# How We Improve Our Culture

Waaaait, how you can measure a culture?

Isn't culture something fluffy, especially for an engineer who cannot precisely explain what it is? And yet, you can feel it. As engineers, we all think that culture is something undefined in the air, however, we definitely appreciate it.  For example, Open Source culture promotes a decentralized software development model, encourages open collaboration, and helps the community grow. We all love to use open source projects, right? And some of us love to contribute to open source.

But still, how can you measure culture? We are engineers, give us numbers and we will see how we can improve it.

#### **Gathering data about Infobip‘s culture** <a href="#ur-howweimproveourengineeringculture-gatheringdataaboutinfobipsculture" id="ur-howweimproveourengineeringculture-gatheringdataaboutinfobipsculture"></a>

The first step is to gather data. Initially, we conducted two workshops where our engineers shared what they love about Infobip's culture and what they are missing. We asked questions like what culture is and hat are its elements in IB, assessed current culture with respect to different company culture types / archetypes /[ job architecture](../career-development/career-development), defined the culture we want to have with respect to company values and objectives and the [job architecture](../career-development/career-development). where we fall short of the culture we want to have and how to evolve to the goal state.&#x20;

We knew that we have to confirm what we gathered through the workshops on a larger scale (department-wise). After some investigation, we decided the best fit for us would be to use an approach inspired by the [DevOps Culture](https://cloud.google.com/solutions/devops/devops-culture-westrum-organizational-culture).  We've created a survey with questions that should represent our culture. In 2020 when we had our first iteration of the Engineering culture Survey, 300 engineers filled out the survey, and the results were valuable!

!["Describe Infobip in 3 words or 1 sentence.", Engineering Culture Survey 2020 ](https://196273960-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F1lnkko3mYUm7gAHgSAik%2Fuploads%2Fa3UuOCqp4p37VdjPuC4A%2FDescribe%20IB%20in%203%20words.jpg?alt=media\&token=00a4ee93-deb5-4e2f-9179-4df9b279fd6d)

All questions were labeled with categories to understand where we stand and what we can improve. Participants could answer with Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither agree nor disagree, Agree, Strongly Agree, or just leave it empty if they couldn't evaluate. This is the template with the questions we asked with its given category:

\


| Category                         | Question                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| -------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Empowering employees             | <ul><li>Our environment empowers &#x26; stimulates me to professional </li><li>I am encouraged to put new ideas into practice</li></ul>                                                                                                                                            |
| Open for Discussion/Approachable | <ul><li>Engineers can take an active role in shaping changes in Engineering</li><li>Everyone has the right to speak up and raise their concerns</li><li>My concerns are adequately and timely addressed</li><li>People are easy to approach: there's no weight of titles</li></ul> |
| Transparency                     | <ul><li>Employees are timely notified about upcoming organizational changes</li><li>Other Requirement Areas easily share info when I need some</li><li>Product development and company strategy are transparent</li></ul>                                                          |
| Delivery & quality               | <ul><li>I have influence over the quality and delivery of my projects</li><li>We deliver high-quality products timely to the customers</li></ul>                                                                                                                                   |
| Innovation                       | <ul><li>I bring innovative solutions to the product</li><li>I have enough time to research, experiment, and innovate</li><li>We implement our products using cutting-edge technologies</li></ul>                                                                                   |
| Sense of achievement             | <ul><li>I am proud of what we as a company do for our clients</li><li>I feel I am a part of Infobip's success story</li></ul>                                                                                                                                                      |
| Strong ownership                 | <ul><li>My team can decide itself on the tools/procedures/technologies that we use</li><li>My team is 100% responsible for what we build, break &#x26; fix</li><li>Taking action is my responsibility</li></ul>                                                                    |
| Focus on customer                | <ul><li>Everything we do, we do by keeping our customers experience in mind</li><li>I receive customer's feedback on our products</li><li>I understand customers' expectations from our product</li></ul>                                                                          |
| Failsafe Environment             | <ul><li>We can make mistakes as long as we learn from them</li></ul>                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| Startup Spirit                   | <ul><li>Our processes and rules serve the goals and people, not bureaucracy</li></ul>                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| No "not my job" attitude         | <ul><li>If I need help, people are ready to go the extra mile to support me</li></ul>                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| Caring line manager              | <ul><li>My line manager cares about me, not just follows the formal side of managerial tasks</li></ul>                                                                                                                                                                             |
| Respect towards people           | <ul><li>Engineers have a healthy degree of respect towards each other</li></ul>                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| Respect towards organization     | <ul><li>I respect changes in the organization as part of constant growth and success</li></ul>                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| Engineering Culture              | <ul><li>I enjoy our culture in Engineering</li></ul>                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |



#### **Results in 2020 and 2021: 84% of Engineers Enjoy Our Culture** <a href="#ur-howweimproveourengineeringculture-resultsin2020and2021-84-ofengineersenjoyourengineeringculture" id="ur-howweimproveourengineeringculture-resultsin2020and2021-84-ofengineersenjoyourengineeringculture"></a>

We have to say that we are proud of the results and the team we have at Infobip. More than 84% stated that they enjoy our culture in Engineering, with engineers mostly responded positively to the majority of topics!

These are the results from 2021 (n=481) with comparison to 2020.&#x20;



![](https://196273960-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F1lnkko3mYUm7gAHgSAik%2Fuploads%2FiHxhdlYKXU0zVwccbIxz%2FScreenshot%202021-10-04%20at%2013.34.21.png?alt=media\&token=d6d05bdf-35c4-49b7-8b2a-7c108fc5426b) ![](https://196273960-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F1lnkko3mYUm7gAHgSAik%2Fuploads%2FsIRWAFGvpvLEFh3S0q8J%2FScreenshot_2021-10-04%20Questions.png?alt=media\&token=8c92e49d-63d6-4704-9879-7a549b2b9c98)

#### **Great insights... Now what?** <a href="#ur-howweimproveourengineeringculture-greatinsights...nowwhat" id="ur-howweimproveourengineeringculture-greatinsights...nowwhat"></a>

In 2020 we concluded that we should work on:

* Transparency,
* Innovation,
* Focus on Customer and Culture
* Branding & Evolvement.

Focus groups were organized and Engineers from different teams were included in sessions and brainstorming of what can be improved. After a few sessions, groups had brilliant ideas improvement suggestions:

![](https://196273960-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F1lnkko3mYUm7gAHgSAik%2Fuploads%2FzfMXRmdhPe6cv4Gz53S0%2FScreenshot%202021-10-04%20at%2013.43.54.png?alt=media\&token=67927c4b-6ece-43ce-b550-1a5a52013dc6)

Engineers voted for the best ideas and we implemented these top-voted items:

* Infobip tech [Medium](https://medium.com/infobipdev) and [dev.to](https://dev.to/infobipdev) account  (Culture Branding & Evolvement)
* [Engineering Insider](../community/engineering-insider) (Transparency)
* [Hack days](../community/hack-days) (Innovation)
* Quarterly Business Reviews (Transparency/Focus on Customer)
* Transparent inclusion of[ A-team](../how-we-code-and-deploy/engineering-enablers) in the top technical challenges in order to reuse solutions (Focus on customer)

#### Next steps? <a href="#ur-howweimproveourengineeringculture-nextsteps" id="ur-howweimproveourengineeringculture-nextsteps"></a>

Iterate, iterate and iterate. We follow up every year where we stand with our culture and improve together with you, engineers of Infobip. The process looks like this:

![](https://196273960-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F1lnkko3mYUm7gAHgSAik%2Fuploads%2FkbMOKRKk3PAwnWRQBC29%2FScreenshot%202021-10-04%20at%2014.27.18.png?alt=media\&token=1279c21b-8ab0-461b-9f46-14c0e9813458)

#### **Infobip People Survey**&#x20;

Since 2022 our Company culture and Values became part of Infobip People Survey, and there was no more need for separate survey on Engineering culture. Infobip People Survey measures different components and overall Employee engagement.&#x20;

<figure><img src="https://196273960-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F1lnkko3mYUm7gAHgSAik%2Fuploads%2Flwioy34myQHgXJjMZcGR%2FLinkedIn%20Cover%20image%20IPS%202022%20stats%20(2).png?alt=media&#x26;token=9a8b4d73-9bd2-492d-a70b-dd4bbf72b1cb" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Employee engagement represents the levels of enthusiasm and connection employees have with their organization. Studies have revealed a positive relationship between employee engagement and organizational results: productivity, employee retention, customer loyalty, and profitability. It's what many organizations and employees aspire to.​

The purpose of People Surveys is to gauge employee engagement and recognize the key factors that drive us, so we can continuously work on improving in the most impactful areas. We use Pulse Checks as quick check-ins to see how everyone is doing between the annual People Surveys.

<figure><img src="https://196273960-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F1lnkko3mYUm7gAHgSAik%2Fuploads%2FAfy08z08pmWCw9pkRUN4%2FLinkedIn%20Cover%20image%20IPS%202022%20stats%20(3).png?alt=media&#x26;token=a264d66a-72e1-4dd7-ba48-893838dc0124" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Statements included in the Culture and Values factor are:

* Our company values are not just words, it’s what we live every day
* I feel recognized for my behaviors, not just deliverables
* I am comfortable expressing my honest thoughts
* I’m not afraid to act and make mistakes, I’m encouraged to learn from them
* My manager leads by example (acts in line with Infobip's values and principles of work)
* My actions and decisions aim to deliver value for the customer (clients, employees, partners, etc.)

