Feb 27, 2019 | 2 min read

Roman Dumiak: Creating a Culture of Innovation in IT

By: Patrick Emmons

Roman Dumiak: Collaboration & How it Evolves with Technology

On DragonSpears first installment of “Innovation and the Digital Enterprise” Shelli and Pat welcome Roman Dumiak to talk about how technology affects collaborative efforts in anything from programming to E-sports to smart speakers.

Roman Dumiak, who currently works at a small private equity firm giving technical advice on potential clients, previously worked at Allstate Insurance for over 40 years, wearing many hats including software developer, infrastructure handler in database/network, chief architect, and held the position of Director of Technology Innovation for 6 years.

Episode Highlights:

  • [00:51] Introduction to Roman Dumiak
  • [04:20] Scrum vs. Extreme Programming
  • [06:06] Empathy in the recruitment process
  • [10:09] Where the Allstate Innovation Team began and how it grew
  • [16:19] Paired Programming as a valuable asset instead of a waste of resources
  • [19:41] Shift in Programming as isolated work to collaboration
  • [23:23] The approach of an Egalitarian work environment
  • [27:55] Introduction of product managers to Allstate
  • [33:38] Innovation Lab and the Car Sharing Startup
  • [38:10] Alexa and other developments that toe the line of success/failure
  • [43:12] E-Sports and Group Gaming
  • [48:52] Collaboration evolving with technology
  • [50:46] Innovation and Rebuilding

If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe and leave a much-appreciated review in iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts!

Subscribe on Your Favorite Podcast Platform
Innovation and the Digital Enterprise
Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on Google PodcastsListen on Spotify Podcasts

Editing & Post-Production by Dante32.

About Patrick Emmons

If you can’t appreciate a good sports analogy, movie quote, or military reference, you may not want to work with him, but if you value honesty, integrity, and commitment to improvement, Patrick can certainly help take your business or your career to the next level. “Good enough,” is simply not in his vernacular. Pat’s passion is for relentlessly pushing himself and others to achieve full potential. Patrick Emmons is a graduate of St. Norbert College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Mathematics. Patrick co-founded Adage Technologies in 2001 and in 2015, founded DragonSpears as a spin-off dedicated to developing custom applications that improve speed, compliance and scalability of clients’ internal and customer-facing workflow processes. When he is not learning about new technology, running a better business, or becoming a stronger leader, he can be found coaching his kids’ (FIVE of them) baseball and lacrosse teams and praising his ever-so-patient wife for all her support.

Recent Episodes

We interview leaders from early-stage start-ups to billion-dollar enterprises who distill their lessons from their victories and their failures. Learn how these high-performing leaders organize their teams, establish a growth-minded culture, and leverage new technologies such as DevOps and Cloud.