unstructured innovation in well-structured organisations

Playing with BambiUnstructured innovation in large, well-structured organisations

Shourya SarcarRakesh Dutta

2 /Shourya Sarcar, BarCamp Bangalore

3 /04/12/23

<std_disclosure.h>

/* employed by GE Healthcare */

/* anything stated are personal * opinions, not a company endorsed * view */


3 /04/12/23

What is this talk about ?What is this talk about ?

• sharing experiences on driving unstructured innovation in a large, well-structured organisation

• progressive lessons learnt on

organising a codejam

• your experiences on similar

stuff and barriers you face in driving innovation


3 /04/12/23

*(talk.purpose)*(talk.purpose)

take : let you share your experiences on unstructured innovations & implement relevant suggestions in our organisation.

give :share lessons learnt, get some more organisations to do these.


3 /04/12/23

dude, whadya mean buh

Large and Well-structured Large and Well-structured ?? GE Healthcare == $17

billion Technology company CT, MR, PET, Digital Xray, Advance Imaging Applications, Healthcare Information Systems, Ultrasounds, Medical Diagnostics, Protein Separation ……..

R&D spend $1 billion

Technical Career Path

Strong IP portfolioThis is a top-notch structured innovation

company


3 /04/12/23

Meet BambiMeet Bambi

1 week codejam

SIS: Influenced by Y! Hackday

Confined to our group ~ 70 people

Implement <anything>, in <any_lang>

2 people, email, flyers and A4 posters

BambiBambiFree-spirit Free-spirit developmentdevelopment

codeto ergo sum

Form your team of 2 - 5

Code anything you like in a week

Any language C++,Java,Ruby,Bash,Excel (VB) …

Pick from a given set of problems / puzzles

Or, think up your own problem to solve

May or may not be related to work, your choice

No losers, no winners, no prizes, no audits. Just code.

Register your team

(Choose a problem or cook your own)

Register your team

(Choose a problem or cook your own)

Code(Choose your own time)

Code(Choose your own time)

Demo(5 mins max per team)

Demo(5 mins max per team)

Fri

Fri

Weeklo

ng

cod

ing


3 /04/12/23

Who is Bumbee ?

• that’s a butterfly, dude

• what is a codejam

• identity & brandingInnovation is neither ubiquitous nor uniformly defined


3 /04/12/23

Boss, Bahut Kaam Hai

• got deliverables

• stretched 120%

• 5 days is too less

Top management needs to build time for innovation


3 /04/12/23

wiifm

• is this going to be a part of my appraisal ?

• is this a competition ? NO ???

Don’t ignore incentives


3 /04/12/23

Are we not innovative / geeky / techie enough ?


3 /04/12/23

.. .. but my code will never run but my code will never run on my laptopon my laptop

• high bootstrap cost

• system unavailability

Pertinent innovation is quintessential. Don’t sell-out to easy-to-build-and-run.


3 /04/12/23

• 7 projects

• ~14 people jammed

• desk-to-desk walkabout

• 1 invention disclosure !

• s-curve gen

• cafe y! widget

• game of life

• mltc

• flickrandom mashup

Bambi Bambi : Results

4 months 4 months later …later …


3 /04/12/23

Bambi 2.0Bambi 2.0 • ~ 10 new people, young_blood

• 30 days

• forced team

• industry relevance + screening

• yes prizes

• demo to a Chief Engineer : visibility

• 2 senior ppl organising

• 5 days

• form yer own team

• code anything in any language

• no prizes

• not factored into appraisal


3 /04/12/23

Bambi 2.0Bambi 2.0 : Improved Results• 12 teams

• 50 people jammed

• 3 rounds of demo

• working on IP portfolio

• working on product roadmap alignment

• vibrant tech span: voice recog, y! 4.1, bluetooth


3 /04/12/23

The Road The Road AheadAhead

Sustain

Spread

Measure

Evolve


3 /04/12/23

sarcar.livejournal

quacksort.blogspot

unstructured innovation in well-structured organisations

Sports

team code

new people

just code

time demo

ge healthcare

team industry relevance

buh large

rounds of demo