Digital Frontlines w/Heath Dorn

Ep. 14 - Fred Simon & Kelly Hartman from JFrog Software

On this episode of Digital Frontlines, Heath sits down with Fred Simon—co-founder of JFrog and co-creator of Artifactory, the DevOps backbone trusted by millions of developers worldwide—and Kelly Hartman, JFrog’s Senior VP of Partner Sales who leads the company’s government practice and previously served in the U.S. Air Force. We dig into the origins of Artifactory, securing the software supply chain at scale, and how public-sector teams can deliver faster without sacrificing trust. From open source to ATO, and pipelines to policy, Fred and Kelly share practical lessons for builders on the edge of mission and innovation. Tune in for strategies you can apply today.

Ep. 13 - Colt Whittall, former Chief Experience Officer in the Department of the Air Force

Today on Digital Frontlines we’re joined by Colt Whittall, the first-ever Chief Experience Officer in the Department of the Air Force and a driving force behind digital transformation across the DoD. With a background as a VP in the private sector before stepping into government service as a Highly Qualified Expert, Colt has led groundbreaking efforts to improve user experience for more than 700,000 Airmen, Guardians, and contractors. From redesigning mega user journeys like in-processing and out-processing, to measuring digital experience at scale with the Air Force IT Pulse, Colt’s work has doubled user satisfaction and set a new benchmark for how government can serve its people. He’s also a thought leader in scaling UX across complex systems and continues to advise on the future of digital transformation in defense and beyond.”

Ep. 12 - Jim Kirby US Army Veteran & Space Force Operator

Today on Digital Frontlines we welcome Jim Kirby, U.S Army space-operations veteran, former National Space Defense Center Mission Director, and wildfire-hardened Chief-of-Fire who now keeps satellites safe. Iraq Veteran with the 82nd Airborne Division leading recon teams in Bagdad. As chief of the J-32 Space Recon Division and co-founder of the Joint Commercial Operations cell, Jim fused warfighter insight with Agile product management, shrinking orbital decision cycles with the OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act). He breaks down how discipline, teamwork, and continuous learning drive rapid orbital operations and defense innovation to outpace peer competitors.

Ep. 11 - Nathen Harvey DORA Lead at Google

Join us on Digital Frontlines as we sit down with Nathen Harvey, the Google Cloud Developer Relations engineer who leads the industry-defining DORA research program behind the Accelerate State of DevOps reports. Nathen unpacks the 2024 report’s biggest revelations from surprising trade-offs between AI-powered velocity and system stability and explains what they mean for high-consequence teams in defense and beyond. We also explore platform engineering metrics, lessons from his Chef community days, and practical steps leaders can take to turn data into mission success. Tune in for an actionable, metric-driven roadmap to faster, safer software delivery.

Ep. 10 - JT Nicol

John Nicol brings four decades of Agile leadership, steering Fortune-10 innovators such as Google, Microsoft, Costco, PayPal, 3M, Comcast, and USAA and later mission-critical Department of Defense programs, through sweeping, enterprise-wide transformations that convert sluggish organizations into high-velocity delivery machines. Now Transformation Coach at Digital Transformations, he fuses commercial best practices with defense-grade rigor to help teams ship value faster, safer, and with the relentless energy of a startup.