A medium-sized listed company in the cybersecurity sector generated 80% of its turnover with just one software product. The development of a modern successor product had already been started several years ago. However, the completion date was repeatedly postponed. It was unclear when the new product would be launched on the market. As the old product generation was increasingly losing its appeal, the company's turnover was under acute threat.
The current interim manager was commissioned as CTO to identify the problems in software development, implement solutions and ensure that the new product generation was completed as soon as possible.
Flaws in processes and corporate culture identified
In his analysis, the interim manager identified that the delay in product development was primarily due to flaws in processes and corporate culture. For example, the R&D department had never responded appropriately to the fact that the company as a whole had grown over the years into an international organization with locations in Germany, Austria and the USA.
The cultural dimension in the collaboration between the software developers weighed just as heavily. The working culture was characterized by poor communication and a lack of error culture. The distribution across locations and rapidly changing requirements exacerbated the problems in development.
The situation was further exacerbated by the fact that experts were promoted to management positions who were overwhelmed as managers - and had never wanted to be managers.
New organization of the R&D area designed and introduced
Together with the managers, other opinion leaders and Human Resources, the interim manager developed a new organization that met the requirements of the locations and combined common skills in cross-location teams. In this context, a smaller site in Germany was closed and the employees transferred to the main R&D site.
All management roles re-advertised and re-staffed
In order to change the work and management culture in the long term, the interim manager had the management positions re-advertised. All managers in the area of software development had to reapply. After a very extensive assessment of the applicants, the interim manager filled the new management positions in close coordination with HR. The majority of the positions were filled from within the company. New hires remained the exception.
Because the selection process was very transparent and fair, as well as highly appreciative of the employees, the new appointments were accepted almost without exception, even by demoted managers.
Optimization of development and QM processes initiated
In order to strengthen collaboration and flexibility in software development, the interim manager initiated a comprehensive agilization of the development processes. A hybrid Scrum model was established for this purpose. In order to strengthen the understanding of other ways of thinking and working and, in particular, other customer needs, the interim manager introduced an employee exchange program between the locations in Europe and the USA.
In an analysis of the quality management processes, the manager showed that a lack of automated tests had unnecessarily extended the lead times for testing new product versions. By introducing appropriate new testing tools and anchoring them in the development process, a significant acceleration and higher quality could be achieved.
Successful product launch after 12 months
12 months after beginning its work, the company was able to launch the new generation of its most important software product. The success of the product contributed significantly to the company's success and ultimately created the basis for a successful and very lucrative takeover by an American company.
