A Look into the
P2S Incubator
Q & A W I T H P 2 S S A N D I E G O D I R E CTO R A N D
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER JAMES DEL MONACO
James Del Monaco has been an Incubator member
since the beginning. As an inaugural member,
James has seen the Incubator evolve from a small
mentoring group into multi-team, company-wide
idea workshop responsible for some of P2S’ best
new ideas and operational improvements. We spoke
to him about his role in this group, which ideas
have directly benefited clients on projects, and why
upgraded security for Internet of Things devices is
important.
Why did you join the P2S Incubator?
James Del Monaco: I was one of the first members
of the Incubator at its conception. This was in the
middle of the recession and we were looking to
develop ideas and services to improve our client
services and continue to grow in down towns and
beyond. The Incubator has continued to evolve since
starting as a small group 2011, and now includes an
Advisory Board consisting of senior level staff and
the Dev Team consisting of up-and-coming technical
staff. As one of the first members, I’ve seen first-
hand the great ideas that have been developed from
the Incubator. The value we get from it has been
enormous.
You’re part of the Incubator Advisory Board, what is
your role in that?
JDM: I’m one of the Advisory Board Co-Leads along
with Wes McKean. I’m also an Initiative Lead on one
of the Incubator’s 2019 initiatives, the Internet of
Things (IOT) Security Best Practices. My job as Co-
Lead is to organize the Advisory Board and help lead
meetings with the support of our outside liaison,
Ssusan Forte O’Neill. In the Advisory Board, we set
the agenda for the Incubator. We release problem
statements and look at the impact that ideas could
have. We work directly with Dev Team members to
take the ideas and initiatives and develop them into
a final product.
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How does an idea get developed into a new service
or business line?
JDM: After we have our initial brainstorming
meetings and get the initial feedback to continue
developing the idea, we typically have a one-month
evaluation period where we really consider whether
any particular idea is ready for development or if
it’s something we need to look at again next year or
maybe even further into the future. Once we have
agreed to move forward with an idea, it usually
takes a full Incubator session to fully develop,
which is a year. There have been times when a big
company initiative takes even longer.
Can you give an example of an idea that took
longer?
JDM: The P2S Project Details and P2S Master
Specifications standardization initiative was one
that took a little longer than usual. This project
involved creating a P2S specific standard template
that every team at P2S would use for projects across
every market we serve. We met with each team and
discussed needs with every market leader in the
company. There was a lot of company-wide cross-
pollination as we compiled content across teams
and consolidated this information with input from
various technical staff prior to approval, resulting in
developed standards that would work for every team
at the company. Keep in mind that teams sometimes
work on projects that are very different and can
have unique requirements than other projects or that
other teams don’t have. When we finally finished,
we had standards that are a great starting point
for every team, but that could be adapted to the
specific needs on individual projects. This has helped
to keep the quality of our deliverables consistent
across the firm.
How does the incubator benefit clients?
JDM: The Incubator makes P2S a better company.