How Johnson & Johnson is Innovating its Organizational Infrastructure

At DPHARM 2024, Johnson & Johnson’s representatives, Gordon Gregory III, and Laszlo Vasko, unveiled their transformative “Team of Teams” approach to clinical development. This innovative strategy, supported by advanced automation and integrated workflows, aims to revolutionize the development of oncology compounds. By addressing the inefficiencies of traditional communication methods, Johnson & Johnson seeks to enhance collaboration, streamline processes, and accelerate the delivery of new therapies. The presentation highlighted the potential of this approach to improve clinical trial efficiency and foster a culture of innovation and engagement within the organization.

The Team of Teams Concept

Johnson & Johnson’s “Team of Teams” concept is a strategic response to the complexities and inefficiencies inherent in traditional clinical development processes. The approach addresses the challenges posed by the highly matrixed nature of drug development, which involves numerous functions, teams, partners, and suppliers inside and outside the organization. Traditional electronic methods of communication, such as emails and file repositories, often lead to bottlenecks, excessive meetings, and fragmented information sharing. Laszlo Vasko, Senior Director at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicines, explained that the “Team of Teams” framework is not based on any singular organizational strategy or innovation like AI. Instead, it focuses on enabling therapy development teams to collaborate, communicate, and make decisions more effectively and efficiently. This approach aims to transcend the limitations of organizational silos and individual capabilities by fostering a culture of open collaboration.

The goal is to democratize knowledge, streamline workflows, and simplify work processes, allowing teams to work asynchronously and in real-time. Johnson & Johnson seeks to improve how new therapies are delivered by focusing on opportunities that are not tied to organizational structure or individual capabilities. This involves enhancing collaboration with external partners, managing complex trackers, and enabling teams to be effective from day one.

Technological Backbone: Slack Enterprise Grid

The technological backbone of Johnson & Johnson’s “Team of Teams” approach is the Slack Enterprise Grid, a robust multi-channel collaboration platform. This platform, provided by Salesforce, has been customized to meet the specific needs of Johnson & Johnson, ensuring secure and compliant communication across the organization. Vasko highlighted that Slack’s granular security capabilities allow the company to bring in external partners, including competitive partners, to collaborate seamlessly on drug development projects. The implementation of Slack Enterprise Grid has enabled Johnson & Johnson to support its matrix organizational model, which is essential for the complex nature of drug development. The platform facilitates the integration of critical systems and automates workflows, empowering teams to build and utilize this automation themselves.

This integration extends to working with external partners, ensuring all stakeholders are aligned and informed throughout development. The platform’s ability to support the matrix organizational model is crucial for the complex nature of drug development, allowing for seamless collaboration and communication. By integrating key systems and automating workflows, Slack Enterprise Grid empowers teams to build and utilize these automations themselves. The platform’s secure and compliant communication capabilities ensure that all stakeholders, including external partners, are aligned and informed throughout the development process.

Real-World Applications and Measured Value

Gordon Gregory, a Global Trial Leader in Oncology at Johnson & Johnson, provided detailed examples of how the “Team of Teams” approach is applied in real-world applications. The Cross-Functional Trial Team (CFTT) channel is one of the most significant applications. This channel serves as the central hub for all communication and collaboration related to a clinical trial. Gregory explained that the CFTT channel consolidates all critical information, such as team roles, critical systems, and documents, into a single, accessible location. This setup allows team members to quickly get up to speed and make informed decisions without the need for constant meetings or email exchanges. The CFTT channel facilitates asynchronous decision-making, enabling teams to make decisions outside of scheduled meetings. This is achieved through templates and automation, which streamline standard processes like collecting agenda items and sharing meeting minutes.

As a result, the trial teams have exceeded their study startup milestones, demonstrating the effectiveness of this collaborative approach. Another example of the “Team of Teams” approach is the data cleaning channel. This channel brings together central teams, local teams, and data managers to collaborate on data-cleaning efforts. The channel has significantly reduced outstanding queries and data cleaning timelines by standardizing and automating the sharing of updates and reports. Some trials have even been able to pull in their data cleaning milestones by one to two months, highlighting the tangible benefits of this transparent and collaborative work environment. These real-world applications demonstrate the potential of the “Team of Teams” approach to transform clinical development and accelerate timelines.

Automation and Innovation

Automation is a cornerstone of Johnson & Johnson’s “Team of Teams” approach, driving efficiency and innovation across clinical trials. Gregory shared an example of how automation has transformed the management of FAQs within clinical trials. Previously, questions were shared via email, leading to a cumbersome process of manually updating FAQ logs. With the automated system, questions are submitted through a designed form, triaged by trial managers, and escalated to relevant functions using simple emoji-based triggers. Once answered, the system automatically updates the FAQ log, eliminating the need for manual intervention. This automation streamlines the process and encourages team members to search for existing answers before submitting new questions.

By reducing the volume of repetitive questions, the team can focus on more critical tasks, further enhancing productivity. The intentional design of these automated processes reflects Johnson & Johnson’s commitment to fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement. Employees are more motivated and invested in their work by empowering teams to automate and innovate their workflows. This shift towards more human-centric work practices has increased job satisfaction and a greater sense of ownership among employees. The cultural transformation brought about by the “Team of Teams” approach is expected to impact Johnson & Johnson’s portfolio delivery significantly.

Summary

In conclusion, Johnson & Johnson’s “Team of Teams” approach, supported by Slack Enterprise Grid, represents a significant advancement in clinical development. By fostering open collaboration and leveraging automation, the company is poised to accelerate the delivery of new therapies, particularly in the oncology sector. The presentation highlighted the potential for this model to transform the way clinical trials are conducted and the overall organizational culture. This innovative approach is expected to significantly impact Johnson & Johnson’s portfolio delivery, benefiting patients and the organization.