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
   

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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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