On Friday, Ehandel.se reported that Adlibris had replaced its platform, a build that was done from scratch. In connection with the launch, Chief Technology Officer Magnus Nyström stated that they had delivered a project that "no one thought was possible."
When the decision to replace the entire platform was made, the clock started ticking. With a fixed timeframe ahead, a machinery was required that could keep the wheels turning throughout the project, from start to finish.
How did you approach the work practically and organizationally to complete everything in under half a year?
The short answer is: structure in the framework, freedom in implementation, replies Magnus Nyström and continues:
We quickly established a clear vision and a non-negotiable deadline – live before Midsummer – and made it visible to everyone involved, internally and externally. Then we gave the teams the mandate to shape how we get there themselves. This creates a strong sense of ownership across the organization, a feeling that you want to be part of the journey.
Creating involvement was a common thread throughout the process. To keep motivation up during the journey, they chose to regularly show what had been completed so far.
We ran demos on an ongoing basis where we invited key stakeholders to highlight progress and maintain engagement.
Another factor that Adlibris chose to invest time in was the relationship with the external companies.
The platform is built on modules from several different players, and the choice fell on integrating these as part of the internal project team.
Another key is to start with the partnership, not with the technology, says Magnus Nyström.
The crucial choice we made early on was to treat our external partners as partners in a joint project rather than as suppliers of an order. This created a common vision, a shared responsibility and a willingness to solve problems together that would have been impossible to procure.
Based on how well this collaborative form worked, he now sends a concrete advice to other e-commerce companies planning similar projects:
Choose suppliers who want to win together with you – and invest time in building that relationship even before the project really kicks off, says Magnus Nyström.
With the right suppliers on board, the technology and collaboration were secured, but it also required a common belief that it was actually possible to reach the goal without compromise.
Last but not least, we decided to believe that we could complete this in record time without compromising on the quality of what we implement. We created courage and coached the teams to remove obstacles.
Communication Between Departments
Despite a clear vision and solid teamwork, the road to a new platform is rarely straightforward.
When tearing up old systems and building new ones under such time pressure, it is inevitable to run into problems. It is often at the interface between different teams, competencies and working methods that the biggest challenges lie, a reality that is rarely captured in a timeline.
When a large number of internal and external teams with different competencies, priorities and working methods are moving in the same direction at the same time, friction arises that no Gantt chart captures, says Magnus Nyström.
When it became clear that the handovers required too much time, they realized that the management of the project needed to be adapted. Instead of patching and fixing with more meetings, the key lay in setting the right conditions early on.
Communication between teams takes more time and energy than you think, and it is easy to lose momentum at those interfaces.
What is the biggest lesson you didn't foresee when you pressed the start button?
The lesson is to invest disproportionately in coordination and common direction early in the project. Not in the form of more meetings, but in the form of a project manager with a mandate, clear rules of the game for how teams interact, and a shared picture of what is actually important to achieve the goals. That investment pays off many times over.
The Deadline Became The Whole Company's Goal
Replacing the company's technical engine affected the entire business. And often it is about effects that you have not anticipated in advance.
To try to avoid this, Adlibris chose to clearly communicate the final goal and a deadline to everyone, which meant that the entire organization was drawn into the process. The work went from being a delimited task to something that was seen and noticed everywhere.
One thing that stood out was how much energy it created to make the deadline visible and common. Colleagues who normally wouldn't have had anything to do with the project started asking how it was going, cheering and getting involved, says Magnus Nyström.
The goal of being finished before Midsummer thus spread from being a technical delivery requirement to a common effort.
The deadline ceased to be a project manager's concern and became the entire organization's concern.
The initial driving force was a lot about fighting hard against the clock. But there was a specific moment during the six months that made the entire working group change their view of what they were building.
The real aha experience came when we ran our first demo for stakeholders and realized that we had built something that actually worked. It is one of those moments that is difficult to describe in retrospect, but that everyone in the room felt, says Magnus Nyström and concludes:
It went from "we're going the extra mile to make it" to "we're going to make it." That feeling is strong, the pride shines through in the organization.