Technology and software companies employ a wide variety of specialists, from software engineers to technical writers to user experience designers. Increasingly, though, that roster also includes anthropologists.

In this episode of the New Relic Modern Software Podcast, hosts Fredric Paul and Tori Wieldt welcome Ali Colleen Neff, PhD, a trained anthropologist and user experience researcher on New Relic's product team. She left academia and brought her skills to tech because she likes to, in her words, “watch hackers hack in their native habitats.” Her goal? To gather useful data about how New Relic users work, and then use that data to “build products that can help our customers resolve their incidents more quickly.”

We talk with Dr. Neff about how she uses her anthropology and media background to better understand how people engage with technology and how non-anthropologists can better understand the ways users engage with their products.

What an Anthropologist Brings to a Software Company

For this episode, we're proud to welcome New Relic Chief Revenue Officer Erica Schultz, who leads New Relic’s go-to-market functions, including marketing, sales, alliances, customer success, and services.

Erica has more than 20 years of experience in software and SaaS sales, and she shares her unique perspective on what's on the minds of New Relic customers, offers a peek inside the New Relic vision and mission, and offers the inside scoop on what makes New Relic unique. Plus, she reveals on what—and who—inspires her! 

Want to read a complete transcript of the podcast, go to https://blog.newrelic.com/?p=47837

Episode 31: New Relic CRO Erica Schultz on What Customers Really Care About

On the latest episode of the New Relic Modern Software Podcast, we welcome Java guru Ben Evans—who recently joined New Relic’s European Development Center in sunny Barcelona, Spain—to take a close look at the current state of the world’s most popular programming language, New Relic’s support of Java and open source, optimizing Java in a microservices world, Java anti-patterns, and much, much more.

Ben is a Java Champion, three-time JavaOne Rock Star speaker and, a prolific author of Java books, including The Well-Grounded Java Developer, and co-author of Optimizing Java and the new edition of Java in A Nutshell. He spent six years as a member of the Java Community Process Executive Committee (aka the JCPC) helping define standards for the Java ecosystem.

Leading Ben’s interview is Modern Software Podcast co-host Tori Wieldt, a Java expert in her own right, who managed Oracle’s Java community for five years.

You can read an edited transcript of the entire podcast on the New Relic Blog: https://blog.newrelic.com/engineering/java-ben-evans-modern-software-podcast/

Episode 30: Ben Evans on the State of Java

Everything you always wanted to know about microservices, with VoxGig CEO and “Tao of Microservices” author Richard Rodger and New Relic’s Sean Carpenter. We delve deep into questions like: What is a microservices architecture? What are the best use cases for microservices? How do you monitor them? What’s the trade-off between flexibility and complexity? How can microservices help future-proof you against changes in your business needs? We even look into the cultural implications of microservices!

Episode 29: All About Microservices

Steve Henry, vice president / head of engineering for mar-tech leader ScribbleLive, shares insights on spreading application performance and business data to the C-suite and turning engineering into a thought leader.

Episode 28: How ScribbleLive Fights Churn with New Relic

If security is warfare, the good guys don't seem to winning. Esteban Gutierrez, New Relic's Director of Information Security, has a better metaphor: security as nurturance.

Hear Esteban discuss his innovative approach to information security with Fredric Paul, New Relic's Editor-in-Chief, and New Relic developer evangelist Tori Wieldt.

Episode 27: Security As Nurturance

When it comes to software development, speed is the critical ingredient for success. If you plan for speed carefully enough, cost and quality will come along for the ride. So says Mirco Hering, a managing director of Accenture's Agile and DevOps practice. And that's just one of the enterprise DevOps insights Mirco shares with New Relic hosts Tori Wieldt and Fredric Paul in the latest episode of the New Relic Modern Software Podcast.

Episode 26: Is Speed the Key to Enterprise DevOps Success?

Tandem Bank CTO Paul Clark talks “challenger banks,” Agile, cloud and DevOps, digital customer experience, and AI vs. blockchain.

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