For tech leaders heavily involved in the software development and deployment processes, ranging from embedded software to more user-facing applications, you'll love this. 

Anders Wallgren, the Vice President of Technology Strategy at CloudBees joined us to share a few things. Nope! Correction. Shared LOADS of things about the benefit and importance of having a smooth end-to-end development process. Being a software developer in the past (I'm a geek that managed to de-geek), I know the pains and benefits of getting this right. The investment in automation and auditing-as-you-go saves many headaches and Kerr-chings (money) over and over again. The system that Anders and CloudBees have created is just awesome. Especially for high compliance industries. 

Key takeaways from the podcast are: 

• How automation can become your implicit auditing 

• How tech leaders can enable companies to balance governance and developer freedom with a win/win scenario 

• The benefits of taking two steps back to make huge leaps forward in the efficiency of your value delivery  

Our Guest: Anders Wallgren
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anderswallgren/
Website: https://www.cloudbees.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/anders_wallgren

Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Episode 42: Governance vs developer freedom: The balancing act With Anders Wallgren

We all rely on it. Many of us use it without even realizing it. Some even joke it's in the base layer of the Maslows hierarchy of needs. If you haven't already guessed, it's the internet. You will be surprised to know that the fifth biggest economy globally (the UK) is lagging behind many other modern nations concerning internet coverage and bandwidth to people's homes and businesses. Well, the Strategy Director at CityFibre joins us on a discussion about how he and his team are working hard, working smart, and working fast to upgrade the nation's digital infrastructure. It cannot be stressed enough how important a resilient and fast internet is for a service-based nation like the UK. 

The key takeaways from the podcast are: 

• The reason why the UK is so far behind other developed nations 

• What CityFibre is doing to create a better, more resilient, and faster internet 

• The leadership and culture that is creating a high-performing and adapting organization to deliver quality results 

Our Guest: Clayton Nash  
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claytonnash/
Website: https://www.cityfibre.com/ (CityFibre - The UK's alternative digital infrastructure provider)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CityFibre

Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Episode 50: Wiring Up A Nation For Success With Clayton Nash

We all hope for a day when we don't need to mention, or even be surprised, when we see women leading in tech. But, until that wonderful moment arrives, we will celebrate a marvelous leader's journey and her leadership practices. Bela Labovitch, the VP of engineering at athenahealth, joins us to share her story and why she has much gratitude for her job. And importantly, how she makes the role effective and delightful for her people, the end customer, and the business itself. 

We also look at the problem that athenahealth is solving in the market and how it allows doctors and similar professionals to focus on what they love doing by adding ease and automation to important aspects of their business operations. 

Key takeaways from the podcast with Bela are: 

• The importance of metrics and measuring 

• The power of a tool we all have as leaders--mindfulness and how that can be enacted to great effect on all aspects of the role 

• How companies can help create more diversity within their companies and encourage girls and women into tech 

Our Guest: Bela Labovitch  
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bela-labovitch-333a7b/
Website: Cloud-computing in healthcare | athenahealth : https://www.athenahealth.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/athenahealth

Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Episode 41: Mindful leadership in athenahealth With Bela Labovitch

When we think of tech leaders, we usually think of people who knew where they wanted to be in the future, always with a clear picture of the destination, or position, that they were going after. And sometimes it’s like that, but it’s far from a straight line to the top – just ask Adam Leach, Chief Information Officer at Nominet. A techie who let the current drive him around the industry, but who knew how to take advantage of that and get to where he is now – a tech leader. 

In this episode, we talked with him about his seemingly simple journey through the world of tech, his efforts in making the virtual space more accessible to users, and his effective hands-off approach when leading his teams! 

Key takeaways from the podcast: 

- How to lead teams with little effort and maximum focus on the important stuff 

- Why it’s important to think creatively instead of preventively 

- How awareness of problems in general makes it easier to look at them from various perspectives 

Our Guest: Adam Leach 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamleach/ 
Website: https://www.nominet.uk/ 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/adamhleach

Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Episode 65: The Unnoticeable Yet Important Bits of the Virtual World With Adam Leach

Time – it's the one thing that no one can’t control, no matter their skill or know-how. And for small and medium businesses, getting the needed protection and insurance in time is essential. Meet Shay Mandel, VP of Engineering at Next Insurance, a company that provides insurance to small and medium-sized businesses at the click of a button, instead of waiting for weeks as it usually goes in the market nowadays. So how is Next Insurance doing this? How did Shay get to where he is? The answers to these questions and many more were answered in this episode, as our TC Gill sat down with Shay to dive deep in all matters of business and tech.> 

Key takeaways from the podcast are: 

• Why technical debt is not something that should be overlooked 
• How code has a way of showing you where progress and development can hit a snag 
• How technical debt can actually influence people’s decision to come on board

Our Guest: Shay Mandel 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaymandel/ 
Website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nextinsurance/ 

Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Episode 113: Insurance for the Small and Medium Businesses With Shay Mandel

The stereotypes say that sports and tech don’t go well together, but the reality is, that tech has taken all sports to the next level. From gathering game data to performance analysis all the way to getting insight into what’s happening on a field – the marriage between sports and tech has been rather spectacular. In this episode, I talked with Ben Burdsall, CTO of one of the biggest sports technology companies in the world, Sportsradar – and we talked about it all: from his beginnings, through his learning process, and how he was shaped as a leader, all the way to what he does now with Sportsradar.

Key takeaways from the podcast are:

• Why putting people first will help reduce potential depersonalization in big companies 
• How the concept of “mean time to innocence” can actually help businesses locate issues and respond faster
• Why diversity in all its forms can help growth and well-being at workplaces

Our Guest: Ben Burdsall 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-burdsall-6ba2bb/ 
Website: https://sportradar.com/ 

Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Episode 115: Digitizing Sports Through Data With Ben Burdsall

In today’s vastly connected – almost intertwined – world, we know that transportation and mobility play a crucial role in maintaining the flow of life as we know it. So, is it any wonder that the technology and operations that are at work in the industry are the brainchildren of some of the best tech leaders out there? I got one of these tech leaders to sit down for a friendly-but-insightful talks – meet Kirk Franzen, the CTO at Cargo Chief, a company that works in the freight market, using tech to reduce headaches that stem from logistics. I and Kirk talked in depth about Cargo Chief, his journey to becoming a tech leader, and the way that he likes to get things done. 

Key takeaways from the podcast are: 

• Why allowing people to make mistakes can be very benefix`cial in the long run 
• How helping people learn what they want can be a catalyst for real change 
• Why taking a step back or just being patient is sometimes better than just going for something 

Our Guest: Kirk Franzen 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kfranzen/ 
Website: https://cargochief.com/ 

Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Episode 116: Lead Production Meets Transportation With Kirk Franzen

When one operates in an extremely sensitive, heavily enforced, compliant environment, there is lots of work to tick the boxes and jump through required hoops. This is the case in the social services that are there to care for the well-being of people. This often results in many people who should be delivering care being redirected to administrative tasks, such as updating records and ensuring the correct steps are taken. A process on steroids that has to be fully auditable. In this episode, TC Gill, the Chief talking Officer (CtO) of the podcast series, sits down with a tech leader with a passionate mission in this space. Gary Pyke joins us to describe the challenge he and his teams address for the benefit of the people that deliver care and those that receive it. A really insightful discussion, with many takeaways for tech leaders and leaders in general.

Key takeaways from the podcast are: 
• Getting clear and agile on the outcomes you are trying to solve
• The magic of big-hairy-audacious goals
• Avoid being data-rich and insight poor
• Getting creative around compliance

Our Guest: Gary Pyke 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-pyke/ 
Website: Vale of Glamorgan Council: Overview

Episode 118: Big Hairy Audacious Goals in the Social Care Services With Gary Pyke

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)

Episode 16: SME Tech Leader Tips, From A Successful Serial Startup CTO with Steve Books

Some of the most dynamic and battle-scarred tech leaders are those that have journeyed through a startup journey. In this episode, we get to speak to a tech leader just like that. David Kell, our guest, describes how he left his university degree to start a successful series of startups. In this podcast, we talk about how Gyana's platform. A no-code, data science tool that is democratizing the art of using data that many companies have pooled up. 

Key takeaways from the podcast are: 

- Seeing a gap in the market and solving a big challenge for many companies 

- Looking at Maslow's hierarchy of needs for data 

- How the tech leadership (and business leadership) wisdom to many leaders yearn for are already articulated 

Our Guest: David Kell 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-kell-22203656/
Website: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gyana/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gyaanaa 

Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Episode 63: Democratising the data science space With David Kell

Hosted by TC Gill, this podcast explores the dynamic world of technology leadership. Each episode explores the challenges, strategies, and stories that shape the lives of today’s CTOs and tech leaders.  

From navigating complex business issues to leading high-performing teams, CTO Confessions sheds light on the multifaceted role of technology executives, highlighting the critical decisions they make and the impact they have on organizations.  

Join us as we unpack the realities of tech leadership and share insights that rarely get the appreciation they deserve, all with a healthy dose of curiosity and candor. 

Brought to you by IT Labs.

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