In an ideal workplace, you have the freedom to pursue interesting technologies and ideas to solve real world business problems. At Forto, we follow the concept of “10X improvement”. Coming from the silicon valley, this concept is based on making things ten times better. To achieve this, we strive to promote a culture that fosters innovation. Creativity requires appreciation of failures since mistakes offer opportunity. Because of this, it is extremely important to be able to try out new approaches without the fear of failure. It is also very valuable to actively promote the exchange of knowledge within different teams.
Entrepreneurship and tech savviness
At Forto we try to disrupt the logistics industry through technology and digitalization. As such, tech savviness and entrepreneurial drive is a part of our DNA. There are various initiatives that bring out these qualities in our engineers which we want to introduce to you in the following.
Getting solutions out of thin air
Some time ago, during the development of our Order Management Solution, we were facing a challenge regarding data ingestion. To get a better understanding of the situation, it is important to mention that we offer our customers various options to load their master data into our latest software product, FortoX. One of these options is to upload CSV files generated by our customers own ERP systems. At an early stage we discovered that if the data in those files are corrupted, the upload could fail. It would be difficult for users to figure out which part of their data caused these problems. This could end up in a bad user experience and could consequently lead to a decrease in productivity.
To prevent possible error messages, we tackled this challenge to find a solution. However, this wasn’t a trivial task. After trying several simple solutions which did not work out as planned over a few weeks, we decided to organize an open challenge for our team. During several brainstorming sessions we came up with an idea that would not only solve the problem, but would also allow errors to be comprehensive as well as interactive enough for faster debugging.
This was the spark that ignited the Forto experiment week: For a whole week we experimented with different teams and their skill sets within the team. Long story short – the results were impressive: We had succeeded in digging deep into the system and gained an extensive understanding of the challenge we were facing, as well as possible solutions and their limits. This led us to implement a feature which, in the end, did not only improve the user experience for this case but also helped our engineering team as a whole.
Experiment weeks like these – presented as challenges to engineers – are what push the boundaries of innovation and allow us to create solutions out of thin air, so to speak, and generate the mindset of 10x innovation at Forto.
Hacking the creativity out of you
The first Thursday of every month marks the kick off of our hacking time at Forto. Hacking is a terminology used ubiquitously to develop quick solutions in a limited timeframe which can be out of normal work context. At Forto, engineers have complete freedom to create solutions for any problem from any context.
The most interesting aspect of these hack days is that the ideas are not constrained to our product or the company business. It could be about anything from making a game engine to creating a fitness tracking app to researching a new paradigm in technology. It’s up to the engineers on how creative they can get with their ideas and implementations.
Being completely open ended and not constrained to the business, they give greater flexibility for innovation at Forto. Many of the hack day projects are now used at Forto, either to improve company culture or to solve existing business problems.
Letting others know what you’re up to
An important pillar for promoting innovation driven culture is knowledge sharing. Creating knowledge silos in an organization, where only a few people control most of the technical and/or domain knowledge can adversely affect the business. We actively promote a culture where knowledge about different aspects of our system can be shared among as many people as possible and we do that in several ways:
Pomato Academy
In one of our teams we have an initiative called Pomato Academy. Every week, we have a 30 minute session where one team member presents what they have learnt recently in front of the rest of the team. This helps in improving the overall team knowledge base and also encourages engineers to improve their own skill sets like presenting skills.
Metamorphosis
We also have a company wide presentation which can be given by anyone from the engineering, design or product teams. The topics of these presentations can vary depending on the skillset and background of the speaker. Some of the topics of such presentations have been Domain Driven Design, General Architecture topics, Design Thinking etc. This provides a learning opportunity, not just in terms of engineering, but also about individual perspectives across teams.
Kaizen Sessions
At Forto, we believe that mistakes should not be looked down upon but seized as an opportunity. Making mistakes isn’t optional, but the reaction to it can be. To promote this, we present Kaizen sessions to the rest of the engineering department whenever a mistake could have led to a significant impact on our systems. Here, they break down the root cause of the problem, discuss the solutions, how to prevent them in the future and most importantly, provide perspectives to everyone in the teams to be cognizant about such errors.
Appreciation and respectfulness
While we covered most of the high level initiatives at Forto, it is imperative to mention that innovation comes in the little things. At Forto, these little things matter just as much as the high level ones. We treat our engineers with utmost respect, their good work rewarded, since the whole company is made aware of them, and their mistakes treated as an opportunity to grow. Even working remotely, Forto helps in providing the right environment so that as an engineer, they can be more focussed on the task at hand.
The love for engineering
Knowing that Forto provides such a rich atmosphere not only makes me but other engineers as well embrace their love for engineering. Exciting challenges, a complex domain, an appreciating culture and a sense of unity brings a great perspective of what an engineering workplace should strive for. That sounds exactly like the kind of environment you are looking for?
Then apply here for one of the many open positions in our Tech Team. We look forward to meet you.
