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The technology is the easy part

Ben Balter
February 05, 2016

The technology is the easy part

Using technology as a vehicle for organization change

Ben Balter

February 05, 2016
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  1. THE TECHNOLOGY IS THE EASY PART
    Using technology as a vehicle for organization change
    @benbalter
    ben.balter.com

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  2. @BENBALTER
    Open source developer | Attorney
    Presidential Innovation Fellow | Government Evangelist

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  3. is as important as
    How you work
    what you work on

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  4. How
    large enterprises
    build software

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  5. multi-million dollar contracts
    multi-year,
    CD-ROMs (in triplicate!)

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  6. ALL THE EASY PROBLEMS
    HAVE ALREADY BEEN SOLVED
    Spoiler alert #1

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  7. OPEN SOURCE IS A PHILOSOPHY, 

    NOT AN ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGY
    Spoiler alert #2

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  8. How
    Open source
    builds software

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  9. Electronic | Available | Asynchronous | Lock-free

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  10. GEEKS
    versus
    SUITS

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  11. As an organization grows, 

    THE SUITS WILL OVERTAKE THE GEEKS

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  12. CONWAY'S LAW
    "organizations which design systems...
    are constrained to produce designs 

    which are copies of the communication 

    structures of these organizations"

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  13. How can we help
    LARGE ORGANIZATIONS
    work likeSMALL ORGANIZATIONS?

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  14. Bureaucracy
    is an organism

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  15. THE CULTURE OF "NO"
    is an organization's immune system

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  16. All enterprise IT challenges are one of
    THREE SYMPTOMS

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  17. HIRING
    Can we hire modern-thinking 

    people to run the project?
    Symptom one

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  18. PROCUREMENT
    Can we procure modern-thinking 

    developers to implement the project?
    Symptom two

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  19. BOX CHECKING
    Can we meet our self-imposed 

    security and compliance requirements?
    Symptom three

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  20. Traditional innovation efforts address
    THE SYMPTOMS

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  21. The life cycle of 

    AN INTRAPENEUR

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  22. Just get it done by any means
    PHASE ONE

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  23. Fight for the tools you need
    PHASE TWO

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  24. Socialize the culture you seek
    PHASE THREE

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  25. PROCESS
    versus
    CULTERE

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  26. ADMINISTRATIVE CONSTRAINTS
    versus
    CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS

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  27. TECHNICAL CONSTRAINTS
    versus
    CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS

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  28. POLICY CONSTRAINTS
    versus
    CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS

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  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

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  30. INOCULATE THE ORGANIZATION
    with small doses of culture

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  31. Absent a strong innovation culture
    ALL ORGANIZATIONS GRAVITATE 

    towards the same end-state

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  32. THE INNOVATOR'S DILEMMA

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  33. Large organizations
    LIKE THE STATUS QUO

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  34. Large organizations
    HAVE SEEN THINGS, MAN

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  35. THREE CHARACTERISTICS
    of large organizations

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  36. RISK AVERSION
    Increased batch size
    Change in decade-long increments
    Lack of support structure

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  37. TECHNOCRATIC LEADERSHIP
    System is rigged for suits, against geeks
    Organizations forgo fundamentals
    No need to scratch technical itches
    LACK OF

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  38. PROCESSES SCALE DOWN
    Process distrusts employees
    Process distrusts vendors
    Process distrusts customers
    DON'T

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  39. Large organizations
    DON'T WANT TO BE CLUNKY

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  40. Going against the flow
    WILL BE PAINFUL

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  41. Going against the flow
    WILL BLOW PEOPLE'S MINDS

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  42. TWELVE
    ish
    SUGGESTIONS
    For using technology as a vehicle for cultural change

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  43. Innovative technology should be
    THREE FOUR THINGS

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  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

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  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

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  46. DECENTRALIZED
    Avoid single points of failure, both in
    systems and in people. Push
    decisions to the crowd.
    Automate wherever possible. Eliminate all humans.

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  47. OPEN
    Barriers to the free-flow of
    information add friction. Make open
    the default. Expose process.
    Open standards, open formats, open systems.

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  48. Innovative efforts should be
    THREE EIGHT THINGS

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  49. On your first day
    BEFREIND A LAWYER

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  50. Optimize for
    THE IDEAL USE CASE
    not the most common

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  51. Innovative efforts in enterprises are
    STANDARD PRACTICES
    for most other companies

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  52. You are a
    CULTURAL AMBASADAOR
    at most, 1/3 of your deliverables are code

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  53. DON'T TAKE "NO"
    from someone who can't say "yes"

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  54. Code speaks louder than words, so
    OUT SHIP THE HATERS

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  55. HAVE AN EXIT STRATEGY
    or else your code will sit on a shelf

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  56. is as important as
    How you work
    what you work on

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  57. THE TECHNOLOGY IS THE EASY PART
    Using technology as a vehicle for organization change
    @benbalter
    ben.balter.com

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  58. Coffee Shop - https://www.flickr.com/photos/
    ricoslounge/775701003

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