Cross-functional projects
Cross-functional projects are designed to replace OKRs and narrow our focus down to the most actionable and impactful things we can do to bring more value to our customers and achieve our company goals and strategy. These projects are organized around working groups that are monitored and tracked at the executive level and are expected to be completed within 1 - 2 quarters of their formation.
Current cross-functional projects
| Project Name | Engaged Departments | DRI | Exec Sponsor | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Build a jointly managed deployment option | engineering, sales, CE | Sam Johns | Aimee Menne | Establish a jointly managed deployment option, process, and offering for complex deployments within Strategic orgs (such as an Implementation Engineer supporting with / without badged access). | 🟡 |
| Make cloud the preferred deployment method | engineering, security, sales, CE, marketing, finance, accounting | Connor O’Brien | Quinn Slack | Make Sourcegraph Cloud preferred and the primary deployment method of Sourcegraph product advertised to current and future customers | 🔴 |
| Build an operating cadence | ops, sales, CE, engineering, talent, people, marketing | Connor O’Brien | Connor O’Brien | Standardize data collection and reporting at the department level to improve transparency in performance and operational efficiency. | 🟡 |
How are cross-functional projects different from OKRs?
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Cross-functional projects are project-based and focused on tangible outcomes
- No more “meta” objectives that lead to a lack of accountability, ill-defined outcomes, and spurious measures of success.
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Cross-functional projects are not bound by arbitrary quarterly cycles
- Cross-functional projects should target short-to-medium term deliverables (roughly 1 - 2 quarters) and can be spun up / elevated or deprioritized as needed.
- This will shift our focus from asking “what can we do within this quarter” to “what should we do to drive the most impact in as short a time as possible?”
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Cross-functional projects are focused on dynamic cross-functional teamwork
- We will no longer waste time trying to carve our specific roles for each department and align them to Objectives and Key Results.
- Sometimes departments aren’t involved in really important projects and that’s OK.
- Instead, we will leverage working groups and entrust those teams to include the appropriate teams and make the best decisions for the overall success of each project.
Expectations, Roles, and Responsibilities
Each cross-functional project has a DRI and Executive Sponsor who are ultimately accountable for the success or failure of the project.
These projects are designed to be shut down and therefor must be self-sustaining after completion.
Expectations
Each project must have a clear:
- Problem that needs to be solved that betters the experience of our customers, company, or sourcegraph teammates
- Measureable, trackable and self-sustaining solution
- Set of ‘exit criteria’ that clearly indicate when the project has reached its conclusion
Directly Responsible Individuals (DRIs)
DRIs are responsible for:
- Creating and maintaining a high-functioning, cross-functional working group
- Setting the vision, strategy, and goals of the project
- Leading planning and managing dependencies for the project
- Creating scalable, repeatable processes for tracking and managing data
- Ensuring a cross-functional project handbook page is maintained and up-to-date
- Reporting to executive leadership on a weekly basis
Executive Sponsors
The exec sponsors are responsible for:
- Supporting the DRI in securing and aligning internal resources and removing bottlenecks
- Supporting escalations as needed
- Attend all company goal working group meetings
- Act as an exec team liaison to ensure appropriate insight and alignment to other projects, initiatives, or programs
- Shares responsibility with the DRI for project success / failure
Reporting Cadence and Updates
Philosophically, we will try for a 90/10 percent split between asynchronous and synchronous updates and communication.
Asynchronous Updates:
Weekly reports
When:
Submitted every Friday COB ()
Who:
Exec Sponsor / DRI / Appropriate cross-functional project teammate
What:
A Google doc that includes (link to template)
- A summary of the week’s work / color commentary on the project as a whole.
- Update on the status of the project (Red / Yellow / Green).
- What went well this week?
- Action plan for next week?
Where:
- Handbook page
- Make updates to this page as necessary / needed.
- #cross-functional-projects slack channel
- Links to supporting documentation and with high-level summary submitted
Synchronous Updates:
Twice-weekly standups
When:
Every Monday and Friday. Time is based on team availability.
Who:
Exec Sponsor / DRI / Appropriate cross-functional project teammate
What:
A highly tactical conversation based on the supplied weekly report. Topics include
- How to overcome bottlenecks / blockers
- Highlighting key milestones
- Running through specific tasks expected to be completed this week and next.
- Where: Zoom meeting scheduled by EBP to CEO
Completed Projects
| Project Name | Engaged Departments | DRI | Exec Sponsor | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Create a strategic segment operating model | sales, CE, ops, people, eng | Brock Perko | Greg Bastis | Define Strategic Accounts and establish the resources, roles, and high-level approach to successfully serving our highest priority market segment. | ✅ |
| Create new performance management culture | ops, sales, CE, engineering, talent, people, marketing | Carly Jones | Carly Jones | Define what performance management culture means at Sourcegraph and ensure all Teammates and Managers have a clear understanding of performance expectations | ✅ |
| Improve our data collection | engineering, ops | Lauren Anderson | Dan Adler | Understanding how individuals and organizations use Sourcegraph is key to our future growth and success. By expanding and improving the product usage data we collect, we will unlock insights to help our customers and prospects realize the value of Sourcegraph, ensure that our product roadmap aligns with real-time usage and adoption, and become more predictive in the analytics the company anchors on to make decisions. | ✅ |
| Achieve SOC2 type 2 certification | security, ops, engineering | Diego Comas | Quinn Slack | Make Sourcegraph Soc2 Type 2 certified to help migrate and land prospects and customers with our cloud offering. | ✅ |
| Sourcegraph 4.0 | all | Alex Isken | Quinn Slack | Launch Sourcegraph 4.0 and create an L1 marketing moment to promote the release. | ✅ |
| Enhance customer success and health operating model | sales, CE, eng, ops | Shawnteé Harris | Aimee Menne | Operationalized account tiering via consistent, scalable means for tracking & reporting on customer health. | ✅ |
| Kickstart demand generation and content engine | sales, community, product marketing, CE, ops, eng | Nick Gage | Greg Bastis | Build a program for planning, executing, and measuring our demand generation efforts across events, content, digital, and ABX. | ✅ |
| Revamp pricing and packaging | sales, CE, ops, engineering, marketing | Connor O’Brien | Quinn Slack | Create a simple, pricing and packaging offering that differentiates us from our competition, reduces friction for growth, and directly ties customer value to ARR. | ✅ |