Scotiabank, reuse before build
Principal Engineer, Product, and Head of Portfolio and Product Financials, International Banking · 2020 to 2024
Situation
Technology ran 2,000 applications. New projects built new ones, because building was how a project got funded, and the bank's own systems weren't on the menu. Regrettable spend was my accountability.
What I did
Took the capability model into Finance's project approval process. Every business case had to show which existing application already served the capability, and why it couldn't be adopted. EVP-chaired product councils reviewed the portfolios. I coached the lighthouse products and wrote the adoption playbook with HR. From 2022, I also led the Scotiabank.com FinOps programme, restoring cloud capacity and cost control with the hosting vendors, and designed the Agile Ecosystem workspace model, technology's work-from-home and return-to-office strategy.
Result
Projects adopting an existing application rather than building rose from 20% to 46%. $83M of regrettable project cost avoided. Applications used in more than one country up 73%, to 401. 200 applications retired for $5.9M of P&L savings.
What it took
Putting the question into the one process every project has to pass through. Nobody argues with the capability map once it decides the money.