Thrive in a world of continuous change

Change is today a continuous process, it is no longer a sequence of rare and punctual phenomena. Nothing escapes: Technology, your market, your customers, your competitors, your employees, etc.

To thrive and succeed, your business need to adapt, learn, innovate and transform itself continuously. It will have to become "agile" from left to right, from top to bottom.

The most important of all changes will likely be the evolution of your own leadership style and your ability to learn new skills and inspire your workforce.

This presentation is a sharing of experiences and discoveries I made during the titanic transformation of La Presse since the creation of the revolutionary La Presse + application, the transformation of its workflow to mobile first and the launch of it magical new mobile app.

Presentation made in September 2022 for Genetec during their ElevateDev'22 Conference.

Transcript

1. CHANGE THRIVE IN A WORLD 
 OF CONTINUOUS ELEVATEDEV’22 GENETEC / MONTREAL SEPTEMBER 2022 JEAN-MARC DE JONGHE VP DIGITAL PRODUCT & STRATEGY 
 LA PRESSE
2. @madmac 2 • Medias — 1995 • La Presse — 2003 • VP Digital Product & Strategy — 2010 • Led La Presse’s digital transformation, creation of La Presse+, digital workflow and our New Mobile App speakerdeck.com/jdejongh Jean-Marc De Jonghe VP Digital Product & Strategy ca.linkedin.com/in/dejonghe
3. IMPERMANENCE the state or fact of lasting for only a limited period of time
4. The market Our great products, systems, expertise, and business model IMPERMANENCE
5. @madmac 5 FROM DISRUPTION TO DISRUPTION Us (Still running) The market Disruptions
6. @madmac 1 6 A near death experience
7. 7 2003 llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll Saisir le présent Montréal dimanche 12 octobre 2003 CAHIER-SOUVENIR INFOGRAPHIES UNEJOURNÉEDANS NOTRESALLE DERÉDACTION PAGE 15 MAQUETTE UNGUIDECOMPLET DENOTREREFONTE PAGES 23 À 26 NOUVELLESPRESSES: UNETECHNOLOGIE FASCINANTE PAGES 16, 17 c y b e r p r e s s e . c a PORTRAIT NOSLECTEURS AIMENTLEVÉLO PAGE 18 Ce montage, où on peut reconnaître le plongeur Alexandre Despatie aux Championnats du monde de plongeon, à Barcelone, fait partie de la campagne de promotion de la nouvelle Presse, tout comme la photo au dos de ce cahier-souvenir. Masters of print
8. La Presse — Print vs web Readers / month — 1000 0 750 1 500 2 250 3 000 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 Web Monthly users Print Weekly readers We are invincible !
9. Owners of a costly infrastructure 
 very hard to copycat Talents & expertise Owners of the whole 
 distribution channel stack A great brand Customer’s trust & love Now with the web we have 
 more eyeballs than ever! We are invincible !
10. @madmac 10 Nobody can beat us at our own game! Surely nothing to worry about those clowns!
11. @madmac 11
12. @madmac 12 Barbarians ate our lunch!
13. A near death experience
14. @madmac 14 Barbarians ate our lunch! Classi fi ed Ads Career/Jobs Obituaries TV Guide Movies listing Inserts/coupons Real Estate Legal & public notice Display Ads
15. @madmac 15 A near death experience
16. @madmac 16 @madmac
17. But what are we doing wrong?
18. Market Impact Organization Products Deliver value Capture value
19. @madmac 19 Easy path
20. “It ain’t bragging if you can back it up.”
21. 275k/day 500k/month 4,6 ★★★★★ +100k review No 1 - news and magazines 
 RESULTS
22. Meanwhile… Mobile devices exceed the desktop since November 2016 0 % 20 % 40 % 60 % 80 % 100 % 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Mobile & Tablets Desktop 90% 44% 10% 56%
23. 275k/day 500k/month 4,6 ★★★★★ +100k review No 1 - news and magazines 
 RESULTS
24. 4,6 ★★★★★ 77k review No 6 - news and magazines 350k/day 760k/month 275k/day 500k/month 4,6 ★★★★★ +100k review No 1 - news and magazines 
 RESULTS
25. @madmac 25 2010-2021 Mobile first workflow & automatic layout 100% In the cloud 2019-2021 Hybrid workflow 2015-2018 Digital Storytelling 2010-2015 Innovation behind the scene
26. 26 2002 2012 2022 0 200 000 400 000 600 000 800 000 1 000 000 1 200 000 375 * Newsprint base on weekly average — 2000 ** 2010 Comscore / 2020 Web engagés (min. 12x/mois) La Presse — Daily Audience — 20 years
27. Advertising revenue per platform 2017* 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022* La Presse+ Web Mobile App * Dernière édition imprimée 30 décembre 2017 +10% +31% Nouvelle 
 App Mobile Mobile App 
 6x 2017’s ad revenue 
 +500% 1.5x 2017’s readership 
 +50% La Presse — Adverting revenue
28. Desktop & Mobile Web vs Mobile App janv-17 avr-17 juill-17 oct-17 janv-18 avr-18 juill-18 oct-18 janv-19 avr-19 juill-19 oct-19 janv-20 avr-20 juill-20 oct-20 janv-21 avr-21 juill-21 oct-21 janv-22 avr-22 juill-22 MOBILE WEB La Presse — Advertising revenue
29. Our great products, systems, expertise, and business model IMPERMANENCE The market
30. Anyone can optimize for today—you need to plan to deliver for tomorrow. Tomorrow is unknown, so by de fi nition, you’ll need to be highly fl exible and « upgradeable ». Future proof?
31. @madmac 31 FROM DISRUPTION TO DISRUPTION The market Disruptions Us (Running to learn)
32. @madmac 32
33. @madmac 33 2Will 
 before skills
34. @madmac 34 People 💃🕺 Success? 20% 80% Technology
35. @madmac 35 💃🕺 Not about 
 the way you code Success? It’s about 
 the mindset you have
36. @madmac 36 Change is now truly a constant process, not an event!
37. @madmac 37 Pace of change is accelerating
38. @madmac 38 The career of your parents @madmac
39. @madmac 39 Your career More changes Disruption @madmac
40. @madmac 40 Five years from now, over one- third of skills (35%) that are considered important in today’s workforce will have changed Source: World Economic Forum Your career
41. @madmac 41 Paradigm shift *Inspiré de « future of work — workplace evolution » by Praveen Ponnuru Tools Toolset Co ff re à outils Skills Skillset Compétences Aptitudes Mind Mindset Façon de penser Attitudes
42. @madmac 42 Future of work* *inspired by « future of work — workplace evolution » by Praveen Ponnuru Repeat the same process Adapt & Innovate Work from o ffi ce Remote hybrid work Work 9 to 5 Flexible hours Hoard information Create and share information Focus on pro fi t Focus on purpose Silos & hierarchies Collaboration & less tiers of leadership Privacy Transparency Controlling Empowering & enabling Delegation of tasks Give context & autonomy of functions Relies on email Collaborative technologies Hire managers Create leaders Focus on skills Focus on re-skill & up-skill Past Future Past solutions to new problems Learning by experimentation & iteration Survey customers Observing users Output & velocity Outcome & impact
43. @madmac 43 « We are in the midst of a Skills Revolution. Technology is transforming organizations, skills needs are changing rapidly and we know companies cannot find the talent they need. People with in-demand skills 
 who can continually learn and adapt 
 will call the shots. » Source: Skills Revolution 2.0 - ManpowerGroup Mindset — learning and embracing the new
44. @madmac 44 It’s an attitude ! An amazing opportunity if you have the right mindset ! @madmac
45. @madmac Unicorns No thank you ! When recruiting or building your team S K I L L S W I L L Soft Skills Hard Skills 45
46. @madmac With time 
 Relevant With time 
 Obsolete When recruiting or building your team S K I L L S W I L L Soft Skills Hard Skills 46
47. @madmac 47 Success? An empty chair is better than a bad apple Ignoring low performers is not only a way to keep new high performers from joining your team, but it’s also a way to encourage existing high performers to leave. Software engineering at Google https://abseil.io/resources/swe-book/html/ch05.html
48. @madmac 48 It’s about 
 the mindset you have 💃🕺 Not about 
 the way you code Success?
49. @madmac 49 How do you: • Collaborate? • Listen? • Are open to change? • Learn new skills? • Adapt to new problems? • Experiment? • Focus on business value? It’s about 
 the mindset you have 💃🕺
50. @madmac 50 « The craft of programming begins with empathy, not formatting or languages or tools or algorithms or data structures » - K E N T B E C K , A U T H O R 
 E X T R E M E P R O G R A M M I N G E X P L A I N E D * Empathy for our teammates, our code consumers,
 our business and our end users.
51. @madmac 51 3Visit the beginner’s valley often
52. IMPERMANENCE the state or fact of lasting for only a limited period of time
53. @madmac Plateau Comfort zone Con fi dence zone Beginner’s valley 53 Learning is escalating an S-Curve Mastery Time LEARNING A NEW SKILL Beginner Master
54. @madmac 54 0 Con fi dence SET OF COMPETENCES A Upgrade yourself… go ahead, jump ! Comfort zone SET OF COMPETENCES B 0 Con fi dence Scary zone
55. @madmac 55 The beginner’s valley 0 Con fi dence SET OF COMPETENCES A SET OF COMPETENCES B Comfort zone 0 Con fi dence Scary zone Always look like a step backward ! Upgrade yourself… go ahead, jump !
56. @madmac 56 The beginner’s valley 0 Con fi dence SET OF COMPETENCES A SET OF COMPETENCES B To disrupt yourself… go ahead, jump ! Comfort zone 0 Con fi dence Scary zone Make this zone safe
 for the team !
57. @madmac 57 I still fall — but I know I’ll survive! @madmac
58. What new skills have you learned this year?
59. @madmac - E L O N M U S K « If things are not failing, you are not innovating (you are not learning) enough. » 59 @madmac
60. @madmac 60 4A shared common understanding Devenir une entreprise innovante
61. @madmac 61 To build the "Right Stu ff " you must fi rst develop a shared and common understanding of this "Right Stu ff " 1. Building something is really expensive 2. Building the wrong things 
 costs even more ! « Fake it till you make it »
62. @madmac 62 To build the "Right Stuff" you must first develop a shared and common understanding of this "Right Stuff" What are we trying to build ? Small teams = less complexIty = more clarity The "Right Stu ff "
63. Why we need to build something new?
64. Weeks of coding can save you
 hours of understanding what the problem
 we're trying to solve is? Where the business
 value is? Why we need to build something new?
65. @madmac Fake it Show it Learn from it 65 What is the problem we’re trying to solve and why is it important? Outcome? Goals? Metric? Ideas? Desirable? Feasible? Viable? How can we test this idea quickly? What should we try fi rst? Upgradeable? Flexible? Real code! Still desirable? Feasible? Viable? What will 
 be the MVP ? Before coding the real thing Results vs outcome? Next iteration?
66. @madmac 66 Empathy Active listening Real 
 discussions Shared common understanding 🧠 🧠 At kick-off, 
 Take time to share the same 
 definition vocabulary Build « Proof of concept » 
 & Prototypes Show and learn ! Imagine the tutorial 
 of the product or service 
 you’re trying to build Dont be afraid to dive-in and learn 
 the tech behind the product and service 
 you are trying to build You need 
 to meet! Agreement on which 
 problems need to be solved and in which order Goals, important milestones Customer’s needs 
 and chalenges Global or total 
 customer experience — CX Features: MVP 
 desirability, delightful, etc How will we operate 
 this thing ? Who? Focus on the What, not the How 
 Resist talking about solutions Vision Why are we doing this? Clarity
67. @madmac 67 « A shared understanding,
 drives the micro-decisions
 that everyone makes every day whether writing code, creating positioning, deploying a build,
 designing an experience, and so on.» - S T E V E N S I N O F S K Y
68. @madmac 68 5Big & scary changes ahead!
69. IMPERMANENCE The market is coming after us
70. @madmac 70 Source: https://anitasmuran.medium.com/pc-life-after-apple-silicon-valley-218db75daf6e Barbarian at the gates
71. We need to change everything!
72. MAKE NO BAD DECISIONS
73. ANALYSIS PARALYSIS DO NOT CROSS ANALYSIS PARALYSIS DO NOT CROSS ANALYSIS PARALYSIS
74. They’re coming!
75. Chemistry management
76. The neuroscience of trust « When a manager assigns a team a di ffi cult but achievable job, the moderate stress of the task releases neurochemicals, … that intensify people’s focus and strengthen social connections. But this works only if challenges are attainable …vague or impossible goals cause people to give up before they even start. » Management behaviors that foster employee engagement by Paul J. Zak 
 https://hbr.org/2017/01/the-neuroscience-of-trust
78. @madmac 78 A great plan: discover the route together Leave room for uncertainty + tackle the easy first Experiment, 
 validate & learn Discover the route together Vision Shared common understanding first
79. We need to change everything!
81. Compass: focus on outcomes and business value Today Tomorrow
82. Making the invisible visible
83. Burndown chart
84. Treemap
85. Physical « Jira » & Celebrate increment Dopamine 
 & Serotonin
86. @madmac 86 Inspiration Spotify: Squad health check model
87. @madmac 87 Measure and share results Outcome
88. @madmac 88 « It's supposed to be 
 hard, If it were easy: Everybody 
 would do it! » 
 — J I M M Y D U G A N ( T O M H A N K S ) 
 I N A L E A G U E O F T H E I R O W N @madmac
89. @madmac 89 !Our 6 
 take aways
90. @madmac 6 lessons learned to inspire your journey 90 Pace of change is 
 accelerating 1 Build with impermanence 
 in mind 2 Visit the 
 beginner’s valley often 4 A shared common 
 understanding 5 Leave room for uncertainty 
 tackle the easy fi rst 6 Will before skills 3 Change People & Skills Leadership & Teams
91. 91 Have some fun! It’s the best time 
 of your life!
92. @madmac 92 Please give-me some feedbacks https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PXZDWQX
93. @madmac 93 @ Contacts & 
 References
94. @madmac 94 Connect with me Jean-Marc De Jonghe @madmac ca.linkedin.com/in/dejonghe speakerdeck.com/jdejongh
95. @madmac 95 References • Crossing the Chasm (1991, revised 1999 and 2014), Geoffrey A. Moore • Creativity Inc (2014, Random House Canada), Ed Catmull with Amy Wallace • TedTalk, Dan Pink sur la surprenante science de la motivation, Dan Pink 
 https://www.ted.com/talks/ dan_pink_on_motivation? language=fr#t-1010302 • Why we plan – Part I – Failure to Rescue, Buridan’s Blog 
 http://buridansblog12.rssing.com/ chan-20258046/all_p1.html • Complicated vs Complex and why it’s matters - Roland Wolfig 
 https://beya.io/2016/03/complicated-vs- complex-and-why-it-matters/ • Complexity and Strategy https:// hackernoon.com/complexity-and- strategy-325cd7f59a92#.5h6wyrxvk • Prototyping: Fake It till you make it (WWDC 2014, Apple Developper, Apple Inc.), Get a glimpse of Apple's prototyping process and the range of tools and techniques they use, some of which might surprise you. https:// developer.apple.com/videos/play/design/12/ • The Future of Jobs : Employment, Skills and Workforce Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (World Economic Forum, Jan 2016)