Sushma Gajanur Shivakumar
Hi, I’m Sushma. I come from a small village in South India and grew up with big dreams—to become an engineer, explore the world, and embrace diverse cultures. Today, I feel privileged to have fulfilled those dreams and to continue growing through every experience.
With over 20 years of experience in the IT industry, I’ve had the opportunity to work across a range of roles—from support engineering and team leadership to release management, project management, and product ownership. My specialization in release management paved the way for my journey at Red Hat, where I joined as a Release Engineer in 2015. Since then, I’ve progressed into project and product leadership roles, and currently serve as a Product Owner.
I hold a bachelor’s degree in Information Science and an MBA from the Faculty of Business at VUT in Brno. I’m deeply passionate about learning and believe in staying curious and open—core values that align closely with the open source philosophy. I’m committed to collaboration, continuous improvement, and enabling teams to build impactful solutions that serve a global community.
Red Hat Czech s.r.o
Job title –Product Owner
Session
IT is a fast-paced industry with lots of changes coming in almost every day. On one hand, these changes are business drivers, on the other hand, at times it can be intimidating—especially when it promises to fundamentally alter the way we do things, forcing us to start from scratch. Such shifts often evoke strong emotions: fear, confusion, or even overwhelm. Nevertheless, what if we could view these changes not as obstacles, but rather as opportunities? What if the unknown could be exciting, instead of paralyzing?
In this talk, we will explore strategies for embracing large-scale changes with confidence and adaptability. Attendees will learn practical approaches to reframe their mindset, manage uncertainty, and navigate transformative shifts gracefully. We will also talk about making changes approachable, if you or your team are the ones introducing the change.