Agile Software Development in Action

As our very own ISS software development powerhouse is taking shape, we asked Wojciech Witos?aw , Head of Software Development Digital Components, about the target picture towards which we work – especially in terms of structures, processes and methodologies of agile development.

Wojciech, your position was created in September in the context of our insourcing journey. The commitment to ramping up our software development skills in-house is now clearly visible both on the people and the process side. Can you share your personal objectives for this first phase of product innovation driven by the ISS Tech Team?

I like this question because agile software development is about growing together as ONE team – across geographical and organisational borders. It is essential to understand that as we insource skills, we also establish a collaboration model to make sure that these skills are leveraged to the benefit of the entire company. In more concrete terms: This first phase is about running two streams in parallel: We grow the software development team in our preferred locations while seamlessly integrating our new colleagues into the existing structures globally.

There is a very effective lever to achieve this sort of integration: Identifying specific use cases and bringing together the many perspectives required to build innovative digital solutions. Just last month for instance we conducted an event storming workshop as part of the development of our Waste Management tool. Co-creation methodologies like event storming are incredibly effective because they require no technical knowledge. In my experience this is the best – and most fun – way to build fit-for-purpose software. Why? Because by establishing a “technology-neutral” common understanding of a business problem, we remove barriers and can include a much broader stakeholder group in the design process.

Thinking a bit into the future: What will be the change impact when software development is no longer the unique domain of developers and solution architects??

Once we manage to implement domain-driven design, we will see a huge impact on our architecture. We want to shape our landscape into a microservices architecture, on the basis of which we construct solutions in a way that supports scale.

Moving forward, the challenge is to find the right balance between re-usability and customisation of our digital components. At this relatively early stage in our software development journey, we have the rare opportunity to get greenfield development just right.?And getting it right requires the deep expertise and insights from colleagues on the business and functional side. Building the best tech stack and teasing out synergies across our service lines means that we need to tackle business processes as much as the technology itself.

With 2022 drawing to a close, what is your team’s priority for 2023 and beyond?

Our top priority is to strengthen the collaboration with countries. In designing our Waste Management tool, we have had the pleasure to work with colleagues from ISS Denmark and ISS U.K. – this experience has once again shown how much potential we have as a company when we bring our expertise together.

Collaborating and learning from one another is key to realise our shared vision for software development, enterprise architecture and cybersecurity. Since our scope of work is so interconnected with the core of our IT&D delivery, the way forward for us is to join forces in creating common standards which ensure we deliver high quality solutions as efficiently and safely as possible.