Jason is the CEO and Co-founder of Radical Candor. Over the last four years, he’s helped all kinds of organizations, from tiny startups to the giants in the Fortune 100, realize the power of creating a more Radically Candid culture. Through this work, he’s helped hundreds of companies develop real human relationships between team members and through those relationships, achieve amazing results collaboratively.

In his past lives, Jason received undergraduate and graduate degrees in business from New York University. He also worked as a product design team lead at Fog Creek Software, the small-but-mighty New York-based software company that created well-loved products like Trello and Stackoverflow. In 2010, he moved to California and helped launch Khan Academy, the world-renowned educational tech non-profit. Over the next seven years, he helped it grow from three people to a few hundred and reach over 100 million students around the world as both chief people and chief product officer.

Joining us today is an exceptional pioneer in the field of technology, Eric Daimler. Dr. Eric Daimler is an authority in Artificial Intelligence & Robotics with over 20 years of experience in the field as an entrepreneur, investor, academic researcher, and policymaker. Daimler has co-founded six technology companies that have done pioneering work in fields ranging from storage software systems to statistical arbitrage.

He's been an integral part of the leadership team at Carnegie Mellon University's Silicon Valley Campus, a Presidential Innovation Fellow during the Obama Administration, and most notably, the Chair, CEO & Co-Founder of Conexus. Currently, he also serves on the Board of Directors at companies like Petuum, Inc. and Welwaze Medical, Inc. He has also served as Assistant Dean and Assistant Professor of Software Engineering in Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science. His academic research focuses on the intersection of Machine Learning, Computational Linguistics, and Network Science (Graph Theory). He has a specialization in public policy and economics, helped launch Carnegie Mellon’s Silicon Valley Campus, and founded its Entrepreneurial Management program.

Eric Daimler advised the Obama administration on how to have conversations about AI. His work led to the creation of the AI office within the Science Advisory Group of The White House which has now become a cabinet-level position reporting to The President. Eric's a walking encyclopedia about AI policy and he shares all in this fascinating discussion about the future of technology, ethics, and society.

Join us for an insightful conversation with Tatyana Mamut, a transformative leader in Silicon Valley renowned for driving innovation through deep customer understanding and empathetic leadership. As a product executive at Amazon, Salesforce, Nextdoor, and IDEO, and currently serving as the SVP of New Products at Pendo, Tatyana brings a wealth of experience and insights.

In this session, we'll dive into Tatyana's journey from being an economist to help United Nations and then become a leader in global advertising to becoming a product executive in the Silicon Valley. We'll explore her unique approach to understanding customer behaviors, her work on human-centered design, the impact of Generative AI on the economy, products and life. With her background Anthropology, we will dive into scenario planning to accommodate multiple cases where AI can go right or go wrong. This episode challenges the positive and negative narratives set out by many of the tech leaders and lets the audience to ponder more about how to build guardrails, so that the AI benefits the society as a whole.

Key discussion points will include:

Tatyana's transition from global advertising to tech and her approach to understanding customer behaviors.

Her experience in human-centered design and the importance of experiencing the world through the customers' eyes.

The role of sales in understanding customer objections and building the product roadmap.

Emerging trends in design and innovation, particularly in the context of generative AI.

Balancing rapid innovation with ethical considerations in product and service development.

Strategies for building a culture that encourages innovation and motivates talent.

Don't miss this opportunity to learn from one of the industry's most forward-thinking leaders. Mark your calendars!

In this engaging episode of Masters of Automation, we dive into the world of automation and digital transformation with the Founders of Ashling, Marshall Sied and Donald Sweeney. Our guests share valuable insights on the importance of process mining, empowering employees through citizen development programs, and the critical role of executive leadership in driving successful automation initiatives. They also discuss the need to strike a balance between cost efficiency and maintaining a positive customer experience when implementing automation solutions. Throughout the conversation, the focus remains on not just cutting costs but on enhancing customer and employee experiences and unlocking the full potential of automation for a better future of work. Listen in to discover key strategies for successful automation implementation and the role it plays in transforming businesses across industries.

In today’s episode of the Masters of Automation podcast, the host Alp Uguray speaks with Antti Karjalainen, the founder of Robocorp, a Python-based open-source RPA (Robotic-Process-Automation) platform. Antti shares his story about what led him to automation, why he chose to open-source his product, the benefits of open-source, such as collaboration and innovation, and how it aligns with Robocorp's mission to make automation more accessible. We talked about the Robocorp community, managing remote teams, integration of generative AI and RPA, as well as the ethics of AI.

Our conversation then shifts toward the future of the industry, and Antti shares his insights on how he thinks the industry will evolve. He talks about integrating ChatGPT-like solutions within the product stack for automatic code generation and the challenges that come with it. The ability to integrate different solutions and providers within the core-RPA automation stack allows them to be more flexible and focus on the core automation promise. Being open-sources and Python-based helps with that integration as well.

We also discuss the industries that are the most and the least resistant to change and automation based on their exposure. The podcast ends with a discussion on managing a remote team. Antti shares his experience of running a fully remote team and the challenges and benefits that come with it. He talks about how a remote model creates equal opportunities for people from all over the world to participate fully in the company and get ahead in their careers.

This episode provides insights into the world of automation and its impact on businesses and employees. Antti's experiences offer valuable lessons for entrepreneurs, startups, and anyone interested in automation and AI.

Here are some of the questions we discussed:

What inspired you to delve into the world of automation and RPA? Was there a particular problem or challenge that motivated you to build solutions for it?

As the creator of an open-source RPA platform, how do you balance the needs of both developers and business users within your community? Are there any challenges in catering to both groups?

The field of automation and AI is constantly evolving. What exciting developments do you see on the horizon for the industry, and how do you plan to keep up with these changes?

In your experience, which industries have been the most resistant to change and automation? How can we overcome this resistance and help businesses see the value in adopting these technologies?

With the rise of remote work, how have you managed to build and maintain a successful remote team? What strategies have worked well for you, and what challenges have you faced?

In this episode, we're joined by Jonathan O'Reilly, the Co-Founder and COO of Akkio. With a background in operations, product, and marketing at Sonos and Markforged, Jonathan brings valuable insights to the table, particularly in the Low Code AI space and with his vast experience in product management and experiencing companies like Sonos and Markforged scale from 0 to 1 and 100.

Jon’s personal story in going into the entrepreneurship and embarking on a journey within the AI and product space is an inspiring one. We discussed about Akkio, a Low Code AI start up that democratize access to ML models and allow integrating them in business processes. Jonathan also shared compelling insights on the integration of Low Code AI with robotic process automation software, highlighting the potential for these two technologies to work together to streamline and automate business processes.

We also discussed the challenges and opportunities in building a machine learning platform for all users by emphasizin the importance of an agnostic perspective and the ability to integrate generative AI algorithms like OpenAI to enhance the platform's capabilities.

Throughout our conversation, Jonathan touched on the ethical considerations surrounding the use of technology within AI and the responsibility of technology companies to ensure their products are being used for good. He also provided valuable advice on how to approach building high performance teams in a beneficial culture for a technology startup.

If you're interested in entrepreneurship, AI, and the technology space, this is an episode you won't want to miss. Tune in to hear from an experienced leader in the industry!

Joy Mountford is an internationally recognized leader in design, particularly human-computer interface, user experience and interaction design. She has built and led world-class design and innovation teams at Apple, Ford Motors, Akamai, Yahoo, and Interval Research. She has designed interfaces for a wide variety of systems including airplane cockpits, computers, the web, consumer electronics, musical instruments, and toys. She is inventor on over 28 key patents, granted in multimedia and human computer interaction. She created the International University Design Expo, which has touched the lives of thousands of design students for more than 20 years. She has given invited presentations at the top conferences in the field including ACM SIGCHI, IDCA, EG, and TED. She receivedWomen in Leadership Award in 2019 and received the SIGCHI Life-Time Practice Award and elected to the CHI Academy in 2012. In 2021 she contributed one of the first 3 invited transcripts covering her life works archived for the Babbage Institute, 2021.

“Joy is a founder of the intellectual and practical elite of design, a design legend" John Maeda – executive, designer, and technologist

"Joy is one of 1000 most creative individuals in U.S." Harry Marks, co-creator of TED conferences

As a pioneer of your field, how did your journey begin that led you to explore the human-computer interface? What led you to explore this field?

As the builders of the future, we are told that what we invest our time in today creates what's next for the children of tomorrow. What is the number 1 thing that today's design thinkers think about differently, and what are some things that may lead to bad experiences?

This is more of an open-ended question. As robots and software continue to interact with humans, such as pizza shops that automatically create pizza, restaurants without servers, self-driving cars, and pilots, human-to-human interaction is replaced for efficiency, consistency, and less interactivity. As humanity continues to find ways to boost Customer Experience (CX) with automation, what's the future that's waiting for us? Do people want consistency and efficiency over interactivity at all costs? And how can the young generations shape the future of work for a better experience for all? What are your thoughts?

Optimism and honesty lead to positive outcomes. Similarly, the purpose and the design of a product don’t mean that the product, when adopted, will be used for the same reasons that it’s designed for; hence you can point to the many stories revolving around Facebook or cup to filter boiled pasta water, what are some of your strategies to collect constructive feedback?

One of the most exciting aspects of predicting the future is that we always think and forecast what will happen but do not focus on what won’t happen. What won’t happen depends on what the innovative and entrepreneurial minds choose not to do in the next few years and where the people do not want change to happen. Given that the world is investing a lot of time and money into the metaverse, it opens new doors for Human and Computer interactivity. New user controls and new ways to experience the world of computers. What are your thoughts on this, particularly around a future where everyone is wearing a helmet and sitting on a couch can be both bright and dark?

George is an entrepreneur, advisor, and technologist who built a start-up in 1999 that focuses on Intelligent Document Processing and data extraction. George was born in Romania, also the home of UiPath. He studied at the first specialized high school for computer programming until he moved to the US in 1991. George dedicated his many years to researching and developing Semantic Technologies, NLP, and AI applications in unstructured content processing. After working as a Software Architect for many years, In 1999, together with his Co-Founders, he started Recognos Inc. where he helped build the platform's AI engine. In April 2018, the platform was acquired by UiPath to create UiPath's Document Understanding capability.

At UiPath, after leading the technology alliances program for many years, he is now taken a lead role as an Evangelist for UiPath. He has seen the technology partners of UiPath, who similarly also build intelligent document processing solutions and beyond. He is one of the founding members of the Romanian American Business Network, whose mission is to bring together people with an interest in the Romanian business environment. Also, he is the Honorary Consul of Romania in San Francisco and is on the board of a few NGOs and startups.

Rob Enslin joined UiPath most recently from Google Cloud, serving as President of Global Customer Operations. In that role, he led global field operations, tripling the size of the sales organization and driving Google Cloud's growth at scale. Enslin also spent 27 years at SAP in various leadership roles across sales and operations. In his final role with SAP, Enslin served as President of Cloud Business Group and Executive Board Member, where he led the development and delivery of SAP's entire portfolio of cloud applications and services, including SAP Concur, SAP Ariba, SAP Customer Experience, SAPSuccessFactors, and the Qualtrics business. In addition, he developed and managed SAP's entire cloud product portfolio, led the field revenue and enablement efforts across multiple geographies, and oversaw core functions, including professional services, ecosystems, channels, and solutions.

Rob has excellent international experience, working in South Africa, Europe, Asia, and the United States. Also an avid supporter of youth advancement and development, Enslin has served as the honorary global Chairman of the Els for Autism Golf Challenge.

Some questions we discussed:

How did the journey start that led you to the technology space and then SAP and Google?

You worked at two of the world's largest Tech giants and led their revenue teams to very successful outcomes. My audience would love to learn more about some of your learnings in handling complex challenges and helping the tech giants grow and scale. Can you share your experiences at Google Cloud and SAP, such as building high-performance teams, challenges you faced, and how people adapted and reacted to the change? (Overcoming challenges)

What led you to the RPA World, and what attracted you the most?

Here are two questions that sound like a single one :) Having worked with international teams across the world, like Asia and Europe, what were some observable behaviors that stood out to you about how work is done? And As the future of work is constantly changing with automation and digitalization, now looking back, how would the different cultural backgrounds impact the adoption of digital technologies?

Our community's many entrepreneurs, technologists, and builders create robots, solutions, and products. What would be your one piece of advice for them to keep them motivated and keep going on what they do to be relentless?

As we are inventing the future of work, we are introducing new concepts like telehealth, where patients can speak to doctors over virtual spaces, building remote offices that leverage the global workforce, real-time orchestration that allows delivering vaccines across the US on time, call center agents are faster and deliver better customer experiences, and removing mundane work like reading an invoice. Automation is all around us and expanding into many spaces. In your perspective, where still is untapped?

Todd Schiller is the co-founder and CEO of PixieBrix, a company empowering everyone to customize their web and desktop applications for their use. With their low code platform, you can add a new button that triggers the automation, makes an API call, or change the UI for the UX your employees and customers need.

In today's episode, it was my absolute pleasure and honor to host — the one and only — the Godfather of Process Mining. Prof.dr.ir. Wil van der Aalst is the Chief Scientist of Celonis and a full professor at RWTH Aachen University, leading the Process and Data Science (PADS) group. He coined the field of Process Mining, and his research interests include Process Mining, business process and workflow management, process modeling, and analysis. I took his course Process Mining: Data Science in Action in Coursera from the Eindhoven University of Technology a few years ago, which ignited my passion in the field.

As the professor noted in this episode, not many people and companies, including SAP and IBM, believed at the time what this technology could accomplish. They were surprised but did not implement it. There were skeptics and resistance to change. Many enterprises go back to old ways of doing things because it is easier. They denied the transformation that Process Mining could bring to them.

His students in his Process Mining courses branched out and built the Process Mining companies you see worldwide, including; ProcessGold, Celonis, and PAFNow. As the academic field of study transitioned into product companies that aim to sell and bring this unique technology to enterprises worldwide, Process Mining became a vital ingredient of the digital transformation initiatives.

Now, set your clocks to 2022 and watch the news — SAP acquires Signavio, Microsoft acquires Minit, UiPath acquired ProcessGold, and Appian acquired LanaLabs.

The acquisitions are a great testament to the customer’s ask to not focus only on the diagnostics but target execution and actions. By combining the rest of the platforms’ automation, execution, and process management capabilities, enterprises aim to improve their business performance.

Our guest does not need an introduction or marking — The professor is the undisputed Godfather of Process Mining.

In today's episode, we have Ian Barkin. Ian has a deep and decades of expertise in technology, outsourcing, and digital transformation. He is an entrepreneur, author of Intelligent Automation book, and influencer in the intelligent automation space. Ian co-founded Symphony Ventures, one of the earliest RPA (Robotic Process Automation) consultancy, later acquired by SYKES, where he then served as chief strategy and chief marketing officer.

In his career, Ian has partnered with major firms to drive value with intelligent automation and global talent sourcing across numerous industries, including insurance, healthcare, banking, and logistics. He is an active investor in companies shaping the future of work, and currently serves on the board of George Mason University’s RPA Initiative, as well as several disruptive B2B technology companies like Skan.ai.

In today's episode, we have Param Kahlon, the Chief Product Officer at UiPath. Param has been shaping the roadmap of platforms and the products for many years, previously at Microsoft and SAP before joining UiPath.

As the chief product officer, now he shapes the adoption of the future of work technologies like RPA, Process Mining, Test Automation, Analytics, AI, and beyond. The work we do and the processes we interact with during our daily jobs now change based on the work that Param and his team and colleagues at UiPath do. He is a true master of automation.