Lots of people are talking about DEI and programs designed to improve diversity and inclusion. And while some may argue that skill, rather than culture, skin color, or gender, should be the defining trait to hire against, I argue that it’s not the only important factor.
The Benefit of Improving Diversity
There are clear economic and business reasons for diversifying technology teams. For example, if the technology is designed, built, and implemented by a diverse group of people, the product and services that get deployed will better reflect the customers we serve. This means product and services will have taken into consideration a wider range of use cases and preferences than would otherwise be left out, resulting in superior products and services.
Thankfully, we are seeing companies in the streaming industry embrace this. I believe we have progressed in terms of diversity in the streaming industry because during the early years of my career with different telecommunication companies, most often I was the only female engineer in the room. Today, there are more women and people of diverse backgrounds in technology positions, and I am no longer the lone female engineer in most settings. But, while progress has been made through the years, there is still a way to go to improve representation.
How The Streaming Industry Can Lean into Diversifying Technology Teams
Continuing the progress made is going to take commitment, despite the growing pushback against diversity programs and initiatives. And that commitment needs to involve both individuals and companies or organizations. Women and people of color can often be “quiet contributors” and high performers but, because of social or cultural stigmas, fear raising their voice. Companies and organizations need to keep a lookout for these people and encourage their participation. But, along with that, those individuals must seek the opportunities to contribute openly and, when available, make sure they take advantage of them. If this can happen more consistently, I believe we will continue to make good progress towards building more diverse and inclusive environments which will promote technology innovation and improvements in the overall industry.
Drawing From My Own Experience
I have a unique story with Streaming Video Technology Alliance. The SVTA has been a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion way before it was a “thing”. I joined the SVTA back in 2018 and became an active member in the Privacy and Protection Working Group in early 2019. A co-chair opportunity opened unexpectedly in July 2019. Glenn Dean and Mike Wilkinson, colleagues at Comcast, recommended that I be the next Co-Chair for the working group. With the approval of my employer, I become the Co-Chair to help lead the working group and I was the first female co-chair for any Working Group at SVTA! Who would have thought? I was surprised and happy to help start a trend for more female participants.
But a leadership role in a big organization like the SVTA allowed me to also pursue something that I am excited about as well. As IP video streaming moves toward a direct-to-consumer model, I noticed that there was not an easy way to find security information or best practices, in a single place, to secure IP video delivery end-to-end. So, I proposed to the group a new publication titled “OTT Streaming Security Checklist”. As with all our project ideas, we submitted it, along with others, as a poll to the broader SVTA membership for input. When everything was said and done, the SVTA members agreed that the security checklist was the project our group should work on. It is exciting to see members from security vendors, content owners, and service providers come together and contribute to the checklist which, of course, has now been published and is available for anyone to download and read. I am grateful for the opportunity and happy to be part of the Working Group.
Like the SVTA, If We Work Together, We Succeed Together
I am very excited about the future of women and diversity within the streaming industry. The SVTA has created a forum where anyone, whether a technology vendor or a streaming platform operator, can sit at the table and contribute to the development of documents that help the industry. And it’s all those unique perspectives that help create the work we do. Without everyone participating, the documents would be one-sided. So, you can see why it’s so important that we not only have different company types helping but different types of people as well. But that can only happen if we help those people, who have historically been overlooked, to raise their voices and contribute to the discussion. When that happens, we all win.
