Have you struggled to convince others of your idea? Be it to tackle a reliability problem or a sustainability challenge. In this episode, I have a conversation with Danny Fontaine - host of the Podcast Pitch Master on how to pitch SRE and Sustainability ideas. Danny shared one of his favorite stories - the origin of the elevator pitch to get us started - and continued with many others including how he changed the paradigm of a customer by surprising them with a fictional scenario and won the deal. Listen in as Danny transforms how you think about presenting and help you persuade others of your ideas. Things to listen for:<ul><li>[02:01&nbsp;-&nbsp;03:16] Danny pitching himself</li><li>[06:48&nbsp;-&nbsp;09:28] Meaning of pitching</li><li>[12:24&nbsp;-&nbsp;16:39] The origin story of the elevator pitch</li><li>[16:54&nbsp;-&nbsp;18:57] How Danny get ready for pitching</li><li>[21:44&nbsp;-&nbsp;27:32] Pitching for Sustainability</li><li>[28:38&nbsp;-&nbsp;32:52] Pitching against detractors</li><li>[34:31&nbsp;-&nbsp;37:42] Pitching for head of IT vs. Business</li><li>[38:23&nbsp;-&nbsp;40:04] Danny's ingredient and recipe for pitching</li></ul>

Danny is the go-to-market Creative Director for IBM Consulting UK&I and founder of the Experiential Selling Team (EST), focused on winning large deals in all sectors, and creating powerful communication strategies for our clients. Over the last 3 years Danny have helped IBM sign over $1BN of work.

Outside of IBM, Danny hosts a podcast called Pitch Masters (https://pitchguy.co.uk/ for info) where each week he interviews a mentor or inspiration and discusses how they execute, philosophise, and win work. Guests include Simon Sinek, Rory Sutherland, Doug Hall, Robin Dreeke, Jeff Gothelf and more. 

Danny Fontaine

Creative Director, UK & Ireland at IBM, Founder of Pitch Masters Podcast

Have you struggled to convince others of your idea?  Be it to tackle a reliability problem or a sustainability challenge.  In this episode, I have a conversation with Danny Fontaine - host of the Podcast Pitch Master on how to pitch SRE and Sustainability ideas.

Danny shared one of his favorite stories - the origin of the elevator pitch to get us started - and continued with many others including how he changed the paradigm of a customer by surprising them with a fictional scenario and won the deal.

Listen in as Danny transforms how you think about presenting and help you persuade others of your ideas.


Episode 6 - Pitch Master

Pitching SRE and Sustainability ideas

The conclusion of the two part crossover podcast series explores the intersection of AI with sustainable IT operations featuring Jerry Cuomo from The Art of AI and Kevin Yu from Making of the SRE Omelette. The discussion delves into practical measures for more efficient energy use in AI systems, emphasizing the need for data and the analysis of past behavior to inform energy-efficient decision-making. Jerry and Kevin highlight the importance of balancing AI and human inputs to achieve meaningful tasks and improve overall quality of products. Discuss challenges such as right-sizing compute and recognize the pivotal role of data in addressing these issues, advocating for a data-driven approach to answer critical questions and provide necessary context for decision-making. Additionally, the conversation touches on the future of AI and sustainable IT operations, emphasizing the need for diverse perspectives and the integration of SRE and sustainability as standard practices in software development. The podcast aims to provide a better understanding of how AI intersects with sustainable IT operations and how innovation can be approached responsibly. Please be sure to catch Part 1 on Jerry's <a href="https://listen.casted.us/public/95/The-Art-of-AI-7315085b" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Art of AI podcast</a>.

D.J. is an abbreviation for Digital Jerry. D.J. has made several appearances on The Art of Automation podcast, including Episode 6 – 2021 Predictions as well as several bonus episodes. The D.J. persona is powered by a high-quality text-to-speech engine, enabling it to perform interviews with Human Jerry during podcasts. D.J. plays well into the automation theme and hopes someday to evolve into a digital employee.

Jerry Cuomo's digital twin

Kevin is a solution reliability architect with over twenty years’ experience in the industry.  He has partnered across offering, engineering, operations and client success teams to improve solution reliability across $100M+ portfolio.  Kevin is passionate about solution performance, reliability and has championed the SRE profession in IBM. Kevin is the host of the podcast "Making of the SRE Omelette" and has interviewed industry leaders on the culture and practices to leverage the practice of Site Reliability Engineering to improve business and client success.

Kevin Yu

Principal SRE, IBM Software

Jerry is an IBM Fellow, VP and CTO of Technology. He is recognized as a prolific contributor to IBM’s software business, producing products and technologies that have profoundly impacted how the industry conducts commerce over the world-wide-web, while dramatically improving the consumer experience. 

Today, Jerry is the CTO of Applied Hybrid Cloud & AI, which is part of IBM's multi-billion dollar Services business. His mission is to drive IBM Technology deployments in Services engagements by advocating how and where IBM Technology best solves relevant customer problems with provable economics (time, cost, value). As CTO and IBM Fellow, Jerry is committed to growing the technical community and profession at IBM, including focusing on building a strong and diverse technical team with world leading skills and ethics in AI and Hybrid Cloud.

Jerry Cuomo

IBM Fellow, VP | CTO Technology

Episode 8 - AI for Sustainable IT Part 2 of 2

Explore the intersect between AI, SRE, and Sustainability

Mike Hollinger, Master Inventor, CTO for Applied AI &amp; Distinguished Engineer for Maximo Application Suite talks about how we can leverage operational insights from assets, facilities and infrastructure to drive clean energy transition and decarbonization. Mike shares stories from customers that showcases successes as well as challenges they faced. Mike have a call to action to inspire Site Reliability Engineers to embrace the data and capabilities we have at our fingertips today to turn data into action to achieve the sustainable future. Things to listen for:<ul><li>[02:20&nbsp;-&nbsp;03:25] Mike's career path that led to his current role</li><li>[03:59&nbsp;-&nbsp;05:47] Meaning of sustainability to Mike</li><li>[07:56&nbsp;-&nbsp;10:06] Sustainability movement over last few years</li><li>[10:18&nbsp;-&nbsp;11:41] Importance of driving action from data</li><li>[12:04&nbsp;-&nbsp;15:45] Challenges in Facilities and Assets</li><li>[16:28&nbsp;-&nbsp;18:07] Civil Infrastructure example that drive action from data</li><li>[20:40&nbsp;-&nbsp;22:19] What Mike considers as success</li><li>[22:50&nbsp;-&nbsp;23:39] Importance of driving action from data</li><li>[26:06&nbsp;-&nbsp;29:34] Suggestion for c-suite executives to take action</li><li>[30:15&nbsp;-&nbsp;34:24] Call to action for SREs</li><li>[38:32&nbsp;-&nbsp;41:03] Mike's ingredient &amp; recipe for a Sustainable Future</li></ul>

Leader and Chief Architect with 18 years of experience building cross-functional global teams and establishing new product offerings. Known for launching and scaling products in white space areas, most recently launching and growing a new AI product to over $35M of combined software, hardware and services revenue. Mike occasionally write code. He mostly hack out prototypes, set up teams, and communicate about how things are and how they should be.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikehollinger/

Mike Hollinger

Master Inventor, CTO for Applied AI & Distinguished Engineer for Maximo Application Suite

Discover the expert insights of Mike Hollinger, a distinguished leader in innovation as Master Inventor, CTO for Applied AI, and Distinguished Engineer for Maximo Application Suite. Delve into a compelling discussion on harnessing operational intelligence from assets, facilities, and infrastructure to propel the clean energy transition and facilitate decarbonization efforts. Through real-world customer anecdotes, Mike illustrates both triumphs and hurdles encountered on this transformative journey. Embracing a call to action, Mike motivates Site Reliability Engineers to seize the wealth of data and tools available today, empowering them to translate data into impactful actions and pave the way towards a sustainable future.


Episode 7 - Intelligent Facilities & Assets

Design transforms the human experience with technology - including the experience for Site Reliability Engineers. And enduring Sustainable results are only achieved when we consider Sustainability in the entire solution life cycle beginning with Design. In this episode, I have a conversation with Erin Buonomo, Executive Director of Design and Chris Hammond, Distinguished Designer of IBM Sustainability Software on how the SRE discipline can embrace Design for a better experience for Site Reliability Engineers and clients we support - as well as how we partner up to achieve our Sustainability goals. Erin &amp; Chris encourages the SRE practitioners to introduce ourselves into dialogs everyday. To be that extra leg on the stool, to not only share our perspectives of achieving Sustainable goals, but also to educate others of the practice of SRE. The goal is to achieve "Sustainability Consciousness" - where it is part of everyday decisions, how we do business and part of our culture. Things to listen for:<ul><li>[03:37&nbsp;-&nbsp;04:58] Reason for having the conversation between SRE &amp; Design</li><li>[05:40&nbsp;-&nbsp;09:23] Meaning of Sustainability to Chris &amp; Erin</li><li>[09:49&nbsp;-&nbsp;15:48] AS-IS state</li><li>[16:06&nbsp;-&nbsp;21:09] How we get to the TO-BE state</li><li>[21:33&nbsp;-&nbsp;25:36] How do we know we have arrived at this future?</li><li>[25:59&nbsp;-&nbsp;28:57] How SRE can partner w/ Design</li><li>[32:35&nbsp;-&nbsp;34:55] Erin &amp; Chris' ingredient &amp; recipe to embrace design for a sustainable future</li></ul>

Leading initiatives and cross organization teams to deliver enterprise software and innovations at scale.  Demonstrated success in strategic product planning, organizational leadership, and agile product design and delivery. 

Erin Buonomo

Executive Director of Design, IBM Sustainability Software

Chris is a seasoned innovation leader focused on delivering great life-centered experiences to create prosperity for all, now and the future. As a Distinguished Designer at IBM, his role enables sustainability conscious experiences across IBM Technologies by embedding sustainability in every day strategic and operational decision making. He leads teams to explore the art of the possible to inform future product roadmaps.

Prior to his sustainability role, he was a Design Principal in IBM’s Design Program Office where he coached leaders and organizations to transform their culture to deliver better outcomes through human centered behaviors. He served in IBM Health Corps tackling infectious disease with the Taiwan Center for Disease Control. Before IBM, he led consulting and corporate design teams to deliver great experiences across industries. He regularly presents and teaches on design and innovation. He leads with courage, integrity, and empathy. 

When Chris isn’t solving global sustainability issues, you’ll probably find him with his family. their two big dogs, or in a canoe on a nearby lake at his home in Austin, Texas, USA.

Chris Hammond

Distinguished Designer, IBM Sustainability Software

Design transforms the human experience with technology - including the experience for Site Reliability Engineers. And enduring Sustainable results are only achieved when we consider Sustainability in the entire solution life cycle beginning with Design. In this episode, I have a conversation with Erin Buonomo, Executive Director of Design and Chris Hammond, Distinguished Designer of IBM Sustainability Software on how the SRE discipline can embrace Design for a better experience for Site Reliability Engineers and clients we support - as well as how we partner up to achieve our Sustainability goals. Erin & Chris encourages the SRE practitioners to introduce ourselves into dialogs everyday. To be that extra leg on the stool, to not only share our perspectives of achieving Sustainable goals, but also to educate others of the practice of SRE. The goal is to achieve "Sustainability Consciousness" - where it is part of everyday decisions, how we do business and part of our culture.


Episode 5 - Sustainability begins with Design

Sustainability begins with Design

If you can't measure it, you can't improve it. This applies to SRE as well as Sustainability. Salil Narayanan - CTO of Envizi captures what it takes to start the Sustainability journey by taking action from reporting. Salil had the foresight of carbon footprint impact management back in 2003 and co-founded Omni Meta - which became Envizi. He shares stories over the past 20 years in this space, tips to good visibility and how legislatures have influenced the industry. Salil also gives a call to action for Site Reliability Engineers and all practitioners on embracing the entrepreneurial spirit to drive value for customers and businesses we support. Things to listen for:<ul><li>[01:19&nbsp;-&nbsp;04:37] Salil's journey to the CTO role</li><li>[06:42&nbsp;-&nbsp;08:58] Biggest challenge faced by customers</li><li>[11:19&nbsp;-&nbsp;14:49] Step after getting data</li><li>[14:57&nbsp;-&nbsp;16:40] Action on the data</li><li>[17:13&nbsp;-&nbsp;19:21] Meaning of Sustainability in the context of SRE</li><li>[19:31&nbsp;-&nbsp;21:05] Sustainability as it relates to energy footprint and efficiency</li><li>[21:39&nbsp;-&nbsp;22:49] Stories from the field</li><li>[24:06&nbsp;-&nbsp;26:27] Embrace entrepreneurial spirit for SRE</li><li>[27:07&nbsp;-&nbsp;27:55] Salil's ingredient and recipe to turn reporting into actions</li></ul>

Salil is the CTO of Envizi and has co-founded several companies including Omni-Meta which became Envizi.  Salil has the passion of creating world class products for the enterprise and in building highly capable teams.  He has helped create products and businesses in the financial services industry with domain strengths in payment systems, settlement & clearing, collection systems and in credit risk systems.

Salil Narayanan

CTO - Envizi

Salil Narayanan - CTO of Envizi captures what it takes to start the Sustainability journey by taking action from reporting.  Salil had the foresight of carbon footprint impact management back in 2003 and co-founded Omni Meta - which became Envizi.  He shares stories over the past 20 years in this space, tips to good visibility and how legislatures have influenced the industry.  


Episode 4 - Turning Reporting into Actions

sustainability reporting outcome

Rishi Vaish, VP and CTO of IBM Sustainability Software takes us through Sustainability by the Numbers to give us context and scope of the impact of climate change and why we need to act now. Rishi also gives concrete examples of what we can do to make a difference. In addition, he has a call to action for Site Reliability Engineers - from questions to get us to think of sustainability from the start, as well as considerations to be more sustainable from our roles. For example:<ul><li>what is your take on sustainability as it relates to energy footprint and efficiency?</li><li>do you know how many of your development environments are running when no-one is using it?</li></ul> Things to listen for:<ul><li>[02:04&nbsp;-&nbsp;03:05] What sustainability means to Rishi</li><li>[03:21&nbsp;-&nbsp;07:33] Sustainability by the Numbers</li><li>[08:02&nbsp;-&nbsp;09:06] Was there an aha moment for companies to act now?</li><li>[10:42&nbsp;-&nbsp;11:38] Carrot and Stick</li><li>[12:01&nbsp;-&nbsp;14:34] Call to Action - Infrastructure footprint opportunities</li><li>[18:16&nbsp;-&nbsp;19:51] Call to Action - Hardware opportunities</li><li>[21:33&nbsp;-&nbsp;23:55] Call to action - development environment opportunities</li><li>[24:37&nbsp;-&nbsp;25:57] How to get started - for CSO</li><li>[26:10&nbsp;-&nbsp;27:35] Guidance for Site Reliability Engineers</li><li>[28:02&nbsp;-&nbsp;29:08] Rishi's Omelette Recipe</li></ul>

Transformational product and engineering executive with a proven record of leading technology, product strategy, product development, product management, design and cloud operations for enterprise products to meet aggressive timeline, revenue and market-share goals. Breadth of experience spanning Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Data Science, Hybrid Cloud technologies, Cloud Computing, Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Application Integration and Middleware industries and technologies. Operated successfully at a variety of scales from startups to multi-billion dollar product portfolios with globally distributed teams.

Rishi Vaish

CTO and VP, IBM Sustainability Software

Rishi Vaish, VP and CTO of IBM Sustainability Software takes us through Sustainability by the Numbers to give us context and scope of the impact of climate change and why we need to act now.  Rishi also gives concrete examples of what we can do to make a difference.  


Episode 3 - Sustainability by the Numbers & Call to Action for SRE

sre sustainability

Sustainability is no longer just an ambition, over the last few years, we’re starting to see companies actively doing things and changing their behaviours to be more sustainable. Suzanne Livingston, VP of Development &amp; Reliability Engineering at IBM Sustainability Software takes the audience through the journey of building a solution that is reliable and sustainable from day one. She also shares insights on why Sustainability is the focus of companies today, success stories with customers she has worked with and what IBM is doing to help their customers to achieve sustainability goals. Lastly, Suzanne gives practical advices on how companies and organization can get started right away and take steps closer to realizing their sustainability goals. Things to listen for<ul><li>[01:48&nbsp;-&nbsp;03:44] Suzanne's role</li><li>[04:09&nbsp;-&nbsp;11:00] What sustainability means to Suzanne</li><li>[11:38&nbsp;-&nbsp;15:11] Why now?</li><li>[15:29&nbsp;-&nbsp;21:39] How IBM is helping companies to achieve their sustainability goals</li><li>[22:13&nbsp;-&nbsp;24:09] How to get started</li><li>[25:01&nbsp;-&nbsp;28:38] How to drive innovation in sustainability</li><li>[29:11&nbsp;-&nbsp;30:02] Suzanne's ingredient and recipe for companies to achieve their sustainability goals</li></ul>

Suzanne is a product development executive focused on improving sustainability, transparency and culture through data and insight. As a Vice President in IBM’s Sustainability Software business unit, Suzanne leads a large, global team of software engineers building next generation sustainability, asset management & supply chain technologies using AI & IoT. Suzanne’s organization is responsible for the architecture, development, operations, and reliability of Maximo, TRIRIGA, Envizi, and Environmental Intelligence Suites. 

Throughout her career, Suzanne has a track record of growing research innovations into major new product portfolios including blockchain, food safety, traceability in the supply chain, fintech developer tools, social software, audio/video collaboration, email, and messaging, ranging to $1B portfolios and including the world’s largest blockchain network for transparency in the food supply chain. 

Suzanne has a passion for product management, user-focused solution development, and aligning design & engineering around a compelling product strategy & vision. Suzanne’s expertise includes profitability modeling, sales forecasting, enabling go to market teams, creating digital channels, market and services alignment, offering operations, and measuring product and business health. A technologist at heart, Suzanne began her career in IBM Research and has since held leadership roles in development, user experience, and product management. Suzanne has a Masters in Engineering and Management from MIT, where she continues to mentor aspiring entrepreneurs and product managers.

Suzanne Livingston

Vice President, IBM Sustainability Software

Suzanne Livingston, VP of Development & Reliability Engineering at IBM Sustainability Software takes the audience through the journey of building a solution that is reliable and sustainable from day one.  She also shares insights on why Sustainability is the focus of companies today, success stories with customers she has worked with and what IBM is doing to help their customers to achieve sustainability goals.  


Episode 2 - Reliable Sustainability

sre sustainability reliability operationalize

Wondering what does an Omelette has to do with SRE - it is based on the analogy that Culture is the outcome of what we do - so in the context of the chicken or the egg. It is like an Omelette - and a podcast was born that is called Making of the SRE Omelette. The podcast explores achieving positive business and client success outcome via the practice of Site Reliability Engineering. Season 1 focused on culture and Season 2 explores how the practice of Site Reliability Engineering can help and lead us to a more sustainable future.Join us on this journey to surface ingredients for us to drive business and client success via SRE.

Episode 6 - Pitch Master

DESCRIPTION

Today's Host

Kevin Yu

Today's Guests

Danny Fontaine

Recent Episodes

Episode 6 - Pitch Master

DESCRIPTION

Today's Host

Kevin Yu

Today's Guests

Danny Fontaine

Related Resources

Recent Episodes

Episode 8 - AI for Sustainable IT Part 2 of 2

Episode 7 - Intelligent Facilities & Assets

Episode 5 - Sustainability begins with Design

Episode 4 - Turning Reporting into Actions

Episode 3 - Sustainability by the Numbers & Call to Action for SRE

Episode 2 - Reliable Sustainability