Organizational Design for Effective Software Development
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The document discusses organizational design for effective software development. It outlines problems with traditional matrix organizations and introduces team-based structures that can address these. Specifically, it advocates for cross-functional teams that are responsible for entire projects or products, rather than individuals being assigned to multiple projects. This allows teams to be accountable for delivery and improves collaboration, quality and outcomes.
![Learned Helplessness
âą The âpresiderâ over the fighting
always looks âresponsibleâ in
comparison
â The VP of Technology HAS to be
there to resolve disputes between
these yahoos!
â VP may have caused it⊠HmmâŠ
âą Heads Down & Stay Out of
Trouble!
â Donât tell a PM what to do. Donât tell
a Dev what to do. Etc.
Risk Income Management
âą Accountability & delivery means
risk
â Better to not put your neck outâŠ
âą Two year waterfall projects are
great!
â Work for two years, get paid
â Not ship, everyone gets fired or not
â Not my fault! It was
[PM|Dev|QA|Management]!
â Repeat!](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/organizationaldesignforeffectivesoftwaredevelopment-141112215715-conversion-gate02/85/Organizational-Design-for-Effective-Software-Development-11-320.jpg)
Organizational Design for Effective Software Development
- 1. Organizational Design for Effective Software Development Faith Cooley, PMP Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
- 2. âą Faith Cooley â Software Development Management Coach â Lean Six Sigma Black Belt 10 years â PMP 8 years â CSM, CSPO, ITIL â Last 8 Years: Software Development
- 3. âą Problems with Matrix Organizations âą Intro to Team Based Organizations â Address Matrix Org Problems âą Move toward team based organization âą What companies use this structure?
- 4. Feels like this⊠Steve (dev) Bob (leader) Mitch (design) Harry (finance) Jane (PM) But really is this⊠And it grows intoâŠ
- 5. Manage the function, not the project Cross- Functional Matrix Team CEO VP Marketing Director, Product Management Sr. Product Manager VP, PMO Director, Project Management Sr. Project Manager VP Technology Director, QA Sr. Test Engineer Director, Development Sr. Developer CFO Director, Operations Operations
- 6. Jane âąWeb + PM Bob Leader Mitch âąDev + Design Harry âąFinance + Support Steve âąDev + QA âą Bob says⊠â Jane, hire PM! â Mitch, hire Dev! â Steve, hire QA person! âą Once you are 50+ people, it gets increasingly hard to reorganizeâŠ
- 7. Problems with the Matrix
- 8. CEO VP Marketing Director, Product Management Sr. Product Manager VP, PMO Director, Project Management Sr. Project Manager VP Technology Director, QA Sr. Test Engineer Director, Development Sr. Developer To get anything done⊠shadow organization! CFO Director, Operations Operations Cross- Functional Matrix Team
- 9. Get product to market with 100 features fast Make sure all processes followed Ship with as few bugs as possible using modern technology I need this done cheap & delivered on time to make my numbers OMG I am working on too many projects & getting pulled every way
- 10. âą Theory â Software Development is a simple series of repeatable steps, manageable via processes âą Good engineering, no conflicting objectives âą Reality â Software Development is a never ending series of small decisions made by everyone on the team, rooted in goals âą Ambiguity in silo vs delivery goals
- 11. Learned Helplessness âą The âpresiderâ over the fighting always looks âresponsibleâ in comparison â The VP of Technology HAS to be there to resolve disputes between these yahoos! â VP may have caused it⊠Hmm⊠⹠Heads Down & Stay Out of Trouble! â Donât tell a PM what to do. Donât tell a Dev what to do. Etc. Risk Income Management âą Accountability & delivery means risk â Better to not put your neck out⊠⹠Two year waterfall projects are great! â Work for two years, get paid â Not ship, everyone gets fired or not â Not my fault! It was [PM|Dev|QA|Management]! â Repeat!
- 13. âą Teams responsible & accountable for delivery âą Everyone is a mentor âą All âmanagersâ are working managers
- 14. Bob (Leader) Team Lead, Product A Dev QA PM Contractor Team Lead, Product B Dev SDET Ops Team Lead, Product C & D Dev SDET Ops Internal Reviewer Product A Product B Product C&D
- 15. âą Software produced by single team that works only on a single project is of significantly higher quality (less defects) âą Each team member is SME with respected competencies â Each has accountabilities to team & function â Work with other teams for functional mentoring âą Goals of team are clear & delivery focused â Visual on Kanban board â Definition of Done clearly described âą Collaboration is incented & rewarded
- 16. Key to Success Reward cooperation!
- 17. âą Reviews âą Hiring/Firing/Career Management âą Functional Execution Quality â Good code? Good tests? Good reqs? âą Budget âą Methodology
- 18. âą Potential Single-Chain Authority Problems â Petty dictators? â Buddies? âą 360 Reviews â Anonymous feedback, managed by HR â Presented to staff member by team lead â Cited by employees as one of best things we do â Challenging to implement properly⊠⹠But worth doing!
- 19. Team Leader(s) âą Options: â PM â PM/Dev Lead* â Dev Lead â Manages the budget âą Career Management â You pick what you want to know â You pair/you fill in
- 20. âą Your team is expensive! âą Top 5 â Lack of commitment â Fear of conflict â Absence of trust â Avoidance of accountability â Inattention to results
- 21. âą Standards agreed to & followed âą Pairing/Code reviews between teams âą Continuous integration driven from below â Support from above! âą Test automation âą âOpen Sourceâ self serve internal code repository âą Binary Repository for Artifacts (libs + apps) âą Feature toggles, release trains âą Limit blast area
- 22. âą Pull system that accommodates your team â Not the other way around! âą Focuses on team swarming on and finishing work âą Kanban forces conversations âą Great for growing your team competencies âą Highlights bottlenecks in organization âą Forces continuous improvement âą Layered on top of SDLC to show bottlenecks & determine waste âą Allows business to pick what is most important each time
- 23. DEVELOPMENT BACKLOG SELECTED DONE ONGOING DONE TESTING ONGOING DONE DEPLOY 3 2 2 1 T1 T2 T2 T6 T7 S1 S2 S6 S7
- 24. âą Start giving full-cycle projects to your managers â âBob, you have been leading QA for a while now. We have an upcoming project to update our website â itâs not huge, but itâs a couple of people. Iâd like you to run the whole thing, soup-to-nuts.â âą Have this conversation with all of your managers. âą Track who is able to effectively deliver, and who struggles â Reward successful delivery â Reward collaboration â Phase out managers that play games, donât ship âą After 3-6 month period, transition entire portfolio âą Walk through portfolio of projects, assign names to all staff â Be clear about high level standards & expectations â E.g. I expect projects to be run using Scrumban, use automation where possible, push to staging frequently with demos every two weeks. âą Make clear that you hold everyone to standards, expect prior domain experts to share knowledge
- 25. âą Servant leaders focus on what problems to solve and why âą Teams solve the problem
- 26. âą Managed by â Visual progress â Frequent demos â Short feedback loops â Small set of stakeholders â Regular meetings reviewing blockers/overall status âą Portfolio Management
- 27. Team 7-Nov 21-Nov 5-Dec 19-Dec 2-Jan Finance Billing Billing Billing Billing Invoice Core Data Oracle Upgrade Oracle Upgrade Test Data TBD TBD User Engagement A/B Awards A/B Awards A/B Register A/B Register A/B Register Fulfilment Electronic Tag Electronic Tag Electronic Tag Electronic Tag Tag Cleanup Device R&D Android Wear Spike Android Wear Spike Apple Watch Spike Apple Watch Spike TBD
- 28. âą Scaled Agile Framework âą Controversial Agile Methodology â Portfolio Management â Everything elseâŠ
- 29. âą Primary Material â Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Managers, and Facilitators, Patrick Lencioni âą Additional Recommendations â Behind Closed Doors, Rothman & Derby â Leadership & Self-Deception, Arbinger Institute â Good To Great, Jim Collins
- 30. âą Spotify (Operations) âą Group Health (Web Dev) âą Microsoft (IT Division) âą Xbox Kinect âą Constant Contact âą BBC âą Globo âą Petrobras âą Lonely Planet âą IPC Media âą Motley Fool âą Corbis âą Stormpath âą Tantalus âą Ultimate Software
- 31. âą Simplifying Work â http://www.ted.com/talks/yves_morieux_as_work_gets_more_complex_6_rules_t o_simplify âą Happy Secret to Better Work â https://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work âą MIT On Org Design, Dynamics, Culture â https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAkJqzJYHJc âą Spotify Operations, Flat Org Design (2,000 people!) â http://www.infoq.com/articles/kanban-operations-spotify
- 32. Thanks for your time! START THE CONVERSATION!
- 33. Q & A
Editor's Notes
- #4: Trends I am seeing the software development industry that are topical and applicable to software development and other industries as well.
- #6: And as the company grows, this is the structure that tends to form. You have the vertical silos that everyone complains about but that exists over and over again. The silo structure works well when the company is small. It relies on people knowing each other and it relies on relationships that have been built. Thatâs a bummer if you are new to the organization or are out of favour.
- #9: When you hit medium size, when people donât know all their colleagues you start seeing challenges with this organization. This organization structure fails miserably when it comes to problem resolution. People then start using the shadow organization.
- #10: (what is more important functional goals or delivery goals?) The silos then start forming goals. The goals frequently focus around the silo and not delivery. The goals across the organization can be contradictory and/or confusing Sometimes there are personal incentives tied to these goals. You get comments like donât make me miss my numbers. And your individual contributors, your talented resources start getting pulled in many directions. People work on many projects â context switching burden 20% project Many handoffs Opportunities for miscommunication! Competing priorities
- #13: No incentive to cooperate. When people donât cooperate we need more systems, more processes, more structure. Complexity & additional work burden placed on employees
- #14: The option here is to look at a team oriented organization.
- #15: As you can see, Bob is still at the top. Each team has a lead or combination of two people doing the lead role. The team has a full cadre of people needed to produce the product. If consulting advice is needed other teams are asked.
- #16: Problem resolution handled in team using help from other teams if necessary Work is accounted for on Kanban board People are incented to collaborate Goals are delivery based and clearly visible in the organization Standards and expectations are known
- #17: Lego an interesting approach to cooperation. If you need help you ask for it. If your project fails and you didnât ask for help you get to find a new job.
- #18: So using the team based function how do we address the following? Reviews are done using a 360 review process. You are reviewed by your customer, your peers and you management. That way you get a composite of your performance and you can no longer say your boss hates you. The team lead or leads manages the hiring with team input. The leads along with their HR team member do the firing. Career management is done thru mentoring Execution quality is handled by dev standards, and code reviews lead by the dev manager Budget is handled by the team leads.
- #19: How many people here have worked for a boss you didnât respect? How many of you have received a really one sided review?
- #20: The team lead or leads manages the hiring with team input. The leads along with their HR team member do the firing. Career management is done thru mentoring Execution quality is handled by dev standards, and code reviews
- #25: The advantage here is that your managers are now doing the work. The are understanding the actual impediments to folks getting their work done. Your managers skills will be updated. As with any change project there are people that will lead the change, people that will follow the change and people the just need to get out of the way of change.
- #28: Leadership meets on a regular basis Reviews blockers and overall status
- #29: Boil that ocean!