Rewired, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 12Go team! The ground floor of your operating model

The nucleus of any operating model is the cross-functional team focused on solving a business problem or improving a customer experience, often with software technologies but not always. That’s why any exploration of operating models should start with understanding how software development teams effectively function.

We are focusing specifically here on how teams build software because software is the core “currency” in Tech & AI transformations. In his great book, Ask Your Developer: How to Harness the Power of Software Developers and Win in the 21st Century, Jeff Lawson explains that software has moved from “being a cost center to a profit center.” He goes on to say that every kind of company can become a software company as long as the organization internalizes the value of rapid iteration.

Rapid iteration is central to being able to delight customers or drive down unit cost faster than the competition.

But as Lawson explains, to have this capacity to iterate, you first need to build. You can’t iterate something you bought off the shelf. In other words, you must become good at developing software. Every company, whether a bank, a manufacturer, or a mining company, can learn to become good at developing software-based solutions. The case studies in our book are all companies that have learned to do so.

If you are new to the field of software development, this chapter will introduce you to three core concepts: What ...