The technology is the easy part

Using technology as a vehicle for organization change

Transcript

1. THE TECHNOLOGY IS THE EASY PART Using technology as a vehicle for organization change @benbalter ben.balter.com
2. @BENBALTER Open source developer | Attorney Presidential Innovation Fellow | Government Evangelist
3. is as important as How you work what you work on
4. How large enterprises build software
5. multi-million dollar contracts multi-year, CD-ROMs (in triplicate!)
6. ALL THE EASY PROBLEMS HAVE ALREADY BEEN SOLVED Spoiler alert #1
7. OPEN SOURCE IS A PHILOSOPHY, 
 NOT AN ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGY Spoiler alert #2
8. How Open source builds software
9. Electronic | Available | Asynchronous | Lock-free
10. GEEKS versus SUITS
11. As an organization grows, 
 THE SUITS WILL OVERTAKE THE GEEKS
12. CONWAY'S LAW "organizations which design systems... are constrained to produce designs 
 which are copies of the communication 
 structures of these organizations"
13. How can we help LARGE ORGANIZATIONS work likeSMALL ORGANIZATIONS?
14. Bureaucracy is an organism
15. THE CULTURE OF "NO" is an organization's immune system
16. All enterprise IT challenges are one of THREE SYMPTOMS
17. HIRING Can we hire modern-thinking 
 people to run the project? Symptom one
18. PROCUREMENT Can we procure modern-thinking 
 developers to implement the project? Symptom two
19. BOX CHECKING Can we meet our self-imposed 
 security and compliance requirements? Symptom three
20. Traditional innovation efforts address THE SYMPTOMS
21. The life cycle of 
 AN INTRAPENEUR
22. Just get it done by any means PHASE ONE
23. Fight for the tools you need PHASE TWO
24. Socialize the culture you seek PHASE THREE
25. PROCESS versus CULTERE
26. ADMINISTRATIVE CONSTRAINTS versus CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS
27. TECHNICAL CONSTRAINTS versus CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS
28. POLICY CONSTRAINTS versus CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS
29. "The stronger the culture, the less process a company needs. When the culture is strong, you can trust everyone to do the right thing. People can be independent and autonomous. They can be entrepreneurial." BRIAN CHESKY, Co-Founder, AirBnB
30. INOCULATE THE ORGANIZATION with small doses of culture
31. Absent a strong innovation culture ALL ORGANIZATIONS GRAVITATE 
 towards the same end-state
32. THE INNOVATOR'S DILEMMA
33. Large organizations LIKE THE STATUS QUO
34. Large organizations HAVE SEEN THINGS, MAN
35. THREE CHARACTERISTICS of large organizations
36. RISK AVERSION Increased batch size Change in decade-long increments Lack of support structure
37. TECHNOCRATIC LEADERSHIP System is rigged for suits, against geeks Organizations forgo fundamentals No need to scratch technical itches LACK OF
38. PROCESSES SCALE DOWN Process distrusts employees Process distrusts vendors Process distrusts customers DON'T
39. Large organizations DON'T WANT TO BE CLUNKY
40. Going against the flow WILL BE PAINFUL
41. Going against the flow WILL BLOW PEOPLE'S MINDS
42. TWELVE ish SUGGESTIONS For using technology as a vehicle for cultural change
43. Innovative technology should be THREE FOUR THINGS
44. LEAN If there’s a less heavyweight solution, and you’re not using it, you’ve over-engineered things. Think open source, APIs, and shared standards
45. ITERATIVE If you are not embarrassed by the first version of you ship, you’ve waited too long to ship. Ship 0.1, not 1.0
46. DECENTRALIZED Avoid single points of failure, both in systems and in people. Push decisions to the crowd. Automate wherever possible. Eliminate all humans.
47. OPEN Barriers to the free-flow of information add friction. Make open the default. Expose process. Open standards, open formats, open systems.
48. Innovative efforts should be THREE EIGHT THINGS
49. On your first day BEFREIND A LAWYER
50. Optimize for THE IDEAL USE CASE not the most common
51. Innovative efforts in enterprises are STANDARD PRACTICES for most other companies
52. You are a CULTURAL AMBASADAOR at most, 1/3 of your deliverables are code
53. DON'T TAKE "NO" from someone who can't say "yes"
54. Code speaks louder than words, so OUT SHIP THE HATERS
55. HAVE AN EXIT STRATEGY or else your code will sit on a shelf
56. is as important as How you work what you work on
57. THE TECHNOLOGY IS THE EASY PART Using technology as a vehicle for organization change @benbalter ben.balter.com
58. Coffee Shop - https://www.flickr.com/photos/ ricoslounge/775701003