Frameworks
ANDROID Ops
Seven focus areas a team returns to as the work demands, and the four-hour Focus Shift.
ANDROID Ops is WE’s description of how a team works on a project, which WE calls a droid. It draws on ordinary software delivery practice, including traditional life-cycle planning, agile working, DevOps and machine-learning operations, and arranges it as seven focus areas. The name is an acronym of the areas: Advance, Network, Design, Research, Optimize, Implement, Deliver.
It is a way to organize attention, not a promise of results. A team is not meant to move through the seven areas once, in order; it returns to them as the work demands.
The seven focus areas
1. Advance
Look ahead. The team keeps the roadmap current, generates ideas for features and services, watches industry trends and writes the longer strategy the droid follows.
2. Network
Connect people and information. The team sets up the tools for working together at a distance, keeps shared documentation, talks with stakeholders on a regular rhythm, and maps resources and dependencies so they can be seen.
3. Design
Shape how the work runs and what it produces. This covers refining processes, designing the user experience, keeping design consistent with the brand, and building sustainability considerations into the work.
4. Research
Find out before deciding. The team analyzes data, studies customers and their needs, looks at competitors, and explores new technologies and methods.
5. Optimize
Improve what already exists. The team defines the indicators that show progress, tunes algorithms, automates repetitive tasks and holds regular reviews so improvement becomes a habit.
6. Implement
Put the plan into practice. The team tests quality, has real users try the result, trains the people who will use it, and fits new processes and technology into what is already there.
7. Deliver
Get value to the customer and keep it there. The team listens to customer feedback, manages releases, checks that what ships meets what was promised, and supports it after release.
The Focus Shift
A Focus Shift is a four-hour block given to one droid. In it, the team chooses one or more of the seven focus areas and works on them to shift the droid’s trajectory. The plan for a Focus Shift is judged on four points: fit with the droid’s objectives, clarity, feasibility within four hours, and likely impact.
Seven focus areas
One droid, seven worlds around it
A team is not meant to move through the seven areas once, in order. It returns to each as the work demands, the way a world comes round again on its orbit.
For a single piece of work there is a shorter loop, D.R.O.I.D.: Design, Research, Optimize, Integrate, Deliver.
- Advance Keep the roadmap current and look ahead.
- Network Connect people, tools and information.
- Design Shape processes, experience and brand.
- Research Find out before deciding.
- Optimize Improve what already exists.
- Implement Put the plan into practice.
- Deliver Get value to the customer and keep it there.
The loop at a glance
| Focus area | What it asks the team to do |
|---|---|
| Advance | Keep the roadmap current and look ahead. |
| Network | Connect people, tools and information. |
| Design | Shape processes, experience and brand. |
| Research | Find out before deciding. |
| Optimize | Improve what already exists. |
| Implement | Put the plan into practice. |
| Deliver | Get value to the customer and keep it there. |
Four questions for a Focus Shift
WE's framework describes a Focus Shift as a four-hour block spent on one droid, with one or more of the seven focus areas chosen for it. Its plan is read against four questions.
O.R.B.I.T.A.L. covers how the plan itself is written.
- Fit Does the plan serve the droid’s objectives?
- Clarity Is it clear what will be done?
- Feasibility Can it be done in four hours?
- Difference What could it change?
Put the loop to work
A readiness review shows where a team stands and which focus areas the next stage needs.