0:00

Welcome back to Open Commons with me

0:02

Alf and me Oliver . Joining us

0:04

today from the Open Group Houston Summit

0:06

is Roberto Severo , country

0:09

Manager for the Open Group covering Brazil

0:11

, colombia and Peru . Thank

0:13

you , roberto , for joining us today for this

0:16

episode . We look forward to diving

0:18

into your career journey so far , career

0:20

advice and much more .

0:23

Thank you . Thank you for inviting

0:25

me to this podcast . It's

0:27

a great initiative . I appreciate a lot

0:30

.

0:30

Well , thank you for coming and we're glad that we're

0:32

able to meet up in Houston . So

0:34

I guess , to begin with , roberto , could you tell us a little

0:37

bit about yourself and

0:39

how you got involved with the Open Group .

0:40

Maybe your life before sure

0:43

sure , yes , uh , I used

0:45

to work in the corporate

0:47

world and , okay

0:49

, my formation

0:51

is technical . I used to

0:53

code , actually , uh

0:56

, in c , c , plus , plus and

0:59

things like that , like

1:14

that . I was a nerd actually . I started programming or

1:16

coding when I was 13 , in 1981

1:20

. And , okay , since it was clear that IT was my , I watched IT more

1:22

than anything else and

1:24

I started to work in

1:28

companies with IT and

1:30

at that time we

1:32

had very particular

1:34

languages like Clipper

1:37

, high-level

1:39

languages as well , low-level

1:43

languages like C , c++ , assembler

1:45

, like this . And

1:47

then I'm going to

1:50

evolve in my

1:53

career . I

1:56

used to code and as

1:58

a consulting person too . I

2:01

used to go to two

2:03

companies they

2:07

are customers of our consulting

2:09

company and code

2:11

there and make consulting

2:14

, but very technical , you know , very

2:17

technical . And in

2:20

2001

2:22

I moved

2:24

. I used to work in

2:27

2000 . I used to work for

2:29

a Linux distro

2:32

, call it Connectiva

2:34

, in Curitiba , brazil

2:37

and the south side of Brazil

2:39

, and

2:47

it was the first time I get in touch with open software

2:50

and free software as well and I was really

2:52

, really engaged with the cause

2:54

of free software and open

2:57

software . So

2:59

after Connectiva

3:01

, I went to Sao Paulo , which

3:03

is my hometown . Sao

3:06

Paulo was born in Sao Paulo , cities

3:08

of Sao Paulo . And

3:11

then I go back to Sao Paulo

3:13

and started

3:15

working for a

3:18

bank , a

3:20

medium bank called

3:22

Unibanco , medium

3:24

bank called Unibanco

3:27

, and

3:32

one time a crazy manager . I had a woman

3:34

, very smart woman . I reported to and

3:39

architecture was brand

3:41

new , very new

3:43

thing not implemented

3:45

by other companies

3:48

. And this woman

3:50

, this manager I had said

3:53

I want to start an

3:56

architecture area here

3:58

in the bank . Would

4:02

you like to join us ?

4:05

She said okay , why not ?

4:08

I don't know how to implement architecture

4:10

. At that time I didn't know how

4:12

to implement it , but I said

4:14

, okay , let's do it . So

4:17

we made a

4:19

lot of mistakes , and

4:22

right things

4:24

, of course and then I

4:26

spent 10 years

4:28

in the finance

4:30

area working for banks

4:33

, credit cards acquirers and

4:35

companies that touches

4:37

finance

4:40

. And

4:42

now , now we enter in the group

4:45

, I think I was

4:47

a little bit wasted of the

4:49

corporate life

4:51

. You know the same protocols

4:54

everywhere , the same politics

4:56

everywhere . You

5:00

change the stage , but you have

5:02

the same show every time . You change

5:06

the stage , but you have the same show

5:08

every time . And

5:11

then I had a chapter of Association of Enterprise Architecture

5:14

in Sao Paulo and I used to go to events like this . The

5:16

first one was in Boston Bridget

5:30

Hu , who was the general manager of AEA , invited me to create

5:32

a chapter in Brazil and I accepted and I started to work for AEA and

5:35

frequently I went to events

5:41

of the open group , attend conferences

5:44

, quarterly conferences and

5:46

working somewhere . One

5:48

day I remember Stephen

5:51

Stephen wasn't the

5:53

president , it was Alan

5:56

Brown and

5:58

I say , okay , I'm going to talk

6:01

to this guy and I

6:03

offer myself for

6:06

working for the Open Group

6:08

in Brazil . And

6:11

we had a dinner and

6:13

Stephen was

6:15

working in legal and

6:19

he was there too and

6:21

one month after that

6:23

they invited me to join

6:26

the Open Group team . And here

6:29

I am . How long

6:31

has that been ? It was

6:33

in 2012 . So

6:37

I have almost

6:39

13 years no , no , actually

6:41

12 years of Open Group . I

6:44

never thought

6:46

I could spend more than 10

6:48

years in one single company

6:50

and now I

6:53

can't . I

6:55

can't imagine not working

6:57

for the Open Group . Things

7:00

change , so

7:03

I'm very happy here and

7:13

staying on that track . Can you describe some of the main challenges you

7:15

faced leading to you ? Oh

7:18

, I could write a book on this

7:20

, because we

7:27

have a lot of barriers in Brazil . The first one is the language . Guys

7:31

, we speak Portuguese , not Spanish , in Brazil

7:33

, okay , and the capital is Brasilia okay

7:35

, and Brazil is

7:37

a very peculiar place

7:40

, and

7:42

things that

7:45

work in the US or in England

7:47

doesn't work in Brazil . So

7:51

we have to adopt

7:53

the . Okay

7:57

, your presence must

7:59

be global , but you act

8:02

locally , so

8:04

we have some peculiarities we

8:06

have to do in Brazil . That also

8:09

doesn't work in don't work

8:11

in in US or in England

8:13

, so we had to adapt

8:16

things to work . I

8:18

think other offices around the world also

8:20

had to do that India

8:23

or China , it's

8:25

the same . But I was

8:27

alone , and then I had

8:29

to make it happen in Brazil and

8:33

at that time we

8:35

had a few industry

8:38

forums only the

8:41

main forum was . At

8:43

the time I joined it was architecture

8:45

forum and then Archimede

8:47

, but that's

8:50

it . That's it .

8:52

Would you say adapting has

8:55

helped you to stay resilient

8:57

as well , throughout the whole thing .

8:58

Sure , sure . I

9:02

really working for the work

9:04

group I have to thank to

9:06

work in here and I had

9:09

a great

9:11

report history

9:15

of great guys

9:17

that helped me to some

9:20

soft skills like resilience

9:22

, like empathy , things

9:25

that you really don't learn but

9:29

you just wake up for

9:32

this and I found myself

9:34

with a lot of soft

9:37

skills that I didn't know I had

9:39

and I

9:41

discovered that

9:43

I like people and

9:50

I discovered that I like people , I like

9:52

persons , which is very difficult in the corporate life . And yes , so

9:54

yes , the adaptation learned me a lot of things

9:57

, resilience included .

9:59

So you mentioned obviously

10:01

you've been at the Open Group for 12 years

10:03

. What kind

10:05

of changes have you seen over the

10:07

time ? You talked about . When

10:10

you first started things over in

10:12

Brazil , it was Archimate and

10:14

Architecture that were the

10:16

two big forums , but things are

10:18

changing now , aren't they ?

10:20

Yeah , yeah , a lot , yeah

10:30

, yeah , a lot

10:32

, but for better . It's like

10:34

evolution , you know . And

10:51

when it comes to adaptation , this was very

10:54

important to adapt to the industry . For example , when it started , we had a few

10:56

forums and things

11:12

start to change when the open group started to

11:14

look at the industry and started to develop more industry centric

11:17

forums . And I can say to you , the real big change was the

11:19

OPATH , the Open Process

11:21

Automation Forum . After

11:23

OPATH , this was a turning point for Open Group Automation Forum . After OPATH , this

11:26

was a turning point for Open

11:28

Group . I think I was talking to Steve Nunn

11:31

yesterday about that . That

11:33

was a turning point . A

11:35

flood of new members came

11:37

to the Open Group and

11:40

after that , osdu was

11:42

a big change . Ten

11:45

years ago you , you could

11:48

not imagine one

11:50

oil

11:52

and gas operator talking to

11:54

the other oil and gas operator

11:57

in the same table . Okay

11:59

, it was bloody war

12:01

, but not with

12:03

the open group . We say , okay

12:05

, when you pass this door , everyone

12:08

is friends . Okay , when you go

12:10

out , you can kill yourselves in

12:14

the market , of course

12:17

. And now we have OFP . That

12:20

is going . Actually

12:22

, we talk about the same

12:24

thing , which is data , and

12:27

we have a very good

12:29

model for automation , very

12:31

good model for OSDU

12:33

surface form

12:36

and now very

12:38

good model for OpenFootprint

12:40

, and I can

12:43

see we are on the right track now

12:45

and let's keep evolving

12:47

.

12:49

Why do you think that that is the right

12:51

track ? Is that just relevant

12:53

to what going on in brazil ? Within

12:57

those areas ?

12:58

that does yes

13:02

, yes , because

13:05

I think companies , uh

13:07

, also learned how to work

13:09

with the open group , brazil

13:13

included , any company . They

13:16

learned how to work with the open group , learned

13:19

how to request things

13:21

and start forums with

13:25

the open group and the benefits they

13:28

have having the open group

13:31

together . And

13:33

, for

13:35

example , this industry

13:37

thing . As you know , every

13:40

forum comes from the

13:43

market , comes from our

13:45

members . We don't create content

13:47

, we just have a good process , good

13:49

artifacts , good

13:57

process actually , and

14:00

implement that and

14:02

we make a mediation with the

14:05

stakeholders , the members , members

14:07

. So if you have two members

14:09

, you were able to

14:12

create a forum , a work group , and

14:14

then maybe to transform

14:17

into a forum . And

14:20

, as I think we we

14:23

are not , we're still learning , and

14:25

it

14:28

is I think it's not particular

14:31

in Brazil , but globally

14:34

the market is learning

14:36

how to work with open standards

14:38

and the benefits of

14:40

working for open

14:42

standards . As I said , I used

14:45

to work for a open

14:48

software company

14:50

, linux Bistro

14:53

, and I learned

14:55

to think with openness

14:57

and with

15:00

free software and things like that

15:02

. And we have

15:04

a kind we as Open

15:06

Group , we have this kind of DNA . You

15:10

know , that's it .

15:13

Would you say that's what motivates you , maybe

15:16

to stay on another 12 years ?

15:19

things are always changing yeah

15:24

, yeah

15:26

, I , I

15:28

can tell you about now

15:31

. I don't know

15:33

what's going to happen in one , two

15:35

, five years , but I

15:37

can tell you , oliver , now

15:39

I love to work for the Open

15:42

Group . I never

15:44

thought I could before

15:46

, in the 2000

15:49

decade . I never thought

15:51

I could work for a single

15:53

company for more than 10

15:56

years , and

15:58

now I can't imagine how

16:01

to work outside the Open Group

16:03

, because

16:05

I really like the way they

16:08

treat our

16:11

staff with respect

16:13

and I

16:17

work in Brazil and I

16:19

give some updates online to my

16:22

report . Today I have a very

16:24

nice report history person

16:26

like I started reporting to

16:28

. Persons like I started reporting

16:31

to Paul Hickey you

16:33

didn't know that , did you know

16:35

him ? I've never met him , but I know

16:37

him unfortunately

16:40

he passed away and Paul

16:42

Hickey was

16:45

the first person in the open group I

16:47

got in touch to report to and

16:49

then I went to report

16:51

to Alan Brown directly and

16:55

then I went to

16:57

Jim Hytala , a

16:59

very good report

17:02

person to do , and

17:05

now with Mike

17:08

Hickey . So I go

17:10

back to the Hickey family with

17:16

Mike Hickey , so I go back to the Hickey family , so first

17:18

dad and now I report to his son , the

17:20

Mike Hickey , and this always I'm fortunate

17:22

that I have

17:24

good persons I

17:27

reported to .

17:30

Would you also say , within your career

17:32

and your journey with the Open Group , the

17:35

people that you met have really made a difference

17:37

in terms of not only network

17:39

with , but you also collaborated

17:42

with , team members , colleagues

17:44

, that that helps you to you know

17:46

? Stay , I guess , knowledge-wise

17:49

, as fresh as possible , but also learn from

17:51

different people and continue to learn that

17:54

passion and

17:56

excitement is still there to this

17:58

day as well , for sure .

17:59

Sure , ash , I

18:02

really do that . I did that because

18:06

and first I

18:08

had to learn to

18:10

forget things and

18:12

I had to learn how

18:15

to learn with people Because

18:18

I have

18:20

some . I'm

18:24

a single son , so I

18:26

never collaborated too much . I didn't

18:28

have a brother . I collaborated

18:32

too much , I didn't have a brother , and

18:34

so I had to learn some aspects of collaboration in the corporate

18:36

world into a company and

18:39

something to improve . I had something

18:41

to improve and , of course , the

18:43

open group helped me a lot , because

18:47

we have to accept some

18:49

differences and not

18:53

force yourself to set , just

18:55

to set .

18:57

Acknowledging everyone's opinions

19:00

and their thought

19:02

points per se , but also

19:05

giving them not only the floor to express

19:07

themselves , but also letting them

19:09

express themselves in a way that they feel

19:11

open to do so and

19:13

then bringing your point across as well .

19:15

Yes , yes , that's all you

19:18

said . It's true . I

19:20

learned a lot of things with the

19:23

open group to

19:26

accept opinions , and

19:30

there's one way

19:32

of thinking , created in

19:35

Greece many

19:38

years , many centuries ago

19:40

, which is called

19:42

Stoicism . Who

19:46

thinks that way are Stoics , and

19:50

Marco Aurelio and things

19:52

like that , and the great

19:55

, great message they they

19:57

passed to you is how

19:59

to not suffer with

20:02

things that you don't have control . So

20:05

, basically , this is stoicism

20:07

okay , if something

20:10

happened and you don't

20:12

have your part

20:15

, your best , and it

20:17

happened , you don't have

20:19

to suffer . I have small

20:23

and big examples . For example

20:25

, when I came here to

20:27

Houston , I was planning

20:29

to bring something with the

20:31

Brazilian flag , because

20:34

we have 25 Brazilians here

20:36

and

20:38

it's a lot , so to identify them

20:40

, I think it would be a great thing to do

20:42

, and

20:45

I find out that the . Amazon

20:47

in the US , those

20:50

Brazilian flags were cheaper than in Brazil

20:52

. So what I did ? I

20:55

bought it . I bought it and

20:57

asked them to deliver it in

20:59

the locker . They

21:01

didn't come . So

21:04

you don't see my Brazilian flag and

21:07

I learned to . Okay

21:09

, I didn't have control

21:12

over this . Yeah , I don't have

21:14

to suffer . This is a small

21:16

thing . Okay , there are

21:18

big things like we

21:22

recruit members I work

21:24

for business development here and

21:27

we recruit members and

21:29

sometimes they cancel . We

21:36

recruit members and sometimes they cancel , and in the beginning when they canceled , I tended

21:38

to suffer a little bit , but

21:41

they have their reasons and

21:44

I didn't have

21:46

nothing to do

21:48

and it's totally

21:52

out of my control . So why

21:54

am I going to suffer with that ? Let's

21:56

go to work and get more members

22:00

, that's it . So I

22:02

learned that just this way of thinking

22:04

came up after working

22:06

with Open Group .

22:08

You may not have had the badges , but you

22:11

do . You mentioned you've got a record

22:13

number of Brazilian

22:15

members in attendance .

22:17

Yeah , that's right this

22:20

. Yes , allow

22:23

me to say , oliver , that

22:26

I'm very happy here in Houston

22:28

because I feel the

22:31

evolution of the Brazilian office

22:34

25 attendees

22:37

from different companies , a tabletop

22:39

the first Brazilian tabletop

22:42

in events open group

22:44

events . Tomorrow we're going to have

22:46

a hands-on workshop

22:50

with our member Smar

22:53

, on OPAS

22:56

, which is the standard of OPAS

22:58

, and well

23:01

, I can say I'm

23:03

really happy with the performance

23:05

of Brazilian office today . Okay

23:08

, I don't know tomorrow , but today I'm happy

23:10

.

23:11

Okay , so for those perhaps

23:14

, either maybe those changing their careers

23:17

or those looking to start their careers

23:19

what kind of advice are

23:23

you

23:25

on for getting involved in the areas that

23:27

you are involved in ? What

23:30

kind of Advice , advice

23:32

.

23:37

Okay , I'm 57

23:40

years old , so I

23:43

have a good experience in

23:45

the corporate world and

23:47

I would advise to

23:49

really

23:52

to

24:12

really , when you pick your

24:15

track in like respect , a

24:17

friendly place

24:20

to work , and you

24:23

have a lot of things here in the Open

24:25

Group . It's not

24:27

only finance things

24:30

. I know

24:33

many countries . This is good

24:35

. I know many

24:37

people , I improved

24:41

my networking and

24:43

so be sure that

24:46

you're going to a company that only

24:48

pay your salary but

24:50

don't give

24:53

you happiness

24:55

and satisfaction of

24:57

wake up every

25:00

morning and go to work . Yeah

25:03

, build the satisfaction . Satisfaction is

25:05

one the key thing , it's the

25:07

key thing , for sure , for

25:09

sure something

25:12

similar .

25:13

Other guests said , to

25:16

paraphrase them all you're not doing

25:18

what .

25:20

Yeah , I'm gonna do it forever yes

25:23

, that's it perfect , perfect , perfect

25:26

yes the

25:28

passion for what you do certainly comes across

25:30

, you can tell .

25:31

You know , um , your eyes literally sparkle

25:33

when you talk about what you do . So that's amazing . You

25:35

know , and you have that , not

25:38

only that longevity , but also just

25:40

that um , continuous , like

25:42

continuous learning , but continuous passion , and

25:44

so the continuous , uh yearning

25:47

to keep on growing . You know , not only from

25:49

others , but even like you know . If you don't know

25:52

a lot about a particular area or you want to know more

25:54

about an area , it's never too , late

25:56

, it's never too early .

25:57

The possibilities are endless .

26:00

Age doesn't have a number , let's be honest . My

26:08

first job wasn't in IT . It didn't

26:10

involve computers or technology

26:13

. It didn't involve computers or technology . In the

26:15

very beginning , in the 80s , I

26:17

used to sell records music

26:20

records in a music

26:24

store . Like

26:28

we had Tower Records . You remember that . I don't

26:31

know if you heard about it . It was based

26:33

, I think , in California . It

26:36

was a building . My

26:39

dream was to work for Tower

26:42

Records and I started

26:44

selling records and

26:46

I was totally open

26:49

to what's coming . I

26:52

learned also to know

26:54

my principles and to get attached

26:56

to my principles , because this

26:59

is another advice for young

27:02

people starting working know

27:05

your principles , something . You're

27:08

not

27:10

give up Some

27:12

things . You have to

27:15

agree and

27:17

maybe open your hand and say

27:19

, okay , okay , let's do your way , but

27:22

when it comes to principles , no

27:27

, I say no . For

27:30

example , if

27:32

a client comes

27:35

to me and says , ok

27:38

, give me a discount and something

27:40

like that and I'll give you something

27:43

in exchange , no

27:45

, this is my principle . You

27:47

have to get attached to your principle

27:49

, otherwise you're not

27:51

going to succeed .

27:59

And it's not necessarily even in your work life , assuming you probably stand by your

28:01

principles .

28:03

Yes , yes , it

28:07

serves to everything . It's

28:13

an interesting point , oliver , because

28:16

, as I said , like

28:18

TOGAF , you can implement

28:21

TOGAF in your life . But

28:24

what ? Your how

28:29

do you think you're going to be in five

28:32

years ? So this is

28:34

your vision , and then

28:36

you start the ATM and Passing

28:39

through what you have to

28:41

do in your life to achieve

28:44

this vision and

28:47

pass through and , and you can . You can

28:49

use Toga

28:52

for your life and you

29:01

can use a toga for your life , and what works usually works for

29:04

your work , for your work usually works for your life too

29:06

. It's a question of principles .

29:08

And to not be hung up on the things you do . Yes

29:12

, yes , that's it .

29:14

That's start thinking . I

29:18

read some books on this and helped

29:21

me a lot and put

29:23

in practice with

29:25

the other group was really

29:28

, really good .

29:32

Similar to the saying as well don't sweat the

29:34

small stuff yeah

29:37

, yeah , yeah , and so

29:42

you know .

29:42

you know the open group is

29:45

not open only in the name . So

29:48

you're very flexible with

29:51

our staff

29:53

. The dress code

29:55

, who you are

29:57

. This is very important

29:59

and

30:01

this part of you

30:04

get every month is

30:06

not your salary and

30:08

it's very difficult

30:10

to have . You can have

30:13

a six digit salary

30:15

but you're not happy with

30:19

something that's

30:21

not searchable and

30:25

I have it here . That's

30:27

why I love to work for Open

30:29

Group . I think the Open Group selects people for Open

30:31

Group . I think the Open Group selects people

30:33

very with a great

30:36

criteria about not

30:38

only technical questions

30:41

and points

30:43

and not salary , but

30:46

with those important things

30:48

you have to match the

30:51

DNA .

30:52

Well , thank you , roberto , for joining

30:54

us today on Open Comments . It

30:56

has been great hearing all about you , your

30:58

career journey advice and your involvement

31:00

in the Open Group so far . We hope

31:02

our listeners , open Comments community , took a

31:04

lot from this episode as much as we have , and

31:07

thank you Until next time , stay

31:09

safe and keep a lookout for the next Open

31:11

Comments episode coming soon

31:13

. Thank you again .

31:15

Thank you very much and

31:17

feel free to call me another

31:20

time or often . It would be

31:22

a pleasure .