driving employee satisfaction, morale, and productivity final
TRANSCRIPT
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Driving Employee Satisfaction, Morale, and Productivity at MSNBC.com
Travis McElfreshVice President – Technology
msnbc.com
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Site Traffic2 billion page views / month100 million users / month
Video Traffic125 million streams / month18 million unique users / month
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Software Development403,530 lines of C#46,586 lines of JS106,450 lines of XSLT110,119 lines of SQL5,546 lines of CSS
2 day to 1 year projects20-30 concurrent projects
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PublishingPublish a document ~700ms~2-4K stories each day10-20 K updates per day~100 editors around the world
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OperationsWeb servers: 500 req/secSQL servers: 800 batch req/sec99.993% server uptime Stable releasesMultiple datacenters
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5th consecutive month at #15 million UU lead
20,00025,00030,00035,00040,00045,000
Jan-
07
Feb-
07
Mar
-07
Apr-
07
May
-07
Jun-
07
Jul-
07
Aug-
07
Sep-
07
Oct
-07
Nov-
07
Dec-
07
Jan-
08
Feb-
08
Mar
-08
Apr 0
8
May
08
Jun
08
Jul-
08
Aug-
08
Sep-
08
Nielsen Net Ratings UUs
MSNBC Digital NetworkCNN Digital NetworkYahoo! News
NOTE: CNN includes IBS local news sites, Sports Illustrated, and CNN Money• with Olympics data, August was at 52 million for msnbc.com
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120 million video streams
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Show fronts: Scalable customization realized
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Video Analyzer Launched
9
Automatically searches and clusters frequent topics and terms
Allows user to jump directly to key words within video stream
Integrates NBC analysis to each topic
Based on voice to text technology and in-house relevance engine.
Eventually available for most video on site with minimal human touch.
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This presentation….
Developing a Corporate StrategyDeciding what business you are in how you
differentiate your offerings from other companies in the marketplace in pursuit of a sustainable competitive advantage.
Creating and Maintaining an Effective OrganizationDesigning and implementing the core set of coordinated
processes that deliver value to the customer while meeting expectations of other company stakeholders.
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171 hours of downtime
Very low productivity
Site scale issues
Major release issues
Extremely low morale
2003 – An Opportunity
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“I am satisfied with the balance between my work life and my personal life.”
(40% Agree)
“At MSNBC, decision making includes gathering feedback from impacted groups.”
(38% Agree)
“There is good coordination between my work group and other groups.”
(37% Agree)
“I am able to have a positive impact on the strategy of MSNBC.”
(36% Agree)
2003 – An Opportunity
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Checked Out
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Results
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Current State Desired State
@#$ PMs!
@#$ Devs!
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Why should we care?
“Success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration.”
Thomas Alva Edison
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Organizational Performance Model
SupportProcesses
CoreProcesses
AdverseProcesses
Value-Related Processes
Org’lPerformance
Intangible Resource BaseGreg Bigley, University of Washington - 2008
People Structure Culture
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Good processes…Tactical developmentEngineering innovationKnowledge sharing
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Adverse processes….Blaming othersReactionary developmentExecutive time constraintsPunishing the beaconsHiding in silos
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Missing processes….Reduction of reworkLong term planningSuccess measurementRealistic schedulingManaging prioritiesWorking towards shared goalsCommunicating effectivelyManaging stakeholdersControlling qualityHiring / training
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Organizational Performance Model
SupportProcesses
CoreProcesses
AdverseProcesses
Value-Related Processes
Org’lPerformance
Intangible Resource BaseGreg Bigley, University of Washington - 2008
People Structure Culture
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People IssueNot in the gameMorale lowCapabilities?Motivation?
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People FixSpecific goalsIncentivesAccountabilitySupport (KSAOs)Raise the barHave fun
Some staff changes
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People Issue #2Resistant to change
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People Fix #2PsychologyClear expectationsAccountabilityTraining and OTJPatience
Some staff and management changes
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People Issue #3A team of individualsWeak networksPoor coordination
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People Fix #3Emphasize teamworkReward for teamworkHire for teamworkMake staff changesStructure / Culture
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• sStructure IssueSilo behavior
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• sStructure FixSmall teamsClear goals (e.g. $)Frameworks (e.g. SDLC)IncentivesTeams write chartersAccountable to business
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Culture IssueIncompatible cultures
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Culture FixEmbrace both culturesBuild bridgesVirtual team expansionHave fun
…and don’t celebrate your successes
…. publicly
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Penalties for working on vacation
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Class IV Rafting
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Beer Floats
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Best Investments in HindsightReducing reworkBringing in great coachesMoving out weak playersA focus on working hard…… and playing hardEarly and small wins…… followed by raising the bar.
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Best PayoutsIncreased dev yield by 2-3xDramatic increase in moraleExcellent site stabilityScalable team modelHappy stakeholders
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“Less disruption of overall development of site, when emergencies with specific projects arise. “
– msnbc.com developer2006
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“Made me more aware of the project cycle, and what is involved in every stage, by working more closely with the PMs and Testers on my team.”
– msnbc.com developer2006
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“Groups can move faster since more autonomy is created”
– msnbc.com developer2006
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“ ’Cool’ projects may go to one group more often thus creating animosity.”
– msnbc.com developer2006
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“ The biggest change I can feel (since 1997) is that we now have a strong, stable, and smart leadership team. The energy and enthusiasm permeates throughout the whole company.”
– msnbc.com developer2008
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“Biggest positive, and the most unusual attribute at msnbc.com compared to other places I’ve worked, is the genuine freedom we have to speak frankly about any issues that are bothering us.”
– msnbc.com test engineer2008
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“Management empowers the employee to make decisions.”
– msnbc.com network engineer2008
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“Over the years I’ve noticed employee morale is directly proportionate to the level at which good management is put in place.”
– msnbc.com systems engineer2008
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Better than expected…Reduction of reworkSide effects of rework reductionSelf-managing capabilities of teamDegree of staff commitment
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The Labrador Effect
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New and remaining issues…Multi-site developmentRight hand not knowing what left
is doingNot enough on automationTest leadershipResidual cultural issues
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Our Role!Clarify performance criteriaDiagnose root causeDetail future stateIdentify sources of change resistanceDevelop a change planExecute!
***Requires lots of energy and tenacity
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Further Reading“The Discipline of Teams” – Harvard Business Review (July – 2005)
“Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups” by Vanessa Urch Druskat and Steven B. Wolff, Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, March 2001.
“Condensed and paraphrased from How to Invest in Social Capital” by Laurence Prusak and Don Cohen, Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, June 2001.
“Organizational crisis: The logic of failure”. Academy of Management Executive, 2005, Vol. 19, No 1.
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Questions?