Frankly Speaking – Microsoft Podcast

I can’t be any clearer: You must listen to this podcast.

Frankly Speaking is the new weekly (kinda) podcast from Andrew Coates and Michael Kordahi. The guys have hit their 6th podcast (in less than 6 weeks!) so they are definitely on a roll.

They cover technology news, Microsoft news and conduct interviews with all kinds of crazy people.

If I were a software manager, here’s what I’d be doing every Friday afternoon around 5pm (ie beer o’clock):

I’d gather the team into a conference room (or other suitable location), break out the beers and make everyone listen to the latest episode.

The guys have thoughtfully made the podcasts available each Friday afternoon – ready for some stimulating discussion at your workplace. The episodes are only 30 minutes each, with the topics interesting & appropriate for a developer team. But I’d even consider pulling in some of the company IT guys to take a listen. You can view the existing episodes here to see the variety so far.

To be fair, the show is in its infancy, and they’re still finding their way a bit. But take a listen to episode 2 and tell me you aren’t impressed at how polished the show is already. Plus, Andrew and Michael have mentioned numerous times they are looking for feedback (good and bad). What should they talk more about, less about, who should they interview, etc.

Personally I really like their banter – it’s engaging and informative, whilst not taking itself too seriously. I’d like to see more insight into Microsoft specifically (perhaps even an interview with Tracey Fellows) and possibly the show being used as a way to act as a trusted advisor (eg if the guys tell me to consider a particular technology I trust them, and if something isn’t quite ready then they tell me that too).

Recommended listening.