This article is translated from 鈦坦科技總經理堅信： 在產品開發前，應先培育人才！that was published on 2 December 2019.
Having risen from being an employee at Titansoft to becoming the current General Manager, Tomas has always upheld this belief, inspired by Japan’s renowned business leader, Konosuke Matsushita: “Make your people before making your products.”
Creating an Atmosphere for Self-Directed Learning and Growth, Investing Heavily in Coaching and Training Without Hesitation
“Anyone looking for a new job opportunity should first take a look at the work environment provided by Titansoft!” said Vignesh, a Software Developer.
“In this company, we are not restricted by role or management level. The flexible and open environment encourages us to experiment, learn, and grow in various areas. We have the opportunity to develop professionally, both across different functions and through promotion!”
Implementing “Agile Development,” Becoming a Dream Company for Tech Professionals
In recent years, Titansoft has gained widespread recognition for its commitment to Agile Development. This approach has earned the company numerous awards and recognition, including the 2017 Singapore Best Tech Company to Work For Award, the 2018 Singapore Best Employer Award, and the 2019 Taiwan Best Employer Award.
Titansoft has become a highly desirable company for tech professionals, known for fostering continuous learning and growth, generously investing in its employees, and embracing a flexible and autonomous work culture. The company’s appeal even caught the attention of Wang Yongfu, a top corporate trainer who has worked with over 300 publicly listed companies worldwide.
Wang remarked, “The fact that I was willing to spend two full days at Titansoft engaging in Shadow Learning—immersively experiencing their Agile mindset and management—speaks volumes about the success of their organizational structure.”
Corporate trainer Wang Yongfu joined the Titansoft team for Shadow Learning, immersing himself in their environment to gain firsthand experience of their Agile practices and management approach.
In the Eyes of Employees, Titansoft is an “Incredible” Company
Senior Software Developer Norman, who has been with Titansoft for less than a year, shared:
“Compared to my previous jobs, where the focus was solely on code, here I can see the impact that my code brings to the product. The company operates with a flat hierarchy and grants full autonomy to employees. Within established guidelines, we can take immediate action on anything that improves the product or team, without needing layers of approvals. This is vastly different from my six years of prior work experience!”
Cloud, a Software Developer who started as an intern at Titansoft over two years ago, expressed: “Here, anyone can become a person of influence. The company practices a Self-Promotion Process, where bosses don’t get the final say. Instead, clear criteria are set for different roles and levels, and everyone can apply for promotion on their own. Even if you don’t meet the standards for promotion, the feedback provided by the promotion panel is constructive, helping you work towards your goals.”
Leo, who has been with Titansoft for over 5 years, started as a Product Developer. Driven by his passion for the product he was responsible for, he proactively sought a transition to the role of Product Owner. He still finds the company’s innovative management practices, such as “transparent product revenue sharing,” remarkable.
For instance, in most companies, Product Owners typically report product revenue during monthly meetings with supervisors and clients. However, at Titansoft, the revenue report is also presented to the development team, where developers provide feedback. This includes discussing how to drive further growth after a revenue increase or how to address revenue shortfalls if performance falls short of expectations.
“Because of their high level of involvement in decision-making, developers feel that these products are their own creations. Everyone is willing to give their best effort to make the products even better.”
Internal technical coach at Titansoft, Eviler, added: “Recently, a developer tried to integrate IT skills with DevOps development across domains. For Titaners, self-driven leadership and self-directed learning are already in our DNA!”
Cultivating Employees with Adaptability to Navigate the ever-changing Tech Industry
Inspired by Peter M. Senge’s The Fifth Discipline and its concept of the learning organization, Titansoft believes that team learning is one of the key drivers of organizational progress. Everyone is a natural learner, and a team does not succeed from the outset; rather, it continuously grows through ongoing learning.
General Manager Tomas pointed out: “We often hear ‘the job you are doing now may no longer exist in ten years!’ The world is becoming more and more complex, and it requires systems thinking. Instead of complaining about the rapidly changing world, it’s better to start cultivating your adaptability now. The core of Agile thinking is adaptability. That’s why we emphasize the development of diverse skill sets and hope our partners can be as adaptable as chameleons, always ready for change.”
Titansoft adopts Scrum Agile Development, iterating products based on market feedback while also integrating the Build-Measure-Learn Cycle to establish a learning model for Titaners. The product development cycle is also the learning cycle for the development teams, including daily standups for On-the-Job Training (OJT), pair programming for technical learning, code reviews for development learning, sprint reviews for product learning, and sprint retrospectives for improvement learning. Learning is everywhere at Titansoft.
The company encourages employees to participate in various training programs, with a focus on courses that bring the most value to the employees, with price being a secondary consideration.
Unlike mere formal education and training, we believe the “correct learning approach” consists of three stages:
- Before the class: We carefully select trainers and encourage Titaners to read related books and bring questions to the class.
- During the class: We encourage Titaners to ask questions, embrace different thinking patterns, explore why things are done a certain way, and think about how to bring this knowledge back to create value for the product.
- After the class: We encourage small-scale experimentation in work projects, gradually changing the current situation and processes to create product value. We believe that this correct approach, combined with learning as a group, brings the greatest effectiveness.
Starting from being a Titansoft employee 13 years ago, Tomas Li has always firmly believed in the words of Japan’s business god Konosuke Matsushita: “Make your people before making your products.”
T.8ytes by Titansoft 