Presentation at: 2nd International Workshop on Socio-Technical Perspective in IS Development (STPIS'16) , Ljubljana, June 14, 2016. Link to the text: http://bit.ly/29baqtz Products from traditional engineering companies, such as cars and refrigerators, are evolving to become intelligent via combining hardware, software, sensors, and connectivity/networks. In such products, the importance of software increases exponential. Therefore, new software development units are emerging. This may cause misalignment between the traditional parts of the engineering companies and the new emerging software development units. The misalignment concerns both the technical part of the socio-technical structure of the companies, i.e. a conflict between different project management methodologies in the units, and the social part, i.e. the power roles of different unis and coordination between them. Viable System Model (VSM) has been applied to study the nature of misalignment in one such company, a large car manufacturer. This paper reports on the experience obtained during this study. With the help of VSM, misalignment was identified and diagnosed as a “stray lamb” – a pathological archetype related to a new and important unit of the company not being properly incorporated into the rest of the system.

1. DSV SU
Stray Lamb
- misalignment in a socio-technical structure of an
enterprise when transitioning to intelligent products
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Ilia Bider, Sofia Olsson and Erik Perjons
12/28/2016
2nd International Workshop
on Socio-Technical
Perspective in IS
Development (STPIS'16) ,
Ljubljana, June 14, 2016

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From Dumb to Intelligent Products
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How to handle the transition? Product vendor perspective

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Based on Case Study
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at an automobile manufacture implementing Connected Car Concept

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Objectives
• Investigate internal problems that occur in
transition
• Diagnose them (med help of VSM)
• Suggest improvement
• Analyze from the socio-technical perspective
(New – is not in the published proceedings)
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Plan
1. Short overview of VSM
2. Overview of new car development
3. Problem experienced from the point of view of
Connected Car software developers
4. Diagnosis based on VSM and suggestions for
improvement
5. Analysis from the socio-technical perspective
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Viable System Model (VSM)
Viable system – a system that can adapt to the changing
environment via adjusting itself to changes or/and
influencing the directions in which the environment
changes
VSM – defines the structure of the viable system
S. Beer, The Heart of Enterprise, Chichester : Wiley, 1979. .
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Viable System Model (VSM)
A. Golnam, G. Regev and W. A., "On Viable Service Systems:
Developing a Modeling Framework for Analysis of Viability in
Service Systems," in Exploring Services Science,
IESS,2011,LNBIP Vol. 82, Springer, 2011, pp. 30-41.. .
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Identification Naming
System 1 Operations, Implementation,
Delivery
System 2 Coordination
System 3 Control, Delivery management,
Cohesion, Homeostasis
System 4 Intelligence, Future, Heterostasis
System 5 Identity, Policy

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Plan
1. Short overview of VSM
2. Overview of new car development
3. Problem experienced from the point of view of
Connected Car software developers
4. Diagnosis based on VSM and suggestions for
improvement
5. Analysis from the socio-technical perspective
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New Car Model Development
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CD
(Concept Development)
PS
(Product Strategy and
Line Management)
R&D
(Research &
Development)
ME
(Manufacturin
g Engineering)
M&S
(Marketing &
Sales)
CS
(Customer
Service)
CCS
(Connected Car
Services)
Organizational chart

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Plan
1. Short overview of VSM
2. Overview of new car development
3. Problem experienced from the point of view of
Connected Car software developers
4. Diagnosis based on VSM and suggestions for
improvement
5. Analysis from the socio-technical perspective
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Challenges experienced by CCS
1. Related to the position of CCS in the VC
organization
2. Related to the coordination between the
departments
3. Related to the internal way of working within CCS
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Challenges related to the position
1. CCS is involved too late in the development process. This will
prevent the product to be as good as it could be. The reason for
this is that many other departments forget the involvement of
CCITS because it is a new department
2. Leaderships at R & D and CCS are not aligned. The managers at
R&D and CCS expect the other’s teams to work in the same way
the way as their own teams work.
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CD
(Concept Development)
PS
(Product Strategy and
Line Management)
R&D
(Research &
Development)
ME
(Manufacturin
g Engineering)
M&S
(Marketing &
Sales)
CS
(Customer
Service)
CCS
(Connected Car
Services)

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Challenges related to coordination
Incompatibility between project management methodologies: WBS vs.
Agile
“The budget process for managing the running cost is too strong, too
governing for the development work, i.e., it hinders/obstructs the
flexibility needed for the development work.”;
“It is hard to work with Scrum within CCS and other departments
because of necessary deadlines in a large organization. A project only
allows a deviate of 10% + - in time and money otherwise the project is
considered as a failure.”
WBS - Work Breakdown System – plan and milestone oriented
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Plan
1. Short overview of VSM
2. Overview of new car development
3. Problem experienced from the point of view of
Connected Car software developers
4. Diagnosis based on VSM and suggestions for
improvement
5. Analysis from the socio-technical perspective
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New Car Model Development
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VSM model :
“Dumb” Products
Development

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New Car Model Development
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VSM model :
Transition to
“Intelligent” products
Development

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Stray Lamb
The stray lamb is a pathological archetype where
primary activities, that is, activities that give direct
value to the customer, are not part of the formal
organizational structure, but, given the activities’
importance, should be.
Hoverstadt, P.: The Fractal Oragnization: Creating Sustainable
Oragnization with the Viable System Model. John Wiley & Son (2008)
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New Car Model Development
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VSM model :
“Intelligent” Products
Development
(after transition)

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Plan
1. Short overview of VSM
2. Overview of new car development
3. Problem experienced from the point of view of
Connected Car software developers
4. Diagnosis based on VSM and suggestions for
improvement
5. Analysis from the socio-technical perspective
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Socio-technical perspective
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“Dumb” Products Development

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Difference between ASD and TSD
Social perspective
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# ASD TSD
1 One team consisting of
“universal” members
Several specialized teams
2 Stakeholders involvement
during the duration of the project
Stakeholders involvement
during the Externalization and
Adoption phases
3 Non-contractual agreement
based on trust
Contractual agreement is
possible
Bider I. Analysis of Agile Software Development from the Knowledge
Transformation Perspective. In: Proceedings of BIR 2014, LNBIP 194,
Springer 2014, pp. 143-157.

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Difference between ASD and TSD
Technical perspective
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# ASD TSD
4 Possibility to identify and agree
on a core system that can be
expanded in consequent
iterations
Not mandatory, but can be
employed.
5 Architecture aimed at
expansion
Architecture aimed at fulfilling
the identified requirements
6 Employing high-level tools, e.g.
domain-specific languages,
development platforms,
libraries
Not mandatory – low level, and
universal tools can be
employed
Bider I. Analysis of Agile Software Development from the Knowledge
Transformation Perspective. In: Proceedings of BIR 2014, LNBIP 194,
Springer 2014, pp. 143-157.

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Socio-technical perspective
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“Intelligent” Products Development
Optionality - see
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2012).
Antifragile: Things That Gain from
Disorder. Random House. .

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Q & A
Thank you for your patience
Questions and comments
Please
Contact: ilia@dsv.su.se
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