DevOps Diversity Podcast

Jasmine James is a Senior Engineering Manager at Twitter, leading the developer experience pillar in the engineering effectiveness organization. Prior to Twitter, she worked at Delta Air Lines enabling cloud native application development by providing modern tooling and capabilities utilizing open source projects. Jasmine has delivered multiple keynotes at various technology conferences including KubeCon and Cloud NativeCon, focused on her experience during the last decade both as an engineer and a leader. Jasmine lives in Atlanta, GA.

Some of the topics we discuss include Chaos Engineering, planning for failure, tool selection and leadership techniques. We also compare some of the differences between legacy companies and Big Tech, given Jasmine's experiences with both environments.

If you enjoyed this week's episode, please remember to like and share with your connections to help others access these conversations.

Links to references from this episode:

• Jasmine James' LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasmine-james/

• Learn more about Strategio https://strategio.tech/

• Therapy For Black Girls Podcast https://therapyforblackgirls.com/podcast/

• Book: The Culture Code https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Code-Secrets-Highly-Successful-ebook/dp/B01MSY1Y6Z

• If you're looking to break into Tech https://strategio.tech/selection-processs/

During this episode, Tiffany discusses being a role model and some of the pros and cons this carries. Promotions and career growth usually go hand in hand with being a role model to others, and sometimes navigating that responsibility takes time to learn. Integrity and authenticity go a long way - Tiffany talks about how leaders have to show up as their authentic selves now more than ever in the world of virtual work.

We discuss mentorship. Tiffany explains that “it’s not about the number of mentors you have, it’s where they show up in your life that I think is really critical.” Tiffany uses mentors now more as a senior leader than she did in the early stages of her career - demonstrating the importance of continuous learning.

Tiffany also talks about enterprise architecture, systematic complexity and the way time constraints can impact growth and transformation. She also highlights that technologists need to understand the business in order to provide maximum value.

Links to references during this episode:

• Trina Hill, DevOps Diversity Podcast episode https://rss.com/podcasts/devopsdiversity/298520/

• Natalie Nixon, DevOps Diversity Podcast episode https://rss.com/podcasts/devopsdiversity/288486/

• Favorite Podcast: Software Engineering daily https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/

• Current book: Continuous Architecture in Practice https://www.amazon.com/Continuous-Architecture-Practice-Addison-Wesley-Signature/dp/0136523560

During this episode, Madhu compares her experiences working in a large bank to the environment in her current role in a high growth startup. We compare the differences between Agile culture and Agile practices.

Madhu and I discuss some of the blockers to enterprise transformations and some useful ways to avoid these potential hurdles.

We talk about continuous improvement and building quality into our systems, as well as the importance of fast and regular customer feedback to build better products and services.

Mathura Srinivasan was born in Chennai, India educated in the UAE and moved to Canada in 1997. She holds a double Major in Psychology and Law, and graduated from Winnipeg Technical College with a certificate in Microcomputer Systems Technician course. This helped launch her IT career, where she is now the Head of Agile Delivery at Snapcommerce. Madhu is also a coach that helps seasoned professionals with diverse backgrounds enter the job market within North America.

Links from this episode:

Snapcommerce https://www.snapcommerce.com/?utm

Madhu's LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathurasrinivasan/

During this episode we spoke with Sai Adivi, Vice President of Technology at Inspire Brands.

We discussed the digital transformation of the restaurant industry, which is modernizing everything from the kitchen to the customer experience and payment systems. We covered topics ranging from robotic process automation to platform and site reliability engineering.

Sai talks about the importance of culture, people and process and how these are still the drivers for any technology transformation.

Similar to most industries today, the war on talent is adding increasing pressure on pricing, strategy and growth. Sai shares some of the approaches he and Inspire Brands are taking to get ahead of the competition.

Sai Adivi is currently the Vice President of Technology at Inspire Brands, a multi-brand restaurant company whose portfolio includes nearly 32,000 restaurants and 7 brands including Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s, Rusty Taco, and SONIC Drive-In restaurants, worldwide. He is responsible for driving Inspire’s technology infrastructure, Tech Ops & QA strategy, ensuring rapid evolution digital and data capabilities through technology, ensuring systems and technologies used are profitable, secure, and efficient, and driving innovation across all facets of the technology organization.

During this episode, Trina explains how her own personal 'Board of Directors' give her the mentorship, sponsorship and accountability that she needs to continue growing in all areas of her life. They are a diverse group of people who want to help each other win and give direction, feedback and advice.

Trina occupies many seats as an Executive, a mother and a wife to name a few. She opens up about motherhood and leading her family during the pandemic and after the murder of George Floyd.

We discuss Trina's experiences being the first or the 'only' as an African-American woman with a graduate degree and an executive role in financial services. She talks about how she navigates the pressures presented to her outside of work through family who don’t often understand the burden and dynamics that she has to manage.

Trina Hill is the Senior Vice President of Technology for the Consumer Bank and Treasury at Synchrony. She is responsible for providing strategy and overall execution for the Bank and Treasury (including payments) products for a FinTech. Trina spent over 20 years driving transformation in the areas of payments, new product development, disaster recovery, business continuity, system security and simplification. In addition to her role, Trina continues to serve in employee resource groups, specifically the African American Network. She is also heavily involved in Girls Who Code.

Trina holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems and an MBA in Leadership and Business Administration from the University of Georgia, and she holds numerous certifications in the areas of agile, disaster recovery, business continuity, program management, and coaching.

She loves learning and providing life and coaching to not only her peers, University of Georgia mentees, and so many others. Trina has a heart for others which shines through her service. She serves as a Board Advisor for Working Women Worship, a non-profit organization focused on the spiritual and professional development of women. She also is a philanthropist.

Links from this episode:

Trina Hill on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/trinalhill/

Synchrony Bank https://www.mysynchrony.com/

Strategio https://strategio.tech/

During this episode, Jen shares how a 176 year old financial services institution with ~70, 000 employees is able to innovate and stay relevant at a time of rapid change and increasing competition in the FinTech space.

Jen addresses how her organization is searching for talent in underserved and underrepresented communities by looking at earlier stages of the talent pipeline, such as those without college degrees, given that many people in African-American, Hispanic and Rural American communities have a lower likelihood of attaining a college degree. Building trust for a 176 year old bank means it’s essential to know customers. Diverse teams are needed to have a real understanding of what those customers want and need.

Jen shares some of her experiences and insights in the LGBTQ+ community, and does a great job of explaining why representation matters for all people.

Jennifer Henderson is the Senior Vice President of Strategy and Innovation for Consumer Lending Technology at PNC. Jen formerly held the position of Senior Manager of Retail and Direct Technology at Capital One, Regional Director of Technology for POSSIBLE/WPP, and was the Chief Technical Officer and Co-Founder of Rovion, Inc. and Valley InfoSystems. She has a long history supporting women in technology and LGBTQ+ causes. She was a board member of GLSEN Cincinnati, AIDs Volunteers of Cincinnati (AVOC), the career development lead for the Chicago chapter of Women Who Code and chaired the Trans Queer Plus subcommittee of Out Front, Capital One’s LGBTQ+ business resource group. Jen currently serves on the board of directors for Out & Equal Workplace Associates. As an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and for her work on transgender policies at WPP, she was named Grand Marshal of the 2016 Cincinnati Pride parade and was honored as Out & Equal's 2018 "Outie" Champion of the year award.

Links from this episode:

Jen Henderson LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jjhenderson2010/

PNC Bank: https://www.pnc.com

Out and Equal: https://outandequal.org/

Strategio: https://strategio.tech

During this episode, Natalie shares how she has been working with organizations to apply wonder and rigor to amplify growth and business value. She unleashes creativity in people and areas that have previously not thought of themselves as creatives. Putting it simply, Natalie says that "to be human is to be hard wired to be creative".

Natalie suggests that the organizations and leaders that work at the intersection of technology, productivity and meaningful human experience will be most likely to flourish in the new way of working. She also shares that the best businesses she has worked with are full of people who know how to fall in love with solving people's problems.

We also talk about defining new systems and processes to maximize success in the new reality of working from home, with blurred boundaries between work and home and work and play.

Natalie Nixon, PhD is a creativity Strategist, global keynote speaker and author of the award winning The Creativity Leap: Unleash Curiosity, Improvisation and Intuition at Work. As President of Figure 8 Thinking, LLC, she advises leaders on transformation - by applying wonder and rigor to amplify growth and business value. Some clients have included Comcast, Citrix, Living Cities, VaynerMedia and Bloomberg.

Natalie has lived in Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Israel and Sri Lanka and is proficient in Portuguese and Spanish. She is a member of the Forbes Coaches Council, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is certified as a Foresight Practitioner by the Institute for the Future. When she's not dancing up a storm in hip-hop class, Natalie is fine-tuning her foxtrot, salsa and tango on the ballroom floor. She lives in her hometown of Philadelphia, PA, with her husband, John Nixon, and is the proud stepmother of Sydney.

Links from this episode:

Natalie's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/natalienixonphd/

Natalie's Instagram & Twitter: @natwnixon

Natalie's Books: https://www.figure8thinking.com/books/

Figure 8 Thinking: https://www.figure8thinking.com/

Strategio: https://strategio.tech

During this episode, Lisa discusses how she is supporting women-led startups through the HearstLab accelerator, from funding to shared resources.

Lisa's investment thesis is that diverse teams build better businesses. She supports this with data such as "women-led startups give 2.5x higher returns than male-led businesses", and "ethnically diverse startups are 35% more likely to outperform their non-ethnically diverse counterparts".

Lisa gives insights into the shared services available at HearstLab, including a 'DevOps Fellow'. Early stage startups can spin up their infrastructure, operations and tooling while learning best practices from the DevOps Fellow who has worked with dozens of other startups who face similar problems.

Lisa Burton Ph.D. is the Vice President of HearstLab, where she provides investment and support for early-stage, women-led startups that innovate across media, data, healthcare and technology. At HearstLab, Lisa identifies prospective startups to invest in and supports the portfolio companies in residence, including advising on data science and product. She also leads innovation initiatives across Hearst in collaboration with the HearstLab Scouts, a group of over 100 women executives that work full-time at Hearst and donate time to the Lab.

Lisa volunteers to support women in business and STEM through WiTNY, Pipeline Angels and Girls Who Code. In addition, she mentors startup founders through NYU Summer Launchpad, Project W, Springboard Enterprises and NUMA. She is an Advisory Board Member of Duke University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and serves on the NYU Innovation Fund’s Investment Review Board.

Lisa Burton O’Toole https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-burton/

Cuba Article: https://devops.com/despite-sketchy-infrastructure-cuba-embraces-devops/

Lisa Shissler Smith Episode https://open.spotify.com/episode/27xoTB1SNlvjJOUaMJtVJG?si=866c3b9621f04dfd

HearstLab https://www.hearst.com/hearst-life/hearstlab

Strategio https://strategio.tech/

During this episode, Mike discusses the importance of giving back to the community and to young people earlier in their careers. He explains that we need to give people room to fail safely, so that they can absorb important lessons along the way. We discuss the lack of inclusion that women in technology face, and how these factors are enhanced even further for Black and Hispanic women. Mike also talks about his experiences with being the only Black man in the room, and how he tackled that by always showing up as his authentic self.

Mike A. Williams, has over 30 years of experience as a management and technology executive of global Fortune 500 companies in the technology, finance, insurance, logistics, and health industry verticals. Mike is an author, speaker, philanthropist, and angel investor. As a passionate developer of talent, Mike has spent a good part of his career developing young professionals and creating high-performing teams by instilling a culture of accountability, teamwork, collaboration, and customer focus.

Mike is an active participant and leader within the communities in which he has lived and is an active advocate and contributor to programs and initiatives with a focus on community empowerment, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and diversity.

Links discussed during this episode:

Mike A. Williams on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrmikeawilliams/

The Advantage Factor: 12 lessons Every Aspiring Young Professional Should Know https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1942140002/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

Ready to Launch: The Entrepreneur’s Startup Guide https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1942140029/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

LaunchPad 2x https://www.linkedin.com/company/launchpad2x/about/

Larry Quinlan Podcast Episode https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ON6hUuMTC2fKfwyESkDJw?si=fbe03cc142514e34

Lisa Wardlaw is a CxO, in the Digital, Financial and Strategic space. Most recently, she has held roles at Fortune 500 companies such as Farmers Insurance and MunichRe. Lisa is involved with product innovation and vision, budgeting and resource allocation, C-Level Global Leadership and Global Digital Transformation. She has built a big data and predictive analytics model with a 5-year projected ROI of more than $400 million.

Lisa has taken a non-linear career path from Liberal Arts into Finance, which has given her increased creativity and innovation compared with what is typically seen in the industry. Lisa shares insights into her relentless drive to challenge the status quo and asks how we can fuel more authentic innovation. We also discuss how lack of vision in team and organizational structure, job titles and job descriptions is holding companies back from unlocking creativity and disruption.

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Lisa Wardlaw on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-wardlaw/