HP Innovation Journal Issue 07: Summer 2017 | Page 18
HR INNOVATION
HP Affinity Groups
HP’s novel human resources model for the 21 st century
cyber physical age
by C
handrakant D. Patel, HP Chief Engineer and Senior Fellow, HP;
Kristy Feldkamp, Global Head of Human Resources, Future Technology & Innovation, HP
H
P is one of the most multi-disciplinary printers — and apply data science to deliver
companies in the world. Years ago, value to our customers.
our engineers, transfixed by the
This multi-disciplinary technical com-
boiling phenomenon of water — bubble munity has uniquely positioned HP for the
formation, bubble departure, and vigor- 21 st century cyber-physical solutions that
ous boiling — tamed the bubble to create combine information sciences and physical
the ubiquitous HP Inkjet. The same pas- sciences to address socio-economic and eco-
sion for fundamentals runs in the veins of logical megatrends-driven challenges. These
today’s innovators
across all disciplines
at HP. As in the past,
User experience
our ink chemists are
steeped in funda-
Machine generated data, machine
mentals and spend
learning algorithms, controls
years developing in-
tellectual pr operty
Firmware
in ink formulation.
These formulations
Micro-technologies, materials,
have led to print-
chips, circuits, thermal
ers that print doc-
management reliability
uments and print
Art
on rigid surfaces as
3D Jet Fusion Printing (Drawing by Chandrakant Patel)
well. Indeed, HP’s 2D
printers will not only continue to print doc- solutions, from experiences that improve
uments but will also change our built envi- quality of life at home with HP’s computing
ronment — from wall and floor coverings to devices, to the “art to part” technical pipeline
furniture. Furthermore, the engineers at HP, in HP’s Jet Fusion 3D printers, have to be built
by applying the fundamentals of mechanics using multiple disciplines and technologies.
of solids, fluids and heat, have devised mod- Therefore, HP has applied even more em-
ular inkjet writing systems that can have phasis on developing the depth and breadth
meter-scale dimensions and are applied in of our technical talent and ensuring that the
various length scales in 2D and 3D printing. brightest minds tackle the most complex
Not to be outdone, the HP engineers in com- business challenges across the company. In
puting and information sciences have con- order to do this, one can’t be bound by orga-
nected millions of our devices — laptops to nizational constructs. Therefore, one of the
18 Innovation Journal · Issue 7 · Summer 2017
tenets of HP’s talent strategy is promoting
a growth mindset, where employees are
continuously learning and they consider the
corporation as their classroom. Because HP
enjoys a deep bench of technical expertise,
the employees themselves are the faculty.
Chief Engineer Patel leads by exam-
ple and is also the Chief Professor. He has
driven the creation
of affinity groups
in salient technical
topics with the in-
tent to learn, teach,
guide and strength-
en the company’s
key technical capa-
bilities. The journey
began by mapping
HP’s worldwide tech-
nical community into
capabilities in chips,
Part
printed circuits, ma-
terials, thermal man-
agement, data management, machine
learning, security, user experience, etc.
Exhaustive mapping was conducted for the
range of HP’s evolving business needs giv-
en the company’s current and future port-
folio. Next, starting at the grass roots level,
through novel techniques in informal self-or-
ganization, the HP worldwide affinity groups
in these technical capabilities were formed.
For brevity, the list of all the affinity groups
are not shown by name.