November 04, 2014

SAM 028 | Interview with technology guru Darrell O'Donnell

52 minutes

This episode is an interview with Technology Guru Darrell O’Donnell. I met Darrell through my social media channels. Darrell is located in Ottawa, Ontario and runs a very successful consulting and coaching business where he bridges the knowledge gap between the technology creators and innovators and the front end users of that technology – us… the first responder community. As you can imagine, this is no easy task.

Darrell has a special passion for technology that helps first responders develop, maintain and improve situational awareness by providing rapid access to critical information that can aid in decision making.

We recorded this interview in Darrell’s home in Ottawa where he invited me to join his wife Nancy, his daughter Haley and his son Connor for dinner. Coincidentally, it was Connor’s 15th birthday so I got to be part of that celebration, which was really cool. I was in town working on a project that brought 40 researchers and practitioners together from around the world to develop an international curriculum for compartment fire behavior training. It was an awesome opportunity to share and learn with some amazingly smart and talented fire service leaders. I was honored to be selected to develop a situational awareness and decision making component for the curriculum. This will be, to my knowledge, the first international curriculum that incorporates a full-day of decision making and situational awareness training.

The interview was recorded on Sunday, October 19. By the time this podcast airs, listeners will know, yesterday, October 22nd, a man shot and killed a soldier here in Ottawa. This happened across the street from our hotel. For those who may be interested, I will post some pictures in the show notes that I took from the balcony moments following the shooting. We live in a world that has many challenges. Please, do everything you can to ensure your situational awareness is strong and remain vigilant on, and off the job.

Guest contact information:

Darrell O'Donnell, P.Eng.

Founder & Principal Coach

Technology In OPS

p: +613.627.2454 x700

1.888.978.8337 x 700 (toll free)

[email protected]

twitter: @darrello

Thank you to our Sponsors:

Midwest Fire: www.MidwestFire.com

Branding Iron: www.BrandingIron.com

Situational Awareness Matters! website