Ops Cast

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For years, the hard part of ops work was building the technology. Now the tech is getting easier while the people and process side is getting harder. So why are so many organizations still stuck debating AI instead of activating it?
In this episode, host Michael Hartmann sits down with Andrea Tarrell, President of the Tech Services line at Trilliad and CEO of Sercante. Together, they discussed the human side of change in the AI world with speed, trust, risk tolerance, and the trade-offs GTM teams are making right now.
In this episode:
Why the technology got easier,
 but the people and process side got harder
How much of AI adoption is really a trust and change management problem, not a tech one
Fear of job replacement vs. plain organizational inertia
AI may not replace your job, but someone using it well may outperform someone who refuses to adapt
Solving the tension between "move faster with AI" and "watch out for the risks."
What companies get wrong about risk management and tolerance for risk in the AI world
Why old governance frameworks may not fit a world of fast experimentation
And a lot more...
Whether you lead an ops team or sit inside one, this is a timely conversation about innovation, speed, governance, and practical business reality.
If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone in the ops community who would find it valuable.
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Today, most teams aren't just struggling to build their AI strategies. The real struggle begins when they try to execute their strategies. In this episode of Ops Cast, host Michael Hartmann sits down with David York, Chief AI and Innovation Officer at Helix CXM, to get practical answers about what it really takes for GTM organizations to move from talking about AI to operationalizing it.
David has spent years working at the intersection of marketing operations, RevOps, automation, and AI transformation. Together, he and Michael discovered an uncomfortable truth about how most teams are already overwhelmed by manual work, fragmented processes, shadow systems, and operational debt. 

Piling "figure out AI" on top of all that creates more chaos. In this conversation, you'll hear:
Why the gap between AI strategy and implementation is so hard to close
What operational excellence actually looks like in practice, and why it has to come first
Why mapping how work gets done today is the critical first step before introducing AI
The real difference between automation and "automation plus intelligence"
How to identify low-risk, high-value AI use cases (like partially manual lead routing) versus harder ones
The hidden costs teams underestimate: tooling, LLM costs, maintenance, and human monitoring
Where human judgment is still absolutely required
Practical advice on where to start if you're feeling overwhelmed by AI pressure right now
Whether you lead a scrappy SMB or a specialized team inside a large enterprise, this is a grounded discussion about the reality of AI in modern GTM, beyond the hype and the LinkedIn hot takes.
David also published a new book this week, AI-Powered Growth: A 7-Step Adoption and Transformation Framework, which goes deeper into how Marketing Ops leaders can systematically prioritize and operationalize AI initiatives. Grab a copy here: https://www.amazon.com/AI-Powered-Growth-7-Step-Adoption-Transformation/dp/B0H2QCZG5M/
Enjoy the episode!
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What separates a marketing team that drives growth from one that just stays busy?
Ondar Tarlow came into marketing from the business side rather than the traditional marketing path, and that lens changes how he reads a P&L, how he allocates budget, and how he earns credibility with finance and the executive team.
In this episode of Ops Cast, host Michael Hartmann sits down with Ondar, marketing consultant and former CMO, for a practical conversation about thinking commercially. 
They get into why so many marketers struggle to articulate how their company actually makes money, how to translate strategy into a budget and investment plan, and how to secure buy-in from the people holding the purse strings without getting blindsided in the room.
Michael and Ondar discussed:
Why coming from the business side reshapes how you approach marketing
The reason so many marketers can't explain how their business makes money
What separates growth-driving teams from teams stuck executing activity
How to turn strategy into a real budget and investment plan
The biggest mistakes leaders make when seeking buy-in from finance and the board
Balancing spend across acquisition, retention, partnerships, and brand
Why minimizing surprises is a hallmark of strong operators
Where AI is already creating a practical advantage in research and learning
How cheap access to strategic knowledge changes career development, and its risks
What community building (Fast Lane Drive, Worn & Driven Magazine) teaches about retention
What makes a brand partnership strategically valuable versus just promotional
If you've ever wanted to be the marketer the executive team actually listens to, this conversation is a roadmap for getting there.
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Why is it so hard for teams to say what they actually think?
We nod in meetings, then raise concerns in Slack afterward. We approve work, then reopen it at the last minute. We pile up version 20, 30, 40 of a deliverable, wondering why nothing ever feels finished.
In this episode of Ops Cast, host Michael Hartmann sits down with Kira Troilo, founder of Art & Soul Consulting, who brings two decades of theater experience into the world of team collaboration. 
Her insight is that most teams are stuck in "performance mode," being careful and polite, when what they really need is "rehearsal mode," where it's safe to be messy, disagree early, and surface the truth before it gets expensive.
Michael and Kira discussed:
Why politeness is a hidden source of inefficiency, and what the "silence tax" actually costs organizations
The real reason approval cycles balloon into endless rounds of revisions
How theater's "first rehearsal" tradition translates to designing better team kickoffs
Why tools, workflows, and AI don't fix the underlying communication problem
Practical tactics teams can adopt this week to give honest feedback earlier
Whether AI and automation make these collaboration challenges better or worse
How leaders can shift from managing output to designing how their teams work together
If you've ever felt that rework, fire drills, and misalignment are symptoms of something deeper on your team, this conversation will give you a new lens and a starting point.
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 Most RevOps advice assumes your organization is already halfway in your success journey. But what happens when you're starting from zero, with no clear blueprint, inconsistent data, and a team that can't agree on how revenue actually works? 
In this episode, host Michael Hartmann sits down with Chelsea Gill, CMO at Resultant, who recently expanded her role to include RevOps and Customer Experience. What started as a need for better data and process quickly revealed a full-scale management change challenge across the entire organization.
Chelsea and Michael discussed:
What Chelsea expected when stepping into RevOps and what she actually found
Why most RevOps frameworks assume more maturity than most teams have
What a "beta" version of RevOps actually looks like in practice
How to change behavior across sales, marketing, and leadership (not just process)
The role of empathy and storytelling in building organizational trust around data
Whether marketing has contributed to its own credibility problem inside the business
If you're going through the messy middle between marketing, sales, and operations, or trying to build RevOps without a roadmap, this episode is a must watch for you.
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