Cisco Podcast Network

Episode 17: Cisco CX Partner Success and IBM Technology Lifecycle Services (TLS)

The IBM takeover continues. Scott Schell is joined by Dylan Boday, the VP of Technology Lifecycle Services Product Management with IBM. They discuss the evolution of TLS and the benefit to customers.

Cisco Tech Insiders Podcast Episode 11: How to nurture a thriving career at Cisco

This is a special episode powered by the Cisco Emerging Talent Community (ETC) EMEA Chapter. Join our guest speakers, Chara Kontaxi (Director, Cisco Systems Engineering) and Paul Jordan (Vice President, Cisco US Global Enterprise), in a conversation with our host, Shaun Roberts (Principal Engineer, Cisco Customer Experience), talk about the Emerging Talent Community in Cisco, the importance of mentorship and sponsorship for a thriving career in Cisco.
For questions, comments, or feedback, please email: cisco-techinsiders-podcast@cisco.com
Director, Systems Engineering
LinkedIn Profiles:
Chara Kontaxi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charakontaxi/
Paul Jordan (paujorda): https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-jordan-216a36b/
Shaun Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srobertsmba/

Episode 16: Kicking-off the IBM Series with Janet Chess

IBM is taking over Partner Perspectives for the next month! To start, Scott Schell is talking about the relationship between Cisco CX and IBM with Global VP and Managing Director, Janet Chess.

Episode 2 Serendipitous Encounters

Episode 2 
Serendipitous Encounters - Mags Moran, Product Leader Webex

Episode length: 16 minutes
Mags shares how she and her team went deep on the use case, to develop Webex Public Spaces to make hybrid work less lonely. They also use data to prioritize product improvements, to deliver richer user experiences. 

Key moments: 

0:44 - Jeetu on where companies need to keep their focus 

1:22 - Mags on her team's mission

4:11 - Improving user experience and prioritizing based on data 

5:32 - Going deep on the use case (Public Spaces)

7:33 - Talking about the MVP

11:33 - Constantly improve (Message forwarding with content)

13:20 - Mags shares her favorite products
Episode Transcript: https://cisco.box.com/s/rud0uayjfbuhvrzy3gcpn6d2dv4sj9mw

Episode 4 Through The Lens Of The Who

Episode 4
Through the lens of the who - Cheryl Couris, Director, Product Design, Webex Events
Episode length 13 minutes
Cheryl talks to Principled about how the Webex Events team looks at the product principles as a shared ethos for what we value most at Cisco and how we can put our mission of powering an inclusive future for all to work. Cheryl and her team make sure all voices are being heard by focusing on "the who" the product is for before "the what" of the features the product should have.
Key Moments:
0:44 Jeetu talks about what product principles are and why we need them 

2:38 Cheryl talks about what hybrid events are like today
4:14 How the Webex events team uses the product principles to frame their work

5:59 How to start using the product principles 

7:15 Cheryl talks about her favorite principle, Make it 10x better

8:40 Personas help look at solutions through the lens of the who

10:21 Canvy, a great product that Cheryl uses in her personal life
Episode Transcript: https://cisco.box.com/s/jh09b4fxbest0akaad3zl0mc5l3rc7ib

Episode 7 The System Is Not Systematic

Episode 7
 The System is not Systematic - Lindsey Wallace, Director, UI/UX Research
Episode length: 14 minutes
Lindsey leads a design and research team comprised of people who study people using Cisco security products. Her team seeks to create a unified policy of common elements for our security products to make them easier to use. Lindsey’s goal is to 10x people’s time and not add to their cognitive load, making things clear and simple to use.
Key Moments:
0:40 What product principles are

2:18 Product principles are like a touchstone. 

3:50 How personas are used in design process. 

5:02 Strategies to understand both buyers and users of products.

6:15 Clarity comes before simplicity.

7:40 Empathy for product managers who request research is critical. 
10:58 Research is much more than chit chat with customers.

12:04 Lindsey’s favorite principle is building an open, extensible platform.
Episode transcript: https://cisco.box.com/s/k3a1kr2crnollnctcpe816qn2mokfus6

Episode 6 Disruptive Thinking

Episode 6 
Disruptive Thinking - Gavin Ivester, Director, Design & UX, Webex Devices
Episode length: 15 minutes
Gavin says that sometimes we need to disrupt ourselves to figure out radically simpler ways to deliver customer value. Gavin and his team are taking on the challenge of measuring and rewarding simplicity. The principles can help teams apply their own diagnostics to see if they’re headed in the direction of building products people truly love to use.
Key Moments:
0:45 Product principle definition

1:26 Principles are a diagnostic to test your own work.

2:25 Principles are about both product and practice. 

4:07 Keep things simple is the hardest principle to follow.

7:30 Vision to create the world’s greatest collaboration platform.

11:35 Why B2B brands matter.

13:20 Love is the principle that propels an organization forward most.
Episode Transcript: https://cisco.box.com/s/ngxgc6bibeww8lkukosuwjg1eqpuuvk7

Episode 5 Do You Recognize This Person?

Episode 5
Do you recognize this person? - Mark Thompson-Kolar, User Experience Researcher, Duo
Episode length: 14 minutes
Creating a customer persona requires lots of interactions with people, listening to their needs, and understanding the applications they use. If you don’t recognize the person being talked about as a product user, that’s a big warning sign that the persona created for the product isn’t quite right. Mark talks about the “Yes, and…” for a particular persona and the use cases for which the product was created.
Key Moments:
1:01 Mark explains all the types of research used to truly understand a persona. 

3:00 How product principles can become culture drivers. 

3:43 Which product principles are used most to develop personas.

5:04 How personas are validated with longitudinal personas. 

6:21 Security employees are a persona, so if you must ask, do you recognize this person? 

7:49 Deepening persona understanding by asking ‘yes, and…”

12:56 Mark’s favorite product outside of Cisco is the Comcast interface.
Episode Transcript: https://cisco.box.com/s/9cayz4uvciw7z5rwqklm6ekctbtqkp0q

Episode 3 Killing Tech Debt

Episode 3 
Killing Tech Debt - Ryan Glover, Leader, UI/UX Engineering
Episode length: 12 minutes
Principled talks to Ryan about how he and his team are redesigning the interface and taxonomy of Secure Endpoint to make it extraordinarily simple for the user to know exactly what’s possible to do with the product. The team reduced ‘tech debt,’ by creating common templates, taxonomy, and nomenclature to drive stickiness and adoption.
0:44 Jeetu talks about simplicity being the ultimate form of sophistication.
Key Moments

1:57 How product principles are guardrails for how teams do their work. 
2:50 Why you won’t be successful unless you align around customer. 
4:09 Strategies to get to know the end-user. 

5:11 Unifying design through the Magnetic Design system.

6:56 Aligning on product language and taxonomy.

7:57 The danger of focusing on the competition versus the user.

10:32 It doesn’t always have to be pretty, the case of Craig’s list.
Episode Transcript: https://cisco.box.com/s/sxbiz7ccdw5cetx9zukqnsbpy7rfshpv

Episode 1 De-risking Ideas

Episode 1
De-risking Ideas - Jehan Cowan, Product Designer, Duo

Episode length: 13 minutes
Jehan talks to Principled about how designers have the innate ability to turn ambiguity into clarity by visualizing progressing ideas. This process ‘de-risks’ ideas and helps a business make better decisions about which ideas to pursue with minimal investment of time and resources.
The designer’s craft can help paint a strategic roadmap with a clear path forward. However, designers must be ok with putting forth something that is wrong, as sometimes it’s the best way to move forward.
Episode Transcript: https://cisco.box.com/s/76vk9bs8zaa1fefxm20i3ww5bzzwskc9