On this day in P1atter History...

   "A CCP is like a mini-enterprise. It may choose to depend on other CCPs but is under no obligation to do so. It might notice the other dozen or so CCPs and cooperate with them. It is accountable or everything within its scope including timeliness, cost and quality."
07/01/96

CUSTOMER CENTRED PROJECTS

In March I started an enquiry with this message to the company:
"The Technology Development (TD) managers and I are in the question: how shall we change the TD organisation structure and way of being so as to best serve our customers?"

The outcome is that we'll organise development work into Customer Centred Projects or CCPs.

The old way of working
Technology projects expressed what they did - their deliverables - in terms of software components. A team might say its job was to deliver the ERL server software or the WinSPIRS interface. No-one in TD had a job that was expressed in terms of serving a customer or business need. Everyone in TD was working on wheels, doors, engines, gearbox. Nobody had the job of creating the car that the market wanted.

The new way of working
In the new way of working, each project has a customer and outputs focused on that customer. (I'm using customer here in a wider sense than just paying subscribers. It includes internal customers, creating new markets, future customers and partners). Each CCP is also be rooted in company strategy. So a CCP must be able to say:

  • what it's delivering,
  • who it's for and
  • how it serves the business.

    These are the three key qualifying conditions for a CCP.

    A CCP is like a mini-enterprise. It may choose to depend on other CCPs but is under no obligation to do so. It might notice the other dozen or so CCPs and cooperate with them. It is accountable for everything within its scope including timeliness, cost and quality.

    A CCP will typically complete in 6 months at which time it will disband itself. The team can propose continuation as a new CCP.

    CCP team structure
    A CCP team is a cross-functional, cross-zonal, team mandated by the ET to do what it considers necessary, within its scope, to meet its goals. It can change any and all technology components. It can use non-SP technology. It will collaborate. There are no fixed rules about which functions appear in a team: it's whatever the ET, in consultation with the team, consider necessary to get the job done.

    CCPs started so far

    The ET has started eight CCPs, leaders in brackets:

    • Si1verP1atter Internet Service (DonnaL)
    • Partner Publishing (SusanJ)
    • Academic Consortia Information Systems (DenisL)
    • Partner Hosted Servers (PeteC)
    • Full Content on the Internet (AndrewP)
    • SGML (SusanM)
    • Lotus Notes Rollout (DavidC)
    • Best Web Inteface (YogenP)

    The oldest is 3 weeks old, the youngest just a few days. The leaders are currently reviewing the project scope, building their teams and producing an action plan for the first six months or so.

    The leaders will announce to the company when they are clear about the way forward. They will report status regularly. Because this is a transitional period, you'll see a lot of activity over the next few weeks. When we're through it, I'd expect there to be a population of 10-20 CCPs at any time, with a couple of births and deaths every month.

    So that's the essence of the change. If you've any questions, please feel free to ask me, or other members of the ET or any of the CCP leaders. After this message are three common questions, with answers.

    JohnL

    Some Questions Answered

    Why the change? In the old way, we expended a big proportion of our energy organising ourselves to do things - as distinct from actually doing them. To achieve a deliverable output meant getting several component project teams aligned before we could start.

    This does not work any more. The pace of change in the market has increased dramatically. The market demands more, faster. Our competitors are increasingly satisfying the demand. It's no fun playing catch-up.

    This change is about becoming agile. It's about delivering solutions that are outstanding in terms of quality, timing and function. It's about leading the market through innovation. THIS is fun.

    What do I do with ideas for CCPs? If you have an proposal for a CCP, here's how to proceed. First, ask yourself if your idea fits as part of an existing CCP. If it does, talk it over with the leader of that CCP.

    If not, see to it that it gets to your ET member either directly or through your manager. There's no form to fill in. Provide enough information that you think makes the case. Be prepared to answer questions: Who is the customer? What is the output? How does it fit the strategy?

    How do we maintain the integrity of our technology? About 10% of technology development staff have started working in CCPs. Within a month it'll be 50% or more. By the end of the transition (maybe 3 months) it'll be over 80%.

    So 80% of our development energies will be focused on delivering customer-centred solutions. The rest will be focused helping CCPs to create solutions that are mutually consistent, fit our architecture and are worthy of the Si1verP1atter name.

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