The EPAM Continuum Podcast Network

In the two years since Catherine D’Ignazio last spoke with our Jen Ashman, she has co-authored a fascinating book called *[Data Feminism* and started a new gig as an Assistant Professor of Urban Science and Planning in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT. This time, their dialogue touches on the global benefits of teaching data feminism—“a way of thinking about data, both their uses and their limits, that is informed by direct experience, by a commitment to action, and by intersectional feminist thought," write D'Ignazio and her co-author Lauren F. Klein—remotely. Listen and learn about how our interdependence might lead to co-liberation, edible pie charts, and the idea of situated knowledge. There are multiple sides to this delightfully intelligent conversation, which makes sense because, as D'Ignazio says: “Data can be many things. Data could be images. They could be stories. They could be responses to a question.” Stand by for a number of thoughtful questions and wise responses… Host: Macy Donaway Editor: Kip Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

For many organizations, our remote present is rough. In the third episode of *Silo Busting,* Chris Michaud, VP and Head of our Innovation Practice, says that for some clients “There's a fear. There's almost a frozen-ness to it of ‘How do we, say, continue to connect with our consumers? We're really not well structured to be direct-to-consumer. We're *highly* reliant on our physical stores or physical channels to be able to get distribution.’” To which Albert Rees, SVP and Head of Business Consulting and Michaud’s conversation partner, says: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” Fact is, EPAM is fortunate in that we know a thing or two, or three, about being a distributed and remote workforce, and so we’re in a position to help. Michaud and Rees share stories and insights around what we’ve lately learned. Their dialogue zeroes in on working in a world in lockdown; the sudden and serious need for digital adoption; and how some orgs are finding creative ways to connect with customers in the era of social distancing. It’s all part of what Rees calls “business as usual in unusual times.” Host: Macy Donaway Editor: Kip Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

The three most important letters in the alphabet right now are PPE. The personal protective equipment shortage is a major problem. The tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic will be multiplied, exponentially, if doctors and nurses can’t get the necessary masks, gloves, and gowns to shield themselves as they treat patients. What’s needed is a fast and effective response—and this requires both innovation and cooperation. These two elements can be found in the GENTL Mask project, EPAM Continuum’s open source PPE effort. In this episode of *Silo Busting,* we’re proud to tell the story of the GENTL Mask. Jit Agarwal, VP of Enterprise Products for EPAM, speaks with Rich Ciccarelli,, Senior Director of our Made Real Lab™, and Duncan Freake, Senior Mechanical Engineer, two leaders of the GENTL Mask initiative. It’s a tale of speed, skill, and scale. “Good Enough, Not Too Late [GENTL] has been the guiding principle of a lot of our decisions here,” says Freake, explaining both the project’s ethos and name. “We set out to design something that would really provide meaningful protection and not take months to develop or be based on equipment that would not be set up until June.” Listen and learn how the GENTL Mask was briskly prototyped in our Made Real Lab, the role partnerships play here, and the open source nature of the project. We hope it will inform and inspire you. Host: Macy Donaway Editor: Kip Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

For some people—too many of ‘em—“automation” inspires little more than fear and loathing. That’s bad news for both companies and consumers. The good news: EPAM Continuum consultants understand intelligent automation deeply, and are skilled at explaining its manifold benefits. No one gets IA better than Albert Rees, SVP and Head of Business Consulting at EPAM Continuum. In this, the premier conversation of our brand-new podcast, *Silo Busting,* Rees and Chris Michaud, VP and Head of our Innovation Practice, kibitz about IA: its history, its role in business transformation, and its customer-centered outcomes. Consider Rees on banking and automation: “The problem statement all along was ‘I don't want to go in the branch. I don't want to be sold the mortgage every time I want to make a deposit. I don't want to deal with the lines. I don't want to deal with that stinking deposit slip, right?’ So all that stuff said: The experience has to change. I can assure you there's automation, from scanning that check through your phone, all the way through, ‘It's showing up now in your account,’ two seconds later.” So listen to the episode, share it with an automation-averse friend or client, and change that person’s understanding of IA. It’s the intelligent thing to do. Host: Macy Donaway Editor: Kip Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

Welcome to Adaptive Enterprise, a podcast series in which we match up EPAM subject matter experts with Forrester Research analysts to talk out the major Digital Product Development opportunities of the day. In our first episode, Elaina Shekhter, CMO & Head of Strategy at EPAM, sits down with our guest Allen Bonde, VP & Research Director covering digital transformation at Forrester, to discuss the building blocks of adaptive enterprises and what it takes to create new ecosystems that open the door to innovation opportunities. Stay tuned for more scintillating sessions with lead analysts from Forrester & EPAM experts.

Is there anyone who has done more to illustrate the pathos, drama, and humanity surrounding medical diagnosis than Dr. Lisa Sanders? If you jokingly said, “Dr. Gregory House!” you’ve unwittingly acknowledged Sanders’ deep influence (her work inspired the television show *House*). As a physician, Yale Medical School professor, author, *New York Times* magazine columnist, and host of her own Netflix documentary series, *Diagnosis,* Sanders wears many hats on multiple platforms. She was, in fact, in Boston to tape a TEDMED talk, when she walked over to our studio in the Seaport. No matter what form her stories take, they always involve empathy for the patient and a Sherlock Holmesian curiosity from the diagnostician. And in this conversation with our Jonathon Swersey she gets into all kinds of interesting topics: the limitations of today’s genetic testing , how her storytelling has educated people about medical uncertainty, the role social media can play in diagnosing patients, and the complicated theatrics of the healthcare trade. Sanders says that diagnosis requires a good set of ears, a working heart, and a sharp imagination. “The best way to get people to talk to you is to be actually interested in what they have to say,” says Sanders. “And be able to demonstrate that by being quiet and listening to what they have to say.” Fortunately for us, Sanders was nowhere close to quiet in the conversation that follows. You’ll want to listen to it. STAT. Host: Pete Chapin Editor: Kip Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

When the *New York Times’* Travel editor, Amy Virshup, announced that her section was going to “offset airplane travel by staff members on assignment,” we were intrigued. “It is, I know, a small gesture. But it’s a start,” she wrote—and we admired the way she was prototyping a real innovation in travel journalism. We were so impressed that we connected with her to see what else she had to say about the current state of travel. At the end of February, our Dustin Boutet, who leads our Travel and Hospitality Vertical, spoke with Virshup and asked not just about climate change but about experiential travel, the industry’s platform wars, editing in the age of social media, the paper’s famed “52 Places to Go” series, and the tricky issue of reclining on an airplane. We think you’ll agree that the conversation traversed some interesting ground.

Rita McGrath, a distinguished professor at Columbia Business school and well-respected author, prides herself in being able to see around corners (her most recent book : *Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen.*) Similarly, we’ve long backcasted our way through the innovation space. So when we got together, for a Resonance Test chat, numerous future-facing remarks were dropped into the mix. “A lot of times the people that see an inflection point really early are not in the Strategy Group,” said McGrath, adding: “They could be out at the periphery. They could be on a loading dock somewhere.” In this conversation McGrath thinks it out with the perspicacious Toby Bottorf, Senior Director and Head of Client Engagement at EPAM Continuum. Listen closely—what you hear today might just prepare you for tomorrow. Host: Pete Chapin Editor: Kip Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon

Love is in the air. Pastry love, that is. *Pastry Love* is the latest volume by Joanne Chang—James Beard Award-winning pastry chef, restaurateur, author—but it’s also the motivating philosophy behind the success of her string of Flour Bakery + Cafés. “The idea of pastry love is really to try to entice people when they come into the bakery to order one of everything because we know that if you eat our pastries, you'll be happy.” In the latest episode of *The Resonance Test,* Buck Sleeper, who leads our Restaurants and Retail Vertical, talks with Chang about pastry love: how it motivates both employees and customers, how it fits between two covers, and how she brought it, reluctantly, into the digital age. This a conversation about the evolution of a business and Chang’s iterative, intelligent spirit. It’s also a very personal edition of the podcast. As our Boston studio is just a few floors above the Seaport’s Flour Bakery + Cafe, many of us are regular beneficiaries of said pastry love. Dig in!

“Organizations are fascinating because they're completely human created,” says Harvard Business School professor Gary Pisano in the just-posted episode of *The Resonance Test.* “They're not natural.” Which is to say: they are *cultural.* Pisano’s new book, *Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation,* makes it clear that innovation is a set of choices a company, a leader, may or may not make. In an invigorating conversation with our Jon Campbell, Pisano asserts that “everything about organizational life was designed in some way” and therefore it can all be *redesigned.* Listen closely, and you’ll learn some relevant business lessons, including the paradoxes of innovative cultures and the challenges of earning today’s dollar while also charting a company’s future course. Host: Pete Chapin Editor: Kyp Pilalas Producer: Ken Gordon