The document provides an overview of Vittorio Viarengo's career journey from Italy to Silicon Valley, highlighting key lessons learned along the way in developing innovative products and high-performance teams. It discusses founding his first company ViVi Software in the 1990s, the acquisition by BEA Systems, and working at BEA and Oracle developing middleware products. The document emphasizes the importance of identifying opportunities, embracing change, mentors, risk-taking, customer focus, execution, hiring the right people, and managing vision/goals.

1. Vittorio Viarengo Vice President Development Service Delivery Platform Oracle Fusion Middleware [email_address]

2. The information and statements contained in this presentation represent Vittorio Viarengo’s own point of view and opinions. They do NOT represent in anyway Oracle’s official position

3. Buon Pomeriggio

4. Agenda From “Zena” to Silicon Valley Lessons Learned Creating High Performance Teams to Develop Innovative Products Idea Team Vision Process Conclusions Q&A

5. From Zena….

6. You Are Here

7. 1988-1992 L’universita’ ed l’ITD-CNR Corso di Ingegneria del Software Proff. Giorgio Olimpo, Direttore Istituto Tecnologie Didattiche CNR Borsa di Studio CNR Incontro con Carlo Innocenti (Minollo)‏ Il Progetti Europei OSCAR e DISCOURSE l’utilizzo di database Multimediali per supporto allo sviluppo di materiale didattico Mandato della Comunita’ Europea di usare un Object Oriented Database ObjectStore from Object Design

8. The New Idea/Product Template Inflection Point Object Database Technology Customer Need Better Productivity with Object Dabases Product Idea/Vision Do for Object Databases what Standard Query Tools did to SQL databases Team Carlo Innocenti and the ITD team Execution Passion

9. Early Lessons Identify Opportunities Learning opportunity Embrace Change Identify Mentors Luigi Sarti, Augusto Chioccariello, Mauro Tavella, Giorgio Olimpo, Michela Ott, Donatella Persico … and Team Carlo Innocenti

10. 1993 Prototype Ready Demo sent to Object Design Invitation to Object Design User Conference in Boston “ Meet the customer” Object Design Rejection… Customer Encouragement External Inflection Points Industry moving from Windows to the Windows NT platform Compiler market moving from Borland (OWL) to the Microsoft C++ Compiler and MFC

11. ViVi Software’s First Trade Show

13. 1993- 1994 – ViVi Software ViVi Software is formed Alberto Massari and Ivan Pedruzzi join the Team Headquartered in… A basement in Corso Dogali Product Is Re-written in 3 months Beta is ready for customers Product is presented to Object Design Still, no love Product is presented to Customers Still…. Lot’s of Love!!!

14. ViVi Software

15. ViVi Software @ Work

16. Lessons Take Risks Open your “Partita IVA”  Talk to Customers!!!! And Listen… Focus, focus, and… focus Cut deep, cut early Cut the Schema Design, focus on browsing tool Turn down “easy” money, focus on long term vision (Re-)Embrace Change New platform, new compiler,… Don’t be afraid of complete Re-writes Work the Network Alberto, Ivan… Customer leads Hire A+ People

17. ITEA Prize

18. 1995 Visual Object Manager 1.0 Product Ready and Shipping Internet for e-Commerce The Shrink-wrapping Machine…. Marketing, leads, customers Worldwide Mailing Campaign Near-real Time Technical Support

19. Lessons The Joy of building products There is nothing like shipping products to customers … and see them deployed Attention to Details Believe Work hard…really hard If it was easy, somebody else would have done it already Love and pamper your customers

20. 1996 The OEM Agreement with Object Design Object Design Management Change Bob Goldman OEM Agreement is Signed The first real money… Visual Object Manager become ObjectStore Inspector Inspector 2.0, another huge leap forward … but… business model not sustainable 1997: Object Design Buys ViVi Software The Negotiation 1998: ViVi Software goes to Boston

21. Lessons Always know the value of you company If you don’t, let the buyer make the first offer… Hire a good lawyer Engineers can be good negotiators…  Minollo turns tough business man

22. You Are Here… … now

23. 1998-2001 The Experience in Boston Risk and Speed Fast track promotions New Technology and Inflection Points The Internet XML Meeting Adam Bostworth Meeting Carl Sjogreen NASDAQ at 5200 From reality to - easy money and return… Workforce Mobility

24. Lesson Learned Vendi, Guadagna e… Pentiti

25. You Thought you were going to be here… … but you a really here now

26. Seattle and Silicon Valley Adam Bosworth Aggressive Recruiting Techniques Move to Seattle, then to San Jose, the capital of Silicon Valley Join BEA Systems in Seattle Build the First Integrated Java Platform …the Visual Basic of Java Recruit Carl… again.. Adam’s Team Tod Nielsen, Rod Chavez, David Bau, Mark Igra, …. And the WebLogic Team Scott Diezen (the father of J2EE)… The Oracle Opportunity

27. BEA

28. Oracle

29. Lesson Learned Work with Great People on Great things Title and Money are always secondary You have to move where the opportunity is Job mobility in IT is a fact of life

30. Creating Innovative Products The IT World Seen from a Simple Baker’s Eyes

31. Most high-performance teams are motivated by one thing (primarily)…

32. Changing the World Define a World… … and change it!!!

33. Changing the World: Steps Need an Inflection Point “ And yet it does move” Customer Need Idea/Vision “ Give me a lever and a fulcrum and I shall move the world ” , Archimedes Team People who have done it before and… who have NOT done it Execution Strategy gets you on the playing field, but execution execution pays the bills. “, Gordon Eubanks

34. The Idea

35. The Idea Better be a great Idea – D U H ! Better be original Only big companies can afford building me-too products “ look at something people are trying to do, and figure out how to do it in a way that doesn't suck” Paul Graham Examples: Google Search, Idea Sources Customer (careful how you listen to customer, they will make you build yesterday products)‏ Engineers Business People Better be mad about something Best idea comes from people mad at something

36. The Idea Look for disruptive technologies Examples: HTTP, Java, Broadband Look for disruptive Business Models Google Pay-per-click, Software as a service (Salesforce.com), virtual Stores (Yahoo stores, eBay, Amazon), Open Source software One-Sentence Rule You should be able to express a good idea in one sentence The KISS Principle Keep It Simple and Stupid …or, Keep it Simple, Stupid

37. Recognize Relevant Cycles: Standardization The Standardization Cycle Examples: J2EE, WebServices, BPEL, …

38. Recognize Relevant Cycles: Tech Cycles Technology Products Tend to go Through Cycles E.g. Thick client (Client Server)-Thin client (HTML)-Thick(er) client (AJAX)‏ Convergence-divergence: Application Development – Application Integration Weather-site, Stock Quote Site, Email… - Portals Phone-PDA-> Smart Phone Phone-Camera->Camera-phone Telephony-IT Technology Fixed Telephony spinning off Mobile branches and now buying them back

39. The Team

40. “ What matters is not ideas, but the people who have them. Good people can fix bad ideas, but good ideas can't save bad people” Paul Graham

41. Team – Hiring/Interviewing Hire Smart people who Get Things Done Have a rigorous interview process that everybody understands and follows Define an interview plan, split responsibilities Ask tough programming questions to engineers Ask situational questions Ask impossible questions How many gas stations are in Genova? Ask technical questions outside the domain Design an elevator Make sure all relevant people interview the candidate The team has to Buy-In the candidate which creates positive environment for candidate to succeed Hire for Talent not for Knowledge

42. Team-Hiring/Interview Remember!!!!! As hire As Bs hire Cs

43. Team - Hiring If you have even a single doubt-> NO HIRE See people 2-3 times before hiring You will see the typical personality patterns emerge after the second meeting Take people out to dinner before making the offer See how they behave in a social environment See http:// www.joelonsoftware.com /

44. Team-Hiring In many cases you will spend more time with your new hire that with your relevant other…

45. Team Composition - General Only Hire As An A engineer is 10 to  infinite times more productive than a B one Build the right culture from the very beginning Building a team == baking a cake Balance Junior vs. Senior Know yourself and your Team E.g. Meyer Briggs Do you have the right DNA? If not, go hire or buy a company If you are embarking in a product line extension, definitely buy You don’t need big teams to change the world 8-10 developers can write a lot of code

46. “ The leaders of Great Groups love talent and know where to find it. They revel in the talent of others .” Warren Bennis & Patricia Ward Biederman, Organizing Genius

47. “ The leaders of Great Teams, are fanatic, relentless, persistent, aggressive… recruiters”

48. Why Do We love Freaks? (1) Because when Anything Interesting happens … it was a freak who did it. (Period.) (2) Freaks are fun. (Freaks are also a pain.) (Freaks are never boring.) (3) We need freaks . Especially in freaky times. (Hint: These are freaky times, for you & me & the CIA & the Army & Avon.) (4) A critical mass of freaks-in-our-midst automatically make us-who-are-not-so-freaky at least somewhat more freaky. (Which is a Good Thing in freaky times—see immediately above.) (5) Freaks are the only (ONLY) ones who succeed—as in, make it into the history books. (6) Freaks keep us from falling into ruts. (If we listen to them.) (We seldom listen to them.) (Which is why most of us—and our organizations—are in ruts. Make that chasms.)‏

49. Team - Misc The 5 Fs Principle Fun, Fame, Fortune, Family, Force, …

50. Execution A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week." (General George S. Patton)‏

51. Vision-Goals-Metrics You need a compelling Vision and Mission Microsoft: 1 computer on every desktop GE: Be n.1 or n.2 in every market we play Set aggressive Goals You only get what you ask for Belief-action-results A man on the moon within the next 10 years Everybody needs to be behind it Agree, disagree… commit … but listen to the “bastian contrario” routinely Re-assess the Vision when appropriate Vision, culture and metrics fight politics (cook a good cake)‏ Constantly Measure Results Against Goals If you don’t measure it you don’t know where you are… …and when you get there

52. Manage the Vision, Manage Mentor People Map Individual goals to product and corporate vision Makes sure everybody knows what is their contribution to the vision Don’t promote Great Engineers to management Positions – Define Separate Career Paths Unless that’s what they want to do Know yourself and know the team Myers-Briggs test http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp You CANNOT change people!!!!! Establish Measurable goals and personal development plans and review them every 6-12 month Measure everybody Overcompensate the top performers And Routinely Remove the bottom 5% (if applicable)‏

53. Vision and Values Define and practice corporate values It is an important ingredient of “the cake” Respect, Customer Focus, Accountability,… Innovation, Integrity, Excellence in Execution, … 3Ps Promise, “Phollow” through, Apply those values in everything you do, starting from beginning, starting from the top … or else it is just BS E.G. The Value of my Team at Oracle “ We care!”

54. Embrace Change Change is a fact of life and it is a known constant of software development

55. Embrace change

56. Team Functions The “One ass to kick” Principle

57. Management/Founders Technical Innovation Comes From Technical People Larry Ellison, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Sergei Brin… History seems to show that you are better off with a technical people at the elm … in technology companies

58. Team Composition - Functions “ Separate Church and State” AKA in Software as “Separate Product Management and Engineering” Keep PM motivated by customer and business drivers Keep engineers motivated by: tough problem to solve, quality, performance, punctuality Keep Sales people away from your engineers and requirements Sales input through product management Product Management What and why Product Design/Doc Responsible for user-centered design Engineering (QA, Sustained Engineering) Responsible for changing the world Define “how” and “how long” Architecture Holds the key to the overall architecture f the product

59. Team Functions - Continued Business Development Develops the business  Marketing Sales Pre-sales Consulting SWATT Team

60. The Product Manager Role The CEO of the Product (area) Responsible for ALL the user-visible aspect of the product User-Focused Business Focussed First User of the product Defines the “What” we build and “Why” Defines what NOT to build and why PM makes cuts/trade-off PMs keep everybody a little unhappy Define the product as a whole Features, Packaging, Support, Price…. Outside Customers: The guy who writes the check The guy who uses the product

61. Product Management Team Inside Customers: Engineering: Roadmap/Requirements/Use Cases/Cuts/Tradeoff Marketing: content-positioning Sales: training, pre-sales support Channel: Sis/ISVs Post-sales escalations 1 (PM)/6 Developers

62. Product Designer (AKA Program Manager) Role Program mgmt resides between development and product management… and customers First User of the product Customers: Outside: the user of the product Inside: Engineering- Specs… Written product specification The PD is responsible for writing down the specification. He/she is not responsible for all ideas and all Specs Use Case Implementation The PD builds prototypes, implements customers use cases and oversees the "usability test" of the features/interfaces Ensure consistent User Experience API-UI

63. Product Designer: Tell Me More File Bugs All implementation trade-offs Fine-grained trade-offs that impact user visible aspects of the product Coordination of the product development groups outside product group Customer Visits (35%)‏ In depth technical product presentations to customer Functional Specification validation Alpha-Beta validation Use case gathering

64. Engineering Architects Who take accountability for the architecture? The KISS Principle. Keep It Simple, (and) Stupid QA Depending on the product keep a 1-2 to 2-3 QA/Dev ratio Only hire A Make QA an engineering problem, avoid delegation Performance Have performance engineers if you can afford it or make it a developer’s problem Measure, measure and measure from the first build on Release Management Track the details to get the product out the door 10-1-1 AKA Eat the Dog Food Work hard 10 month, take a month off, work one month at a customer site using your product

65. How We Make Decisions Clear Decision Owner One ass to kick Publish Time Frame Communication Agree, Disagree, Commit Lead, follow, or get out of the way!!!

66. Process Idea Validate the Idea High Level PRD (Product Requirement Document)‏ Product Management, involve key engineers/architect Build Prototype Hit the Road Validate high level requirements and prototype with customers Implementation: The Old Way: Waterfall Specifications Don’t write single line of code that does not have a design note behind it Get sign off from Architect, PM and Release manager Development Adopt and enforce one methodology Build everyday (multiple times a day)‏ Punish who breaks the build

67. Process the New Way Scrum and Agile Development

68. Scrums Roles Product Owner Defines the backlog, represents customers, prioritizes features Role may be filled by PM, Dev Managers, VP depending on “product” definition Scrum-Master Facilitates the project, identifies and removes impediments The “Project Manager” of Scrum Does not have seniority or “power” over scrum team Project Team Development Engineers QA Engineers Documentation Writers Product Managers (who are not product owners)‏

69. The Importance of “Doneness” Definition of Done

70. Process Ramp Down Carefully triage the bugs daily to see what gets pushed out SHIP Get drunk and take a week off Work on Service Pack 1

71. Conclusions Embrace Change Stay Close to, Talk to, Listen to , and Pamper your Customers Work Hard, Very Hard with Passion

72. Grafico Nasdaq Mentor Esempio di Persone Brillanti (David Bau, Indu…)‏ Riconoscere I cicli (Thin-thick, Standards, Chasm)‏ Stay at the course Life is made of tradeoff (examples: ViVi Software, Net4Call,…)‏ Multicultural Political Correctness and Sexual harassment Code Rules Talk to customers always (and listen)‏ Eat the dog food

73. Reading Material Developer Productivity http:// www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/HighNotes.html How to start a company http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html Adam Bostworth Blog http://www.adambosworth.net/ Kiss Principle

74. Backup Slides

75. 1. Cultivate & reward creativity. 2. Invest in the creative ecosystem. 3. Embrace diversity. 4. Nurture the creatives. 5. Value risk-taking. 6. Be authentic (emphasize uniqueness) 7. Invest in and build on quality of place. 8. Remove barriers to creativity. 9. Take responsibility for change. Development as D.I.Y. 10. Ensure that every person, especially children, has the right to creativity. Become a “Steward of creativity.” * 2003/The Creative 100/Memphis Source: Richard Florida, The Rise of the Creative Class The Memphis Manifesto* Building a Community of Ideas

76. Kevin Roberts’ Credo 1 . Ready. Fire! Aim. 2. If it ain’t broke ... Break it! 3. Hire crazies. 4. Ask dumb questions. 5. Pursue failure. 6. Lead, follow ... or get out of the way! 7. Spread confusion. 8. Ditch your office. 9. Read odd stuff. 10. Avoid moderation !

77. Interview Pay a contractor for 7 days with one piece of gold and 2 straight cuts One bicycle rider Two Containers 10 Bags of balls 3 bag, wrong label. Pick one ball Weight 9 Balls Weight 12 Balls 3 lights bulbs 4 man, 1,2,5,10 Gas Station