How to solve the "problem of engineers becoming too dependent on each other"? Discussing operational issues

This is Umi Fujisawa from Public Relations

On September 20, 2019, the Japan MSP Association held its "Operational Issues Sorting Working Group"

Why do we do this?

1. Survey of the current state of operations at Japanese MSP operators
2. Identify the issues faced by the operational field

With this goal in mind, MSP operators meet regularly to carry out activities

This time, Extrance , Heartbeats , Clara Online , and SkyArch , all of which are members of the Japan MSP Association, and from Beyond, representative Haraoka, director Morita, and several engineers involved in operations also participated.

↑The opening greeting was given by Fujisaki from Heart Beats. He always wears a tracksuit

Operational role model study session

First, Mr. Hadano from the Operations Design Lab spoke on the topic of "The value of operations and role models."

• What are the operational challenges?
• First of all, what is operation?
• What should the structure of the people who will be running the system be?

We shared the concerns that MSP operators have and considered organizational structures to address these issues

Operational challenges

■ High load ...Work becomes more complicated

■ Personal : Only specific people can do the work

■ Invisible cost-effectiveness ...inappropriate evaluation of operations

To solve these problems, it is necessary to structure operations

1. It's easier for people to understand
2. The system is easy to handle
3. Verifying logical correctness

Creating such a system allows for proper evaluation, handover, and automation

We believe that the essence of operations for an MSP provider is to "continue and develop our customers' businesses .

We believe that the value of operations is determined by whether or not we solve our customers' problems together and contribute to their business continuity and development. To achieve this, not only to ensure business continuity (overall optimization of the company) operational continuity (partial optimization of the field) .

Role model for operations

"not all operations be depersonalized , but personalization is necessary," Mr. Hadano explained the operational role model that MSP operators should have.

Personalization is good ( advanced thinking and flexibility are valued)

• Overall Management

Someone who can manage everything related to operations (operations manager)

• Overall Optimization Engineer

Someone who can design operations at the operational site (architect)

People who can manage organizations and human resources (VPoE)

• Service Enhancement Engineer

People who can make appropriate proposals to customers (sales)

People who can properly understand customer requests (support)

• Technically Enhanced Engineer

Someone who can quickly resolve problems (rescue)

Someone who can lead the technical direction (tech lead)

Someone who can "concretely" utilize existing in-house technology (implementation)

Acting as a bridge between subordinates and non-subordinates

• Certified Engineer

People who can depersonalize personal tasks

Non-personal is good (continuity and reproducibility are valuable)

• Associate Member

Someone who can properly perform non-personalized tasks

 

In order to ensure the continuity of operational operations, the challenge is how to de-personalize tasks that require personalization, and what is most needed are "regular engineers who can use their expertise to bridge the gap between the personal and non-personalized."

1. Logical ability: Emphasize and practice logical correctness
2. Ability to abstract: Ability to model objects in an easy-to-handle way
3. Ability to concretize: Able to optimize by facing the actual situation and reality

The first step in acquiring these skills is to write proper procedure manuals

Internal roles of each company

After the study session, participating companies Extrans and Beyond presented their internal operational roles

↑ Mr. Niwa, CEO of Xtrance. When he started the company, there were only five people running it, and Mr. Niwa grew the company while working in sales. As expected from someone with a sales background, his talk was interesting and easy to understand

↑ Kashiwagi, the leader of the Operations Management Division from Beyond, took the stage. He talked about the current state of the operations system and the issues that need to be resolved in the future, bragging about his successful weight loss

Now that Mr. Hadano and Mr. Niwa have shared their operational methods with us, it looks like this will be an opportunity for us to reconsider our internal structure

By continuing to have engineers on-site monitoring 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, Beyond will continue to put operations first