In this session, we will discuss how to achieve real technical excellence that matters to the Business, how to build trust between Business and Tech, and how Business can react quickly and beat the competition with help from Tech. After many years in professional software development, we experienced the impact of Business’ decisions on Tech, the importance of technical excellence for the Business, and the role of Software Craftsmanship/Craftswomenship in achieving technical excellence. We learned that Tech is an enabler for the Business, that Business is a key stakeholder, that mastery in practices such as Software Craftsmanship/Craftswomenship leads to technical excellence that really matters. Then, in an unexpected turn of events, we learned these assumptions were flawed, it was much more than that.

1. IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO:
WHY
BUSINESS & TECH SUCCEED OR FAIL
TOGETHER
SmHarter.com/Blog@LukaDotNet

2. LUCA MINUDEL
@LUKADOTNET
LUCA.MINUDEL@SMHARTER.COM
HTTPS://WWW.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/LUCAMINUDEL/

3. IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO: BUSINESS & TECH

4. BUSINESS
TECH
SUPPORTINGENABLING DIFFERENTIATING ONE &THE SAME
BUSINESS
TECH
BUSINESS
TECH
BUSINESS
TECH
’80
’90
2000
2010-2020

5. 2001
WATTS S. HUMPHREY - PIONEER IN SW ENGINEERING,
FATHER OF SW QUALITY
Every Business is a Software Business
@giulio_vian

6. 2011
MARC ANDREESSEN – ENTREPRENEUR, INVESTOR, SW
ENGINEER
Software Is Eating The World
@giulio_vian

7. 2015
MICHAEL HARTE - BARCLAYS IT DIRECTOR
IT is the Business
@LukaDotNet

8. 26 APRIL 2017
CRAIG DONALDSON - METRO BANK CHIEF EXECUTIVE
ABOUT BUYING CO-OP BANK
I don’t want to buy another business because
I’d be buying their legacy technology
It would just slow down our growth
@LukaDotNet

9. 2017
GREGOR HOHPE - TECH DIRECTOR GOOGLE CLOUD
People at Google don’t say “IT” (information
technology) because
the business & tech work closely together
- IT is an integral part of the business.
@LukaDotNet

10. 2019,
LUCA MINUDEL & PAOLO POLCE
In nowadays digital economy
the Business & Tech
are one and the same
@LUKADOTNET@PAOLOPOLCE

11. F1-IT 1970s-1990s

12. F1-IT 2016-2019

13. TECH EXCELLENCE UPWARD SPIRAL
To Technical excellence
From Continuous Improvement
To great profits
From a good product
UPWARD=>
TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS

14. TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE DOWNWARD
SPIRAL
From Technical debt
To Technical bankruptcy
From a non competitive product
To shrinking market and profits
TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS
DOWNWARD=>

15. 4 REAL-LIFE SITUATIONS,
FOR EACH ONE:
A HORROR STORY … OR TWO,
A SUCCESS STORY

16. F1 TEAMS FACE
- HUGE PRESSURE TO CONSTANTLY
DELIVER+LEARN
- FREQUENT & UNESCAPABLE REALITY
CHECKS
- FAILURE AND SUCCESS OUT IN THE OPEN
SUCCESS STORIES FROM F1

17. SITUATION #1: RAMPING UP
> FOLLOWING THE
SUCCESSFULRELEASE OFA
NEW PRODUCT …

18. SITUATION #1: RAMPING UP
… EXPANSION INTO NEW
INTERNATIONALMARKETS,
SCALING THE # OF USERS_

19. EXPANDING IN NEW MARKETS, SCALING
THE # OF USERS
 STORIES: ONE FINTECH START-UP & ONE BANK
Geographic expansion.
From early adopters to the majority of users.

20. EXPANDING IN NEW MARKETS, SCALING
THE # OF USERS
TECH EXPECTED TO
PULL A RABBIT OUT OF A HAT

21. EXPANDING IN NEW MARKETS, SCALING
THE # OF USERS
 STORIES: ALTERNATIVE FINALE
Geographic expansion.
From early adopters to the majority of users.

22. EXPANDING IN NEW MARKETS, SCALING
THE # OF USERS
BUSINESS FORCED TO
SLOW DOWN AND …

23. EXPANDING IN NEW MARKETS, SCALING
THE # OF USERS
BUSINESS FORCED TO
SLOW DOWN AND …

24. EXPANDING IN NEW MARKETS, SCALING
THE # OF USERS
 STORY: F1
From an ad-hoc solution for a specific track/race to a standard
solution for every race.
Promoting experimental app with just one or few users to
official app used by the whole team.

25. EXPANDING IN NEW MARKETS, SCALING
THE # OF USERS
RELENTLESS PURSUE OF SIMPLICITY SIMPLE
DESIGN =
LOW-COST
HIGH-VALUE
FLEXIBILITY
FROM
TO

26. SITUATION #2: STRATEGISING
> RE-USE PARTS OF EXISTING
PRODUCTS TO CREATE NEW ONES,
SWITCH TOTHE LATEST
TECHNOLOGIES TO REJUVENATE
EXISTING PRODUCTS…

27. SITUATION #2: STRATEGISING
…TECH ISASKED BYBUSINESS TO
PROVIDE OPTIONS TO ENACTTHE
STRATEGY _

28. TECH OPTIONS STRATEGIC FOR THE
BUSINESS
 STORIES: FAST GROWING ONLINE MARKET RESEARCH,
FINTECH
Speed up the creation of new products
reusing and integrating parts of the existing products

29. TECH OPTIONS STRATEGIC FOR THE
BUSINESS
Cold Soup
LIKE IT OR LUMP IT

30. TECH OPTIONS STRATEGIC FOR THE
BUSINESS
 STORY: F1
Switching to a different technology.
Upgrading to a newer version (tools, frameworks, language).

31. TECH OPTIONS STRATEGIC FOR THE
BUSINESS
FROM HIGH COUPLING TO LOW COUPLING
WITH MINIMAL DEPENDENCIES

32. TECH OPTIONS STRATEGIC FOR THE
BUSINESS
FROM MONOLITH TO MODULARITY

33. SITUATION #3: FASTER, CHEAPER
> BUSINESS IS FACING PRESSURE
FROM COMPETITORS…

34. SITUATION #3: FASTER, CHEAPER
… PRODUCT NEEDS TO EVOLVE
FASTER, TIME-TO-MARKET &
COSTS NEED TO BE REDUCED _

35. REDUCING COSTS & TIME-TO-MARKET
 STORY: ONLINE GAMING AND BETTING COMPANY
Striving to achieve:
-More competitive prices
-Faster time-to-market
-Sustainable costs of maintenance/evolution
-Lower costs of clients acquisition

36. REDUCING COSTS & TIME-TO-MARKET
CLIMBING A HUMAN TOWER
MAKING YOUR MOVE AT JENGA

37. REDUCING COSTS & TIME-TO-MARKET
 STORY: F1
Want to:
-Maximise the number of features released
-Evolve a huge code-base with few & relatively small teams

38. REDUCING COSTS & TIME-TO-MARKET
GRADUALLY AND STEADILY COMPOSING PIECES TO SOLVE THE PUZZLE

39. TECH EXCELLENCE THAT MATTERS FOR
THE BUSINESS
FROM
TO

40. SITUATION #4: FINALDESTINATION
> BUSINESS &TECH, INA
DEAD-END RELATIONSHIP
STRUGGLE TO…

41. SITUATION #4: FINALDESTINATION
…ENSURE BASIC
PRODUCT’S RELIABILITY _

42. PRODUCT’S RELIABILITY
 STORY: SAME ONLINE GAMING AND BETTING COMPANY AS
BEFORE
Needs to tackle quickly product’s reliability problems while:
-Keeping customers happy
-Limiting users frustration
-Improving company reputation
-Ensuring service continuity and related revenue stream

43. PRODUCT’S RELIABILITY
THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE CONSTANT FIRE-FIGHTING

44. PRODUCT’S RELIABILITY
 STORY: F1
Don’t create reliability problems or any kind of extra work or
extra complexity for the race team (the users).
Recover quickly from bugs and incidents in production.

45. PRODUCT’S RELIABILITY
SPEED AND RELIABILITY

46. BUSINESS + TECH, HOW TO TANGO:
LESSONS LEARNED(*)
(*) EXAMPLES IN CONTEXT,
NOT SILVER BULLET RECIPES

47. LESSONS LEARNED (*)
1. A GROWTH MINDSET:
continuously learning & improving while delivering
2. BLAMELESS CULTURE:
learning from mistakes, avoid repeats, remove root causes
3. BIZ-TECH COLLABORATION & TRUST:
…
(*) EXAMPLES IN CONTEXT, NOT SILVER BULLET RECIPES

48. HOWWE BUILT BUSINESS-TECHTRUST
WE (TECH) WON BUSINESSTRUST BY
◻ delivering tech excellence that had a tangible positive impact
◻ volunteering to share with the Business the responsibility,
blame and praise, joy and pain of our deliveries
OUR BUSINESS WAS OPENTO
◻ understand technology implications, constraints and
opportunities
◻ solve problems and find solutions collaborating with us

49. DEEP COLLABORATION, EARLY/FREQUENT FEEDBACK
Feedback
Busines
s
Product
Design
& Dev
Test
CO-CREATION + CO-EVOLUTION

50. LESSONS LEARNED (*)
1. A GROWTH MINDSET:
continuously learning & improving while delivering
2. BLAMELESS CULTURE:
learning from mistakes, avoid repeats, remove root causes
3. BIZ-TECH COLLABORATION & TRUST:
deliver promised benefits , share success/failure responsibility
4. SOFTWARE CRAFTS(WO)MANSHIP AS A STARTING POINT:
a quick recap of forgotten lessons…
(*) EXAMPLES IN CONTEXT, NOT SILVER BULLET RECIPES

51. MEMO: GOALS OFTECHNICAL EXCELLENCE
A. INCREASE THE SPEED OF LEARNING
B. REDUCE THE COST OF CHANGE
C. MAKE IT FAST, EASY, AND CHEAP TO REVERSE DECISIONS AND
MISTAKES (TACKLE IRREVERSIBILITY)

52. TIPS FORWHEN PURSUINGTECH EXCELLENCE
I. SEARCH SPECIFIC SOLUTIONS (NOT GENERAL)
II. SEARCH LOCAL SOLUTIONS (NOT GLOBAL)
III. START SIMPLE (NOT ALL-INCLUSIVE)
IV. BE JUST-GOOD-ENOUGH JUST-IN-TIME (NOT PERFECT UPFRONT)
V. FOCUS ON ONETHINGATTHETIME (NO MULTI-TASKING)
VI. IF SOMETHING IS HARD, DO IT MORE OFTEN (NOT LESS OFTEN)

53. LESSONS LEARNED (*)
1. A GROWTH MINDSET:
continuously learning & improving while delivering
2. BLAMELESS CULTURE:
learning from mistakes, avoid repeats, remove root causes
3. BIZ-TECH COLLABORATION & TRUST:
deliver promised benefits , share success/failure responsibility
4. SOFTWARE CRAFTS(WO)MANSHIP AS A STARTING POINT:
a quick recap of forgotten lessons…
5. TECH EXCELLENCE PURSUED IN CONTEXT:
evolve/adapt tech excellence practices to fit what benefits biz context
(*) EXAMPLES IN CONTEXT, NOT SILVER BULLET RECIPES

54. TECH EXCELLENCE PURSUED IN
CONTEXT

55. TECH EXCELLENCE PURSUED IN
CONTEXT

56. TECH EXCELLENCE PURSUED IN
CONTEXT

57. TECH EXCELLENCE PURSUED IN
CONTEXT

58. LESSONS LEARNED (*)
1. A GROWTH MINDSET:
continuously learning & improving while delivering
2. BLAMELESS CULTURE:
learning from mistakes, avoid repeats, remove root causes
3. BIZ-TECH COLLABORATION & TRUST:
deliver promised benefits , share success/failure responsibility
4. SOFTWARE CRAFTS(WO)MANSHIP AS A STARTING POINT:
a quick recap of forgotten lessons…
5. TECH EXCELLENCE PURSUED IN CONTEXT:
evolve/adapt tech excellence practices to fit what benefits biz context
(*) EXAMPLES IN CONTEXT, NOT SILVER BULLET RECIPES
@LukaDotNet

59. LUCA:LEAN-AGILECOACHING
CONTACTS:
LUCA.MINUDEL@SMHARTER.COM
@LUKADOTNET