CTO Confessions Brought to you by IT Labs

Data, data, data everywhere! Sometimes I wonder if we’re going to drown in it all. Thankfully we have a super expert on the subject to join us to demystify some of the reoccurring topics in this arena. Roy Keyes, a data science and machine learning guru and expert in knowing what people to hire for this elusive new field of computing, tells us all in the time we had for the podcast. We got so carried away, it’s a long one. He has written a book on the subject. Details can be found below. The key takeaways from the podcast are: • What is the definition of ◦ Data science ◦ Data analytics ◦ The various roles that gravitate around this industry • Some tips as to how to structure data people within the org • The challenges of hiring the right people for the job And much, much more Details of Roy's book "Hiring Data Scientists and Machine Learning Engineers: A Practical Guide." : https://leanpub.com/dshiring Our Guest: Roy Keyes LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roy-k-213127128/ Website: https://roycoding.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/roycoding Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Oded Cohen, Chief Technology Officer at Nativo Inc, joins CTO Confessions to share his tech leadership style within an impressive, cutting-edge marketing company – a company that helps organizations sell high ticket items with looooooooong marketing and sales cycles. Nativo uses big data and agile processes to connect the brands to the desired target audience. Some of the key takeaways from the podcast are: • How distributing leadership and decisions makes complex development environments more manageable • How freedom, flexibility, and honest conversations help the best creative ideas emerge • The in and outs of selling advertising to premium brands for long-term brand engagement Our Guest: Oded Cohen LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oded-cohen-78678a17/ Website: Nativo - The Leading Native Advertising Platform: https://www.nativo.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/nativo Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Here’s your chance to get a small peek under the covers of Google. Paul Lawrence joins us from San Jose, California, to share his story and his work life at this prestigious company. In this podcast episode, Paul share about being selected to join Google, the onboarding process, and then what it’s like to be immersed in the Google culture. Don’t miss this treasure trove of insights from inside one of the most iconic tech companies out there. Key takeaways are: • Lessons for tech leaders from inside Google • An example of onboarding and how you can be quickly offboarded • The importance of trusting your engineers Our Guest: Paul Lawrence LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-lawrence-6a463b65/ Website: https://www.google.co.uk/about/careers/teams/engineering/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/google Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

A technology leader's needs from a city - How the right cities can drive innovation and growth The environment can make a huge difference on culture. In turn, culture can make a huge difference to an organization's energy around Agility, innovation, creativity, and synergy with other seemingly unrelated industries. So we often talk about the environment and culture on a micro and macro level (teams and organizations). These always seem to be under the microscope, and for good valid reasons. What if, for a moment, we looked through a telescope at the bigger picture. What about the environment and culture of an entire city. Well, in this episode, we get to meet and talk to James Cummings, Vice President of Business Development at London & Partners. He currently lives in Los Angeles, where he promotes London to organizations, including tech companies, to locate themselves in the UK's capital city. With all the trappings of success, through a huge pool of creative talent, hotbed of innovation, and strong governmental governance and support, many companies make a move to London to grow and take advantage of the fertile entrepreneurial soil of London. Key takeaways from the Podcast are: Who are London & Partners, and how they can help tech companies and their tech leadership What tech leaders are looking for in a city? How Cities can drive growth through Talent, R&D, Incentives, and simplicity of doing business Examples of companies that have located in London and the success they made of it Example's relationships between cities and how these can help each other by playing to each other's strengths Our Guest: James Cummings LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-cummings-90b04514/ Website: https://www.londonandpartners.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/londonpartners Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Technology leaders sit in an incredibly important organizational seat in this day and age. Their role is to deliver technology and give the business the capability to compete, innovate, and stay relevant. Our guest on this CTO Confessions Podcast speaks to this subject. In particular, leadership plays a huge role in how their people go about their tasks and the incumbent culture their work emerges from. Key takeaways from the Podcast are: - The fundamental role of tech leaders and why it's not just about delivering technology. - The part that documentation can play in supporting the work you do, and some inspiration around avoiding documentation debt. As we know, any debt, be it technical or the likes, always comes back to bite us on the backside if we don't address it. - Thinking about your thinking when solving problems. These are just to name a few with many more takeaways embedded in the Podcast. We hope you enjoy its as much as we did hosting it. Our Guest: Alain Briancon, PhD LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alain-briancon-phd-70115a/ Website: https://www.cerebriai.com/ Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Warby Parker is a big name in the spectacle industry, so it was exciting to have Sung Choi, their Senior Director of engineering, come onto the show and share his wisdom. Sung is a true Agilist and seated in a company that seems to create the perfect environment for the values and principles of Agile to thrive. The key takeaways from the Podcast are: - The power of leading with Integrity - Aligning around values and principles to deliver customer-centric business value from the technology space - Using the "commanders intent" to inspire a solution mindset in the teams and allowing autonomy to flourish Our guest: Sung Choi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sung-choi-201b643/ Website: https://www.warbyparker.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/warbyparker Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

IT Labs takes pride in finding and speaking to CTOs with fascinating tech journeys. Well, here's another interesting one that started in the military and ended up at the helm of an organization's tech function. Charles White, CTO at Foretnix, shares his journey and insights into areas that he is passionate about, from leadership to security and novel architectures. It would be safe to say Charles covers much wisdom-filled ground in this podcast. One particularly striking aspect of Charles's voyage is how an injury changed his life path and in what manner he built on it. An inspiring lesson for all of us. Key takeaways from the podcast are: - Becoming a CTO (The Journey from military to CTO) - Leadership tips on creating high performing teams and holding the vision for your people - The responsibility of leading and coordinating security and technology, with a share of next-generation advances - What attribute-driven architectures are and how they can be something to consider Our Guest: Charles White LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-white-030a177/ Company Website: https://www.fornetix.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/fornetix Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

There is much talk about AI and ML (Machine learning). The terms are misused, and the hype around them creates much confusion. So what can they offer in real terms, if anything? Well, Felix Hovsepian joins us on CTO confessions to clear up the subject and explore some interesting use cases. Key takeaways from the Podcast are: - Why ML and AI are not the same things - Examples of AI and ML - Generative design - AI at the Edge - Being a tech leader in R&D Felix is a colorful character with interesting ideas in several fields. After listening, share your thoughts on AI/ML. Are these fields starting to emerge from the hype cycle? Our Guest: Felix Hovsepian LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felixhovsepian/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BlueManifold Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

The Lessons of Amazon: Tech Leadership Tips from an Insider It's always interesting when you meet people that have navigated from one field into another. In this episode, we speak with a scientist that did a spectacular, successful, and exciting jump into the tech world. You may have heard of the company that our guest, David Glick, ended up in; Amazon! David Glick got emersed into the "Amazonian" culture, describing how it moulded his tech leadership. Now CTO at FLEXE (a flexible on-demand warehousing and fulfilment company), he shares his leadership wisdom. Key takeaways are: - The layer cake of leadership (how to enhance and advance your tech career - Lessons from Leading in Amazon - The truth about AI/ML Our Guest: David Glick LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidglick1/ Website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/flexe/ Our Host: TC Gill LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrtcgill/ Email: tc@it-labs.com Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

SME tech leader tips, from a successful serial startup CTO - Creating a startup culture in SME organizations for hyper-growth, innovation, and business survival One of the consistent things we see here at IT Labs through our 'Teams as a Service' (TaaS) and Business Agility consulting is companies' need to have a startup mindset. Especially if they are in a phase of innovation to get one step ahead of competitors. Some of you may be thinking when wouldn't this be the case :) Well, many SMEs know the lessons but have forgotten them through their journey of growth. It's almost like growth creates some form of 'wisdom amnesia.' Though IT Labs target audience is not startup's, but because we are learners, we actively seek out these nimble little organizations' voices to see what they are innovating and how they work. We desire to pick out their gems of advice and understanding through the lessons of success and beautiful moments of failure, to garner revived thinking for our community of technology leaders. Well, Steve Books, CTO at Slingshot Technologies, joined us for an enlightening discussion on his serial startup journey. He's what we like to call a starter-upper. I know not a real word, but it's what we call someone who consistently gets involved in startups and nurtures them to exit. So here's your opportunity to get a look under the covers of someone with a startup mindset and see things in a little bit more detail. Key takeaways from the Podcast are: Lessons from a series of startups and exits Tips on getting the most out of teams How to make remote working work for you as a tech leader Why business cannibalism is bizarrely good for your organization Our Guest: Steve Books LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevebooks/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevebooks/) Website: https://www.getslingshot.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/OnScaleInc Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)