Software Defined Interviews
87 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 3 ratingsDeep discussions about technology, enterprise IT, and the like
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Episodes
Misaligned Incentives Episode 4: You get what you pay for - compensating tech staff is often done poorly
July 17, 2020 10:00 - 50 minutes - 25.3 MBWe discuss compensation, particularly how people in the IT department ("developers," etc.) are so disconnected from the actual business that compensating them based on business performance is near impossible. Not good if you're an IT person and like money. There's other types of comp. then money, obviously, and those are fine too. In particular, we discuss participation in open source and more recognition. But, still: money is the best.
Episode 3: Improvement requires fear, or, digital transformation by crisis and fear
July 06, 2020 14:00 - 38 minutes - 19.7 MBPeople in large organizations avoid improving for improving's sake. They're very rarely proactive in transforming. Instead, it seems that management in most large organizations only act, and change, when they fear competition and failure. "Everyone" knows this is a bad strategy, and yet "everyone" does it. Perhaps we should embrace that behavior, or at least be empathetic, and figure out how to work with it. We discuss this problem and things to do in this episode. Also, we find out wh...
Episode 2: Outsourcing, SIs, and other "others"
October 31, 2019 08:15 - 58 minutes - 28.5 MBWe discuss outsourcing IT.
Misaligned Incentives Episode 1: Who forget to invite "The Business," to this kubernetes PoC?
September 11, 2019 11:00 - 44 minutes - 22.4 MBJourney Through the Business Bottleneck, part 1. Join Rick and I as we try to find this elusive thing called "The Business." We lay out a theory we've been talking about: while IT has been improving or, at least, can improve, the business side of the house isn't showing up to do anything with CLOUD and AGILE and THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION. Why's this the case? Do toothpaste people have this problem? Outsourcing - that's a treat! And so forth. Hopefully next episode we'll discuss tacti...
Monolithic Transformation
September 09, 2019 09:00 - 1 hour - 44.8 MBLarge organization are desperate to become “tech companies.” They drool at these tech companies ability to grow and change quickly. Despite mastering agile over the past 20 years, IT as a whole is too slow and unreliable. “It’s the culture,” everyone says. Changing culture for a team of 10 people is easy - changing a department of 20,000 developers is another challenge entirely. Based on case studies and interviews over the past five years, this talk describes how large organizations ar...
Episode 82: Chris Aniszczyk on starting Open Source Foundations
July 09, 2019 10:00 - 59 minutes - 27.2 MBChris Aniszczyk is the CTO of the CNCF. We discuss how he got into open source, what it's like to work at Twitter and how he helped start the CNCF. Plus, Chris gives us an overview of the different kinds of CNCF projects and offers advice on how to get started with Kubernetes. Show links: Hatching Twitter (https://www.amazon.com/Hatching-Twitter-Story-Friendship-Betrayal/dp/1591847087) GORILLA.BAS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorillas_video_game) IBM Extreme Blue (https://www.ibm.com/employ...
Episode 81: Adam Jacob on saying Goodbye to OpenCore
April 08, 2019 10:00 - 1 hour - 34.2 MBMatt and Brandon interview Adam Jacob the co-founder of Chef. We discuss Adam's career, what led him to start Chef and Chef's recent decision to open source 100% of its Software. Plus, Adam give us some tips on Dungeons & Dragons and transitioning from being a founder to an executive. Links Goodbye Open Core — Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish (https://medium.com/@adamhjk/goodbye-open-core-good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-ae3355316494) We need Sustainable Free and Open Source Communities (https://med...
Episode 80: Jeff Meyerson on starting the Software Engineering Daily Podcast
February 11, 2019 13:45 - 1 hour - 28.6 MBJeff Meyerson is the host of Software Engineering Daily (https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/). We talk about his career and what led him to start a daily tech podcast for software engineers. We also talk about current trends in cloud computing and Jeff recounts his career as professional poker player. Topics: Darknet Diaries Chartbreakers Episode (https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/27/) Who Is Michael Ovitz? (https://www.audible.com/pd/Who-Is-Michael-Ovitz-Audiobook/B07DJZBDK4) Where to fin...
Episode 79: Version control, DevOps, Code Reviews, Semantic Merging, Spanish Startups, & Plastic SCM
January 15, 2019 12:00 - 1 hour - 32.4 MBVersion control has changed a lot over the past 15 years: we’ve moved from a centralized to a distributed model at the basic level. But the practices people follow have changed and grown as new methodologies like DevOps and continuous delivery have relied on version control for operational stability and reliability. In this interview, Coté talks with Plastic SCM (https://www.plasticscm.com/)’s Pablo Santos (https://twitter.com/psluaces) to get the low-down and some tips on doing version contr...
Episode 78: Umair Khan on AI Ops and Cloud Security
December 24, 2018 11:00 - 56 minutes - 25.7 MBBrandon interviews Umair Khan about his experience working in AI Ops and Cloud Security. Umair recently joned Scytale (https://www.scytale.io/) and he explains how the SPIFFE open soruce project (https://spiffe.io/) can help secure communication between cloud services. Contact Umiar: LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/khanumair/) @UmairMoheet (https://twitter.com/UmairMoheet) Why I joined Scytale (https://medium.com/@umairmoheet) Special Guest: Umair Khan.
Episode 77: Jake Moilanen on going from Employee to Entrepreneur to Venture Capitalist
December 17, 2018 11:00 - 1 hour - 32.3 MBJake Moilanen started and sold two companies and is now joining the ranks of Venture Capital. We discuss his career, his approach to investing and he explains what it is like to bringup the Linux Kernel on a supercomputer for the first time. Connect with Jake: * @moilanen (https://twitter.com/moilanen) * LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakemoilanen/) Special Guest: Jake Moilanen.
Episode 76: Zane Rockenbaugh on being the Startup CTO
November 05, 2018 11:00 - 1 hour - 32.3 MBZane Rockenbaugh specializes in working with early stage startups. Most of the time his clients are boostrapping their new compnay and need someone technical who can help build version 1.0. In this episode, we talk about Zane's career and what it's like to be a "Startup CTO." Most importantly, we talk about his experience of taking raw ideas and turning them into real products. To work with Zane contact him at Liquid Labs (https://liquid-labs.com/) Special Guest: Zane Rockenbaugh.
Episode 75: Don't call me an "evangelist"
September 03, 2018 09:00 - 1 hour - 37.1 MBCoté talks about his job being an "evangelist," a word people no longer seem to use but everyone understands. Brandon interviews Coté about what the job is, what the work's like, and some examples (other than himself) of people who do it well. Call it "developer advocacy," "developer relations," being a "thought leader," or just a straight up hustler - it's a job that most companies in the computer industry have at least one of. Most of the successful software and projects out there get a bi...
Episode 74: Numbers. How do they work? Rachel Stephens
August 27, 2018 11:00 - 55 minutes - 25.9 MBWhen Coté says he doesn’t know how numbers work, he actually means it. To help out, he talks with Rachel Stephens, from RedMonk, who not only explains ratios, but also finance numbers. Fine more from Rachel on her RedMonk blog (https://redmonk.com/rstephens/), and in Twitter (https://twitter.com/rstephensme). Special Guest: Rachel Stephens.
Episode 73: Dustin Kirkland on Linux, Cloud Computing and Product Management
August 20, 2018 10:00 - 1 hour - 35.4 MBDustin Kirkland joins us to discuss Linux, Cloud Computing and making wine. We talk about Dustin’s career journey from entry-level developer to Google Product Manager. He shares his experience working at IBM, Canonical and now Google. Plus, he tells the story of how working on his own open source project helped him land a job at startup. Links: * Dustin’s Blog (http://blog.dustinkirkland.com) * Dustin on Twitter (https://twitter.com/DustinKirkland) * Dustin’s presentation at Google Next (htt...
Episode 72: Chris Donaldson on Automation
August 13, 2018 10:00 - 1 hour - 29.5 MBHow do you implement IT Automation best practices at a large company? What's the best approach to convince stakeholders that IT Automation is worth the effort? In this interview with Acxiom's Chris Donaldson we talk all about the good, the bad and ugly of IT Automation.. We discuss his career and how his previous experiences shaped his view of IT Automation. He offers practical advice on automation, weight lifting and how best to secure shade at the beach. Links: Jobs at Acxiom (https://acxi...
Episode 71: Matthew Brutsché on Amazon Go and Tech Marketing
July 30, 2018 16:00 - 1 hour - 28.9 MBBrandon speaks with Matthew Brutsché (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattbrut/) from 500 Rockets Marketing (https://500rockets.io/). Matt gives us his bold predications based on his recent shopping experience at the Amazon Go store in Seattle. Plus, we talk about the evolution of digital marketing and what it means to launch a product into the market. Links: Amazon Go Store (https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=16008589011) 500 Rockets Marketing (https://500rockets.io/) Quick Concall iPhone ...
Episode 70: Satish Kodukula on Product Management
April 09, 2018 10:00 - 51 minutes - 24 MBBrandon interviews Satish Kodukula (https://www.linkedin.com/in/skodukula/) about product management. We compare product management at large companies and startups, discuss how to validate your next startup idea and when to build your minimum viable product (MVP). Notes: Marc Andreessen on Product/Market Fit (https://pmarchive.com/guide_to_startups_part4.html) More about Satish: Chief Winning Officer (http://www.chiefwinningofficer.com/) Austin Software Consulting (https://www.austinsoftwa...
Episode 69: Analyst Relations, with Rita Manachi
April 02, 2018 14:00 - 48 minutes - 23.1 MBGetting familiar with analyst relations is a key component of an enterprise software business. “Analyst relations” is sort of like PR, but actually pretty different. You want to, of course, drive influence with the analysts, but also consume the content and advise they’re putting out. And while there’s two major firms in the tech world - Gartner and Forrester - there’s plenty of other firms and individuals to work with. In this episode, Coté talks with Rita Manachi who’s been doing AR for ove...
Episode 68: Lineworkers and developers working side-by-side to improve Duke Energy’s software, with John Mitchell
March 26, 2018 15:00 - 1 hour - 28.3 MBThis is a great conversation with John Mitchell (https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnwilliammitchell/) about Duke Energy improving it’s software capabilities, doing “digital transformation,” as the kids like to call it. We start from the beginning of what kicked the company off, a shift from COTS software to mobile apps and analytics. We then discuss a couple initial projects that Duke transformed, including one that didn’t work out so well, and one that did. Throughout, John shares what he team ...
Episode 67: Javvad Malik on security & being an industry analyst
March 19, 2018 04:45 - 1 hour - 29.9 MBSecurity, security, security! Everyone wants security, at least they say so. How it’s actually managed and even conceptualized in organizations is a lot more than just patching software and using CAPTCHA’s. In this discussion, Coté talks with Javvad Malik who’s been in the security business for countless years. In addition to talking about how security is done well and poorly, they discuss controversies in the space and establishing a good baseline for securing organizations. Also, there’s ta...
Episode 66: Dominic Wellington on machine learning, or, shadows in the datacenter
March 12, 2018 04:45 - 1 hour - 30.9 MBIf you only followed the daily headlines, AI and machine learning seem like a magical technologies that will either solve all our problems or put everyone out of work. In reality, there’s little to know AI and machine learning, though complex, has many practical uses. While they’re often delightful, there’re not mystical. Coté discusses how to think about machine learning, how it works, and some examples of what it can do with Dominic Wellington. Relevant links & select articles from Dominic ...
Episode 65: Walter Bodwell on Agile
March 07, 2018 11:00 - 1 hour - 28 MBHow do you implement Agile? Why does Agile matter? How has Agile changed in the last decade? Where do you get a beer in Austin? Walter Bodwell (https://www.linkedin.com/in/wbodwell/) answers all of these questions and more in this episode. Plus, we hear the story of how Evity was sold for $100 Million. More Planigle (http://www.planigle.com) www.walterbodwell.com (http://www.walterbodwell.com) Agile Austin (http://www.agileaustin.org) Keep Austin Agile 2018 (http://conference.agileaustin.org)...
Episode 64: Christopher Luciano on Kubernetes & Istio
March 01, 2018 20:00 - 1 hour - 39.7 MBWhy does kubernetes even exist, why don’t existing things work just as well for it? And then what kind of applications can you run on it, at least following the original intentions. Once we sort that out, we talk about the same for Istio. We also discuss hospital IT and how large companies like IBM decide which open source projects to work on. More Recorded Talk on Istio (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7ZQcu1dwlQ). Twitter (https://twitter.com/cmluciano_): cmluciano_ His website (https://cm...
Episode 63: JJ Asghar on DevOps, Compliance and Grilling
February 19, 2018 11:00 - 1 hour - 32 MBJJ Asghar (https://twitter.com/jjasghar) from Chef (https://www.chef.io/) explains how he found his way into DevOps and why DevOps makes Christmas better. We also discuss the latest news about Uber's security breach (https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/02/07/uber_quit_github_for_custom_code_after_2016_data_breach/) and how it could have been prevented. Finally, we find time to talk about gas grills, building Linux from scratch and what it takes to be an Eagle Scout. One more thing, we also ex...
Episode 62: Nancy Gohring on monitoring, observability, DevOps, & M&A
February 12, 2018 14:15 - 1 hour - 31.3 MBThis is a really fun and great episode with Nancy Gohring on monitoring, log management, DevOps, M&A in the space, and tech journalism. Also, we finally get the most concise analysts of the $3.7bn Cisco/AppDynamics deal that I’ve ever heard. If you’re the type of person who knows the words “observiblity,” “The Big 4,” SNMP, or even just DevOps, you’ll like this episode. Nancy Gohring covers (https://451research.com/analyst-team/analyst/Nancy+Gohring) application and infrastructure performance...
Episode 61: Jon Collins on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
February 05, 2018 15:15 - 50 minutes - 27.4 MB“It’s quite good to see GDPR as an evolution, not a revolution.” The EU is rolling out a huge privacy data regulation policy this Spring, the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. If you do anything with “customer data,” you should probably at least take a look at it. Companies like Facebook and others who use customer data to work with third parties are gonna have GDPR all up in their grills. In this interviews episode, we talk with Jon Collins (https://twitter.com/jonno) who’s been ...
Episode 60: Sell-side financial analysts, & enterprise software pricing
January 30, 2018 16:00 - 1 hour - 29.3 MBWhat do these financial, equity analyst types do? Well, if the stock market was rational, we could probably tell you. This week, we look at one PDF reporting on cloud and try to make sense of it. Also, we discuss enterprise software pricing, THE DANCE! More detailed show notes, including the charts (https://paper.dropbox.com/doc/WP018-Sell-side-financial-analysts-enterprise-software-pricing-HZQSZVFX0hOWmWJrWJLLN), are available.
Episode 59: Fear of FANG
January 19, 2018 22:00 - 1 hour - 30.1 MBEveryone’s freaking out about tech companies. What they mean by “tech companies,” of course is the combination of Facebook, Google, Twitter, Amazon, and maybe Netflix. They (mostly) mean companies who are using tech to disrupt their industries (media, retail, entertainment) and using the business models of tech companies. The line is, to be sure, fuzzy, but these are not companies that make their money from selling hardware, software, or even IT services (like Microsoft, Oracle, Red Hat, SAP,...
Episode 58: Who is the CISO?
December 21, 2017 12:00 - 58 minutes - 27.2 MBWith Cotê and Matt Ray away on vacation, Brandon takes over the feed to talk all about security. Andy Land from the CISO Exec Network joins us to breakdown what CISOs are worried about and what developers should know about security.
Episode 57: VC Tech Predictions & Newsletters, Ben Evans edition
December 15, 2017 17:00 - 59 minutes - 27.8 MBIn this episode we look at two tech world artifacts: weekly, curated links in email newsletters and the trends and predictions presentation. Ben Evans does both of these and provides great pieces to do some deep reading. If you're not a man, make sure you take the listener survey. (We got plenty of male-responses.) See the detailed show notes.
Episode 56: The tech column/opinion piece
November 29, 2017 19:00 - 53 minutes - 49.1 MBThis week, we look at the tech editorial page, columns that people like Matt Asay and Coté write. First we discuss if this is even a category, and then go over three columns Coté has written recently. (Slightly) more detailed show notes over in paper.
Episode 55: The OpenStack Community Survey & Oceania Sales Motions
November 13, 2017 21:00 - 52 minutes - 24.4 MBCommunity surveys are a handy tool for tracking momentum, proving legitimacy, and, of course, understanding the state of the community. “Community” doesn’t have to be all rainbows and sandals - open source - but it often does. This week we look at the most recent OpenStack Community Survey. See more detailed show notes.
Episode 54: The Corporate Podcast, & EBC’ing
November 02, 2017 17:00 - 58 minutes - 27 MBMurder and comedy podcasts are all fun and dandy, but they’re strategically used by tech companies as well as marketing. This week, we look at some common formats, how they’re done, and how to consume them. Detailed show notes: https://paper.dropbox.com/doc/The-Corporate-Podcast-EBCing-azErWSniyTIDSTn8cQn1U
Episode 53: The Lone Wolf Analyst
October 27, 2017 12:00 - 58 minutes - 27.1 MBThis week, we look at one of the new analyst models, and what they do, by way of Ben Thompson. Horace Dediu and RedMonk are other examples of this model, but Ben Thompson is the highest flying, most interesting practicer now. Ben’s business model is pretty straight-forward: a partial paywall around his some of his weekly content, podcast sponsorships, and (maybe?) consulting. Also, the DC steak scene, BLT Steakhouse’s odd way of cooking a steak. Brandon says to go to Charlie Palmer’s. Check ...
Episode 52: The Four
October 20, 2017 20:00 - 59 minutes - 27.5 MBThis week we look at The Four. Coté had high hopes. More importantly, we look at the medium and mechanics of a business book. More detailed show notes and such.
Episode 51: The fluffy, leather chair interview, or, “Do you think the edge forces you to go hybrid?” or, there’s a lot of high-dollar farts in those chairs
October 13, 2017 21:00 - 1 hour - 34.8 MBThe big fluffy, leather chair interview is a staple of the tech world now. A big named executive (usually) comes up on the stage with a big name journalist and is interviewed in a “wide ranging” discussion. In addition to videos of these being broadcast, tech outlets often write summaries - news stories even - based on the interviews, and others sometimes post “lighted edited transcripts.” One of our favorite news sites, CRN, does this often. And while they do the sleazy thing of making 20-35...
Episode 50: Just another kubernetes article
October 04, 2017 02:00 - 1 hour - 51.7 MBThis week, we look at an article from Susan Hall at The New Stack. Susan is a solid reporter, so looking at her piece allows us to discuss the world and machination of the tech press, what it’s like to brief them, and our imagination of what it’s like to be a tech reporter. See the detailed notes for more. This episode was made free since we haven't been recording the regular show.
Episode 49: Heptio’s funding press releases, or, “marriages, divorces, and births”
September 22, 2017 17:00 - 1 hour - 30 MBPress releases are a high art in our trade. There’s certain formats to follow, the audiences are always precise, and making a good one is a sign of a cunning PR pro. This week, we look at a funding announcement from Heptio. It follows the classic form fairly well, so you’ll see how general press releases are done and some attributes of the funding press release. See more detailed show notes.
Episode 41: Southbound cloud-native enterprise architecture
September 18, 2017 11:15 - 1 hour - 29.1 MBIn part two of our cloud-native enterprise architect talk, we discuss the more technical functions of the EA. We think of these as the "southbound" functions. Special Guest: Matt Walburn.
Episode 48: Forrester’s CD-ish Wave
September 14, 2017 03:00 - 1 hour - 33 MBWe discuss a recent Forrester Wave: “The Forrester Wave: Continuous Delivery And Release Automation, Q3 2017.” See more detailed notes here.
Episode 40: Do people actually do DevOps? Or, the margarita/bloody mary continuum
September 14, 2017 02:00 - 35 minutes - 16.4 MBOn the DevOps question: sure they do, but there are many variations depending on the company.
Episode 47: Kubernetes & container landscapes from Forrester & Gartner
September 01, 2017 17:00 - 1 hour - 28.7 MBThis week, we talk about two PDFs setting out to briefly describe the kubernetes and great container orchestration landscapes. See the usual more detailed write-up and analysis elsewhere (a href="https://paper.dropbox.com/doc/WP006-Kubernetes-container-landscapes-from-Forrester-Gartner-pnTuTycrvQribNjWNB7tE)." rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://paper.dropbox.com/doc/WP006-Kubernetes-container-landscapes-from-Forrester-Gartner-pnTuTycrvQribNjWNB7tE). This episode was also made fre...
Episode 46: The full Chef burger, with a side of THE DIGITAL
August 18, 2017 22:00 - 1 hour - 31.3 MBThis week’s paper is sent in by Matt Ray: “Continuous Automation for the Continuous Enterprise.” See detailed, typed analysis in the show-notes, find the paper attached, and enjoy the podcast in your members only RSS feed.
Episode 45: The PaaS Hype Cycle, 2017 edition
August 14, 2017 22:00 - 56 minutes - 26 MBWe look at the 2017 Gartner PaaS Hype Cycle, just released. See more show notes, though not very detailed here. As always, thanks for being a supporter!
Episode 39: “Microservices is interesting because most enterprises aren't doing it.”
August 10, 2017 18:00 - 50 minutes - 23.6 MBIt’s another in the Matt Curry discussions sub-series! We discuss how enterprise are shifting over to a microservices approach, or not. As Matt explains: “A lot of enterprise are trying to figure out how to do microservices…but what they’re actually trying to figure out how to do is small, empowered teams that can independently release.”
Episode 38: Coté’s whiskey theory & why The Economist is great
August 03, 2017 20:00 - 41 minutes - 20.2 MBWe discuss what the deal is with Canadian whiskey and then talk about why we like The Economist. Your pals, @cowboyd (https://twitter.com/cowboyd) & @cote (https://twitter.com/cote).
Episode 44: A trillion IoT devices by 2035
August 03, 2017 16:00 - 51 minutes - 23.9 MBIoT will be big by 2035, a trillion devices driving a $1tn of spend/year, according to this paper. How does one come to that figure, and what exactly is IoT. Even better, how would you put together the business case to justify doing an IoT project? Well, you’ll get an average of 5x returns, the paper says, so that’s a compelling start. Also, you should buy some ARM chips. Put together by one of ARM’s investor relations people, this paper is squarely targeted a money people interested in IoT a...
Episode 43: Not a [Very Good] DevOps Talk - Software Defined Talk Members Only White Paper Exegesis #2
July 29, 2017 12:00 - 56 minutes - 26.1 MBThis week, Brandon and Coté talk analyze Coté's 2016 stump-speech, Not a DevOps Talk. We talk about the process of putting together a talk like this, how it flows, and the desired effect and rhetoric behind it all. See the extensive show notes and much more detail in the attached PDF or online. There's also a bonus write-up about two of Coté's Register columns. As always, thanks for being a patron of Software Defined Talk, it's super-encouraging and meaningful. If you liked this episode, per...
Episode 37: Cloud-native enterprise architecture, with Matt Curry & Andrew Clay Shafer
July 21, 2017 21:00 - 52 minutes - 24.3 MBLet’s finally get to the punchline on this “cloud-native enterprise architect” quest. Here, Matt Curry (https://twitter.com/mattjcurry), Andrew Clay Shafer (https://twitter.com/littleidea), and I (https://twitter.com/cote) discuss the things that would motivate such a role and try to chart out what functions the cloud-native EA would serve. This still doesn’t answer the question perfectly, but it does point towards good why’s and even some how’s. We do alright at trying to pull it all togethe...