IBM brings in customers and films the way they use products in the User-Cen-tered Design Lab. “We would have a box with all the CDs carefully arranged
inside, and then we’d see someone rip it open and dump them all on the
desk,” Wildberger says. On-site training is offered down the hall.
LeSSON 4:
everyone’s a
team member
IBM sets the tone of its corpor-
ate culture in the reception
area with a mascot who gets his
own badge, just like everyone else.
Life in the lab
Roger Pett hasn’t stuck
around for the perks.
Although IBM’s Toronto
Software Lab features a
floor filled with themed restaurants
(an Italian trattoria, a French bistro),
comfortable lounge areas and all the
Wi-Fi you could want, he spends most
of his time in his personal workspace,
where his name plate includes his
nickname, Obi-Wan.
“I really don’t hang out here all that
much,” he says during a photo shoot in
a lounge resembling a Muskoka cottage. Instead, he says, IBM’s retention
strategy has been to keep the challenges coming. “What it comes down to is
smart people and interesting projects.”
IBM’s Toronto Software Lab works on DB2, Rational Development Tools,
the Tivoli Provisioning Manager and a number of products in the WebSphere line
LeSSON 6: Sweat
for success
WKRP in Markham? This archive
photo (above) shows a more but-
toned-down workforce. Today’s
staff makes use of an on-site
gym. “To do great work, you have
to be healthy,” Wildberger says.
LeSSON 7:
Take pride
in your roots
The reception area of the
lab’s customer briefing centre
contains reminders that IBM
was once far from a PC giant,
including one of its original
punch clocks (right). Wildberger says the antiques are in
some ways a record of achievement, particularly for what is
now the company’s fourth-largest lab. “In some ways IBM
first became IBM as we know it
in Canada,” he says.
LeSSON 8: Open up to each other
An archive photo shows the kind of barriers companies like IBM once
put between employees. Today’s programmers are more likely to come
up with solutions by dicussing it over coffee. “We have a saying — we
don’t measure you based on your effort, but your impact,” Wildberger
says. “Whatever you need to do to solve the problem, go do it.”
That’s the same approach suggested by Martin Wildberger, the
lab’s director, but he also thinks the
facility’s setup has helped engineer
a productive, healthy work environment. He describes the construction
of the building — whose opening on
Sept. 11, 2001 was overshadowed by
the terrorist attacks on the U.S. — as
a two-year journey of focus groups
and asking employees what they want.
Their wish list included spaces (and
schedules) that give them work/life
balance and also a chance to work
hands-on with customers.
“There are some people who will
tell you they never want to bring the
designers and the users together.
I believe exactly the opposite of
that,” says Wildberger, who says the
company uses the motto “unleash the
lab” to create the proper mindset. “If
your whole job is making customers
successful, you’ve got to interact with
them.” That’s why IBM regularly
hosts clients to discuss requirements,
update them on new releases and
demonstrate early prototypes.
“It used to be the more successful
you became, the bigger your building.
We’re not about that,” Wildberger says.
On the other hand, the current lab is
nearly at capacity again — IBM says it
now employs 2,500 developers there.
