Interview: Manutea Dupont, co-founder, ShopWings

David Gee speaks to Manutea Dupont about the technology behind the online shopping service

David Gee (CIO) 12 May, 2015 16:55

ShopWings' Manutea Dupont

Leisure time is clearly our most valuable asset in an era where we are available online at most times of the day. We would expect that in the coming Internet of Things world, our humble refrigerator will self-replenish and perhaps give us some guidance around what and when to eat.

That might be a bit down the track, but already, companies like Samsung, LG and Electrolux have released smart fridges that include LCD touch screens and applications. They also include smart routers and WiFi connectivity just in case you want to tweet from your fridge or leave a message.

There’s also the GE FirstBuild fridge, which allows for customisation using 3D printers. This fridge comes with an open source app that enables you to check the contents from remote online locations.

But there’s one ingredient missing from the budding chef’s kitchen – a fridge that compiles your shopping list and perhaps even orders food for you.

Fascinated about how smart fridges of the future will connect with a shopping service, CIO contributor, David Gee, spoke to Manutea Dupont, the co-founder of Australian startup, ShopWings.

CIO: What is ShopWings' value proposition and why would I use this service versus shopping myself?

Dupont: ShopWings is about convenience and choice. There are two things which are unique in our offering. Firstly, the ability to shop from Aldi or Coles or Harris Farm from the same online platform in a few clicks.

Secondly, because of the way we operate we are able to make deliveries in as little as 2 hours with 1 hour delivery windows while most existing services have at best next day delivery and larger or less accurate delivery windows.

CIO: What technology drives this service?

We have developed proprietary technology that creates a seamless experience both for the customer and the shopper. The shopper in particular has access to a shopper app in which he or she will be able to get all the details about each order, the delivery time and address etc.

CIO: How important is mobile payments for the service?

Dupont: We are in the process of launching our customer app in the next few weeks. Mobile payment will of course be available on the app. We expect this to be an additional growth lever.

CIO: What inspired your startup?

Dupont: ShopWings has been inspired by our experience in Ride sharing where we connect riders and drivers together. We realised that with the peer to peer connection between a customer and a shopper, we were able to address the grocery delivery market which is one of the most untapped online markets to date and yet the one that will probably be growing the fastest in the next few years.

CIO: In terms of average basket size of your shoppers, what is the experience that we have in Australia versus overseas markets? Is the average basket size of shoppers very consistent week to week? Or does this vary depending on how shoppers use the technology to select items?

 

Dupont: The average basket size grows as we grow our business. As people try the service and use us again, they chose to switch to our delivery model and trust us with their whole weekly shop. Basket sizes in Australia are larger than in other markets as the market is quite educated when it comes to online retail.

CIO: ShopWings offer goods from a number of organisations, how did you choose these partners?

Dupont: Our objective is to help any retailer go online and offer our unique layer of convenience to 

their customers. We started with Aldi, Coles and Harris Farm which have very complementary offering as well as a good networks of stores that cover the areas we deliver to in Sydney.

CIO: What is your technology stack? What makes your technology special?

Dupont: Technology is at the heart of ShopWings. We are a software company providing retailers a logistics solution to get their products to their customers faster than ever before. This speed of delivery is enabled by the ‘sharing economy’ and smart phone penetration that allows us to locate shoppers and provide them with the tools they need to pick the relevant items.

The two areas in which we have invested the most are:

Shopper supply forecasting. We have to match – almost every minute – supply and demand. This means handling a lot of uncertainty on a lot of dimensions being the location of the shopper, the customer or the store, the availability of the shopper, the size of the order etc…To do this we have built a bespoke back-end system that forecasts demand depending on the different areas of the city.

Smooth end-to-end integration. We offer an end to end solution where customers are connected – through our front and back end, and shopper app – to a shopper available in that area and at that time.

The shopper has an app that allows them to pick the right items, organise the shopping list and directs him or her to the customer’s address.

CIO: What happens when an item is not available?

When an item is not available, then a shopper can call the customer through the app to offer a suitable replacement or ask for the potential cancellation of the item.

CIO: What human discretion is there for your shoppers?

While technology is crucial to help shoppers, they have to make judgement calls in the shop all the time. These are the choices that one intuitively makes when shopping in a store but it brings it to a whole other level of complexity when one has to make those choices for someone else. These may include finding the best alternative to a product, picking the best and freshest item every time, and making sure expiry dates are valid.

CIO: How does a customer deal with items that are damaged or soiled? Is that managed digitally or manually?

Dupont: The great thing about ShopWings is the fact that the delivery person is the person who also picked the items for you. That means that you can interact with him at your doorstep regarding any potential issue.

Happy shopping … bring on that smart fridge!

David Gee is the former CIO of CUA where he recently completed a core banking transformation. He has more than 18 years' experience as a CIO, and was also previously director at KPMG Consulting. Connect with David on LinkedIn.

18년 경력 CIO가 전하는 'CEO에게 직접 보고해야 하는 이유'

CFO가 CIO에게 보고해야 할까? 아니면 CIO가 CFO에게 보고해야 할까? 이 질문이 이상하게 들릴 수 있다. 데이비드 지는 최근 C-레벨의 보고 대상에 대한 흥미로운 대화를 소개했다. 



“CFO는 왜 CIO에게 보고하지 않지? 많은 사람들은 그저 웃어넘길 이 질문이, 얼마 전 시드니에서 열린 한 컨퍼런스에서 필자의 귀에 들려왔다. 처음엔 그저 세션 휴식 시간 티테이블에서 나온 얘기였다.

잠깐 스쳐간 말이었지만, 그 질문은 자리에 있던 모두를 놀라게 했다. 평소 같으면 시시한 말로 치부했겠지만 그날은 희한하게도 이 주제와 관련한 흥미로운 담론이 펼쳐졌다.

이야기의 발단은 젯스타 에어라인(Jetstar Airline)의 CFO 레이스 스트라우스의 발언이었다. 그는 자신의 회사에선 CIO가 CFO에게 보고하는 것이 보통이라고 언급했다.

그는 CIO의 입장에서 CFO에게 보고하는 것은 자신이 비즈니스와 연결되어 있음을 확인해주는 과정이라고 설명했다. 젯스타에서는 자신이 부재중일 때 CIO가 대리인 자격으로 회의에 참석하기도 한다고 스트라우스는 말했다.

젯스타 내부 사정은 정확히 모르지만, 시장에서 이들 기업이 차지하는 독특한 위치는 익히 알려져 있다. 젯스타는 퀀타스(Qantas)가 저가항공기를 운항하기 위해 설립한 자회사다. 이를테면 퀀타스 그룹의 ‘혁신 담당’이라 할 수 있겠다.

다만 기반을 저가 시장에 두고 있다 보니 그들의 혁신이란 것도 R&D와 관련한 것이라기보단 비즈니스 속도에 좀더 초점이 맞춰져 있을 것이다. 젯스타의 전 CIO 스테판 테임이 필자에게 들려준 이야기에 따르면, 이들 기업의 IT시스템 대부분은 아웃소싱 방식으로 운영되고, IT 팀의 전속 직원은 6~8 명에 불과했다.

스트라우스와 테임의 이야기를 종합해보건대, 젯스타에서 CIO란 보고 체계를 논할 만큼 전략적인 역할을 맡은 직책이 아니며, IT의 수장으로서 그의 최우선 임무는 관련 비용을 줄이는 것이라 짐작할 수 있다.

CFO와 CIO의 상하관계를 이야기하며 글을 시작했지만, 문제의 진짜 핵심은 ‘CEO에게 보고하는 CIO’에 관한 것이다.

CIO 임무의 꽃은 비즈니스 성장과 변화의 견인차 역할을 하는 것이다. 최근 맥킨지가 발간한 라는 제목의 보고서에 따르면, 비즈니스 전략 구성에 CIO가 가장 많이 기여할 수 있는 분야는 ‘성과’와 관련한 영역이었다.

질문을 다시 한 번 바꿔보자. “CFO에게 보고하는 구조에서, CIO가 전략을 구성할 수 있는 방법은 무엇일까?”

필자는 지금까지 두 번 CFO에게 보고한 경험이 있다. 그 두 번 다 CEO에게 직접 보고하는 경로가 너무 많다는 이유 때문이었다. 보고할 때면 필자는 CFO에게 최대한 정중한 자세로 대화를 청하며 프로젝트의 성공을 위해 그의 지지가 반드시 필요함을 강조했다. 물론 그의 개인적 우선 순위가 비즈니스 전반의 그것과 다를 경우에는 외부 영역들과도 기꺼이 협력했다.

이런 유연하고 현실적인 대처로 필자는 CIO로서 이사회 테이블에 자리를 마련할 수 있었으며, 비즈니스의 전략적 의제를 논의하는데 참여할 수 있었다.

---

현업 임원진과의 관계를 맺고 이들에게 사업 추진에 기술이 필요함을 인식시키고, 궁극적으로 CIO를 전략적 인물로 인식하도록 만든 것이라 할 수 있다.

전략 구성뿐 아니라 비용 절감이라는 주제에서도 동일하게 적용할 수 있다. ‘관계’라는 맥락만 제대로 이해한다면, 어떤 비즈니스 활동에도 발언권을 얻을 수 있고, 궁극적으로 변화를 주도할 수 있게 된다.

Should the CFO report to the CIO?

It was an amusing question and one that resulted in some interesting dialogue about c-level reporting lines, says David Gee

David Gee (CIO) 22 April, 2015 09:48

Why don’t CFOs report to CIOs? This question – which many people will find totally ridiculous – was posed at my table during a breakout session at a recent conference I attended in Sydney.

For a brief moment, everyone was amused. But strangely, what followed was an interesting dialogue around how this could be a possibility, as silly as it sounds.

This question arose from an earlier comment made by Jetstar Airlines group CFO, Race Strauss, who said the CIO reported to him and this was the most suitable situation for his company.

He went on to describe how well this setup worked and it ensured that the CIO was connected to the business. Race explained that the CIO even went to meetings in his place when he wasn’t available.

While I have no past experience working at Jetstar, I do understand that the company was a ‘disruptor’, a Qantas offshoot that was setup to segment the market and appeal to travelers with low cost airfares. It is apparent that JetStar has been used to drive some degree of innovation within the Qantas Group.

However, I’d argue that Jetstar is not an R&D-driven organisation but a low cost producer and running the business lean is the airline’s primary focus. Its previous CIO, Stephen Tame, told me the airline’s IT systems are heavily outsourced and it runs a team of only 6 to 8 full time technology staff.

My belief is that a CIO should not be reporting into a CFO in a world where IT chiefs are being asked to drive innovation inside the organisation and their role is not just to reduce costs.

The real question is about the CIO reporting to the CEO, and not about the CFO being a subordinate of the CIO.

The holy grail for the CIO will be to focus on changing and growing the business. A recent McKinsey report, Why CIOs should be business-strategy partners, found that performance has a positive correlation to CIO involvement in shaping business strategy.

So the question is ‘how can a CIO be shaping strategy, when they report to a CFO?’

I’ve reported to a CFO twice in my career when it was explained to me that the CEO had too many direct reports. In both instances, I had respectful discussions with the respective CFOs, indicating that I will need his or her support to succeed. At the same time, I was aligned elsewhere when the CFO’s personal priorities were different than those of the business.

This got me a seat at the boardroom table, enabling me, as the CIO, to help shape the strategic agenda. Having this access to executive peers and being able to have that seat, simply means that there is a better understanding of the near and longer term technology needs.

I’ve seen examples of this both at the cost cutting end and also with strategic initiatives. Having that context and being in the discussion versus having this relayed third person to you, makes a huge difference.

In my view, a CIO has to have a seat at the table. In instances where we are relying on hearing (or worse, reading minutes of a management committee), it is a significant battle to be able to effectively contribute strategically.

Part of the issue has been that we, in IT, have always talking about being 'aligned' with the business. It’s almost like we are referring to another superior being that has all the answers.

This doesn’t mean that IT can do anything that it wants, there needs to be alignment but IT as part of the business can be intimately involved in shaping its direction.

Where does the CFO overlap with the CIO?

From my experience, this occurs usually in a more narrow sense – around the ERP and specialist financial planning and treasury systems. Moreover, there can be examples of where the CFO has been the custodian of ‘information’ and sees that he or she should control business intelligence.

Another area that can bring the two parties into some contention is procurement. There are organisations that have added the capability of procurement to IT’s remit.

Since they are often the largest spenders in the enterprise, this has much merit. GE, the industrial conglomerate, has often combined IT and procurement into one function. 

This also forces the CIO to be very commercial in their approach and less geeky and it’s a good look. The c-suite expects the CIO to have ‘commerciality’ and be as accountable as any of his or her peers.

High performing IT

A high performance IT team is highly desirable for any CEO and there would be little resistance to this for any executive. Given this, it is still surprising that IT is relegated to report to a support function.

Perhaps we can see this as a past failure of IT and the CIO to get the strategy and execute to this desired end state? As illustrated in the McKinsey study, there is a strong linkage between CIO involvement and performance.

“At companies with the most involved CIOs, executives are also much likelier than others to say IT facilitates business activities including new market entry and the creation of new products,” the study said.

The right answer, of course, is to have the CIO report to the CEO. There is a clear upside and the performance of IT will improve. It is only when the CIO acts as a business partner and not just a technology geek, that this will transpire.

David Gee is the former CIO of CUA where he recently completed a core banking transformation. He has more than 18 years' experience as a CIO, and was also previously director at KPMG Consulting. Connect with David on LinkedIn.

Interview: Daniel Alexiuc, The Living Room of Satoshi

How a Brisbane firm is playing a role in the digital currency landscape

David Gee (CIO) 09 April, 2015 13:10

The world has moved into online spending with the use of new payment platforms like ‘tap and pay.’ Despite this, we are still largely using cash and credit cards to pay our bills.

But digital currency is borderless and it’s shaping to be the next platform in the payments war. Bitcoin and other crypto currencies threaten to provide the lowest cost and fastest platform.

Australians are now using this digital currency through companies like Brisbane firm, The Living Room of Satoshi, which offers free BPay facilities in Bitcoin for consumers.

CIO contributor, David Gee asked The Living Room of Satoshi’s founder, Daniel Alexiuc, about the small part his company is playing in the digital currency landscape.

The Living Room of Satoshi founder, Daniel Alexiuc

CIO: The Living Room of Satoshi is a great name. What was the inspiration behind it?

Alexiuc: The story of Satoshi Nakamoto is an inspiring and romantic one, and has surely contributed to Bitcoin’s success so far. He’s a mysterious and reclusive genius, who had the forethought to create something brilliant, release it to the world, and disappear completely and accomplish it anonymously – no small feat in the internet age.

But I like to imagine that Satoshi still kicks back in his living room at the end of the day and pays his electricity bill just like the rest of us – hence “Living Room of Satoshi”.

CIO: Your platform permits people to pay their bills and day-to-day items with Bitcoin. What has attracted them to your service?

Alexiuc: All of our customers find Bitcoin a fast, secure and convenient way to pay bills. You can see from our graphs page that our customers are paying all sorts of everyday bills, from toll road charges to tax bills. Many use Living Room of Satoshi to pay off their credit cards with Bitcoin, which opens up an even greater range of places to spend Bitcoin.

What this means is that I can pay my utilities invoice with Bitcoin through this facility, even though that is not an officially supported mechanism of this organisation. This all happens within our interchange. Some of our customers are also paid in Bitcoin, so our service allows them to live without ever using Australian currency.

CIO: Your business was recently suspended for a few months due to regulatory uncertainty but now you’re back. What lessons have you learned in the short history of this company?

Read more Webjet Exclusives trials Bitcoin payments

 

 

Alexiuc: Don’t let fears about regulation stop you from developing innovative solutions because the regulations might change anyway.

Bitcoin is a nascent and unprecedented technology that regulators are still struggling to comprehend. The software developers in Australia need to continue to innovate and demonstrate the utility of Bitcoin, which will in turn shape regulation.

CIO: What will prevent Bitcoin from expanding more broadly in the future? What do you see as the biggest barriers right now to the success of crypto currencies?

Alexiuc: In Australia, by far the biggest impediment to the adoption of Bitcoin is the recent GST ruling on Bitcoin. This was also identified by international expert Andreas Antonopoulos at the Australian Bitcoin Senate hearing.

The GST ruling means it is very difficult for any Australian-based company to embrace Bitcoin, and this is hindering adoption. Our own Satoshi Pay biller solution, a competitor to BPAY, cannot be launched until we either relocate overseas, or the ruling is changed.

CIO: Every hour, Coinmap is updated with new players embracing Bitcoin and Blockchain. In your opinion, what’s going to be the tipping point?

Read more Where are mobile payments heading in 2015?

Alexiuc: I think the tipping point will come when it is easy for workers to be paid in Bitcoin – again this is something being hindered by the GST ruling.

There are lots of places now to spend Bitcoin, and you can pay all your bills with Living Room of Satoshi, but to have a healthy ecosystem, it needs to be easy for businesses to transact completely in Bitcoin - to sell products in Bitcoin, pay their staff in Bitcoin and purchase supplies in Bitcoin.

CIO: In which country is Bitcoin most accepted? Do you know why?

Alexiuc: Bitcoin is accepted everywhere the internet is accepted – it’s one of those pervasive technologies that is available everywhere and to everybody, and why it is such a revolution in payments.

In terms of supporting business though, I think that the traditional FinTech hubs of London, Hong Kong and Singapore seem to be attracting the most innovators away from Australia right now. They have so far adopted a more sensible wait-and-see approach to regulation and have avoided stifling innovators.

CIO: What APIs are you seeking to establish to allow further development and growth?

 

Alexiuc: Actually our API is built on the open and widespread REST standard, and isn’t tied to any particular company. We simply use Apiary for our documentation, something akin to a Wikipedia for software developers.

Our API allows other programs and websites to pay bills using Bitcoin – no humans required. For example, you could set up a system that pays your health insurance with Bitcoin automatically each month.

CIO: As a startup, it is a hard road with many bumps. What's the one piece of advice you would give to new entrants into this space?

Alexiuc: I agree with Shark Tank rhetoric ‘ideas are nothing, execution is everything’.

Don’t get wedded to your idea, it probably isn’t that great. Always be prepared to pivot – this is my sixth start-up, some raging successes, and some dramatic failures. But Bitcoin is in my opinion the most innovative technology since the internet, and there is still heaps of work to be done in this space.

CIO: If you could actually meet the fabled Satoshi or Bitcoin’s inventor, what would you ask him or her?

Alexiuc: Can I buy you a beer?

Why I don’t have to buy an Apple Watch

Is the Apple Watch just another distracting device?

David Gee (CIO) 20 March, 2015 11:57

The time is coming for each of us to decide – do we buy this new Apple Watch or not? There are many choices and price points for the product, plus we can expect third parties to provide accessories and apps to make these products even more individualised.

I’d love an Apple Watch to keep my golf score – an app with that function is appealing and saves me looking for a pencil to record my progress when I’m on a course.

What else? Being the sports nut that I am, the cricket score, rugby or basketball progress would also be nice. Yes I can do all of these things on my iPhone 6 but for a few months no-one would be the wiser. The Apple Watch is not waterproof, so keeping track of my laps in the pool is not going to be possible.

So is the Apple Watch just another distracting device?

So often I see drivers behind me in traffic with one hand on the wheel and the other on a smartphone. 

It just annoys the heck out of me and makes me a little concerned about a potential accident.

Avoiding people who are walking down the street with their heads buried in their smartphones can be just as hazardous. Also in the office, we consider it rude to be playing with one’s smartphone when there is important business at hand. At least the Apple Watch is hands free.

At the moment, My Apple iMac, iPad, and iPhone all make ‘ding’ noises within a few seconds of each other when I receive a message. Do I also want a fourth device to ‘ding’ me?

Choosing a model

Ok, so if it’s still on my wish list then which model would I buy? There is a range from A$499 for a Sports model to a price tag of A$24,000 for a watch at the very top of the range.

That top model is encased in 18 karat gold but if you really want to splash out then buy a Brikk, yes that really is the company name. At US$115,000, a Brikk costs about the same as a really nice sports car, and it’s covered with diamonds.

The Brikk is an Apple Watch that has been augmented and stylised – and you’ll have to wait six weeks after the launch date to get one.

April Fool’s Day?

What’s going to happen in April when this goes on sale? Will the public accept the luxury price for a watch that needs to be recharged every 18 hours?

 

Yes, the Apple Watch works like a Fitbit or other wearables that track your fitness. However, I can buy a Fitbit for $100.

GPS devices on the market also have turn-by-turn navigation (helping me to avoid those walkers I referred to earlier). Other devices have facial recognition for those embarrassing situations when you know someone walking towards you but you simply can’t remember their name. Sadly, the Apple Watch does not have this capability.

The fourth screen

Let’s remember we started with one screen, the TV. We added a second, the computer; and a third, the smart device. Will the Apple Watch become our fourth screen?

As a complementary product, the Apple Watch uses WiFi and Bluetooth to pair your new timepiece and then connect to the outside world. In short, it is a fourth screen that is reliant on others to be effective. Without connectivity, it’s just an expensive watch.

The irony is that the advent of smartphones has seen Generation Y not even bothering to wear a watch and I’ve seen them laugh at the oldies with their dated timepieces. Mere items of jewelry they say.

There is no question that the traditional watch makers have struggled to generate demand. However there are a few exceptions and classical Swiss watchmaker, Rolex, has enjoyed a rise among the middle and upper class in China. Now Apple is getting into the luxury market, but with a technology twist.

Famous last words

I’ve told myself that I won’t buy an Apple Watch and no amount of technology envy will make me.

But future apps might just make me change my mind. Apps have made the iPhone and iPad much more compelling.

So if anyone at Apple is reading this, I’d be delighted to test drive an Apple Watch with that wonderful golf score app. And while you are there, if the watch can also measure my swing to get the right tempo and monitor my heart rate when I putt, that would be fantastic.

Then I’ll be sold. I might even splash out on a sports model!

Transformation for SMARTIES

inShare5

[Blog post] Steps to avoid being a dummy.

These days nearly every organisation in the private and public sector is undertaking transformation efforts in one form or another. We all know that a business transformation is hard and involves both perspiration and inspiration.

As an IT professional this is both a threat and an opportunity. How you react when you are thrust into this position will be the key to you both surviving and thriving. I’ve had the privilege of leading more than my fair share of transformations, starting from my first in the '90s.

At Pioneer International, we challenged all the assumptions of the business and in doing so reengineered all processes and implemented new systems across the entire value chain. Later I completed a number of major transformations in Asia Pacific, Japan and in the USA when I was with global pharmaceutical group Eli Lilly.  More recently at CUA I completed a core banking transformation aided by an amazing team. I’m now advisor to an institution in New Zealand undertaking a core banking transformation.

As part of my journey I have collected scar tissue from both success and failure. Some learnings are transferrable between industries. We are all familiar with the reference book series marketed as "for dummies". I’ve always cringed at the notion of being a ‘dummy’, hence here is my guide to transformation for smarties.

S = Simple 
While we understand that transformations are complex and difficult programs of work, what really counts is that the change is ‘simple’ when done well. The best transformations don’t try to do too much or be too cute. We have to remember the change management of a transformation --that human beings are not able to absorb radical shifts when they do not understand the change.

I use my Pioneer project of 2000 as an example. The team tested the basic assumption of what value our business offered - which was that we produced concrete and building material products. But the subtle nuance was that customers really want a delivered product.

This meant how we organised the business could be radically changed. We changed the business from 300 order points to a single location. That single city location controlled all the 2000 delivery trucks which were now fitted with onboard computers.


M = Momentum
Transformations work against the natural order of a business, hence they are often surrounded by significant inertia. In my experience transformations feel like a roller coaster, and like gravity is working against you – it feels hard to push against the doubters and those that are spectating on the sidelines. 

 

It is only when the whole team pulls together and momentum starts to build that kinetic energy and physics work for you.  In a transformation the team always knows when they are doing the hard yards and the project is flying along - it is all about maintaining this momentum and ensuring it is focused on the right things.


 A = Anchors
Every successful transformation has clear anchors --the principles that everyone is working towards that provide crystal clarity. Conversely we have all seen the examples where the average person in the program is not on the same page and without realising, is working against the true direction of the change.  For example, Eli Lilly had 25 different flavours of CRM system around the world. The goal of the One Lilly project was to create a single CRM system on a single server in a single year using a single source code.

To support this aggressive goal, one anchor we adopted was 'vanilla’ - meaning no modifications. We also decided to try to standardise to one global process with 20 standard reports.  We ended up with just 25 global reports from 2000+ different reports globally previously. A few simple anchors established a framework that made the transformation a success.


R = Respect
In large projects, there is so much detail that the old adage "people respect what you inspect" really is true. As a leader you want focus on certain critical areas, and while you can delegate and empower, it is critical that your team knows what you really value.  Over time, this behaviour will end up with the team understanding and hence giving due credit to these facets.

Respect is also critical in transformations when dealing with people who don't react well to the change. By treating these people with respect, you make the process a lot easier for both parties.


T = Talent
Yes the T word is talent, not technology, training or testing.

I was once asked to take on a significant transformation for an organisation that had in excess of $1.4 billionb revenue per annum. Their technology was among the worst I had ever seen.  In accepting this role, I had a conversation with a global HR executive, who advised me that this was all about “people”. At the time I smiled and agreed. 

Over the next four years I realised how very correct he was, and my greatest achievement was not the delivery or turning around what I thought was the worst IT shop that I had ever seen. Instead it was building talent that has since sustained and grown this business.

My proudest achievement is in growing leaders who are change agents, and are now CIOs, partners or VPs in the vendor community. That’s the meaning of a real transformation, as each of those leaders and their teams are making a difference with their own careers.

I = Integrity
There were many “I” words that were strong candidates: innovation, integration, intelligence and intensity. But during any significant transformation there will be many moments of truth where how you act and the integrity you display can be a defining event.

As a leader you need to back your team in the tough times. It is never blind faith but a “trust, but verify” approach. The integrity of a transformation also includes the support of the individuals delivering the project and the willingness to go that extra mile.  

Clarity of the anticipated benefits and an understanding of why the change is imperative will create and maintain the integrity of the journey. When times are tough and the team is tired, they need to draw strength from understanding that bigger picture.

E = Essence
The essence of a transformation is about its focus. It is about boiling down all the fluff and aspiration then agreeing what exactly is going to add the most value in the shortest time.

In any transformation, it is hard not to get caught up with the superfluous add ons that have been in the back pocket of many in the organisation. It takes real courage to challenge and ensure that this essence is maintained and there is none of the normal scope creep that comes into large programs.

S = Starts with you 
The reality is that any transformation has to start with you. We can't expect the organisation and everyone else to transform while we stay the same. That’s just not realistic and it has to start with you.

Gandhi’s advice to “be the change that you want to see in the world” really resonates with me as a person and a leader.

Give my SMARTIES guide a try and let me know how it works for you.

Read more: http://www.itnews.com.au/BlogEntry/401006,transformation-for-smarties.aspx#ixzz3TGJLta4V

Spotify, the agile posterboy

[Blog post] Agile coach Anders Ivarsson streams his views.

IT shops across Australia are struggling with increased demands for digital innovation while battling reduced budget and cost pressures. These businesses are often competing with more nimble companies which can innovate rapidly.

Many are turning to agile development practices as a possible answer to gaining momentum for planned innovation efforts and as an alternative method to reduce the cost of developing new systems.

The result for many organisations has been mixed, and some say a lack of success can sometimes be reflective of a company’s culture. It’s been recommended to have a disciplined project management office (PMO) work side by side with an agile methodology.

I don't see this as a religious war over which is better, as clearly there is a place for traditional waterwall and agile to both co-exist. The trick is that there is insufficient sharing of best practice.
So what does work and how does one go about figuring out the best approach?

Spotify's benchmark
In CIO circles, Spotify is the benchmark of agile software engineering. The music streaming service is an incredible success story and has disrupted an industry where innovation is at its heart.

Spotify, from a standing start in 2008, has grown an impressive user base of 60 million users and 15 million paid customers. The company is renowned for retaining an innovative spirit despite rapid growth.

There are now around 600+ software engineers in Spotify, located around the globe in locations as diverse as Stockholm, Sydney, New York, Boston, and San Francisco. A size and scale that is not that different to many multinational corporates.

I sat down with the company’s Stockholm-based agile coach, Anders Ivarsson, to find out more about his role.

DG: I've heard about Spotify as a world leader in agile. What does Spotify do that is unique? 

AI: Spotify as a company has a genuine belief in and understanding of agile values and thus boasts a very agile culture. It can be seen in all levels from top management down to our individual contributors.

We're putting a lot of effort into keeping a culture of high trust, high transparency and where people are passionate about always improving and getting better results.

Within our product development, we have an organisational structure that has really helped us have autonomous teams, while also scaling to quite a large size.

It has also allowed us to keep being quite fluid and experiment with improving how we work, both within the teams and as a whole organisation. This is what most people are interested to learn about from us - how we've structured into squads, tribes, chapters and guilds.

There’s more information on the company’s engineering culture on the Spotify labs blog.

DG: Is this home grown and is it still evolving?

IA: This is very much home grown and is a constant evolution. We are always experimenting with new solutions and ideas, and adapting to new challenges and problems that come up.

DG: What issues still remain to be refined?

AI: When it comes to agile, I think we still could be a lot more disciplined around agile tech practices. As an organisation, we've achieved high levels of autonomy, but a challenge is to find and keep alignment between all the autonomous parts without reducing the autonomy.

As we keep growing, there is an ongoing challenge with clarity of vision and intent while also allowing for innovation and initiative to solve real problems.

DG: How are team assignments made? By whom and how?

AI: Just like many other things at Spotify, the answer is that ‘it depends’. Sometimes squads are spawned from an existing squad and take over part of their mission and backlog.

At other times we have a new idea - that might have come from anyone in the company, developed during one of our company-wide hack weeks, or perhaps realised through analysis of user behaviours in our product - that we want to test. We then spin up a new squad with the mission to solve that problem.

The squad themselves are most often heavily involved in finding their mission and defining what problem they should tackle.

DG: Has your team experienced any scaling limits to the agile model?

AI: We believe that each tribe should roughly follow Dunbar's number – that is maximum 100 to120 members which allows everyone to know and interact with one another.

That gives some upper limits to how big a tribe can become, but we’ve also seen tribes grow beyond that size and come up with ways of organising themselves to make it work.

I think the general pattern of highly autonomous teams with clear a mission works on all levels, so may likely scale beyond the current size.

DG: What is Spotify looking for in new hires?

AI: When we recruit to Spotify - no matter if it's for developers, product people, UX or other roles - we always look for technical excellence and skills, as well as a cultural fit and willingness to really participate in teamwork.

Finding the people with this mix of skills, experience and attitudes can be challenging and we put a lot of effort into constantly improving our recruitment.

DG: How long does it take to orientate new recruits to your culture and approach?

AI: It really depends. A lot of people come here and feel at home right away. But since we're growing so fast and are now quite large - plus we also keep constantly tweaking the way we work and how we're structured, it means it can be quite hard to get an overview of the whole organisation, what we're doing and how things work. This can be a bit of a shock to some at first.

We're running boot camps with every new engineer to give them a quick introduction to help easy onboarding, assist as to where to find information, etc - and that has really helped people get started more quickly.

DG: How well does the team collaborate globally?

AI:  Cooperating across geographical barriers, especially across several time zones, is always tricky.

Rather than having a distributed team working on the same thing from multiple locations, we often try to find enough people to build a small team in each location that can move more independently and autonomously, and thus reduce the need for constant synchronisation.

DG: Do you think it is possible for other organisations to mimic the ‘Spotify method’?

AI: I receive emails from companies that after reading our articles or watching our culture videos have been greatly inspired. Those companies have started making changes beneficial to them.

I also get a lot of questions from companies that have been trying to implement some of the things we do, but are looking for clarifications on details or have found places where it doesn't fit well with their current culture or way of working.

My personal take is that while it's great to look at what other companies are doing to find good behaviours and inspiration, you always have to start where you are and make gradual changes and improvements that fit within your context.

I don't think complex things like organisational design can just be copy-pasted like a blueprint for what will work.

David Gee presented his investigation into Spotify’s agile approach at the 7^th CIO Strategy Summit.

Read more: http://www.itnews.com.au/BlogEntry/400490,spotify-the-agile-posterboy.aspx#ixzz3TGIcFvVf