Author Archives: philwinkle

MageTalk Episode 166 – “Dark Souls”

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“Doing Magento Development with one hand tied behind your back.” Kalen opines whether college is valuable for Magento developers, the guys break it down and get real about Magento 2.3; PLUS a review of the “Marathon Masters” publication – and more! Listen now!

Show Notes

1:00 Something You Need To Hear

The boys start off by throwing back to Episode 163 in which they demonstrated what an advertisement would sound like if they were to make one. The magic moment happens at the 3:32 timestamp. You’re welcome.

Shoutout to the folks at Marello for providing the inspiration.

2:12 ZOMG

The boys give a “full-on, all caps, ZOMG” shoutout to the team over at Atwix for their incredible MageTalk custom art. The boys have never looked better.

4:58 Masters of Commerce

Magento just dropped an eBook (like the hottest new EDM band of 2018) entitled Masters of Commerce that is a collection of interviews with the 2017 Magento Masters. Phillip has a highlight in the book so it’s a must read.

Check it out. It has some amazing information and some great quotes from some great people like Carmen Bremen (@neoshops).

“Be honest, open-minded, careful, clear, and transparent. If you don’t trust each other, don’t work together.” -Carmen Bremem

8:53 More Big Shoutouts

Phillip gives a shoutout to Amanda Batista (@AmandaF_Batista) on the Magento Marketing team that helped put the Masters of Commerce eBook together.

He also gives a shoutout to Andrea Ward (@awatpa) who heads the Magento Marketing team for her leadership and their amazing art direction.

Happy Molly Shannon GIF by Saturday Night Live - Find & Share on GIPHY

10:12 The Deal with MageTalk at Imagine

Will MageTalk have a booth at Imagine? The mystery continues.

11:25 A Live Podcast Retrospective

The boys give a look back at their live Podcast from Imagine last year.

They were the #2 most attended session y’all.

12:37 Shoutouts Upon Shoutouts

To no one’s surprise, TJ Gamble (ecommerceaholic) and Rebecca Brocton (@RebeccaBrocton) get shoutouts for continuing to put out amazing content. How dare they.

Guido Yansen (@guido) at the Dutchento Podcast also gets a shoutout for some awesome content.

13:43 The Software Testing World Cup

Kalen brings up the Software Testing World Cup (yes, that’s a thing) and brags about how he knows a winner. #CommerceHeroAd

Phillip brings up Magento’s Functional Testing Framework.

15:36 The Dark Souls of Software Testing

Bastian Ike (@b_ike) goes to a Hackers World Cup. Phillip breaks down the criteria for this and gets all technical and talks about how these hackers like to play on “nightmare mode”.

Just like Dark Souls.

20:29 The Swift Otter Guide

Phillip jokingly says he’ll wait for the Swift Otter guide, Joseph Maxwell (@josephmaxs) delivers. Get the guide here.

22:41 Let’s Talk About College

Kalen gives his thoughts on college, and how many smart people he knows that didn’t finish or even go to college.

Phillip chimes in with his thoughts and about how a lot of things have become vocations that do not require college educations.

Amendment from Phillip

So Phillip misspoke and clears it up in the below tweet. Sigh.

35:52 MageClippy?

Kalen brings up a recent Tweet from Danielle Mundle (@UXdanielle) in which she teases at a new Magento feature…

And THEN, Ben Marks (@benmarks) comes to bat with a tweet from three years ago proving that it’s already been done.

Seems like people are coming for Kalen and Phillip’s job…

Mentions/Links

-Carmen Bremem (@neoshops)

-Amanda Batista (@AmandaF_Batista)

-Andrea Ward (@awatpa)

-TJ Gamble (ecommerceaholic)

-Rebecca Brocton (@RebeccaBrocton)

-Guido Yansen (@guido)

-Bastian Ike (@b_ike)

-Joseph Maxwell (@josephmaxs)

-Danielle Mundle (@UXdanielle)

–MageTalk Episode 163 – “How to be Good at Flappy Bird” (w/ Erfan Imani)

–Marello

–Atwix

–Masters of Commerce eBook

–Dutchento Podcast

–Software Testing World Cup

–Swift Otter

–Swift Otter Magento 2 Certified Professional Developer Practice Test

MageTalk Episode 164 – Gosh-Darned Data Privacy (w/ Kuba Zwolinski)

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Kalen does his best Bill Clinton impersonation, the guys rap about GDPR – and we interview Kuba Zwolinski of Magebutton and Snowdog fame about the Magento Innovation Lab and how B2B can benefit from the Internet of Things. Listen now!

Show Notes

Coming soon!

MageTalk Episode 163 – “How to be Good at Flappy Bird” (w/ Erfan Imani)

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Kalen gets new glasses, will he finally see the light? PLUS an interview with Erfan Imani, accomplished Triathelete and developer of the Magento Innovation Lab-recognized Speqs augmented reality commerce experience.

Also – a Magetalk First – a swear word appears (gasp!) in the second half of the show. You’ve been warned!

Listen now!

Show Notes

Coming Soon!

Guests

MageTalk Episode 162 – An Evening with Jon Woodall

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The guys sit down with Jon Woodall of Space 48 to talk B2B, the challenge of professional services, the growth of Mage Titans, and employing Magento Masters. Listen now!

Show Notes

Today’s special guest is Jon Woodall (@Jon_Woodall), the Managing Director at Space 48, back for the third time. Space 48 is a Magento Enterprise Partner from Manchester.

2:50 The New Queen Bee of Meanbee

Jon discusses the acquisition of Meanbee and the origins of the deal. He also discusses the fragmented agency landscape and how similar viewpoints between companies can lead to some interesting conversations and partnerships.

5:40 The New Voltron Of Magento

Phillip crowns Space 48 the new Voltron of Magento. What does this mean? How does a company earn this “title”? Is “Magentron” a terrible pun?

8:14 Get Me a Slice of that Consultant Scene

Jon talks about the goal of Space 48 and breaks down the state of the consultant scene and how they are carving out their own unique slice of the industry.

10:57 Generalization or Specialization?

The boys weigh in with their opinions on a generalized agency vs a specialized agency? What are the benefits and setbacks of each?

The customer is demanding far more than just great Magento development.” -Jon Woodall

Does a great looking website translate into dollars?

13:08 The Micro Agency Survival Guide

Jon gives his thoughts on how smaller agencies can grow their business and take it to the next level.

17:17 Split Needs and Split Responsibilities

Customers are filling separate business needs with several vendors. Having multiple agencies involved when forging business strategies is tough. Phillip lets us how to work smart and not hard by covering the bases with your skill set.

22:24 Magento Master

What qualifies being a Magento Master? Think you make the cut?

“The key to leadership is recognizing people who have potential and empowering them to realize that potential.” -Phillip Jackson

24:48 #MageTalkMeetup?

Imagine? Jon is coming. Will you be there?

Would you be excited about a MageTalk Meetup? (Maybe get a new # trending??)

27:04 Ask the Masters

A new webinar series from Space 48 called Ask The Masters had its debut episode this past Saturday. Don’t be like Kalen and miss the next one by spending the day at Walmart.

33:22 Regional Challenges

Phillip and Jon discuss regional challenges for their respective Magento Enterprise. Do you face any of these same challenges?

38:18 A Shift in the Tide

Phillip talks about the shift in focus from B2C to B2B business in various cities across the country and how this shift can address some the challenges agencies are facing.

Jon brings up the potentially intimidating prospect of change management and the changes that this will bring to teams across the board.

41:37 Fixed-Bid Battle

It’s getting juicy now.

Kalen recently tweeted a rather sassy comic about fixed price estimates (see below) and directs some of his concerns towards Jon. Jon goes to bat for the fixed bid system. Are the problems with the system itself, or with the individual customers?

Who do you think won the battle?

52:30 Client Communication: The Key to A Successful Relationship

“This project can be fast, effective or fair. But it can only be two of the three.” -Jon Woodall

Jon breaks down not only the difficulties of project billing but the issues with client relationships in general. Phillip suggests some commonality that can help agencies communicate and get on the same page with their clients.

57:07 Mergers, and acquisitions, and growth, oh my!

Jon gives a brief snapshot of his busy 2018.

59:49 #Community

Phillip lays out what he thinks the Magento UK community is going to need to do to grow.

Links / Mentions

Guest

-Jon Woodall Twitter

–Space 48
–Ask The Masters

MageTalk Episode 161 – “Cocaine and Caviar”

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The guys get down and dirty on #magentohatmonday – which is truly the best of the Magento Community, Imagine MC Duties fall to Phillip, “Winkling” Conversion Rates, Healthcare Startups for Magento.

Show Notes

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Let’s leverage our synergies

And snag the low-hanging fruit

The boys start off the episode with some social lubrication tips and a few examples of deeply moving poetry.

2:56 – The new face of Imagine?

Phil’s face has been plastered all over the internet since the public announcement that Phil was asked to be the Master of Ceremonies for Imagine.

Phil clears up his most asked question whether Mark Lavelle is still in his shower.

6:36 – Warmr Up Your Network

Kalen and Tom Robertshaw have begun work on Warmr, an app that helps you follow up with people in your existing network. Hopefully the landing page is up by now…

“It’s a simple web app that pulls in your contacts from social and email and gives you an easy way to follow up with people you haven’t been in touch with.” -Kalen Jordan

Phil thinks it could be pretty cool. Don’t panic, it’s a CRM. Or is it?

10:26 – Throwing Back 

Check out some interviews with Yoav Kutner, a co-founder of Magento, on the New Around Here? page at Magetalk.com.

13:35 – Kalen In the Ring 

Kalen recorded an episode of eCommerceFuel back in December that just released February 9. Head over there to hear Kalen defend Magento as a viable strategy for eCommerce merchants to launch. It’s like the Hunger Games up in here.

18:13 – Magento Hat Monday: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

#MagentoHatMonday. Where’d it start? Who came up with it? What is it? Why has it gotten so much more engagement than anything else?

The boys assign awards to their favorite hat wearers. We find out how the episode got its title.

21:46 – Innovating the Future of Magento

Finally some content. The five “finalists” for the Magento Innovation Lab have been announced. The boys give their thoughts and impressions as they go through the list.

Special shoutout to the Alexa cameo at 24:46. Hey girl.

Some fancy ideas on this list, like the ability to virtually try on glasses using AR.

32:50 – Incentivizing User Generated Content  

Oscar Healthcare will give you $1 a day for every day you walk 10,000 steps. It integrates with Google Fit and Apple Health. A cool, simple integration that incentivizes a healthy lifestyle.

If Oscar is willing to pay to take that many steps, there is definitely something to it. How’s your 2018 resolution coming along?

What could we see in retail that would elicit a similar response?

37:43 – Turn that Frown Upside Down, Negatives into Positives 

Jack Rogers is in the midst of a customer loyalty campaign brainstorm. Phil gives some ideas on how to take negatives and turn them into positives using User Generated Content.

How can you spin negative business aspects or reviews into positive marketing?

42:00 – Office Envy

The Inchoo Office is 7,500 square feet of office porn. See what a thriving Magento business can get you.

44:13 – Get Interviewed As a Contributor 

If you have started to contribute to the Magento Core on Github for 2018, David Manners wants to interview you.

45:50 – Stack Exchange Critiques

Some fair criticism on where the Stack Exchange is in 2018.

The half-life of relevant contribution in Stack Exchange is so short that it’s creating a distrust of all answers and longevity of those answers. -Phil Jackson

It’s going to take a vigilant community to maintain the ever bifurcating stack exchange and the ever-changing cloud product. Vote for moderators. It’s important.

49:54 – February’s Featured Magento Extensions

Kalen has some featured extensions for February 2018.

Some cool stuff here. Gene Commerce (known for Bluefoot CMS and the Apple Pay Extension) has a payment module that replaces the existing Braintree module in the Magento core with a suite of other payment options that could prove to be very handy.

What’s happening with the Magento Core Team?

56:32 – Kalen’s Growth Hack of the Week

Links / Mentions

MageTalk Episode 157 – “We Shan’t Speak About Monrovia”

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Show Notes

Transcript

Coming Soon!