Architecting Lean Software Enterprises:
The TODC Story
Jayakanth ‘JK’ Srinivasan
Lead Advancement Initiative
Engineering Systems Division
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
http://lean.mit.edu
http://leanit.mit.edu
The PROGRESS Centre
School of Innovation, Design and Engineering
Mälardalen University
http://www.mrtc.mdh.se/progress/
© 2008 Jayakanth Srinivasan 12/13/08 1
Agenda
g
•
Principles-based
p
approach
pp
to enterprise
p
design
g
•
TODC viewed through Enterprise Principles
•
Towards a theory of software enterprises
http://leanit.mit.edu
© 2008 Jayakanth Srinivasan 12/13/08 2
Principles-Based Enterprise Design
1
1.
2
2.
3
3.
Adopt a holistic
approach to
enterprise
p
value
creation.
Identify relevant
stakeholders and
determine their
value propositions.
Focus on
enterprise
effectiveness
before efficiency.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Address internal
and external
enterprise
interdependencies.
Ensure stability
and flow within
and across the
enterprise.
Cultivate
leadership to
support and drive
enterprise
behaviors.
Emphasize
organizational
learning.
Source: J. Srinivasan, Nightingale D., “A principles based approach to enterprise design”, LAI Working Paper Series, MIT 2008
http://leanit.mit.edu
© 2008 Jayakanth Srinivasan 12/13/08 3
Research Evolution
EuroTel Field Work (Jan)
• 8 semi-structured interviews (SLT)
Workshop (March)
• 16 participants from both organizations
• Participant observation and survey data
•
•
Balancing Agility and
Discipline in Software
Development
Driving Enterprise Agility
TODC Field Work (March)
• 16 semi-structured interviews
• Project data
TODC Field Work (August)
• 7 Project team interviews
• Second round of senior leadership interviews
http://leanit.mit.edu
© 2008 Jayakanth Srinivasan 12/13/08 4
Holistic Enterprise
p
Value Creation
•
Balanced portfolio
p
• Product Ownership (2/7)
• Product sustainment (4/7)
• Knowledge Workers (1/7)
•
Growth opportunities for employees
‘We are very aware of the socio-economic pressures that our team
members face…’
•
Freeing up resources for EuroTel
‘In the
‘I
th end,
d they
th [EuroTel]
[E T l] have
h
to
t acknowledge
k
l d that
th t we do
d the
th job
j b
better than they can, for a lot less money..’
http://leanit.mit.edu
© 2008 Jayakanth Srinivasan 12/13/08 5
Managing
g g Stakeholder Expectations
p
The value that they get is in the training in problem solving and
p
in the ffundamentals such as data structures and
improvement
algorithms – not in the learning the hottest new thing’
EXIT
Entry
Internationalization
Career Progression
Harmonization
3 yrs
2-3 yrs
1 yr
1 yr
Stabilization
3-5 yr
•
Employees
•
Employee’s families
•
Customers
•
•
Corporate
Society
oca community
co
u ty
• Local
• ‘India Advantage’
http://leanit.mit.edu
Stabilization
© 2008 Jayakanth Srinivasan 12/13/08 6
Focus on Effectiveness
‘We have the best insight into product improvement opportunities
y g out the sustainment... Over the last two yyears,,
as we are carrying
we have consistently improved both the documentation and the
quality of the final product... Our internal team identified twenty
improvement opportunities,
opportunities and executed on some of them using
our own funds. As a result, the customer is now cofunding some of
the improvements…..Our goal is to have complete product
ownership, and we have to demonstrate value in order to do that.’
•
Investing
g in growth
g
•
Leveraging process improvement gains to support learning
http://leanit.mit.edu
© 2008 Jayakanth Srinivasan 12/13/08 7
Addressing
g Interdependencies
p
•
Tailored processes to meet EuroTel and IndiaCo standards
‘There is a challenge in that our processes are more mature than
those of our client,
client and while they expect stringent performance on
our side, their own processes are often lacking’
•
C
Creating
ti a process for
f successful
f l knowledge
k
l d transfer
t
f
‘We were not given sufficient anything... People would give us just
enoughh information
i f
i to stay out off trouble….
bl
My
M team made
d sure that
h
our leadership knew … My project manager at the time recognized
that in some cases, the client reallyy didn’t have the data or
documentation, and tasked us to essentially recreate it… it was a
grind.. We have now institutionalized the process…
http://leanit.mit.edu
© 2008 Jayakanth Srinivasan 12/13/08 8
Ensuring
g Stability
y and Flow
‘Most young hires want to work on sexy technologies such as Java or
.NET
NET that will immediately improve their market value in six
months... We make sure that they understand that it will take them at
least a year to understand the product itself, and that they would be
using
i customer proprietary
i
programming
i languages
l
andd platforms.
l f
•
Rigorous selection of personnel
•
Augmented with a 3 year ‘commitment’ to the TODC team
•
Team interviews for lateral hires
•
Rotation across the p
project
j
portfolio
p
http://leanit.mit.edu
© 2008 Jayakanth Srinivasan 12/13/08 9
Cultivate Leadership
p at all Levels
•
Significant percentage of their leadership team is grown
from within the organization
•
“The IndiaCo Way” – plus TODC leadership development
program
•
Leaders as Teachers
‘You have to earn your place within the team. I had one person
wanting to join my team, with over ten years of experience. …
emphasized
h i d that
h he
h would
ld be
b starting
i as a project
j leader,
l d andd not
a project manager… prove his abilities to the team as a whole,
then we would definitely fast track him…six months later he really
did not want to transition into the project manager role’
http://leanit.mit.edu
© 2008 Jayakanth Srinivasan 12/13/08 10
Enable Organizational
g
Learning
g
‘The hardest part with the young professionals is keeping them
focused. … I am required to review everyone’s learning plans and
sign
i off
ff on their
h i applications
li i
for
f taking
ki
Since the plan is online, and a student may request as many courses
as he/she wants (prior to obtaining approval), HR often sees that
there are unapproved courses, and starts harassing me to either
Organic
approve
ppSystemic
or reject
j the request.
q
• 20 hours of training per
• Peer-to-Peer mentoring
There year
are times when I know someone needs to take the course,
• for
Formalized
knowledge
but we are too busy with project work
me to spare
them during
transfer
from theclasses
client
• hours.
Structured
learning center is great
work
Our learning
in scheduling
duringprogram
the evenings or weekends.
•
Leaders as Teachers
http://leanit.mit.edu
© 2008 Jayakanth Srinivasan 12/13/08 11
Towards a Theory
y of Software Enterprises
p
Stakeholder
Alignment
Employee
Emplo
ee
Empowerment
Group and
Organizational
Learning
Performance
Measurement
System
Institutionalizing Process Improvement
C f i Innovation
Crafting
I
i Systems
S
Dynamic
Enterprise
Capabilities
Leveraging Global Competence
http://leanit.mit.edu
© 2008 Jayakanth Srinivasan 12/13/08 12
Acknowledgements
g
•
MdH
• Prof. Kristina Lundqvist
• Prof. Christer Norstrom
•
MIT
• Prof. John Carroll
• Dr. Ricardo Valerdi
• Dr. Kirk Bozdogan
• Prof.
Prof Debbie Nightingale
http://leanit.mit.edu
© 2008 Jayakanth Srinivasan 12/13/08 13
Questions?
Jayakanth Srinivasan
jksrini@mit.edu
1 617 253 0672
1-617-253-0672
http://leanit.mit.edu
http://leanit.mit.edu
© 2008 Jayakanth Srinivasan 12/13/08 14