Unleashing the Power of Digital: A Cultural Journey for Deutsche Telekom Digital Labs

Five years ago, at DTDL, a diverse group of us embarked on a shared mission: to create a dynamic and innovative culture.

Through brainstorming and teamwork, a team of passionate engineers crafted principles to cultivate a culture built on digital simplification & customer obsession, embraced a founder’s mindset, and practised honest accountability, all to build a culture that thrives on trust, innovation, and customer delight.

Guiding Our Journey: Our Purpose:

At the core of the cultural transformation lies with unwavering purpose of a company and our purpose statement is : Unleash the power of digital to simplify customers’ lives, create better customer experiences, and gain trust. This purpose serves as a guiding light, shaping every decision and action within DTDL.

Our Guardrails: The Values We Hold

Our values aren’t just words on a wall but the rocket fuel igniting our shared vision. Digital simplification, customer obsession, and a founder’s spirit are the beacons that guide us, the embers that spark innovation in every individual’s contribution.

• Digital Simplification: Embracing the transformative power of digital technology to enhance the lives of our customers.
• Customer Obsession: Demonstrating empathy, respect, openness, and diversity while prioritizing speed and reliability.
• Founder’s Mindset: Fostering a culture of risk-taking, innovation, problem-solving, curiosity, bravery, and an agile mindset.

Our Culture: The Rocketship to Success

The company’s culture is likened to a rocket ship. This culture is portrayed by a spirit of entrepreneurship, problem-solving, and the ability to think outside the box. We’re entrepreneurs at heart, tackling problems with bold ideas and always looking beyond the horizon. Here’s how we fuel this rocket ship:

Our Culture is by our People: Hiring the Best Talent Internationally:

Recognizing the unique strengths and perspectives of a diverse group of individuals focused on strategies to get the best of teams. The key takeaways include:

Attracting Top Talent:

• Highlight Technical Stack Innovation: Showcasing our cutting-edge open-source technologies and frameworks. Engineering blog posts, open-source contributions, and participation in relevant conferences to attract the right talent.
• Host Hackathons and Coding Challenges: We attract talent by organizing Tech MeetUps, hackathons and online coding challenges focused on your tech stack.
• Partner with Talent Platforms: Utilize specialized platforms connecting engineering talent with relevant opportunities. Engage with tech communities and universities.

Engaging New Hires:

• Pre-Boarding Tech Bootcamps: Welcoming new hires with immersive bootcamps introducing our tech stack, development practices, and team culture.
• Shadowing Days and Mentorship Programs: Pair new hires with experienced engineers for mentorship, firsthand project tasks, and exposure. Allocate Buddies, who can guide and help throughout the onboarding process.
• TechX Talks and DTUniversity: Fostering continuous learning with internal tech talks and informal discussions where engineers share their expertise and projects.

Enhancing International Collaboration:

• Teambuilding Activities: Facilitate cross-cultural connections through Informal catchups or cultural exchange sessions.
• Global Hackathons and Innovation Contests: Participating in global hackathons and Tech events to encourage collaboration across international teams focused on solving global challenges.

Embedding our company’s values and culture into every aspect of our activities is important. To ensure this, we’ve crafted a series of impactful rituals:

X Days: These are direct and indirect touchpoints that ensure continuous engagement between our customers and employees. They are pivotal moments that shape perspectives and interactions.

Demos Days and Internal Tech Fairs: These are dedicated days for teams to showcase their projects and innovations internally, fostering cross-pollination of ideas and technical skill sharing.

Bug Bash Extravaganza: Enabling a customer-obsessed culture by combining product demos with a “Bug Bash” day, encouraging our customers to identify and playfully collaborate with engineers on fixing bugs in a real-time, gamified environment.

Campaign Day Blitz: Engineers are on fire during a campaign day, eyes glued to a monster screen. Weeks of prep unleashed. The graph spikes, shattering the target. More than metrics, it’s the sweat, the passion. The room ignites! Victory tastes sweet, literally — cake awaits.

Tech Talent Exchange Programs: We have encouraged our engineers to spend time working with teams in different countries, gaining new perspectives and expanding their skill sets.

Measuring Pulse: Measuring the pulse of our team goes beyond traditional surveys. AI capabilities analyze E-NPS data and conduct virtual focus groups, allowing us to gather more minute feedback and quickly identify areas needing attention.

Monthly Product Townhalls: These gatherings serve as a platform for communication and alignment across teams, fostering unity and understanding.

Recognition TAvengers Program: Celebrating successes and achievements reinforces our culture of appreciation and motivates continued excellence.

Aligned OKRs: By implementing a standardized OKR framework across teams, we foster collaboration and ensure everyone works towards common goals.

Informal Catch-Ups: Creating spaces for informal interactions without leaders encourages casual connections and relationship-building among colleagues.

We’ve cracked the code on an electrifying engineering culture. No more silos, no more guesswork. Seamless collaboration, shared passion, and a relentless drive.

Every challenge is an opportunity to impress. Our engineers stand shoulder-to-shoulder, a force of nature ready to craft customer experiences that rewrite the rulebook.

Prepare to witness epic. Prepare to witness the groundbreaking. Prepare to witness DTDL engineering. This is where business success takes flight, powered by a culture that redefines what’s possible!