1 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:06,120 Speaker 1: Technology, in my mind, should always be speeding up, and 2 00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:08,920 Speaker 1: we should keep pace with that and never get complacent. 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:11,800 Speaker 1: Everybody wants that page so a second, especially on a 4 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:14,319 Speaker 1: mobile device, that's where the traffic lives. That's where people 5 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: are connected all day, and I think in a fitness realm, 6 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: that's what you're really looking to do. People aren't carrying 7 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:22,400 Speaker 1: their laptop or their desktop to the gym, and so 8 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,040 Speaker 1: whether you're on a tract, the opportunity to leverage that 9 00:00:25,079 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 1: mobile device is still extremely important. It's got to be performant, 10 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:31,360 Speaker 1: it's gotta be reliable, it's gotta work every single time, 11 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: and it's gotta work wherever you are. Welcome to the 12 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:39,480 Speaker 1: restless Ones. I'm Jonathan Strickland. As you may know, I've 13 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: spent the last fifteen years covering technology and learning how 14 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:47,960 Speaker 1: it works, demystifying everything from massive parallel processing to advanced 15 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: robotics and everything in between. Yet it's the conversations with 16 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:56,480 Speaker 1: some of the most forward thinking leaders, those at the 17 00:00:56,480 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: intersection of technology and business that fascinate me the most. 18 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: The average person, when shopping for workout clothes or athletic gear, 19 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: might not give much consideration to how large a role 20 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:15,160 Speaker 1: tech plays at under Armour, but in fact, the scope 21 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:20,880 Speaker 1: and depth of under Armour's technology strategy is astounding. Clearly, 22 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:24,480 Speaker 1: there's some traditional tech involved. You need the equipment to 23 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:27,960 Speaker 1: design and make the clothing and other equipment. You need 24 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:31,839 Speaker 1: the computer systems to run operations and provide services to employees, 25 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: and under Armour has those. But the company also relies 26 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 1: on tech in innovative and surprising ways. Whether it's analyzing 27 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:43,759 Speaker 1: how a design for a shoe performs as an athlete 28 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 1: sprints down a track and under Armour tracks every metric 29 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 1: you can imagine, or an entirely new way for store 30 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:55,360 Speaker 1: operators to visualize their shops in a virtual environment. Under 31 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: Armour is putting tech to work. Then there's the athletic 32 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: gear that's equipped with Bluetooth modules and accelerometers and gyroscopes 33 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 1: or apps that play a part in digital fitness and 34 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 1: the quantifying of the self. It's almost shocking the kind 35 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:14,640 Speaker 1: of technological innovation going on at the company that started 36 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:17,480 Speaker 1: in the ninety nineties with the entire business packed in 37 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: the trunk of a car. I learned a lot about 38 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:23,519 Speaker 1: under Armour's use of tech when I spoke with Danny Miles, 39 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 1: the CTO of the company. We dove into challenges under 40 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:30,560 Speaker 1: Armour faces as the company strives to meet ever expanding 41 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:34,320 Speaker 1: customer expectations in a world where even our clothing can 42 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:36,960 Speaker 1: be part of the Internet of Things, and I learned 43 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:40,120 Speaker 1: how under Armour is taking the initiative to transform what 44 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: it means to be a company centered on athletic equipment 45 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:46,560 Speaker 1: and apparel. But I also learned about Danny himself, his 46 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:49,720 Speaker 1: thoughts as he transitioned from being on the tech side 47 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:52,799 Speaker 1: of operations in business to becoming a leader in them, 48 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 1: his values when it comes to his approach to work, 49 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 1: and what it takes to be successful when executing a 50 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 1: company's tech strategy. But before we dive into all that, 51 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:09,920 Speaker 1: I wanted to get some background on Danny himself. Danny, 52 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:12,960 Speaker 1: I want to welcome you to the Restless Ones. Welcome 53 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:15,239 Speaker 1: to our podcast. Thanks for having me. It's excited to 54 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:17,640 Speaker 1: be a part of the conversation. Oh, we're excited to 55 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,680 Speaker 1: have you here, and we're gonna be talking about your 56 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:23,120 Speaker 1: job and your responsibilities and we're going to get to 57 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:25,800 Speaker 1: all the exciting things going on and under Armour. But 58 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:28,080 Speaker 1: before we do that, I always like to get to 59 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:32,399 Speaker 1: know my guest a little better. So I'm curious, when 60 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 1: did you first start getting interested in technology? Yeah? You know, 61 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:39,240 Speaker 1: so for me, I grew up in New Orleans and 62 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:42,240 Speaker 1: I was pursuing music and that was my thing. I 63 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: was studying music for a long time, and you know, 64 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: really I got into digital music and that really was 65 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,880 Speaker 1: kind of the beginning of me connecting devices and understanding 66 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 1: how does all these different hardware need to communicate, from 67 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:01,360 Speaker 1: digital effects to synthesizers to recording equipment. And that kind 68 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:03,800 Speaker 1: of just got me into a space that I felt 69 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: really comfortable with, and that evolved into being the guy 70 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: that everybody had computer questions for it. I think the 71 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: difference maker for me was when I realized, probably that 72 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:18,599 Speaker 1: I have this passion for how things work. I have 73 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:23,200 Speaker 1: to understand them completely. And when it came to the 74 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:25,159 Speaker 1: I T side of the house, I realized at some 75 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: point that I wanted to go much deeper into how 76 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 1: things worked, which meant programming, which meant taking the operating 77 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:34,599 Speaker 1: system apart. I remember the days I used to tell 78 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,680 Speaker 1: people for the first four or five years of my career, 79 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:40,599 Speaker 1: I got used to rebuilding my computer every week because 80 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:43,840 Speaker 1: I would destroy it. I would replace operating system files. 81 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 1: I would mess with the Windows registry, I would tweet 82 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:49,200 Speaker 1: drivers and really had to have a deeper understanding. I 83 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:52,919 Speaker 1: wasn't satisfied with just installing something and it working. I 84 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:54,919 Speaker 1: had to know why it worked and what it was 85 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:57,520 Speaker 1: talking to and what made it take And so that 86 00:04:57,600 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 1: just kind of progressed, and that really drove me deeper 87 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:03,040 Speaker 1: in too, eventually going back to school for computer science 88 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:06,839 Speaker 1: studying obdiculate your programming and design, and from there, I guess, 89 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:10,440 Speaker 1: you know, until she wrote, gosh, you know, and just 90 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:12,559 Speaker 1: just to think, Danny, we could be sitting here talking 91 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:16,359 Speaker 1: about middies and moves and all sorts of stuff that 92 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:19,040 Speaker 1: I'm really passionate about too. But can you talk a 93 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:23,040 Speaker 1: little bit about your early days as a software engineer. Yeah, 94 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:24,920 Speaker 1: you know, in my day it was about going down 95 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:28,119 Speaker 1: to Barnes and Noble, sitting there on the computer aisle 96 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 1: reading these three inch thick books on C plus plus 97 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:35,280 Speaker 1: and databases. It was interesting for me. I would know 98 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:37,480 Speaker 1: what I was wanting to solve for usually during the 99 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:40,760 Speaker 1: day on my job and fighting for stuff, but I always, 100 00:05:40,839 --> 00:05:42,640 Speaker 1: you know, it was a double edged sword, and that 101 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:44,680 Speaker 1: I would go home at night and be like, I've 102 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:46,039 Speaker 1: got to figure out a better way to do this. 103 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:49,279 Speaker 1: I've got to understand something. And in those times there 104 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:51,839 Speaker 1: wasn't formal education. I looked at what a lot of 105 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: the colleges were doing, and they were teaching how to 106 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:58,120 Speaker 1: build an ATARI if you basically went in and study 107 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:02,400 Speaker 1: computer theory and CP processors and how all the hardware 108 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: and access layers work. But there wasn't a structure design 109 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:08,359 Speaker 1: domain driven design object on your programming. You had to 110 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:11,039 Speaker 1: really go get that from the network, from people that 111 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:13,560 Speaker 1: you can talk to, from books, from people you could 112 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:16,480 Speaker 1: follow and meet. It was a very, uh kind of 113 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:18,800 Speaker 1: like club that you just started to get into, know 114 00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:21,960 Speaker 1: who to reach out to to ask questions, and so yeah, 115 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:23,359 Speaker 1: that was what it was like for me in the 116 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:26,920 Speaker 1: early days. It was almost a black art I remember first, 117 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: you know, and this is dating myself, but definitely in 118 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: the nineties we were trying to figure out how to 119 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:33,760 Speaker 1: charge credit cards and process credit cards in a time 120 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:36,520 Speaker 1: when that was black box. The banks didn't have open 121 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:39,799 Speaker 1: a pi is. There was no protocols for doing that stuff, 122 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 1: and everybody did it different and you really had to 123 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:45,600 Speaker 1: get in and look at the data and the messages 124 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:47,720 Speaker 1: on the wire, figure out how to decrypt them and 125 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:50,960 Speaker 1: figure out which packets of data have to be where 126 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:52,840 Speaker 1: for me to get this thing to go through and 127 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:55,920 Speaker 1: come back with a valid response. I appreciate those times 128 00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:58,800 Speaker 1: because it fed my need to understand how things worked 129 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:01,800 Speaker 1: at its core. But I tease a lot of the 130 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: developers today that they have a lot of training wheels 131 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 1: that I didn't have. I I crashed a lot. There 132 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 1: are a lot more programming languages now too. How would 133 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:14,720 Speaker 1: you describe your role at under Armour if you're talking 134 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:19,640 Speaker 1: to a casual acquaintance, you know, a casual acquaimance. I 135 00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 1: usually tell people, and it's hard when you have so 136 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:23,840 Speaker 1: much going on at the top level, but you just 137 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:27,960 Speaker 1: I'm just responsible for all the technology, everything from our 138 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: data platforms to our e commerce platforms, retail supply chain, 139 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 1: finance infrastructure. I basically lead a team of other technical 140 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 1: leaders that help us run all of the technical platforms 141 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: for the business. And usually that gets boiled down to 142 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: something much simpler. But I do get friends, especially in 143 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:49,640 Speaker 1: the investment community startup community, They want to know deeper, like, well, 144 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:51,760 Speaker 1: what are you actually doing, what are you transforming? What 145 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:53,760 Speaker 1: are you there to do, and when I look at 146 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:56,640 Speaker 1: an opportunity, I'm always looking for the difference that I 147 00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: believe I can make, and so particularly with under Armour, 148 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:02,560 Speaker 1: it really is about the transformation of their business that's 149 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:05,720 Speaker 1: underway to really become a direct to consumer player in 150 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: a strong way to really serve athletes and really help 151 00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:12,640 Speaker 1: make them better. The lanes that I've chosen, I've always 152 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 1: felt like there's always something behind it behaviorally that drives 153 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:19,640 Speaker 1: me to kind of improve someone's life through not just 154 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:22,600 Speaker 1: selling them products, but through providing content and really being 155 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,320 Speaker 1: able to connect to, you know, an audience from a 156 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: brand perspective that attracts me to it. So I think 157 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:28,800 Speaker 1: we have a lot of things we talked about in 158 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:32,040 Speaker 1: that lane of how does our brand really make athletes better? 159 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:35,079 Speaker 1: How do we really understand their needs and to end 160 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:37,240 Speaker 1: not just from what they need to wear and not 161 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:39,520 Speaker 1: just what they need to wear in the gym or 162 00:08:39,559 --> 00:08:42,000 Speaker 1: on the field, but what do they need throughout their 163 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: day to prepare for that to recover from that? Right, 164 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:47,440 Speaker 1: So we think holistically about how we can kind of 165 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 1: make people better, and that's one of the things that 166 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:52,800 Speaker 1: gets me excited because I believe technology can really serve 167 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:57,320 Speaker 1: the brand well there and helping achieve that vision with 168 00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:00,920 Speaker 1: under armor in mind. You mentioned cloud computing obviously has 169 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:07,199 Speaker 1: been an enormous transformative force in all businesses, across all industries. 170 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:10,720 Speaker 1: Can you talk a bit about how cloud computing has 171 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:15,080 Speaker 1: transformed the industry of retail? Well, I think obviously it's 172 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:18,200 Speaker 1: a transformative thing for all technology. It's just such a 173 00:09:18,280 --> 00:09:22,560 Speaker 1: huge transformation. For me, I think that was just one 174 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:24,480 Speaker 1: of the most particularly when I went to Nike. That 175 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:25,920 Speaker 1: was part of why I went there was to lead 176 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:28,800 Speaker 1: their cloud transformation. When I look back at all that 177 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:32,000 Speaker 1: we accomplished, there was just things we were not going 178 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:33,920 Speaker 1: to be able to do. There was a whole batch 179 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:37,200 Speaker 1: of applications. I'm reminded of when we build the Sneakers 180 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:39,280 Speaker 1: app and the scale that has to go into that 181 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:41,840 Speaker 1: product and how much we had to build that was 182 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:45,480 Speaker 1: just not possible prior to us being able to scale up, 183 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:47,440 Speaker 1: you know, to have that elasticity of I need a 184 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:50,120 Speaker 1: hundred more servers, now do it, you know, and and 185 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:53,520 Speaker 1: to have that muscle to go fast. For me, that's 186 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:57,200 Speaker 1: just been hugely transformational and it's mostly been scale. I 187 00:09:57,240 --> 00:09:59,080 Speaker 1: also feel like, and this is an argument I made 188 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:01,439 Speaker 1: in the casino industry early on with cloud as, I 189 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:04,760 Speaker 1: also think it's transformati from a security perspective. You know, 190 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:06,719 Speaker 1: one of the biggest arguments that we used to have 191 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:10,080 Speaker 1: with regulators in the casino space was you cannot run 192 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:13,400 Speaker 1: any compute outside the four walls of the licensed operator. 193 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:15,880 Speaker 1: That was a law, and the reason was because they 194 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:18,560 Speaker 1: believed there was a security risk to have this out there. 195 00:10:18,559 --> 00:10:21,480 Speaker 1: And through years of convincing and going back and saying, 196 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:23,600 Speaker 1: you know what, I'll tell you what's a bigger security 197 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:26,760 Speaker 1: risk is the employees in that casino that have access 198 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:30,160 Speaker 1: to that server room and know those passwords. And there 199 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:31,880 Speaker 1: was a point in time I remember we were talking 200 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:34,000 Speaker 1: about Amazon and with a regulator that was like, well, 201 00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:35,719 Speaker 1: I want to go and inspect the data center and 202 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:37,760 Speaker 1: see all their controls and security. And I was like, 203 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 1: you will never get into an AWS data center and 204 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:44,080 Speaker 1: that's by design, like those are designed that there is 205 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:47,360 Speaker 1: no public assets. Even a w S themselves is not 206 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:49,559 Speaker 1: able to go in and log into the computers and 207 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:53,160 Speaker 1: stuff there. And really understanding that there was such a 208 00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:57,800 Speaker 1: shift in centralized management, control and access, I really think, 209 00:10:58,000 --> 00:10:59,840 Speaker 1: you know, one of my early arguments was just security, 210 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:03,120 Speaker 1: which just it really allowed me to create network layers. 211 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:05,800 Speaker 1: It really allowed me to create different vpcs and connect 212 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:07,560 Speaker 1: things in a different way so that I could really 213 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:11,600 Speaker 1: control with scripting, what could talk to what right. So 214 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:14,000 Speaker 1: the elevation for me initially with security and then it 215 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:17,080 Speaker 1: became about scale. But you know, I've had the chance 216 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:18,760 Speaker 1: to also kind of mentor and work with a lot 217 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:21,760 Speaker 1: of startups. I always go back to the early days 218 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:25,120 Speaker 1: of AWS and what it meant to the mobile industry 219 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 1: more particularly what it meant to startups. If you're doing 220 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:31,400 Speaker 1: to study looking back and I think about what really 221 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:34,280 Speaker 1: was one of the biggest changes there. It was when 222 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:37,079 Speaker 1: you used to start a company, right, you had to 223 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:39,079 Speaker 1: think about my first investment round is gonna have to 224 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:40,599 Speaker 1: go buy some servers. I'm gonna have to go with 225 00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:42,840 Speaker 1: stand up iraq. I'm gonna have to go hire I 226 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:45,120 Speaker 1: T folks and get something up and running, just to 227 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 1: get an app or a website running. When that change 228 00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:50,120 Speaker 1: from No, my first hire is going to be a 229 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 1: designer and we're gonna start building the front end user 230 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:54,360 Speaker 1: experience and we're gonna get this thing up and run, 231 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:57,240 Speaker 1: and I'll hire some infrastructure guy to build my server 232 00:11:57,360 --> 00:11:59,880 Speaker 1: network in a day on AWS. That was a real 233 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:02,800 Speaker 1: game changer. I think you just saw how quickly technology 234 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:05,360 Speaker 1: companies could be stood up. You saw how quickly innovation 235 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:07,559 Speaker 1: can start to happen because you didn't have to have 236 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:11,520 Speaker 1: that sunk cost up front of going out and building 237 00:12:11,559 --> 00:12:14,280 Speaker 1: a data center. Danny, you're making me think back to 238 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:17,240 Speaker 1: those early days of the web where you knew that 239 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:20,520 Speaker 1: something was a success when it crashed because the server 240 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:23,480 Speaker 1: couldn't handle the load. And the first problem was how 241 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:25,080 Speaker 1: do we get this tool to work? And then the 242 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:27,880 Speaker 1: second problem was, oh the toolworks and people like it, 243 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: but we don't have enough server support to actually meet 244 00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:34,840 Speaker 1: the demand. And it became just a constant race to 245 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:38,360 Speaker 1: stay ahead of the bottleneck. And cloud computing has really 246 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:42,199 Speaker 1: removed that obstacle entirely. It really has sped up development 247 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:44,680 Speaker 1: and innovation in that in that regard. Yea, you know, 248 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:47,320 Speaker 1: there would be no hyper scaling without cloud right as 249 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:49,760 Speaker 1: these companies that have been able to just scale really fast. 250 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:52,240 Speaker 1: The nightmare is if you're running your own server farms 251 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:54,120 Speaker 1: today and you need to scale, I really feel bad 252 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:57,040 Speaker 1: for you because the supply change is wrecked. Right, we 253 00:12:57,080 --> 00:12:59,400 Speaker 1: can't get devices we can't get switches and have like 254 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 1: just for our basic retail, you've got ninety days to 255 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:05,800 Speaker 1: six month lead times on that stuff, and I don't 256 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:09,000 Speaker 1: think that's something that's just acceptable anymore. There was still 257 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:11,200 Speaker 1: a lot of battles with cloud I think obviously an 258 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:14,760 Speaker 1: operational change mind shift change to your point about when 259 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 1: debops became a thing and what is it, infrastructure engineering 260 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,920 Speaker 1: and s R re became a thing like availability just 261 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:24,800 Speaker 1: monitoring really understanding, Hey, you gotta watch this thing. It 262 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:26,720 Speaker 1: can sprawl out of control and you can have a 263 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:29,320 Speaker 1: cost problem and you can end up in a bad spot. 264 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:31,920 Speaker 1: The other struggle was really you had to get really 265 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:35,520 Speaker 1: good at forecasting because for most people and most companies, 266 00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:39,240 Speaker 1: you were moving your CAPEX investments, which were CAPEX investments 267 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:41,000 Speaker 1: and idea one time we're pretty easy to get. You know, 268 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:42,599 Speaker 1: I need a few million dollars, build a rack and 269 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:45,600 Speaker 1: do whatever. You shifted all that to op X, right, 270 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:47,600 Speaker 1: and you're paying for that on a monthly basis, and 271 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:49,760 Speaker 1: you've got to be much better at how you plan 272 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:52,160 Speaker 1: that usage and know what's coming. And so it definitely 273 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:55,320 Speaker 1: calls some I would say operational shifts, not only for 274 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:58,160 Speaker 1: the technology team, but how you engage with your business 275 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:00,720 Speaker 1: and your finance team. I can tell you definitely when 276 00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:03,640 Speaker 1: I was at Nike, you know, really there was a 277 00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:07,440 Speaker 1: big concern over and I was remembers kind of batting 278 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:09,200 Speaker 1: with the CEO at one point about, oh, we're we 279 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:11,480 Speaker 1: don't like a w S. We don't want to host 280 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:14,480 Speaker 1: our workload there. The c SO the security officer had 281 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:16,400 Speaker 1: a lot of concerns like your developers are going to 282 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:19,080 Speaker 1: have this access to that and well, by the way, 283 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:21,480 Speaker 1: they're a competitor, aren't they Amazon dot Com? So we 284 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:23,640 Speaker 1: went through all of those kind of battles early on. 285 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 1: But I'll tell you retailers did not want to do 286 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:29,000 Speaker 1: business for data, yes, and you know there's all the oh, 287 00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: I'm just funding their work chest to compete with me, 288 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:33,440 Speaker 1: or are they going to steal my customer data because 289 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:35,680 Speaker 1: it's in their data centers. So I really had to 290 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:38,720 Speaker 1: work through the legal side of it. One of the 291 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:41,160 Speaker 1: hardest things to do is getting the enterprise agreement with 292 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:43,080 Speaker 1: a WS and Nike gart It took me like six 293 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:47,360 Speaker 1: months of legal finance, the c SO, the c i 294 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:50,280 Speaker 1: O really getting everybody to kind of believe not only 295 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: that cloud WHI was right but that the way we 296 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:54,520 Speaker 1: were going to do it. Who are we going to 297 00:14:54,640 --> 00:15:02,800 Speaker 1: choose was kind of the right partner there. Conventional thinking 298 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:05,080 Speaker 1: says you have to pay more to get more. I 299 00:15:05,160 --> 00:15:08,520 Speaker 1: want the world, but T Mobile for Business uses unconventional 300 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:11,320 Speaker 1: thinking to deliver premium benefits for better r o I 301 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:14,920 Speaker 1: from customized five G solutions to three sixties support. We 302 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,120 Speaker 1: help you reach your business goals right now, I want 303 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:22,360 Speaker 1: it now, innovating to improve business today and tomorrow. That's 304 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:26,120 Speaker 1: unconventional thinking from T Mobile for Business. Capable device required 305 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:28,360 Speaker 1: covers not available in some areas some US require certain 306 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:35,840 Speaker 1: planter features c T mobile dot Com. One of the 307 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:40,000 Speaker 1: things you touched on earlier was this mission to help 308 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:45,960 Speaker 1: athletes be their best, whether it's when they're actually competing 309 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 1: or performing or when they're recovering. Can you talk a 310 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:53,760 Speaker 1: little bit about technology that goes into that. What's the 311 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:59,480 Speaker 1: process of analyzing performance? Do you incorporate AI and machine 312 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:04,040 Speaker 1: learning in to your approach when you're designing these solutions 313 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:07,360 Speaker 1: for athletes? We do. I think measurement and tracking is 314 00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:09,320 Speaker 1: kind of a lane that we think about a lot, 315 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:12,040 Speaker 1: and that is really comes down to currently, we have 316 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:13,640 Speaker 1: a device, we have a chip in the shoe that 317 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:16,280 Speaker 1: actually can record what you're doing and connects to our 318 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:18,600 Speaker 1: our map, my suite of apps, and that gives us 319 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:21,960 Speaker 1: quite a bit of telemetry on what's happening during a run. 320 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:24,680 Speaker 1: We think there's a future evolution of how we can 321 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:27,560 Speaker 1: start to learn more about, you know, kind of tracking 322 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 1: a workout or a fitness routine. And so we're exploring 323 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:33,680 Speaker 1: lots of options thinking about what we can do not 324 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:35,800 Speaker 1: only with machine learning, but really just what we can 325 00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:37,680 Speaker 1: do now with cameras right and what we can do 326 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:40,200 Speaker 1: with machine vision and some of the things. There is 327 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:42,960 Speaker 1: a wide open lane that we're exploring. But I also 328 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,680 Speaker 1: think there's other things that matter so much more, and 329 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:49,040 Speaker 1: we always have conversations about things like heart rate. The 330 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:52,120 Speaker 1: challenging part to me is to go beyond measurement and 331 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:55,320 Speaker 1: to really work with our sports science teams to figure out, 332 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:57,880 Speaker 1: but what are the experiences that we want to be 333 00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:00,360 Speaker 1: able to create. To me, that's the harder working. That's 334 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:02,160 Speaker 1: the area I'm excited about that. I don't think that 335 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:04,680 Speaker 1: we've done enough, and we can achieve a certain level 336 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:07,479 Speaker 1: of measurement and data collection, but I'm much more excited 337 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:09,800 Speaker 1: about figuring out what are the ways that we can 338 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:13,320 Speaker 1: kind of interrupt your experience, either before you're gonna go 339 00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:17,160 Speaker 1: on a run or after from a recovery perspective, things 340 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:18,560 Speaker 1: that you might need to do that you may not 341 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:20,640 Speaker 1: know you need to do. That's where I think all 342 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:23,520 Speaker 1: of the content and really using the data to drive 343 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:27,320 Speaker 1: a behavioral change that would improve an athletes performance is 344 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:29,720 Speaker 1: the open kind of lane for us that we're thinking about. 345 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:32,760 Speaker 1: To me it comes down to content, comes down to coaching, 346 00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:36,080 Speaker 1: comes down to really leveraging what we know about athletes, 347 00:17:36,119 --> 00:17:38,320 Speaker 1: what we know about sports science, what we can measure. 348 00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:41,200 Speaker 1: There's what we can think about measuring for a consumer. Obviously, 349 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:43,920 Speaker 1: in our product creation and design teams, the things we're 350 00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:45,800 Speaker 1: able to measure on a track, on the field in 351 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:48,520 Speaker 1: a gym are exhaustive and extensive. That's where I think 352 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:51,960 Speaker 1: a lot of our learning comes from about how to 353 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,000 Speaker 1: create the products we're creating. The next step is to 354 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:56,800 Speaker 1: figure out how can we intersect with that consumer and 355 00:17:56,840 --> 00:18:00,840 Speaker 1: their journey and their workout to really provide and added 356 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:04,320 Speaker 1: value it's going to help them perform better. I mean, obviously, 357 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:08,240 Speaker 1: the entire digital fitness trend has really been about the 358 00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:13,040 Speaker 1: quantifiable self I'm curious, are you also looking at ways 359 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:16,280 Speaker 1: now that we have rollouts of five G technology where 360 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:21,480 Speaker 1: we have these high throughput and low latency wireless networks 361 00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:25,560 Speaker 1: that are maturing. Are you looking into ways to leverage 362 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:29,119 Speaker 1: that as well with tech in order to augment this 363 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:34,639 Speaker 1: mission of creating the best products to help athletes perform 364 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:37,040 Speaker 1: at their best. Yeah. Absolutely, I mean I think you 365 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:39,880 Speaker 1: have to take advantage of everything that's out there from 366 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:42,960 Speaker 1: that perspective, especially as we're talking about some of the 367 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:46,520 Speaker 1: experiential things. An area that's really interesting to everyone right 368 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:48,399 Speaker 1: now is a r v R. Right, what does the 369 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:51,120 Speaker 1: meta universe look like for a fitness brand. I think 370 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:53,399 Speaker 1: that's the lane where you still really start to become 371 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:55,520 Speaker 1: dependent on that network and you have to really have 372 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:59,040 Speaker 1: the ability to deliver a technical performance. And I think 373 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:02,480 Speaker 1: that that's something that's across the board that again, just 374 00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:04,640 Speaker 1: one of the things that makes me tick is I'm 375 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:08,119 Speaker 1: a performance chunky. You know, I want everything delivered faster, 376 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:11,680 Speaker 1: rendered faster. I want every model run faster and every 377 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:14,639 Speaker 1: report produced faster. That's something that's just always a KPI 378 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:17,399 Speaker 1: across every team that I have to some degree is 379 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:20,119 Speaker 1: how can we make sure that it's always moving faster 380 00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:23,159 Speaker 1: because technology, in my mind, should always be speeding up 381 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:26,080 Speaker 1: and we should keep pace with that and never get complacent. 382 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:28,800 Speaker 1: You know, we used to be happy with eight second 383 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:30,880 Speaker 1: page load speeds, and then we got content with five 384 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:32,639 Speaker 1: is the benchmark, and then we said, you're not in 385 00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:35,240 Speaker 1: business if you don't do three. But now it's sub second. 386 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:38,679 Speaker 1: Everybody wants that page so second, Especially on a mobile device, 387 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:41,160 Speaker 1: that's where the traffic lives. That's where people are connected, 388 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:43,520 Speaker 1: and really that's where people are connected all day, and 389 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:46,240 Speaker 1: I think in a fitness realm, that's what you're really 390 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:48,440 Speaker 1: looking to do. People aren't carrying their laptop or their 391 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:51,400 Speaker 1: desktop to the gym, and so whether you're on a track, 392 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:55,600 Speaker 1: the opportunity to leverage that mobile device is still extremely important. 393 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:57,720 Speaker 1: It's got to be performance, it's gotta be reliable, it's 394 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:00,000 Speaker 1: got to work every single time, and it's gotta work 395 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,879 Speaker 1: wherever you are right and the v R a R 396 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:07,880 Speaker 1: example is perfect because obviously you need as little latency 397 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:10,440 Speaker 1: as possible for that to become an effective tool for VR. 398 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:12,320 Speaker 1: You need it so that you don't yack all over 399 00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:14,560 Speaker 1: the place if you turn your head and your point 400 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:17,480 Speaker 1: of view changes a second later. That's no good. But 401 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:20,240 Speaker 1: even for a R obviously it's only useful if it's 402 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:23,880 Speaker 1: very responsive. I get really excited when I start thinking 403 00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:28,240 Speaker 1: about potential use cases for a are leveraging things like 404 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:31,160 Speaker 1: a very high speed network, whereas you know a few 405 00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:33,320 Speaker 1: years ago, you wouldn't be able to manage that unless 406 00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:38,040 Speaker 1: you had a tethered connection, which obviously limits whatever implementation 407 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:41,000 Speaker 1: you're thinking about. You're not going to be connecting your 408 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:44,640 Speaker 1: phone to a massive computer that's like three ft away 409 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,439 Speaker 1: from your treadmill or whatever. We're right now kind of 410 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:53,000 Speaker 1: in the blue sky hypothesis phase of whatever the metaverse maybe, 411 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:56,479 Speaker 1: and it's really exciting to talk to different leaders who 412 00:20:56,520 --> 00:21:00,359 Speaker 1: are ideating around that and trying to think of ways 413 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:04,240 Speaker 1: that add value not just to the business but to 414 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,880 Speaker 1: the user experience. Because it's undefined, it's hard to do. 415 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 1: And the other whole lane there that I'm truly passionate 416 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:13,120 Speaker 1: about is it isn't just you know, from my role, 417 00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:15,840 Speaker 1: it isn't just our athletes. It's our teammates. That's our 418 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:18,840 Speaker 1: word for our employees as teammates. And I think that 419 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:22,399 Speaker 1: that's a transformation that hasn't happened the way it should. 420 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:25,720 Speaker 1: Has video conference really changed that much in twenty years? 421 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 1: It really has it? It had gotten that much better, right, 422 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:30,600 Speaker 1: And I really feel like that the way people work 423 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:33,640 Speaker 1: is changing. I mean, obviously coming out of the pandemic 424 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:36,200 Speaker 1: from us all being at home. In my world, we're 425 00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:39,639 Speaker 1: a highly distributed workforce, a lot of remote full time employees, 426 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:43,080 Speaker 1: and to me, that's a huge lane to think about 427 00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:46,560 Speaker 1: how these types of technologies again keep people connected all 428 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:48,720 Speaker 1: the time. I think about it just as much as 429 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:50,639 Speaker 1: they do the athletes is I want my teammates to 430 00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,440 Speaker 1: feel like they're having experience with our brand and they're 431 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:57,040 Speaker 1: able to connect and create culture, a sense of belonging 432 00:21:57,240 --> 00:21:59,919 Speaker 1: with the brand, even though you know they're all working 433 00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:03,080 Speaker 1: across the globe and around the country in a virtual environment. 434 00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:06,199 Speaker 1: I think that's a wide open area for innovation. We 435 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:07,920 Speaker 1: talked about a R and VR and one of the 436 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:09,399 Speaker 1: things I think that I'm most proud of what the 437 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:11,960 Speaker 1: team did through the pandemic was early on in the 438 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:14,280 Speaker 1: pandemic and credit this is right before I started, but 439 00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:16,399 Speaker 1: there was a decision made to begin creating three D 440 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:19,040 Speaker 1: assets of all of our products, so before they were made, 441 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:20,800 Speaker 1: we were going to actually make sure that we had 442 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:23,840 Speaker 1: a three D asset of every single skew that we 443 00:22:23,840 --> 00:22:26,359 Speaker 1: were going to use. And the purpose for that was 444 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:28,280 Speaker 1: because we knew that our sell in our go to 445 00:22:28,359 --> 00:22:30,760 Speaker 1: market cycle, especially with our wholesale partners, was going to 446 00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:32,760 Speaker 1: go completely virtual. We weren't gonna be able to meet 447 00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:35,479 Speaker 1: them in person. So we ended up partnering with an 448 00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:38,520 Speaker 1: innovation partner who was building a virtual retail product that 449 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:42,040 Speaker 1: allows us to bring our customers into a virtual room 450 00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:43,960 Speaker 1: and look at all of the products for the next 451 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:46,760 Speaker 1: season in a three D model, and that's continued to 452 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:50,120 Speaker 1: evolve to where now we're actually able to say, hey, 453 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:52,080 Speaker 1: you know, to one of our partners, we can render 454 00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:54,320 Speaker 1: your store and your shelves and your layout, and we 455 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:57,400 Speaker 1: can show you what the fall product assortment's gonna look 456 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,159 Speaker 1: like on your shelves in a virtual environment. And we 457 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:01,680 Speaker 1: were able to bring them into these rooms where we 458 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:03,960 Speaker 1: have just wall to wall screens and we can show 459 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:06,960 Speaker 1: them that virtual environment there we're playing. You know, we 460 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,160 Speaker 1: do have some headsets that we've been able to integrate, 461 00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:11,040 Speaker 1: but even just in a browser for people to be 462 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: able to go into a three D environment and see 463 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:16,280 Speaker 1: the products, see what it might look like on their shelves. 464 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:18,200 Speaker 1: I don't know that that's something we ever would have 465 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:20,919 Speaker 1: got to without the pandemic. But what that's done is 466 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:23,240 Speaker 1: it set us up for the future. We now have 467 00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:25,119 Speaker 1: those assets we're looking at, how do I bring all 468 00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:27,119 Speaker 1: those assets to my e commerce experience, you know, and 469 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:29,679 Speaker 1: start to render three D models there. If I end 470 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:32,360 Speaker 1: up in a virtual world, guess what, I have all 471 00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:34,919 Speaker 1: of these assets and they're in They're high quality renderings 472 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:37,320 Speaker 1: three D of all of our products. So I'm really 473 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:40,479 Speaker 1: excited about all of those lanes, especially for kind of 474 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:44,159 Speaker 1: what I call experiential tech a r v R. Yeah. 475 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:49,040 Speaker 1: What I find remarkable is the rate of success I've 476 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:52,199 Speaker 1: seen in those changes. I mean, obviously it's succeed or 477 00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:57,480 Speaker 1: you might become irrelevant. So the existential thread was there, 478 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:03,439 Speaker 1: but the innovation and the agility, the quick adoption of 479 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:07,400 Speaker 1: new technologies and new approaches in order to have as 480 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,480 Speaker 1: minimum a disruption as possible, knowing there was going to 481 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:14,000 Speaker 1: be one but trying to minimize it. I love those stories. 482 00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:16,840 Speaker 1: But it also creates a new foundation to build upon 483 00:24:16,840 --> 00:24:19,640 Speaker 1: in the future. It does. The thing I'm most excited 484 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:22,639 Speaker 1: about is the operational model that it changes that it 485 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:24,840 Speaker 1: really is a disruption if you think about and again, 486 00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:27,320 Speaker 1: I've been around long enough to to see different I 487 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:29,480 Speaker 1: T models. I think in the early world where a 488 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:32,040 Speaker 1: large portion of your I T budget, your spend your 489 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:35,360 Speaker 1: support with I T support making sure people had computers 490 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:37,840 Speaker 1: and printers and the network worked and they had a camera. 491 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:42,000 Speaker 1: That gets instituted, right. But what I love is how 492 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:44,560 Speaker 1: much we're not walking around taking people's computers, like you 493 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:46,760 Speaker 1: know what everyone's at home. You should know how to 494 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:48,679 Speaker 1: set up your own computer. You should know how to 495 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:50,680 Speaker 1: set up a network in your home, get on a WiFi. 496 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:52,320 Speaker 1: You should know how to get a camera and a 497 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:54,760 Speaker 1: microphone to work. Like I feel like that's something that's 498 00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:57,000 Speaker 1: really shifted, and that to me means we have a 499 00:24:57,040 --> 00:25:00,679 Speaker 1: more technically advanced workforce than we had, not necessarily just 500 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:03,240 Speaker 1: before the pandemic, but definitely ten years ago. Because I 501 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:06,320 Speaker 1: feel like that ownership of in order for me to 502 00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:08,120 Speaker 1: work and do my job, I have to be kind 503 00:25:08,119 --> 00:25:10,520 Speaker 1: of managing my own tech to a degree. My I 504 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:13,439 Speaker 1: T company is responsible for making sure I have a device, 505 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:17,040 Speaker 1: making sure that my account is provisioned. But we're not 506 00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:20,280 Speaker 1: having to go down and replace keyboards. They got coffee 507 00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:21,960 Speaker 1: spilt in them, and it was a cost. It was 508 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:25,320 Speaker 1: a significant kind of ongoing operational effort, and we still 509 00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:26,840 Speaker 1: have I T support. I don't want to say it's 510 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:29,399 Speaker 1: gone away, but I do think this idea of a 511 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:34,200 Speaker 1: more across enterprises, brands that haven't always been viewed as 512 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,399 Speaker 1: you know, technically strong companies, like everyone's having to be 513 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:40,359 Speaker 1: a technologist to some degree in this day and age. 514 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:44,440 Speaker 1: Before I could let him go, I had to ask 515 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:51,200 Speaker 1: Danny one more thing. We talked about metrics in this episode, 516 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:55,080 Speaker 1: but how do you measure success? Well, I do look 517 00:25:55,119 --> 00:25:58,120 Speaker 1: at a principle of approach. So there's our business objectives 518 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,439 Speaker 1: and goals, which we say we're aligned with a business 519 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:02,680 Speaker 1: that we have to achieve certain goals throughout the year. 520 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:05,720 Speaker 1: But on the technology side, there's a list of things 521 00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:08,040 Speaker 1: that we really care about that are what I call 522 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:11,960 Speaker 1: our principles that don't change year over year and associated 523 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:14,439 Speaker 1: with those principles as a set of metrics. Right, just 524 00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:16,359 Speaker 1: to give an example, some of those principles to me 525 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:22,800 Speaker 1: are secure architecture, user experience, data completeness, strategic partnership. All 526 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:25,399 Speaker 1: of these principles that we've called out, we've knowed it 527 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:26,920 Speaker 1: down to six. I try to keep it small. I 528 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:28,879 Speaker 1: could always have ten on my mind. But I've always 529 00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:30,680 Speaker 1: worked with a team to say, let's pick some things 530 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:33,800 Speaker 1: that we stand for outside of achieving our business goals 531 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:35,919 Speaker 1: as a technology organization. What are the things that we 532 00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:38,639 Speaker 1: stand for, and how do we measure success against those things. 533 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:41,600 Speaker 1: We track all the things with the business, obviously revenue, 534 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:45,240 Speaker 1: everything from conversion to article activation times to how quickly 535 00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:49,240 Speaker 1: we can process transactions and collect payments and ship and deliver. 536 00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:51,679 Speaker 1: All those things matter, and we align with our business 537 00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:54,360 Speaker 1: on those. But if we do those and we don't 538 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:57,320 Speaker 1: pay attention to what I like to call the important 539 00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:00,520 Speaker 1: technology principles, and we slip on something like cyber security, 540 00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:03,640 Speaker 1: all we slip on making sure that data is complete 541 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:05,639 Speaker 1: and whole on quality. I think those are things we 542 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:07,879 Speaker 1: have to measure ourselves against you over year, and so 543 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:10,040 Speaker 1: when I look at success, I'll look at a combination 544 00:27:10,119 --> 00:27:12,760 Speaker 1: of the alignment that we have on the business objective 545 00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:15,560 Speaker 1: goals and how we're contributing to those, as well as 546 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:18,160 Speaker 1: how are we measuring ourselves against the principles that we've 547 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:21,080 Speaker 1: decided as a technology leadership PAM are important to be 548 00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:24,680 Speaker 1: a world class technology organization. Thank you Danny so much 549 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:27,320 Speaker 1: for joining the show. Thank you Jonathan for having me 550 00:27:27,359 --> 00:27:35,159 Speaker 1: really enjoy the conversation. Thanks again to Danny Miles of 551 00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:39,000 Speaker 1: under Armour for joining the show. I admired Danny's proactive 552 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:43,440 Speaker 1: approach to tackling problems, finding solutions, and then implementing them. 553 00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:45,879 Speaker 1: I also like his philosophy that while you should be 554 00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:48,639 Speaker 1: proud of the work you have done, you should always 555 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:52,119 Speaker 1: strive to do better. And it's exciting to think about 556 00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:55,760 Speaker 1: the tech that is transforming under Armor right now. I'm 557 00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:58,680 Speaker 1: very curious to see what the next generation of technological 558 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:02,399 Speaker 1: innovation brings to the comp and its products. It's fascinating 559 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:05,520 Speaker 1: because I've seen over and over how the combination of 560 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:09,680 Speaker 1: athletic skill and technological innovation leads to breaking world records 561 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:13,240 Speaker 1: and setting new standards for athletic performance. And yet I 562 00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:16,600 Speaker 1: keep finding myself thinking, well, that's it, that's the best 563 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:19,840 Speaker 1: we can be, only to be proven wrong. The limit 564 00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:23,560 Speaker 1: does not exist, it would seem. I expect we'll see 565 00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:26,840 Speaker 1: more mundane items become high tech over time. Some of 566 00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:30,280 Speaker 1: those will likely be specialty equipment for high performing athletes, 567 00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:33,919 Speaker 1: some of it might be more for you know folks 568 00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:38,200 Speaker 1: like me who aren't. But beyond all that, the elements 569 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:41,680 Speaker 1: that make that innovation possible in the first place are 570 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:46,000 Speaker 1: already there. With compute power, wireless networks and the right 571 00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:49,120 Speaker 1: team in place, a company can innovate in ways that 572 00:28:49,160 --> 00:28:52,200 Speaker 1: will make operations more efficient, it will be able to 573 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:56,239 Speaker 1: respond to dynamic situations in an agile way, and of 574 00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:59,520 Speaker 1: course they can find new ways to delight their customers. 575 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:04,480 Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the restless ones. Be sure to 576 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:07,360 Speaker 1: check back for future episodes. We're all talk with more 577 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:10,520 Speaker 1: restless leaders in the tech space. I'll see you then. 578 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:18,080 Speaker 1: T Mobile for Business knows companies want more than a 579 00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:21,280 Speaker 1: one size fits all approach to support. I want the world, 580 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:25,480 Speaker 1: so we provide three sixty support customized to your business. 581 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:28,840 Speaker 1: From discovery through post deployment. You'll get a dedicated account 582 00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:33,560 Speaker 1: team and expertise from solutions engineers and industry advisors already 583 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:39,080 Speaker 1: right now. I want it now, three six support that's 584 00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:43,560 Speaker 1: customized for your success. That's unconventional thinking from T Mobile 585 00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:44,120 Speaker 1: for Business