Venturi's Voice: Technology | Leadership | Staffing | Career | Innovation

Felicity is HR Manager at Totally Money. Felicity is excited to be helping build a brilliant employee culture, recruiting and retaining amazing people and focusing in particular on staff well-being, L&D and employee engagement. Totally Money TotallyMoney puts customers right at the centre of their credit data, helping them make smarter decisions to take control of their finances. Their free credit report and live credit score, along with their unique Borrowing Power and Match Factor technologies, give customers the information they need to find the right financial products, make better financial decisions and build stronger credit histories. Podcast On the show, Felicity discusses the best practices for a HR manager using a few archaeology analogies. She also describes the novel way Totally Money displays its cultural values through classic albums. Show Notes: 00.32 The role of the HR manager in building a positive company culture. 07.26 Diversity in the senior management team. 11.55 Managi

“There’s a balance to strike, we don’t want to be at the expensive part of tech, the early adopters who are going to pay the price for nocking all the edges of new platforms before they’re really fit for purpose. But equally, once they do become fit for purpose we really need to make sure we don’t miss out on that. I think tech at the moment and certainly digital tech you know web communications technology has really matured to the degree that things that were really expensive to do a year or two years ago are relatively cheap now.” Martin on implementing digital change in the charity sector Martin is Chief Information Officer at World vision. An innovative and creative leader specialising in bringing charities into the digital age. Martin is always looking for big opportunities to use technology to do good. He ’s created the leading digital agency in the UK nonprofit sector, transformed the European arm of a US multinational and then created an award-winning and successful Fintech startup.

Kelly is HR director for MAG (Airport Group) Kelly is the HR Director for MAG-O (digital agency) and global corporate development including MAG USA. MAG (Airport Group) MAG is the UK’s leading airport group and owns and operates Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands Airports, together with a significant property business. MAG employs over 6,000 people and annually serves over 55 million passengers. Podcast On the show, Kelly talks to Andy about the difficulty of quantifying culture. They also discuss staff retention in the 21st century and how best to instigate cultural change as a leader. Show Notes: 00.36 The pressure on HR departments. 04.27 Is there a one size fits all approach to HR? 07.11 Retaining staff in the 21st century. 09.46 Reluctance to change. 11.35 People management is more important than ever. 15.46 Instigating change as a leader. 17.59 Quantifying culture. 21.56 Creating internal digital disruption. 25.28 Understanding what ‘good’ looks like. 27.09 Sharing your succ

“If you starting a career in software late it would be a little daunting. I see it with junior developers at AnyVan. I’ve got some really talented people on my team and even if you’re a seasoned developer you’re working with a big system that’s been built over 9 years. There are people at AnyVan that really know what’s going on. So even though on paper you look like you’ve got a lot of experience it can be difficult when someone reviews your code and says ‘you’ve done this wrong and this wrong’. Hopefully they don’t put it that way they put it in a nice way, we have to make an effort to be friendly and informative when correcting errors. We need to make sure people are given all the support they need” Tim Ronayne is the CTO at AnyVan.com Tim has been with AnyVan since its inception. After building their website back in 2009 he has helped build out their team of engineers to constantly improve the site. By expanding the site to new areas Tim has seen their user base grow beyond 3 million. Si

“Banking is no longer boring, it’s all about cool payments” - Rich Wagner on future banking Rich is CEO of Cashplus A dynamic CEO Rich is determined to use his 30 years’ experience in US and UK financial services to help people take control of their finances. He’s passionate about leveling the playing field and giving as many people as possible access to straightforward, fast and efficient alternatives to ‘traditional’ banking services. Rich was one of the UK’s first ever fintech entrepreneurs and disruptors. He continues to make an impact today and fights to support government promises to make the banking sector more competitive. Rich lobbies for non-banks to gain access to traditional payments infrastructure. Cashplus Cashplus believes banking services shouldn’t get in the way of life - they should enrich it. So, although they’re not a bank, they’ve spent the past 12 years creating banking services that are fast, smart and simple. They hope these services will give High Street banks a run for their mone

Diane Mansfield is the Global Director of IM, BI and Data at ConvaTec Diane is a business and strategy consultant with 20+ years experience in Business Intelligence and Data. She has experience in shaping, defining and leading large strategic change management programs and associated transformation activities. Diane has skills in influencing, communication, facilitation and cross functional negotiation. ConvaTec ConvaTec holds a market leading positions in advanced wound care, ostomy care, continence and critical care and infusion devices. Their customers depend on their advanced technologies to help reduce potential complications of skin breakdown and infection, and they rely on ConvaTec’s products and services to help manage their conditions every day. Podcast Diane sat down with Andy to discuss stakeholder management, instigating cultural change in a business and hiring young technologists.

“For remote working to be successful it does depend on your role. Our talent team and sales team often choose to work remotely. For programmers and software engineers there is a lot of value in being in the office. The best ideas come from random encounters with people or lunch break discussions. So if we’re all working from home it is really difficult to have them idea sessions.” Alberto Giorgi is Director of Engineering at Tray.io Alberto is an experienced technical manager with an 11+ year career in software development. 7 of those years have been spent building and leading global high-performance software engineering teams. He has a keen entrepreneurial spirit and is a regular contributor to strategic ideas and solutions to organisation. Tray.io Tray.io believe that any organisation can and should automate. With Tray.io, citizen automators throughout organisations can easily automate complex processes through a powerful, flexible platform, and can connect their entire cloud stack thanks to APIs. Po

Steve Thair is co-founded of DevOpsGuys. Steve founded DevOps guys in 2013 after a 20+ year career in IT infrastructure and operations to help organisations simplify the management of their online applications by leveraging DevOps practices to improve the delivery, performance and time-to-market of the entire software development pipeline. He blogs extensively on DevOps at the DevOpsGuys Blog and has presented at numerous meetups, webinars and conference to evangelise the benefits of DevOps. DevOps Group The DevOps Group delivers IT transformation at the speed of disruption, by building DevOps capabilities within its clients. Enabling businesses to continually meet the relentlessly increasing demands of delivering great digital customer experiences. As a next-generation digital business with hands-on experience at enterprise scale, DevOps Group’s services enable clients to stay ahead of the tech curve, empower transformation leaders and unlock business agility. Podcast Steve explains the hippo principle

“You mentioned focusing on the outcome. That’s something that’s really important when we talk about being busy. Being busy isn’t an outcome, its a problem. If we are focused on outcomes then you see things like meetings as toxic because they limit your potential output. But simiraily just diving in to working on something and working really hard on it, also is something that isn’t the wisest approach. You need to step back and think about things. You can follow that through to your personal life as well. What do you actually want to achieve as a human being?” Ryan talking about the advantages of smart working Ryan is CTO at Shift Commerce Ryan brings agility to mid-enterprise-scale retailers. He has over 15 years experience developing for the web, and an undying passion for web performance. His pragmatic and performance-led outlook means that—on the rare occasion that he does wear a shirt—his sleeves stay firmly rolled up: even as an exec, his favourite place is right there in the thick of thi

“The first type of question I often get asked is about marketing. People come to me and say ‘now that we’ve built this thing, how do we let people know it exists and how do we differentiate ourselves from the rest of the market?’. The second type of question I often get asked as a mentor is ‘How do I grow my team? Who do I hire next? What type of person do I need given the problem I have today?’.” Peter describes the common questions he gets asked when mentoring in the workplace. Peter Wang is CTO at The Mighty. Peter is helping build a global healthcare community to provide safe and supportive spaces for patients and caregivers to connect with one another. With a large proportion of the population suffering from chronic health conditions Peter’s goal is to make access to health services as easy as possible for this demographic. The Mighty The Mighty is a digital health community created to empower and connect people facing health challenges and disabilities. They have over 2 million registered users

“I refer to this concept as sympathy for software, if you don’t have some sympathy for what is hard and what is easy about software I think it’s difficult to authentically manage clever people who are doing that as their deep skill set” Matthew Sinclair is VP of Engineering (London) at BCG Digital Ventures. BCG Digital Ventures invents, builds and invests in startups. Matthew’s role within this incubation firm is to oversee the growth and launch of its technology startups. Years spent consulting organisations on their technology strategy and product development has made him a perfect fit for this role. Matthew has worked for companies ranging from 50 staff members to 500. He’s able to pick out pain-points in a businesses technology strategy before they’ve even happened. And is skilled at communicating solutions to these flaw in terms all members of the business can understand. Show Notes: 0.30 Building startups with money. 1.41 Getting inspired by a diverse working environment. 3.35 Past exp

Barry is CIO at Domino’s pizza UK. Barry has had a varied career working in finance, FMCG, manufacturing and, most recently, pizza. He spent 5 years as the chief information officer at Domino’s in Australia before moving companies only to return to the fold early last year. After 6 years at Parmalat Australia he is now the CIO of Domino’s UK. Domino’s, along with many other companies, is reacting to the changes brought about by data. Utilising data to its full potential is what separates good and great companies. Barry is responsible for ensuring Domino’s is getting the most out of its technology and data. Show Notes: 0.32 Finding talent that can help you achieve your business goals. 4.36 Ensuring compliance with GDPR. 7.16 Scoring some free pizza. 9.08 Domino’s the data company? 11.41 Using company culture as a vehicle to roll out change in a business. 13.48 When did companies become all about the data? 16.18 How has the CIO role changed over your career? 17.42 The software talent gap in the

Scott is Director of product design at DAZN Scott has worked for prestigious companies including: Amazon, the BBC and Sky. He builds and leads great design teams that deliver world-class user experiences to global audiences. Working for such large corporations, Scott knows how difficulties it can be for teams to act autonomously. He also knows the best innovations and ideas come from teams that have been given the freedom to approach problems the way they want. He sat down with Andy to discuss how teams in large companies can be given the freedom to solve problems in their own ways. Show Notes: 00.31 Leadership leads to a sense of responsibility. 02.04 The big impact one person can have on your team. 03.37 Creating a team of diverse members. 05.58 Applying previous lessons to creating a team. 09.34 Is it impossible to create autonomy in a big organisation? 12.03 Where do product managers come from? 16.31 Tech up north. 18.27 Let's use tech to de-nuclearise the UK tech scene. 22.19 We need to

Sophie Theen is Head of HR & Talent at 11FS. 11FS is about to undergo a period of growth. Sophie joined the company to oversee this expansion. A HR professional with a background in engineering she is uniquely placed to understand the pain points associated with rapidly growing a tech team. Sophie’s passion lies in helping companies understand the importance of People, Culture and Talent as a key in success at the same time championing in Diversity & Inclusion. Show Notes: 00.30 The importance of HR and culture. 02.08 A good HR department is necessary to increase retention. 06.17 Has the tech startup culture changed how HR departments operate. 07.30 Cycling through staff to keep your culture fresh. 13.55 Working with churn. 16.13 Crunching the numbers in HR. 19.44 What makes a good HR professional? 24.19 Recruitment, HR and sales. 27.46 The role technology is playing in the HR process.

Dave is Head of Software Engineering at the LADbible Group. Although he is now technically ‘off the tools’ Dave still loves to code. A passion he has instilled into everyone that works for him and one he has gained through his years of experience as a Head of Software. The high demand for ‘good’ software engineers is a key talking point of the show. Nurturing talent and creating a work environment that allows employees to get satisfaction from their roles is something Dave strives for. Show Notes: 00.35 Seeking external feedback for your career. 01.41 Job hopping early in your career. 05.14 Retaining staff. 09.01 Transparency in management. 12.05 Moving into management. 19.54 Having a sense of pride in your team as a manager. 24.56 Manchester’s tech community. 30.03 Working lean and failing fast. 34.12 Making a creative space for you to try business innovations. 35.17 Approaching problems with a plan.

Alastair is Head of Product at Trint. At one point Alastair was the lead UX and Head of Product at Trint. Juggling these roles in a small startup was a challenge but he excelled at it.Thankfully, this didn’t last long and Alastair was able to build out the product team to the size of four in a very short space of time. He sat down with Andy to talk through this growth on the podcast and talk about he ended up as a Head of Product. Show Notes: 00.31 Working in Hackney and startups. 02.52 Alastair’s background and career progression. 05.12 How do you become a head of product. 08.33 What is Trint selling? 11.17 Building a business with constantly evolving tech. 14.57 Getting great feedback from your users. 18.25 Is it important to have a genuine interest in what you’re working on. 23.38 What keeps you motivated in your career. 27.29 Dealing with churn.

Paul is Head of Information Technology at Graham & Brown. Paul knows the best way to keep a company innovating is by listening to and encouraging ideas from its most junior members. Paul came to this conclusion after an abysmal work experience placement in his teenage years. This has led him to build innovative and engaging work placements to foster future talent. Show Notes: 00.33 Getting your work-life balance right. 03.00 Encouraging employee interests outside of work. 04.42 Creating a portfolio of work to augment your career. 08.19 How we treat employees: a generational divide. 11.39 Pauls career. 14.01 Alternate career paths for people who don’t like management. 16.57 Find someone who can ‘learn everything’. 21.53 Swapping jobs every few years. 24.54 Selling yourself on your achievements, not on your years worked at a company. 26.42 Tech moves so quick, how do you stay in demand? 32.19 Continually innovating. 34.00 How will tech evolve in the future.

Netta is Director & Head of Diversity & Inclusion at IAC Applications. Her mission is to create inclusive, collaborative and forward-thinking workplaces by focusing on people, products, and programs. Netta’s number-one mission is to break barriers and bias through educating and empowering businesses. Her mission is to create inclusive, collaborative and forward-thinking workplaces by focusing on people, products, and programs. Under Netta's leadership, Google said: “IAC Apps is a star example of a partner pushing towards gender equality as well as overall cultural equality”. Netta is the most sought-after speaker for topics around diversity and inclusion with over 40 events under her belt 2018- year to date. She is a regular speaker and panelist at diversity and HR conferences and She has also participated as a thought leader alongside executives from Google and Foursquare in a Crowded Tech Jobs panel. Show Notes: 00.35 Netta’s background and career progression. 07.04 Transitioning from a bus

David is head of BI & Analytics at Elevate Credit International Limited. David is a data leader with experience in Credit, Payments, Pricing, Revenue Management, e-commerce and retail. Commercially astute, with strong C-level and global stakeholder management. He has an ambition to improve business performance. Assisting local area planning to protect against unsuitable development with analytics. Show Notes: 00.31 Embracing the role of the CDO. 02.47 Extracting the maximum amount of value from data. 07.11 Do we need to change our approach to data? 08.28 How have attitudes to data changed during your career? 10.05 Will we get to a point where there is a linear path to a career in data? 12.03 What characteristics make a good data scientist? 14.11 Commercial thinking is a skill set in itself. 15.26 David’s background and career progression. 17.08 Allocating yourself a mentor. 19.03 Oracle, SQL server and big data. 22.29 Should we be worried about the pace data is advancing? 24.12 Becoming an

Sam Peck is Product Design Lead for Blackboard Ally At Blackboard Inc. “A lot of design is about communication and collaboration, If you can get people to just work together. Your already getting people to utilise a culture of design thinking” Sam is a big advocate of collaborative problem solving, he believes it is fundamental to a great design team. Design based on data is another area where Sam excels. He sat down with Andy to discuss the direction of UX and the challenges faced by the industry. Show Notes: 00.32 The board responsibilities a UX person has. 03.29 Aligning your technical skill set with commercial goals. 07.45 Are we using our designers to their full potential? 10.00 We like to ignore metrics. 13.41 Do designers have a chip on their shoulder? 15.25 Are we going to see the development of a senior designer role? 18.09 Will we see the design space becoming more formalised in the future. 20.26 How do you keep motivated in your career?