Transformability as the key to corporate success

Our ambition is to accompany customers in the successful transformation of their software development processes. The proactive approach to change is the focus here. In this blog post, I would like to give you an impression of the challenges we have faced as a company in recent years and how we have mastered them with openness and transformability. Transformability is the ability to recognise major changes in one's own environment and to react successfully to them (here you can learn more about transformability: link). Constant change accompanies us as a company. We don't just want to react to new developments, we want to be prepared for the future. As an employer, for example, we feel the changing expectations of working conditions. We are constantly keeping an eye on the New Work trend with topics such as flexibility, diversity, remote work, collaboration, work-life blending, resilience, etc. We are also aware of the need to adapt to new developments. It is not only important for us to observe the market, but also to receive constant feedback from our team members. After all, what is the point of a change that meets the needs of the market but not those of the employees?

Constant change also entails continuous learning. What is the saying? Standing still is a step backwards. One of our corporate values is "learning organisation". Continuous learning and adaptation to new circumstances are therefore firmly anchored in our mission statement. What helps us to implement this? Agile working, or rather an agile mindset! With the idea of seeing challenges as opportunities, being open to change, trying things out and learning from mistakes, it is easy for us to face new circumstances.

From spin off to self-confident independence

In 2017, we started our corporate journey with a team of 15 employees that evolved from our sister company, Triology GmbH. With the idea of our software product, the Cloudogu EcoSystem, we dared to take the step towards independence. Since then, a lot has happened. Our team has grown to almost 50 team members, a new culture developed and the company took more and more shape. If that alone is not a transformation...

From office presence to full remote

The Corona crisis has also changed us in terms of cooperation. Before the pandemic, it was common to work in the home office on individual days. In March 2020, the management decided that mobile working, in relation to the pandemic, made the most sense for everyone's health. Since then, we have been successfully working remotely. It is important to us that we create shared experiences and that the exchange also remains possible on a private level.

Using different products for our processes (G-Suite, Redmine, Miro) makes it easy for us to implement the work digitally. The recruiting and onboarding process has been digitalised to the maximum since the beginning of the pandemic.

An additional side effect is that we primarily exchange information with our customers digitally and the previous business trips are hardly necessary. In our training area, we have changed our offer from face-to-face to remote training.

With this change in work processes, nothing stands in the way of digital collaboration. We also want to offer a hybrid working model in the future.

From target agreements to OKR sets

Agile working according to the Scrum method has always been part of the way our teams work. The development teams were among the pioneers. Since then, an agile mindset has become firmly established throughout the company. In order to be able to focus even more on the common company vision and our goals, we incorporated the OKR method into our processes in 2020. The Objective and Key Results is a management system for goal-oriented and modern employee management. It serves as a framework for setting goals and measuring key results.

A very great effect of OKRs is that we formulate goals at company and team level, not at staff level. This creates cohesion and a common focus. It is important to us that all employees work together on the company's goals. A say, transparency and a sense of purpose are essential values.

From departments to product teams

With the processes and methods for collaboration in place, we recently realised that our departmental structures were rather hindering successful collaboration. The implementation of cross-functional product teams was born. A cross-functional team means people with different functional skills working together towards a (product) goal.

We are currently in the forming phase (phase model according to Tuckman). We are working to ensure that software development, marketing and sales, for example, can work in a targeted manner in the development of our products and services.

From external training to integrated learning in the daily work routine

In the past, continuing education was often equated with (external) training. Today we know that continuing education is more diverse. As a company, we are increasingly realising that learning and the implementation of tasks and projects cannot be separated from each other. We all learn, constantly and a lot. We can only face change with openness to new knowledge. In order to anchor learning better in everyday life, we have initiated various projects. There are the Knowledgebases, where participants present elaborated topics and pass on knowledge. At the learning day, we were able to focus on the topic of further education. Each employee expanded his or her knowledge in topics of his or her own choosing. The variations of learning have become more flexible. Each of us learns differently. We want to follow individual paths and make it possible for everyone to find the right offer.

From climbing the career ladder to individual (professional) development paths

When looking at development perspectives, we also encountered a change. Whereas in the past there were still the classic development stages from professional to disciplinary responsibility, today there is a desire for much more professional responsibility. In regular development meetings, the respective potential for further development is discussed in a needs-oriented and individual manner.

Last year, we developed learning paths that employees follow in order to reach their desired career goal. For example, we introduced the role of Technical Lead, who takes on a technical, lateral leadership role.

We see ourselves as companions in the personal transformation of our employees – throughout their working lives.

From classic office space to new work concepts

The next change is already just around the corner. In the truest sense of the word. We want to adapt our office space to future needs. We see our office space as a meeting place where the focus is on personal exchange. The first, creative ideas have been collected in the team and are ready for implementation. Here, too, we are taking a step towards new work concepts by focusing on flexible workplaces, collaboration and remote working. To be continued With this post, I have shared with you a small part of our past changes. As you read, our company is in a fast-moving and exciting phase. You may be asking yourself: What do so many upheavals do to the culture? In any case, it always remains exciting. With new structures, changes in the teams and new team members, there is always movement. And that's a good thing. We don't just want to be drivers of transformability, but also shapers of our own.