MageTalk Episode 166 – “Dark Souls”

“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 162 – An Evening with Jon Woodall

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 116 – Achievement Unlocked

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Hosts

Guests

Show Notes

Achievement unlocked: Phil is a two time Magento Master! The guys talk about the Master program and who is in the Magento Masters 2017 class.

The guys talk all the new stuff Kalen has been up to and the latest updates to Commerce Hero along with Max being made Director of Community Engineering, Magento 2 on demand courses, the Mage Unconference and twitter trolling. What are the differences between the Makers, Mentors and Movers in the Magento Master Program? Kalen and Phil hash out the criteria, describe the differences and how people are categorized.

This is the episode to get to know the Masters! Hear about each of them and their contributions to the community.

Links/Mentions


MageTalk Episode 91 – Imagine 2016 Recap (Part 1)

Show Notes

In part 1 of 2, the guys review the happenings at the 2016 edition of Magento’s annual conference in Las Vegas, Magento Imagine which include the community spotlight program, Magento Masters, the marketing push “Road to Imagine” and the surprise announcement of Magento Enterprise Cloud.

Hosts


MageTalk Episode 84 – A “Clothing Optional” Environment (feat. Kevin Schroeder)

Show Notes

  • 01:33 – Magento Masters
  • 14:13 – Kevin Schroeder

Links/Mentions

Hosts

Guest


MageTalk Episode 82 – “Your Voice Sounds Like it’s Doing the Tango Right Now”

Show Notes

  • 04:42 – Intro, Mid-Market Strategy
  • 16:17 – Partnership Rant
  • 27:43 – Turpentine, Magento 2

Links / Mentions

Hosts

Guest

  • Miguel Balparda, Community Developer, Nexcess – @mbalparda

MageTalk Episode 80 – “Tweet a Bunch of F-Bombs to Your Church”

Show Notes

“Galentines Day” – only the most magnificent day of the year!

Links/Mentions

Hosts


MageTalk Episode 79 – Magento Masters

Show Notes

  • 03:45 – Magento Masters
  • 19:00 – PHP FIG
  • 26:10 – Magento Live France
  • 35:50 – MageTitans Italy, Magento Forums
  • 46:00 – Magento Imagine

Links/Mentions

Host

Guests