Funding request breakdown, Feb 2019 – Feb 2020
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Thanks for asking this question.
In short, the answer is yes and no.
Our quarterly targets changed when our priorities changed (and also when the markets changed.) To be clear, Foundation has stayed within our budget and been strategic about choices including who we hire, where we put our resources (ex. we decided to put more budget into the Tech Team than originally was forecast) and what our time is spent on. We have company-wide goals, clear strategies and objectives and every team now has tactics for how their role rolls up to the company-wide goals. (The system we use is called OKRs.) We use a quarterly priority pyramid (managed by the new C-Suite team) and that keeps us focused on our targets and deliverables. Everything is shared with the Core Team and Trust.
We have a video/blog coming out this Wednesday that goes deeper into what Foundation has accomplished, what the blockers were, and how it sets up SYMBOL for the future.
However, some quarterly targets changed. From an infrastructure perspective (as in running this company as a true globally distributed and decentralized software business), the Foundation is in a much better place now then it was in 2017 and 2018. But you don’t know what you don’t know. In the beginning, our targets were aimed at specific goals and I’m happy to say these goals have been refined with more precision and discipline.
Every quarter, we share with the NF Trust and Core Team our strategic plans so that Foundation can receive funding. But quarterly funding is a poor way to run a global business because it’s one thing to forecast yearly business needs, it’s another thing to have to try and operate based on quarterly funding. That’s not how successful businesses are run. Seasoned executives aren’t wooed by 6-month contracts. Legally, many partnership contracts need to extend beyond quarterly funding (ex.Japan support teams can’t have their contracts extended if there isn’t a guarantee in place that Foundation may not get funding in Q4 from the NF Trust.) There’s a lot of variables and so some targets were changed based on the reality of where we’re at today. Ultimately, we have run the company on budget even during the bear winter and are primed to succeed in 2020 based on what was implemented in 2019.
Here’s an infographic that gives a highlight on 2019. LINK
Like I said, more will be shared on Wednesday including localized blogs posts and a video.
Thanks for your continued support.
Alex
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Thank you very much for the update, I expect great progress for the first part of the year 2020
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What do you mean? Is this Techemy Japan?
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