2. Organizing an Internal Technology Conference :

Situation

Both CEO and CTO realized that going from services mindset to solutions mindset would require different ways of working and technical leadership should play a key role in the change process. Technical leaders in the organization were located in 4 different places: Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Finland and Dallas. Most of them had not seen each other and many didn't know what the other one is working on. Moreover, the CTO wanted to share his technology roadmap, share his vision and get to know this change leaders.

Objective

Organize a two day event called "Internal Technology Conference" where selected technical papers will be presented. Ensure that the process will be adequately rigorous to ensure quality and business relevance. Encourage participation from all geographic areas. Essentially create a space for reflection and collaboration. There were 36 submissions from which we selected 18 papers. The event was attended by 200+ engineers.

Actions

Catalign partnered with the CTO and program managed the event. We formed a program committe and sent out a call for papers with focus areas and selection criteria. For each of the promising idea we received, we assigned a mentor. Many of the engineers were writing a paper for the first time and needed help in various steps like defining the problem correctly, doing basic research on what has been done elsewhere, defining low-cost experiments and preparing the presentation. We managed the logistics of the event with people coming from 5 different locations. */

Results

The event achieved several things for the first time. First, it created a unique forum for CTO to share his technology vision and roadmap. Second, it created an opportunity for budding technical leaders to present their ideas to a larger audience and solicit feedback. Third, it brought like minded people from different together and created a unique space for collaboration. For many young engineers, it provided an inspiration in the form of role models. Within six months from the conference the company grabbed two contracts in emerging technology domains.