Operating Model

Team Structure

The Technical Solutions team is unique in the sense that it federates a very wide range of skills and expertise (inherent complexity of building software). Due to our team’s size, some domains of expertise are led by a single person, resulting in one-person teams. We see this as a temporary situation but find it necessary to formalize these teams as the services they provide are essential to our collective success.

The Technical Solutions team is composed of 2 types of teams:

Mission Teams - They execute the core operational goals of Akvo, i.e. build software for impact.
Support Teams - They provide centralized domain expertise that is required for the Mission teams to achieve their goals.
Hybrid Teams - They execute the mission and provides support capacity to the organization

Each team is described in a table with the following attributes:

Mandate - A summary of what the team does at/for Akvo
Offers - The services that the team offers
Needs - The information, tools and services needed for that team to deliver its function
KPIs - The KPIs that will be used to measure the performance and success of the team. In some instances, we’ve also described a number of metrics that reflect the volume of work.
Lead - The person accountable for the team
Coordination - The frequency with which the coordination meeting is held.
Task Tracking - The place where work is tracked and coordinated (Asana).

Mission Teams

TC Team

Tech Consultancy Team
Mandate	Support the BD team in developing and closing deals Deliver high quality and on budget custom software solutions
Offers	BD Explore partnership collaboration ToR evaluation (Go, No Go) Technical proposal writing (Budgets, Timelines) Tech PoC for concepts provided by sector leads Delivery Custom software solutions Software handover activities Maintenance and support
Needs	Information BD - ToR, context Delivery - ToR, context, user requirements Tools Capacity Planner PMT Task Manager Code hosting: Github CI/CD Pipeline: Semaphore, CircleCI Unit testing: coveralls Services Hosting Design Testing User support
KPIs	Execution Efficiency Definition: Ability to execute the scope within the allocated budget Source: PMT Target: 100% Team Utilization Definition: Ratio between allocated work days and available days to work Source: Capacity Planner Target: 90% Team Billability Definition: Ratio between allocated work days on client projects and available days to work Source: Capacity Planner Target: 75% Unit Test Coverage Definition: % of the code covered by unit tests Source: Coveralls Target: 80% Integration Test Coverage Definition: Source: Integration testing software Target: User reported bugs Definition: number of bugs reported by users after the software went into productions (by severity) Source: Re:amaze Target: less than 5% critical bugs
Lead	Joy Ghosh
Coordination	Project issue board on GH 3 times a week tasks status / adhoc as required Bi-weekly team status check
Task Tracking	Each project has its own Asana Team or Project

Product Teams

Product Teams
Mandate	Build, maintain and provide user support of current Akvo products (FLOW, RSR). Develop new products based on market needs.
Offers	Product development Product management
Needs	Information Market data User feedback Tools Capacity Planner PMT Task Manager Code hosting: Github CI/CD Pipeline: Semaphore, CircleCI Unit testing: coveralls Services Hosting Design Testing User support
KPIs	Bug Reports Definition: number of bugs reported by clients Source: Reamaze Target: less than 5% critical bugs User Acquisition Definition: This metric tracks the number of new users acquired by the product over a certain period of time. Source: Contracts Target: TBD User Engagement Definition: This metric measures how often users are using the product and how engaged they are with it. Source: TDB Target: TBD Revenue Definition: This metric tracks the amount of money generated by the product Source: Contracts Target: Customer Satisfaction Definition: This metric measures how satisfied users are with the product. Source: Satisfaction questionnaires Target: 4/5 in average
Lead	Guillaume Deflaux
Coordination	Every 2 weeks - Guillaume Deflaux Zuhdil Kurnia
Task Tracking	RSR Project in Asana FLOW Project in Asana

Support Teams

DevOps Team

DevOps Team
Mandate	Secure internal and external systems Provide best-in-class infrastructure for the services Akvo offers
Offers	Security for internal and external systems (Company-wide) Implement security best practices for our internal tools (email, password management, etc…) and server deployments. Infrastructure (TC Platforms / Products) Design Deployment Support & Monitoring Costing Knowledge Management & Company Culture Updated technical documentation (wiki) covering the above topics (SOPs, best practices, …) Provide DevOps & Security trainings internally Promote a DevOps & Security culture Domain technical watch (best practices, tools, …)
Needs	Information Product/project software architecture plan (before development started) Product/project software architecture documentation Product/project system requirements and quickstart documentation Infrastructure budget allocation plan from product, project or BD team Tools Hosting provider (Google Cloud, Contabo, Siteground) Code Version Control (Github) CI/CD Tools (SemaphoreCI, CircleCI, Github Action) Documentation tools Infrastructure orchestration and configuration management tools (Terraform, Ansible) Secret management tools (Hashicorp Vault, Vaultwarden) Maling tools (Mailjet) Workflow automation (N8N) Services Testing
KPIs	Average Service Availability Definition: The client facing service are available Target: 99.9% over a quarter Source: Uptime checks Change Success Rate Definition: Changes made by the DevOps team do not result in any downtime or other issues. Target: 90% over a quarter Source: uptime checks, CI/CD Note: downtime caused by deployments are not taken into account Cost Definition: Amount that we spend on cloud services (mostly GCP) Target: Yearly targets based usage of services (COGS, cost per project…). Still TBD Team Satisfaction Definition: The DevOps team should aim for a high level of satisfaction among internal teams who rely on DevOps support. Target: Score at least 8 out of 10 on average Source: Quarterly survey
Lead	Anjar Fiandriato
Coordination	Every 2 weeks - Guillaume Deflaux Anjar Fiandriato
Task Tracking	DevOps Project in Asana

Design Team

Design Team
Mandate	Support TC and product teams in delivering designed-for-purpose applications
Offers	Requirements Gathering Conduct user research Collaborate with product managers, developers, and subject matter experts to define and prioritise user stories and product requirements Wireframing & UI Design Create wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity mockups that effectively communicate design concepts and interactions Create and maintain design style guides and design systems that support consistent and efficient design Provide corresponding HTML/CSS templates User Feedback Continuously iterate on designs based on user feedback, stakeholder input, and usability testing Knowledge Management & Company Culture Updated technical documentation (wiki) covering the above topics (best practices, tools, …) Domain technical watch (best practices, tools, design trends, …)
Needs	User Research Tools Design and Prototyping Tools Collaboration Tools Design Systems and Style Guides Feedback and Iteration Tools Training and Professional Development
KPIs	KPIs (aggregated quality measure) Design Project budget adherence Innovation & Creativity Index Return on Design Investment UX / UI Metrics User Satisfaction Task completion rates Usability Scores Design Quality Metrics - Client Satisfaction Design Revisions Error Rates Work Volume Design Project Completion Rate Design Team Utilisation Rate Design Process efficiency
Lead	Ouma Odhiambo
Coordination	Every 2 weeks - Guillaume Deflaux Ouma Odhiambo
Task Tracking	Design Project in Asana

User Support & Quality Team

User Support & Quality Team
Mandate	Be the first point of contact of our end-users and help them make the most of our platforms and products. Support the TC and products teams in delivering well tested software applications.
Offers	All the services are provided to Products and TC Platforms alike. L1 Support First point of contact with users Triage issues and escalate if necessary Resolve issues that are related to the usage of the software (anything that is not a bug or a server issue) User Trainings Create training curriculums Deliver trainings to end-users (remote/onsite) Functional Testing Write test plans Execute test plans (automated or not) Document issues and create test reports User Documentation Create and update user documentation inline with software release cycles. Knowledge Management & Company Culture Updated technical documentation (wiki) covering the above topics (best practices, tools, …) Domain technical watch (best practices, tools, …)
Needs	Information Platform/Product onboarding from the development teams Functional requirements documents User stories and personas Release schedules Test data Test environment Tools Helpdesk (Re:amaze) Documentation/Wiki (MkDocs, Bookstack) Automated Testing (Selenium, Appium) Test Management (TestRail, TestLodge, Zephyr, Zebrunner) Bug Tracking(Github, Asana) Load Testing (Gatling, Locust, LoadRunner) User Feedback (Piwik, HotJar, ProductBoard)
KPIs	L1 Support KPI ~~SLA breaches~~ Definition: Number and % of tickets that breached the SLAs Source: Reamaze Target: 0(%) ~~Average User satisfaction Level~~ Definition: Level of satisfaction of users after the handling of their tickets Source: Reamaze Target: 4/5 or higher SLA breaches Average User satisfaction Level Work Volume Number of tickets received (Reamaze) Number / % of escalated tickets (L2+) (Reamaze) Average first response time (Reamaze) Average resolution time (Reamaze) User Trainings KPI ~~Average trainee satisfaction Level~~ Definition: Declared level of satisfaction of trainees after a training on one of our platforms or products Source: Post training questionnaire Target: 4/5 or higher Average trainee satisfaction Level Work Volume Number of trainings delivered Number of created training curriculums Number of updated training curriculums Functional Testing KPI TBD Work Volume Number of test plans written Number of test plans executed Number of test reports written User Documentation KPI ~~% of up-to-date documentation sites~~ Definition: The % of documentation sites that have content that cover 100% of the user facing features of platforms and products Source: Documentation sites + platform / product release notes Target: 100% ~~User Satisfaction Level~~ Definition: Level of helpfulness of documentation pages Source: MkDocs Target: 4/5 or higher % of up-to-date documentation sites User Satisfaction Level Work Volume Number of updated articles (MkDocs) Number of visits to the help sites (Piwik) Knowledge Management & Company Culture KPI ~~Adoption~~ Definition: % of TC Platforms/Products using the documentation site and testing tools. Source: Documentation sites + testing tools Target: 100% Adoption Work Volume Number of significant updates to the wiki (Wiki)
Lead	Jonah Kisioh
Coordination	Every 2 weeks - Guillaume Deflaux Jonah Kisioh
Task Tracking	Support & Quality Project in Asana

Hybrid Teams

Technical Solutions Management

Technical Solutions Management
Mandate	Align objectives of the Tech Solutions Team with the objectives of the rest of the company Improve the efficiency of the entire Tech Solutions Team
Offers	Strategic and technical orientations to sub teams, including tie-breaking based on suggestions Internal initiatives to focus on Tools, methodologies and best practices that affect all teams
Needs	Information Company strategy and objectives Feedback from sub teams
KPIs	Objective alignment Definition: The fact that the Technical Solutions sub team objectives are aligned with larger company objectives. Team Efficiency Definition: The fact that the Technical Solutions sub team objectives create efficiencies that affect the entire team.
Lead	Guillaume Deflaux
Coordination	Monthly - Guillaume Deflaux Joy Ghosh Deden Bangkit
Task Tracking	Internal Project in Asana

Coordination Mechanisms

Team coordination plays a big part in creating the right environment for our team to deliver great work and to create a positive dynamic. The team coordination approach described below aims to foster team building while boosting our collective efficiency, i.e. provide enough context for everyone to properly execute their work while doing so in a friendly, respectful and engaging manner.

This approach is purposely built for our current team. We should expect it to change should our team size and structure evolve.

1-to-1s Guillaume / Team Leads

In most instances these meetings are used both for people management and team coordination purposes.

Frequency	Every 2 weeks
Duration	1h
Purpose	Ensure that there is a space to discuss your life at Akvo. Coordinate the definition and the execution of team roadmaps Ensure coherence of team specific initiatives within the larger Tech Solutions Team
Structure	Manager-Direct 1-to-1 Workplate & Projects Growth Performance Team Specific Discussion Services Initiatives Roadmap Performance

Tech Solutions All Hands

Frequency	Every 2 weeks
Duration	1h
Purpose	Make sure that we can have a bit of “face time” all together in order to break the silos created by our day-to-day Create a space for direct communications with the entire team (email remains the official channel for team wide announcements) Create an experience sharing space to foster ideation and innovation within the Tech Team
Structure	Think Tank Thursdays (30 min) A rotating presentation by someone from the team. Any topic that is (vaguely) related to our work Any format allowed as long as there’s at least 10 min for questions. The more interactive the better. All Hands (30 min) Team wide announcements Project / Product updates Team Specific Updates Updates from MC