Ci&T: Forrester research analyst says software development and management company’s “anti-factory model” is the future

Large companies seem to be learning a lesson in innovation from the startup pipsqueaks of the business community, whether they mean to or not. Or at least, Forrester Research Vice President and Research Director Dave West says software development and management company Ci&T has, based on research he presented at the Cira Center Hub on what software delivery will look like in 2020.

“Increasingly, inside enterprises, you’ll find them building their own lean startups,” says West.

West, who says his mission is to “help people deliver software just a little bit better,” says the “anti-factory” model is the future.

“Suddenly delivery is everything and packaging is nothing,” said West, to a group of about 20 industry representatives.

Ci&T, who hosted the talk, is a Brazilian company with a 25-person U.S. headquarters in King of Prussia that West has been studying. The company has adopted what West describes as a waste reducing workflow management system that sounds like a fad diet plan — Lean.

Lean, says West, allows a company to adapt to a rapidly changing technology environment and achieve high productivity by not forcing its employees into specialized and silo-ed departments.

Instead, he says, the workflow process should be transparent to increase velocity and frequency in software development, not to mention other industries.

So what lesson can the Philadelphia tech community learn from Ci&T’s experience?

“What you see is that it’s about people working in different ways and the technology is almost secondary,” says West. “The technology is going to change and Moore’s law would indicate that it’s changing more and more rapidly every year.”

Below you can see a video of West explaining Lean, its forbear in workflow management theory, Agile, and what these process management strategies mean for business in 2020.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uClC6OziWnw]