driving employee satisfaction, morale, and productivity final
TRANSCRIPT
Driving Employee Satisfaction, Morale, and Productivity at MSNBC.com
Travis McElfreshVice President – Technology
msnbc.com
Site Traffic2 billion page views / month100 million users / month
Video Traffic125 million streams / month18 million unique users / month
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
PublishingPublish a document ~700ms~2-4K stories each day10-20 K updates per day~100 editors around the world
OperationsWeb servers: 500 req/secSQL servers: 800 batch req/sec99.993% server uptime Stable releasesMultiple datacenters
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
120 million video streams
Show fronts: Scalable customization realized
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.
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.
171 hours of downtime
Very low productivity
Site scale issues
Major release issues
Extremely low morale
2003 – An Opportunity
“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
Checked Out
Results
Current State Desired State
@#$ PMs!
@#$ Devs!
Why should we care?
“Success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration.”
Thomas Alva Edison
Organizational Performance Model
SupportProcesses
CoreProcesses
AdverseProcesses
Value-Related Processes
Org’lPerformance
Intangible Resource BaseGreg Bigley, University of Washington - 2008
People Structure Culture
Good processes…Tactical developmentEngineering innovationKnowledge sharing
Adverse processes….Blaming othersReactionary developmentExecutive time constraintsPunishing the beaconsHiding in silos
Missing processes….Reduction of reworkLong term planningSuccess measurementRealistic schedulingManaging prioritiesWorking towards shared goalsCommunicating effectivelyManaging stakeholdersControlling qualityHiring / training
Organizational Performance Model
SupportProcesses
CoreProcesses
AdverseProcesses
Value-Related Processes
Org’lPerformance
Intangible Resource BaseGreg Bigley, University of Washington - 2008
People Structure Culture
People IssueNot in the gameMorale lowCapabilities?Motivation?
People FixSpecific goalsIncentivesAccountabilitySupport (KSAOs)Raise the barHave fun
Some staff changes
People Issue #2Resistant to change
People Fix #2PsychologyClear expectationsAccountabilityTraining and OTJPatience
Some staff and management changes
People Issue #3A team of individualsWeak networksPoor coordination
People Fix #3Emphasize teamworkReward for teamworkHire for teamworkMake staff changesStructure / Culture
• sStructure IssueSilo behavior
• sStructure FixSmall teamsClear goals (e.g. $)Frameworks (e.g. SDLC)IncentivesTeams write chartersAccountable to business
Culture IssueIncompatible cultures
Culture FixEmbrace both culturesBuild bridgesVirtual team expansionHave fun
…and don’t celebrate your successes
…. publicly
Penalties for working on vacation
Class IV Rafting
Beer Floats
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.
Best PayoutsIncreased dev yield by 2-3xDramatic increase in moraleExcellent site stabilityScalable team modelHappy stakeholders
“Less disruption of overall development of site, when emergencies with specific projects arise. “
– msnbc.com developer2006
“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
“Groups can move faster since more autonomy is created”
– msnbc.com developer2006
“ ’Cool’ projects may go to one group more often thus creating animosity.”
– msnbc.com developer2006
“ 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
“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
“Management empowers the employee to make decisions.”
– msnbc.com network engineer2008
“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
Better than expected…Reduction of reworkSide effects of rework reductionSelf-managing capabilities of teamDegree of staff commitment
The Labrador Effect
New and remaining issues…Multi-site developmentRight hand not knowing what left
is doingNot enough on automationTest leadershipResidual cultural issues
Our Role!Clarify performance criteriaDiagnose root causeDetail future stateIdentify sources of change resistanceDevelop a change planExecute!
***Requires lots of energy and tenacity
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.
Questions?