Development teams: an untapped source of innovation that you must unlock!

© 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited1

© 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited2 © 2009 Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited

Software Development Teams:Secrets to Achieving Unprecedented Rates of Growth and Innovation

Jeffrey Hammond, Principal Analyst

May 3rd, 2011


Your development teams are an untapped source of innovation

that you must unlock!

3Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Source: Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/keoki/1418303458/sizes/o/)

How would you describe the act of developing software?

Algorithmic?4Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

Source: Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/keoki/1418303458/sizes/o/)

How would you describe the act of developing software?

Or heuristic?5Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Source: Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/passer-by/1122901114/sizes/o/)


Three steps to a high performance team

1. Get (and keep) the right players

2. Create conditions for them to thrive and team

3. Manage with lean techniques and selective measures

Finding stars . . . why does it matter?

Source: Flickr (ttp://www.flickr.com/photos/clarism_4/3079019223/7Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

8Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

“Stars” are simply more productive . . .

Numerous studies show a 10-time difference in productivity and quality among software developers

and teams.

A tale of two developers . . .

Drew Jim


There Are Two Types Of Dev Professionals

Extrinsic

Biologic

Intrinsic

Source: Adapted from Daniel H. Pink, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Riverhead Hardcover, 2009

• Put food on table.• Pay mortgage.• Send kids to college.

• Expected rewards• Defined performance Motivation

• Internally driven• Self-motivated

Type X Dev Pro Type I Dev Pro• Does development (It’s a job)• Works 9-5, overtime if rewarded• Doesn’t invest in self improvement

• Self identifies (Is a developer)• Gets involved in side projects• Self invests in learning new skills



1. Get (and keep) the right players.

2. Create conditions for them to thrive and team.

3. Manage with lean techniques and selective measures


Creating a climate that attracts “stars”

Three cultural elements that create space for (and attract)

intrinsically motivated development team members:

1. Autonomy

2. Mastery

3. Purpose

Source: Daniel H. Pink, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Riverhead Hardcover, 2009

Autonomy! Are you kidding?

What about compliance?

What about governance?

“We need to put fences around development teams to ensure they don’t wander off the path we want them to take . . .”

— Executive at a dev. tools ISV

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Focus on ends, not so much on means

Govern (and measure) autonomous behavior: Self-directed teams

Limited stage gates

Quality metrics

Engagement

On-time delivery

Customer centricity

Rapid recovery

Build a:

Results-

OrientedWorkEnvironment

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Mastery takes practice and perseverance

•Covet engagement.

•Set a10k plan.

•Focus on your 12.

Source: Daniel H. Pink, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Riverhead Hardcover, 2009 and Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success, Little, Brown, and Company, 2008.

Build a “flow friendly” development shop.


Purpose: prerequisite for self-actualization

“We’re on a mission from God.”“We’re not evil.”“OTTWD”“We want to put a dent in the universe!”“Let’s build a smarter planet”

Do you have:Transparency?Shared goals?

Simple policies?

15Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Source: Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65538421@N00/1377536488/sizes/o/)



1. Get (and keep) the right players.

2. Create conditions for them to thrive and team.

3. Manage with lean techniques and selective

measures

Lean software is not really about this . . .

. . . it’s about getting teams “in the zone” — and keeping them there.

17Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Source: Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikkime/3516613640/sizes/l/)


Wastes that impede flow

Manufacturing sources of waste:

Overproduction

Waiting (time on hand)

Unnecessary transport or

conveyance

Overprocessing or incorrect

processing

Excess inventory

Unnecessary movement

Defects

Unused employee creativity

App dev. equivalents:

Too many superfluous artifacts

Broken builds

Too many tool transitions

Rigid architectures

Analysis paralysis

Late discovery of defects

Rising downstream labor costs

Polluted supply chain management

(SCM) streams

High null-release ratios


Change management Service management

Portfolio management

Key ALM processes that improve “flow”

Build and software

configuration management

Deployment

Project management

Testing and quality

assurance

Release management

Production planningclosed loop

JIT Demand Management

Release managementclosed loop

Production controlclosed loop

Change awarecontinuous integration

Change awareconfiguration management


Measures that matter for the end result

Process Measure Objective/question How to calculatePPM Project alignment Do we have the right

investment mix?BCG Matrix Horizon Model

PPM/ALM

Scope, effort, cost, and schedule

Is the project tracking? What’s our velocity?

Burn-up/burn-down charts

ALM Readiness to deliver Is the software really ready to ship?

Post-build quality and code metrics

ALM Build for change. Can we easily change and evolve apps?

Code cohesion and coupling metrics

ALM/PPM

Estimation variance What type of process is appropriate?

Actual effort versus estimates effort

PPM Design for people. Do our customers value our efforts?

Net promoter, adoption rate/costs, defects

PPM Delivered value What have we done for the business lately?

Earned value,ROI


Forrester case studies on high performance teams

Atlassian

Ultimate Software

Sabre Holdings

CI&T

Netflix

Funambol

For more, see: www.forrester.com/masstlc

http://www.forrester.com/masstlc

A game plan changing culture

The next 90 days

• Share these concepts with your management team.

• Explore the suggested bibliography.

• Ask your performers about “out-of-job innovations.”

• Run a “flow analysis” with your development teams.

• Create an “engagement plan” to spur intrinsic motivation.

22Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Source: Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/werkunz/3599761533/sizes/l/)

A game plan for your BT strategy

Longer term

• Make a decision on how “innovative” you want to be.

• Begin to implement specific best practices (360-degree reviews, innovation time, OSS, Agile development).

• Start attacking waste that “slows flow.”

• Implement “unexpected” rewards system.

• Adjust measures to focus on building a ROWE.

• Start managing like a pro sports team.

23Entire contents © 2010 Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Source: Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/werkunz/3599761533/sizes/l/)


Thank you

Jeffrey Hammond

+1 617.613.6164

[email protected]

Twitter: jhammond

www.forrester.com


Selected Forrester research

• November 3,2010, “Best Practice: Building High-Performance Application Development Teams”

• April 8, 2011, “Case Study: Sabre – A Culture Of Engagement”

• March 7, 2011, “CI&T – High Performance, Brazilian Style”

• January 14, 2011, “Atlassian Creates An Innovation Culture That Produces Results”

• November 3,2010, “Ultiamate Software Reinvents Its Development Shop To Stay On Its Game”

• November 2, 2010, “Software Development Archetypes – What’s Your Sign?”


Selected bibliography

• Netflix: Reference Guide on our Freedom & Responsibility Culture (http://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664)

•Daniel H. Pink, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Riverhead Books, 2009

•Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success, Little, Brown & Co., 2008

•10X Software Development (http://forums.construx.com/blogs/stevemcc/default.aspx)

http://forums.construx.com/blogs/stevemcc/default.aspx

Technology

Development teams: an untapped source of innovation that you must unlock!