Lessons from Two Companies_RW_SEC-2013

Lessons from Two Companies Executing a Joint Global Strategy

Roger Williams, Yahoo!

The Strategic Execution Conference, April 24-25, 2013

• 2010 - Yahoo!-Microsoft signed internet search dealo Bing Search and Ads platform to replace Yahoo!

platformso Premium advertisers managed by Yahoo!; SMB by

Microsoft

• 22 markets transitioned to form Yahoo! Bing Network

• Transition = technical cutover and business transition

• 300m keywords, 50k accounts, $$ millions


What Does That Look Like?

Search results(from Bing)

Search ads(from Bing Ads)

Yahoo! search page


1. Team Leadership and Reporting

2. Keeping the Team Aligned

3. Keeping the Companies Aligned

4. Managing the Global Distribution of Work

5. Managing across Company Cultures

6. Managing across Regional Cultures

7. Governance and Escalation

Seven Lessons


1 – Team Leadership & Reporting

(AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)


Virtual Team StructureMicrosoftYahoo!

Joint Track

Joint Track

Joint Track

Joint TrackAdvertiser Migration Sales/Service/Marketing

Publisher Systems Supply Engineering

Marketplace Marketplace

etc… etc…

All-Up TrackPM PMO


• Form Virtual Track Teams- Map functions to work jointly, with identified leads

• Distribute Ownership to Tracks- Empower tracks to make and report decisions jointly

• Establish Forums for Cross-Track Coordination- Look for dependencies, match to rhythm of business

• Define Escalation Paths- Track leads can get issue-attention in either company


2 – Keeping the Team Aligned

(photo: Hot Spot Media)


• Weekly Track Leads’ meetings- Each track lead reports top issues for discussion- Each track updates master plan

• Weekly Leadership Forum- Pre-work issues, discuss policy, difficult decisions

• Daily Standups through rest of week- Leads and next-level meet on phone, 15 minutes

• Communications past leads to whole team- Emails and All-hands reach into org, past leads


4 – Keeping the Companies Aligned

(photo: defense.gov)


• Identify functional Points of Contact- Orgs and roles probably don’t map directly

• Establish a rhythm of Joint Status Reviews- Track leads from both companies report together- Frequent enough to minimize conspiracy-theorizing

• Use daily Control Rooms during peak periods- Keep technical teams coordinated during execution- Phone bridges, IM-chat, web-conferencing work


• Ensure Plans of Record are available - Make plans/decisions instantly, globally accessible - Use network repositories: Sharepoint, Drive, twikis

• Get Together Regularly (at least some of teams)- Buy-in to plans is best obtained in person - Problem-solve on issues crossing multiple functions- Conceptual discussions can’t be done remotely- 2 months not meeting: “those people” become jerks


3 – Managing the Global Distribution of Work

9am 4pm 9:30pm 12am

“We’re on holiday!”


• Operate on Global Time- Spread the burden of out-of-hours calls- Schedule work against a global work-week- Every day is a holiday somewhere

• Use Collaboration Technologies- Key technologies: phone & web-conferencing- Supporting technologies: preparation, taking notes

• Ensure People are not just email addresses- Dependent teams need established relationships


• Kickoff New Projects Face-to-Face- Establish relationships with new teams- Understand market-specific conditions- Gain commitment to plans- Transfer knowledge from other regions- Critical people to visit may not be most senior

• Celebrate! (if you can)- No good solutions we found- Everyone celebrating from home isn’t a real party


5 – Managing across Company Cultures


Companies in the same business have a lot common• Commitment to making it work• Technical competence• Quality processes

But don’t be fooled by appearances…• Segmentation of responsibilities is a function

of size• Communication efficiency is function of

organization• Norms for agreement, consensus and ritual

may differ


6 – Managing across Regional Cultures


Local culture does impact team interaction:• Problem-solving – approaches vary• Hierarchy – varying needs to respect/defer• Directness – comfort with “straight talk”

varies

But normal work constraints are as important…• Task Focus – is the strongest aligning factor• Language – weakest user may be in any

team• Organizational – need to please local and

corp mgmt• Situational – internal team rivalry


7 – Governance & Escalation


• Formal Channels- Ensure escalation paths are widely known- Enforce adherence to channels established- Weekly leadership calls for work-in-progress - Bi-monthly Governance for transitioned markets- Monthly Executive Clearing House- Bi-annual CEO meetings

• Informal Channels- Twice-weekly PMO sync-ups- Over time increasing use of established relationships


Thank You

Roger Williams, SCPMSenior Director, Program Management, [email protected]

Documents

Lessons from Two Companies_RW_SEC-2013