‘What’s Up Mainframe?’ — a Podcast for Programmers & Architects
“Why don’t you make more videos about your products, Lukas?”
We’re standing in a hotel lobby in the center of Prague during the week of MTE — Mainframe Technical Exchange. MTE, sponsored by Broadcom, takes place in various locations around the world, and this time, it was being held in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. It was spring 2023, and the sunny weather tempted you to leave the conference and walk to the nearby Charles Bridge, with its stunning view of Prague Castle and people chilling by the Vltava River.
Produce many short videos on a regular basis, framing them within a use case in the form of a dialogue with some insider
“Your products are great, and they really bring the innovation that we so badly need in my company,” explains Emlyn, a mainframe leader. He works for a financial institution in the UK, and he’s a great person to hang out with and talk to.
I was nodding my head and thinking as he continued: “But my colleagues tend to stick with what they have used for ages, and I have a hard time persuading them about the advantages of your software if I can’t easily show it and demonstrate. You could record a short video about each of your products and then I could easily share it within my company. Think about it.”
And I really did think about it.
Emlyn’s words stuck with me throughout the day, and I soon realized we could do this — but in a different, unexpected way. Rather than producing technical videos that try to describe an entire product from installation and configuration to feature descriptions, we could create many short videos on a regular basis, framing them within a use case in the form of a dialogue with some insider. The idea of the podcast was born.
We had already produced several technical videos in the past. They are still available on Broadcom’s Educate YouTube channel. However, we know that this approach doesn’t necessarily suit everyone — if you need to know one specific thing about a setting, you probably don’t want to search through a 20-minute video. So, what if you could get information in smaller chunks regularly, in a more engaging format, along with some useful tips and tricks?
It took a whole year from the initial idea to the release of the first episode.
First of all, I needed the right teammate to host the podcast.
And in my mind, there was just one name from the very beginning: Zachariah Mullen — an American who reminds me of a famous Czech host and actor, Marek Eben. Although Eben isn’t dead, I swear Zach is his reincarnation. I’m lucky enough not only to have Zach as a close colleague but also to call him a friend. Like me, he works as a Product Owner for a related set of tools. Zach moved to the Czech Republic several years ago for an extraordinary and noble reason — to study the Czech language and culture. This makes me both proud and a bit ashamed, considering how many Czech books he has read that I haven’t.
Anyway, as you might guess, business keeps us busy and stressed. So, I wasn’t too optimistic when I shared my idea with him. Surprisingly, he didn’t hesitate for a second: “Let’s do it.”
We knew we wanted something true to the project and engineering effort, purely “homebrewed” not an advertisement. I would take care of the technical aspects of recording, editing, and post-processing, while Zach would focus on episode preparation, hosting, and being the face of the podcast.
We started slowly during the summer months with baby steps — reading scripts over and over, removing mistakes, trying to add some humor, and finding the best camera angles. Our progress was slowed by my blocked neck, which made it hard to manipulate the camera and forced me to sit in front of it like I had swallowed a ruler. It took us some time to find our “style” and realize that instead of reading prepared scripts, we preferred to keep the discussion natural and let it flow. Zach proved my suspicion correct and turned out to be a naturally talented host. I told you — reincarnation!
There were still a few (understand: many) things to work out. The most significant was the name of the podcast! We brainstormed many boring or crazy names, only to return to the very first idea — “What’s Up, Mainframe?”
Many people have helped us along the way. I can’t name them all, but I want to mention UX expert Tomas Laurinec, who designed our logo and other visual elements.
We want to first talk with our team members, developers and managers to bring you inner insights about the software and products we are developing. But also to give you a chance to meet our team and the people who work on the tools for you. In the first part, we have a light conversation with them, followed by a technical demo of the product. We also want to talk to our customers and hear their use cases and experiences with our tool. Later, we may cover topics that you can bring up with us.
I met Emlyn again exactly one year after our initial conversation, on another occasion of MTE in Prague. I was glad to thank him for his idea and present him with our first two published episodes. And who knows, maybe one day he will agree to star in our podcast as well.
Please welcome “What’s Up, Mainframe?” to the broad family of podcasts. We would be delighted if you followed our episodes, commented on the videos, and shared your thoughts and suggestions.
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