Software People Stories

In this episode, Sam Fonoimoana, Founder and CEO of Datajoin – a B2B marketing analytics company, shares his thoughts and experiences related toGrowing up in Hawaii and California and studying at BYUChoosing business as a career in joining his Father in law’s export businessGetting into MBA to study FinanceStarting with a role to plan budgets and review progress with various departments in a publishing companyLearning to code, to get various reports to analyze data, as an analystHow he gets and associates context with data, to infer meaningHis philosophy of following the money: get customers, retain customersHis trigger to start his company, Datajoin, to connect data from the web and data that resides within an enterprise using contextExperience of working with techies, after the export businessHis 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 achieveHis joy and frustrations with Information technologyHow he sees the impact of AI/ML techniques on data analyticsHis career advice, for people considering a career or aspiring to shift to Data techniquesSam 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 atTwitter.com/samfonoimoanaLinkedin.com/in/sam-fonoimoana

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 evangelistWorking in a company wide transformation planning processBeing summoned to the office one day,early morning - to be told that his position being made redundant, just a few months before a planned retirementThe support he got from his wifeGetting an opportunity to work in MalaysiaBecoming a trainer and exploring certification opportunities - such as SPC when he was 63The transferable skills from his manufacturing career that he was able to use in IT as wellImportance 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 systemsTeamwork and giving credit wherever it is dueBeing a continuous learnerBeing a listener 90% of the time while interacting with othersHow to become a better influencer to ensure results, by maintaining a respectful relationship and not limit interactions to only transactionsUnderstanding the aspirations and motivations of individuals first before helpingHis personal practices to develop empathy as a person based onThe Sahaja Marg or heartfulness approachHis career advice and tips for persons who want to get into IT from other domainsHe 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.

This is part 1 of a 2 episode conversation. In this episode, Ramesh Rajagopal, a Coach at PM Power Consulting, shares his experience related toGrowing up in Madurai, a major temple town Learning Tamil, though his grandparents were from KarnatakaHis temple visits, on the way to school as well as on specific occasionsMoving to Bangalore and seeing the changes over the decadesPassing out as topper in his school for the SSLC gradeChoosing to switch colleges to study with his cousinDeveloping a talent - in his own words -of sleeping in moving buses, whether sitting or standingLearning the importance of extra curricular activitiesApplying to TELCO, based on a newspaper adAsking for a role in R&D, though TELCO was a predominantly manufacturing organization and getting itNot being able to join as planned, due to his father’s health, but being able to make it a little later, when things got betterUnderstanding that work culture varies from context to context and his interesting experience on the shop floor with his managerImportance of practical experience on the shop floorTaking interest in and learning computersLeveraging his engineering and manufacturing experience to help the software development teams in L&TJoining GE and diving deeper into software engineeringWith a focus on systems, getting an opportunity to lead the quality functionFour stages in career development: learning, doing, guide others, shape people by laying the pathGetting into Agile approachesHe 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.

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 softwareWithin the span of 25 years Ramkumar has travessed the depths of collaboration, communication and security using cloud and data analytics technologiesRamkumar describes his journey as continuing to expand in complex areas due to his deep problem solving skillsRam 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 todayRamkumar 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 specialisationRamkumar shares of the his keen sense of understanding where the customers needs and marry that with technology potential and continuous experimentRamkumar’s key advise to software professionals is to stay curious and continuous learn technologies with a beginners mindsetRamkumar 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/

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 shareHow one might feel hesitant to approach colleagues or seniors, when starting on a careerNurturing the quality of giving space to others in their seniors, particularly to the junior members in the teamBeing open to solutions and valuing inputs from all; about sharing tasks to be done equally among the team membersTheir experience of being women in techBeing in a team with more womenNow the ratios are more skewedFeeling more comfortable when there are more women colleaguesMoving into teams where being the only woman in the teamThough bonding well with colleagues irrespective of gender, having women colleagues being more supportingHaving a lady mentor when starting one’s career being of great helpTheir thoughts on metaverse and spaces removed further from reality and need for better regulation and ethicsTheir thoughts on the importance of data in machine learning and how to address situations where there may not be sufficient dataAbout using non verbal cues in video processingAbout extracting intelligence from any kind of audio signalsTheir career advice for persons starting in ITTheir 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 athttps://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/

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 youThis 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 shareHow they got into IT and chose engineering for studies: Sowmya:electronics and communicationMasters in signal processingInternship in interdigital : cognitive radio applicationsInterest in images and videosJoining Amazon for a startup like project working on cutting edge technologies Computer vision features of Amazon EchoThen joining Apple, continuing to work on camera and photos appRamyaBeing clear about not doing biology, and preferring match and computer scienceTelecom as specialization in undergraduateGetting in to same university and having the same advisorInterning in the same companyAudio signal processingAfter 8 years, getting into health org, applying AI/ML etcTheir experiences and thoughts on developing embedded solutionsUsing the customer satisfaction parameters as primary indicators of readiness of a releaseAbout the dependency management and change control practices at AppleThe thrill of knowing that the first code written getting into productionHow aware the developers are of customer issues and usage experience, being emphasized by the customer obsession culture at AmazonOne disappointing experience when the market acceptance of a child safety feature was somewhat underwhelmingTheir experience of having 21 patents between the two of them and tips for others to think of developing patentable ideasIf they have tried pair programming between the two of themHow they bounce off ideas and support each otherTheir mantra: start simple, keep improving, keep fundamentals strong, how textbooks and theory always helpIf they had any thoughts of creating something togetherWhether they lean in on each other and how they support each otherAnd, the difference having or not having such support makes on an individualHaving a safe space when the other person is non-judgemental and trustworthyWe 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 athttps://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/

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 MindtreeGetting 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 SootaChanges in his experience between two startup contexts 19 years apartHow these changes influenced some of the policies and strategies in the second startupThe benefit of complementary strengths among the co-foundersThe experience of incubating startups within mindtreeHow he moved on to set up NuveproHow he keeps himself updated on emerging and futuristic technologiesAnd how he finds time for all thisHis emotionally stressful phases, when thinking of or making transitions across organizationsThe importance of people in the success of a companyHis career advice for people considering a career in IT and for those already in ITJanakiraman 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

In this episode, Janakiraman Srinivasan, known as Jani - an IT industry veteran, in conversation with Shiv shares His childhood days in Kumbakonam, Tamil NaduHis 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 educationThe experience of being among the first employees in a newly launched company in a truly entrepreneurial environmentSetting up an R&D team and activity in Bangalore and then setting up a factory in MysoreHow they needed to dismantle the door, to get the first computer outThe significance of bonds with colleaguesThe early culture at Wipro that stressed on many core valuesHis experience in transitioning across various roles - from technical to business responsibilitiesSetting up a system integration or engineering groupWanting to move base to Chennai for personal reasons, taking up a role of a field specialist for the southern regionTaking up the role of a regional field engineering manager, as the person playing that role moved onThe transition to an individual contributor to leading a 50 member team and manage the business operationsBecoming the product manager for the micro systems [PCs], that was a volume, low margin business that still needed superlative customer support experienceAround 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 customersAround 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 personsIn 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

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 ScienceGetting a campus placement at ITI and applying for a job with ISROOn his guide NJ Rao’s suggestion, choosing to join a small and growing company, WiproJoining Wipro in August 1979 and starting work at an IISc labBeing part of the team that decided what systems to go forWorking on technology transfer, with a view to make it as ready to use as possible for their customersMoving on to a hardware specific role, doing everything from system design, testing, purchasing the BOMInterfacing with the Govt. of Karnataka for setting up the Mysore factoryMoving to Mysore as part of the team that set up the facilityReturning to bangalore in 1983 - 88 MG RoadBeing into hardware, subsystems design etcWhen Wipro Systems Limited was set up, moving a part of that teamGetting back to Wipro InfotechHardware, software [OS port], to VLSI technologiesExploring opportunities in VLSI designRecalling that he had the best bosses in all his rolesGL, purchasing, sales processing etc apps as part of delivering computers that can be readily usedOn taking up and playing different roles across organizational functionsExperience of working with other organizations that operate at different pacesWorking in an open culture, where everyone’s ideas and experience are welcomeWorking 18 hour days - in a charged up atmosphere, as part of a very small teamGetting opportunities to meet customers, when they had issues!Making problems into an advantageTechie customers like to buy from techies, rather than sales rolesHis experience of working with Japanese customers, who were very detail orientedGrowing to be a leader of others who were peers till the previous dayLearning to be objective in assessments and sharing reinforcing feedbackOn the emphasis on processes in Wipro, that helped doing things systematically and consistentlyThe friendship bonds that kept him in the organization over timeThe courage a leader needs to bring in the right people as well as be ready to let go of people who don't fitAbout the experience of a spin-in, that could not meet the initial set business goalsOne important ingredient for startup success: fire in the bellyHow technologically deep should a leader be? The team should be confident of your visionGenuineness of the leader is critical to build a successful teamHis experience and views on work-life balance, particularly after getting marriedGetting an advice from one of his bosses about working Smart v/s working hardHis career tips for entry level and mid career IT professionalsEnjoy the workbuild camaraderieVictor 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: [email protected]

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 sharesHow a decentralized squad model, working with local partners and having an engineering focus for differentiation would help scale and localize, as neededHow to build an organization to realize the vision of the foundersCadence of 2 weeks or 12 weeks, multi-skilled squadsWillingness to learn and time to feedbackA founder’s feelings related to exit decisionsFounder’s formula: have fun, optimize for joyA founder’s job is to make everyone in the team to reflect back and feel the impact of their workMetaverse: hype or old wine or something substantial?Why 3D printing technology underdelivered on its promiseHow finances (and capital) are critical to help new technologies become practical and increase wide adoptionHow commoditized solutions can trigger a race to the bottom affecting the survivability of a companyImpact of new technologies on the carbon footprintOblivious, brash and corrective : the three stages of companies operating to exploit new and emerging technologiesTips for anyone looking to get deeper into the metaverse ecosystemStep1: understand what variables you want to optimize forFinancial gains, Wealth: building a company is probably the hardestJoy of learning being part of an emerging spaceSolving a problem that itches youFind a reason to resonate with the causeThe market also needs to be readyWould you see it as a decades long journey, 15 hour days.. Yes, not just as an option to make quick moneyCobbling 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 MotionPageSai 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 [email protected] on anything around building moonshots.

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 sharesHis adventures and misadventures in ITHailing from a south Indian family that emphasized educationMoving to Bangalore to continue his education in RV CollegeHis attraction to build products, more with an intention of having fun in doing itHis first product in the education spaceUnderstanding the need to think like an entrepreneurship and getting sponsored for an entrepreneurship program at StanfordStarting his company Scapic - with AR/VR as core technologies and being acquired by FlipkartHis approach to identifying problems to solveShiny toy syndrome: to pick something that looks cool; these may not be a venture worthy ideaChoosing a problem that matches your expertise: your and your team’s complementary skills; this helps accelerating to marketSelect entrepreneurs: going after massive market opportunityLousy team, great market, market winsGreat team , lousy market, market winsGreat team, great market - nonlinear outcomesHow to think scaleVisualizing the finish line: that is not a goal post; focus on the next milestoneThe importance of obsessing over the first cohort for a startupThe value of creating a playbook after validation and further experimentation with the second and third cohortsDifferences between B2B and B2C solutionsHow a decentralized squad model, working with local partners and having an engineering focus for differentiation would help scale and localize, as neededSai 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 MotionPageSai 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 [email protected] on anything around building moonshots.

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 courseWriting programs for 'astronomical' data analysis and structures of crystals in pascal & Fortran, Finding logic was easy, testing with missing data and reconstructing it was challengingBecoming self-reliant, so finding solutions is now naturalBuilding test harnesses from scratch, Joining i2 tech in supply chain planningSetup the first performance testing lab, getting things startedWorking with resource constraints while setting up the performance labLearned how software products were sold, understanding product ROILearning from Eliyahu Goldratt's book and seeing those principles applied in product developmentCustomer experiences & product deliveryA stint in Australia via Siemens in the telecom domain - testing & system integrationThe evolution towards collective responsiblity from specialized roles & functionsConcept of quality and embracing culture around it, getting people aligned around quality goalsViews on establishing test procedures, measuring effectiveness & ROICustomer experiences right under their nosesImportance of building the right teamsImportant to follow your heart & passionUsha 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

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 salesProduct management and support with a dealing room packageAlways willing to experiment and joining a venture capital firm - Draper InternationalEarly stage investing, General Atlantic, India - and a boutique investment firmWhy he got into ITHow he positions an IT solution to a prospective clientHis experience of product management, explained in today’s terminology, as Software as a ServiceHis experience with developing software solutions under a contract and the benefit of listening skills to add context to contractsThe power users wield in product led growth modelsHis starting out being a venture capitalist as a partner directly with the legendary Bill DraperHis approach of investing in the plan first, than the market opportunity that is forecastThe importance of evaluating all risks and being humbleHis thoughts on scaling startups and the Powerlocker model adopted by his formHis views on reviews by investors in the context of fundraising and context of goalsHow he approaches theme based investingHis approach to learning from othersBeing wrong is a great time to learnHis experience and perspectives on the social sectorThe importance of being comfortable with storytelling, particularly for entrepreneursExperienced 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/

In this episode, K Nageswara Rao - known as KNR - shares his story and experiences related to:Four threads related to his careerIndividual contributor, team leaderConnecting digital switches in the telecom industry; each switch being a digital exchangeTraveling to locations that he is not supposed to talk about, due to security reasonsJoining Tata Unisys and learning a lot in terms of working with teams Working on the operating system : Unix SVr4Moving to the Solaris OS group with Sun microsystemsCreating a community for Open Solaris, engaging with various stakeholders, including studentsNext thread: leading R&D and product teams in India for large multinational organizationsGaining ability to work with people Fundamental challenges faced by him 20-25 years ago, still existingThird thread: driving innovation cultureFourth thread: influencing people’s lives: through processes and systems in companies or through coachingQuitting a corporate job to start - What is my North - a coaching company, continuing to help individuals growHow he combines or switches between working with people or with machines [embedded or systems software] using systems thinkingHow it helps when one abstracts specifics and infers patternsAsking open ended questions and helping people figure out the answersAbout the impact of not having direct customer connect and experience, when developing products and solutionsImportance of the ability to pay attention to detail and not jump to conclusionsHow an articulated shared vision by the leaders enables every individual to rally around a larger causeThe need to accept contrarian viewsHow humility is a strong characteristic for a great leaderEstablishing genuine connections with peopleIf humility a trainable skillHow humility can co-exist with confidenceIf it was easier to connect computers, compared to connecting peopleCreating an environment where people want to help othersThe role of constructive or creative dissonance in nurturing great communitiesCompassion being the common theme between being line managers and being a coachCreating a startup culture within a large organizationAspects related to product leadershipWhat he has enjoyed being in ITHis career tips for people considering a career in IT or mid-career professionalsAfter 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/[email protected]

In this episode, Karl Hughes, founder and CEO of Draft.dev, sharesStarting his career, working with startups as a software engineerTaking on engineering management and CTO rolesCovid triggering a shift to get into technical writing for developersHow to think of documentation for developers, as an intentional activityHis views on Agile approaches and documentation and the need to right size the documentationHow the product maturity influences the need and depth of documentationWhy writing is the most effective way to document and communicateHis thoughts on effectiveness of visual communicationWriting for a diverse audience and the role of video for communicating with developersImportance of reviews and feedback for greater effectiveness of written contentHow he got interested in writing If writing is a teachable or learnable skillHow he balances and manages his time between the maker and manager modes of workingHis experience with Shark Tank, when his company was invited to pitch at Shark TankWorking with a global, distributed team of software engineersWhether audio has a role to play as a medium for communicating with developersHis career tips for getting into writingBio: 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/KarlLHughesDraft.dev writer application: https://draft.dev/write

In this second part of the conversation with an IT industry veteran, Satyendra Kumar, he sharesHis perspective on Agile approachesAgile approaches are good for certain contexts such as: products, supported by DevOps and other techniquesMay 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 approachesExamples from his experiences in helping large organizationsHis approach to understanding an organization to enable change, by starting with a business problemHis tips to address data quality and quantity, by looking at the metrics system and identifying the right lead indicatorsThe need for the quality function to learn and evolveA sneak peek into his upcoming book on building excellence in organizations

In this first part of the conversation with an IT industry veteran, Satyendra Kumar, he sharesComing from a humble background and doing his initial education in a villageGetting into Delhi University based on his good academic performanceHaving to take up a job, to meet some family needsHow he chose a job in a defence agency and rising to a senior levelLeaving his job and getting into consulting and qualitySetting up the Tata Business Excellence Model for the groupWorking with different business units in different domainsSwitching to an IT organization before joining and spending 14 years at InfosysContinuing to work with different organizations post retirement from InfosysHow learning came naturally to him, particularly in very new, challenging and different environmentsHow he gains confidence about being able to do anything, amidst uncertaintyThe experience based on a major decision to switch from the comforts of a government jab, to a small apartment in a distant suburbHow 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 700His experience of recruiting people from non IT organizationsHow to get comfortable with delegation, with trust in the teamHis experience of creating an awareness and acceptance of processes among technical teamsThe tendency in quality professionals to become more of audit persons than having a direct connect with the senior leadership, to help them steer the businessWhy there should be shared goals for improvement between the quality function and the business unitsIn 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

In this episode, Harish Achappa KM sharesChoosing mechanical engineering as a subject of study and getting into TCS engineering servicesWorking on valves and compressorsGetting into programming as part if his workThe experience of having a paid vacation in Italy!How his interest in programming developed after starting to use C, C++ as a hobbyNoticing differences in projects done at client locations v/s in IndiaWorking directly with users and feeding off the energy based on common questionsGetting quicker feedbackUnderstanding that some of the work cannot be done remotelyAvoiding assumptions and getting clarifications in contextRequesting to work in a development projectGetting an opportunity to work on a public infrastructure projectLearning the value and benefit of parametrization while programmingTaking some time to find his feet in a fully software coding roleHis experience of taking up a product manager role, enabled by his ability to ask a lot of clarifying questionsOn product thinking, even for an enterprise solutionHis career adviceCuriosity and willingness to learn: driveConsolidating the learningsTaking the responsibility for one’s frustrationsAre you motivated to build, generate ideas or bothHarish 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/

In this episode, Brij Sethi, a Principal Consultant at PM Power, sharesHis growing up days in Pantnagar, near NainiTalHis passion for reading booksHis liking for mathematics and wanting to be an engineerBeing bitten by the electronics bug and electronics engineering in collegeJoining a masters in management in systems in IIM AhmedabadLearning Transactional Analysis Getting into a project to make ECG machines as an engineer, forgetting his MBAJoining WIPRO in 1993 and working on many challenging projectsHis strong feeling in 1998 to be a facilitator, including facilitating 6 sigma projectsTaking up the CTO role with HP, and enabling filing a record number of patents across teamsWanting to teach and getting back to WiproCreating education related media and starting a companyHow he connects various ideas picked up from books and other sources, by letting goBe simple in what he has to shareUsing Obsidian to keep connected points Making conscious efforts to digest what he readsApplying TA in business contextsTransitions across different ways or states of thinkingConsciously spending time in capturing his state of mind before switching statesBeing low on J orientation, can accept contradictions and unresolved stuffTip from his mentor: Need to wear a facilitator hat and outcome hatHis experience of working in a social sector contextA story on the approach of influencing with PowerPoint slidesWhy, Who and What - three questions for a facilitation sessionCreating an empty space for ownershipThe experience of a father-son founding teamThe trigger and satisfaction on launching his podcastHis career adviceLeave yourself open, take some risksBrij 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.

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 managementBeing part of a team that started a company, and being an entrepreneur without knowing itBeing a pioneer in the Indian IT industry, by having an approach of creating tools to improve development productivity or products to solve customer problemsInnovating techniques to create solutions, long before others, when there were no standards to do some thingsChallenges of running a company that offered professional services as well as productsTransitioning from a developer to more managerial rolesSome of the lessons learned in being an entrepreneurApplying technology based thinking to create generic solutionsTesting in a development environment versus running in a production environment and related lessons learntBalancing and prioritizing requests from various users and having a process to build the solution in an evolutionary mannerThe ways in which software development has changed over the yearsWhat it takes for someone to shift from a service / project mindset to a product mindsetRaja 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

In this episode, Muktesh Murthy, a practice head in the information security space, shares his story and touches uponDoing his schooling in many places, as his father was in the Army His interest in accounts, commerce and economics and hospitality managementStarting 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 resultsDoing some development work, then managing an account and later on becoming an information security professionalHis motivation to acquire various certifications and desire to learn from everyoneHow he expanded his knowledge around standards, as new specializations were introduced in the areas of information security, business continuity etcHis 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 futureHow he balances the need to be objectively critical and at the same time, nurture positive relationships with peopleThe importance of getting and sharing the big picture with the entire teamHow the SHE policy has been incorporated into every meetingOutthinking the attackersCareer tips to become an infosec professionalAn 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

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 collegeHaving a “give-it-my-best” approach and curiosity to learn attitude starting with a role in customer tech supportNavigating 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 isTransition from IC to manager roles and embracing the decision making challengeBeing a “customer first” person in all roles she has playedKeeping focus on the problem space - an approach to customer driven innovationHer view on “iterative development” and agile in large organizationsManaging transformationsManaging global teams4 point message for aspirants in tech - anticipate change, adaptability, curiosity and passionA 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.

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 securityStarting in 6th grade to learn about electronicsPivoted from wireless test equipment, shifted more towards securityBeing surrounded by electronics, computer etc in the home-based enterprisePlaying on the Atari as a kid and getting interestedHow 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 codeHow some requests from customers triggered the idea of using cell phones to locate people that led to the development of a product Wolfhound ProHow satisfying it was to know that this product helped locate a person who was buried under 2.5 meters of snowHow being a hardware / firmware company creating niche solutions and leveraging software has led to many innovationsHow another of their technologies help prevent railroad accidents caused by texting while driving a trainHow he strongly feels that using technology for good to make a difference is very important. Using firmware based solutions to thwart cybersecurity threatsHow he gets targeted, as he educates people on handling cyberthreatsWhy one needs to get into the mind of a cyber criminal to develop solutions to stop themHow they came up with a unique solution to detect mobile phones, even when they are switched off, in prison environmentsHow an innovative device to detect phone activity has been successfully applied to prevent exam fraud by studentsHis career advice for people aspiring to get into cybersecurityHis brilliant tip on putting out misinformation on social media about oneself.. You should not miss thisScott 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.

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 pictureWorking on a benchmarking application that later became an analytics themeDiscovering the big picture from a lot of detailed dataHow zooming in and out of data lets one discover insightsData engineering being the bridge between business and the engineering teamHandling unstructured data and data warehousing based on SQLUnstructured data still having some niche applicationsHaving the contextual information on top of dataPredictive analytics is like building a skyscraperIt takes time to understand the company’s data to start having effective modelsHis trigger moment to turn entrepreneur: being in Bali on the first day of covidWhy 5X as the name for his company - inspired by Robin SharmaAn unfamiliar familiar feeling - turning CEOWorking with people and emotions as well as data without emotionsTips for people consuming data based solutionsWhy one should focus on data as a key strategy for any companyHis tips for people considering a career in data : where the playbook is just getting started to be written : #the moderndatastackTarush 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_wTwitter - https://twitter.com/DataWith5xInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/datawith5x/Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/DataWith5xLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/datawith5xEmail - [email protected]

In this episode, Chitra is in conversation with Baiju Joseph, Product Operations leader where he shares events from his careerStarting out at AIR (All India Radio) as a broadcasting engineer & self-learning programming , developing a few apps for his workplaceWork break after joining Novell, getting the latest and best system test training, and leadership training, acknowledging the influence of mentorsDoing 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 centreBeing part of the initial leadership team, setting up the right culture and building people focused teamsHow 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 playsLeading the quality engineering group at Yahoo, for emerging products, setting up quality engineering team, release engineering teamLessons from building products, starting with the “Why” and trying to share the same “belief systems” between customers and producersNew product evolution experienceReminiscing events that didnt quite pan out as they should have and reflectionsBuilding and ecosystem for tolerance, early failure detection through dev ops chains & microservices, canary practices and deployments, sensing signals, the canary confidence factors, zero touch deploymentsHire for attitude and train for skills, a learning from his past and other messages for young aspirantsBaiju 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 : [email protected] LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/baijujoseph/ 

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 agoStarting her own company - Nexus - into recruitment and getting Wipro and Infosys as their first customersHow the IT industry grew by attracting people with non IT backgrounds and how passion and integrity were the key skills that helped them succeedHow her gut has always played a key role in her success - a combination of hard work and some luckNot sure if you can develop your gut, no substitute for hard workHer 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 IndiaHer perception of differences between software and hardware professionals, without stereotypingEntry of women into the sector is not so much of a problem as it is to retain them in the sectorWFH: 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 choresThere are benefits that come with a corporate job; but, as an entrepreneur, nothing can be taken for granted to enable switching offFirst time entrepreneurship was because she could not get along with her bossWomen should not hesitate to talk about money: salary, funding, accounts etcAbout her book for women entrepreneurs: wanting to write from her teenage years, but kept postponing it after some other milestoneName of the book: ‘Accelerating her business’Her experience in getting funding as a woman entrepreneurStarting conversations first with your familyPoornima 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:@PornimaShenoylinkedin.com/in/poornimashenoyEmail: [email protected]

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 sectorWith her technology background and her financial acumen, she found her footing in several leadership roles in HCL, Accenture and Standard CharteredAfter holding several executive posts, Jaya looked for opportunities where she can contribute back to the countryHer 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 topicAs 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 answeredJaya uses the term - more you chip the stone, sculpture emerges and that’s a team effortCreating a compelling journey and excited about the vision of where you want to take the org is the formula she finds it her mantraShe shares some stories on how you can create support system and help them be part of your journeyHaving 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 itFocus is about building expertise and able to stay the courseBeing 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/ 

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 interestsHow she got into codingCalling herself an introvert, but enjoying competitionUsing logic to interact with animalsWhat she likes and doesn't like about codingCreating a tic-tac-toe to play with an AI opponentAbout writing programs alone or with others sometimesHow she comes up with ideas when entering a competitionWhere programming can be appliedHow she finds time to program.. Do not miss it!How she influenced a friend to learn codingThe pranks she and her friend play during online classesWhat she would love to be known for : making a robot that passes the turing testHer experience with using big computersHow she gets into a calm state of mind - to write programs or even in other situationsHow to get a 5 year old to start codingIf there is a difference between boys and girls on how they learn codingOn programming as a class subject and as a hobbyHer message for older women in ITAnjali 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=drivesdkShe 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

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 trainingMoving to software firms laterHaving a natural inclination to be in HRHer family [of HR people]How the relationship between HR and technical persons has evolved over the yearsIncreasing use of analytics by HRData alone cannot be the basis for interacting with an individualHow the first level or reporting manager is the starting point for HRHow organizations are sensitive to an individual's natural preference for a career path to growAddressing challenges in working with peers till yesterday, team members todayHer experience with managing mergers and acquisitions, from a cultural integration perspective of teams and individualsMaking rules apply seamlessly with the global and local contexts being taken into considerationNeed for empathy, listening abilities to make the new employees feel included and treated fairlyHow she de-stresses and some of her hobbiesOptions for technical persons taking up a HR role or HR persons taking up business responsibilitiesThe indeed to invest in oneself into the chosen line and constantly upskillAn 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/

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 sharesBorn in Hong Kong, moved to Canada to complete his studies and worked in the US, Australia and now working in Hong KongJoseph understood early on that he enjoyed working in smaller companies and scaling itHis consulting experiences helped him enjoy very different domains starting from gaming to CRM and Middle tier and talent management functional domainsHis 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 careerJoseph shares that moving continents was easy from the work but convincing family and personal settingsJoseph 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 areaEvery 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 relationshipWorld 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 aboutIts important to move out of our comfort zone even if change is hard. If you are not growing, you are falling behindJoseph 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/

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 industryHis personal decision to return to India in 1993Joining Titan Industries as CMO and CIOLearning how difficult it is to get users to converge on IT requirementsFrom a software services company to in house IT services, where production issues can be seen to impact core businessHis answer to the question: What does it take a techie to become an entrepreneurNeed for short release, validate cycles and not making good the enemy of perfectJacob 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.

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 sharesHis early childhood and how his father was a great influence in his wanting to be an engineerWhat his life lessons were, staying in a hostel for further schoolingHis first role related to project management in the construction industry and how he did not like that muchBut, a couple of times later in the career, how this experience created opportunities for new rolesTaking the role of a product manager in one of the earliest, successful products in the forex and money market space in the international marketThe 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 regionHow he was ignored by a new person who had taken over professional services, who should have been his customerAnd how a large opportunity from GE changed this person’s equation with JacobJust 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/

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 MadrasKartic 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 coursesKartic also talks about the need for one to be having directional awareness of oneselfKartic talks about the evolution of quality engineering through his journey in the product and services sectorKartic 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 zoneNeutral 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 testingGames 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 batchLearning in a classroom also moving from a command control to a democratic view of the worldKartic 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.htmlKartic can be reached at https://www.linkedin.com/in/karticv/ 

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 useHis early memory of computers started with using AC while playing Nintendo games and amazed at the computer networks in his alumni NIT TrichyShares 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 curiosityUnderstanding that the future is in e-commerce and large data processing was a big step from his internship in ISRODecision 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 modelTalks about moving away from compile satisfaction[code named as compile sook] to Release satisfactionBeing a first time manager encouraging the team and mentoring in a subtle wayInterdisciplinary 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 longestUnderstanding 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 partPrakash shares how future would be in the convergence of Quantum computing, Data sciences and 5G with ethics being the foundationOne wisdom Prakash wants to share is that Technology is rapidly changing and each of us have to adapt quickly with thatPrakash 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/

In this episode, Gayatri is in conversation with Pallav Prakash Indian Navy veteran and program manager at ZumTalks about starting in technology in early 1980s by way of merit and got passionate about computersHe 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 womenTalks about the pride moment of digitisation of files and decision making system across multiple years in NavyShares about the stories of maintenance of the hardware and the missile guidance was architected and built self reliantlyHe 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 notchHis journey to move to US to understand different culture and taking an internship program with schoolHe has been an india head for AnitaB and his views on equitable data and the level of impact software could makeNow 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 itHow can software communities come together to improve society as a whole is a question Pallav leaves with all listenersShares the story of the girl who pursued computers to get the comfort of AC to changing the landscape and provide an environment for othersPallav 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/

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/

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 wearWays to get started collecting, analysing and gaining insights from dataHow can young engineers joining the data ecosystem look at dataData 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 thoughtHow can you manage data errors and keep the sanctity of data cleanChallenges that are encountered while handling master data, data definition and gaps in data setupWorking with regulatory bodies and keeping the right level of data without infringing into compliancePerspective of work has changed across three decades from task centric, business centric and what-if possibilitiesEnsuring that foundations are clearly understood on data prior to diving deeper into technologySriram 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/

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/

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 moreThis series of conversations will help you reflect on the year that was and identify some actions you may want to take in the new yearYou can reach him at Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/svasudev/https://pm-powerconsulting.com/experts/vasu/

Continuing our special series for the year end, Shiv asks colleague PM Powerian Gopalan how he stays calm even under pressure and moreThis 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/

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 ideaCollaborateResearch, learn, internalize, let it simmer : one day, it will come outLook for metaphors, analogiesDefine some boundaries.. scope.. 108 facts..Look for gaps in models / Getting a coach / teacher; being self awareKnow more about him herehttps://pm-powerconsulting.com/experts/parameswaran/You can reach him athttps://www.linkedin.com/in/paramu-kurumathur-01489a6/

In this episode, Raghu Viswanathan, knows as Raghu, shares his story with details ofBeing an alumnus of the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, which got the first computer in IndiaHis initial ‘hate’ for computer science, mainly due to the use of punched cards!Joining TCS [Tata Consultancy Services] as a management consultantHaving to play the role of an IBM expert on his first overseas project, as an individual contributor with no other colleagues with himBeing asked to teach IBM to the client and seeking support from his manager Gaining confidence after that successful assignmentWriting code the traditional way - in Australia - from creating pseudo code and getting it reviewed before writing a single line of codeIf you want to work on a good project, think through, write pseudocode, consult with peopleHow the rigour at ISI prepared him for increased confidence in the futureThe importance of understanding the domain for a developerHow, understanding the business [and implications] help in one situation to not only avoid a penalty, but also help the bank make moneyThe evolution of the concept of offshoring or distributed working in his organizationFinding major lifestyle changes in young Indian professionals when he came back to IndiaFeeling happy about India’s progress over the yearsTrekking and volunteering and pacing his activitiesThe joys of retirementHow he discovered the interest in trekkingHis career tipsHis 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/

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 GurjarA trained classical vocalist, starting at age 4 and working with music via interactive mediaMelding technology and health & fitnessLearning and pushing herself with challenges and problem solving, always interested in the "Why", beginning of entrepreneurshipA desire to see the larger picture and the timing being right Trigger to move back to India, technology, family, supportStarting a company in just before the pandemic brokeInspiration from remote music concerts, influence on building interactive apps, spatial audioBody movement tracking app and teaching yoga remotely, help people visualize where they need helpHer experiences around building the company from hiring, building a culture of adaptability and changeWork, passion and hobby being oneLessons a woman entrepreneur - Learning from others, value yourself, be your own championLife 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/raksharaoTwitter: https://twitter.com/raksha_raoCompany website: www.parjanya.org

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 MBAStarting his career with Eicher and then moving to Muscat and becoming a product manager for a Ford dealershipReturning 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 IndiaBecoming the largest ecommerce company in India in a very short periodMoving to Singapore for a Channel partner development roleReturning to India to head the technical services divisionPlaying the CMO roles for large business units in APACComing back to India to play a leadership role with the ecommerce and PC business and also hold the responsibility for the digital GTMHaving witnessed 4 major and many small mergersCars to computers to cloud to commerce- 4CsHis approach to manage and perform in these transitions across domains and businessesRisk appetite, being a Biker, taking calculated risks, Transition 1: leveraging the marketing experience [4Ps being the same across industries], product management was the sameTransition 2: company was the sameTransition 3: leveraging the BCP experience in the services business, to make ecommerce available 24x7Anchoring on onen common factor to leverage and one uncomfortable or new factor to spur learningLetting results speak for oneselfBeing a good manager helps in thriving in a mergerThe strength of empathy for people needed for a leader to bring about a smooth mergerThe shift in thinking and approach needed when moving from selling hardware [boxes] to selling software, services and solutions that may be less tangibleThe idea of products being consumed as servicesApart from product, price, place and promotion, one has to add process, people and proofHis experience of working with software delivery teamsCareer advice: courage to go after your passion and keep reinventing yourselfLook for satisfaction over successDo your job as an act of serviceNash 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

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 isRaghu started as a developer in TCS after completing his education in BangaloreHe was inspired by him mentor to broaden his horizon and desire to move to BusinessMade an internal transition to business and now leads the strategic transformations in HSBCRaghu believes that having a good business sense is like a spine that has to be strong and flexible based on conditionsHe talks about the business disruptions that have happened and compares consciousness and understanding of the ecosystemRaghu shares the experiences of working in business starting with the business case and seeing the change through the lifecycleRaghu shares his stories on being a technocrat of bridging the business and technology seamlessly and sharing his wisdom in a wise mannerCommon sense of vision, purpose, commitment that’s built over trust brings large teams together to work, communicate and collaborate betterRaghu shares the constraints that his generation has put on self and how that needs to go off as we usher in the millennialsRaghu shares a vision of banking that would lead to normalised set of offerings prior to taking offRaghu 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 overallRaghu can be contacted @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/raghu-s-51b07a11/

In this episode, Krishna Prasad, known as KP - Coach at PM Power shares his experience related toBeing a coachWhy middle management is usually underserved in terms of coaching helpHow he had handled his own personal transition from an individual contributor to a middle managerHis expertise Areas – New Product Development, Product Management, Lean-Agile Transformation, Digital Transformation, LeadershipHis 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.

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/nashjainLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nareshjain/Website: https://nareshjain.com/

In this conversation, Dr Asoke Talukder shares his experience and perspectives related to His aspiration to be in performing arts, when he was youngWinning 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 interestsStarting his programming as a research scholar at Jadavpur universityThen 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 areasThe 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 contextA 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 eventGetting new customers by taking on problems that have been lying on their plates for a long time and solving themHis getting into genomics and startupsHis passion for teaching, to ignite young minds to get into academics and researchWriting a syllabus making book based on his entrepreneurial experience with mobile computingThe importance of security aspects to be treated as functional requirementsConverting a mis-use case into a functional requirement when it comes to securityHis current interest areas of AI, machine learning and deep learningBeing 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 othersHow his width of knowledge and experience helps him solve or relate a problem to something he might have seen elsewhereSynthetic systems and the challenges in understanding and solving healthcare related problems and there is no one-size-fits allThe need for horizontal knowledge, to be a successful solutioning architectHis approach and process for quickly leveraging existing knowledge and experience to build more complex solutionsHis career advice, in particular about being a lifelong learner and possibly getting into academics / researchAsoke 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.

In this episode, Seema Joshi, global product leader at NICE is in conversation with Chitra Gurjar sharing her insights and experiences throughQualifying as a Civil Engineer, and doing site work, to pursuing an MBA and her first job in techMoving into tech and landing different jobs, finding what she wanted to doWorking on the frontlines of technologyHer life as a technical account manager and helping close sales dealsLearning about personas, how customers buy, who influences, who usesWearing different hats each time every dayDeal or no deal, a zero or a oneContrast in experiences based on what she felt was a good deal and how things turned outUsing various approaches to prioritization of backlogs like3 P approach - Persona, problem and pervasiveness of the problemThinking in line with a top down business strategycreating delighters for the customer, the KANO modelBuilding 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 stakeholdersBuilding partnerships of trust and collaborationStaying in the problem space, wearing different thinking hats, assumptions, solutions and discoveryHaving 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 discussionHer suggestions for people wanting to pursue a product management career or a career in technologySeema 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/

In this conversation, Tom Henriksen talks aboutStarting a career in sales and then getting into techGetting into Agile, as part of a team adopting Agile practices, under a manager’s guidanceHis experience of transitioning from an individual contributor to a managerUnderstanding the importance of human skills in agile teamsSome interesting learnings from patterns of behavior in teams, particularly those based on misconceptionsThe fact that humans are hard, code is easyLearning to ‘talk their terms’ when connecting with executives, from the Dale Carnegie’s bookThe 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 needsHow a visit to observe users for a day gave insights into the what their solution needs to doHaving an experimental mindsetThe importance of managing up, when it comes to adoption of agile practices in a teamWhy rinse-and-repeat would not work when applying what worked in one context identically in a different contextContext matters - and, like many agile coaches say, it depends.Stop selling agile, start aligningBeing aware of the dangers of gaming the system, when there is too much stress only on quantitative measurements and metricsThe trigger for Tom to launch the Agile and DevOps online summits, long before the pandemic hit and all conferences moved onlineHow he is able to bring in multiple perspectives by having track chairsSome 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 themesSome changes or shifts in themes he has seen over the last 5 yearsHis thoughts on curating the content from the summit over the yearsHis suggestions for early stage and mid-career professionalsFor 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 teamsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomhenricksen/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TomHenricksen