At Suez Environnement we took the opportunity of a new strategic project, to radically transform the way we conceive, build and deliver internet applications. We changed the way we build internet platforms using the Cloud. Agile metho¬dologies and Lean management were a big help. We learned that architecture is key for performance but also for organizing the work. We came to the realiza¬tion that traditional applications specifications are no longer needed in 2015. We learned ways to manage developers in a context where most of your IT is out¬sourced. A presentation by Frédéric Charles at the Lean IT Summit 2015

1. Lean IT Summit 8 & 9 October, 2015
Copyright © Institut Lean France 2015
Transform a classic IT department
into a Lean delivery machine
for digital services
Frédéric Charles, Directeur de domaine SI - SUEZ
@fcharles

2. From an old simple
extranet (since 2009) to a
new collaboration
platform for our
customers (cities)
Co-designed with
customers with dedicated
services for large cities
Mobile first
Data driven architecture
Cloud based
A 150 years old company
Services to municipalities and industrials
Context: a web platform to rebuild
Lean IT – Frédéric Charles - SUEZ

3. Capture requirements
Complexity:
A new world to explore
500 municipalities to
migrate from
Lots of dependencies
High evaluation cost by
a « traditional » IT
player
Why an agile approach?
3Lean IT – Frédéric Charles - SUEZ

4. Continuous
transformation
A new platform to
master with continuous
learning:
Mobile
Private cloud
API (Data driven)
Prepare the “run”
Build a delivery
machine for digital
services
Why an Agile + Lean approach?
4Lean IT – Frédéric Charles - SUEZ

5. • By 2017 about 75% of IT organizations will have bimodal capability
with about half making a mess. IT Organizations need to build
capability to support multiple methodologies and still have end-to-
end traceability and control. This requires a Lean Application
Delivery approach.
• By 2017, 50 percent of consumer product investments will be
redirected to customer experience innovations.
• customer experience the new competitive battlefield
As Gartner predicts …
Lean IT – Frédéric Charles - SUEZ 5

6. the platform: by building only
useful features on an up-to-
date architecture
our team: by learning how to
handle a continuous process
of evolutions for the platform,
co-designed with customers
the IT department: by building
assets and methods that could
be re-used in other teams
Our objectives in adopting Agile+Lean:
Transformation
Lean IT – Frédéric Charles - SUEZ 6
Transform :

7. Internet architecture are more complex than ever: private
cloud, API, no control on client equipment…
Agile help with pushing a first version in production as fast
as we could (3 months in fact…) and remove all barriers.
First version just wrote Hello « user » but all components were test
Architecture help with separating tasks:
one team in charge of developing the portal,
one team in charge of data collecting and API
Architecture to prepare DevOps
continuous delivery.
developers with the operation team
QA: again, continuous improvement
We’ve learned what we already knew:
start with architecture!
7

8. Development
is not alone
Transform
development
means
transforming the
way we interact
with Business
and Operations
So now, ready for an infinite loop?
Lean IT – Frédéric Charles - SUEZ 8
Incremental transformation forever…

9. Our project production process: 3 loops
9Presentation title- Speaker Name
Require-
ments
Product
Backlog
Feature
Delopment
Unit
Tests
Tests of non
regression
Test &
Approval
User
deployment
Services
Road map Design Conception Development Releases
Processus Itératif
Services
Launch
Screens
& UX
Processus Itératif
Support
P. Itératif
Deliverable: User model
review by users
Deliverable : Features available on
the production environment
Deliverable : Required
services available, and
customer satisfaction
UX testing
General
Design
Functional &
Technical
Features
Environ-
nements
Roadmap

10. Tools for coordination : keep them simple!
Lean IT – Frédéric Charles - SUEZ 10
Week Nbr / Nbr of dev
Activity with
dependency
New
functions
Technical
tasks
Our 4 weeks roadmap
to align developers with
business priorities

11. All screens are designed first from requirements
We started by writing « specs docs » to explain screens
with rules… but developers don’t read !
After 3 months we wrote rules directly with developers
Documenting starts when testing
.
Specifications: from a 60 pages Word
document to Trello collaborative tickets
Lean IT – Frédéric Charles - SUEZ 11

12. Every week on a fixed day
Visual. Clean it when too busy.
This is where we talk about
dependencies and commit to
deliver one’s part of the job
Produce the 4-week roadmap
Red points (not finished task) +
Red box (critical points to follow)
From a pain room to a
satisfaction room when after
some months you finally deliver
Obeya: a visual room for everyone
Lean IT – Frédéric Charles - SUEZ 12

13. Bus-Dev :
All screens are reviewed and co-
designed with customers
Ops-Bus :
A feedback button creates a direct
link with them from all screens.
Polls and satisfaction surveys are
important and keep your lean
process alive
We develop a monitoring platform to
record the user experience
(availability, MTBF, MTBR…)
Process starts and ends with customers
Lean IT – Frédéric Charles - SUEZ 13

14. No link with developers when we
started
Hierarchy – Developers must be
managed by developers
« Agile Canada Dry »: some
systems integrators sell agility but
forget to train their employees first
Accept errors… on a weekly basis!
Fixed prices
Budget planning, contracts
Main difficulties to reach our objectives
Presentation title- Speaker Name 14

15. Measure as often as you can (references)
Iso-production environments are required for testing
Organize work around development
Simple coordination tools
Don’t trust system integrators, challenge them…
Have a look at my blog !
www.greensi.fr
Last recommendations
Lean IT – Frédéric Charles - SUEZ 15