Chris Barbin, Former CEO and co-Founder of Appirio, Venture Capitalist & Tequila Master - joins the RTRL team for an interview.  We had a blast asking him about everything from how his career got started, to his thoughts on the Appirio journey, to what he is doing now! Check us out on facebook, twitter (@realtechrl) and at www.realtechreallife.com 

Real Tech Real Life Podcast

#13 - Chris Barbin Interview

In this episode we share our thoughts on Women in Technology & Leadership - quite a loaded topic these days! We have an honest conversation about why it matters, whether progress has been made and what we have seen organizations do to help.Check us out on facebook, twitter (@realtechrl) and at www.realtechreallife.com 

#12 - Women in Technology & Leadership

An interview with Mike Epner, Guru of Customer Delivery Operations, Professional Services and how to build amazing teams. We talk about how he got into the business, how he approaches building leadership teams and a form of photography that he invented! (*originally recorded in August 2017) You can find Mike's photography at www.michaelepner.comYou can find the RTRL Playbooks , best practices and list of recommendations at our website - https://realtechreallife.com  

#11 Interview with Mike Epner

Join us for our relaunch podcast - an update on what we have been doing during our hiatus, what we have learned and what is coming up on future podcasts. You can find our Playbooks , best practices and list of recommendations at our website - https://realtechreallife.com  

#10 Update from the RTRL crew after their hiatus

A discussion on how to manage project closure successfully. This was originally recorded in 2017 and closes out our Services Lifecycles Series. Stay tuned for brand new episodes in August!You can find our Project Mgmt Playbook and other best practices at our website - https://realtechreallife.com

#9 Closing Projects Successfully

 A discussion on how to manage projects – and how to do status reports in Haiku!!You can find our Project Mgmt Playbook at our website - https://realtechreallife.com

#8 Managing a Project

 People are the product of services firms – we talk about how to best staff the on projects. You can find our Staffing Projects Playbook and other info at our website - https://realtechreallife.com. 

#7 Staffing Projects

You can find more detailed Show Notes and the Playbook for this episode at our website - https://realtechreallife.com. A fun and hopefully insightful discussion about how to think about and approach scoping software implementation and development projects!Lightening Round & Recommendations:Documentaries / MoviesLori A – Young At Heart – A 2009 documentary based on a group of seniors (average age 81) that sing classic and current rock covers. Sweet and sad with good music.Andrea –  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. She laughed so hard her son told her to be quiet.LoriW – Gleeson – Documentary about a New Orleans Saint football player who filmed his life from the time he finds out he has ALS as the diseases’ journey parallel the like of his newborn son. Equal parts informational, sad, funny – and inspiring.Maryam – Lion– A boy from India that gets lost from his village and ends up adopted in Australia. Though he doesn’t even know the name of his home village the story takes us through his effort to find his original family. 

#6 Scoping

What is it and how can it benefit you?Lori Asburry leads us through a discussion on what Mindfulness in the Workplace is and how it can benefit you and your business. You can find the Mindfulness Playbook here and at our website - https://realtechreallife.com

#5 Mindfulness In the Workplace

You can find more detailed Show Notes and the Playbook for this episode at our website - https://realtechreallife.com.What About Change Orders / Project extensions?How do SI’s approach CO’s scope/budget?How soon should you know about it and how formal should the notification be?Should you allow the SI to work at risk?With agile projects how do you draw a firm functionality line?If you inherited a project budget off the rails where would you start to unravel it?Lightening Round & RecommendationsHow Do You Leave It At Work? This is a hard one and something most have to continually work at – as evidenced by the “free for all” conversation while discussing it.Team Building - How do you bond a team to prepare them for potential tough times? (Yes, we talk about using Haiku's to help.TV ShowsMaryam – This Is Us – Binge-worthy and the perfect mix of funny and emotional with multiple story lines so it appeals to to all types of people. Special shout out to Chris Bell who once threatened to de-friend her if a character died, because she sucked him into the show addiction with her.Andrea – Big Bang Theory – smart, funny and good for all ages and guaranteed to be showing on a channel somewhere in the world 24 hours a day.  Apparently her family gave her the Big Bang Theory Game for Mother’s Day. No words….LoriA – Grace & Frankie – Again,  smart and funny and also innovative in that it treats over 70 women like real people.  Their new business venture alone is worth watching for.  (Plus it has the always amazing Lily Tomlin and we spend a few minutes in awe of how amazing Jane Fonda looks at 79)LoriW – Netflix Chef’s Table series – There are 3 seasons and hey  take some of the best chefs at the best restaurants around the world and tell their story.  Not only is the food amazing, but the stories are so compelling.  Kind of like This Is Us, but with better food. 

#4 Let's talk Change Orders

 Lead to Order part 2 - Buying from an SI: The Delivery Perspective You can find more detailed Show Notes and the Playbook for this episode at our website - https://realtechreallife.com.What do you wish your customers asked before they bought?What is the biggest impediment to incorporating external consultants?What should you ask in the sales process?Fixed Fee or T&M?What should you look for in your contract?Lightening Round & Recommendations: Podcast Recommendation LinksAndrea – Serial and StownMaryam – Tim Ferris (and Serial and Stown – she likes stories!)LoriA – Moth Radio Hour & Up firstLoriW – Left, Right & Center from KCRW and Design Matters with Debbie Millman  

#3 Buying Services: Tips from a Consultant

This episode kicks off our 8 part Professional Services Lifecycle Series. You can find an overview here and along the way we also post playbooks on key topics at our website - https://realtechreallife.com. Lead to Order Part 1:  How to get the most out of your Systems Integrator You can find more detailed Show Notes and the Playbook for this pod on at the links provided and on our website. In this Episode we talk about how to run an effective sales process with an SI. What you should ask, what you should look for and how to get the most out of your partner both commercially and practically.Lightening & Recommendations Round: Book RecommendationsFunny in Farsi by Firoozeh Duma – Maryam loves this book authored by an Iranian woman who has moved to the US.  She identifies with the challenge and humor of explaining Iranian customs to Americans.Journey to the Heart by Melody Beattie & Mindful Work by David Gellis – LoriA thinks these are great resources if you want to jumpstart a meditation practice or just be more focused at work. (Note: the other 3 of us think her podcast on mindfulness is a great place to start!)Extreme Ownership – Jocko Wilink & Roar by Stacy Sims- As you may have noticed, Andrea is our extreme athlete and likes to push herself. She likes these books because of their focus on applying military leadership to business and female nutrition for athletes (respectively).The Twitters, Periodicals, and Research documents – LoriW has become slightly obsessed with the political process and reads anything she can to help her make sense of things – and get to the facts.  She also strongly endorses Schoolhouse Rock for the country’s politicians and wants you to know she reads actual books often. A recent favorite is Ann Lamott’s new book – Hallelujah Anyway. 

#2 Buying Services From an SI

Intro: Why do a Podcast?Deep Dive: Networking & MentoringHow to restart a network after being caught up in your day jobHow and When do you network?What different forms does that take based on personality, experience, needs?Do you have to challenge yourself to go beyond what’s comfortable?Ways to find people to network with?Technologies and/or tools that help facilitate networking? Lightening Round & Recommendations

#1 Networking and Mentoring

Join Lori Asburry, Andrea Giometti, Maryam Norouzi and Lori Williams - Four former co-workers in the technology industry with very different perspectives, backgrounds, experiences and opinions! We have awesome friends, colleagues and kids so expect some of them(you?) to appear as well! For more information about us, the podcasts and supporting playbooks check out our website at https://realtechreallife.com. Note: Opinions are our own!

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Real Tech Real Life Podcast

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