The document discusses the technology strategy and transformation at Cambridge Satchel, a British bag company. It summarizes that in 2014, the company saw an opportunity to reinvent its technology and team due to technology debt. It implemented a clean sheet approach, building a new modern technology stack from the ground up with a small but highly skilled team. This included replacing all existing systems and building new capabilities for unified commerce across multiple selling channels.

1. jmwprojmwpro

2. jmwpro
Web Master / Lead Java Developer
Lead Developer / Head of Development
Director of Platform Development
Head of Web Engineering
Chief Technology Officer2014
2011
2007
2003
1999
Me

3. jmwpro
• Selling in over 100 countries. Flagship store in Covent Garden
• A worldwide phenomenon, committed to preserving British design and manufacturing.
• Autumn 2014 – Technology debt. Opportunity to re-invent technology and team
• Autumn 2015 – All new Demandware, Tmall, Back Office, Unified Commerce
Foundations
Cambridge Satchel
Founded 2008 by Julie Deane OBE, 120 Staff
£600 initial investment in 2008
£10M+ total revenues today
£100M+ ASAP!

4. jmwpro
Cambridge Satchel

5. jmwpro
Cambridge Satchel

6. jmwpro
2014
28th
November
Black Friday
,
“Can’t
be
done!”
;-­‐)
arrive
Q:
Why
can’t
we
go
live
before
Black
Friday?
• Q:
Tell
me
about
Software
Engineering
• Q:
Define
quality
of
what’s
delivered
Crazy!
Selling Channel - Demandware

7. jmwpro
2014
28th
November
Black Friday
20%
Service
Integrator
Developers
20%
Internal
Engineers
20%
API
&
Middleware
Developers
30%
Automated
Testing
10%
DevOps/AWS
Skills
35K
in
2013
Selling Channel - Demandware

8. jmwpro
2014
28th
November
Black Friday
launch
35K
in
2013
87K
in
2014
On
new
platform
20%
Service
Integrator
Developers
20%
Internal
Engineers
20%
API
&
Middleware
Developers
30%
Automated
Testing
10%
DevOps/AWS
Skills
Selling Channel - Demandware

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28th
November
Black Friday
11th
November
Singles Day
This year - Tmall (x2)

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The trouble with
Retail

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Retailers
have
real
challenges
to
be
able
to
innovate
fast
Legacy
and
Siloed
software
and
teams
Poor
Software
choice
Poor
Engineering
practices
Retail Excellence = Software Excellence

12. jmwpro
The team’s level
of agile/lean
working
practices
Level of Independently testable
and deployable software
Low High
Low
High
Slow
Fast
Continuous
Delivery
Daily/Weekly
Independent
Monthly
Coordinated
Quarterly
Enterprise
TEAM
TECHNOLOGY
Retail Excellence = Software Excellence
$$$$
$$$
$$
$ Understand
the
true
cost
of
bad
software
choices
Cost
of
rework
Cost
of
delay
and
hand
off
Cost
of
building
the
wrong
thing
Cost
of
not
asking
the
right
question
Integration
test
costsExcellence
/
Craftsm
anship

13. jmwpro
The team’s level
of agile/lean
working
practices
Level of Independently testable
and deployable software
Low High
Low
High
Slow
Fast
Continuous
Delivery
Daily/Weekly
Independent
Monthly
Coordinated
Quarterly
Enterprise
TEAM
TECHNOLOGY
Legacy
Zone
Cool
Zone
A large retailer…enterprise complexity
Modern
Technologies
and
working
practices
Outsourced
ambition,
long
integration
test
phases,
slow
value
creation
WINNERS
LOSERS

14. jmwpro
The team’s level
of agile/lean
working
practices
Level of Independently testable
and deployable software
Low High
Low
High
Slow
Fast
Continuous
Delivery
Daily/Weekly
Independent
Monthly
Coordinated
Quarterly
Enterprise
TEAM
TECHNOLOGY
Legacy
Zone
Cool
Zone
A large retailer…enterprise grade silos
Cool,
Funky
‘labs
team’
–
innovating
on
behalf
of
the
rest
Legacy
Teams,
Narrow
responsibility,
locally
optimised
WINNERS
LOSERS
Constrained
ideas
due
to
enterprise
dependencies

15. jmwpro
The team’s level
of agile/lean
working
practices
Level of Independently testable
and deployable software
Low High
Low
High
Slow
Fast
Continuous
Delivery
Daily/Weekly
Independent
Monthly
Coordinated
Quarterly
Enterprise
TEAM
TECHNOLOGY
Legacy
Zone
Cool
Zone
A large retailer…enterprise friction
Limited
ability
to
co-­‐ordinate
real
change
across
silos
Senior
C-­‐Level
Management
goal
misalignment
Advantage
of
small
–
reinvent
end-­‐to-­‐end.
Build
for
growth
CDO
CMO
COO
CIO

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We all want MVP
Everyone now wants to deploy a
‘minimum viable product’
Define ‘viable’ in an enterprise

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CSC Strategy
Clean sheet

18. jmwpro
The team’s level
of agile/lean
working
practices
Level of Independently testable
and deployable software
Low High
Low
High
Slow
Fast
Continuous
Delivery
Daily/Weekly
Independent
Monthly
Coordinated
Quarterly
Enterprise
TEAM
TECHNOLOGY
2014
BO
Web
Outsourced
Website
not
keeping
up
Excel
concrete
set
hard
All
existing
systems
need
replacing
/
upgrading
New
Capability
needed
for
Unified
Commerce

19. jmwpro
The team’s level
of agile/lean
working
practices
Level of Independently testable
and deployable software
Low High
Low
High
Slow
Fast
Continuous
Delivery
Daily/Weekly
Independent
Monthly
Coordinated
Quarterly
Enterprise
TEAM
TECHNOLOGY
Team & Technology Strategy
Clean
sheet
of
paper.
Design
and
Build
Team
and
Technology
from
the
ground
up.
Small
but
highly
skilled
and
motivated
technical
team
Modern
Technology
Stack
WARNING:
Investment
Required

20. jmwpro
The team’s level
of agile/lean
working
practices
Level of Independently testable
and deployable software
Low High
Low
High
Slow
Fast
Continuous
Delivery
Daily/Weekly
Independent
Monthly
Coordinated
Quarterly
Enterprise
TEAM
TECHNOLOGY
Front
End UI
Finance
Systems Payment
Core
Ecomm
Digital
Asset
Cust.
Mgt
Apps
2015 – Avoiding bottom right!
Focus
on
systems
that
will
be
key
to
innovation
SaaS
solutions
where
possible
for
back
office
25%
Custom,
75%
SaaS
Strategy
to
stay
on
high
alert
for
creation
of
any
new
dependencies
or
Silos
Order
Mgt
Reduce Software footprint

21. jmwpro
The team’s level
of agile/lean
working
practices
Level of Independently testable
and deployable software
Low High
Low
High
Slow
Fast
Continuous
Delivery
Daily/Weekly
Independent
Monthly
Coordinated
Quarterly
Enterprise
TEAM
TECHNOLOGY
Front
End UI
Apps
2015 – welcome to new capability
Focus
on
systems
that
will
be
key
to
innovation
SaaS
solutions
where
possible
for
back
office
25%
Custom,
75%
SaaS
Strategy
to
stay
on
high
alert
for
creation
of
any
new
dependencies
or
Silos
Reduce Software footprint
Order
Mgt

22. jmwpro
The team’s level
of agile/lean
working
practices
Level of Independently testable
and deployable software
Low High
Low
High
Slow
Fast
Continuous
Delivery
Daily/Weekly
Independent
Monthly
Coordinated
Quarterly
Enterprise
TEAM
TECHNOLOGY
API
Connected yet Decoupled
Accelerating
Revenue
opportunities
by
providing
robust
and
agile
data
services
needed
throughout
the
business.
Core
integrations
and
data
owned
by
core
technology
team
The
Future:
Marketing,
Retail
and
Wholesale
teams
able
to
self-­‐serve
data
and
own
their
own
integration
with
relevant
partners
.
Web
App
Finance

23. jmwpro
Order Centric

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Unified Commerce @ CSC
API
Web
App
=

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Unified Commerce @ CSC

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Firstly….Products and Stock
Simplify what’s needed.
Which SKUs in which
location.
Common Product
Information (translated)

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Selling Channel Agnostic
… no point to point
integrations unless
it makes sense

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The Order – retrieved…
… From any type of
selling channel

29. jmwpro
The Order – despatched….
… From anywhere.
Warehouse, 3PL,
Store, Concession,
HQ, Popup

30. jmwpro
The Order – status updates…
… the same
wherever order
came from and
whoever is
despatching

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The Order - reconciled

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Selling Channels - Demandware

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Selling Channels – Tmall (x2)

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Selling Channels – physical stores

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Selling Channels - future

36. jmwpro
Unified Commerce – the How
All data
available via
API
End to end
Test
Automation
Mostly
OpenSource
Technologies
Hosted in
cloud
Decoupled –
swap in and
out

37. jmwpro
..with
friends.
eCommerce
Alliance
Meet-­‐up
Thanks for listening