Adobe Systems

Why Adobe India is a Great Place to Work
Ajay Pande – VP, Product Development

© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.

Proposition #1

What makes a company a
Great Place to Work depends
on who works there.

© 2011 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential. 2

Proposition #2

Who works at your company
depends on what kind of
company you are


Proposition #3

Great companies need to
attract and keep the kind of
employees which make them
successful


Conclusion

To be a great company, you
must be a Great Place to
Work for the kind of people
who will make you
successful


Key strategic questions

 What kind of a company are we?

 What kind of people will make us successful?


Everywhere you look


Our Portfolio

TOOLS DELIVERY SERVERS & SERVICES
PLATFORMS


What‟s the key to our success?

 Deep technology products that work robustly on hundreds of
millions of systems around the world
 No “specifications”
 Innovation and the creation of new markets
 No “long-term contracts”


What kind of people are critical to our success?

 Innovative, deep technology engineers and product
managers
 Top computer scientists and product-oriented business
managers
 Need other top people as well
 Adobe India primarily a product development center


What do these people want?

 Other smart people to work with
 Am I learning from my co-workers?
 The opportunity to make a difference to the world
 Am I having an impact?
 The opportunity to innovate
 Am I doing something new and interesting?
 Industry best practices, processes and environment


Am I making a difference?

Everywhere you look


Empowerment and “ownership” is really important

 Engineers want to determine future direction of product and
technology
 Not do “tasks” to someone else‟s directions
 Must have ability to influence strategy and direction
 For a remote office, it‟s important for teams to “own” what they
work on
 Learning: Must have local empowered teams

 Key message : people must feel they are making an
impact and are empowered to take decisions


Am I innovating?

 Key questions:
 Am I in an innovative environment?
 Key question: is innovation happening around me? Are my peers
innovating?
 Must have role models and examples
 Lots of young people, need heroes

 Do my new ideas get support and help?
 Does the company really want me to innovate?


Key innovation programs

 Product “Brainstorms”
 Whole team gets to contribute
 Management innovation reviews
 Set aside time for new ideas
 Review and approval of new ideas
 People get time and funding (and rewards) to pursue promising ideas
 Key learning: pick your innovators and support them
 Successful ideas need deep understanding of customers,
business and competitive environment
 Must have management attention and support
 Identify and incent highly innovative individuals


Case study: Adobe India and the mobile revolution


Key innovation programs contd.

 Patenting: an ideal fit for Adobe
 Adobe needs a strong patent portfolio
 Engineers dream of having patents

 Key learning: patent programs need extensive and long-
term support, both formal and informal
 Must have role models and examples
 Local legal support
 Major cash incentives and company-wide exposure
 Over 200 Adobe India patents


Am I working with other smart people?

 Key questions:
 Am I working in a dynamic environment with smart people?
 Do I learn from my co-workers?

 Key learning: must know what you are looking for in your
people and do what it takes to find it
 We look for fundamental strengths, not temporary “technology
competencies”
 Need to create new technologies, not just be „competent‟ in existing
ones
 Attitude and brightness are most critical
 Long and rigorous hiring process


Am I working with other smart people? -contd

 Key learning: must spread hiring knowledge through the
organization
 Consistent hiring across the organization
 Trusted core hiring team
 Everyone must know what we‟re looking for
 Everyone understands how we hire and often participates in
hiring
 Feel connected to incoming people
 Builds a culture of “Adobe hires great people”


Industry-leading people practices are a must

 Compensation and benefits
 Appraisal and 360 degree feedback
 Small teams per manager, regular manager interaction and
goal-setting
 Learning and training opportunities
 Employee feedback and engagement surveys
 Higher education incentives
 Corporate Social Responsibility activities


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