Название: Capitalizing Your Technology to Disrupt and Dominate Your Markets: Transforming Cost Centers to Innovation Centers
Автор: Aviv Ben-Yosef
Издательство: CRC Press
Год: 2023
Страниц: 201
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf (true)
Размер: 13.1 MB

Every business today has some technology as part of its strategy. Inevitably, it is becoming harder for many CEOs to effectively lead their R&D efforts at the same time that their investment in tech keeps growing. Even startup founders can find themselves flustered when trying to understand whether a particular issue is genuinely impossible to solve, getting the team to provide reliable estimates, and having their top tech leaders speak in plain words as opposed to jargon.

This book helps them bridge the culture gap between the C-suite and R&D, covers frequent tech-related decisions and issues, and provides a way to unlock tech as an offensive weapon and a strategic differentiator. To create an environment where technology is not merely an execution mechanism but acts as a fulcrum for strategic opportunities, one must put a particular leadership team in place and equip them with digital literacy.

Based on the author’s experience and discussions with hundreds of executives worldwide, he short-circuits common failure patterns and enables nontechnical senior leaders to act with more certainty and clarity regarding their tech efforts. Startups and tech efforts initiated without enough understanding of the technical aspects often have to be scrapped and started from scratch within 18 months. This can make or break certain endeavors, and as the author has helped his clients avoid these problems, the book will help the readers establish a sturdy foundation to work from.

Tons of books, certifications, and conference talks have been created around the different approaches to managing software delivery. One can hardly get within ten feet of a software engineer without hearing about Scrum, Agile, or sprints. Before getting down in the weeds with the meaning of these different buzzwords and how they affect you, let us start by ensuring that you view things correctly. While many tech teams believe their delivery processes are mostly an internal matter, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. I have seen companies where the software organization was attempting to push new versions out rapidly, which was harmful to the business. I have also witnessed the opposite, where tech teams were operating in a way that was too slow for the business’s needs. If you are afraid that asking to talk about the software delivery cadence is micromanagement, don’t be. In fact, most Agile methodologies claim that “real agile” requires the involvement of the entire company.

Similar to Scrum, yet different. Kanban is adapted from a Japanese manufacturing process that focuses on lowering bottlenecks and actively monitoring the entire flow of software engineering to ensure that the most important and valuable task is being performed at any given point. Kanban often operates without set iterations or sprints. Work is constantly released and whatever is ready is “pushed to production.” This is a double-edged sword: there is less planning overhead, and the team can more nimbly move to whatever is the most pressing need. It is also harder to ensure that a strategic direction is followed, and software releases can seem more random. In my experience, Kanban works better for smaller, research-driven teams.

This book covers clear guidelines for founders, executives, and senior leaders that are not tech-savvy. These include establishing a tech organization, making the first key hires, assessing the relevance and risk involved in different options, and creating a healthy connection as opposed to a tech silo. On top of that, it will include lessons and case studies that stem from experience in the "Startup Nation," such as how to inject chutzpah into daily discussions and create an organization with habitual innovation.

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