>>live from Copenhagen, Denmark. It's the Q covering Nutanix dot next 2019. Brought to you by Nutanix >>Welcome back, everyone to the cubes Live coverage of Nutanix dot Next I'm your host Rebecca Knight alongside my co host Stew Minutemen. We have two guests for this segment we have. Mika will lose. She's the art director for Nutanix Thank you so much for coming on the show. >>Thank you for inviting me >>And we have Satish Ramachandran, Global head of design at Nutanix Thank you so much for coming on. So it's always so much fun to talk to really creative people, particularly in this technology world. I want to start the conversation by asking Michael first where you go for inspiration and who do you talk to? What he read? What kinds of things do you look at to inspire you to and then bring them back to your job here in Nutanix. So I strongly >>believe that inspiration come from everywhere. No matter where you go is an architecture or you go to the supermarket and you look on packaging or you read a book and you think about images or even just social media. And there is so much variety of different opinion and different cultures to get inspired from. Even from this conference, we took inspiration from Copenhagen, the city, and from Swiss design or from California and divide in the mid century. I put, like not in construction, but like architecture. Er, um, we created this really Sundwall the supreme the best day ever. And I was actually reading a book with my kids, the diary of a wimpy kid. And I was like, Okay, you know what? We can make something really fun out of it. We can take like a page from a diary and create Sabrina Best day, something like that. >>It was truly everywhere. >>It's really every. >>How about Yusa? Tish >>men? It's two parts, actually. I think one is the inspiration when it comes to the aesthetics of design. So to a large degree, I'm a huge fan off minimalism, everything from Japanese paintings, for example, where with two or three strokes, you have a stark on the water. The Bauhaus movement clean, elegant lines very minimal to the point, and even the Scandinavian architecture, for example, is quite minimalistic and very clean. So that is one angle on what we strive to do in terms off getting to minimal, clean, simple. But in the other portion of inspiration is actually comes from empathy because, you know, it's the you know, I care deeply about the human condition, even pre Nutanix sort of teenage angst that never left me right. And ah, so in a sense, is a lot of empathy. Toe what people are going through in terms of technology, how they're using it. How can we make their lives easier? How can we bring about some joys in their life and to a large degree, the secretary working? You know, I t, um, has bean sort of underserved design wise for many years on de. So there's a lot of inspiration that comes in the form of motivation in order to do something for people there. >>Well, yes, it's a teacher, I'm wondering, can help connect the dots with us. I think of minimalism and obviously ties to this simplicity Nutanix and remember in the early days, talking Nutanix to make something truly simple from a technology standpoint usually has a lot of work, and we've been talking to the executive team about, you know, in this multi cloud, highly disperse. Tear it even harder today. So how does some of those core design principles make their way into into Nutanix is world. >>You want me to talk about the process? You know, I >>think >>the process is quite straightforward. I mean, you start with understanding the space, understanding the experience that exists in the space. You don't start with the feature or the product. That's the first thing you start with the people. So you started with a very human centric manner on. Okay, What are they trying to do? What are they trying to achieve and how do you get them in the simplest possible manner to do that? So we have this thing that we use called intentional our design, which is one off our design principles. Very. How do you get someone who has an intention to fulfill their intention with the least amount of effort? And the effort in the middle is what we label less friction constantly. So we talk about trying to become friction less and so on. So the process for that is you start with the person what they're trying to get done, and >>from there you actually >>work all the Muslims in the organization. So design, basically at that point takes on the role of a facilitator by bringing in, you know, engineering product management design itself together and all in service off the user to create an experience, right? So it starts with, you know, formulating the requirements together with engineering and product management. It's address it, then converging on these things by creating prototypes than testing these things with users and so on and then figuring out really what is essential, what can be thrown out and how to keep it really simple. And that's how we build product, basically. >>So that's so. As you said, it starts with this point of empathy, and that is this collaborative process between the engineers and the artists and design team. How would you say that design is more part of the Nutanix philosophy, just rather than the simple, simple, easy, elegant products itself but the entire company? How would you say it's it's built into the philosophy? I actually think this is >>why Nutanix is so unique in our space because we don't just look at the technology we looking at a whole package of design and technology, the left brain and the right brain together. And it comes from our leadership because, dear, it is the great advocator for design. He's really believing in the importance of it, not just a pretty rap on something, but it's something that is meaningful and and really able to provide a full experience for our customers. >>Yeah, meet me how maybe I love to get you both of your commentary. There's a new AH advertising campaign that was launched. The video was in the keynote yesterday. >>It >>all together now it is very colorful, and it is very diverse and at the same time, even, you know, I'm a technology guy. I will often roll my eyes when I see a certain advertising, but to articulate to the world, it's like, Okay, how does my database and multi cloud and all these things play together? Well, way we anthropomorphized though those technology pieces into people on dhe. You've got photos that you can do there, so bring us inside a little bit as to how that you helped the messaging eso some, you know, pretty complex pieces underneath. >>Yes, we're very excited about this campaign. I have to tell you. We worked very hard to conceptualize it and bring it out to the world. And we were very excited to be able to share it here. That next the thinking behind it. Waas, you know I to world is complex and here in Nutanix, we really try to offer a simple way to remove this complexity. So what is a better way than just take those I t concept and business an application manners and personalize them and make them fun. And when you think about Public Cloud, what do you mean? What does it mean to you? How do you envision it when you think about a database? Do you think about the strongman that carrying the cylinder and you >>make it a >>campaign Maur You humanize it, you make it accessible to people and you make it fun And this is what we're trying to do We're trying to delight. Our customers were trying to empower them to be able to do their business in a better way, and that was our goals provide simplicity, choice and delights. >>And as you said, it's it's this ample anthropomorphizing of this. If you've a database where a person what would go with the database person look like it's the cloud Where Human? Yes, exactly. And it just I think they just >>make make it fun and you make it unique and you create something that is different in our scene. And nothing, That's what we're trying to do. >>How do you work together with the engineers? I mean, I know you said. You gather in a room and you are thinking about the end user. How does the customer experience this? But how do artists and engineers communicate? I mean, is that Is that ever a challenge or >>not? Really? No, not really. Actually, it's, Ah, it's a three legged stool. Basically, there's ah, and you know, if you put marketing in there as well for the awareness piece, which precludes anything that we you know the customer uses, it actually becomes a four legged stool. But in terms of building product, it's a three legged stool, which is product management, and they're trying to figure out what is the product market fit, and that's what they bring to the table. The engineer's coming and as we're dreaming up stuff, they're thinking, Is this stuff buildable or not? You know these guys dreaming way too much, right? And so it is a colonization. So and I think that's the crucible in which the best creativity actually comes out. It's not designing isolation where, you know, design dreams up something and the rest of the folks build it. It really isn't that so. We are, actually, in a sense, the way I see it, we have the glue and we formed the Crucible for the colonization. And and in that, you know, good things come out. >>So we hear you are in Denmark, which is design savvy, fashion forward, food obsessed and eyes cultivating that sense of well being in comfort and coziness. What kinds of things are you going to take with you from this conference itself? What are you seeing? What's interesting to you? And how are you gonna bring that back to Nutanix? >>Honestly, for me, I think it's just the warmth of the people in the community in here. They were so invasive and and and kind. And we got a chance to work with a lot of people when we were building this conference. And and to me it's all about the human connection and I think this is something that I will definitely carry with me when we go back to Nutanix. And we were trying to think about our next dock next conference. And you know how we can bring some of that too there as >>well? Yeah, it's to teach anything on dot next Copenhagen, and you know, you're from Berlin, so you're in Europe and get gets a different, you know, cultural input. I >>think they're still. I think >>there is still some stuff. I think around the accessibility mainly for me, like the hotel we're staying. And, you know, first thing I noticed was, you know, that's bringing on, you know, when you have to open the refrigerator, for example, or the closet door And it, I mean, that first thought was like, you know, they have already designed in the accessibility. And then I liberate that back to product, and I think you know how we doing on accessibility. And of course, you know, everything around you here is pretty inspiring in terms of architecture and so on and so forth. So that's a gimme, really. And you see that a lot of it in Germany so that it isn't as much new, but in terms of the conference, it's very heartening that will come this fire. You know, I don't know. Miami many years ago, which is my first conference, you know, we were like all of 600 people, and now we are 4500 here. So in a sense, it's very heartening. And people seem to embrace the, you know, the vision that we're putting foot. Yeah, you know, around convergence off many, many things. >>How deeply technical are both of you? Um, I understand. >>I understand the technology. I understand the struggle. I understand what we're trying to achieve is a company. It doesn't mean I can go and do a demo on stage, but I think it's important to understand the technology of the company that you work for in order to represent it truly and in order to convey the message that we're trying to tell because we are a storyteller. That's what we do. We take the message and the technology, and we bring it out to our customers. So it's important. >>I'm a dyed in the wool engineer s o. I was I mean, my cases where I was an engineer for a fleet to the kids. You know, you take running engineering teams, that kind of stuff. And then I stumbled upon design. So I have a very deep understanding off engineering and what it takes to build stuff. But I have another side of me which is generally around. Empathy, experiences, you know, human interaction, human behavior. What makes people take what frustrates them, those kinds of things. So for me that we design has beena synthesis off many off my interests, and that's why I fell in love with it and have stuck around. >>One of the biggest issues in Silicon Valley and in the technology industry at large is is the skills and the right people the talent gap? How much of an issue is that for the design teams within these technology companies? Because you are looking for so many different skills people who can grasp the technology but then also have this more creative spark Innis to them to how hard is it to find the right people? I think it's a little bit >>of a challenge, but I think we're very fortunate to have amazing teams that understand technology and design in the connection between them. So I know I feel very fortunate with the people I get to work with. Their very there are amazing. Yeah. >>I mean, it was hard in the beginning when we when Nutanix was 150 people or something on the brown. Nobody knew. So then it was very hard to find the right people and to also simplified the vision and to sell it. I still remember spending with every new hire. I would be the first guy they would talk to. And I spent two years in two hours on a whiteboard, talking of taking borders, a technology problem on translating it into an experiential problem. And speaking to really this is very hard to design for and that's where the challenge lies, right? But what a period of time we have successfully built a brand which is a Nutanix design brand. And we have done a ton of things that I'm actually very proud off establishing relationships with universities, even on the social media, having a website, having a proper blawg, various things. When Now we are recognized in the enterprise space as a place for designers to go and work. And there is a certain combination. I figured out where which makes for a good designer in the space. Because if you take people with too little off a technology background, then the ramp up is very high. S o. If you typically you find somebody who's got done some amount of technology than the prior company or in school. And there are people like that. There are plenty of them. And then they moved on to design. And that seems to be the right mix because they can understand the empathize both on the technology side and also on the design side of things. And that makes for the right combination. >>And it's not >>too bad to find people. >>And I think >>technology can be talked. But I think passion and carrying is that part of it is hard to find >>be innate skills. Yeah, exactly. Great. Well, Miguel and McHale and Satish thank you so much for coming on the Cuba and fun and enlightening a conversation. Thank you so >>much. It's great to be here. Thank you so much. >>Thank you, guys. >>I'm Rebecca Knight for stew Minutemen. Stay tuned for more of the cubes. Live coverage of Nutanix dot Next

(upbeat music) >> Live, from Copenhagen, Denmark. It's theCUBE. Covering Nutanix.NEXT 2019. Brought to you by Nutanix. >> Welcome back everyone to theCUBE's live coverage of Nutanix.NEXT. We are in Copenhagen, Denmark. I'm your host, Rebecca Knight, hosting alongside Stu Miniman. We're joined by Fran Scott. She is a science and engineering presenter. Thanks so much for coming on the show. >> No worries at all. It's good to be here actually. >> So you are a well known face to UK audiences. You are a three times BAFTA nominated science and engineering presenter. Well-known. >> Give her a winner. (laughter) >> You're the Susan Lucci of science. You are the pyrotechnician and you lead the Christmas lectures at the Royal Institute. >> Yeah. I head up the demonstration team at the Royal Institution. We come up with all the science demonstrations, so the visual ways to show the science ideas. I head up that team. We build the demonstrations and we show science to people rather than just tell them about it. >> So mostly, you have a very cool job. (chuckles) >> I love my job. >> I want to hear how you got into this. What was it? What inspired you? >> Oh gosh, two very different questions. In terms of what inspired me, I was very lucky enough to be able to pursue what I love. And I came from a family where answers weren't given out willy-nilly. If you didn't know something, it wasn't a bad thing. It was like a, "Let's look it up. Let's look it up." I grew up in an atmosphere where you could be anything because you didn't have to know what you had to be. You could just have a play with it. I love being hands-on and making things, and I grew up on a farm, so I was quite practical. But I also loved science. Went to university, did neuroscience at university. I enjoyed the learning part but, where I was in terms of the science hierarchy, I found out that once you actually go into a lab, there's a lot of lab work and not much learning straight away, and it was the learning that I loved. And so my friends actually got me into science communication. They took me to the science museum and they were like, "Fran, you will love this." And I was like, "Will I?" And I was like, "You are so right." I got a job at the science museum in London by just approaching someone on that visit and being like, "How do I get a job here?" And they were like, "Well, you got to do this, this, this." I was like, "I can do that." I got the job there and I realized I loved science demonstrations and building stuff. Eventually I just combined that love of science and being practical together. And now I produce and write, build science props and science stage shows. And then it became a thing. (laughter) Hand it to me, I love it. >> So Fran, our audience is very much the technology community. Very supportive of STEM initiatives. Give us a little flavor as to some of the things you're working on. Where is there need for activities? >> I suppose the biggest example of that would be a show that I did a few years ago where there was a big push for new coders within the UK. And I was getting approached time and time again for visual ways to show computer coding. Or programming, as we used to call it back in the day. I didn't have an answer because then, I wasn't a coder. So I was like, "Well, I'll learn. And then I'll figure out a demonstration because this is what I do. So why don't I do it on coding?" And so yeah, I set about. I learnt code. And I came up with an explosions based coding show. Error 404. And we toured around the country with that. Google picked it up and it was a huge success just because it was something that people wanted to learn about. And people were stumped as to how to show coding visually. But because this is what we do day in and day out with different subjects, we could do it with coding just like we do it with physics. >> What do you think is the key? A lot of your audience is kids. >> Yes and family audiences. >> So what is the key to getting people excited about science? >> I think science itself is exciting if people are allowed to understand how brilliant it is. I think some of the trouble comes from when people take the step too big, and so you'd be like, "Hang on but, why is that cool? Why?" Because they don't under... Well they would understand if they were fed to them in a way that they get it. The way I say it is, anyone can understand anything as long as you make the steps to get there small enough. Sometimes the steps are too big for you to understand the amazingness of that thing that's happening. And if you don't understand that amazingness, of course you're going to lose interest. Because everyone around you is going, "Ah, this is awesome, this is awesome!" And you're like, "What? What's awesome?" I think it's up to us as adults and as educators to just try and not patronize the children, definitely not, but just give them those little steps so they can really see the beauty of what it is that we're in awed by. >> One of the things that is a huge issue in the technology industry is the dearth of women in particular, in the ranks of technology and then also in leadership roles. As a woman in science and also showing little girls everywhere all over the UK what it is to be a woman in science, that's a huge responsibility. How do you think of that, and how are you in particular trying to speak to them and say, "You can do this"? >> I've done a lot of research onto this because this was the reason I went into what I'm into. I worked a lot of the time behind the scenes just trying to get the science right. And then I realized there was no one like me doing science presenting. The girl was always the little bit of extra on the side and it was the man who was the knowledgeable one that was showing how to do the science. And the woman was like, "Oh, well that's amazing." And I was like, "Hang on. Let's try and flip this." And it just so happened that I didn't care if it was me. I just wanted a woman to do it. And it just happened that that was me. But now that I'm in that position, one, well I run a business as well. I run a business where we can train other new presenters to do it. It's that giving back. So yes, I train other presenters. I also make sure there's opportunity for other presenters. But I also try, and actually I work with a lot of TV shows, and work on their language. And work on the combination of like, "Okay, so you've got a man doing that, you got women doing this. Let's have a look at more diversity." And just trying to show the kids that there are people like them doing science. There's that classic phrase that, "You can't be what you can't see." So yes, it comes responsibility, but also there's a lot of fun. And if you can do the science, be intelligent, be fun, and just be normal and just enjoy your job, then people go, "Hang on," whether they're a boy or a girl, they go, "I want a bit of that," in terms of, "I want that as my job." And so by showing that, then I'm hopefully encouraging more people to do it. But it's about getting out and encouraging the next generation to do it as well. >> Fran, you're going to be moderating a panel in the keynote later this afternoon. Give our audience a little bit. What brought you to this event? What's going into it? And for those that don't get to see it live, what they're missing. >> I am one lucky woman. So the panel I'm moderating, it's all about great design and I am a stickler for great design. As a scientist, prop-builder, person that does engineering day in and day out, I love something when it's perfectly designed. If there is such a thing as a perfect design. So this panel that we've got, Tobias Manisfitz, Satish Ramachandran, and Peter Kreiner from Noma. And so they all come with their own different aspect of design. Satish works at Nutanix. Peter works at Noma, the restaurant here in Copenhagen. And Tobias, he designs the visual effects for things such as Game of Thrones and Call of Duty. And so yes, they each design things for... They're amazing at their level but in such a different way and for a different audience. I'm going to be questioning them on what is great design to them and what frictionless design means and just sort of picking their amazing brains. >> I love that fusion of technology and design as something they talked about in the keynote this morning. Think of Apple or Tesla, those two things coming together. I studied engineering and I feel like there was a missing piece of my education to really go into the design. Something I have an appreciation for, that I've seen in my career. But it's something special to bring those together. >> Yeah. I think care is brought in mostly because yes, one, I love design. But also I've worked a lot with LEGO. And so I was brought in to be the engineering judge on the UK version of LEGO Masters. Apparently, design in children's builds is the same as questioning the owner of NOMA restaurant. (chuckles) >> So what do you think? Obviously you're doing the panel tomorrow. What is in your mind the key to great design? Because as you said, you're a sucker for anything that is just beautiful and seamless and intuitive. And we all know what great design is when we hold it in our hands or look at it. But it is this very ineffable quality of something that... >> So the panel's later today actually. But in terms of great design, yes, we all know when we have great design. But the trouble comes in creating good design. I think the key, and it's always obvious when you say it out loud, but it's that hand in hand partnership with aesthetics and practicality. You can't have something that's just beautiful. But you can't have something that just works. You need to have it as a mixture of both. It's those engineers talking with the designers, the designers talking with the engineers. The both of them talking with the consumers. And from that, good design comes. But don't forget, good design means they're for different people as well. >> What are some of the most exciting things you're working on, because you are a professional pyrotechnician. We've never had someone like this on theCUBE before. This is amazing. This is a first time ever. >> I was strictly told no fire. >> Yes, thank you. We appreciate that. >> Well at the moment, as I said at the beginning, I'm lucky enough to head up the demo team at the Royal Institution. We are just heading into our Christmas lectures. Now if you don't know these Christmas lectures, they were the first science ever done to a juvenile audience. Back in 1825 was when they started. It's a tradition in the UK and so this year, we're just starting to come up with the demonstrations for them. And this year they presented by Hannah Fry, and so they're going to be on maths and algorithms and how that makes you lucky or does it make you lucky? We've been having some really fun meetings. I can't give away too much, but there definitely be some type of stunt involved. That's all I can say. But there's going to be a lot of building. I really need to get back, get my sore out, get stuff made. >> Excellent. And who is the scientist you most admire? >> Oh my word. >> Living or dead? >> Who is the scientist I most admire? (sighs) I do have... Oh gosh, this is... >> The wheels are churning. >> It's a cheesy one though, but Da Vinci. Just for his multi-pronged approach and the fact that he had so much going on in his brain that he couldn't even get everything down on paper. He'd half draw something and then something else would come to him. >> I had the opportunity of interviewing Walter Isaacson last year, and he loved... It was the, as we talked about, the science and the design and the merging of those. But reading that biography of him, what struck me is he never finished anything because it would never meet the perfection in his mind to get it done. I've seen that in creative people. They'll start things and then they'll move on to the next thing and there. Me as a engineering by training, it's like no, no. You need to finish work. Manufacturing from standpoint, work in progress is the worst thing you could have out there. >> He would be a rubbish entrepreneur. (chuckling) >> Right, but we're so lucky to have had his brain. >> Exactly. I think that's the thing. I think it gives us an insight into what the brain is capable of and what you can design without even knowing you're designing something. >> Well Fran, thank you so much for coming on theCUBE. This was so fun. >> Thanks for having me. >> I'm Rebecca Knight for Stu Miniman. Stay tuned for more of theCUBE's live coverage of .NEXT. (upbeat music)