Maximizing synergies in software development
Interview with Dr. Peter Nowotny and Gerd Höfner
What are some of your current development topics?
Nowotny: We’re now working with the Energy Sector on solutions for smart power grids and on the further development of network control systems capable of meeting the demands associated with such grids. We’re focusing here on using software to optimize the management of energy generation and distribution as a means of enhancing environmental compatibility. We’re thus contributing to the transformation of Siemens into a company that provides green infrastructure. We’re also working with other Siemens Sectors on important current issues – for example, industrial automation systems with high safety requirements and the presentation and intelligent evaluation of medical data. Work on key developments for the Group is a source of great employee motivation.
Höfner: We’re also addressing so many exciting issues in India that it’s hard to single out just one. However, let me mention one minor topic. We’re currently helping to develop a software program that monitors fire safety in the Airbus A380. In general, it’s software that makes product intelligence possible to begin with – as is the case with smart grids and building management systems. In other areas, you need to process huge amounts of data for things like simulating a beating heart or merging simultaneous images from a magnetic resonance unit and a positron emission scanner in a single device such as the MR-PET Biograph mMR. We’re involved in all of these activities.
Are there synergies between software development work in China, India, and CEE?
Nowotny: Our goal is to deliver top-quality software and to this end we tap the experience of the more than 3,000 employees throughout the DC. That’s what was behind the establishment of the Center in the first place – to combine our software development expertise rather than building it up independently in the different Siemens Sectors.
Höfner: A development manager in a Sector starts out with a product business strategy and then decides where the required software should be developed. Some things can be done through nearshoring and some with offshoring in places like India. Both have their strengths – and we can offer both. Another goal is to make it possible to plan software development - and for this you need to achieve a certain critical mass, which in turn attracts top talents. In other words, it’s easier for us as DC to recruit skilled staff than it would be for an individual business unit, especially in India. We’re able to establish the right expertise while our size offers potential employees better career opportunities.
Nowotny: After examining the DC-wide recruiting process, we took steps to harmonize it in terms of employee requirement profiles, training methods, and further education. We will also examine other key processes such as dealing with orders, which in our case means how we create new software.
Do software development teams at Siemens compete with one another or with external providers for orders?
Höfner: Siemens has a coordinated overall strategy for meeting the software requirements of its Sectors as effectively as possible. So in that sense there’s no internal competition. Of course, Corporate Technology competes in a general sense, and its rivals include external partners. We have to always be good enough to ensure that our services are in demand.
How is a software development order usually processed?
Höfner: It’s hard to give a general answer to that question. Depending on what our partners at the business units request, we can offer the entire range of product development, including requirements engineering, in other words, the formulation of software requirements. We can also provide individual specialized services such as software tests, or simply take care of software coding.
How do you ensure that software quality and the quality of the development process meet the highest demands?
Nowotny: Our demanding quality standards must be met throughout the entire organization. The important thing is to know exactly what the customer needs and to ensure all employees understand that quality is the key to success. To this end, we regularly conduct customer surveys and we’ve also defined key performance indicators that are continually reviewed. Internal audits enable us to constantly improve our processes, which also undergo external evaluations on the basis of internationally defined standards. For instance, the CMMI Level 3 standard is a requirement for all software developments at Siemens.
For a long time, high employee turnover was a problem in India. Is this still the case?
Höfner: No, it’s no longer a problem – our fluctuation rate is now relatively low. With a turnover of seven percent in 2010 as compared to an industry average of more than 15 percent, we’re best in class. We’re an attractive employer that offers exciting opportunities. We train our employees well and offer them career opportunities throughout the entire Group. Low employee turnover is important because along with software engineering skills, our people also need to have domain knowledge – in other words, application expertise. They need to know about the products and systems that Siemens produces – from industrial facilities, control systems, and power distribution to medical image processing systems.
How do you recruit the best software developers in local markets?
Höfner: As I just said, we offer a very attractive working environment. Siemens has a very high brand value in India, which makes it easier for the company to recruit the best minds. We also have close ties to universities, research institutes, and the R&D community.
What’s your advice to students interested in software?
Höfner: I would tell them to study computer science and focus on software engineering. While we do have a lot of physicists, chemists, and medical doctors working for us, our core area of expertise is software. It’s easier for me to teach a computer scientist about the domain than a chemist about software development.
What do you think software development will be like in your region in ten years?
Höfner: There’s practically no way to predict that because things are developing so quickly. Two things seem clear to me though: I come from a generation of “digital immigrants.” In other words, we moved into the digital world, as opposed to today’s “digital natives” who were born into it. Their behavior and ways of working will have a huge impact on the software of the future, but it’s very difficult to say at this point just what that impact will be.
Nowotny: I would also mention another point. The amount of software contained in all products will continue to increase. Take cars, for instance. There’s going to be a lot more software in a future energy smart grid that uses electric vehicles as energy storage units than there is in the individual systems of today. Other importantissues are cloud computing, the Internet of things, and virtualization. These processes are only just starting. Our long-term goal remains “zero-defect software.” We still don’t know if we’re going to achieve it in ten years, but we do know we’re going to try.