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Becoming a Modern Engineering Organization – Henkel

This presentation showcases the unique strengths of Henkel's digital unit, Henkel dx, and underlines how strong product teams with empowered engineers form the basis of successful data platform transformation. In combination with the Data Mesh, the strategy enables engineers to be successful in a well-established global powerhouse. This presentation was held at DATA Festival Munich by Florian Roscheck.

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Related topics:
Data Strategy• Digital Transformation•Data Engineering Hub•Platform Engineering•
WHAT GLUE AND HAIRSPRAY CAN’T FIX BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION FLORIAN ROSCHECK, HENKEL, 2025-03-27
SLIDE TITLE, SEGOE UI, 24PT, MAX. 2 LINES WHO OF US WASHED CLOTHES LAST WEEKEND?
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WHO OF US USED BEAUTY CARE PRODUCTS THIS MORNING?
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WHO OF US CAME HERE BY TRAIN, CAR, OR AIRPLANE?
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Sr. Data Scientist § Joined Henkel in 2021 One of first employees in Data & Analytics department § Applying data science in R&D § Leader of engineering culture initiatives Data & Analytics Blog, Henkel Data Club, Product Mindset Workshops § Online instructor for Apache Spark § Background: 7.5 yrs in USA in data science and engineering, studied wind engineering and mechanical engineering in Germany FLORIAN ROSCHECK LinkedIn
THIS IS US IN30 SEC! BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION 9
WHO OF YOU HAS DIGITALIZATION IN THEIR CORPORATE STRATEGY?
COMPETITIVE EDGE BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION HENKEL’S STRATEGY: PURPOSEFUL GROWTH WINNING PORTFOLIO FUTURE-READY OPERATING MODELS COLLABORATIVE CULTURE & EMPOWERED PEOPLE INNOVATION SUSTAINABILITY DIGITALIZATION 11
OUR SETUP 4 YEARS AGO BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION THE BUSINESS GENERATE AND CONCEPTUALIZE IDEAS IT MAKE PLANS CONSULTANCY IMPLEMENT CONSULTANCY IMPLEMENT HOW DO YOU CREATE A COMPETITIVE DIGITAL EDGE WITH THIS STRUCTURE? 12
BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION A LEGACY SETUP HOLDING US BACK § High overhead due to fractured IT landscape § Inferior quality due to lack of implementation accountability § Incoherent user experience and security due to lack of domain expertise § Slow pace of development due to project-based execution Managing IT as a part of doing business. A MODERN SETUP PUSHING US FORWARD § Prioritize efficient use of resources § Provide reliable foundations for scaling tech innovations § Produce consistently reliable and secure digital products § Pivot effortlessly through fast and agile learning Embracing IT as a lever to business excellence. 13
BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION SHIFTING NEEDS 14
BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION A MODERN SETUP PUSHING US FORWARD § Prioritize efficient use of resources leveraging great talent § Provide empowering foundations for scaling tech innovations § Produce consistently reliable and secure digital products § Pivot effortlessly through fast and agile learning Embracing IT as a lever to business excellence. 15
BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION 2020
OUR EVOLUTION IN 3 WAVES BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION POCKETS OF GEEKINESS EATING THE PROCESS MONSTER LARGE-SCALE EMPOWERED TEAMS 17
POCKETSOF GEEKINESS
BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION HOWTO ATTRACTGREATTECHTALENT? & RETAIN 19
HENKEL DATA & ANALYTICS BLOG § Goal: Attract and retain tech talent § Reflect our tech culture to the outside § Empower talent via thought leadership positioning § Document our tech medium.com/ henkel-data-and-analytics
BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION HOWTOPROMOTE FAST LEARNING? & CUMULATIVE 21
BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION WIDE E E P 22
BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION E E P WIDE 23
BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION HENKEL DATA CLUB COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE Why I’m getting this error during installation? Am I the only one facing this issue? How can I safely use Python? How can I access this data? Data practices often underdeveloped at most companies and employees feel isolated. 24
BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION UPSKILLING ACROSS THE ORG HENKEL DATA CLUB Sharing of best practices around data use helps break down knowledge silos. 25
LONG-TERM MISSION BIG-TIME ENGAGEMENT BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION Our geeky Henkel Data Club community is thriving. § Open to Henkel data professionals and enthusiasts § Meet once a month online for an hour, 2-3 talks from employees on various data skill levels § Grew to community of 1k people over 3+ years § Teams group has become platform for data-related exchange across all business units § Member quote: “I made a new contact through the HDC that has helped me with my efforts to learn Python for data visualization and analysis.” 26
BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION WIDE E E P 27
FROM SMALL TO BIG FROM CHAOS TO STRUCTURE BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION Hackathons enabled us to templatize our data infrastructure. ”Standardization is about empowerment. When done right, standardization boosts developer productivity and lets data scientists focus on core business problems. But it requires upfront investment and can be hard to prove its value. Hackathons help by starting small while demonstrating scalability. Using Cookiecutter and infrastructure as code, we built templates that spin up full applications from scratch. As our library grew, so did trust in standardization— leading us to unify our templates into The Cookie Jar, giving our product and team a strong identity. Today, it continues to evolve, simplifying development while fostering a culture of best practices and collaboration.” – by Marina Gateva Marina Gateva As a Team Lead, Marina is guiding machine learning engineers in defining and exposing MLOps best practices on Henkel's central data platform. Her focus lies in enabling data scientists and engineers with scalable, secure, and standardized workflows while maintaining flexibility for innovation. 29
OUR SETUP GAINING IN-HOUSE IMPLEMENTATION CAPABILITIES BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION THE BUSINESS GENERATE AND CONCEPTUALIZE IDEAS IT MAKE PLANS TECH TALENT IMPLEMENT CONSULTANCY IMPLEMENT 30
OUR EVOLUTION IN 3 WAVES BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION POCKETS OF GEEKINESS EATING THE PROCESS MONSTER LARGE-SCALE EMPOWERED TEAMS 31
EATING THE PROCESS MONSTER
WHERE IS THE PROCESS MONSTER? BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION THE BUSINESS GENERATE AND CONCEPTUALIZE IDEAS IT MAKE PLANS TECH TALENT IMPLEMENT CONSULTANCY IMPLEMENT Unidirectional flow of work limits business-enabling IT potential 33
HACKING THE BUSINESS-IT INTERFACE BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION THE BUSINESS IT FAST AND EFFICIENT VIA AGILE WAYS OF WORKING RELIABLE AND SECURE VIA BIZDEVOPS TEAMS EMPOWERING FOUNDATION VIA OUR DATA MESH 34
FAST AND EFFICIENT VIA AGILE WAYS OF WORKING BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION THE BUSINESS IT DISCOVERY SETUP DELIVERY Design Thinking Product Owner Scaling Agile AGILE TRAINING PORTFOLIO SCRUM WORKFLOW EMPLOYEE-LED INITIATIVES 35
BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION DESIGN THINKING WORKSHOP WITH HASSO PLATTNER INSTITUTE Mutually upskilling the business and IT HANDS-ON LEARNING 36
RELIABLE AND SECURE DIGITAL PRODUCTS WITH BIZDEVOPS TEAMS BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION THE BUSINESS BIZDEVOPS TEAM BUSINESS OWNER DESIGNER DATA SCIENTIST DATA OWNER DATA ENGINEER SCRUM MASTER IT PRODUCT OWNER 37
AN EMPOWERING FOUNDATION WEAVING OUR DATA MESH BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION DATA PLATFORM GOVERNANCE ENABLING TEAM IT THE BUSINESS DATA PRODUCTS BIZDEVOPS TEAM BIZDEVOPS TEAM 38
OUR SETUP DRYING UP THE WATERFALL BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION THE BUSINESS GENERATE AND CONCEPTUALIZE IDEAS IT MAKE PLANS TECH TALENT IMPLEMENT CONSULTANCY IMPLEMENT 39
OUR EVOLUTION IN 3 WAVES BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION POCKETS OF GEEKINESS EATING THE PROCESS MONSTER LARGE-SCALE EMPOWERED TEAMS 40
LARGE-SCALEEMPOWERED TEAMS
BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION WETRUST OURENIGINEERSWITH PROBLEMS TOSOLVE 42
OUR SETUP BUILDING A BRIDGE OF TRUST BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION THE BUSINESS GENERATE AND CONCEPTUALIZE IDEAS IT MAKE PLANS TECH TALENT IMPLEMENT CONSULTANCY IMPLEMENT ENGINEERS + BUSINESS COLLABORATE ON PLANNING 43
MOHAMMAD’S EMPOWERMENT STORY BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION ”We had blurry accountability and hardly clear ownership for our services.” § Problem: Data products on Henkel Data Platform broke and it was not clear who was responsible for fixing it. Ownership data was scattered across different places. § Solution: Mohammad – Created an initiative to solve the problem – Gathered customers and lead discovery – Identified Backstage tool as adequate solution – Gathered a team and kickstarted implementation! § ”I am passionate about solving important, not-urgent problems – it’s what we need to get to the next level!” MOHAMMAD SHARAF Data Platform Service Developer 44
BUILDING A DATA PLATFORM HOW WE STARTED BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION DATA PLATFORM LEAD BUSINESS-FACING TEAM DATA ENGINEERING LEAD DATA ENGINEER TEAM 1 DATA ENGINEER TEAM 2 DATA COMPLIANCE TEAM FRONTEND TEAM IMPLEMENTATION PARTNER 45
BUILDING A DATA PLATFORM ALIGNED, BUT THE WRONG WAY? BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION BUSINESS-FACING TEAM DATA ENGINEERING SOLUTION 1 DATA ENGINEERING SOLUTION 2 DATA COMPLIANCE FRONTEND THE TEAM THE PLATFORM WEAK INTERFACES! 46
BUILDING A DATA PLATFORM TROUBLES IN OUR APPROACH BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION BUSINESS-FACING TEAM DATA ENGINEERING SOLUTION 1 DATA ENGINEERING SOLUTION 2 DATA COMPLIANCE FRONTEND WEAK INTERFACES! Centralized decision making § Slow progress § Lack of integration § Lack of empowerment 47
OUR SHIFT TO PRODUCT TEAMS BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION USE CASES DATA ENGINEERING SOLUTION 1 DATA ENGINEERING SOLUTION 2 DATA COMPLIANCE FRONTEND DATA DISCOVERY ENABLEMENT UNIFIED DATA AVAILABILITY CORE DATA PLATFORM + more teams PRODUCT OWNER LEAD ENGINEER ENGINEERS PRODUCT TEAMS COMMUNITIES, QUARTERLY PLANNING 48
OUR SHIFT TO PRODUCT TEAMS BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION DATA DISCOVERY ENABLEMENT UNIFIED DATA AVAILABILITY CORE DATA PLATFORM + more teams PRODUCT OWNER LEAD ENGINEER ENGINEERS PRODUCT TEAMS COMMUNITIES, QUARTERLY PLANNING Product-aligned decision making § Quick progress § Improved integration § Autonomy 49
DATA PLATFORM GOVERNANCE ENABLING TEAM IT PRODUCT TEAMS BIZDEVOPS TEAMS THE BUSINESS BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION 50
USE CASES EMPOWERED TEAMS TRUST TO DO THE RIGHT THING COMPL GILE WAYS OF WORKING LEARNING THROUGH HACKATHONS CROSS-FUN RE TO SPEAK UP RELIABLE TECHNOLOGY SECURE ENVIRONMENTS DATA M -ON LEARNING LONG-TERM SETUP GEN AI USE CASES EMPOWER TO DO THE RIGHT THING COMPLIANT SECURITY AGILE WAYS OF WORKING LEA CKATHONS CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAMS DARE TO SPEAK UP RELIAB SECURE ENVIRONMENTS DATA MESH SYSTEM HANDS-ON LEARNING TUP GEN AI USE CASES EMPOWERED TEAMS TRUST TO DO THE RIGHT T IANT SECURITY AGILE WAYS OF WORKING LEARNING THROUGH HACKATHON ONAL TEAMS DARE TO SPEAK UP RELIABLE TECHNOLOGY SECURE EN MESH SYSTEM HANDS-ON LEARNING LONG-TERM SETUP GEN AI WERED TEAMS TRUST TO DO THE RIGHT THING COMPLIANT SECURITY AG EARNING THROUGH HACKATHONS CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAMS DA A PLATFORM CREATING OUR COMPETITIVE EDGE
YOUR DOUBLED POTENTIAL TO TRANSFORM BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION 52 DATA ENGINEER PRODUCT TEAM “DELIVER VALUE TOGETHER” § Cross-functional team § Bring your best practices § Discover problems § At most 90% of your time YOU ARE IN 2 TEAMS COMPETENCY TEAM “GROW AND LEARN TOGETHER” § Your line management organization § Develop best practices § Define learning paths § At least 10% of your time Data Platform Team Data Engineering Team
PRESENTATION TITLE 53 YOUR FUTURE CHALLENGES Improve data platform component integration Strengthen product ways of working Adopt leading- edge data technology Provide consistent experience across 40k+ users § Story of product teams in global non-IT corporates still being written § Upskilling in product thinking (and doing!) will still take some time § Great shaper opportunity! § Uptick in AI use: New pressure for data standardization in central data & analytics team § Technical expertise needed § Unlock large-scale benefits! § Global corporate = diverse needs § New product teams still adopting new organizational setup § Integration still to be improved § Big potential to make an impact! § Since 2020: Inhouse tech talent brings in new technology from outside § Corporate software lifecycle is long § Lead us in tech!
WENEED YOU
FOLLOW US & LEARN MORE @henkel @henkeltalent Henkel Henkel henkel.com/careers DARECAST Henkel @henkeltalent BECOMING A MODERN ENGINEERING ORGANIZATION 55 FLORIAN ROSCHECK