Check out this episode for some great advice on designing your own experiments, along with personal experiences from the successful Experimentation Design workshop that Econic held with Farm Credit Services of America teammates. Farm Credit Services of America teammate, and workshop participant, Ted Kaufman joins us with workshop facilitators Joshua and Allison to recount the workshop and share important lessons.
August is all about wellness, and this month’s podcast provides you with a guide to self-care and well-being in the midst of your busy work life. Tune in as Lead Application Developer, Natalie Gerdes joins forces with wellness provider and yoga teacher, Maude Moreno, and Organizational Development Coordinator, Jen Joneson, to unpack the meaning of true wellness as they discuss its definition, expound on its significance in both personal and professional spheres, and uncover the stumbling blocks that hinder your path to wellness.
Learn practical strategies to effortlessly weave wellness into your daily routine. From meditation to atomic habits, BAM, and the science of NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis), these invaluable tips will empower you to prioritize wellness without compromise. The trio divulges insights into fostering team norms that embrace well-being and sustaining your commitment through accountability. Plus, gain exclusive insights into FCSA’s forward-thinking investment in wellness. Tune in now and make August your month of transformation!
Women in Technology of the Heartland celebrates 10 years with a live panel discussion on the topic, “How to future ready your career.” In addition to group and community members, we are joined by Julia Welna, Jen Doan, and Natalie Gerdes of Farm Credit Services of America, as well as Robyn Messerly of Nebraska Furniture Mart.
Check out this episode for some great advice from these women on how we can all future ready our careers in technology!
Guests: Women in Technology of the Heartland, Jen Doan, Natalie Gerdes, and Robyn Messerly Host: Julia Welna Producer: Aditya Bhongir Editor: Sydney Andreasen
Try/Catch
Women in Technology: How to Future Ready Your Career
We are joined by a group of Agile practitioners here at Farm Credit Services of America, who recently attended the Agile Alliance conference in Nashville. “Agile Alliance’s annual conference is dedicated to exploring, innovating, and advancing Agile values and principles, and creating a space for people and ideas to flourish.” They chat about a few things they got out of the conference and also a bonus track on their opinion on SAFe principles and practices.
Host and Guests: Ashly Beaman joined with Jeneen Sagon, Kari Bednarz, Gabby Colson Producer: Natalie Gerdes Editor: Aditya Bhongir
We are joined by three women in technology: Kate Larsen of Farm Credit Services of America, Monika Philp of AIM Institute, and Shonna Dorsey of Mutual of Omaha. Each bring unique stories of their personal journeys as women in technology, the barriers they have faced and overcome, the mentors who have guided them, and how they help other women feel empowered in technology positions.
You don’t want to miss this episode on why it is so important for women to be in technology positions, some potential reasons for the disparity, and how we can support women who are interested in technology-related careers!
Guests: Kate Larsen, Monika Philp, and Shonna Dorsey Host: Sydney Andreasen Producer: Aditya Bhongir Editor: Brad Evert
Try/Catch
Women in Technology: Why There is a Disparity and How We Can Narrow the Gap
We are joined by special guest Todd Campbell as we discuss leadership in IT. Todd has worked in the IT industry for over 30 years and is currently a Senior Manager at Charles Schwab. He is also chairman of the steering committee at the AIM Institute Leadership Academy. Todd brings a wealth of experience in IT and leadership along with a passion for teaching with his unique style of storytelling, humor, and charisma.
In this episode, Todd shares his insights and stories on leadership in IT. We discuss company cultures, current IT environmental trends, and the future of IT leadership. You won’t want to miss this episode!
UX Designers at Farm Credit Services of America’s Business Technology team answer questions from teammates all about User Experience Design. Listen in as they discuss their own perspectives about common UX misconceptions, design processes, what it’s like working with the UX Team and how they can help!
Guests: Heath Carranza, Jason Ulaszek Host/Producer/Editor: Tamara Sutton
Various roles from Farm Credit Services of America’s Business Technology team chat about how they come together to resolve and learn from production issues. Both application development and operations perspectives are shared (software developer, database administrator, system/web operations, business analyst, and IT leader).
Listen in on them talk about what works well, what can be improved, and the benefits of post-mortem retros. Some talking points include “in-it-together”, “no-blame game”, post-mortem retros, and proactive alerting and recovery.
Guests: Andy Cook, Craig Ferraguti, Sean Speck, Tracy Dittmer Host/Producer: Natalie Gerdes Editor: Aditya Vardhan Rao Bhongir
Ever wondered how to validate what a customer is thinking, and how to make sure your product fits a need? Carl and Kody return to Try/Catch to share the three easy steps they follow that help product management and software development teams lower the risk of making the wrong thing. Listen in to learn about how to conduct a high value interview, identify and solve for the riskiest assumptions, and use this information to focus how you scale a product.
Jeff Bramwell talks about all things Architecture! Listen in as he goes over the various ongoing architecture initiatives, aligning those with strategic initiatives, and our current and future architecture states.
Listen in on IT security experts chatting about personal user security with featured guest, Serge Borso. Serge Borso is the founder and CEO of SpyderSec, a cyber security consulting organization specializing in penetration testing, security awareness training and OSINT. Topics discussed include password vault, password complexity, limiting personally identifiable information (PII) exposure, and threat modeling.
Well known SQL expert and entrepreneur, Brent Ozar, talks passionately on building your career plan. Listen in as Brent shares some great questions to ask yourself and his own personal stories.
Guest: Brent Ozar Host: Natalie Gerdes & Tim Goergen Producer: Brian Wohlers Editor: Stacy Kozisek
Andrew Stewardson and Mike Myer talk about the evolution of data within Farm Credit Services of America, the creation of a data platform, and address concerns around data privacy and security.
Guests: Andrew Stewardson & Mike Meyer Host: Stacy Kozisek Producer: Ashwin Chandran Editor: Ashwin Chandran
Kyle & Carli from Farm Credit Services of America’s Customer Education team share how their team is experimenting with technology, agile practices, and product management to improve the customer education experience.
Guests: Kyle Perry & Carli Jacob Host: Stacy Kozisek Producer: Tamara Sutton Editor: Stacy Kozisek
George and Dan talk about what API First is, why we are heading this way, what changes need to be embraced along the way, and how your team can be successful as they take on this mindset change.
Host: Brian Wohlers Guests: George Nelson and Dan Hoenig Producer & Editor: Brian Wohlers
Carl & Kody share how they make learning a priority and get infatuated with customer needs through Product Management. Hear about making data driven decisions and focusing on outcomes rather than outputs. Finally, get some tips on how to get started with Product Management within your own team or organization.
“I get to come to work everyday with the goal of learning something new. And when we learn something new, we make decisions based on what the learnings of the day are” – Kody Schrader
Nathan Curtis from EightShapes talks about the complexities of Design Systems, common misconceptions, and how to be successful in creating and releasing a custom system.
“This was a triumph. I’m making a note here, HUGE
SUCCESS. It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction. Aperture Science” – Still
Alive, Portal Theme Song
Find out how the summer internship went, what they learned, and where they are headed with their newfound knowledge. This is the second part of their podcast from earlier this summer, where we heard from the 2019 Summer Intern Team about their plans for the internship and what they hoped to accomplish.
Hosts: Gretchen Franco & Brice Johnson Guest: Bennett Ray Producer: Stacy Kozisek Editor: Stacy Kozisek
In this episode, we talk about diversity, inclusion, and belonging: what these are and what they mean to us, the benefits of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and a few insights on things we can to do be inclusive.
“Talent is pervasive throughout diverse identities but opportunity is not”
Guests: Denise Grolly-Case & Bianca Jefferson Host: Stacy Kozisek Producer: Jay Pawar Editor: Stacy Kozisek
Software developers from Team Jedi share their coding dojo experience based on the book, The Coding Dojo Handbook, by Emily Bache.
“This handbook is a collection of concrete ideas for how you can get started with a Coding Dojo, where a group of programmers can focus on improving their practical coding skills. When you step into the Coding Dojo, you leave your daily programming environment, with all the associated complexities and problems, and enter a safe environment where you can try stuff out, make mistakes and learn with others. It’s a fun and rewarding activity for any bunch of coders!”
Meet three teammates from Team Aperture, our 2019 Summer Intern Team. Learn about the journey that brought them to Farm Credit Services of America and where they hope to arrive by the end of the Summer.
Hosts: Gretchen Franco & Brice Johnson Guest: Bennett Ray Producer: Stacy Kozisek Editor: Stacy Kozisek
This is a short introduction to meditation with David Saxby, a yoga and meditation Instructor at LifePower Yoga in Omaha.
ei2 will be offering a meditation workshop with David on June 25th from 11 AM – 1PM, a box lunch will be provided at the end. If you are interested in attending, please email @ei2, there will be a limited number of spots available.
Ezana and Jay discuss what is machine learning (ML), what are different types of Machine Learning, how Machine Learning is affecting the industries and how we at FCSAmerica can explore this technology to provide better solutions to serve our customers.
Guest: Ezana Beyenne Host: Jay Pawar Producer: Tamara Sutton Editor: Jay Pawar
Troy, Michael and Bidisha were the first volunteer guinea pigs in the Petri Dish experiments! They took a look at their keyboard and mouse habits and if there was any way to optimize how they interact with the computer while coding. This is the interview after a week of trying that out.
Guests: Troy Martin, Michael McGee, Bidisha Biswas Host: Jason Norris Producer: Jason Norris Editor: Jason Norris
Listen in as some of the ei2 members talk about where ei2 has been, how it has evolved and where we are going! One of our missions is to create a culture where experimentation is built into our daily routines. In this podcast, we talk about the challenges and value of making innovation a priority!
Hosts: Natalie Gerdes, Stacy Kozisek, Brian Wohlers, Jason Norris Producer: Stacy Kozisek Editor: Tamara Sutton
This was a panel discussion with some folks from the dev floor about what really matters when it comes to being an awesome place to work. I thought it was fun, interesting and informative. And I believe one of the ideas discussed here has already been tried for a day!
Guests: Bernie Conway, Justin Souders, Swapna Marathe Host: Jason Norris Producer: Tamara Sutton Editor: Jason Norris
Experimentation doesn’t have to mean a big multi-day formal event – our panel talks about how our teams experiment on a daily, informal basis. Hear about experiments that we have run, how to overcome obstacles to experimentation, and find out if there really is such a thing as a failed experiment.
Justin Souders – “We had someone that was very passionate about machine learning… now it’s become a team passion.” Hear how Team Ignite is experimenting to bring ML into their current project.
Guests: Anthony Carlson, Justin Souders, Jeremy Williams, Patrick Wolff Host: Stacy Kozisek Producer: Natalie Gerdes Editor: Stacy Kozisek
Brian Wohlers interviews Dennis Kirlin, the leader of application development, about product discovery. Our organization is currently adapting how we learn about product management and execute our processes. What is the value of product discovery and learning from our customers and users? Hear Dennis’ thoughts on what we might do differently.
“Its much more about the outcome versus the output of finishing a particular project.” – Dennis
Guest: Dennis Kirlin Host: Brian Wohlers Producer: Natalie Gerdes Editors: Brian Wohlers, Natalie Gerdes
Leader of CapEx (Capacity and Execution), Cameron Ludwig, shares his perspective on product discovery and prioritization of work as we think about outcomes and goals. He poses interesting questions and thoughts on CapEx’s part as an ally in the product discovery process.
“How do we provide appropriate constraints that put appropriate boundaries on work, while getting out of the way as much as possible?” – Cameron
“In prioritization, we need to develop the mindset that allows to think about how much are we willing to spend in time and dollars to solve a given problem.” – Cameron
Guest: Cameron Ludwig Host: Brian Wohlers Producer: Natalie Gerdes Editors: Brian Wohlers, Natalie Gerdes
Leader of Retail Lending Solution, Andrew Kerschinske, shares his take on product discovery with Brian Wohlers. Thinking about the work to be done as part of an overall product strategy is a new way to go about work differently than we have in the past. Why product discovery? Learn about how a team might look at solutions and determine how to move forward in a new way. How can we shift from a project to a product mindset? What is the business approach on product discovery?
“It’s really…really going down the path of, what is the problem we’re trying to solve and not making assumptions that we already know how to solve it.” – Andrew
“We want to run more experiments on what is the best way to solve this problem.” – Andrew
Guest: Andrew Kerschinske Host: Brian Wohlers Producer: Natalie Gerdes Editors: Brian Wohlers, Natalie Gerdes
Jason borrowed half an hour of Jeremy Novak’s afternoon one day to get his thoughts about pair programming, his experience with it, and how and where he thinks it can be applied most effectively. It was a great conversation covering a lot of ground. We learned a lot and so will you!
Part 4 of 4 of the Pair Programming Series
Guest: Jeremy Novak Host: Jason Norris Producer: Natalie Gerdes Editor: Jason Norris
Software developer Natalie interviews her team leader Mike Warren on his perspective on pair programming. Highlights include extreme programming, when to pair, Mike and Natalie’s experience pair programming together, effective pair programming, and can a software developer be successful if they don’t like to pair?
Part 3 of 4 of the Pair Programming Series.
Guest: Mike Warren Host: Natalie Gerdes Producer: Jason Norris Editor: Natalie Gerdes
Jason sat down for a chat with Michael McGee, a Quality Developer and former Application Developer. They talked about pairing, among other things. It was great!
Part 2 of 4 of the Pair Programming Series
Guest: Michael McGee Host: Jason Norris Producer: Jason Norris Editor: Jason Norris
Several members of ei2 sat down to talk about why we’re excited about this podcast, and why you should be too! There’s a lot we want to do with it, and we’ve already recorded some great episodes. This is a quick one, so give it a listen and you’ll have all the details about what’s in store and how you can get involved!
Hosts: Tamara Sutton, Brian Wohlers, Stacy Kozisek, Jason Norris, Natalie Gerdes Producer: Jason Norris Editor: Jason Norris
