This document discusses how software developers can transform organizations by adopting new perspectives and skills. It recommends that developers (1) reframe problems from an organizational design perspective rather than just a coding perspective, (2) apply techniques like bounded context and theory of constraints to help optimize organizational structures and processes, and (3) develop a deeper understanding of business strategy and customer needs to help inform technical strategy decisions. The document presents examples of how developers have helped transform organizations by addressing bottlenecks, realigning teams, and unwinding assumptions to solve the real problems. It encourages developers to conduct workshops to share these skills more broadly within their organizations.

1. How Software Developers Can
Transform Organisations
Nick Tune - @ntcoding

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THE AGILE TRANSFORMATION
DANCE
Credit: Capital United Entertainment

3. DEVELOPERS ARE EVOLVING

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“[company] send their developers to
regularly spend time on farms
understanding their users [farmers].
Melissa Perri
@lissijean

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“Consistently the best source of new ideas
are the developers!...
Good teams ensure their engineers
contribute to make the product better
Marty Cagan
@cagan

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How can you become a
superhero developer who
transforms organisations?

7. Transforming
Your Perspective
#1

8. THE PROJECT FROM HELL
- Continuous meetings
- Constantly blocked by other teams
- Blamed for missed deadlines
- Nobody is happy
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/flydime/4671890969/

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“I wish the managers would do their job
and fix all these problems so I can write
some beautiful code
-- Ex-colleague

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Don’t wait for managers.
You already can fix business
and organisational problems.

11. Becoming an
Organisation Designer
#2

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“If the architecture of the organization is at
odds with the architecture of the system,
the architecture of the organization wins
-- Ruth Malan
@ruthmalan

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“Domain-Driven Design should really be
called “boundary-aware design”
Mathias Verraes
@mathiasverraes

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Bounded Contexts
Resubmit
Case
Management
Ratepayers Caseworkers
Review
Renegotiate

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Bounded Context Clues
• contextual language
• data: flow, ownership, uniqueness
• domain expert boundaries
• core to business strategy
• business process steps

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Problem Solved
Resubmit
Renegotiate
Review
Ratepayers Case workers

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Organise to Eliminate Bottlenecks
Resubmit
Case
Management
Ratepayers Caseworkers
Review
Renegotiate

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Use Theory of Constraints
to create autonomous
teams by identifying
bottlenecks.

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DDD = model hypothesis
ToC = model validation

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Finding Service Boundaries: The One Rule
that Matters…
Maximise your ability to frequently deliver and
get feedback
ntcoding.co.uk/blog/2017/01/finding-service-boundaries-one-rule

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“We had 10 teams… we analyzed the
bottlenecks… we ended up with 3
teams… lead times improved massively
Anna Dick, Coop Digital
@Dixi_chick

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BoundedAutonomy Contexts
MS
UI
UI
Product and tech things
that change together for
business reasons, owned
by a single team.

23. Becoming a Continuous
Organisation Designer
#3

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“Organisation design is a
fundamental, continuing process,
not a repair job
Naomi Stanford
@naomiorgdesign

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Operating Context Always Changes
Management
Context
Optimisation
ContextMVP

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“Trade off collaboration costs [between
teams] with innovation speed, based on
current organisational needs
Matthew Skelton
@matthewpskelton

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Discovery Team & Highly-Aligned ‘Tribe’
Management
Context
Optimisation
Context
MVP
Campaigns
Tribe

28. Becoming a Superhero
Tech Strategist
#4

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To design the best strategy,
you need to unwind all
assumptions and understand
the real problem

30. BINGO!
We found the real problem.
Photo: Bad Boy Bingo

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Understanding “The Business”
Business Vision
Business Strategy
Product Strategy
Organisation Design
Technical
Strategy
- Mission statement
- Vision Statement

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Salesforce.org Mission Statement
Salesforce.org is based on a simple idea:
leverage Salesforce’s technology, people, and
resources to help improve communities
around the world. We call this integrated
philanthropic approach the 1–1–1 model…

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Understanding “The Business”
Business Vision
Business Strategy
Product Strategy
Organisation Design
Technical
Strategy
- Business Model Canvas
- Wardley Maps

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Understanding “The Business”
Business Vision
Business Strategy
Product Strategy
Organisation Design
Technical
Strategy
- Product Strategy Canvas
- User research/testing
- Impact Mapping

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Understanding “The Business”
Business Vision
Business Strategy
Product Strategy
Organisation Design
Technical
Strategy
- DDD
- Theory of Constraints

36. Customer
segments
Customer
relationships
Channels
Value
propositions
Key
activities
Key
resources
Key
partners
Cost structure Revenue streams
Alexander
Osterwalder &
Yves Pigneur

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Why use tools like BMC?
• Learn to think like business/domain experts
• Learn to talk like business/domain experts
• Create company-wide shared vision
• Understand what really is core to business

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To create the optimal
strategy, you also need a
wide understanding of the
current landscape

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Creating Wide Understanding
- Show and tells
- Cross-team pairing
- Cross-functional pairing
- Event storming

40. You are Now
Transformed…
#5

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Theory of Constraints,
Business Model Canvas?
My manager will never let me
try that stuff…

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Time to Transform
- Learn Theory of Constraints
- Learn Business Model Canvas
- Run workshops in your organisation
- Think of the pyramid
- [optional] wear a superhero outfit

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Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lizswezey2/15314187570
YOU NOW HAVE SUPERPOWERS

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Want More?
- ntcoding.co.uk/blog
- Becoming a Tech Strategist -
bit.ly/2qCcyTg
- ntcoding.co.uk/workshops
@ntcoding ntcoding