Ready, Test, Go. brought to you by Applause is the award-winning podcast for engineering, QA, product and AI leaders who want to build trustworthy digital experiences. Host David Carty interviews thought leaders across software testing, AI adoption, UX/CX and product delivery to uncover the ideas and practices shaping modern digital quality. Each episode blends practical insights and big-picture thinking on topics like AI validation, data quality, effective testing, inclusive design, accessibility and frictionless customer journeys. With past guests including Gene Kim, Michael Bolton and Sandy Pentland, the show provides insights that help teams deliver more reliable, user-centered technology.
The Missing Context Behind AI and Software Quality (Michael Schank)
Enterprise teams are rapidly integrating AI across development, testing and requirements planning. But what is AI missing about the critical organizational context — how software connects to broader business processes? And how does that manifest in requirements gaps, hidden risks and testing misalignments?
Michael Schank, author and founder of Insight Twin, joins the podcast to explain the importance of supplying AI with dynamic models that connect processes, systems, roles and business goals. He explains why AI thrives when it has true operational context — and how it enables engineering and quality leaders to make smarter decisions.
About the guest:
Michael Schank has spent nearly 30 years helping organizations navigate complex transformations — system implementations, operational excellence programs, risk and compliance, enterprise architecture and large-scale digital change. He's the author of Digital Transformation Success, where he introduced the Process Inventory Framework. Now as founder of Insight Twin, Michael helps give leaders clear visibility into their operations so AI projects align with how the business really works.
You can find Michael’s book here: https://a.co/d/0h8TrKqi
Hosted by David Carty
Produced by David Carty, Samsu Sallah and Joe Stella
Graphic design by Karley Searles
To contact the producers, please email us at podcasts@applause.com.
24 Sept 2026
Empathy, Accessibility and the Limits of AI Trust (John McCartney)
Good accessibility is not just the result of meeting a standard. Accessible experiences come from understanding how different people actually experience a product — challenging assumptions early and giving users meaningful influence help guide organizations on the path to exceptional products. Then, why do so many organizations struggle to keep the human perspective in mind? And how is AI amplifying that problem?
In this episode, HCI professional John McCartney joins us to discuss what it takes to make human-centered thinking a shared organizational capability across design, engineering, product and testing. Our conversation looks at where accessibility most often breaks down, and how direct feedback from people with disabilities can expose problems teams would otherwise miss. He explains why empathy has to be supported by real processes, accountability and evidence to drive meaningful work.
About the guest:
John McCartney is a UX and design leader with more than 15 years of experience, currently serving as Senior Manager of User Experience at Progress ShareFile. His focus has been on accessibility and inclusivity as core parts of usability, not separate initiatives layered on top. His background in human-computer interaction and human-centered design shapes how he frames problems, defines success and builds teams.
He's also spent much of his career scaling accessibility approaches, including helping to build org-wide structures, research capacity and team culture that enable human-centered thinking across the org.
To learn more about John’s session at the M-Enabling Summit, please visit: https://www.m-enabling.com/event/c303ac78-b6b9-45b3-a375-10f9ea7bc56b/agenda-schedule?session=70e213fb-0cc7-4a7b-9d54-22e62aafd910\&shareLink=true
To learn more about how Applause supports Progress Software's ShareFile team in building more inclusive apps, please visit: https://www.applause.com/resources/case-studies/sharefile-case-study/video/
Hosted by David Carty
Produced by David Carty, Samsu Sallah and Joe Stella
Graphic design by Karley Searles
To contact the producers, please email us at podcasts@applause.com.
2 Sept 2026
Why Quality at Scale Is a Trust Problem (Nandini Srinivasan)
As AI accelerates code generation, quality teams can't afford to operate as a downstream gatekeeper — when pipeline trust breaks down, the entire delivery engine grinds to a halt. QA leader Nandini Srinivasan joins us to explain why quality at scale is fundamentally a trust problem, and how QA leaders can shift from a late-stage checklist item to a strategic reliability partner.
About the guest:
Nandini Srinivasan is a quality engineering executive with more than 20 years of experience building and scaling global QA organizations across SaaS, mobile, embedded hardware, firmware, AI/ML, and enterprise platforms. At Motive, she leads Quality Assurance, where she has helped evolve the practice from a reactive release-validation function into a proactive, reliability-oriented operating model. Her work spans shift-left quality, performance engineering, automation strategy, customer-facing reliability, and AI-augmented QA practices.
Hosted by David Carty
Produced by David Carty, Samsu Sallah and Joe Stella
Edited by David Carty, Samsu Sallah and Ian Lippincott
Graphic design by Karley Searles
To contact the producers, please email us at podcasts@applause.com.
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
7 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 25 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
37
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
32
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