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The technology is the easy part
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Ben Balter
February 05, 2016
Technology
2
290
The technology is the easy part
Using technology as a vehicle for organization change
Ben Balter
February 05, 2016
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Transcript
THE TECHNOLOGY IS THE EASY PART Using technology as a
vehicle for organization change @benbalter ben.balter.com
@BENBALTER Open source developer | Attorney Presidential Innovation Fellow |
Government Evangelist
is as important as How you work what you work
on
How large enterprises build software
multi-million dollar contracts multi-year, CD-ROMs (in triplicate!)
ALL THE EASY PROBLEMS HAVE ALREADY BEEN SOLVED Spoiler alert
#1
OPEN SOURCE IS A PHILOSOPHY, NOT AN ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGY
Spoiler alert #2
How Open source builds software
Electronic | Available | Asynchronous | Lock-free
GEEKS versus SUITS
As an organization grows, THE SUITS WILL OVERTAKE THE
GEEKS
CONWAY'S LAW "organizations which design systems... are constrained to produce
designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations"
How can we help LARGE ORGANIZATIONS work likeSMALL ORGANIZATIONS?
Bureaucracy is an organism
THE CULTURE OF "NO" is an organization's immune system
All enterprise IT challenges are one of THREE SYMPTOMS
HIRING Can we hire modern-thinking people to run the
project? Symptom one
PROCUREMENT Can we procure modern-thinking developers to implement the
project? Symptom two
BOX CHECKING Can we meet our self-imposed security and
compliance requirements? Symptom three
Traditional innovation efforts address THE SYMPTOMS
The life cycle of AN INTRAPENEUR
Just get it done by any means PHASE ONE
Fight for the tools you need PHASE TWO
Socialize the culture you seek PHASE THREE
PROCESS versus CULTERE
ADMINISTRATIVE CONSTRAINTS versus CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS
TECHNICAL CONSTRAINTS versus CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS
POLICY CONSTRAINTS versus CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS
"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
INOCULATE THE ORGANIZATION with small doses of culture
Absent a strong innovation culture ALL ORGANIZATIONS GRAVITATE towards
the same end-state
THE INNOVATOR'S DILEMMA
Large organizations LIKE THE STATUS QUO
Large organizations HAVE SEEN THINGS, MAN
THREE CHARACTERISTICS of large organizations
RISK AVERSION Increased batch size Change in decade-long increments Lack
of support structure
TECHNOCRATIC LEADERSHIP System is rigged for suits, against geeks Organizations
forgo fundamentals No need to scratch technical itches LACK OF
PROCESSES SCALE DOWN Process distrusts employees Process distrusts vendors Process
distrusts customers DON'T
Large organizations DON'T WANT TO BE CLUNKY
Going against the flow WILL BE PAINFUL
Going against the flow WILL BLOW PEOPLE'S MINDS
TWELVE ish SUGGESTIONS For using technology as a vehicle for
cultural change
Innovative technology should be THREE FOUR THINGS
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
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
DECENTRALIZED Avoid single points of failure, both in systems and
in people. Push decisions to the crowd. Automate wherever possible. Eliminate all humans.
OPEN Barriers to the free-flow of information add friction. Make
open the default. Expose process. Open standards, open formats, open systems.
Innovative efforts should be THREE EIGHT THINGS
On your first day BEFREIND A LAWYER
Optimize for THE IDEAL USE CASE not the most common
Innovative efforts in enterprises are STANDARD PRACTICES for most other
companies
You are a CULTURAL AMBASADAOR at most, 1/3 of your
deliverables are code
DON'T TAKE "NO" from someone who can't say "yes"
Code speaks louder than words, so OUT SHIP THE HATERS
HAVE AN EXIT STRATEGY or else your code will sit
on a shelf
is as important as How you work what you work
on
THE TECHNOLOGY IS THE EASY PART Using technology as a
vehicle for organization change @benbalter ben.balter.com
Coffee Shop - https://www.flickr.com/photos/ ricoslounge/775701003