QualityofLife Lessons from Elsewhere in HighTech

1
Quality-of-Life Lessons from Elsewhere in
High-Tech

• IGDA QoL Summit March 8th, 2005
• Kim Pallister
• Engineering Manager, Client Tech Marketing
• Software Solutions Group
• Intel Corporation

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About Intel

• Were a fairly large high tech company
• 80,000 employees, 30B revenue
• SSG 2400 employees. We dont develop games but
  we work with some of you on yours ?
• Went through rapid growth phase
• 2000 2/3 of workforce had been there 2 years
  or less
• Weve grown, suffered, learned
• Memory company ? CPU company ? Platform company
• Dot-com boom, dot-com bust
• That which doesnt kill you makes you stronger
• Im speaking to managers/employers today
• If you are neither, then you work for them take
  these ideas back

3
Why does QoL matter?

• Employee retention in the knowledge worker age
• Happy employees are productive employees
• Games industry is going through growing pains
• Time to get out of start-up mode
• You can sprint to the finish, but you cant
  sprint the whole marathon
• Employee Diversity is key to growing customer
  diversity
• QoL more important with some talent pools
• Everybody goes through bad times will your
  employees stick with you through yours?

4
If you cant measure it, you cant manage it.
Andy Grove (and others)

• Not a QoL thing, its a run your business thing
• Required component for 2 QoL elements coming up
• Requires a fundamental shift in management
  mindset
• Significant amount of overhead, especially for
  management
• Creativity is not exempt
• Its possible to do too much use 80/20
• Theres a difference between measuring and
  policing
• Involve employees in the process
• Measure output of work, not work itself
• Common techniques Management by Objectives,
  program/project/code reviews, post-mortems, etc

5
If you love somebody, set them free - Sting

• Measure results not time in the office
• punching in is a relic of the industrial age
• We moved from late lists to flextime
• Included core hours that people were required
  to be there - Even this is going away
• Technology can help
• Laptops, remote access, IM, Blackberrys,
  wireless, web tools
• Give managers/departments flexibility
• Results
• Your best People end up working more, but feel
  better about it
• Those that abuse it would have abused the old
  system too.

6
Meritocracy-based compensation

• I thought we were talking about QoL?
• All these things are related!
• A system that rewards people based on measured
  accomplishments allows for flexibility
• Superstars get rewards and opportunities
• There is a place for successful 9-to-5ers
• The two arent mutually exclusive
• Reward the tortoises, not only the hares!
• Too broad a topic for here, but our process has
  been written up

7
Put your money where your mouth is

• Adoption of QoL measures must be more than skin
  deep
• When going gets tough, cant be the 1st cost-cuts
• The old guard will need to come around
• QoL measures cost money
• Are you prepared to be serious about this?
• QoL takes work
• Are you and your employees willing to do MORE
  work in order to WORK AND LIVE better

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Some caveats

• Strong corporate culture is tantamount
• Do your employees know what you are trying to
  accomplish? Can they make the right decisions on
  their own?
• Do you trust them to do so?
• Is earning and keeping your trust important to
  them?
• Course-correction needed as snags happen
• Misunderstood rules, new ways of working
  together, miscommunications via electronic
  mediums, etc

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Other stuff

• Weve just scratched the surface here.
• Continuous improvement Measure your changes
• Be prepared to improve/abandon them you WILL
  make mistakes
• Involve spouses
• They are stakeholders too. Involve as
  consultants?
• Other measures we have taken
• Daycare assistance, adoption assistance
• Significant recognition for significant efforts
• Onsite dry-cleaning, post-office, gym,
  volleyball
• Sabbatical program
• The Nerd bird

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In Conclusion

• Youre here today because you think this
  important It is!
• Will only increase as industry matures, growth
  flattens, project scopes grow
• QoL isnt separate effort must mesh with your
  culture
• You WILL make mistakes and it WILL be a painful
  process but the rewards are worth it
• I welcome email, but wont answer it till June
  Im on sabbatical after GDC ?

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Additional reading

• High Output Management, Andrew Grove, Vintage
  Press. ISBN 0679762884
• Leading Change when Business is Good Samuel J
  Palmisano Harvard Business Review, Dec 2004
• Interview with IBMs CEO on involving employees
  in crafting corporate culture values at IBM
• Management Craft - http//managementcraft.typepad.
  com/
• Great blog with a number of articles about QoL
  management thereof