Gerald M. Weinberg (Jerry) has always been interested in helping smart people be happy and productive. To that end, he has published books on human behavior, including Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method, The Psychology of Computer Programming, Perfect Software and Other Fallacies, and an Introduction to General Systems Thinking. He has also written books on leadership including Becoming a Technical Leader, The Secrets of Consulting (Foreword by Virginia Satir), More Secrets of Consulting, and the four-volume Quality Software Management series. System Ah-ha! The childhood game Pickup Sticks - "Everything is connected!" Favorite System Tool Brainstorming, Randomization, Role-playing, and Watching for Trigger words like, "We don't have to think about that." Learning Resource Design For A Brain by Ross Ashby An Introduction to Cybernetics by Ross Ashby Advice Don't take yourself too seriously - develop a good sense of humor. Contact geraldmweinberg.com A Gift of Time (anthology from readers, students, clients, colleagues, and friends of Jerry) Jerry's page at Leanpub.com (includes many of his books) Errors book (hint: Jerry's email address is on this page - send him an email and start a conversation) Jerry on Twitter: @JerryWeinberg

Curtis Stone is an urban farmer, author, speaker and consultant. His area of expertise is in quick growing, high value annual vegetables for direct consumer market streams. His book, The Urban Farmer demonstrates organic intensive techniques with a focus on business and systems to streamline labour and production. Favorite System Tool Smart phone (with Siri) and Spreadsheets SketchUp Learning Resource The Tai Lopez Show Smart Passive Income with Pat Flynn Permaculture Voices Podcast with Diego Footer Advice Start small and make it tight before expanding. Contact The Urban Farmer by Curtis Stone (book website) GreenCityAcres.com ProfitableUrbanFarming.com The Urban Farmer Show on PermacultureVoices.com podcast Twitter: @GreenCityAcres Instagram: greencityacres

Kate Erickson is a creator, engager and implementer over at EOFire, a 7-day a week podcast that interviews today's most inspiring and successful entrepreneurs. She is also the host of Kate's Take: The EOFire Audio Blog and author of The Fire Path: A Beginner's Guide to Growing Your Online Business. Kate is passionate about helping entrepreneurs create freedom in their business and life through developing systems and processes that can help their business scale and grow. System Ah-ha! As a child, Kate actively organized her play groups - making sure things were in the right place so they worked together. Favorite System Tool SweetProcess.com Learning Resource Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown Advice "Just start ...take that one first step." Contact The Fire Path by Kate Erickson Kate's Take Episode 103 on Systems EOFire.com Entrepreneur on Fire podcasts (Kate's Take and Entrepreneur On Fire)

"System Smarts" is a podcast about System Design. Every week, I'll bring you an interview with a system designer from a broad range of industries and areas of interest. These personal views of systems for business and life have expanded my notions of what systems are and can be. Together, we will explore how entrepreneurs design business systems that free up more time and let them focus on their truest value. We will also hear how systems thinking has changed their life for the better. I've been designing and developing software-intensive systems for 30 years. I got switched onto systems engineering about a decade ago when I led a failed attempt to enter a national robotics challenge. And I've been studying and applying system design ever since. I've owned my own consulting practice and faced all the challenges of building and operating systems for a startup business. A few years ago, got certified to do Permaculture design which led to understanding natural systems and how we can improve business systems from the lessons learned from Nature. If you have a topic or example you'd like to hear about, just let me know. You can email me at john at johnackley.com. And speaking of email, if you like what you hear on this podcast, check out my free weekly email newsletter at johnackley.com/nl And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, or Google Play.

Steven Harris is a consultant and expert in the field of energy. He is the founder and CEO of Knowledge Publications, the largest energy only publishing company in the USA. Mr. Harris came to his current position to do full time work on the development and implementation of hydrogen, biomass and solar related energy systems after spending 10 years in the Aero-Thermal Dynamics department of the Scientific Labs of Chrysler Corporation, where he was a pioneer member of the group that developed and implemented successful Speed to Market development concepts.

Mr. Harris has become a nationally recognized expert in the preparedness field. He is the #1 all time appearing guest on The Survival Podcast with Jack Spirko. His hands on, no-nonsense approach to DIY home energy for disasters and family preparedness has helped hundreds of thousands of people in times of trouble.