agileHow to Use the Engineering Excellence Method to Handle External System Dependencies in Technology B2C (1/63)
A technology B2C family business running Lean with a small team of two to five people has an external system dependency problem. The company makes a mobile app for personal fitness tracking. The app handles workout logging, nutrition tracking, social sharing, and integration with wearable devices. The company has been around for four years. It has eleven employees. The product development organization has four people. The organization runs Lean. One small team. Four people. (2/63)
The external system dependencies are causing failures. The failures are frequent. The frequency creates instability. The instability creates user frustration. The user frustration creates churn. The churn is thirty one percent per quarter. The thirty one percent churn means that the company is losing users faster than it is gaining them. The losing of users means that revenue is declining. The declining revenue is a problem. The problem is caused by external system dependencies. (3/63)
The external system dependencies are three. Dependency one. The wearable device API. The wearable device API is from Fitbit. The Fitbit API changes without notice. The changing without notice causes integration failures. The integration failures cause data sync errors. The data sync errors cause user frustration. Dependency two. The payment processing API. The payment processing API is from Stripe. The Stripe API has rate limits (4/63)
. The rate limits cause transaction failures during peak hours. The peak hours are six AM to eight AM. The six AM to eight AM window is when forty three percent of users log workouts. The transaction failures cause subscription activation delays. The subscription activation delays cause user frustration. Dependency three. The social sharing API. The social sharing API is from Facebook. The Facebook API has versioning issues. The versioning issues cause sharing failures (5/63)
. The sharing failures cause user frustration.
The three external system dependencies are causing failures. The failures are costing the company thirty eight thousand dollars per quarter. The thirty eight thousand dollars is the cost of lost subscriptions, support credits, and emergency engineering. (6/63)
Soichiro Honda built Honda on the engineering excellence method. The model was simple. Honda realized that the biggest problem in engineering was the reliance on external components that you cannot control. The reliance created vulnerability. The vulnerability created failures. The failures killed products. Honda attacked the vulnerability. He created the engineering excellence method. (7/63)
The method was based on one principle. The principle was. Control what you can. Anticipate what you cannot. Controlling what you can was about building internal excellence. Anticipating what you cannot was about preparing for external failures. The combination of internal excellence and external anticipation created resilience. The resilience built Honda. (8/63)
When Honda faced an external dependency problem, he did not complain. He did not blame. He did not wait. He engineered. The engineering was a solution. The solution was internal. The internal solution reduced the reliance on the external dependency. The reduction of reliance created independence. The independence created stability. The stability built Honda. (9/63)
Honda applied the same thinking to supply chain management. When Honda's supply chain was disrupted, he did not panic. He anticipated. The anticipation was a plan. The plan was a backup. The backup was internal. The internal backup ensured continuity. The continuity built Honda. (10/63)
For a technology B2C family business, the external system dependency problem is the same. The external system dependencies are causing failures. The failures create instability. The instability creates churn. The churn costs thirty eight thousand dollars. Honda's engineering excellence method says: control what you can. Anticipate what you cannot. The internal excellence creates resilience. The resilience eliminates failures.
The Core Principle (11/63)
Honda's engineering excellence method was built on a simple insight. The best way to handle external system dependencies is to stop relying on external systems that you cannot control and start building internal excellence that anticipates and absorbs external failures. The team controls what they can by building robust internal systems. They anticipate what they cannot by preparing for external failures before they happen. (12/63)
Honda did not handle external dependencies at Honda by complaining about suppliers and blaming external partners and waiting for external fixes and hoping that the external systems would become more reliable. He handled them by controlling what he could and anticipating what he could not. The internal excellence created resilience. The resilience eliminated failures. (13/63)
For a technology B2C family business, the external system dependency problem is the same. The external system dependencies are causing failures. The failures create instability. The instability creates churn. The churn costs thirty eight thousand dollars. Honda's engineering excellence method says: control what you can. Anticipate what you cannot. The internal excellence creates resilience. The resilience eliminates failures. (14/63)
Four Steps to Apply the Engineering Excellence Method to Handling External System Dependencies
1. Map Every External System Dependency and Classify Each One by Controllability and Failure Impact (15/63)
Honda mapped every external dependency at Honda. The mapping was a classification. The classification was by controllability and failure impact. The controllability was a measure. The measure was how much control the team had over the dependency. The failure impact was a measure. The measure was how much damage the failure caused. The combination of controllability and failure impact created a priority. The priority determined the response. (16/63)
You should map every external system dependency and classify each one by controllability and failure impact with the same priority creating mapping. For a technology B2C family business, the dependency mapping might look like this. The lead engineer maps every external system dependency. The mapping is a document. The document is a matrix. The matrix has two axes. Axis one. Controllability. The controllability axis is from low to high. Low means the team has no control (17/63)
. High means the team has full control. Axis two. Failure impact. The failure impact axis is from low to high. Low means the failure causes minor disruption. High means the failure causes major disruption. (18/63)
The matrix has four quadrants. Quadrant one. Low controllability, high failure impact. This quadrant is the danger zone. The danger zone requires immediate action. Quadrant two. High controllability, high failure impact. This quadrant is the investment zone. The investment zone requires building internal solutions. Quadrant three. Low controllability, low failure impact. This quadrant is the monitoring zone. The monitoring zone requires watching. Quadrant four (19/63)
. High controllability, low failure impact. This quadrant is the maintenance zone. The maintenance zone requires routine care. (20/63)
The lead engineer maps the three dependencies. Dependency one. Fitbit API. The Fitbit API has low controllability. The low controllability is because Fitbit controls the API. The Fitbit API has high failure impact. The high failure impact is because data sync errors affect all users. The Fitbit API is in quadrant one. The quadrant one is the danger zone. The danger zone requires immediate action. Dependency two. Stripe API. The Stripe API has low controllability (21/63)
. The low controllability is because Stripe controls the API. The Stripe API has high failure impact. The high failure impact is because transaction failures affect revenue. The Stripe API is in quadrant one. The quadrant one is the danger zone. The danger zone requires immediate action. Dependency three. Facebook API. The Facebook API has low controllability. The low controllability is because Facebook controls the API. The Facebook API has medium failure impact (22/63)