The technology is the easy part

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

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

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is as important as How you work what you work on

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How large enterprises build software

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

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

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OPEN SOURCE IS A PHILOSOPHY,   NOT AN ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGY Spoiler alert #2

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How Open source builds software

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Electronic | Available | Asynchronous | Lock-free

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GEEKS versus SUITS

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As an organization grows,   THE SUITS WILL OVERTAKE THE GEEKS

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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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How can we help LARGE ORGANIZATIONS work likeSMALL ORGANIZATIONS?

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Bureaucracy is an organism

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

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All enterprise IT challenges are one of THREE SYMPTOMS

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HIRING Can we hire modern-thinking   people to run the project? Symptom one

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PROCUREMENT Can we procure modern-thinking   developers to implement the project? Symptom two

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BOX CHECKING Can we meet our self-imposed   security and compliance requirements? Symptom three

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Traditional innovation efforts address THE SYMPTOMS

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The life cycle of   AN INTRAPENEUR

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Just get it done by any means PHASE ONE

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Fight for the tools you need PHASE TWO

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Socialize the culture you seek PHASE THREE

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PROCESS versus CULTERE

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ADMINISTRATIVE CONSTRAINTS versus CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS

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TECHNICAL CONSTRAINTS versus CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS

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POLICY CONSTRAINTS versus CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS

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"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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INOCULATE THE ORGANIZATION with small doses of culture

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Absent a strong innovation culture ALL ORGANIZATIONS GRAVITATE   towards the same end-state

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THE INNOVATOR'S DILEMMA

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Large organizations LIKE THE STATUS QUO

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Large organizations HAVE SEEN THINGS, MAN

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THREE CHARACTERISTICS of large organizations

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

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

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

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Large organizations DON'T WANT TO BE CLUNKY

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Going against the flow WILL BE PAINFUL

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Going against the flow WILL BLOW PEOPLE'S MINDS

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

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Innovative technology should be THREE FOUR THINGS

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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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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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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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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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Innovative efforts should be THREE EIGHT THINGS

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On your first day BEFREIND A LAWYER

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Optimize for THE IDEAL USE CASE not the most common

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Innovative efforts in enterprises are STANDARD PRACTICES for most other companies

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

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

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Code speaks louder than words, so OUT SHIP THE HATERS

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

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is as important as How you work what you work on

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

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