

Software People Stories
PM Power Consulting
Stories of what worked and sometimes what did not, in the course of discovering, designing, developing and delivering software based solutions – as shared by practitioners who went through these situations.
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 16, 2019 • 11min
25: Experiments & Discovery
The Software Lifecycle Stories, brought to you by PM Power Consulting, has come quite some way since the first episode was published. This is a special episode dedicated for our listeners from us saying, "Thank you for tuning into our show!"
To help us continue to bring engaging episodes, we would like to hear from you.
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May 8, 2019 • 42min
24: Helping teams be effective
In this episode of the Software Lifecycle Stories, PM Power colleagues, Sivaguru and A Narasimhan, also known as AN, explore several facets of AN's experiences that include -
* How he launched a startup with some friends
* Innovative features by trapping OS interrupts
* Importance of process orientation, even for small teams
* Getting into techno marketing
* Instilling or having a sense of ownership intrinsically
* The need to adapt one’s coaching style or delivery based on the geography or culture of the participants
* Can anyone become a coach ?
* How to connect with individuals, when you are a coach
* Helping individuals to open up, to improve teaming effectiveness
* Some of AN's favourite games & activities
* His interest in philosophy
* How pairing in a team can significantly improve quality and productivity

May 2, 2019 • 40min
23: Building for a global user experience
Designing for the future, fulfilling today’s needs
Welcome to this episode of the Software Lifecycle Stories. Sivaguru from PM Power Consulting is in conversation with Vandana Abraham, Head of Design at Atlassian, India. In this conversation she shares her perspectives on
* The difference between design and art
* Aptitudes to be a designer
* Bridging engineers and designers with empathy
* Building experiences for a global audience
* Some ideas that were far ahead of their time
* Designing for the future
* Career breaks and flexibility for women
Note:This episode was recorded prior to Women's day (8th March 2019). It is covered through a dialogue in the episode.
Vandana Abraham has over 20 years’ providing leadership in product strategy development, and experience design for mobile consumer applications & business platforms. She has set up and led design studios for product and service design and studied Textile Design at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, India.
She currently heads design at Atlassian India.

Apr 25, 2019 • 47min
22: Empathy, with a dose of patience
Welcome to another episode of the Software Lifecycle Stories. In this episode, Sivaguru and Anantha Natarajan (who prefers to be called Anand), colleagues from PM Power Consulting, speak about several topics including:
* Is software development ‘engineering’?
* Trusting one’s feelings
* Treating IT as an enabler for business
* Creating functionally satisfying solutions to make a difference for the users
* Lessons from building something ahead of time
* Becoming and Being a coach - when better comes before good!
* Detaching oneself in delicate coaching situations
* Designing mistake-proof solutions
* One tip for developing empathy
* Benefits of mindfulness
* Playing Bridge and developing software

Apr 18, 2019 • 35min
21: Work Life Rhythm
In this conversation, Annie Abraham - head of Financing IT and Group Wide Process for Danske IT and Support services in Bangalore - shares her thoughts and experiences with Sivaguru from PM Power on -
* Transformation & Modernization projects
* Applying Agile approaches in a large program
* Women and agile / if agile ways of working is women friendly
* Finding one’s own rhythm to balance responsibilities at work and home
* Tips for those starting out on their careers
Annie Abraham has over 22 years’ experience in IT industry leading high value and complex projects and is a sought after leader to drive critical delivery assignments to success. She brings expertise in Legacy modernization and transformation with the ability to coach and set up successful scrums teams and deliver to true outcomes. Annie has successfully seeded and executed several strategic organization wide programs to achieve process optimization, cost and effort savings by setting up competency groups like Agile, estimation, Account governance and application enhancement frameworks. She is a strong people manager with the ability to hire right talent, build, motivate and nurture multiple high-performing teams.
Annie currently heads Financing IT and Group Wide Process for Danske IT and Support services in Bangalore, India, a subsidiary of Danske Bank. Prior to this, she worked with Unisys India, HCL Technologies and Deustche Software.
Annie via [LinkedIn](http://linkedin.com/in/annie-abraham-a33a3513)

Apr 12, 2019 • 29min
20: Innovation & Discovery
A Journey from Programming to Coaching
In this episode, Savitha in conversation with Chitra from PM Power consulting, shares her views on
- working with chaos and pressure while discovering one's strengths over coffee
- Why boredom is a good thing
- Learnings from working across captive, product & services companies with freedom to explore various roles
- Using coaching as a means of strength to connect with people
- The power of freeing your mind
- Alternating focus between work & life

Apr 4, 2019 • 49min
19: Just Be - Right Now!
Tune into tips from a techie turned transformational teacher !
Sivaguru from PM Power is very happy to share his conversation with Suresh Ramaswamy, a successful serial entrepreneur, who started with roles in IT and then pivoted to helping others discover themselves as a transformational teacher.
When this conversation started, we were expecting a highly technical discussion from a VLSI architect, but what it ended up being was -- literally mind blowing!
At PM Power, we have always combined the hard and soft aspects - including mindful approaches for deriving the maximum impact from the journeys of delivery excellence . This conversation touches on some of the mindfulness aspects that can make an entrepreneur or an individual contributor successful.
In this conversation, Suresh shares his perspectives on
* Personal development and transformation
* Keys for entrepreneurial success, including looking at entrepreneurship as going beyond an escape from corporate stress
* Operating in an environment of Uncertainty and risk in a startup
* The importance of having a balanced and impactful intent
* Identifying core objectives for your startup
* Letting go - to learn, manage stress etc
* The need to be inclusive
* Personal and professional relationships
And a peek into his latest book, "Just be" which is about moving through and living life under an infinite guidance.
Suresh Ramaswamy is the award-winning author of the personal transformation bestseller Just Be, Transform Your Life and Live as Infinity. As a transformational teacher and visionary entrepreneur, he is passionate about igniting and catalyzing the transformation of humanity. With his background as an electrical engineer and technology executive, he brings an inspired yet pragmatic approach to elevating consciousness on our planet. Held in high regard by people around the world, Suresh’s light-filled presence and guidance awakens them to their innermost essence.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/just.be.book/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sureshramaswamy.author/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sureshauthor
https://SureshRamaswamy.org

Mar 28, 2019 • 41min
18: Curiosity, Continuous Learning & Collaboration
In this episode, our podcast guest, Roopa Dharmapuri shares her perspectives on the interconnectedness of life & work among other views with Chitra Gurjar from PM Power Consulting, through
* Her journey from development, to testing and product management.
* Anchoring engagement at work and in life through curiosity and learning .
* Stepping into customer shoes.
* The importance of establishing trust and transparency while building and delivering products.
* Being influenced by various company cultures & nurturing collaboration.
* Mentoring career women and how to have an aspiration to come back
Roopa Dharmapuri is a Senior technology professional with 17+ years of global experience delivering software products to market. Her domain expertise spans Enterprise Security, Strong Authentication, Identity & Access Management, Enterprise Mobility Management, Application Lifecycle Management & CRM Solutions. Roopa has held various leadership roles in Engineering and Product Management at various companies and is currently a Senior Member of Technical Staff at Acalvio Technologies.
LinkedIn Profile:http://linkedin.com/in/roopa-dharmapuri-1a7b03
Twitter: @rdharmapuri

Mar 21, 2019 • 40min
17: Standards, Startups and Spousal support
Continuing on our theme of conversations with women in IT, in this episode, Vandana Malaiya, whose career has seen roles in hardware, embedded systems, setting up team and organization level processes and setting up a venture and to a social venture and some senior leadership roles in the corporate environment,in conversation with Sivaguru,shares her perspectives on
-The need to and opportunities to keep on learning
-Adopting standards and consistent adherence for outcomes
-How economic and governmental ecosystems can help or hinder startup aspirations
-Balancing career and family aspirations with support from her husband
-Physical and emotional challenges for women after 50
-Supporting girls and women become successful
-Some typical challenges faced by all startups
-Need for men also to develop empathy
Vandana Malaiya is an IT professional with over 30 years of experience in the industry. She has worked with companies IBM, Verifone, DCM Data Systems and her own start-up EximSoft. She now works with the social sector primarily in the area of education of girl child and women empowerment. She is passionate about advancement of women at the work place and has worked extensively on programs for women leadership. She continues to keep her connect with the IT industry through consulting and mentoring. She is a BE(Hons) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from BITS Pilani and an Executive MBA from IIM Bangalore. She has worked in India and US. She loves travel and all forms of art.
She can be reached via - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/vandanamalaiya); [Twitter](http://@vandanamalaiya) and her [Blog Page](http://vandanamalaiya.com/)

Mar 15, 2019 • 1h 5min
16: Happy Customers, Happy Employees.
In this episode, a freewheeling panel discussion among four accomplished women from Global Automation Inc., Bengaluru covers, among other things:
- their own individual experiences in IT, in creating or consuming solutions
- balancing demands at work and outside
- support systems for women at work and home
- empathy for customers and how that helps in evolving products
- the importance of continual learning
- creating and nurturing a healthy work environment
- peer support and recognition


