agile# How to Use Innovation Through Collaboration to Balance Speed with Quality in Retail Hardware (1/93)
A retail hardware SME running Crystal with multiple teams of fifty plus people has a speed versus quality problem. The company designs and manufactures smart retail displays that show digital pricing and product information in stores. The company has been around for eight years. It has seventy six employees. The product development organization for the company's new cloud connected display has sixty three people. The organization runs Crystal. Seven teams. Each team has nine people (2/93)
The poorness of quality means that the displays crash in stores. The crashing of displays in stores means that stores cannot show pricing. The not being able to show pricing by stores means that customers cannot buy. The not being able to buy by customers means that stores lose sales. The losing of sales by stores means that stores return the displays. The returning of displays by stores means that the company loses revenue (4/93)
. The losing of revenue cost the company one hundred and twelve thousand dollars last quarter. The one hundred and twelve thousand dollars was thirty seven percent of the quarterly revenue from the cloud connected display. The development must be both fast and high quality. (5/93)
Masaru Ibuka built Sony on innovation through collaboration. The insight was simple. Ibuka realized that the biggest problem in developing great products was the tendency to let each team work in isolation. The letting of each team work in isolation meant that teams optimized for their own goals. The optimizing of teams for their own goals meant that the overall product suffered. The suffering of the overall product meant that the product failed (6/93)
Ibuka attacked the tendency to let each team work in isolation. He created innovation through collaboration. The collaboration was based on one principle. The principle was. Put the right people in the room. Then let them solve it. Putting the right people in the room meant gathering cross functional experts. The gathering of cross functional experts meant that every problem had the right mix of knowledge. The having of the right mix of knowledge meant that problems were solved fast (8/93)
. The solving fast of problems meant that products were developed quickly. The quick development of products built Sony. (9/93)
When Ibuka developed the first Sony Walkman, he did not let the audio team work alone. He put the audio team and the mechanical team and the industrial design team in one room. The putting of the audio team and the mechanical team and the industrial design team in one room meant that every problem had the right mix of knowledge. The having of the right mix of knowledge meant that problems were solved fast. The solving fast of problems meant that the Walkman was developed quickly (10/93)
Ibuka applied the same thinking to every product. When Ibuka developed the first Sony Trinitron television, he did not let the engineering team work alone. He put the engineering team and the manufacturing team and the design team in one room. The putting of the engineering team and the manufacturing team and the design team in one room meant that every problem had the right mix of knowledge. The having of the right mix of knowledge meant that problems were solved fast (12/93)
For a retail hardware SME, the speed versus quality problem is the same. Each team works in isolation. The working in isolation of each team means that teams optimize for speed. The optimizing for speed by teams means that quality is ignored. The ignoring of quality means that displays crash. The crashing of displays costs one hundred and twelve thousand dollars. Ibuka's innovation through collaboration says: put the right people in the room. Then let them solve it (14/93)
. The putting of the right people in the room and the letting of them solve it balances speed with quality. The balancing of speed with quality saves the company.
## The Core Principle (15/93)
Ibuka's innovation through collaboration was built on a simple insight: the best way to balance speed with quality in development is to stop letting each team work in isolation and optimize only for their own speed and start creating cross functional quality circles that bring together people from every team to review quality issues collaboratively and solve them together so that quality is not sacrificed for speed and speed is not sacrificed for quality and both are achieved through (16/93)
Ibuka did not develop breakthrough products at Sony by letting each team work in isolation and optimizing for their own goals and hoping that the overall product would be good (18/93)
. He developed them by putting the right people in the room and gathering cross functional experts and letting them solve it and the putting of the right people in the room meant that every problem had the right mix of knowledge and the letting of them solve it meant that problems were solved fast and the solving fast of problems built Sony. (19/93)
For a retail hardware SME, the speed versus quality problem is the same. Each team works in isolation. The working in isolation of each team costs one hundred and twelve thousand dollars. Ibuka's innovation through collaboration says: put the right people in the room. Then let them solve it. The putting of the right people in the room and the letting of them solve it balances speed with quality. The balancing of speed with quality saves the company. (20/93)
## Four Steps to Apply Innovation Through Collaboration to Balancing Speed with Quality
1. Put the Right People in the Room by Creating a Cross Functional Quality Circle That Includes One Representative from Each of the Seven Teams and Meets for One Hour Every Week to Review Quality Issues Collaboratively (21/93)
Ibuka put the right people in the room at Sony. The putting of the right people in the room meant that every problem had the right mix of knowledge. The having of the right mix of knowledge meant that problems were solved fast. The solving fast of problems built Sony (22/93)
. You should put the right people in the room by creating a cross functional quality circle that includes one representative from each of the seven teams and meets for one hour every week to review quality issues collaboratively with the same problem solving enabling right people putting. (23/93)
For a retail hardware SME, the cross functional quality circle might look like this. The Crystal coach creates a cross functional quality circle. The cross functional quality circle is a group. The group has seven people. Each person is from a different team. (24/93)
Person one. Team one. Team one is the firmware team. The firmware team writes the firmware. The firmware is the software that runs on the display. The representative from team one is Alice. Alice is a firmware engineer. The firmware engineer has five years of experience. (25/93)
Person two. Team two. Team two is the hardware team. The hardware team designs the hardware. The hardware is the physical display. The representative from team two is Bob. Bob is a hardware engineer. The hardware engineer has six years of experience. (26/93)
Person three. Team three. Team three is the cloud team. The cloud team builds the cloud backend. The cloud backend is the server that the display connects to. The representative from team three is Carol. Carol is a cloud engineer. The cloud engineer has four years of experience. (27/93)
Person four. Team four. Team four is the mobile team. The mobile team builds the mobile app. The mobile app is the app that store employees use to manage the display. The representative from team four is Dave. Dave is a mobile engineer. The mobile engineer has five years of experience. (28/93)
Person five. Team five. Team five is the testing team. The testing team tests the product. The testing of the product means that the testing team finds bugs. The representative from team five is Eve. Eve is a quality engineer. The quality engineer has seven years of experience. (29/93)
Person six. Team six. Team six is the design team. The design team designs the user interface. The user interface is what the store employee sees. The representative from team six is Frank. Frank is a designer. The designer has four years of experience. (30/93)
Person seven. Team seven. Team seven is the operations team. The operations team manages the deployment. The deployment is the process of getting the display to the store. The representative from team seven is Grace. Grace is an operations engineer. The operations engineer has five years of experience. (31/93)
The cross functional quality circle meets for one hour every week. The meeting for one hour every week means that the group meets regularly. The meeting regularly of the group means that quality issues are reviewed regularly. The reviewing regularly of quality issues means that quality issues are caught early. The catching early of quality issues means that quality issues are fixed early. The fixing early of quality issues means that quality is better. (32/93)
Last quarter, the cross functional quality circle was created. The creating of the cross functional quality circle was a one week effort. The one week effort created a group of seven people. The group of seven people met for one hour every week. The meeting for one hour every week meant that quality issues were reviewed every week. The reviewing of quality issues every week meant that twenty three quality issues were caught (33/93)
. The catching of twenty three quality issues meant that twenty three quality issues were fixed. The fixing of twenty three quality issues saved the company thirty one thousand dollars. The thirty one thousand dollars was the cost of the quality issues that would have been caused by not having a cross functional quality circle. (34/93)
For a Crystal team of fifty plus, the cross functional quality circle should have at least one representative per team. The cross functional quality circle should meet for one hour every week. For Crystal, the cross functional quality circle should be part of the team's quality management. The circle is a management group. (35/93)
2. Let Them Solve It by Giving the Cross Functional Quality Circle the Authority to Define Quality Standards and Enforce Them Across All Seven Teams So That Quality Is Not Just One Team's Responsibility but Everyone's Responsibility (36/93)
Ibuka let them solve it at Sony. The letting of them solve it meant that problems were solved fast. The solving fast of problems built Sony. You should let them solve it by giving the cross functional quality circle the authority to define quality standards and enforce them across all seven teams so that quality is not just one team's responsibility but everyone's responsibility with the same fast solving enabling letting. (37/93)
For a retail hardware SME, the authority might look like this. The Crystal coach gives the cross functional quality circle the authority. The giving of the authority to the cross functional quality circle means that the circle can define quality standards. The defining of quality standards by the circle means that the circle creates rules. The creating of rules by the circle means that the rules are agreed upon. The being agreed upon of the rules means that everyone follows them (38/93)
. The following of the rules by everyone means that quality is consistent.
The authority has three parts. Part one. Define quality standards. The defining of quality standards means that the circle creates a quality standard document. The quality standard document is a document. The document is three pages. The three pages have five sections. (39/93)
Section one. Code quality. The code quality is the quality of the code. The quality of the code means that the code has no bugs. The having of no bugs by the code means that the code is tested. The being tested of the code means that the code has unit tests. The having of unit tests by the code means that the code quality is high. (40/93)
Section two. Hardware quality. The hardware quality is the quality of the hardware. The quality of the hardware means that the hardware does not fail. The not failing of the hardware means that the hardware is tested. The being tested of the hardware means that the hardware has stress tests. The having of stress tests by the hardware means that the hardware quality is high. (41/93)
Section three. Cloud quality. The cloud quality is the quality of the cloud. The quality of the cloud means that the cloud does not go down. The not going down of the cloud means that the cloud is monitored. The being monitored of the cloud means that the cloud has alerts. The having of alerts by the cloud means that the cloud quality is high. (42/93)
Section four. Mobile quality. The mobile quality is the quality of the mobile app. The quality of the mobile app means that the mobile app does not crash. The not crashing of the mobile app means that the mobile app is tested. The being tested of the mobile app means that the mobile app has automated tests. The having of automated tests by the mobile app means that the mobile quality is high. (43/93)
Section five. Deployment quality. The deployment quality is the quality of the deployment. The quality of the deployment means that the deployment does not break. The not breaking of the deployment means that the deployment is tested. The being tested of the deployment means that the deployment has a rollback plan. The having of a rollback plan by the deployment means that the deployment quality is high. (44/93)
Part two. Enforce quality standards. The enforcing of quality standards means that the circle checks the work. The checking of the work by the circle means that the circle reviews the code and the hardware and the cloud and the mobile app and the deployment. The reviewing of the code and the hardware and the cloud and the mobile app and the deployment by the circle means that the circle finds violations. The finding of violations by the circle means that the circle reports them (45/93)
. The reporting of violations by the circle means that the violations are fixed.
Part three. Update quality standards. The updating of quality standards means that the circle changes the standards. The changing of the standards by the circle means that the standards are improved. The improving of the standards means that quality is better. (46/93)
Last quarter, the authority was given to the cross functional quality circle. The giving of the authority to the cross functional quality circle meant that the circle defined quality standards. The defining of quality standards by the circle meant that the circle created a three page document. The three page document had five sections. The five sections were code quality and hardware quality and cloud quality and mobile quality and deployment quality (47/93)
. The creating of the three page document meant that everyone had standards. The having of standards by everyone meant that everyone followed them. The following of the standards by everyone meant that quality was consistent. The being consistent of quality saved the company twenty eight thousand dollars. The twenty eight thousand dollars was the cost of the inconsistent quality that would have been caused by not having quality standards. (48/93)
For a Crystal team of fifty plus, the authority should have at least three parts. The three parts should be define quality standards and enforce quality standards and update quality standards. The quality standard document should have at least five sections. For Crystal, the authority should be part of the team's quality management. The authority is a management responsibility. (49/93)
3. Create a Shared Quality Dashboard by Building a Visible Dashboard That Shows Quality Metrics from All Seven Teams in One Place So That Everyone Can See the Quality Status and No Team Can Hide Quality Issues (50/93)
Ibuka created shared spaces at Sony. The creating of shared spaces meant that everyone could see the status. The seeing of the status by everyone meant that problems were visible. The visibility of problems meant that problems were solved. The solving of problems built Sony (51/93)
. You should create a shared quality dashboard by building a visible dashboard that shows quality metrics from all seven teams in one place so that everyone can see the quality status and no team can hide quality issues with the same problem solving enabling shared space creation. (52/93)
For a retail hardware SME, the shared quality dashboard might look like this. The Crystal coach builds a shared quality dashboard. The shared quality dashboard is a screen. The screen is a monitor. The monitor is mounted on the wall. The mounting of the monitor on the wall means that everyone can see it. The seeing of the monitor by everyone means that everyone knows the quality status.
The shared quality dashboard has seven sections. Each section is a team. (53/93)
Section one. Firmware team. The firmware team section shows three metrics. Metric one. Bug count. The bug count is the number of bugs. The number of bugs is twelve. Metric two. Test coverage. The test coverage is the percentage of code tested. The percentage of code tested is seventy eight percent. Metric three. Crash rate. The crash rate is the percentage of displays that crash. The percentage of displays that crash is three point two percent. (54/93)
Section two. Hardware team. The hardware team section shows three metrics. Metric one. Failure rate. The failure rate is the percentage of displays that fail. The percentage of displays that fail is two point one percent. Metric two. Stress test pass rate. The stress test pass rate is the percentage of displays that pass stress tests. The percentage of displays that pass stress tests is ninety four percent. Metric three. Return rate (55/93)
. The return rate is the percentage of displays that are returned. The percentage of displays that are returned is four point five percent. (56/93)
Section three. Cloud team. The cloud team section shows three metrics. Metric one. Uptime. The uptime is the percentage of time the cloud is up. The percentage of time the cloud is up is ninety nine point two percent. Metric two. Response time. The response time is the time it takes for the cloud to respond. The time it takes for the cloud to respond is one hundred and forty milliseconds. Metric three. Error rate. The error rate is the percentage of requests that fail (57/93)
Section four. Mobile team. The mobile team section shows three metrics. Metric one. Crash rate. The crash rate is the percentage of mobile app sessions that crash. The percentage of mobile app sessions that crash is one point nine percent. Metric two. Test coverage. The test coverage is the percentage of code tested. The percentage of code tested is seventy two percent. Metric three. User rating. The user rating is the rating given by users (59/93)