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The Rise of the Hyper Productive Collaborative Chains

By Jorge Vasconcelos, February 2020.

It is common sense nowadays that technology is radically transforming the ways working relationships are established and managed everywhere in the world, on a larger or minor scale, both from the perspective of employers/clients and the one of employees/collaborators.

The basic fact, as already highlighted by the National Commission on Technology, Automation, and Economic Progress through their report Technology and the American Economy (Vol.1, Feb.1966, page 9), is that technology is eliminating jobs, not work. Since there will be work, the challenge resides on how we, as a society, understand the difference between jobs and work, both terms still used as the direct synonym of classic employment.

In order to make such distinction professionals of today have to redefine “work” as their own individual capacity to create competencies for themselves (through continuous skill learning) in order to generate opportunities. So work starts in the individual and culminates in the opportunities that this individual – or a group of highly competent and highly productive individuals – can generate.

The Hyper Productive Collaborative Chain (HPCC) is the free association of highly competent/highly productive professionals around a mature opportunity they have created together or was brought in by one of the members of the HPCC at a given point.

How the old actors are expected to play their parts

National governments are expected to play a supporting part in a society that is reliant greatly on HPCCs, meaning that their role is to work together to put down transnational labor barriers and stimulate the services to migrate heavily to the internet, as predicted in Kenichi Ohmae’s seminal book “The Invisible Continent” (2001). Entities such as the World Trade Organization can help catalyze such governmental collective effort also aiming at the reduction of bureaucracy, as well as establishing global price fairness policies for services (minimum prices allowed globally) as key enablers of this movement.

Nevertheless, in a society that is reliant greatly on HPCCs the government role must also be understood as marginal by people, in the sense that the governmental machine will be unburdened from the duty of “job creation”, since this responsibility will belong first and foremost to the individuals who aim at becoming highly competent/highly productive professionals.

Employers are expected to play the part of opportunity presenters and aggregators, meaning that they will identify ways for improving their own businesses through the usage of HPCCs, one at a time or many simultaneously.

Companies such as Amazon are already implementing this model and playing the role of an aggregator when they open their business platform for collaboration with other retailing partners, who although live majorly upon sales of products also perform a significant load of services in order to optimize their operations and stand out from competition within or outside the Amazon ecosystem.

In the same way the government will be unburdened from being a primary responsible for job creation, employers will be an ancillary source of work and professional training, since the main responsibility of opportunities creation and skills learning will rest over the shoulders of highly competent/highly productive professionals, who will fully embrace this challenge (of generating/finding opportunities and training themselves) and will freely associate themselves with independent HPCCs in order to be at the forefront of their respective industries.

Consequently, this new paradigm also brings a big shift to the way individual professionals educate themselves.

A new educational model

The impact of the rise of the HPCCs in the education of professionals is that the educational model will migrate from a certificate based model to a competence based one. The difference is that the certificate based model relies on professional education acquired from an academic perspective and mostly out of a practical application context, thus not guaranteeing the results that a professional educated that way can produce (in quantity and/or quality) in the real world.

On the other hand, an individual aiming at becoming a highly competent/highly productive professional, ready to be a valuable part of an HPCC, will educate themself in the most practical way always within the context of applying their skills to the commissioned project at hand.

Currently there is an increase in demand of practical actionable knowledge (i.e. knowledge that can be effectively applied right immediately to a professional project) which can be observed through the rise of online education outlets such as Udemy, Coursera, Udacity, edX, Skillshare and many others. The courses provided by these outlets are becoming increasingly recognized by individual professionals and the companies they serve alike.

In May, 2019, Apple CEO Tim Cook was open to publicly criticize the time individuals spent at universities, highlighting the need for an immediate educational model switch from certificate based to competence based.

Multi-purpose careers

In a HPCC based global market, acquiring multiple skills necessary to each project will stimulate professionals to have multi-purpose careers. This purpose-centric/purpose-driven career model goes in the opposite direction of the current function-centric career model in which professionals stick to their roles with a given employer or in a given industry throughout their entire productive lives.

In this scenario the highly competent/highly productive professionals of HPCCs come in contrast with the highly specialized/highly experienced (but not necessarily highly competent) professionals of today.

Nevertheless, the free association of professionals with different HPCCs throughout their career time will allow them to specialize in topics they choose, thus also gaining experience, but never in lieu of displaying sheer competence (which is the only way to secure their place within HPCCs).

Shattering the illusion of control

The dynamism of HPCCs is defined by (i) the free association of highly competent/highly productive professionals which can be on the projects’ premises or remotely located around the world and (ii) the transitional leadership within each HPCC which will change throughout a project depending on which member of the team is more competent to lead a given project task.

This configuration puts a significant amount of pressure on the current command and control management models with their on premises teams and pre-assigned project managers.

The dynamism of HPCCs is already represented – although in a very preliminary way and still too focused on software development – by the Agile management methodologies, which dilute the role of a hierarchical project manager distributing their responsibilities to all participants of the project.

The HPCC dynamism also implies that projects and tasks will be planned and executed considering fast (short term) milestones and not only faraway deliveries, majorly achieved at the very end of the project. The consequence is more flexible project schedules in opposition to rigid schedules that attempt to achieve full control and forecast of what is going to happen within 4, 5 or 6 months ahead.

Figure 1 – Multiple HPCCs contributing to different slices of a client’s operation

Social media validation vs. big labels

In this sense, the structure of HPCCs resembles more the one of a rock band than the structure of a traditional project and/or operation team. The same way as rock bands (and their dynamic nature) HPCCs will rely first and foremost on social media validation of their competence rather than years and years of brand creation through traditional advertisement and marketing campaigns, typical of big services and products providers (such as IBM, SAP, Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, Accenture and so forth). This will be invaluable for both the members of the HPCCs and the clients consuming their services as an alternative to the pricy traditional counterparts. 

Where we are today and where we are going

We are currently in a gray zone where some companies and professionals are already aware and moving towards the HPCC era and others are still oblivious (or in denial) practicing the old traditional business models.

Through history, every evolutionary process (in business or in nature) gains momentum after started thus leading to a point of no return where the old is forced to give place to the new.

Instead of staying oblivious, in denial or trying to postpone the rise of Hyper Productive Collaborative Chains/HPCCs – and all the transformational impacts they bring – the best that both clients (companies, employers) and professionals can do is to embrace this model as soon as possible and consequently jump ahead of the competition (in terms of return over investments, cost-cutting and productivity) while there is still plenty of room for that. After all, the early bird catches the worm.

About the Author: Jorge Vasconcelos is a Business Management & IT Consultant with more than 26 years of experience in these industries. Throughout his career he has provided consulting services to clients from North America, LATAM, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions. Jorge Vasconcelos holds a BSC degree in Electrical Engineering (FEI-SP/1997) and a MBA in Business Administration (FGV-RJ/2004). Jorge Vasconcelos is a volunteer and contributing member of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, the Young Scholars Initiative and of the Singularity University. Jorge Vasconcelos is a former PwC alumnus (1999-2001, Brazil and USA). Jorge Vasconcelos can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jorgeefv/

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How learning Python can help you in life

This article could be easily called “Python for DevOps2”. According to the Wikipedia DevOps is “a software engineering culture and practice that aims at unifying software development (Dev) and software operation (Ops).” On the other hand, the accessibility and flexibility of Python are the main reasons that make this language the preferred language when applying the DevOps approach. But what all that has to do with the title of this article? Well, if you think of your life as a software in-the-making and the context in which you are inserted as the operational system, things will start to make sense.

Python is a no-nonsense, elegant and objective language that allows you to create solutions on a practical and clean way. Just the same principles that people try (or at least should try) to incorporate in their day to day lives.

Learning Python will teach you to deal with the challenges at hand from an objective perspective, allowing you to break big tasks into small steps that when interconnected will unfold into the desired and/or expected solution. When you think of tasks you have to perform in the outside world it is easy to understand how an approach like that can help you achieve your objectives.

Some would argue that other languages offer the same kind of mental training. But in this case we could refer again to the opening of this article where the accessibility and flexibility of Python are mentioned. This translates into a reduced amount of time for anyone to start producing solutions with Python when compared to achieving the same mastery level in other languages such as C++ for example.

Not convinced yet?

Let us use a real life example in order to illustrate the points of this article. John (fictional name) is a Python developer who was considering opening his own IT consultancy and for that he was planning to ask for a loan on his bank. But before even going to the bank’s agency John wanted to understand on his own terms what were the conditions of the loan he was targeting. The best option was indeed to do that when not in the presence of the bank manager. John knew that once there the manager would brush over important concepts and would try to sell to John the best loan for the bank – and not for John. Logical checkpoint number 1: John wanted to check the specs of the loan on his own before starting the task. Once John read all the loan options available he appointed a meeting with his bank manager and went there with two options in mind – the ones he found more suitable to jumpstart his IT consultancy.

The bank manager was a pleasant man and before discussing business offered John a cup of coffee. After John accepted they got into the details of what John had in mind. John knew beforehand that the bank would only lend him the money if he could offer guarantees to the bank. John explained his plan to open his own IT consultancy to the bank manager and before he asked about the guarantees, John asked if the bank would take the revenues of his first contract with a client as a guarantee. Logical checkpoint number 2: John wanted to be in control of both the main business discussed (the loan) and the options for exceptions treatment (if-elif-else). The bank manager replied to John that was not their preferred collateral but he could try to get this approved internally considering the years of good relationship John had with the bank. The bank manager then asked John if he had brought the required paperwork to proceed with the credit analysis. John said yes and that he had pre-filled the bank’s system through the internet using scanned copies of all the documents he was turning in now. Logical checkpoint number 3: John applied his programming best-practices approach to this scenario, thinking about expediting the whole process. The bank manager was amazed and made a comment that he wished all clients were like that. They both smiled. Since John had all the documents pre-filled into the bank’s system, the manager asked if John wanted him to run the quick automated analysis through the system or if he wanted to wait for the analysis conducted by the bank’s personnel upstairs. John asked the manager if running the quick analysis would negatively affect and/or exclude the more detailed human analysis. Logical checkpoint number 4: John was confident in his documents and did not want the system to come up with any precipitated conclusions about his credit score. The manager then told John that the procedures were always conducted regardless of each other and that the quick automated analysis would not terminate his chances of getting approved by the analysts right after. After running the automated analysis, a problem was detected in John’s profile. The manager reinforced that this would not terminate John’s chances but it would “flag” John’s profile to the analysts upstairs. John was puzzled since he didn’t expect any “flags” in his profile but nodded in acceptance. Logical checkpoint number 5: That was a bug! But in order to clarify where exactly that bug was installed, John knew he had to let the whole procedure run its course. John then asked how long it would take for the analysts to come up with a conclusion. The manager replied that it would take around one hour for him to receive the analysts’ reply. John knew that banks triangulate household information in order to formulate a verdict about giving or not a loan to a client. So he started rewinding his memory in order to find what could possibly have caused that flag in his profile. Logical checkpoint number 6: John started tracing back possible points in his software (his life) where the bug could be installed for that particular scenario. John knew that the bank manager would not disclose the criteria used to analyze a client’s profile. So instead of asking what went wrong, John took the initiative to mention that he had fallen short in his student’s loan many years ago. He got delayed for three months but eventually paid everything and went back on track. Logical checkpoint number 7: John could not tell what exactly went wrong but he was using test scenarios and consistent hypothesis to isolate the bug. The bank manager said that could be a possibility and that he would let the analysts know about that. One hour later the analysts concluded that although the flag was still there in John’s profile they manage to confirm John’s information on the delayed (but already paid) student’s loan. The loan was then granted to John so he could start his consultancy.

About the Author: Jorge Vasconcelos is a Business Management & IT Consultant with more than 26 years of experience in these industries. Throughout his career he has provided consulting services to clients from North America, LATAM, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions. Jorge Vasconcelos holds a BSC degree in Electrical Engineering (FEI-SP/1997) and a MBA in Business Administration (FGV-RJ/2004). Jorge Vasconcelos is a volunteer and contributing member of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, the Young Scholars Initiative and of the Singularity University. Jorge Vasconcelos is a former PwC alumnus (1999-2001, Brazil and USA). Jorge Vasconcelos can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jorgeefv/

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The Importance of Freelancers

In many articles I have read how IT professionals can benefit from a career path in freelancing. The possibility of having a better balance between the professional and personal aspects of life, better time management and ultimately freedom are among the perks listed when one works as a freelancer.

But, what is the importance of freelancers for the whole IT ecosystem? This is an important question when thinking about the added value of freelancing. The answer to this question validates the need for this type of professionals (and keeps the perks above alive). In other words, it validates the supply and demand for freelancers in the short, medium and long terms.

In my analysis freelancers demonstrate their value to employers when they are perceived or (even better!) proven as top contributors to the completion of projects with high quality, on/under time and on/under budget.  

My approach when selling my services to potential clients and employers has always been toward demonstrating these qualities. A track record of complex projects conducted successfully has always been the best way to prove my value. On the other hand, becoming a part of a renown Group of Software Developers speaks for itself. And this is not just about adding fire power to a freelancer’s personal brand, but also connecting this freelancer to a community of top freelancers that can become your teammates to help you solve problems, teach you and ultimately perfect your craft.

This is why a freelancer who wants to be at the top of their game has to aim at joining a Group of Top Software Developers: to have the opportunity to give their professional contribution, to have a boost in their own personal brand and to be a part of an elite of IT professionals who compose the top freelance community.

About the Author: Jorge Vasconcelos is a Business Management & IT Consultant with more than 26 years of experience in these industries. Throughout his career he has provided consulting services to clients from North America, LATAM, Europe and Asia-Pacific regions. Jorge Vasconcelos holds a BSC degree in Electrical Engineering (FEI-SP/1997) and a MBA in Business Administration (FGV-RJ/2004). Jorge Vasconcelos is a volunteer and contributing member of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, the Young Scholars Initiative and of the Singularity University. Jorge Vasconcelos is a former PwC alumnus (1999-2001, Brazil and USA). Jorge Vasconcelos can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jorgeefv/