Summer Startup Academy Session 4 with John Avery from Panasonic

{Hacker to CTO

John Avery

#StartupAcademy

#StartupAcademy@hypepotamus

80-86Ga Tech (BEE)87-92LXE (in building wireless data)92-96Panasonic (in building wireless voice)

96-99 Convergence (acquired by Amazon)99-00Amazon (Mobile -> web services)00-01Onboard Wireless (LBS for boaters failed)

01-05 Mobliss (acquired by Index)05-06MediaGet (Smartphone for home. failed)06-08Onboard Now (NRL machine vision)08- Panasonic AutomotiveBackground


80-86Ga Tech (BEE)87-92LXE (in building wireless data)92-96Panasonic (in building wireless voice)

96-99 Convergence (acquired by Amazon)99-00Amazon (Mobile -> web services)00-01Onboard Wireless (LBS for boaters failed)

01-05 Mobliss (acquired by Index)05-06MediaGet (Smartphone for home. failed)06-08Onboard Now (NRL machine vision)08- Panasonic AutomotiveBackground

Always a Hacker/Coder


What it’s like

From Jen Bonnett’s presentation


Convergence (96-99)#StartupAcademy@hypepotamus

Keeping the lights on:

Numeric pager softwareBrowser / phone / email device for homeBluetooth Early Entrant ProgramWeb to Wireless transcoding system

12 people at acquisition


Mobliss (01-05) #StartupAcademy@hypepotamus

1. Bring Technical CredibilityPeople may like the Hustler but they don’t trust

him 2. Set the Technical Culture

What it feels like to be an engineer

3. Answer “HOW”From Idea to Reality. Deliver the goods.

Hacker role #StartupAcademy@hypepotamus

PeopleProcessesProducts

Scaling#StartupAcademy@hypepotamus

Recruiting takes a lot of time.Give it the time it needs

Retention is important. Focus on personal growth

Need for functional overlapNo ONE person should be required to

deliverEarly developers will likely become managers

Encourage mentoring

People#StartupAcademy@hypepotamus

Amoeba to vertebrateStructure is essential as company

growsFocus on interfaces

Clear ownershipVertical or horizontal structure

Processes#StartupAcademy@hypepotamus

http://lean.mit.edu/downloads/cat_view/99-presentations/83-lai-annual-conferences/208-2002-plenary-conference

Organizational Structure

Organize horizontally around technology

Or

Organize vertically around customers

Neither is perfect. Both have tradeoffs. No magic answer.




CTO role is mainly about providing credibilitySay what you mean and mean what you sayIt becomes more about people management. Get training if you don’t have it.Must be good at estimating effort/time. It’s hard, start NOW!Manage like a GPSClear destination but flexible about routeKeep moving!Even when things aren’t clear there are things you can doYour “product” becomes the company itselfWatch for bottlenecks and remove themStay off critical path but stay close to the technologyBug fixing, customer serviceDon’t need to solve all future problems just current You will be wrong anyway, don’t waste time

Be the source of CALM in the storm.

CTO mojo (advanced class)#StartupAcademy@hypepotamus

Calm does not mean ignorant, but it is a choice


Version control is essential. START NOW.Architect for piecewise updates and fast rollback

Allows for faster A/B testing Avoid blank-slate re-writes. It rarely works.Continuous integration matters more as team growsGet into a regular cycle. I like a weekly cadence.Always release from source.You will eventually need to debug ALL code, even open source.Watch out for tribal knowledge. Focus on sustainable development. Don’t be enamored with every shiny new thing

Use just the minimum you need Battle ship vs cruise ship

One New Thing every day (not just interrupt driven)Top Three projects. Always

Look for the 10x factorCTO mojo (advanced class)#StartupAcademy@hypepotamus

10x productivity

http://www.construx.com/10x_Software_Development/Productivity_Variations_Among_Software_Developers_and_Teams__The_Origin_of_10x/

Original study in the 60s:- Coding time: 20x- Debugging time: 25x- Program size: 5x- Program speed: 10x

Steve McConnell ‘08








Example from 80s’

Lotus 123 v3 Excel 3.0

Development Time

260 staff years 50 staff years

Lines of code 400k 649k

LOC per staff year

1,500 13,000


They don’t type 10x faster!They don’t work 10x more hours!

They know and use coding tools very wellThey know and use coding patterns very well They reuse more code more oftenThey get better every day

reading lots other peoples codereading blogs/books

HOW?#StartupAcademy@hypepotamus

Panasonic Automotive#StartupAcademy@hypepotamus

Panasonic Automotive

Hiring interns/coops now


Summer Startup Academy Session 4 with John Avery from Panasonic

Technology

Transcript of Summer Startup Academy Session 4 with John Avery from Panasonic