Staying on Target with Revel CIO & SVP Art Beckman
The next Q&A provides executive insights from Revel Systems' Chief Information Officer & SVP on how to stay on target from the continuously evolving point of sale (POS) industry.
Building Momentum into 2020
Art Beckman, Revel's chief information officer & SVP, has been constructing applications development, product management, and IT teams, together with corporate applications, for the majority of his career. Since joining the group 18 months ago, Art has directed Revel's engineering vertical to experience exciting growth, due mostly in part to his leadership and tactical initiatives.
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Art attributes his team's recent wins to great gift, and"staying on target," a term that has become a guiding force for much of the firm.
In continuation of our website series comprising Revel's leadership group (our latest post interviewed chief strategy and marketing officer Chris Lybeer), I had the opportunity to talk with Art about the present state of Revel's product engineering group, and what features we can look forward to in 2020.
Q: How would you define your position as chief information officer & SVP in Revel, in your own words?
A: I manage a number of different purposes at Revel. If I were to break them down into three buckets, it would be corporate IT and security; provide chain/fulfillment and operations; and product management and technology, which we have combined to predict product engineering. When I first began at Revel, I only managed the first two, but this year I took over the technology organization and we combined product planning and direction into it. I am based out of our San Francisco office, but I travel to Atlanta often to sync up with the technology leadership that is there.
Q: once you combined Revel 18 months ago, what projects did you inherit, how did you prioritize them, and what did you tackle first?
A: When I first began, there was lots of emphasis placed on how we can build and improve on our company application infrastructure. Before, we had multiple systems live, but we ended up still relying on plenty of manual processes. Now, there's lots of amazing work going into building on our present integrations and processes. Work is underway to rethink our Salesforce infrastructure, integrate our service capabilities into Salesforce, and also implement a new billing system that will positively affect our clients.
I've brought a whole lot of smart folks in the doorway to join others here to help get these initiatives reside, and they're why we anticipate these optimizations to successfully go live next year.
When I took over the technology organization, I was really focused on the quality of the solution and how we implemented deliveries as a team. We set our sights on continually improving the product overall, and increasing the quantity of new features we were providing. While quality was, and is, a massive focus, we also wished to rev up our development engine and supply new functions and new products, faster. We have seen there, and you will see a good deal of new products next year.
Q: You made a mantra for our programmer and engineering teams that focuses on"staying on target." Can you give some background on that idea?
A: In Revelry this season, I stood up in front of our clients and partners and asked if they thought we were on target as it came into many different features and processes. The overwhelming answer was that we were, which is very good news. I was also quite honest with this group and informed them that when I got to Revel, a number of our previous releases had not reflected our very best work. I am pleased to say that we radically reduced bugs to nearly zero in the initial release I had been involved with.
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When you are working with a large group of people and there are a whole lot of moving parts, it is really important for me to set clear expectations. One year ago, we made a very conscious effort to approach teams throughout the business, discuss mutual expectations, and create metrics accordingly. Nowadays, we've assembled a range of those metrics to help us actually identify how we are doing, and because of this, the"staying on target" mindset has stuck with us. From early requirements gathering, to the way we create stories and quantify their quality, to the way we evaluate the achievement of our code, we have established metrics that help us stay on track.
And needless to say, we wanted to have some fun with it. The"staying on goal" phrase is truly inspired by Star Wars.
Q: Revel has put considerable resources towards refining our technology and programmer processes to better meet, and exceed, the targets and deadlines we set out to reach for our clients. How have you corrected those procedures, and have you seen results?
A: Every 2 weeks, my teams have a peek at what they will accomplish in the next two weeks and they make a commitment. From there, we quantify commitment rates, velocity (how much work the programmers are generating ), and high quality of the job. I am happy to report that devotion rates have improved, and we have discovered that it has enabled us to be more proactive than ever before.
Now, leadership from all 12 teams also get together every two weeks to talk about target goals and learn from one another. We put up those metrics on a plank and spend some time discussing how are we doing, and how we can keep improving.
Q: In the aftermath of Revelry, where you openly shared the notion of"staying on target," have you noticed any ripple effects on your team or across the business?
A: Teams and workers are definitely with us, and I believe the concept has spearheaded plenty of hard, but instrumental, conversations--even one of executives. If I don't bring up goal metrics in our meetings, they bring them up. The largest recognition is simply that the company recognizes how important they are.
Q: What do we expect from Revel's programmer and engineering teams as we look ahead to 2020?
A: This year, we developed, and continue to grow, our initial product roadmap and continue to refine procedures. We are eager to provide some really exciting new features to our clients in 2020, and keep adding to our roadmap.
Q: What's been the most important lesson you have learned during your career and direction?
A: I am a big proponent of hiring great people, and there are a whole lot of great folks here at Revel. Leadership isn't only about the decisions I make; it is about the collective group of people top. It is just as a staff that we reach the stage where we are working in a united way and have each others' backs.
Q: What are some interesting facts about you?
- My spouse and I have three children. We have two sons (one now plays basketball at the University of Chicago and another lives and works in the Bay area), and a daughter who recently graduated from my alma mater, University of California, Berkeley.
- We have three dogs and two cats.
- Our family is big on boating in our spare time, and we recently purchased our dream lake home beyond San Francisco.
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