peter leather setting up & running internal it practices sfia

Setting up and running internal IT Practices Peter LeatherHead of Practices, Norwich Union Life

© Aviva plc

A bit about meA bit about me …

A bit about Norwich Union …

NU i th UK• NU in the UK• Norwich Union Life (NUL)

N i h U i I & RAC• Norwich Union Insurance & RAC • NU UK IT Services

NUL – Business Change and IT• In scope - 900 permanent staff, 250 contractors• Large, complex environment: 10,000 customers, 100 mission-

critical systems, 10 product lines, 5.5 million customers

A bit about our transformationA bit about our transformation …

Why practices?Why practices?

• Assignment based working

• Process transformation

• Common ways of workingCo o ays o o g

• Support career developmentSupport career development

• Raise level of employee engagement• Raise level of employee engagement

A Focussed People Management ModelA Focussed People Management Model7 x Practice Leaders

10 x Resource 40 P f i l10 x ResourceDeployment Managers

40 x Professional Development Managers

Many Task Managers

Implementing & Running PracticesImplementing & Running Practices

Exploiting

Embedding

Starting Up

Time

CommunityCommunity

PROBLEMS

Too busy to think

Help not available

Little personal stake

Hierarchy

CommunityCommunity

SOLUTIONSPROBLEMS

Too busy to think Headroom

Help not available Community of SME’s

Shape the agendaLittle personal stake

Hierarchy Voice for everyone

Professional StandardsProfessional Standards

PROBLEMS

Team specific jobs

Descriptions out of date

Local ways of working

Local interpretations


PROBLEMS SOLUTIONS

Team specific jobs Organisation wide roles

Descriptions out of date Descriptors owned

Local ways of working Common processes

Local interpretations Common language


PROBLEMS

Manager led promotions

Blue eyed boy syndrome

Fuzzy criteria; locally interpreted

Ad hoc promotions


PROBLEMS SOLUTIONS

Manager led promotions Organisational perspective

Blue eyed boy syndrome Cross practice validation

Fuzzy criteria; locally interpreted

Clear organisation wide criteria

Ad hoc promotions Clear timetable; transparent to all


PROBLEMS

Job for life

Stagnant Careers

Ad hoc, undirected


PROBLEMS SOLUTIONS

Job for life Employability

Stagnant careers Renewed focus

Ad hoc, undirected Aligned

What practices did we implement?What practices did we implement?

7 practices covering the Business Change & IT delivery lifecycle• Business Analysis• Project Management• Business Operations• IT Development & Analysis• Design & Architecture• Testing• Service Management

Key Set Up ActivitiesKey Set Up Activities

•Agree number and scope of practices

•Get everyone into a tipractice

•Get key players on board S t i iti•Set priorities

•Agree change agenda –local v globallocal v global

•Mobilise and engage the communitycommunity

What roles do you needWhat roles do you need

Practice Sponsor- Exec direction and overall accountability

Practice OwnerPractice Owner- Direction, strategy and org priorities

Practice Leaders- Operational implementation

f- Member of community, respected- Need to be flexible and quick to learn

Process Owner Volunteers

Accountabilities of Key RolesPRACTICE SPONSORLeadership & Strategy

Accountabilities of Key Roles

PRACTICE OWNERp gy

• Overall accountability for Practice delivery• Review, contribute business context to and endorse individual & overall Practice(s)

strategy• Promote understanding & support of Practice objectives & progress to fellow senior

PRACTICE OWNERLeadership & Strategy• With the Practice leader, set out the Practice’s environment, drivers, constraints, mission

and strategic direction

PRACTICE LEADERLeadership• With the Practice Owner define the Practice vision and set out the Practice’sg pp j p g

managers• Decide on resolution of major Practice issues & changes of strategy escalated to them• Advocate that Practices are adequately resourced (financial and man hours), and that the

optimal balance of Practice & Delivery activities is achieved

• With other Practice Owners and the Head of Practices, set the overall direction of BCIT Practices

• Build strong competency based communities that are active and self supporting• Establish Practices as the major home for all professionals

With the Practice Owner, define the Practice vision, and set out the Practice s environment, drivers, constraints, mission and strategic direction

• Define & communicate the roles & responsibilities of the Practice members, and what they can expect from the Practice

• Engage Members in Practice events & initiatives• Gain a high level of senior Stake-holder’s (including other Practice Owners & the Practice

sponsor) support of the Practice’s activitiesCompetency & Capacity• Engage with senior BCIT Capacity Planning stakeholders to understand long term

b i it i t

g g• Engage Members in improving the Practices professional standards and QMS

Processes• Encourage innovation and individual empowerment of Practice membersCompetency & Capacity

business capacity requirements• Input to long term BCIT capacity plans and set Practice establishment in response to

them.• With the Practice Leader, ensure that successors to key Practice roles are identified and

committed sufficiently far in advance

p y p y• Input to BCIT capacity plans and set Practice establishment in response to them.• Participate in forecasting of QMS & tool deployment workload, plan resource

requirements and identify & recruit appropriate resources, including process owners.• Identify, recruit & deploy resources needed to support Practice development activitycommitted sufficiently far in advance.

• Take responsibility for the health of the Practice’s QMS processesTraining, development & recruitment• With the Practice leader, approve the Practice’s training, development and recruiting

requirements and budget

Identify, recruit & deploy resources needed to support Practice development activity• With the Practice Owner, ensure that successors to key Practice roles are identified and

committed sufficiently far in advance.• Develop/improve, validate and publish Practice professional career paths Training development & recruitmentrequirements and budget

• Balance the needs of individual Practices in meeting business Training, development & recruitment• With the PDM community, ensure consistent execution of skills assessment and

professional methods approaches• Lead the creation & maintenance of high quality Practitioner skills information, and base

core Practice decision

Organisation Structure

Senior Leadership Team

Organisation Structure

Senior Leadership Team Business Operations

Director

Business Change & IT

Directors

Practice Sponsors

x 7x 7

100% 20%Head of

PracticesPractice

Owners x 7

Practice100%

ProcessProfessional Development Practice

Leaders x 7

Process Owners

Development

Implementation PlansImplementation Plans

GRP AS – IS IMPLICATIONS VISION ACTIONS PRIORITY DEPENDENCIES RESOURCES/ COSTSCOSTS

ETH

OD

People tend to use methods and techniques which are familiar to them rather than any universal standard. There is no standard

More difficult to read deliverables

Harder to move between projects

A single development method used throughout NUL

A method which is customisable to meet needs of each

Agree a suitable approach to requirements gathering and documentation within an overall development

Participate in Business Requirements TWG to ensure suitability of method to BAs

Catalyst Process and Project Framework workstream (John Curtin) will agree overall approach Catalyst Business

c. 3 man weeks to participate in Business Requirements TWG

(Education costs included under Work

LOPM

ENT

M There is no standard NUL BS method for BAs

BAs are trained in Prince - but this is not used on projects

project development method

Ensure method is sufficiently flexible to handle all types of project (e.g. custom development, package

yRequirements workstream (Rash Gandhi) will run a TWG to agree requirements content

Products)

DEV

EL package implementation)

Communicate method to BAs and educate them in its use


Exploiting

Embedding

Starting Up

Time

ResourcingResourcing

PROBLEMS

Ad hoc hiring

Local / job level hiring

Recruitment with HR

Different planning assumptions

ResourcingResourcing

PROBLEMS SOLUTIONS

Ad hoc hiring Capacity Plan

Local / job level hiring Wider Organisational needs

Recruitment with HR Business Accountability

Different planning assumptions Global approach

Process DeploymentProcess Deployment

PROBLEMSShelf ware

Difficult to deploy

Centralised

Templates

Process DeploymentProcess Deployment

PROBLEMS SOLUTIONSShelf ware Support on the job

Difficult to deploy Education by practices

Centralised Leadership within practice

Templates Exemplars

The BAU Scope for Practices (1)The BAU Scope for Practices (1)Careers & Skills:

Providing career development opportunities which are alignedProviding career development opportunities which are aligned to the future of Norwich Union. Defining roles, career paths and learning & development opportunities which enable you to realise your career ambitions.realise your career ambitions.

Tools & Processes:Supporting the deployment and institutionalisation of the QMSSupporting the deployment and institutionalisation of the QMS processes. Actively owning our processes and driving process improvements which enable us to achieve our business objectives. j

Community: Building a community of professionals who are actively engaged in the future of Norwich Union. y g gCommunicating via a variety of mechanisms (e.g. newsletters, practice forums and institutes, informal and formal networks) in support of our business objectives. j

The BAU Scope for Practices (2)The BAU Scope for Practices (2)

Knowledge Management:Deriving business benefit from actively sharing knowledge andDeriving business benefit from actively sharing knowledge and experiences. Re-using process assets to make us more productive.

Resourcing:Influencing our resourcing strategy and supporting it by growing the capability of our practices e g by skillsgrowing the capability of our practices e.g. by skills development, career progression, recruitment

Infrastructure:Infrastructure:The practice management system that ensures we are successful in what we do and that practices add value to Norwich Union.Norwich Union.

What do our people feel about practices?

The Testing Practice provides a great sense of

community and has helped a

The Test Practice has

brought great

… very happy to work at NUL and to be part of the BA practice. The

practice, PDMs and RDMs do a great What do our people feel about practices?y pgreat deal in the transition in changing business units and settling in to my new

role in IT

g gbenefits to my

profession.

p , gjob of supporting their staff. I feel that NUL provides the opportunities for staff to make a good contribution

and progress their careerrole in IT and progress their career.

The BA practice is a great asset to the individuals who

On a positive note, the introduction and Practices over the last few Progression plans and are members. It provides

training and support as well as a Focus for activities like

process improvement

years has really made a difference to the feel of the organisation and

the recent CMMI level 3 achievements have been a great

Progression plans and development;

promotional and career opportunities;

I think practices are fantastic. They give an opportunity to I have really enjoyed the

process improvement achievements have been a great achievement.variety and

challenges of work; being listened to / having input into They give an opportunity to

step away from your typical day job and work with people you wouldn't normally. The

y j yopportunity to interact with

the Leadership Team through Practice Events,. I believe that

these kind of opportunities

having input into practice plans and where the practice 'goes' in the futurey y

forums and institutes are a great way of getting everyone

together to address issues, spread information and build

these kind of opportunities help foster an inclusive and

open culture which will enable employees to make a more

M h ld th h spread information and build relationships.

p yeffective contribution to the achievement of BC goals and

objectives.

More should go through practices as these are our

change enabler


Exploitingp g

Embedding

Starting Up

Time

The true value of Practices has emerged over timeThe true value of Practices has emerged over time

Capability Management

Talent Management

Value

Process Deployment

Resourcing

Professional Standards

Process Deployment

Community

Time

Developing Our CapabilityDeveloping Our Capability

Setting Direction

Senior Leadership

Team

Senior Leadership

Team

Practicesvia

sponsors

Trans-

p

EnablersTrans-

formation Programme

Transformation

Programme & Practices

Practices

TransformedCapability t tOutcomes Practices Transformed

Capabilityto execute

our strategy

Time

Success StoriesSuccess Stories

Community: All in a Practice; active Practices with governance boards; Forums; Institutes; regular L&Lboards; Forums; Institutes; regular L&L.

Careers & skills: Paths defined; competencies and skills assessed; information being used. Strategic approach to L&D. Practices g g ppmanaging their talent.

Knowledge: People are sharing – lots of volunteers for initiatives, processes coaching/mentoringprocesses, coaching/mentoring.

Resourcing: Practices driving activities to get the right resource mix and leading on planning for future skill requirementsleading on planning for future skill requirements.

Processes: People have taken real ownership. Achieved CMMi Level 3 – practices recognised by external assessors as key to this achievement.

Infrastructure: Well developed management system. Documenting our people processes NU UK now looking to exploit practices across allpeople processes. NU UK now looking to exploit practices across all 3 BC&IT organisations.

Sustainability Making it stickSustainability – Making it stickOrganisational Focus• Have roles focussed on implementing and running practicesHave roles focussed on implementing and running practices • Get the right people into these roles• Evolve and grow the model

Formalise• Develop a programme to deliver the agenda, not just BAUDevelop a programme to deliver the agenda, not just BAU• Ensure senior level governance at the most senior level• Define a dashboard of Critical Success Factors• Use a mix of 100% dedicated and part time resources, not just FTEs

Sell to EngageSell to Engage• Define and articulate personal, community and business benefits• Build activity and performance expectations into objectives • Engage / leverage the community – not just “usual suspects”• Find people’s passions, use emotion and celebrate success

Thank-youThank you

peter leather setting up & running internal it practices sfia

Business

set practice

key practice

norwich union

practice owner

development

careers amp

practice leader

ba practice