and Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from NIE, Mysore, India.

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In this episode, Naresh Jain, Developer, Consultant, Conference Producer and Startup Founder of Xnsio shares his insights and experiences related to

• Starting his career 20 years back building Neural networks for ISRO,

and how he got into corporate life

• His experience reading the paper “Test infected” by Kent. How it

helped him see the value behind extreme programming

• How he and his friends put together the first Agile India conference

from 2004

• Challenges that comes across while organising different community-

based conferences

• How to build communities using conferences

• His approach to put a good program/conference together

• How to balance the aspiring and the experienced speakers, which

gives equal opportunities to both

• How he landed up as a coach/mentor and influence people while

working in Thoughtworks

• Differences between roles of coach, mentor, trainer and a captain

• His love for coding and difference between code room (one step at a

time) and board room (quantum leap)

• How he handles a board room coming with expectations and big

transformations

• How to unlearn what you think is the best practice and how it helped

him. Re-evaluate yourself

• What you can expect in the upcoming “Agile India conference”

• How Ward inspires him as a great speaker

• His view on full stack

• His advice for aspiring coaches/Mentors

• Agile India conference to be held : Nov 18th-20th a 3 day conference

More details at: https://2021.agileindia.org/

Naresh Jain is an award-winning, internationally recognized Technology & Product Development Expert. Over the last 15 years, he has helped many Unicorns and fortune 500 companies like Jio, Google, Amazon, JP Morgan, Hike, Directi, HP, Siemens Medical, GE Energy, Schlumberger, Shell, Dell, EMC, CA Technologies, etc. to streamline their product development. His hands-on approach of coaching teams by focusing on product discovery and engineering excellence is a key differentiator.

In 2004, Naresh started the Agile movement in India by creating the Agile Software community of India, a registered non-profit society to evangelize Agile, Lean and other Leading-Edge Software Development methods. He is responsible for creating and organizing 100+ international conferences.

In recognition of his accomplishments, in 2007 the Agile Alliance awarded Naresh with the Gordon Pask Award for contributions to the Agile Community.

You can find more about him here: https://confengine.com/user/naresh-jain

Contact handles:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nashjain

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nareshjain/

Website: https://nareshjain.com/

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In this conversation, Dr Asoke Talukder shares his experience and perspectives related to

• His aspiration to be in performing arts, when he was young
• Winning in a detective story writing competition, getting into puppetry and becoming a leading shadow puppeteer in Kolkata
• Wanting to get into a teaching role, attracted by the vacation periods, to pursue his other performing arts interests
• Starting his programming as a research scholar at Jadavpur university
• Then joining the National Informatics Centre (NIC) before moving on to ICL India (ICIM)
• Taking on challenges when others had given up and this beginning the inception of his interest in multiple areas
• The regulations, restrictions and other technical constraints as well a customer expectations required him to design and implement solutions that were somewhat unprecedented in the Indian context
• A tricky issue caused by unstable connectivity over low speed lines in reverse emulation of terminals in India
• Delays caused by satellite link latency that had to be overcome through an innovative setup, in a matter of a couple of days, to make things work for an important customer event
• Getting new customers by taking on problems that have been lying on their plates for a long time and solving them
• His getting into genomics and startups
• His passion for teaching, to ignite young minds to get into academics and research
• Writing a syllabus making book based on his entrepreneurial experience with mobile computing
• The importance of security aspects to be treated as functional requirements
• Converting a mis-use case into a functional requirement when it comes to security
• His current interest areas of AI, machine learning and deep learning
• Being still hands on and writing code in R, Python, C/C++ or javascript, node.js, to create proofs of concept that can be enhanced by others
• How his width of knowledge and experience helps him solve or relate a problem to something he might have seen elsewhere
• Synthetic systems and the challenges in understanding and solving healthcare related problems and there is no one-size-fits all
• The need for horizontal knowledge, to be a successful solutioning architect
• His approach and process for quickly leveraging existing knowledge and experience to build more complex solutions
• His career advice, in particular about being a lifelong learner and possibly getting into academics / research

Asoke Talukder is a creative individual with expertise from Compilers to Cancer and Puppetry to Precision Medicine. He worked in India, USA, UK, and Singapore in technology domains for companies like ICL, Fujitsu-ICIM, Microsoft, Oracle, Informix, Digital, Hewlett Packard, Sequoia, Northern Telecom, NEC, KredietBank, iGate, SRIT etc. He cofounded companies like Cellnext and InterpretOmics. He Internet enabled Microsoft PowerPoint. He engineered the first 64-bit database (Informix) in the world for Digital DEC Alpha. He engineered Oracle Parallel Server for Fault Tolerant computer Sequoia, and developed many killer technologies and products. He engineered the first secured international communication network for Hong and Shanghai Bank Bombay and British Bank of Middle East, Dubai. He setup the first X.25 network in India for Department of Telecommunications (currently BSNL & MTNL), and the first Java Competency Centre in India.

He engineered the Network Management System for Queen’s Award winning PDMX. He is recipient of many international awards for innovation and professional excellence including ICIM Professional Excellence Award, ICL Excellence Award, IBM Solutions Excellence Award, Simagine GSMWorld Award, All India Radio/Doordarshan Award etcetera. Asoke has been listed in “Who’s Who in the World”, “Who’s Who in Science and Engineering”, and “Outstanding Scientists of 21st Century”. He authored many research articles, book chapters, and textbooks. Two of his books have been translated in Chinese language. Asoke did M.Sc (Physics) with Bio-physics major and Ph.D (Computer Engineering). He was the DaimlerChrysler Chair Professor at IIIT-Bangalore, Visiting Professor at VIT University Vellore, Adjunct Faculty at ABV Indian Institute of Information Technology & Management, Gwalior and Adjunct Professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, NIT Warangal. Currently he is an Adjunct Faculty Department of Computer Science & Engineering, NITK Surathkal teaching Machine Learning, and Chief Science & Technology Officer at SRIT India.

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In this episode, Seema Joshi, global product leader at NICE is in conversation with Chitra Gurjar sharing her insights and experiences through

• Qualifying as a Civil Engineer, and doing site work, to pursuing an MBA and her first job in tech
• Moving into tech and landing different jobs, finding what she wanted to do
• Working on the frontlines of technology
• Her life as a technical account manager and helping close sales deals
• Learning about personas, how customers buy, who influences, who uses
• Wearing different hats each time every day
• Deal or no deal, a zero or a one
• Contrast in experiences based on what she felt was a good deal and how things turned out
• Using various approaches to prioritization of backlogs like
• 3 P approach - Persona, problem and pervasiveness of the problem
• Thinking in line with a top down business strategy
• creating delighters for the customer, the KANO model
• Building a great product team, starting with product managers themselves feeling comfortable with ambiguity, taking decisions with little data and being under the spotlight in a room full of stakeholders
• Building partnerships of trust and collaboration
• Staying in the problem space, wearing different thinking hats, assumptions, solutions and discovery
• Having a sports mindset in your work - her volleyball analogy
• Working with engineering teams, incumbent on the PM to find the rhythm of the team and keeping a good tension across different teams by having all ideas on the table and open discussion
• Her suggestions for people wanting to pursue a product management career or a career in technology

Seema is a Product Leader by profession, Engineering & Management graduate by education, voracious volunteer by belonging, sportsperson at heart, and poet by hobby. With 20 years of experience across Product Management, Innovation & Entrepreneurial roles, she is passionate of building products that delight customers and create business impact. Currently a Global Product Leader at NICE, she heads CXone India Product Management and UX teams.

Passionate about community building & diversity Seema actively contributes to various industry initiatives, is Secretary at SEAP (Software Exporters Association of Pune), ex-founding Board Member of Product Leaders Forum, and is a TedX and keynote speaker.

LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/seemajoshis/

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In this conversation, Tom Henriksen talks about

• Starting a career in sales and then getting into tech
• Getting into Agile, as part of a team adopting Agile practices, under a manager’s guidance
• His experience of transitioning from an individual contributor to a manager
• Understanding the importance of human skills in agile teams
• Some interesting learnings from patterns of behavior in teams, particularly those based on misconceptions
• The fact that humans are hard, code is easy
• Learning to ‘talk their terms’ when connecting with executives, from the Dale Carnegie’s book
• The importance of empathy, to be able to understand the other person’s perspective and context and use appropriate language and create solutions that would meet their needs
• How a visit to observe users for a day gave insights into the what their solution needs to do
• Having an experimental mindset
• The importance of managing up, when it comes to adoption of agile practices in a team
• Why rinse-and-repeat would not work when applying what worked in one context identically in a different context
• Context matters - and, like many agile coaches say, it depends.
• Stop selling agile, start aligning
• Being aware of the dangers of gaming the system, when there is too much stress only on quantitative measurements and metrics
• The trigger for Tom to launch the Agile and DevOps online summits, long before the pandemic hit and all conferences moved online
• How he is able to bring in multiple perspectives by having track chairs
• Some experiments being tried in this year’s summit, such as live sessions, gamification and the structure of the three days along the Shu Ha Ri themes
• Some changes or shifts in themes he has seen over the last 5 years
• His thoughts on curating the content from the summit over the years
• His suggestions for early stage and mid-career professionals

For more details on the Agile Online Summit happening this year between October 25 and 27, you can visit https://agileonlinesummit.com/

Tom Henricksen is a problem-solving technology professional. He has worked in various roles in technology for over twenty years. Tom has learned how to solve challenging issues in technology and lead technical teams

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomhenricksen/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomHenricksen

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In this episode Ramesh shares his experience and perspectives related to

• His interest in software and programming that was fueled by an IIT professor teaching programming
• One of the very few who did a software project as part of his degree and then joining Tata Burroughs from campus, as the first batch
• Getting back to academics to get his Master’s degree
• How his extra learning at IISc and the work experience in the first couple of years helped him skip a few courses and jump into more advanced topics during the Masters’
• Joining HCL in their Singapore venture, Far East Computers Limited
• How his experience with facing customers helped in the assignment of setting up a QA environment at Oracle headquarters
• Moving to management roles in engineering management
• Jumping at the opportunity to start a development center in India from scratch
• Thinking that he could do that for a year and then get back to the USA
• How he had to take on various responsibilities of not just delivering, but also establishing processes, building networks for recruitment etc
• Realizing the need to take innovative approaches to attract the right talent, when competing with other companies that would hire in large numbers
• Taking up a teaching role at Anna University
• How that gave him an opportunity to observe the students over a semester, and not having to learn by interacting for 20 minutes in an interview
• Extending this learning through internships
• Starting to love teaching
• The trigger for his getting into writing [and authoring books], some of which are standard curriculum recommendations in about 50 universities across the world
• “Transferring knowledge to others will have a bigger impact on Society as a whole”
• Enjoying the role of a teacher at various institutions
• How some interests popped up by necessity,
• Slicing time every day for work, education and family - to make time for all
• Taking risks knowing that all options may not progress as desired
• Some tips that would help selecting the right candidates
• How everyone should feel comfortable to disagree, but not be disagreeable
• how , as a technical guy, you can have all the answers, but as a leader, you should have all the questions
• His career advice:
• Being passionate about what one does
• Do not undervalue the importance of keeping your skills up to date
• Why you should become useless for your job

Please bear with some audio distractions in the background in patches. You will love this story..

Gopalaswamy Ramesh is an independent consultant, eminent author and has served as visiting / adjunct professor in several reputed universities and an acknowledged thought leader in the areas of global software project management, software testing and related areas as well as on soft skills. He has over three decades of experience in industry, consulting and teaching. He played a key role in establishing Oracle’s India Development Center and grew it from zero to close to 500 people. His contributions to this phenomenal growth were acknowledged in Oracle International magazine When he left Oracle in 2002, he was their Senior Director, heading the engineering team at Bangalore.

Before returning to India in 1994 to set up Oracle IDC, Ramesh worked in Oracle Headquarters in Redwood Shores, California, holding several technical and management positions. He also headed pre-sales and post-sales support of Oracle products in the ASEAN countries while working at Far East Computers, Singapore from 1982 till 1988. During this stint, he actively participated in launching and supporting Oracle in several countries in the region.

Since 2002, Ramesh has been an independent consultant, offering consultancy services in the areas of global software project management, software testing and soft skills in India and abroad. His passion for teaching and sharing his vast knowledge and rich experience have resulted in his writing eight books have become best sellers and two of them being also translated to Chinese language. His books have been widely read and used as prescribed or reference books in a number of universities in India and abroad. The book Managing Global Software Projects won the National Award for the Best Book.

As a thought leader, Ramesh has been an active invited participant in several well known conferences and workshops. He has played the roles of Program Chair, Technical Review Committee Head as well as an invited keynote presenter in several international conferences.

Passionate about interacting with students and imparting relevant practical knowledge and training to students, Ramesh has been an Adjunct Professor in several leading universities and has taught in a number of very reputed institutions like IIIT-Bangalore, IIT Madras, Anna University, Chennai and Amrita School of Business. He was part of the Academic Advisory Board of Project Management Institute, India from 2009 to 2014, during which time he was the Technical Committee Chair for first two Research and Academic Conferences (RAC) on Project Management in India.

Ramesh is passionate about inculcating the right value systems in school children and about people with special needs. He has also written books on moral education நிச்சயம் வெல்லலாம் நேரான பாதையில் in Tamil and Virtuous and Victorious – Always in English for school children. He has translated from English to Tamil the best-selling book GIFTED about the achievements of fifteen differently abled people. He and his wife, Lakshmi Ramesh who is a trained special educator are active participants in initiatives on people with special needs.

Ramesh holds a B E Degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, a M S Degree in Computer Science from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (the thesis on Automatic Programming won the National Gold medal) and M S Degree in Engineering Management from Stanford University, California.

Ramesh may be reached at gopalaswamy_ramesh@yahoo.com

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In this conversation, Jayashree Rajagopalan, Engineering Lead in Amazon shares her experience and perspectives related to

• Started technology journey by being inspired by peers and deeply passionate to improve
• Shares her humble beginnings from the temple town of Trichy and joined Robert Bosch
• Higher education after a marriage break gave way to structured thinking
• Jayashree shares her passion in music and how her current work in Amazon music has brought her two world together
• She shares how to make one attuned to always on streaming industry by creating availability and resilience in the hardware as well as one’s decision making processes
• She talks about times of immense pressure on her time to balance work and childcare and tapping on all the options at her disposal to keep continuing her career
• Progressively pushing the work area made her not only a reliable go-to person but also ensured that she keeps doing something additional to what the work asked for
• Creating that unique value prop that you bring to the table has been her mantra to not only continually learn and add value to her firm but also push her career goals
• Jayashree shares some of the scaling mantras that she employs at home that has worked well @ covid times
• Jayashree shares of creating an environment of safety as well as continuous improvement in the fast paced tech environment. She has some of the basic audits that she does to ensure that goals are reached
• She shares how people and entertainment industry changing to a hub moving inside our homes
• Jayashree shares that one should have a never quit attitude and continuously strive to move one notch better than the previous day for oneself

Jayashree is the engineering lead for the Amazon Music and based out of Bangalore. In her current role, she leads the latest disruptions within the streaming industry for the global outreach of Amazon Music. In her words ‘Leading platform teams on content and data to drive success, innovation and customer delight’ is what brings zing to her step.

Jayashree started her career in Robert Bosch India as a software engineer working in the telecom industry. She moved to the silicon valley to pursue her higher education. She has been part of the telecom industry in the first 16 years of her career and moved to the streaming industry as part of Amazon. Her initial career includes marquee companies such as Oracle, EMC, Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia where she worked in several roles as an individual contributor to Tech Lead to Design lead prior to taking up leadership roles.

Jayashree is passionate about music and is classically trained. Her daughters are also classically trained in music. Jayashree is a graduate of NIT Trichy and San Jose University

She can be reached @ Linkedin/Jayashree

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Thank you

In this conversation, Anantha Natarajan - known as Anand - a colleague and coach at PM Power Consulting, he shares his experience and perspectives related to coaching senior leaders and mid level managers

• How he had to rediscover himself and his approach while working with experienced managers and leaders
• Demonstrating your competence without giving solutions
• What he had to change about himself.. And knowing one’s place
• About the approach of earning the trust of one’s boss
• Helping leaders look great by helping them achieve their goals
• When you are quiet, you have to listen
• The impact of working in a dispersed mode in earning trust and establishing working relationships
• His thoughts on the continuous flow of value
• What is value - in value flow - and three dimensions to consider when discussing flow of value
• His views on flow of value and playing bridge
• The need for process and partnerships among managers
• The importance of experimentation and retrospections

Reach him @

https://www.linkedin.com/in/anantha-natarajan-pm-power/

Know more about him

https://pm-powerconsulting.com/experts/ananth/

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In this conversation, S Srinivasa Raghavan better known as SS or Raghavan, shares his experience and perspectives on

• How we mutually influenced each other in choosing our careers in hardware and software
• Being strong in English grammar, that helped him though the came from a tamil medium education
• Getting to know the power of programmability in a calculator and being inducted into FORTRAN
• Developing an interest in software as a way to solve problems more than writing programs
• About campus selection, tests and interviews - and how he got into a hardware role for his first job
• Leading a team developing a disk controller and wanting to start something on his own with a friend
• Wanting to do hardware, but put more software into it
• Helping one of Infosys clients solve a very difficult problem with their mainframe, in the area of connectivity using a hardware solution for data transfer
• Based on the success of that assignment, getting an offer to form and lead a group working on hardware projects
• Having control over his time
• An expectation from the younger generation to get deeper understanding of the core and related technologies they work on
• Where he gets ideas for innovation
• His answer to the question: Can a software professional switch to hardware?
• Some stories of challenges in making rain gauges
• His views on the level of discipline comparing hardware and software engineers
• His views and tips on aspirants to the hardware discipline as a career and whether software engineers should dabble in hardware

S.S. Raghavan, Founder & Managing Director Spatika Information Technologies, is a successful entrepreneur with a career spanning 40+ years. Spatika, under his able guidance, has developed products like Telemetric Rain Gauges and Telemetric Weather Stations which are currently installed in over 5000 Gram panchayat across various States in India. The team at Spatika also developed a VoIP phone as early as 1997 for Satyam Computers.

As Vice President at Infosys, he made significant contributions by developing many indigenous telecommunication products that were first in India. During his stint at Infosys, he was the main architect in developing the Bilingual Electronic Keyboard. He was also responsible for automating Rural Telegraphy in 7 states through the development of store and forward message switching system.

Prior to Infosys, he worked with HCL where he was responsible for designing and developing the entire Disk Sub System for the indigenous 16-bit computer.

He holds a BE degree from the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore

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In this conversation, Jayaraman Raghuraman - known as Raghu - SVP – Digital Engineering and Tech.Debt, Schneider Electric shares his experience and perspectives on

• How he became a software developer.. And likes to all himself a software developer
• About his aptitude to solve problems in math or trivia etc.
• How he was lucky to be at the right time for this industry
• Though interested in computers, he had to choose an elective in electronics and instrumentation
• Taking a gap year, joining a part time post graduate management program
• Getting an opportunity to be formally trained in BASIC after clearing a tough test
• His experience with his first boss, as task master and expecting high standards of performance from his team
• The ‘perks’ or working late or overnight!
• Focusing his first decade of profession to learn languages, technology etc
• Why he considers himself as a second generation IT professional in India
• The motivators for him to change roles and jobs
• Crediting his managers for the learning and growth opportunities and guidance in his career
• The importance of being open with your weaknesses with your team
• About his style of getting things done
• The power of 1-on-1s
• Virtual coffee hour
• That the emotional needs of global teams vary with the location
• How he interacts with other ‘Raghus’ in his team
• The four key questions to ask oneself
• What am I good at
• What am i not good at
• What do i like doing
• What do i not like to do
• The future of careers in IT, requiring the understanding of applications of IT

Raghu, short for Jayaraman Raghuraman is a Software professional, with a passion for software, IT and Technology. Raghu has spent his 30+ year of his career in the technology industry, mainly focus on strong execution and operational leadership in software product development and working closely with global customers. He spent the first 16 years of his career in India and the last 20 years in the USA, but lived in several countries, as well as led teams across China, Mexico, Brazil, France, USA and India. Established track record of leadership in providing vision, direction, organization and execution of technical strategy to achieve organization and business objectives, on time and with high quality. Achievements include years of delivering on IT and Technology transformation goals while managing budgets between $100 - 500 MM in Fortune 500 organizations

Raghu’s passions include working with people globally and developing young talent, as well as spending time watching a lot of movies, cricket and any sport. Currently, a new passion for Raghu has been to listen to murder mystery and police novels by the author, Michael Connelly.

Social handles :

Twitter: @jraghu

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/jraghuraman

Can be contacted at : J_Raghu0709@yahoo.com

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In this conversation, Raminder Rathore, a senior DevOps specialist, shares her experience and perspectives on

• How her getting into IT was destined, based on her father’s foresight
• If you learn something, it is always good to share it with others [and teaching is a good option]
• Her first career transition from a teacher to a developer
• Taking on other roles such as a tester and business analyst
• Getting a break to be a consultant - a problem solver and liking it
• Becoming a tools consultant and discovering the importance of processes that go with the tools
• The significance of parents sharing their vision for their kids, with the children
• About the many options that kids of today have ahead of them
• Her exposure and experience with different locations / regions / countries
• Her personal philosophy of empathy and emphasis on listening
• The art of saying No
• The importance of training in personal development
• Certifications, sharing and learning, using case studies as an approach for learning
• The importance of communication - particularly when the teams are mostly remote and distributed
• Her concept of one team that she promotes, particularly with organizations on a DevOps adoption journey
• DevOps is more than automated CI/CD
• The answer to one questions that was waiting for fourteen years to be asked
• Her advice to people considering a career in IT as well as those who would like to switch to DevOps roles after some years of experience

Raminder Rathore is a DevOps practitioner; currently employed with HCL Technologies for 14 + years and in the IT industry for about 20 years.

She started her career as a trainer then progressed to become a developer and then gradually moved across different product lifecycle phases; first becoming a tools consultant and then graduated to become a DevOps practitioner.

She leads the DevOps COE at HCL that works with different customers across the globe on people, process and tools areas.

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This conversation between Mohan Panchapikesan, CEO and Director at Medexpert Software Solutions, shares his stories about -

• Mohan started his career after completing his engineering in Anna University and IIT Kharagpur and talks about being a self made person but stays as a small town boy from Trichy
• Mohan shares being inherently curious and how his firm looks at not only the hospital management software but also the Ecosystem that drives it including insurance, pharma and the equipment sourcing and the entire supply chain
• Mohan talks about the growth and fixed mindset and its application being the CEO. Being in a position of authority, having an understanding of people’s fears and ambiguity enables in bringing cohesion towards the goals of the firm by motivation
• Mohan talks about Elon Musks’ motivation of moving to Mars due to the explosion of population and take that as an opportunity
• He refers Ford, Starbucks, McDonalds and Microsoft stories to talk about being bigger is better and democratising everything you do
• Talking about evolution and democratising the reach of services between the 1990s and 2020s has expanded the voice of individuals & takes the example of this podcast being in existence because of the forces that are in play
• Staying curious is the only way to sustain your learnings
• Perform or perish in corporate world has seeped into the personal world as Adopt or Die
• Discoverability is the key in the age of plethora of choices and technologists become the match makers of the world. Best match makers are those that have the horoscopes of all the open source software out there
• From interoperability to intelligently make those inter connections
• Intelligence in integration and ecosystem is evolving. Unless we as mankind evolve with it, we will become artificial or redundant in the ecosystem
• One has to be attuned with what is happening around us social or technology wise

Mohan started his career in software in SA Software working as an RDBMS specialist. He later honed his data and software skills working in Walmart as a program manager.

Mohan worked in Cognizant in various leadership roles by scaling people, technology and solutions to provide the right type of integration to the clients.

Mohan became an entrepreneur serendipitously through a mutual friend. He’s now CEO of Medexpert software solutions that’s focused on reducing inefficiencies in the Medical ecosystem and driving innovations.

Mohan can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpjaya/

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Sanjay Jayakumar CEO and Founder of Ignitarium shares his stories about -

• Facing uncertainties from very early on, being good in math and physics
• Joining the WIPRO factory from campus in 1991, and being with WIPRO for 21 years
• Phases in WIPRO of roughly 3 years each across various functions
• Early career in engineering, as the interface between design and production of computers
• Moving to the hardware design team and then onto chip design as part of outsourced R&D
• Setting up an SOC for Texas Instruments
• Getting an opportunity to setup an engineering centre at Kochi and scaling it to a 2000 person operation
• The lead into starting Ignitarium
• Underlying common principles when working across cultures in Japan and the US
• Laying the foundation for scaling the engineering centre at Kochi with excellent support at Wipro
• The transition to becoming an entrepreneur, starting with making peace within himself with the decision
• The long road, 200 calls and the first 3 customers, getting the team through personal and professional networks, the genesis of Ignitarium
• Adding value to customers and being key enablers in a product development ecosystem through their expertise in system on chips & signal processing intensive design to create a software enabled platform
• A Future forward thinking approach to continuous evolution of products and solutions
• Culture of Innovation, continuous learning and growth opportunities
• Creating partnerships and contributing to ecosystems
• Messages for aspiring engineers in today's world of content at your fingertips

Founder and CEO of Ignitarium, Sanjay Jayakumar proudly leads a cross-functional team of close to 300 professionals and has been responsible for defining Ignitarium’s core values, which encompass the organisation’s approach towards clients, partners and internal stakeholders, and in establishing an innovation and value-driven organisational culture. Largely admired for his charisma and humility, he has gained a reputation for inspiring people through his strategic vision and team building capabilities.

Prior to founding Ignitarium in 2012, Sanjay spent the initial 22 years of his career with the VLSI and Systems Business unit at Wipro Technologies. In his formative years, Sanjay worked in diverse engineering roles in Electronic hardware design, ASIC design and custom library development. Sanjay later handled a flagship – multi-million dollar, 600-engineer strong – Semiconductor & Embedded account owning complete Delivery and Business responsibility.

Contact him @ Linkdin/Sanjay Jaykumar

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Bhuvan Anandakrishnan, Director of Engineering Caterpillar Inc talks about -

• His starting days in the training as a fresh graduate in Satyam when he realised the power of computing and seeing the results come in
• He found the joy in software by creating something where nothing was there and could get a sense of accomplishment
• Eye for quality by way of working in embedded software and getting feedback from a career tester. He also understood what it means to get a quality product from the eyes of the customer
• Bhuvan talks about complexities of embedded software and the limitations and considerations one has to give when one builds. It’s detrimental for organisations to recall due to faulty software.
• He shares about the quality considerations that Japanese give and ensure that the product is released in Japan prior to releasing in other countries
• Realised that it’s not about the software but the entire product that the customer can touch and feel that value has been delivered
• He speaks about the journey of unlearning of being software developer and becoming a product engineer, leader and business leader
• Bhuvan talks about his life changing decision to move to India to lead Cat and how that satisfied his Star, Heart and Dollar. Similar to Ikigai thinking model.
• Bhuvan also shares how that he believed Brahma and Vishnu (creation and sustenance) way to make some of his critical decisions (this is based on Vijay Govindarajan’s three box solution)
• He also shares his passion towards creating large teams and seeing them flourish in his mentorship and coaching
• Bhuvan’s view is that one should think of the daily life to be part of a large infinite model and take each day with the same deliberate attempt to win instead of resting on your past laurels

Bhuvan Anandakrishnan, experienced Director with a demonstrated history of working in the machinery industry. Skilled in Embedded Software, Value Stream Mapping, Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS), Embedded Systems, and Agile Methodologies.

He started his career in Satyam Computers working in Embedded systems and firmware products. Found the complexities of programming in product and embedded system interesting and impactful.

Bhuvan made the jump to becoming a product engineer and product leader developing number fo products for Caterpillar. Bhuvan uses various product lifecycle methodologies to give the most value for the end customer and increases their delight.

He has graduated in Great Lakes Institute with a PGXPM and MBA from Bradley University

Bhuvan can be contacted @

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bhuvan-anandakrishnan-a1518013/

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In this conversation, Hendrik Esser, a senior leader at Ericsson, shares his thoughts related to

• His love to construct stuff, even as a kid, to make stuff that others can use
• Starting to play games with his friend and then writing games
• Preferring electrical engineering, as the feeling was that computer science is just programming and he already knew that!
• Then, learning communication protocols and getting closer to software
• His understanding of software work as art and the importance of craftsmanship
• The need to develop one’s talent into mastery
• And how with mastery you can be an engineer
• And one more level is to become an artist, when you transcend what you have learnt and move to express yourself creatively
• How he would like to use his artistry to make the world a better place
• How he got interested in the people aspects of software development, as work happens in teams
• Applying for a group manager position, when had about 1.5 years of experience and the career advice he got, that he considers as one of the best he has received
• The transition from game development to telecom software
• About programming by indirect observation
• How understanding the purpose of a program gives him the motivation to solve
• From working on standalone machines where one has full visibility and control over everything that happens to working in teams and cloud based environments where most things are only indirectly felt
• From team sport, software development has become a societal sport
• How, working in a multicultural team has helped understand that people are the same across the world
• How to treat a disturbance as an invitation for learning
• Using curiosity to understand and explore other cultures
• How a cross-national team worked on a very tricky technical problem and cracked it in 2 days
• The effectiveness of getting everyone into one room for richer interactions and the impact of the forced dispersal mode His interest in actively participating in communities and what he derives from such interactions and contributions
• How to reconcile the need for experimentation and progressive evolution approaches inspired by agile principles and the corporate expectations to be very predictable from the beginning
• How to predict in an unpredictable world
• Using ranges, rather than precise dates, as leading indicators to track projects
• His career advice - develop social skills in addition to technical skills

Hendrik Esser is a senior transformation expert, coach, driver and catalyst with more than 20 years of leadership experience at Ericsson. He is also internationally active in communities advancing business agility across industries.

Hendrik is continuously exploring new ways to create better results and greater organizations.

That journey started when he joined Ericsson in Germany in 1994 as a SW developer. Soon his passion brought him to a leadership career from being a Technical Coordinator through project management, project office management, portfolio- and technology management towards being the "COO" of one of Ericsson's large, internationally distributed development units with over 8000 people. In 2008 he was a key driver to the agile transition of a large organization. Through this engagement he became a recognized and sought expert not only in the Ericsson enterprise transformation, but also a strong contributor to the international agile community, exchanging and expanding knowledge and spreading agile mindset and ideas across industries. Part of his time he also works as a trainer for leadership programs within Ericsson.

In parallel to his work at Ericsson, he is - as a volunteer - Program Director of the Agile Alliance's initiative "Supporting Agile Adoption". He has worked together with ICAgile on Learning Roadmaps for agile Finance. Also, he is an internationally active speaker at numerous conferences and company events on agile product development, HR and project management.

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/hendrik-esser

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In this episode Madhavi Nadig, a seasoned professional with experience solving challenging problems using technology shares her stories with Chitra on

• Choosing to do engineering as she couldn't become a vet
• Getting a bachelors and then a masters in computer science
• Working in 3 different industries via companies like EMC, Jumptap (online advertising) and then Spotify (music)
• Being known as an 'optimizer' and learning how not to over-optimize
• Applying data driven decisions at work and deciding on feature stickiness
• Means of getting data and using it, instrumentation, user flows, user interviews and using proxies - some of the Spotify story in India
• Making a habit of talking to users
• User insights and developing algorithms for an audience of music
• Working across time zones and cultures, ensuring people have information at hand
• Assimilating new joinees in a remote working environment
• The 100 stories project
• A short simple message for aspirants who want to be developers

Madhavi Nadig, earned her B.E. in Information Science from PESIT, Bengaluru and an M.S. in Computer Science from SUNY University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY.

Madhavi firmly believes problem-solving requires the right mix of creative thinking, technology usage and organizational hacking. Driven by this philosophy, she has successfully led geographically distributed teams of technical and non-technical groups, delivered high quality software solutions and streamlined organizational processes. Her career spans across the entertainment, mobile advertising and computer storage industries. She worked in the US for 10 years with companies such as Spotify, Verizon and EMC as well as small startups. Currently she works with startups in Bengaluru as a freelancer.

Reach her at : Linkdin/Madhavi Nadig

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In this episode, Ramesh Shastri, software engineer to business head shares his long journey of 38 years in professional career with Shiv, In this conversation he talks about-

• Gravitated to IT like peers, as that was the well paying sector
• Starting as an individual contributor growing to become a business unit leader
• From systems programming to business applications
• How his roles changed over the decades of the 80s, 90s and 2000+
• How he has enjoyed the roller coaster ride of 38 years
• Being associated with some of the early product development initiatives in India
• Working with partner organizations to create full solutions
• The importance of listening to customers
• His work with an NGO called MAYA on livelihood initiatives for the Channapatna toymakers over the last 5 years
• How he finds the toy industry situation somewhat similar to the IT industry situation in the initial stages, before export revenues started to grow significantly
• A quick overview of toy making in Channapatna
• How they are going about bringing in structure, process and product quality in the industry, by setting up a producer company
• Whether some of the approaches used to help the artisans can be relevant or applied to the software industry
• Some aspects that the IT sector [people] can learn from the artisan sector, particularly, pride of creation or ownership of what they create
• His view on opportunities in the social sector for people in IT, looking for a change

Ramesh Shastri’s professional career in Information Technology has been a long journey of 38 years; He has held positions from software engineer to business head. He has lived and worked in India and the United States while also covering a lot of ground in between.

For the past 5 years he moved from the leading edge of the technology sector to the trailing edge of the social sector. He is now focused on creating sustainable livelihoods in the handicrafts sector.

Reach him at : Linkdin/Ramesh Shastri

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In this conversation, Madhurima Agarwal, Director of Engineering Programs and Leader at NetApp Accelerator shares are career journey with Chitra. She talks about -

• Her love for technology starting when she believed in grade 8 that she was the best programmer in the world
• Being an entrepreneur during her college days with her father as mentor and angel investor, building a product to automate member directory for the chambers of commerce and industry at Ranchi
• Learning empathy, self-discipline and confidence through her venture
• Understanding what entrepreneurs go through in early days from personal experience enabled her while mentoring entrepreneurs today and facing bias as a young entrepreneur
• Tech world a fair space where your work speaks for itself and need for women to speak about what they have done

• Finding the right product market fit, her rules of thumb

• Knowing the domain or asking experts

• Understanding pain points of customers

• Developing an experimental mindset, encouraging and accepting failure, having a mentor

• Changing tracks and feeling confident to do so Support and communities between investors and entrepreneurs to build great products and encourage entrepreneurship

• Her 3 messages for technology and entrepreneurial aspirants

• Be the best at what you do;

-Don't be afraid of failing;

-Be Optimistic

Madhurima Agarwal works as the Director for Engineering Program with global responsibility for leading NetApp’s startup program called NetApp Excellerator – startup.netapp.in. She also plays a key role in driving enhanced collaboration between engineering and market-facing functions across NetApp India and acts as the touch point for all external partnerships. She brings with her over 17yrs of experience spanning domains across the globe with leading financial firms. She’s been an entrepreneur and currently dons the hats of a mentor and advisor to startups.

An alumna of IIM, Ahmedabad, Madhurima enjoys driving innovation and taming the power of technology to achieve organizational growth.

She’s an avid reader and enjoys writing on topics around entrepreneurship. Madhurima is an advisor to the WIT (Women in Technology) group at NetApp and focuses on professional development of women in the workplace.

Reach her at :linkedin.com/in/madhurimaagarwal

Twitter : @MadhurimaAg

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In this conversation Srilakshmi, Program Manager shares her 30+ year story with Chitra through her essence of being a person who naturally brings people together. Her story board contains

• Science as her forte and choosing to study engineering
• Getting her first job in HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd) to build the Light Combat Aircraft or LCA, her first exposure to program management
• Learning slowly and a project definition phase of 2-3 years
• Working on mini computers and coding in machine language
• Moving to the US for a PhD, choosing computer science over management & economics, multiple transitions
• Being the first batch of computer science graduates from portland state university
• Joining Intel and staying there for 15 years
• Working in bunny suits inside fab labs on software for p-n junctions
• realising that software engineering was a job and her passion lay in bringing people together and organizing things
• Being part of various server teams at Intel and becoming a program manager in 2002
• Moving to India, discovering that leading by influence was her preferred way of working, working at NetApp, Cisco, VMWare
• Sharing her Program Management principles of equal authority, responsibility and weightage to all functions of a group
• Collaboration via a "map day" exercise and common understanding of the "why" of a project, examples from her experience at Intel and ADE (Aeronautical Development Establishment) & the importance of keeping the vision in mind at all times and to know how everything is connected
• Changes across time around collaboration
• How the pandemic has brought about awareness of different ecosystems
• Exploring influence without authority in the role of a program manager, knowing yourself when a job is well done and being approachable
• Her passion around voluntarism
• Looking long term, making technology an ally in your work and finding happiness in what you do.

Srilakshmi Renganathan was a Software Developer and is now a Release Manager & Program Manager. She started her career at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited HAL in Bangalore and moved to the US for her Masters in Computer Science. She worked in various MNCs - Intel Corp, NetApp, Cisco & VMware. She is currently a Software Release & Deployment Program Management at Zebra Technologies ( for Reflexis Retail Task & Schedule Management Software products recently acquired by Zebra).

She describes herself as a mother, daughter, wife, friend, ever longing to be a social worker.

As a software Program Manager trying to stay connected to technology by doing hands-on tactical coordination work assisting in moving products from inception to entity. She’s touched various domains albeit from the periphery including aircraft communication systems, chip manufacturing, storage technology, cloud infrastructure to more recently SAAS - Software as a Service. Sri continues to engage & adapt through changing tools & technologies through the past 3 decades! Electronics & Computer Science Engineer by Education & Software Engineer by training. Multi-Tasker, organizer, blogger & constant social media updater :) who lives by the phrase “sharing is caring”.

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In this conversation, Ted Harrington, Executive Partner at Independent Security Evaluators (ISE) shares his career journey and perspectives with Sivaguru on various topics related to IT security and ethical hacking. He talks about

• His company of ethical hackers helping other companies secure their IT systems
• Wanting to be an entrepreneur and starting a consumer facing business
• Moving to a company, as the CEO / founder wanted to mentor someone and felt that would be a good experience
• With that experience, feeling the need to serve businesses rather than consumers directly
• How he met his current business partner and how the plan for the company evolved literally overnight
• His four core principles: do hard things, do things that matter, do things in the service of others and to get better every single day
• Applying these principles in the security business and getting a client
• Mindset needed for outhinking a hacker
• Thinking like a hacker and why it may not be possible to think one step ahead of the attacker
• Developing the skill of thinking ‘evil’, to raise the security levels of our solutions
• Whose job it is to think security in a team
• How security is a leadership issue
• How security thinking can be used to ensure the adherence to company values such as customer experience, quality etc.
• Using security as a business differentiator and gain competitive advantage
• His thoughts on security aspects of the ‘supply chain’
• Zero trust and defense in depth models
• How not to become obsessed and become a pessimist, thinking only of all bad things that can happen
• How he likes to look at systems in everything and how they could be improved by breaking them
• How he approached writing his book that is related to technology, when technology is changing very fast
• How to make security layers least obtrusive
• What it takes to become a security professional

Ted Harrington is the #1 best selling author of HACKABLE: How to Do Application Security Right.

He’s helped hundreds of companies fix tens of thousands of security vulnerabilities, including Google, Amazon, and Netflix.

Ted has been featured in more than 100 media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Forbes.

His team founded and organizes IoT Village, an event whose hacking contest is a three-time DEF CON Black Badge winner. He hosts the Tech Done Different podcast.

Reach him at: ted [at] tedharrington [dot] com or https://tedharrington.com

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In this conversation, Raja, a coach at PM Power, who likes to be known as a lifelong programmer shares his journey into the world of software and the lessons he learnt and his view on

• How he was inspired by two of his teachers to learn programming
• His liking for experiments that kept him interested in IT
• The transition from an individual contributor to working in teams
• How he would like to be associated with only one role : a programmer
• His surprise, when he took up employment after being an entrepreneur, to see designations and very hard delineation of responsibilities by roles
• His views on the titles on people’s visiting cards
• Whether he has a ‘Raja technique or Raja methodology’
• His views on ‘super specialization’ that many developers prefer, to work only on the server side or on the client side etc and who should own the value chain
• The power of the concept of ‘mock’s and ‘stub’s
• How an explicit approach can help in improving team productivity
• An analogy of a carnatic musicians in a concert having respect for each other on the concept of respect for each other
• The secret sauce of delivering high quality software is the respect for each other in a team
• How effective ideas can be simple and can come from anyone in the team, not necessarily senior in terms of experience
• His advice on choosing a technical or managerial path for one’s career
• Writing single intent code that progressively evolves

Raja would like to be recognized as a programmer since 1993 having extensive experience in architecting and implementing object-oriented and distributed systems.

He has created applications for people to collaborate.

He preaches and practices Clean Coding Techniques.

His profile on the PM Power site is at: https://pm-powerconsulting.com/experts/raja-subramaian/

His LinkedIn profile is at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raja-subramanian-kamakshi-iyer-87aa7a54/

He can also be found on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-D08_UMQN5fM4rLx2Q7JOg

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In this episode Dr. Neeta Trivedi, a former senior scientist with the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and an entrepreneur, is in conversation with Sivaguru. Neeta shares her experiences on

• Her modest family background from a small town with modest dreams
• Even without access to information sources, wanting to do something different, something big
• Being fortunate to have passionate teachers right from primary school, who were invested in building good persons overall, and nt just limiting themselves to teaching the curriculum
• Getting into a new program launched by DRDO, to develop computer scientists
• Starting her career with computer land war game systems
• Using the 2167-A methodology for software development
• Getting opportunities to attend conferences including once where she got to meet Prof. Watts Humphrey
• {understanding that developing software systems is more than writing some lines of code}
• About meeting her husband to be and later shifting to Bangalore after marriage
• Working on cockpit display systems for the Light Combat Aircraft
• Getting her first opportunity to see what is ‘inside the box’ of a computer and did not have an option of opting out.
• And how that have her a very good experience to understand various dynamics in a large program
• How the nuclear blast at Pokhran and subsequent Y2k meant a lot of constraints to be faced by the scientists
• Having the rigor of 100% test coverage, 0% dead code etc
• An interesting situation while integrating subsystems that took many months to resolve and the learning from that experience
• Nuances in hardware design that influence or constrain software to be developed or deployed
• Moving to work on UAVs and adopting structured systems development methodologies (standard 498)
• How she likes to use a metaphor of a divided two way street and 2167A, her experience with 2207, that is more flexible
• About using beetles to reach inaccessible spaces in times of disaster, where UAVs cannot & interesting experiences convening a group on micro air vehicles
• About taking a voluntary retirement and starting a company
• Handling Functional and non functional requirements
• The importance and need for systems thinking

Neeta did MSc Computer Science from Devi Ahilya University, Indore, through a DRDO sponsored programme, and joined DRDO in 1989. She later pursued academics while on the job, to obtain MSc (engineering) and PhD from Indian Institute of Science in the areas of Wireless Sensor Networks and Information Fusion.

Neeta worked for DRDO for 28 years before voluntarily retiring as Scientist ‘G’. She had a brief stint as Subject Matter Expert in Tata Advanced Systems Ltd after that, and is presently focusing on her startup venture Inferigence Quotient LLP.

During her initial years in ISSA-DRDO, Delhi, she was a team member for Computerised Land Wargames for the Indian Army. From 1996 to 2007 at ADE-DRDO, Bangalore, she led the software design and development team for Cockpit Display Systems for the Indian Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas. The display computer hardware and software were designed and developed completely within India at a time when indegenious capabilities in these areas were at a nascent stage, and private industry was still evolving. The display system successfully flew many hundreds of times, providing a platform for proving other avionics subsystems as well. From 2007 to 2017 at ADE she headed the UAV Payload Data Processing group, contributing to the ground image exploitation systems of various UAV programmes including micro, mini, tactical and MALE UAVs.

At TASL she contributed to Mission Systems, Ground Operating Systems and Ground Support Systems for aerial surveillance platforms, and to group autonomy for aerial robots.

Her startup venture is about building intelligent systems using computer vision and machine learning.

She has been part of many other technical and techno-managerial activities. She was expert member and convener of the Aeronautics R&D Board panel SIGMA (Special Interest Group on MAVs) for over 5 years, expert panel member of National Programme on MAVs, a joint initiative by DRDO and DST, contributed to white paper on homeland security for Govt of India. She has over 20 technical papers in national and international journals and conferences, and has also been on review panels herself.

Neeta is a senior member of IEEE and of Computer Society of India. She has received various awards including Young Engineer Award from Indian National Academy of Engineers, Young Scientist Awards from DRDO and from ADE, and Technology Award from DRDO. Her professional interests include Multisensor Data Fusion, Computer Vision, AI, Mission Systems for Aerial Surveillance Platforms, Ground Operating and Support Systems for UAVs, Payload Data Processing, Avionics and Cockpit Displays, Autonomous Single- and Multi-agent Robot Systems including Hybrid Navigation, Software and Systems Engineering.

Contact: neeta@inferq.com

For covid relief http://www.auwa.in/podforchange OR https://fundraisers.giveindia.org/fundraisers/podforchange-covid-relief-fund

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In this episode Amrita Samuel, People Leader and Executive Coach is in conversation with Gayatri sharing her experiences on

• Chosing HR as a career by choice
• Starting out in banking, manufacturing, hotels & then coming to IT via a .com company
• Working out of retail company warehouses and in actual stores, later moving into HR consulting across several industries
• The start of her long IT HR stint beginning with figuring out alphabets in computer programming languages and acronyms of the tech world
• The feel of working with tech across physical notebooks, shared computers, and accessing email via dial up connections
• Reflections on how mindsets and work constructs have shifted from meeting people in person
• How people have understood the role of HR and what it encompasses
• How people experience the organization through HR from hiring to retiring, HR as brand ambassadors
• Being a business partner, learning about what it means to code, what project management is and helping people who want to do something else
• On how people from tech functions bring more empathy to their role when some of them chose to move into HR
• Functioning and enabling in the background
• Did she ever miss not being in the limelight?
• Being a true partner in an organization
• Working with over 12 countries and cultures and how they perceive HR
• Her upbringing and how its helped shape her perspectives in her role
• Creating safe spaces, coaching leaders and being an invisible yet impactful function

Amrita is a thoughtful and accomplished people leader and executive coach. She is a certified Associate Certified Coach through the International Coaching Federation with over 20 years of experience in global human resource management. Her belief in the power of the human potential has helped the leaders she has coached flourish in all aspects of their life.

Amrita has held several leadership roles in her two-decade career in Human Resources. She has worked and led teams in India, USA, Europe and Asia. She has worked across multiple industries ranging from Technology, Manufacturing to Retail and Hospitality. Most recently she was General Manager & Global HR Head at Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT), where she has worked for over 14 years.

Amrita is a food & travel enthusiast. She is a certified scuba diver & home baker. She is committed to social sector causes & hopes to be an impact agent in that space.

She can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amritasamuel/ OR @ amritasamuel@gmail.com

For covid relief please contribute via http://www.auwa.in/podforchange OR https://fundraisers.giveindia.org/fundraisers/podforchange-covid-relief-fund

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In this conversation Chuck Weindorf shares insights and incidents from his long career as an IT software developer, guide and mentor, with Chitra from PM Power Consulting, around

• His interest and curiosity to learn about new technology, picking it up as a hobbyist in high school
• His drive to offer his services as a software developer when he was in high school
• Having the drive and focus to stay on the software development path and learn
• How he loves working with young people, encouraging more young women to take up software engineering, & how youngsters can prepare themselves for a career
• Sharing his learnings from his career, failures and experiences through his book Leaders & Software Engineers: Communicate and Motivate without speaking in Code
• How he developed the ability to "see code" starting playing chess moves in his mind and then visualizing code movement later
• What it takes to be a good trouble shooter, dont have the fear of breaking something, discovering variability and complexity
• Being experimental to understand complexity and gain confidence
• How new engineers can assimilate and understand existing code and systems and then build on them with newer tech and software
• What experienced engineers can do to enable fresh engineers understand pieces of the system and make the transition smooth
• Empathy, living a day in the life of your customer and continuous improvement takeaways, making personal connects to be successful software engineers
• Cultivating how to speak the language of business to get buy in for new features, technology
• Productivity through the value lens for software, individuals and the organization, building bridges between software and organization needs
• Two things to keep in mind for IT professionals
• Bring your best each day to work
• Embracing new technology, learning it and guiding the company through its adption

Charles Weindorf is a retired IT Director and Chief Engineer with nearly 40 years of experience in software engineering. At Erie Insurance, he served in every possible technical and supervisory role, where he encouraged software engineers to understand their responsibilities, see their value, adopt change, and focus on future direction. With stories, humor, and recollections of his roots as a young engineer, he influenced the next generation of software engineers to excel in their craft. Learn more at www.leadingsoftwareengineers.com

Charles attempts to learn a new skill or hobby each year—including creating a board game from one of his fiction works, leading a new spiritual retreat, leaning to fly in a simulator, and managing a political campaign. He is a lifelong resident of Erie, Pennsylvania, where he lives with his high school sweetheart and wife, Debra, his four kids, and seven grandkids.

He can be contacted via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-weindorf-engineer/

In Leaders and Software Engineers:Communicate and Motivate without speaking in Code, Charles Weindorf provides the Rosetta Stone for communicating to engineers with stories, analogies, and humor to encourage excellence in your team

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In this episode Amit Sarangi, Agile Evangelist is in conversation with Gayatri. Amit shares his experiences on

• Starting his career in the functional HRM area as a business analyst
• Comparing the modules and configurations that used to be done in Oracle to the no-code generation of products of today
• Working as an onsite coordinator and understanding business needs and mapping them
• How the Agile journey has transformed him as well as how software is perceived
• Changing the mode of working from being like a whack-a-mole in terms of how feedback used to be collected and how that has changed
• How people need to be understood as who they are and not as robots to churn so many lines of code regularly
• His childhood, being a kid of Sanskrit professors, filled with stories, realms and possibilities
• The choices he’s made in his life and being comfortable staying out of the comfort zone and he’s better for it
• The legacy he’s leaving behind and inspiring today’s technologists to do the same
• Understanding your roots and past, constant curiosity and embracing the future creates multiple possibilities and opportunities.
• Asking listeners to keep exploring!

Amit can be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amit-sarangi/

Here is the link to the Give India campaign in support of the #PodForChange Covid Relief Fund https://fundraisers.giveindia.org/fundraisers/podforchange-covid-relief-fund

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In this episode, SeethaPrasad Mandikel CEO and Founder of Tribyte Technologies shares his stories with Chitra around

• His love for programming and natural motivation towards doing it, active coder at least once a week and reviewing code
• The "Made in India" inspiration when working in Talisma towards becoming an entrepreneur
• Having a lot of ideas, taking nearly 2 years to decide that "this is the one" and the journey from an idea towards making it into a business and founding Tribyte technologies
• Starting the business with building a video platform for entertainment and education & focusing on creating a platform to enable learning by making it both engaging and interesting
• How they got first customers, being confident about the problem being addressed of self-paced learning amidst bandwidth challenges to stream HD videos
• Enabling their early customers digital journeys, learning and co-creating the platform
• Developing and maintaining customer relationships mainly through partnering and referrals, and helping customer grow their business
• The growth explosion due to the pandemic, how the team responded and enabled educators transition to online education and ensuring customer business continuity
• Lessons learned while scaling rapidly at the onset of the pandemic to enable customers quickly move online, handling nearly 1500 sessions with 40-50 attendees per session, all starting at 9am
• Smart scaling approaches keeping cost and performance in mind
• A time when J&K state customers were enabled quickly so they could continue teaching
• How he built the team at Tribyte
• Catering to different learner personas and categories
• Messages for aspiring technologists on having a passion for programming & for entrepreneurs to examine viability & feasibility of a product or solution before starting your business

Seethaprasad Mandikel is the founder and CEO of TriByte Technologies, a Bangalore (India) headquartered company, focused on developing a cutting-edge Interactive Learning Platform.

Seethaprasad has 25 years of experience in building technologies for large scale deployment with last 10 years focused on EduTech. He has grown TriByte from a start-up to enterprise by providing white-labelled solutions for many marquee customers and serving millions of users across 7 countries and 3 continents.

Prior to TriByte, he was part of the founding team of PI Corporation (later acquired by EMC) as Development Director. He worked in companies like Microsoft Corporation in the US), Talisma/ Aditi Technologies and with Robert Bosch, India

He can be reached via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seethaprasad/

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In this conversation with Sanjay Tambwekar, CTO of Qwikcilver is in conversation with Chitra where he shares his experiences around

• His first exposure to engineering while witnessing his father building barges in shipyards
• Writing software at TUL after his graduation from IIT Bombay
• Working at Bell Northern Research and developing systems engineering understanding
• Being part of the supercomputer team at CDAC and enabling its power for actual use by other government agencies
• Working at Verifone on digital payments software solutions
• Customer empathy and customer relationship experiences
• How he transitioned to management at Verifone and later managing a very large team at Sasken, along with his philosophy on management and leadership
• Experiences and learning in his role as CTO, from managing delivery, to understanding different customer personas, scaling transactions and conceptualizing product features
• A critical message on road safety through a foundation that he and his wife started and parents being role models
• His 2 part message for aspiring software and technology engineers
• Focus on the process to improve, your first competition is yourself
• Being an entrepreneur or being an employee, an marriage analogy

As the CTO, Sanjay leads the evolution of prepaid solutions at Qwikcilver, now merging into Pine Labs. Prior to this, his journey covers different domains across parallel computing (CDAC), payments (Verifone), wireless communications (Sasken) and digital storage (NetApp). He has a degree in EE from IIT Bombay, MS in CSE from NCSU, and a Diploma in Practicing Management from INSEAD.

In the memory of their daughter, his wife and he run The Arundhati Foundation with the primary aim to improve road safety.

Sanjay loves swimming, and occasional sketching.

Sanjay's LinkedIn profile

Social media handles related to The Arundhati Foundation :

Twitter : @4stambwekar

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/thearundhatifoundation

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In this conversation with Chitra, Pragati Ogal Rai shares her stories around

• How she became a technologist, published author, community technology evangelist, startup entrepreneur
• Having innate curiosity to study electronics and computer science, teach and do a double masters in computer science
• Working in a startup with her professor on creating a Skype-like feature on a palm pilot
• Working in mobile technology for 6 years, hardening mobile platforms before Android and IoS became popular
• Developing and training mobile engineers and becoming a technology evangelist
• Writing a book on Android Application Security
• How her career learning helped build a ladder to what she took up next
• Getting people to do the right thing through empathy, patient listening and investing time in problem discovery and the art of enabling developers
• Building and promoting communities, its all about the people
• Lessons in community building
• Inspiration to start an NGO focusing on Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Her lessons from her startup experience
• Her message for technology aspirants

Pragati is the Founder of ViryaDewdrops Autism Foundation, COO - ISSA India Chapter, Chair – Women in Cyber Security India Chapter, author of the book "Android Application Security Essentials” and the winner of 2014 Zinnov Thought Leadership award.

In her 20-year career, Pragati has had the privilege to work with Motorola, PayPal, Deutsche Bank and Microsoft. She has held leadership roles in technology, evangelism, strategy, innovation, global program management, and product marketing.

She was a founding member of Mo’blast a technology company in US and has now founded ViryaDewDrops Autism Foundation, a venture focusing on individuals with autism.

Pragati works with academia all over the world in different capacities and volunteers at Swapaksh - a school for kids of migrant worker living in slum areas. She is a recognized and much sought-after speaker at international technology events.

Pragati has a dual Masters in computer science - one from Banasthali Vidhyapith (Gold medal at university level) and the other from San Jose State University.

Pragati spent thirteen years in California before relocating to Bangalore. Reading, organizing, and spending time with family and friends keeps her life spiced up. Her inspiration is her mom and dad.

Here is her book on Book Android Application Security

Virya Autism NGO

https://www.facebook.com/viryaautism

@viryaautism

join the Virya community

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In this conversation, Ranjani Mani shares her experience stories with Chitra on

• Her belief in making a world that our children can live in
• Product management, analytics and consulting for 14 years, customer experience & startup mentoring
• 3 things she's passionate about - Reading, Writing about Tech & AI, becoming better
• Doing her bit to enable women with choices
• The impact of growing up in an environment of equality and mutual respect
• Taking a user centric approach to designing solutions
• Why she did an MBA, how it helped open her mind, deal with ambiguity and welcome diverse views
• Why so many AI projects fail
• How Product Management experience compliments her analytics role
• Having multiple interests and curiosity
• Human centered AI
• Symbiosis of AI and human presence
• Why she believes we need more women in analytics, the broken rung and the 5C framework to own your career

Ranjani has over 14 years of experience in setting up and growing data science, product management, consulting, and customer experience analytics teams. Her interests lie in solving business problems through analytics, strategy and leadership.

Ranjani currently works at VMware India, designing and supporting SaaS transformation through Customer Success with business analytics and AI-driven customer experience. She also drives and collaborates VMware's site activities engaging with start-ups and VCs in the India ecosystem to identify collaboration opportunities.

Ranjani is a DEI evangelist who is keen on bringing more women into the technology space, specifically Analytics.

A passionate writer and voracious reader, Ranjani writes about Tech and AI, Future of Work with exponential technologies, leadership, and managing Analytics teams, book reviews on LinkedIn and her personal website. She also reviews interesting books and provides #2MinExplainer videos on STEM, Finance and Behavioural Economics on her YouTube channel 'Reviews with Ranjani'.

Ranjani holds a bachelor's degree in Engineering (Electronics & Communication) and an MBA from MICA, Ahmedabad.

She can also be reached via LinkedIn.

Disclaimer: All views expressed are personal in nature and solely that of the speaker/author.

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In this conversation, Hamsa Ravikiran and Sivaguru exchange Japanese language and Sanskrit snippets as Hamsa shares her stories on

• Working after her BE and getting exposure to a breadth of software development from coding and testing to project and program management at Exim Soft
• Taking a break, doing an entrepreneurial program at IIM Bangalore and getting the first prize for her business idea
• Joining IBM to conceptualize and implement a knowledge management system
• Taking another break and starting a company to deliver marketing services, by women working from home
• Discovering Youth for Seva an NGO, and finding her calling
• Working with corporate CSR’s on awareness around waste management & segregation
• Hooked onto learning Sanskrit since 2013 and conducting workshops on spoken Sanskrit to doing her MA, MPhil and now planning to do her PhD in Sanskrit
• Experiences working from home and finding a balance between remote and in-person working & setting boundaries when working from home
• Contrasting being an entrepreneur and a project manager in a corporate setting
• Relevance and applicability of techniques learned as and entrepreneur and/or working in corporates, to the social sector to help sustain those activities
• Continuously motivated and challenged while learning Sanskrit
• Translating principles from the Ramayana by examining its stories like case studies to apply in daily life, today
• Finding one’s calling or purpose in life and a message in Sanskrit

An engineering graduate who joined the IT industry as a programmer, moved on to become project manager working in Indian software company and later an MNC. Hamsa completed the Management Program for Women Entrepreneur (MPWE ) from IIM Bangalore and co-founded an IT & Marketing firm named AddTo . She then worked with an NGO called Youth For Seva as a coordinator for Environmental issues and Corporate Social Responsibility. She took up Sanskrit Studies, conducted spoken sanskrit workshops, organised exhibitions and events to teach and promote sanskrit . Hamsa completed her MA - Mphil in Sanskrit and is currently pursuing a Phd in Sanskrit.

Hamsa can be reached through her email hamsa.ravikiran@gmail.com

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In this conversation Shane Hastie and Sivaguru from PM Power Consulting talk about

• Shane starting his career in South Africa in 1982
• Getting a solid grounding in mainframe programming from an intensive training program & programming in Assembler for a teller machine software for a financial institution
• Working on ‘End User Computing’ approaches on the mainframe, very closely with the business users - very similar to the Agile approaches of today
• Being one of the early users of a PC, and with the limited capabilities, considering the mainframe as the best peripheral that one could attach to a PC!
• Starting a company with his wife, focusing on solutions in a PC
• Building solutions for small and medium airlines in Africa
• Moving back to New Zealand and joining a company there
• Leveraging his experience in business analysis and project management as a trainer
• Getting an opportunity, in 2002 - to have close interactions with many of the signatories of the Agile manifesto - and understand the intent behind many of those ideas
• Working with ICAgile for the last four years and how ICAgile has internalized Agile thinking, particularly the humanistic values and in the ways of working
• His transitions to various roles over his career
• The excellent support he got from his wife all through
• The transition to a trainer, wanting to share his knowledge and experience with others & training over 40000 people
• How he could easily adapt to ambiguity and taking to the Agile approaches [including precursors such as Rapid Application Development etc]
• A bad experience in delivering to specs, but not the need
• Most people who come to classes want to learn and they are ‘participants’ in their own learning journeys
• The impact of the pandemic on in person learning and the effectiveness of remote learning and his tips on adapting in person delivery to remote learning
• On the ethical coaching framework initiative
• How to find out if one has in them, to be a trainer or coach

Shane Hastie, MIM ICP-PO ICE-AC

Shane joined ICAgile in 2017 as the Director of Agile Learning Programs and is now the Director of Community Development. He contributes to the strategic direction and expansion of ICAgile’s learning programs, including maintaining and extending ICAgile’s learning objectives, providing thought leadership, collaborating with industry experts, and supporting the larger ICAgile community, which includes more than 150 Member Organizations and over 100,000 ICAgile certification holders. In the Community Development role, he is responsible for building and nurturing the community of over 500 ICAgile Authorized Instructors.

Shane is a TBR certified Trainer and is authorized to teach the Facilitating Exceptional Remote Learning class from Judy Rees.

Over the last 30+ years Shane has been a practitioner and leader of developers, testers, trainers, project managers and business analysts, helping teams to deliver results that align with overall business objectives. Before joining ICAgile he spent 15 years as a professional trainer, coach and consultant specialising in Agile practices, business analysis, project management, requirements, testing and methodologies for SoftEd in Australia, New Zealand and around the world.

He has worked with large and small organisations, from individual teams to large transformations all around the world. He draws on over 30 years of practical experience across all levels of Information Technology and software intensive product development.

Shane was a director of the Agile Alliance from 2011 to 2016 and was the founding Chair of Agile Alliance New Zealand.

He leads the Culture and Methods editorial team for InfoQ.com where he hosts the weekly InfoQ Culture Podcast.

He was one of the authors for both versions of the Agile Extension to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge and a member of the core team for BABOK V3.

He is co-chair of the Agile Alliance Agile Coaching Ethics initiative, working to produce a code of ethical conduct for agile coaching.

He is co-author of the recent book #noprojects - A Culture of Continuous Value, available on Amazon and from InfoQ

“I firmly believe that humanistic way of working and the agile mindset are desperately needed in organisations all around the globe today. Taking agile values and principles beyond software is important and making sure they are properly embedded is absolutely crucial for success – we’re in an industry that touches every aspect of people’s lives and massively influences society as a whole and I want to be a part of making sure that industry is both ethical and sustainable.”

Contact info:

Email: shane@icagile.com

Twitter: @shanehastie

LinkedIn: shanehastie

InfoQ Author Profile

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In this conversation Sunil and Sivaguru from PM Power Consulting talk about

• How he accidentally joined his friend in a startup, when his campus offer from a larger company was put on hold
• His liking for software, right from the 6th grade, influenced greatly by his father
• How various experiments and explorations he undertook, helped indirectly and subtly build his brand and portfolio
• How the startup experience is like an adrenaline inducing activity and one has the opportunity to pick up anything related to the product and learn, as a startup is always short on hands
• Learning the ropes of programming in the large - as a team and the interfaces and experience of working with hardware that will run your software
• That inputs could be from beyond just keyboard and mouse
• The added complexities of enterprise software, where your code needs to integrate and work with other pieces that move on their own
• Why one should design enterprise products that are least disruptive
• The unique experience when you see your first customer actually deploying your solution in the enterprise
• This is an experience that one can get only in startups and a story where this learning happened
• His transitions from a startup employee, one of the initial employees (founding members) in a startup to a co-founder
• Understanding the impact of ‘not now’ situations and decisions
• The significance of explaining the process, when someone is not clear about decisons
• On what he considers non-negotiable
• The key skills and aptitudes necessary for anyone to get into a startup
• His guidance on finding the right reasons to change, particularly mid-career
• How founding teams assemble themselves and an optimistic outlook for a career in IT

Sunil Mukundan likes to describe himself as a startup junkie who loves to build products from ground up and be a part of primal decision making in a company. He has, over the years, dabbled in video, compression, networking among others. co-authored multiple patents in the video delivery and networking domain.

His linkedin profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunil-mukundan-9881563/

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In this episode, Mahalakshmi and Lakshminarayan  share their perspectives with Sivaguru on:

• How they got into IT
• Maha finding her liking for bug fixing with some development, over development only
• How a production support role gave her more flexibility with her time
• Having a supportive environment at work and home, and more flexibility with time after having a kid
• Being lucky to be on a project that allowed this flexibility
• How, for Lakshmi, while there were changes in the work hours, there was no change in terms of the understanding and support for women colleagues
• Chipping in to support Maha with some of the child related activities
• How, working from home has increased the expectations on availability over extended hours
• The growing mutual understanding among peers and teams or the need to balance personal and work demands, particularly while working in a dispersed model
• The significance and benefit of discussions on the nature of work with one’s spouse, even before getting married for better understanding

Lakshminarayanan Natarajan, has been in the IT industry for 12 years and is currently working as project lead in development work.

Mahalakshmi Ganesan has been in the  IT industry for the last 7 years and is presently a technology analyst , working in an application support team .

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In this episode, Manju and Rajiv Kuchhal share their perspectives with Shiv on:

• Manju starting her career with TCS and taking a break to take care of kids, then getting into the social sector
• Rajiv, about how he got into IT accidentally
• How his knowledge of Pascal got him into IT/Telecom work and later, how he got into Infosys
• Leaving the corporate world about 13 years ago and being active in the startup and social sector spaces
• How Manju wanted to have flexibility at work even while in the corporate sector and how the social sector has given her that optionHer ways to encourage women in her team, to get back after a career break
• Rajiv talks about the opportunities for women in the startup sector, possibly part time as well
• Variations in the clarity of work to be done and pressure between corporates and startups
• Opportunities to contribute to various aspects beyond just writing code
• Manju also talks of the need for a support system when working from home
• Rajiv mentions how some societal attitudes need to change faster, when it comes to men taking a pause or going slow in their careers
• About any differences faced by women in startups and social sector
• About encouraging women and enabling them to get back to work, while respecting their freedom to to not re-enter the corporate life
• Support groups that can help women in transition

Manju Kuchhal has nearly 20 years of experience in area of technology. For last 8+ years she has been associated with Dhwani Foundation which works towards providing technology solutions to NGOs. She is currently Trustee of Dhwani Foundation. At Dhwani she works with NGOs in identifying the areas where technology can help their operations, engages with relevant technology solution providers and help them with implementation of such solutions. Before that she worked with Tata Consultancy Services in their software division.

Rajiv is an active angel investor and mentor to multiple startups in the social enterprise and technology space. He is an Advisor and Board Member of many such companies. Rajiv spent more than 2 decades in IT/BPO industry, mainly with Infosys group. He led Infosys’ foray into telecom and product engineering services space in early ’90s. He became one of the youngest Business Head and Management Council members at Infosys. He led Infosys’ foray into BPO as a founding team member of Progeon (now Infosys BPO). He was Chief Operating Officer of OnMobile and was part of senior management team instrumental in helping OnMobile scale as an organisation and consolidate its market leadership.

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In this episode, Priya and Sridhar Parthasarathy share their perspectives with Sivaguru on:

• Priya's determination to do MCA, after missing an opportunity to do engineering in Bidar
• Starting her career with Robert Bosch and moving on to Mascot and Wipro as a project leader and getting into ERP solutions
• Setting up the EAI practice in Cognizant
• Wanting to contribute to the Digital India initiative and taking up a role in NASSCOM
• Sridhar's journey starting at BITS Pilani and a small firm before doing his masters and then to Tata Unisys, before joining Wipro
• Now, a cybersecurity consultant, managing his own venture, Purple Team
• How the excellent support from family has been helping Priya both at home and career, complemented by the guidance from supervisors and managers at work
• Priya's experience of setting up and growing the EAI practice
• Sridhar shares how he saw his mother being a career woman and was keen on marrying a career woman
• His philosophy of having relationships based on equality and mutual respect
• The support he gets from Priya in his career movement decisions
• Being sounding boards from the industry for each other
• Sridhar also shares instances where he was able to encourage and support women facing some challenges at work, due to demands on their time or commute
• How, Having a woman entrepreneur in the team helps create the empathy needed at the workplace
• Possible reasons why we find few women in cybersecurity
• The impact of working from home on balancing work and personal demands
• Their views on IT as a career choice and mid career questions that many of us face

Priya is spearheading NASSCOM's Future Skills initiative with the remit of skilling/reskilling/upskilling of over 4 million people in cybersecurity for India by 2025. She has seen all the opportunities and challenges that women encounter both as an engineer and as a leader. Prior to her stint in NASSCOM she was heading Cognizant's Security practice. Priya is an alumna of SJCE Mysore.

Contacts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/priya-madhavan-b79a3714/

Future Skills: https://futureskills.nasscom.in/

Sridhar heads the cybersecurity consulting firm Purple Team, specializing in cloud security. In the 30+ years he has been in the Indian software industry he has been trying figure out what makes it tick. Every time he thinks he has, they change the rules!

Reach him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sridharparthasarathy/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sridhu

Webpage: www.purpleteam.in

This podcast was created on Hubhopper studio. If you wish to start your own podcast for free, visit www.hubhopperstudio.com. Hubhopper is India's leading podcast creation platform. Start your podcast with Hubhopper studio & get your voice heard across platforms like Spotify, Gaana, Google podcasts, Wynk Music and more. Click on the link in the episode description or visit www.hubhopperstudio.com

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In our episode, the first of a series to mark women's day 2021, Chitra from PM Power consulting is in conversation with Pratibha Batchu, General Manager heading the India Operations for Bosch Service Solutions Business unit of Bosch and Sirish Batchu, Managing Director of Danlaw Technologies India Ltd.; where they share -

• How they chose careers in in software and technology
• From one being rooted in Bangalore, to the other having lived in different cities
• Their thoughts on diversity - of people, places, experiences, and careers
• Bringing empathy to and from the workplace, through their relationship & work experiences
• Going back to first principles when in doubt
• Approaching inter-generational engagement at home and in the work place, through recognizing workplace diversity, learning and un-unlearning to have conversations at every level
• Leadership tips through 3P's, 3A's, empathy, making an effort to understand "why" and enabling an environment to embrace & minimize inequalities
• Making each day your day & respecting diversity of all kinds - thought, experiences & inequality

Pratibha is a Business leader with 24+ years of experience at Bosch, India with a passion for engineering, solution design, problem solving, process engineering and leading teams. She is currently General Manager heading the India Operations for Bosch Service Solutions Business unit of Bosch. She has experience in various roles ranging from software development, project management, quality processes, Head of L&D function in HR for technical competency development and knowledge management to being a leader of business teams in the IT services domain. She has worked on long term assignments at Germany and USA Bosch units, giving her a perspective on intercultural aspects and leadership.

She thrives on her interest to learn and lead topics that are challenging, with an opportunity to grow the business - emphasizing on stability, creativity and growth with high customer and market focus. Pratibha is a certified Prosci Change Management Professional, EFQM business excellence assessor and CMMI qualified assessor.

She is also a certified graphologist, a calligrapher and an avid traveler in her free time.Pratibha can be reached via

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pratibha-sirish-batchu-322545b/

Sirish Batchu is a technocrat who is passionate about bringing technologies to life to solve real world problems. Being a Computer Science Engineer in the Automotive world for about three decades, he believes that Software will entirely transform the future Mobility solutions.

He is currently the Managing Director of Danlaw Technologies India Ltd. and responsible for the managing the group companies in India for the products, services and manufacturing for Connected Vehicles and Automotive Electronics solutions. Prior to this, he was the Vice President - Digital Technology at Ather Energy Private Ltd, responsible for the Software and Intelligence solutions for the Electric Scooters.

He has led leading pioneering efforts in the ACE (Autnonomous, Connected & Electric) domains through his work at organizations like Mahindra & Mahindra and Bosch & has been instrumental in bringing many new technology concepts/ideas to life. He has a strong foundation in R&D by virtue of his initial experience at Indian Space Research Organization.

He is recognized as a Thought Leader and an influencer in the industry in the Connected Vehicles and EVs space and Distinguished speaker in various national and international forums and was conferred the ‘Digital Transformational Leader’ Award by CeBIT India in 2016.

He has to his credit, the creation of “Mahindra DiGiSENSE”, a first of its kind Connected Vehicles Platform for the entire Mobility Sector across Mahindra & Mahindra and had major contribution in the development of the first Driverless Tractor in India at M&M.

On the personal front, he is passionate about music, an avid singer, movie buff & loves to travel.

Sirish can be reached via https://www.linkedin.com/in/sirishbatchu/

This podcast was created on Hubhopper studio. If you wish to start your own podcast for free, visit www.hubhopperstudio.com. Hubhopper is India's leading podcast creation platform. Start your podcast with Hubhopper studio & get your voice heard across platforms like Spotify, Gaana, Google podcasts, Wynk Music and more. Click on the link in the episode description or visit www.hubhopperstudio.com

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In this episode Naresh Bansal, Co-Founder, Kleeto.com and Next gen paper solutions Pvt Ltd is in conversation with Gayatri from DBS India. Naresh shares his experiences on

• Starting his technology journey inspired by Rajiv Gandhi’s vision of tech enabled India
• Hard work and Education as 2 pillars that drove his entire family towards success
• Interesting narrative on his experiences with visa consulate and trysts in US
• Making a career in network management and telecom domain providing core and value added services
• Found an opportunity in the Digitization of documents and started Kleeto.com
• How connections have played an important role by connecting customers with solutions
• Life as a founder where you hold bottom line for staff, customer outcome and technology
• His passion towards environment and urges everyone to look at taking less from the environment and contribute more
• His dual predicament where business understanding has to be in balance with Technology solutioning in harmony

Naresh Bansal is co-founder and CTO at kleeto. He is a Technology professional with 30+ years of experience in technology based companies based in the US and in India. Kleeto provides end to end intelligent solutions for information and document management. kleeto have services and technologies to help customers with indexing, automation, and encrypting flows related to information and documents. kleeto provides document storage with anytime anywhere access to documents with intelligent, and customized access control.

Naresh joined workforce in the 90s with a keen interest in software and technology after finishing his B Tech in Computer Science from IET Lucknow. Naresh worked with Pertech Computers, HCL America and River Run Software Group during 1990s on many green field technologies. Naresh joined Cisco systems in 2000 as he decided to join the Telecom and Networking boom. Apart from Cisco, Naresh went on to work with Bay Pacekts, Genband Technologies and Comviva Technologies.

After working for 20+ years, Naresh decided to venture into the entrepreneurial world by co-founding kleeto with focus on the document management services for individuals which later pivoted to Document Management Services for corporate.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naresh-chand-b59461/

This podcast was created on Hubhopper studio. If you wish to start your own podcast for free, visit www.hubhopperstudio.com. Hubhopper is India's leading podcast creation platform. Start your podcast with Hubhopper studio & get your voice heard across platforms like Spotify, Gaana, Google podcasts, Wynk Music and more. Click on the link in the episode description or visit www.hubhopperstudio.com

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In this episode,Sivaguru from PM Power Consulting is in conversation with Dr. Pramod Varma, CTO of EkStep and Chief architect of Aadhaar, where Pramod talks about

• His early school years studying in his mother tongue, Malayalam
• Getting into Applied mathematics for higher studies
• Joining Infosys and learning to address the challenges of teaching academically high performers
• His experience in using some of the earliest technology components of the internet
• How his research and teaching led him to conceptual thinking and architectural thinking, through a non-linear learning approach for himself
• HOw he developed the skills to communicate the big vision to individual contributors too - by thinking and working in a startup mode
• His principles to Abstract, Isolate and define interfaces first
• Making sure the interface and automation are sollid
• Building for refactorability
• Importance of understanding the why behind the why behind the why
• Design for a decade, implement for today
• His idea of coming up with an addressable recipient for payment
• His thoughts on Chief architect or design by committee model
• His four tips for an aspiring architect

Dr. Pramod Varma is the CTO of EkStep, a not-for-profit creating learner-centric, technology enabled platform aiming to provide learning opportunities to 200 million children in India. In addition, he continues to be the Chief Architect of Aadhaar, India's digital identity program that has successfully covered more than 1.2 billion people in a short span of 7 years. He is also the architect of various India Stack layers such as eSign, Digital Locker, and Unified Payment Interface (UPI) all of which are now working at population scale in India. He has, along with Nandan Nilekani, co-founded beckn.org a non-profit creating open source protocol specifications for hyperlocal commerce.

He is an advisor to Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), National Payment Corporation (NPCI), Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), National Health Authority (NHA), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and helps with many digital public infrastructure initiatives. He regularly speaks at technology conferences

and is part of advisory groups of various national projects from time to time.

Before joining UIDAI in July 2009, he was the Chief Technology Architect and Vice President of Research at Sterling Commerce, now part of IBM. He joined Sterling in 2005 when Sterling Commerce acquired Yantra Corporation, a leading supply chain software company based in Boston, USA. At Yantra Corporation he has been anchoring all technology and architecture strategies and has been key part in building Yantra’s founding team. He began his career as part of the research team at Infosys Technologies and has been part of team that built an Internet banking module and a powerful web application server as early as 1995.

Over the past 25+ years, he has studied architectures spanning from mainframes to web and has worked extensively with most programming languages, platforms, and databases. He has researched and taught various courses in Database Tuning, Distributed Computing, Internet Technologies, and Computer Architectures among others.

Pramod holds a Master’s and Ph.D. degree in Computer Science along with a second Master’s in Applied Mathematics. His interests include Internet scale distributed architectures and intelligent systems. He is passionate about technology, science, society, and teaching.

This podcast was created on Hubhopper studio. If you wish to start your own podcast for free, visit www.hubhopperstudio.com. Hubhopper is India's leading podcast creation platform. Start your podcast with Hubhopper studio & get your voice heard across platforms like Spotify, Gaana, Google podcasts, Wynk Music and more. Click on the link in the episode description or visit www.hubhopperstudio.com

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In this episode Jerome Ruwe, Master Agile Coach is in conversation with Gayatri from DBS India. Jerome shares his experiences on

• Starting his career as a Finance specialist and falling in love with technology
• Adopting Business Intelligence based software development & recognising power of data
• Connected to Jeff Sutherland and adopted SCrum practices and handled soft aspects of hard questions
• Meeting Boss Vode and experimenting with what we now know as LESS framework
• Deja vu when working as a scrum master for a university
• The pandemic level setting and humanity to the forefront
• His love of bringing people together, asking feedback in large forums and creating small experiments
• How technology can bring in objectivity and reduce discrimination
• The shameless self promotion culture and how he feels agile coaches are diluting their brand
• Holding hard conversations on the success of the organization and how an agile coach equally shares the burden along with the C-Suite members
• Having common goals and keeping your customers and culture at the center makes your endeavor meaningful
• Understanding points of diminishing marginal returns and how Change agents can structure their work and perspective
• Always staying honest to oneself, inviting mentors into your circle of trust and staying humble to continue to learn and grow

Jerome is a master Agile Coach enabling several organizations in their agility journey. He’s been in the industry for 30+ years and enabling organizations and powering them with Agile ways of working for 25 years. He has worked as Scrum master, Agile Team Coach as well as Enterprise coach with large firms.

He is passionate about bringing agile to companies and truly embodies the message of empowering everyone with his innate style of bringing his genuine self in every interaction.

Jerome is an avid speaker in several forums and also works with many fellow agile journey people to uphold the message of staying true to agile values. His methods, drawing from traditional Lean & Agile practices (Scrum, Kanban, XP) as well as scaled frameworks and cutting edge techniques (LeSS, SAFe, Scrum at Scale, Dual Track Agile) bridge gaps which commonly exist between Product and Technology and establish objective measures of performance across critical OKRs (Objectives / Key Results).

Jerome’s prioritization of business outcomes and process efficiency gains result in a transparent, collaborative, engaging and profitable experience for my key Stakeholders - from individual team members to the C Suite.

Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeromeruwe/

This podcast was created on Hubhopper studio. If you wish to start your own podcast for free, visit www.hubhopperstudio.com. Hubhopper is India's leading podcast creation platform. Start your podcast with Hubhopper studio & get your voice heard across platforms like Spotify, Gaana, Google podcasts, Wynk Music and more. Click on the link in the episode description or visit www.hubhopperstudio.com

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In this episode Liran Haimovitch, CTO and co-founder of rookout is in conversation with Chitra from PM Power Consulting. Liran shares his experiences on

• Working across multiple technologies & roles
• Having a computer at age 6 and writing programs since then
• 2 impacts from his cybersecurity experience - (1) the importance of understanding software & its complexity (2) doing something beyond just writing code
• Aging systems, lost design intent, and the most common form of tech debt
• The 3 reasons for tech debt and what drives fear in engineers
• How he co-founded Rookout, born out of his own frustration trying to understand how software works
• The idea of seeing code live, running in the actual environment to understand whats happening, rather than static code
• Making life easier for software engineers & enabling them to see flow of code
• How Rookout is helping customers reduce cycle time for new builds & adding new code
• Infrastructure complexities of cloud and spinning up 1000's of services
• Simplicity in software engineering & the philosophy on building simple components
• Thoughts on starting small & working agile & Ways of working for agile teams
• Focusing on creating short, frequent feedback loops
• A message for anyone taking up software engineering

Liran is the Co-Founder and CTO of Rookout. He’s an advocate of modern software methodologies like agile, lean, and DevOps. Liran’s passion is to understand how software actually works. When he’s not thinking of code, he’s usually diving or hiking.

Social Media Handles:

Twitter- @liranlast

LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/in/liran-haimovitch-652bba95/

This podcast was created on Hubhopper studio. If you wish to start your own podcast for free, visit www.hubhopperstudio.com. Hubhopper is India's leading podcast creation platform. Start your podcast with Hubhopper studio & get your voice heard across platforms like Spotify, Gaana, Google podcasts, Wynk Music and more. Click on the link in the episode description or visit www.hubhopperstudio.com

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This episode features a conversation between PM Power colleagues Guruprasad and Chitra with Guru sharing his story that includes

• Love for programming and logic
• C programming and how an incident set the stage for his sw dev career
• Experiences as a developer and directly working with customers
• His 3 lessons through a serious escalation
• Key takeaways when transitioning from an individual contributor to a manager
• Wanting to stay technical and how agile led the way to management
• Having an excellent manager as a mentor and role model in his early management days
• Finding his Ikegai through coaching and a series of ups and downs
• His message for aspiring coaches & people in technology

This podcast was created on Hubhopper studio. If you wish to start your own podcast for free, visit www.hubhopperstudio.com. Hubhopper is India's leading podcast creation platform. Start your podcast with Hubhopper studio & get your voice heard across platforms like Spotify, Gaana, Google podcasts, Wynk Music and more. Click on the link in the episode description or visit www.hubhopperstudio.com

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In this episode PM Power colleagues, J Veeraraaghavan (JV) & Sivaguru are in conversation as JV shares his career journey during the mid-career days, when he moved from one leadership role to another including

• Getting the right breaks through his career
• Managing projects, taking up middle managerial roles and moving into executive management
• Getting exposed to and experience in roadmap planning for products
• Curbing the tendency to jump in and act when team members were facing challenges, rather than taking an approach of helping them
• What helped him get over this:
• Emotional intelligence
• Being aware of self and being empathetic and sensing how others feel
• Having a technical background
• In addition, approachability and ability to guide
• On dealing with managers, when he took on larger responsibilities
• How he overcame the sudden feeling that one had nothing to do, as a manager, while being responsible overall
• His first experience in managing a program and what he learnt from not having prior experience
• What he realized by inadvertently stepping into the shoes of the project manager and realizing the impact it had on the project manager
• His thoughts on luck v/s hard work for a successful manager
• Four dimensions of success for a middle manager - Engineering excellence; Delivery oversight; Self leadership; Coaching skills
• How executive leadership can enable middle managers to go beyond performance reviews
• Establishing communities of practice to help middle managers
• His take on managing time

This podcast was created on Hubhopper studio. If you wish to start your own podcast for free, visit www.hubhopperstudio.com. Hubhopper is India's leading podcast creation platform. Start your podcast with Hubhopper studio & get your voice heard across platforms like Spotify, Gaana, Google podcasts, Wynk Music and more. Click on the link in the episode description or visit www.hubhopperstudio.com

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In this episode, Sivaguru from PM Power Consulting is in conversation with Ujjwal Trivedi and his stories about

• Wanting to be a scientist, when he was graduating
• Why he had to take up a job, due to family situation
• Getting some inputs from colleagues and managers and recognizing his aptitude for more business oriented roles
• Journey from a software developer to a business analyst and then to a product manager
• Began blogging as a means of sharing his learning of new technology
• Finding that his creativity in writing poems could be channelised at work as well
• How to develop empathy with customer needs
• Never second guess your user
• How to validate your product idea and staying away from candy questions
• Recommended book reads for product managers and on product management

Ujjwal Trivedi is a product guy with over 15 years of experience in building software. He is currently working as Associate Director Products, MoveInSync. He has worked on web and mobile products for US and Indian markets as a Techie and moved to Product Management about 8 years back. He loves poetry, reading, and actively contributes to the Indian startup ecosystem as part of Headstart.

Ujjwal can be reached via :

• linkedin.com/in/ujjwaltrivedi
• @ujjwaltrivedi

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Continuing with our 2-part Year End Special, our episode this week features PM Power coaches Gopal, Srini, Sivakumar, Sivaguru & Paramu

They share experiences, observations, insights and tips for anyone in a leadership role or aspiring to take up the role, in a dispersed mode of working. Tips include -

• Becoming situational leaders
• Copiously communicate
• Empathize with individuals
• Dont overdo anything
• Support associates, recognize mental well-being
• Keep the big picture of business, partners and members of your household in mind
• Have fun and remember, we are all in this together.

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Check out my late2020 threw up challenges like no year before, in anyone’s living memory. As coaches from PM Power Consulting, many of us went saw and experienced changes that affected our coaching practice. Through observations, sensing and experimenting, all of which were activated differently, we un-learned and re-learned to respond to our client needs. As 2020 draws to a close and a new year ushers itself in, tune into part 1 of our 2-part Yr End special where we PM Power coaches speak of challenging moments and how we adapted.In this episode we feature Gopalan (Gopal), Vishweshwar Hegde (Vishu), Anantha Natarajan (Anand), Srinivasan Soundararajan (Srini) and Sivaguru (Shiv). st episode!

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In this conversation, Krishna Prasad - aka KP - a coach at PM Power Consulting, shares many of his personal experiences with Chitra. Among other things, he talks of: A mechanical engineer, with Masters and PhD in software Mercedes, Tata, Terex, Delphi Own journey of various roles in the Software industry, experiencing and contributing to various aspects of SDLC His origin story: typical middle class family, aspiring kids to be engineers or doctors; though liked the doctor profession, did not want much of biology and defaulted to engineering Wanted to get into sales [and marketing], appeared glamorous, though at heart i was an R&D person Tried sales and did not enjoy it; but realized that even if you are in development, you need to go to customers, to make the customers feel happy Though in automotive, true software started in avionics; i became a true software developer in Aeronautical Development Agency, developing military standard software Joining Daimler, was again forced, that I am happy about now, into software Aha! Moment - developing software from India, that goes into international products We need to get empathy to feel like a driver, difficult for a youngster to just imagine this Always good to think how someone would actually use the software While a lot of knowledge has been built about, say, braking systems, today, the systems have grown complex and need to work with multiple other systems Only the nature of rigour has changed to more agile ways of working Used to get a few thousand pages of document of requirements, we used to take a few months to get back on how it can be implemented Everyone has now realized that we cannot afford to write so much of initial documentation Rigour is still there, with incremental development - nature of development has changed; everything now is ‘continuish’ Systems getting complex, regulatory requirements are also increasing We have to bake in compliance; no longer a bolt-on Feels model based development will have a significant impact and many freshers are not prepared for that Career advice: develop T shaped skills.. With multiple skills being deep and not just one Question to ask yourself: with your T shaped skills, how can you continuously contribute The benefit of lateral movement across different roles in an organization Internalizing the concept of ikigai - balance passion, mission and profession; magic happens when all these intersect Secret for rallying teams around a leader’s vision: People should know that the leaders are making the right choices What worked for him: Have seen a couple of transformation journeys - they were only partly successful; start with high aspiration and expectation; most often - may turn out the aspirations were unrealistic No matter what, this transformation journey is important There cannot be just one end point - it is a journey - with great learning for leaders and teams Prospects in IT: fantastic area to get in; so broad, you can pick up any area and make a positive impact using technology We have to be really aware that when we enter this technology area; there is a half life of skills; this is reducing dramatically There is no ways of getting into technology areas that will keep you ahead for 305 years Constant need for learning - new skills, honing skills, learn something different Now we have unlimited access to resources, to learn every day Robin Sarma - 5 AM club - daily learning; learn anything, every day

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Sunita Rao and Chitra Gurjar are in a conversation where Sunita shares her stories and experiences about

-Being a Hyderabad person, who chose a path of computers through Math & designed solutions for the Nasdaq using VC++ -Cutting teeth in the world of telecom tech working at companies like Nokia, Motorola & Ericsson -Moving from a file systems protocols engineering role into product management and the transition experience -Understanding customers needs via figuring out the problem first & being an ambassador for the company as a product manager -3 focus areas for managing outcomes & transitions from existing business models to new models -The importance of mentorship & developing a product management mindset -Managing customer requirements by doing your homework, understanding needs & hand holding them as you deliver -Defining outcomes & how to monitor and manage them, key aspects that PM's should note -Relationship building as a key skill for PM's as they have no direct control -Balancing the pillars of product network -Her “pay it forward” stories through social causes for caregivers, women & women professionals -A message for listeners on you can do anything & never to give up.

Sunita Rao is Senior Director of Product management at NetApp, a leading storage infrastructure and data services technology company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. She has over 2 decades of experience in managing both rapidly growing startups and mature businesses. She did Engineering leadership roles prior to transitioning to Product Management and successfully led multiple business development and partnership activities across various technology areas. She currently leads “Keystone”, a strategic CEO initiative to transform the systems business to a recurring subscription / consumption model. Sunita, serves non-profits in India that foster creativity and growth in the minds of young girls interested in technology

She can be reached via her Twitter and LinkedIn handles. https://www.linkedin.com/in/raosunitha/

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Tune into a chat with a Mental Conditioning Coach Badri Narayanan, Founder of Quantum Leap Sports, with Gayatri Kalyanaraman from PM Power Consulting covering -

-How he translated his interest in psychology to help him transition from software to being a mental conditioning coach -Squashing barriers to mental health -Players interest in data and insights to help manage their performance -Data and psyche of the mind -How he handles context switching across coaching sport, leadership and organizational change management -Managing multiple coaching relationships -Different players having different checklists, maintaining unique footprints for each athlete -Managing the coaching relationship using data to support the process -Data driven approach in psychology -Leadership coaching & material management company consulting experiences -Translation challenges across continental cultures

Badri Narayanan is a Sports Psychologist, Mental Skills, Strategy and Performance Coach, Organizational Development Coach and an established Life Coach with more than 16 years of experience in this field. Badri works with a wide range of Athletes in the highest professional level across all sports, notably Tennis, Golf, Racing, Cricket, Soccer, Basketball etc.. He is also involved in Mental Training for sport parents as the family is often highly vested in the player’s development and parents benefit the most in knowing how to train their budding talent! His services are focused in improving their Mental Performance in their desired area of work. This includes understanding the mindset of the participants, their goals, motivation for success, monitoring and tracking their progress. He is also a Life coach and Organizational development coach for corporate and professionals. Prior to starting his Sports and Life coaching company, he worked as a project manager in Gladwell Technologies, Prosper Inc and Ingeo Systems. He did his engineering in NIT Trichy and Masters in Information Systems and a PhD in Philosophy from Utah State University. He can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebelbadri/ or https://www.topmentalsuccess.com

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Conversation with a RPA and MI Lead Anuradha Venkatesh, at Ford with Gayatri Kalyanaraman from PM Power Consulting on Starting her journey as a civil engineer and built bridges After taking a career break during childbirth, Anuradha started in Geographic Information System as she stepped into software development Anu shares her exciting journey across Java, BI Dev and RPA technologies while solving real problems with innovation and focus Anuradha covers some of the interesting stories on keeping her day enjoyable and having fun with everything you do How she keeps learning at the core even if there was lot of trepidation in the recent leap with RPA and soon in ecommerce Anu shares her wisdom on how she’s chosen to travel for work based on impact that creates for the family and the risk it takes to make the change Anu shares her perspective on Data security and how one has to have a balance while using apps and understand personalization benefits Anu talks about being the first engineer in the extended family and talking about choice of his father to have got her married after 10th standard Shares RPA story - Consider bots as another system in the team without any knowledge of system boundaries. It removes silos in the org and brings short term quick benefits Creating a new frontier using image search and AI ML coming together would revolutionize day to day work As a takeaway she asks everyone not to tag themselves in a specific bucket - be open and continue to explore

Anuradha Venkatesh, RPA AI & ML Lead – Ford Motor Company

Anuradha has spent over 25 years in the software industry; working on application delivery, business strategy, captive management and vendor management specialties.

She started her career as a civil engineer working in Kolkata and Mumbai. She stepped into software development after she took a break due to childbirth. She was a MIS manager for a GIS firm. She joined as a java developer in Hexaware in 2000. She later took up several interesting programs in Java and became a program manager. She joined HP in 2008 as a Sr. program manager and made the switch to ERP and BI systems.

In 2016, she joined Ford motor company. She continues in Ford right now. Anuradha is the RPA and ML lead for the marketing team within Ford.

Throughout her career, she has been recognized for bringing excellent relationship management and program management capabilities to the table. She’s also known to look at different ways of making delivery models effective.

Anuradha passed out of NIT, Warangal.

For more details, visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/anuradha-venkatesh-a301764/

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Conversation with a Chief Digital Officer Sundar Sukavanam, at firstsource with Gayatri Kalyanaraman from PM Power Consulting on Role of CDO has always been there with work done by CIO, CTO and the CEO Digital has made people think of business models differently - Digital office has quite a few roles like Intelligent Automation (RPA), machine first capability, partnerships, evangelization Talks about 18,000 puzzle pieces coming together as an art! Sundar talks about experience as an account manager working in the US for P&L leader Wearing the architect hat (not being an empty suit), powering the enterprise for Cognizant and learnt how to make the most of it Business Operations manager for the insurance team and understood the need for automation and shares stories Sundara speaks about traveling across the globe and themes that triggered moves Enterprise IT is like utility. No one knows when only till it stops working! Think of the users in enterprise IT rather than the sponsors or the conduits Alvin tofflers’ quote on twentieth century literate are those who learn, unlearn and relearn soon Today it has to be fail fast, learn faster Key takeaway for everyone should be to how do you balance what the technology can offer and what Human ingenuity can make happen

Sundara Sukavanam is Chief Digital Officer (CDO) at Firstsource Solutions. He drives the ‘Digital First, Digital Now’ agenda for the organisation with the focus to help our customers in their digital transformation journey. Sundara leads Firstsource’s Digital Services including Intelligent Automation, Analytics, and scaling Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) offerings. He also manages global partnerships with industry-leading platforms in RPA, ML/AI and SaaS and integrates that IP into their solutions. As part of the CIO’s office, Sundara built large scale enterprise platforms across Operations, Sales and Marketing, Planning and Forecasting, and Enterprise Performance Management, in partnership with the business. Sundara is a business and technology leader with over 24 years of experience in the IT & Operations industry, working with the world’s leading corporations across the Manufacturing, Utilities, Retail, Financial Services, Healthcare, and Media & Information sectors – delivering solutions in Application Development, Core Modernization, Cloud Migration, Quality Assurance, Analytics and Intelligent Process Automation. Sundara has a Master’s degree from National Institute of Technology, India and Certifications from the Stanford Business School. He is based in the US with his wife and teenage son. Sundara is an avid reader and a sports buff. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sundarasukavanam/

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Passion and Commitment, something that you will hear throughout this conversation with Pravin Gandhi, a pioneer in the Indian IT industry. With over 50 years in the industry, Pravin is known nowadays for his angel investing and mentorship of entrepreneurs. What you may not know is that his association with the industry started as a software professional! In his journey over the years, you will hear about spotting opportunities, wanting to solve other people’s problems and dreaming big.

In this conversation with Sivaguru from PM Power Consulting, Pravin Gandhi talks about many things, including bringing Digital Equipment Corporation to India and closes with the need to embrace Digital!

Other things he speaks about include: -Learning computers and programming in the 60s -Being among the first 100 employees at TCS and them moving to Mafatlal Computer Services -Switching out of the software development industry into an OR role -Moving again, soon into a sales and marketing role to find his calling -Leaving Coca Cola, just before they had to close down in India -Converting an opportunity to join Tektronix, an instrumentation company just as they started introducing computerized instruments , to become a promoter of a new company, Hinditron -About creating a pull by approached the end users -How every entrepreneur should be nimble and read to pivot, when it comes to survival of the business -How they were able to establish partnerships to make and sell PCs and solutions -The experience of working with and selling to government officials -Why he considers punctuality and respect for time to be very important -What is a reasonable measure of success, for an entrepreneur -Being a company builder and not a financier -What the right age would be to start up and what it takes to make it work -The role of a mentor, particularly for startups to grow and scale\ -2 questions he would like to ask entrepreneurs -His experience and lessons learnt from starting a software company to build an ERP solution -We, as a country, needing to dream big and large scale impact -Opportunities in the IT sector for both entry level aspirants and mid-career professionals

Pravin Gandhi has over 50 years of entrepreneurial operational and investing experience in the IT industry in India. He was a founding partner of the first early stage fund India – INFINITY. Subsequently a founding partner in Seedfund I & II. With over 18 years of investing experience, he is extensively well networked in investment and entrepreneurial scene and is an active early stage angel investor in tech & impact space. Pravin holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from Cornell University, and serves on the board of several private corporations in India. Pravin is a former President of the Manufacturers Association of Information Technology (an IT manufacturers association in India), He is a Past President of TiE Mumbai as well as an Ex-Global Trustee of The Indus Entrepreneurs. He was an Executive Committee of Nasscom in the past. He is on the board of SINE, IIT Mumbai Incubator. He serves on Investment Committee of Aavishkaar Bharat Fund.

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A conversation with Kishan Malur, Product Manager andChitra Gurjar from PM Power Consulting on -

-His experience working with digital pay TV,Industrial IoT and Cloud Infrastructure -Passion for Products, moving from the what to answering the why? -A story about buying a computer and building a POS software -Wearing different hats as a product manager -Mastering empathy in 3 different ways -Staying connected to your network, during the pandemic -Coaching, paying it forward and other passions -How to ask the right questions, 3 steps towards practising it -3 messages for young people aspiring to be product managers

Kishan Malur is a Product Management Professional at VMware on Cloud Infrastructure. In his career, he has had the opportunity to build products in various areas like Cloud Video Delivery Platform, Internet of Things, Manufacturing, and now Cloud Infrastructure. In this exciting journey, he has been instrumental in setting up high performing Multi-Site, Multi-Cultural Global Agile Teams, and leading complex global Tech Integrations for premium Customer Accounts. Kishan is involved in contributing to the Product Community in India. He actively mentors professionals in Product Management. As a career coach, he helps professionals in Career Transformation and Acceleration. He has more than 300 hours of coaching experience and Counting! Kishan holds an Executive MBA from the Institute of Product Leadership, M.S. Software Systems from BITS Pilani, and a Bachelor’s degree from BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore. A fresh brew of Filter Coffee and Great Product conversations is something that Kishan usually doesn't say no to.

He can be reached via - LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kishanmalur/ Twitter - @KishanMalur

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In conversation with Preethy Padman, Product Marketing Executive with Freshworks with Gayatri Kalyanaraman from PM Power Consulting Preethy talks about her career starting in India working for networking software firms She discovered her passion for technology and later in product development and later in product marketing. She has also tried being Chief of staff. She talks about building a career leading to be a General manager and how all these career choices have made sense Preethy shares a story on the risks that she has taken for a role and how that had helped her to understand new ways of working It has also brought a real sense of being out of the comfort zone and continuous learner Preethy talks about tips on building your first few weeks in a new firm She elaborates on being a mindful practitioner and teacher as well as a volunteer and how the social engagements have helped her take decisions in her professional life Preethy talks about stories around investing and how she chooses them Preethy is passionate about creating a self awareness in oneself and taking time to do that She also advises on building strong mentors relationships that work around you and create a habit that grows with you

Preethy Padmanabhan is the Head of Platform Product Marketing at Freshworks. Prior to joining Freshworks, Preethy was the VP of Marketing at Panzura. She is also an angel investment partner with SV2, Portfolia and a Board Member for Nextstem.ai. She started her career as a Software engineer at Hughes, India. She moved to the US to take up technical and business responsibilities in large companies such as Cisco and Dell. Later she moved to hi-tech startups such as Nutanix, Panzura and grew her career across product management, marketing and sales.

Preethy has 20+ years high tech and leadership experience across marketing, sales & engineering. She is a strategic problem solver and connector who brings teams together to create exponential value for companies. Preethy has strong leadership, management and people skills. She has effective interpersonal and communication skills with customers, partners. She has delivered multiple customer EBC, demos, sales & partner training, trade show presentations, webcasts etc.

Preethy has a high tech background in virtualization, Cloud, SaaS, Networking, Security, Collaboration, Video, Mobile, Enterprise & Service-Provider marketing. She is a self-starter, strong communicator with customers, partners, internal teams and a business leader with a can-do attitude

She served in various non-profit boards focused on economic empowerment, women, children and education. She’s a mindfulness teacher and lives with her husband, teenage son and their dog in Palo Alto, California.

Preethy can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/preepadu/

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In this episode, Manoj Deorukhkar, CIO of Sterling and Wilson Pvt Ltd, shares his experiences and stories with Sivaguru from PM Power Consulting about: That he got into IT by accident -His love for nature -Starting his career in the steel industry -Playing various roles in the organization, from shop floor to executive assistantship -His transition to a CIO of a group company after implementing a corporate wide SAP rollout -How entering IT at a later stage in his career and working with much younger colleagues created mental pressure -How guidance from his CEO helped him identify his core strengths in the software development process -That there is much more in the world than just IT -That person to person conversations are very powerful and effective & how to bring out the best in individuals to make great teams - Making time for intra-networking - His advice for persons considering an entry into IT and for mid career IT professionals - Three important things to keep in mind

Manoj Deorukhkar is the Chief Information Officer of Sterling and Wilson Pvt Ltd. (SWPL), part of the Shapoorji Pallonji group company.

Manoj brings a treasure of software development expertise and a massive track record of 20 years in the industry. He is an engineering leader with technology strengths comprising SAP portfolio, Information Security, Infrastructure, Cloud Strategy, Digital Transformation, Office applications, Budgeting, and Procurement.

He has driven various roles and tasks in business transformation initiatives across several domains. He trusts IT leaders must adopt a strategic management role and drive transformation throughout the enterprise. During his career, he has been associated with Real Estate, Engineering & Construction, EPC, Utilities, Oil & Gas, Metals, and Manufacturing sectors.

Manoj has earned his B. Tech degree from IIT Mumbai and holds an MBA degree from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. He has wide experience in leading large projects and has directed the planning and implementation of enterprise IT systems in countries like the UK, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Singapore, and India. manojd@sterlingwilson.com manjode@gmail.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/manoj-deorukhkar-1180316/

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Listen to a conversation between Deepak Visveswaraiah, VP of Platform Engineering at Pega Systems and Chitra Gurjar from PM Power Consulting a s Deepak talks about

-His early days growing up as a Bangalore native and how he started out in software development

-Experiences as a C & Unix Programmer

-His work across several domains like Nuclear Energy, Semiconductors, gaming and publishing

-Co-founding a healthcare startup and learning key customer empathy lessons

-Essential fundamentals of product engineering, writing your best 2 lines of code, user empathy & designing products for the enterprise

-Investing time in learning & being adaptable

-Transition to leadership roles learning people engagement and flourishing as leader

-Lessons from driving innovation- future perspective design & doing a few things insanely well

-Customer centricity; all about the empathy, and what customers really want from you

-Hard lessons; from building a product the way “we engineers thought”

-Building relationships with a mindset of establishing a relationship and not to sell or make a transaction

-Balancing the sense of urgency with instant gratification and moving on the curve of constant change, a formula 1 inspiration

-Defining moments in his career; being the first SVP in a global role outside of the US

-Message for leaders and those aspiring to take up leadership roles

Deepak Visweswaraiah is a leader in the technology industry playing global roles based out of Bangalore, India. He specializes in leading large engineering organizations, driving innovation and bringing products into the global markets. He has extensive experience in establishing Global In-house Centers (GICs) for multinational companies. Passionate about building next generation technology, transformative approach, business leadership and mentoring startups. Deepak brings 30+ years of experience in the enterprise software development industry. Deepak is currently Vice President of Platform Engineering at Pega Systems leading the core platform organization out of India.

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In this conversation Pankaj Rai, Leader of Strategy, Digital & Innovation teams at WellsFargo shares his stories with Sivaguru from PM Power Consulting related to

-Growing up in a small, but cosmopolitan city -How he was inspired by his Dad -Getting into IIT, IIM and a startup -The advice he got from his boss, when he moved from a consulting role to a lending advisor role -When he decided to focus more on earning than learning -The 4Es he learnt from Jack Welch -About taking leaps of faith, particularly when it comes to role or career transitions -On not having a fear of failure -Comfortably navigating in what might appear as chaos -Organizational strategy and culture -The significance of collaboration and why win-win is so natural -Importance of inclusion and diversity in deploying organizational strategies -Not having different ‘official’ and ‘personal’ versions! No version control challenges -Creating a personal priority list rather than a todo list -Being updated on what is happening from the network -His advice for IT career aspirants as well as mid-career IT professionals -3C framework that he recommends for everyone -Problem discovery more than problem solving, as a life skill -Moving from a deterministic, order taking world to an agile world

Pankaj leads Strategy, Digital & Innovation teams at Wells Fargo where he is responsible for creating a culture of 3Es (effectiveness, efficiency and experience) in the operations across India and Philippines. Prior to this he was with Dell where he led the Global Analytics team of over 400 members in Bangalore, supporting all the segments in Dell, i.e. marketing, online, supply chain and product quality, contact centers, services and DFS. Pankaj started his professional career as a management consultant at Feedback Ventures and then went on to work in the financial services industry in India. He worked with ICICI and GE Capital in a variety of roles covering sales, risk management, six sigma and operations. He moved to Standard Chartered Bank leading the Program Management Office in their Singapore regional office where he helped grow their shared service centers in India and Malaysia. Pankaj has been actively engaged in D&I and sustainability initiatives and has been engaged with various industry forums including NASSCOM.

Pankaj studied Electrical Engineering at IIT Delhi and went on to complete his MBA at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He is also a six sigma “Quality Leader” from GE. While at ICICI, Pankaj was among the 12 bankers selected for the British Council Chevening Fellowship (Young Bankers Program) administered at the London School of Economics in 1999. Pankaj’s wife Ritu is an artist and they have two daughters Pragya and Paridhi. He is also an avid marathon runner, cyclist and dabbles in badminton. Pankaj’s linked in Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pankaj-rai-he-him-b3923a/