CTO as a Service solves the problems of a US digital product company

About our partner

This case study refers to Boldare’s cooperation with an American company that delivers software and services for e-commerce. Our partner designs and develops well-known digital products for the US market, serving one of the most recognizable e-commerce brands in the world (the brands operate in the US, Canada, India, and a few European countries). Last year, the company achieved over $158M of revenue, yet its market position was weakened due to a lack of effective internal processes, proper technological guidance, and well-functioning cooperation tools.

*Due to the sensitive matter of this case study, we have decided not to reveal our partner’s identity. Thank you for understanding.

Facing numerous issues

Our partner had a negative experience with hiring a full-time CTO. The board had been disappointed with the lack of measurable results that they expected to see after employing someone new in the CTO role. After that, they decided to be more open to alternatives and chose to work with a CTO as a service provider. The company had numerous internal issues and invited Boldare to step in to help fix them.

The major problem in the company was poor progress from a technological perspective. The company had two separate digital applications, and - without an experienced and reliable CTO - the board could not decide on the right direction for software development. They knew that in order to expand the business outside the US, they needed a solid product. They faced the key question:

Is it better to keep our apps separate, merge them into one product, or maybe create a completely new app from scratch?

Moreover, our partner was experiencing issues with its development teams, including:

• low morale,
• low sense of security,
• lack of trust between team members,
• ineffective collaboration (weak information and knowledge exchange between teams).

The partner company’s board of directors had a vision and ambitious plans for expansion, but they lacked the necessary well-functioning teams and holistic approach to product development. They needed guidance and a clear strategy.

What is CTO as a Service?

CTO as a service, also known as CaaS or CTOaaS, is a flexible alternative to hiring a full-time chief technology officer. It’s a way of leading technology processes, creating teams, and supporting major business decisions without an in-house CTO. Although CaaS can also function as additional support for an employed CTO. A company with a CTO on board can hire a CaaS team for a period of time and use their skills for building strategy and implementing technological improvements, in close collaboration with the in-house chief technology officer. Either way, CTOaaS provides the organization with a cross-functional synergic crew of experts who use their collective experience and knowledge to solve technological problems, develop well-functioning teams, and apply effective product strategies.

CaaS experts can cover the usual CTO accountabilities, such as:

• identifying short- and long-term technology and product goals,
• developing strategies to increase product sales revenue,
• conducting ROI and cost-benefit analysis regarding digital products,
• proposing innovative IT solutions,
• optimizing internal development processes,
• controlling the scale and speed of technological growth.

CaaS vs a full-time CTO

In case you ever have to decide between CTO as a service and employing an in-house chief technology officer, remember that a CaaS team is always aiming to make itself dispensable at some point. They will serve as a CTO consulting group only until your in-house development teams become self-organizing and self-sufficient. That’s one reason why partnership with a CTO as a service for business is a cost-effective solution. Let us point out a few more advantages of CaaS:

• interdisciplinary CaaS teams include: technical and strategic roles, product-related roles, as well as process roles that ensure efficient collaboration;
• engaging an entire group of experts helps you to achieve your business goals much faster - CaaS team members can run several activities simultaneously (that a regular CTO would run one by one, or at a slower pace);
• CTO consultants from outside of your organization have a wider, objective, and holistic view of the complete system, and think out of the box; that’s a great environment for coming up with creative solutions and game-changing ideas.

In order to help our American partner, we formed a dedicated cross-functional CaaS team tailored to their needs.

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Press Release: Boldare Launches CTO as a Service

Forming a dedicated CaaS team

We formed a CaaS team for our partner, having in mind a clear vision of three domains:

1. PRODUCT - to understand our partner’s product domain, product strategy and issues linked directly with the product;
2. TECHNOLOGY - to run a code audit and in-depth strategy analysis, and recommend changes;
3. PROCESS - to examine organizational processes and culture, and recommend changes.

For each of the domains, we chose a separate owner. We also nominated a product owner for the CaaS service as a whole - a person to build and prioritize the backlog, with a vision of the necessary changes. Then, we matched every area of concern with other expert roles, such as:

• scrum master and processes facilitator (process domain),
• product strategists (product domain),
• strategic consultant and best practices advisor (product domain),
• software architect and engineering consultant (technology domain),
• interdisciplinary consultants (all domains),
• workshop experts - facilitators of the entire process (all domains).

Eventually, we formed a team of eight specialists with various backgrounds and experience. We used an agile team framework for a high level of collaboration and communication between all three domains within the team.

Applying the systemic loop to find solutions

And there we were: a team of eight professionals confronted by a huge transformation challenge. We needed to investigate our partner’s problems in detail, collect all necessary information, analyze the data, and build an effective strategy for solving the issues. For all this to happen, we decided to apply a verified agile tool: the systemic loop.

What is the systemic loop?

The systemic loop is an innovative change management approach that considers the entire system. In this case, it includes organizational structure, product development, team cooperation, operational processes, business goals, communication, customer relations, etc. Using the systemic loop enables simultaneous actions within various business areas. It helps to form a common ground for further transformation stages.

The systemic loop comprises the following phases:

1. Collecting data
2. Building hypotheses
3. Deciding on focus
4. Intervening
5. Validating

For the complex problem in our partner’s organization, we chose to set three major milestones, and we applied them to the three specified domains (product, technology, and process).

Collecting data and setting goals

This stage lasted for almost six weeks. It included conducting workshops with various groups of our partner’s employees (e.g. development teams, management), leading interviews, taking surveys, organizing one-to-one meetings, observing inner mechanisms, and collecting data. Additionally, we familiarized ourselves with the company’s key documents, such as business strategy, sales goals, marketing channels, etc. This all contributed to gaining a broad perspective on all three domains. As a result of this iteration, we created a list of specific issues and targets. We also came up with some small, ready-to-apply improvements which were implemented immediately.

In the product area, we spotted no match between valid customer needs and the software offered. The number of new users had decreased. The directors were familiar with the problem, but they could not decide what to do with the two existing digital apps (to improve them, rewrite them, or merge them). The Boldare team’s goal - in this aspect - was to help them determine the direction of technological changes and align the CTO strategy with the business goals. Another problem was poor use of product and market metrics, leading to bad decisions, and - in consequence - to a loss of time, money, and people’s potential. The CaaS team planned on recommending new metrics and practical ways of implementing them.

The Boldare team discovered more issues within the two remaining domains. First - a lack of clear, consistent vision among tech team members. The software developers and designers were not sure about their priorities and thus wasted valuable energy on unnecessary actions. Moreover, there were not enough people hired, so the teams lacked capacity. The goal here was obvious: to create a plan of fixing the capacity gaps and making the company’s vision clear to everybody.

Building hypotheses

We scheduled a maximum of two weeks for building hypotheses. During that time, we analyzed all collected information, and came up with hypothetical solutions to the identified problems. We processed the gathered data and aligned the potential solutions with the most important strategic business goals, as defined by the CEO and the board. Thus we created a list of tactical recommendations on how to solve and prioritize the most pressing problems. The list was divided into groups concerning the following solutions:

• creating product-driven teams,
• emphasizing product thinking,
• offering a new product or service for customers,
• taking care of an IT community,
• implementing an Agile culture across the company (including agile teamwork),
• initiating value-driven development.

Building experiments

With a few hypotheses and recommendations in our hands, we moved to the stage of introducing the first experiments: planned actions that concern all the domains. This phase of the systemic loop helps to keep the transformation at low levels of investment. The team gets time and resources for some quick wins, so they can validate potential solutions without disturbing daily operations. The timeframe of the stage is wide (2-12 weeks) as it varies depending on the possibilities for introducing the experiments.

It worked very well for us. We put together four recommended experiments to tackle the most pertinent challenges:

• introducing a product-driven organizational structure,
• creating roadmaps for all product areas,
• introducing value-driven development, setting up the SDLC (software development life cycle), and implementing product/process metrics,
• creating self-organized tech teams.

Now (October 2021), we are conducting the above experiments in our partner’s organization. The first quarter of 2022 will be the time for major outcomes.

Results & summary

Boldare supports digital companies in various ways. Our experience helps us to see the broad picture of our partners’ internal operations and processes. This collaboration was no exception. We knew that in order to work out effective solutions, we needed to cover the CTO duties and apply an innovative transformation tool, such as the systemic loop.

We have also been supporting our partner with our own teams of developers, contributing to a more rapid transformation. Boldare’s specialists have been assisting with the delivery of product increments and applying agreed changes.

Before Boldare’s intervention, the partner company had no CTO, no plans in place to fix major problems, and no structured strategy. After a few months of cooperation, we had worked together to create a detailed transformation strategy, considering all business areas. We implemented small changes as the first steps towards a huge business shift.