I’ve been leading infrastructure teams at CHS for nearly four years now. A little over two years ago I got the opportunity to lead our development teams too. Since then, we’ve been our on DevOps journey to align teams and invest in technologies that help us operate more effectively.

We’ve made a number of slight adjustments along the way and have piloted a few different ways of working so we can learn what works best. You can read about some examples here and here.

This week, I unveiled a new organizational approach. The change is big, but it started with a very simple question: What does it look like to have customer-centric infrastructure teams? I turned this question over in my mind for months. I talked with others, assimilated ideas, and came to a conclusion.

Like most companies, our IT infrastructure teams were organized by function. There’s the network team, the data center team, the voice team, the end user computing team, the server team, and a few others. You get the picture. You probably have a similar set of functions in your company.

It’s very traditional and logical to organize by function. No one would ever argue that “your doing it wrong” if you setup your staff this way. However, I now believe, that there is an approach that is more customer-centric.

Here’s the epiphany that hit me. For infrastructure teams, there are two very different customer segments. Group 1: infrastructure teams that support products. Group 2: infrastructure teams that support locations. I think it’s hard for one functional team to optimize for both, so we created the opportunity to focus.

Product Engineering

This team has the full stack of engineering to make and host products. This group has it all: everything from app dev to platforms and databases, to servers, networks, and cloud engineering. There isn’t a technical component of the app stack that isn’t included here. I’m optimistic that out of this group, we can create high-performing product teams that make a huge business impact.

Global Infrastructure

Just like in the real-estate business, it’s all about location, location, location. CHS has hundreds of locations. While our individual engineers always put forth a great customer effort for these locations, our organizational structure often creates a lot of hand-offs and friction. Ultimately, that translates into a less-than-optimal customer experience at the locations.  

This group has it all: everything from telephony, to circuits and wireless networks, as well as end user computing and printing. We even include internet of things, relationship management, and service delivery.

Change

Change is hard, but I’m very optimistic. Our teams have proven their ability to adapt. They have proven their passion to serve our customers. This is the right solution. Our teams are bright and resourceful. It’s up to me to organize and align them so they can be successful. There will be a period of adjustment, but I think we have set ourselves up to win.

Does your team need a reorg to maximize customer focus? If so, be sure to check out my earlier blog post on Why, When, and How to Reorg Your Team. There is a right way and a wrong way. Make sure you do it right.