Open Mind – Open Culture – Open Source
We believe in sharing economy. Both people and organizations can only survive if they can cooperate and share knowledge. This way, we can accelerate projects, boost innovation and save on costs.
We create high-performance systems with the lowest TCO.
As an act of sharing knowledge, now, we share our Principles document as open-source material.
We want to help individuals and organizations to establish self-organizing teams. Each organization is different; therefore, this document can only pave the way to create customized Principles.
Two years ago, we introduced a Pluralistic Methodology to our Team ERFI at the OTP Bank. ERFI is the short form of how we call our Directorate in Hungarian. In English: Distributed Systems Development Directorate.
We set out to establish self-organizing teams in software engineering to work in a fearless human environment. Beyond scrum and enterprise agile methodology, we wanted to avoid disputes around a bible or a mission statement on how to work. At the same time, we also wanted to settle arguments about the orthodoxy of methodology elements. Pluralistic means in this context that you can enrich your set of tools for your self-organizing teams with any elements from any methodology. Only those elements shall survive that enable effective and efficient execution and people like them.
The Principles do not represent the way of working of the entire Bank Group at this stage; they depict the environment of ERFI.
We are not just employees but also humans. Therefore, a methodology makes sense and will work if individuals reach a particular stage of personality development. Furthermore, we live in a complex private and corporate context which hampers us to behave and perform all the time properly. Accordingly, this document may aid our colleagues to remember how to behave, or one colleague can help the other modify inappropriate behavior for the common good.
Advice on how to use this document:
- Don't use it as it is.
- Create your adaptation of it with your specific guidelines.
- If you create your Principles, discuss them with the legal department to be following laws.
- Your team should co-create these guidelines and believe in them. They shall help others keep the guidelines in mind.
- You can use this material free of charge.
- Although it is not software, we'd like to ask the User of this material to let us know about it. Similar to GNU licensing.
- If you have any suggestions on how to improve our Principles, please let us know about them. Then, we may implement it.
We wish you a happy journey with us on the road to self-organization.
ERFI Team
Observability Concepts EVERY Developer Should Know (DevOpsDays Seattle)
Open Mind - Open Culture - Open Source: ERFI Principles
1. 3DJH
ERFI Principles and
Conduct of Working
In order to encourage, achieve and maintain an atmosphere of high integrity, trust,
competence and harmony among all colleagues, customers and suppliers, each ERFI
colleague commits to the following.
Vision
ERFI is the provider of secure and non-stop services for the majority of group
customers' transactions.
Mission
We enhance our knowledge, skills and adapt our mindset by progressive and
constructive collaboration. We combine methodologies and state of the art
technologies to excel in financial innovation.
Values
Diversity // Growth Mindset // Velocity // Integrity // Transformative Thinking //
Customer Centricity // Teamwork // Achievement contribution // Ethical
attitude // Proactive attitude / Transparency // Openness
We are totally stand up for our principles.
Attila Aurél Selmeci
András Bendzsák
Zoltán Dankó
László Popovics
2. 3DJH
General Principles
The general principles of working at ERFI, which we expect all our colleagues to accept and adhere to.
These principles make it easier to work together within ERFI, to communicate with each other and to
place our own interests in relation to those of ERFI.
Our general Principles:
1. We gather team members to enjoy the work together and to best fit to our goals.
2. Our goal at ERFI is to create an environment where everyone is contributing to achieve ERFI's results
formulated in our Vision and Mission Statement AND to the accomplishment of her/his own personal
and professional goals.
3. Individual Goals and Teamwork - We offer each colleagues the opportunity to learn.
4. Each colleague hereby agrees to commit himself or herself to the pursuit of perfection with regard to
their integrity, competence and individual responsibility. In recognition of each colleague's personal
goal of achieving a balanced life in the sense of Ikigai. Each of us commits to pursue teamwork
because: Together Everyone Accomplishes More.
5. Personal Responsibility and Proactivity - Each colleague agrees to take full responsibility for their
actions as well as for the consequences of their actions. Colleagues are personally responsible for
their own development, time commitments and performance. Colleagues commit: to manage
themselves and to personally take the initiative to coordinate their responsibilities and activities with
others in order to develop opportunities for making things happen and for improvement of ERFI's way
of work.
6. Collective Responsibility - everyone at ERFI takes proportional part of our Collective Responsibility in
our deliveries, commitments and behavior.
7. Tolerance - It is understood that individuals differ in many ways – their values, tastes, moods and
methods to achieve goals. It is agreed that these types of differences between individual colleagues
will be respected and tolerated.
8. Direct Communication and Resolution of Conflicts – We use a direct and straightforward
communication style in our collaboration. We offer a proactive and open communication attitude to
each other. Conflicts and differences between human beings are a natural and necessary aspect of life.
9. Caring and Sharing – We take care of each other. We share relevant information with each other. We
strive to share important and critical information with the responsible colleague as soon as possible.
We expect from each colleague to share what they have learned.
10.Environment - We help each other to achieve the best and most out of learning and working.
11. Sense – We do what makes sense in what we do. This sense on personal and ERFI level must be
aligned. This alignment is achieved when there is no more conflict between the ERFI and personal
goals. Collective goal always overrides personal goals.
3. 3DJH
The way we work
Our principles that are necessary for our operations and reflect our approach to work, creating an
effective and performance-focused professional atmosphere, from personal development to conflict
management to a feedback system.
The points of our operation:
1. All the tasks that are accepted and validated by ERFI must be entered in ERFI-Jira. Data and status of
tasks must be put and tracked in ERFI-Jira all the time.
2. Tasks are assigned to teams because teams can make the best professional decision in challenges,
since they have the knowledge and skills to execute them.
3. In case, a team cannot find a good solution or unsure about the proper direction, team members are
entitled to consult with other teams or architects.
4. If long term strategy or a tactical issue is at stake, ERFI management board must be involved.
5. We are happy to have people who make decisions and take responsibility – they do not want to be
robots executing tasks.
6. We are not afraid of failures. We use failures as a possibility to figure out what we can learn from
them
7. We expect from everyone to develop skills for a self-organizing approach at ERFI.
8. We express our delight for colleagues who has done an excellent job.
9. We also express topics where we can help our team mates to improve themselves. Everyone can
improve her-/himself, therefore it does not make sense to feel hurt about it.
10.In case of conflict management, Sentinel Team’s help can be used to achieve a resolution or
agreement. Sentinel Team members are not dedicated to any of the teams, but any team or colleague
can request their help.
11. It is expected to run assessments and feedback sessions in teams among the colleagues. With topics
like who likes to work with whom and why. What to continue? What to further develop? What to stop
immediately? There are occasionally ERFI level feedback sessions among those who work closely
together.
12. We expect that the colleagues involved share their feedbacks with each other frankly.
13.The feedback aims at being an official forum for exchange of experiences among colleagues.
14.The feedback can be seen solely a temporary state of the collaboration for everyone.
15.We expect that feedbacks help in improvement, and it will be motivating the colleague to change the
behavior or the way of work to suit more the team. Except if it goes against ERFI principles and values.
16.In case of disagreement between team members, there is a chance to move to another team.
17. The feedback has the function of improvement and therefore it has no direct connection to the salary
or any other type of compensation.
18.We expect a conscious personality development from each of us to achieve a higher level of
collaboration. In this effort, ERFI provides trainings and workshops.
4. 3DJH
The way we use role labels
To clarify responsibilities and record the tasks taken on by colleagues, we introduce the use of role labels
within ERFI, the process of which is described below to clarify the methodology.
Elements of the role label methodology:
1. Everyone has the right to take on a role label or more with predefined responsibilities.
2. A role label taken means that we do our best to accomplish the goal of that role.
3. A role label can also be given back to the role-pool.
4. Role labels are values attached.
5. There are role labels that must be taken, because ERFI cannot function without them.
6. If a role label is taken, the job must be done. A role label can only be kept if peers agree that the
execution has been successful. If not, the role label must be given back.
7. A role label must be kept at least 3-6 months to be judged meaningful. Except that the
performance is not aligned with ERFI’s goals and delivery.
8. A colleague may have more role labels. Their number may increase over time. The number of labels
must be aligned with the workload to be executed within normal working hours.
9. In the case, the teammates and the senior colleagues at ERFI may suggest an increase of
compensation for the colleague. The connection between the role label and the compensation is
unique and it is determined from the context, which has to be discussed with the employer.
10.A specific aggregation of role labels must be performed for at least 6 moths successfully to be
promoted to more complex tasks or higher compensation.
11. A healthy combination of role label aggregation and compensation must be upheld at ERFI on the
long run.
12. There are role labels that are easier to execute than others that require more experience and
knowledge. We appreciate that the colleagues move up the learning curve and take on more
responsible jobs. Consequently, there is no immediate drawback if a colleague found out that a role
label did not fit well. A new one can be taken. This procedure will be defined case by case.
13.We do not force anyone to take on responsibility, but we do expect to take responsibility for what
you do. However, we expect a close alignment between responsibility taken and received
compensation.
14.Each colleague has the responsibility to share a notice if one of the principles does not fit and
endangers our goals by suggesting an alternative.