Engineer Roundtable
The developers talked about Cocone’s developers, from the atmosphere of development to the type of people the development team is looking for.
What I want from the company as a developer
Ishiwatari: Quickly, what is it that Cocone developers are looking for in a company?
L.S.: (1) Whether they let me try new things, (2) whether I can feel growth, (3) whether I can participate in service, and (4) whether I can do research and improve my skills.
Ishiwatari: So let me ask you right away if that is in Cocone!
K.G.: I joined the company in August 2015. At my previous company, we received specifications decided by the planner, and we developed the product as if we were making parts for a factory. At Cocone, I participate from the planning stage. I am now on the Pokecolo development team, and I always have a chance to make suggestions for improvements to the application or to propose services, or rather, I am always asked for my opinions, and it is an environment where it is easy to make suggestions.
Ishiwatari: What are you doing now?
K.G.: I am in charge of server development for Pokecolo.
Ishiwatari: Are you having fun?
K.G.: It’s a lot of fun! It’s an atmosphere where it’s easy to make suggestions to my boss.
H.E: Indeed, Cocone has many very capable developers, but everyone is easy to ask questions. They are busy, but they always answer in detail.
Ishiwatari: Who do you often ask questions to?
H.E: CTO, Director of Development, Director of New Teams. ・・・・
Ishiwatari: Indeed, they all look very busy! (Laughter)
H.E.: Yes, but I hear it often. I sometimes feel that it is very difficult to develop products in accordance with the plan. But there is no atmosphere of ” I can’t do it. I want to do it, but I don’t know how to do it. Please tell me how to do it. They will politely tell me, “There is a way to do it this way. However, I am not obliged to do it that way.
Ishiwatari: I hear that H.E. is working hard and growing! What kind of time do you think a developer grows? I’ve heard that being onsite is the best time to grow, since the cutting edge of development is onsite, and new coding is constantly being done onsite.
H.E.: It is a repetition of thinking that you can’t do something, having someone teach you, and then becoming able to do it as a result. I certainly feel that I am growing while learning.
K.G.: Yeah, yeah!
Team-to-team interaction
Ishiwatari: What about interactions among teams and information exchange among developers?
L.S.: We are always talking about our work, and recently we have been holding a conference once every two weeks with all the developers to help shy developers improve their communication skills and practice polishing their words.
Ishiwatari: That thing that is making a big fuss in the evening, isn’t it?
L.S: Everyone is shy, so with a little help from alcohol. I practice speaking about my favorite topic rhythmically within the time limit. Of course, if I give a presentation by myself, I gain strength, but I also learn a lot by watching other people’s presentations. Developers who are not native Japanese speakers participate equally.
New Challenges
L.S: When it comes to growth, Cocone is always trying new things. For example, the app with Disney was originally a project that came about because of Pokecolo’s concept and management experience, but in fact, we did not make the specifications exactly the same as Pokecolo’s. We believe that it is the action that creates the “cute” and “heart-throb” sensibilities, so we added a technology called “Spine” that is not used in Pokecolo. We are also experimenting with the most advanced server configuration, so it is taking a lot of time.
Ishiwata: Disney My Little Dolls (released summer 2016). The company ordered the developer to finish this in six months. (Laughter)
You have a six-month limit, but you are trying something new.
A.T.: We originally started with an English site for PCs; I was a PC developer. But when the smartphone wave came, we bought books and studied from scratch to get here. Cocone and Cocone’s development team have a dynamic spirit of challenge and speed that makes them drop everything and start smartphone development.
Pokecolo was also released in 2013, but at that time, there was no other service that linked Flash and exported animation information to allow vector rendering on a smartphone. Some developer built it from scratch. On the surface, it is a cute application for girls, but behind the scenes, it is supported by hard development technology.
DISNEY MY LITTLE DOLL also uses Spine, but the developer in charge of the project has broken through many difficulties that Spine could not overcome with his high technical skills. I am the client, but it is very stimulating and motivating for me to be able to work while closely observing the work of the developers who created the product from scratch and their ability to break through.
L.H.: I am also in charge of a new service team, which is another area that I had not done before at Cocone. I was put in charge of this project because I thought, “Let’s just try it and give it a go” (laughs). Since we’re going through the trouble, I’m trying to use the new swift instead of the Objective-C I’ve been working with. It’s a new language, so I don’t know what kind of bugs there might be, but I’m still taking on the challenge.
Ishiwatari: What, you did that, even L.H.’s team has a release date for ・・・・?
L.H.: Yes, yes. (Laughter)
I’m taking the liberty of trying something new. We recognize that there is a time risk. Cocone doesn’t force us to do anything new, but there is a culture where developers are always willing to try new things. And at Cocone, we are always allowed to try new things.
Ishiwatari: We are also working on our original language service, but this time we have established a language education institute with a professor from Keio University. Our learning methods are based on the results of experiments conducted at junior high schools, and we have even written a paper on the subject.
L.S: Of course, I am also firmly interested in AI. At Pokecolo, we are conducting research using machine learning in an industry-academia cooperative study with a university, and we are almost ready to use it in our services.
The atmosphere at Cocone from the developer’s point of view
Ishiwata: K.M., you also joined us in January 2016, but with the NHN group (*Note NHN Japan Corporation, now LINE Corporation). How is the atmosphere at Cocone?
K.M.: We have been allowed to grow. The billing team is involved in all the services. We are attached to all the teams, but there is a culture of helping each other even when we are busy doing our own thing. Billing is the part of the company that is supposed to be working without problems, so there are some tough parts, but we are helped.
Ishiwatari: How did the culture of not saying ” I can’t do it “, helping each other, always challenging each other, etc. come about?
L.S: In the end, it’s the people. I think we each trust and respect each other strongly.
Ishiwatari: How can such a group of people come together?
L.S: Because we have gathered those people and hired people who are the same way. I guess because we have hired people who are interested in our services and have a strong desire to grow, and we have grown together.
Ishiwatari: Do you want such people to join you in the future?
L.S: Yes. I don’t think this is the place for people who want to create code with fixed specifications in an unobtrusive manner. We have a culture where everyone thinks about services together, so we welcome people who are interested in services!
Mai Ishiwatari
He registered as a lawyer in 2002 and joined Cocone in 2014 as a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Officer. After serving in the back office, he became General Manager of Pokecolo and Little Doll Business Division before becoming Corporate COO in November 2016.
L.S.
Joined the company in 2010
Currently Director of Development, primarily responsible for directing all aspects of Pokecolo development.
L.H.
Joined the company in 2010
After working as a language application developer, messenger service team leader, and Pokecolo development manager, he is currently a new service team leader, responsible for the November 2016 release of ” SUCRESIA ” service.
A.T.
Joined the company in 2015
He is in charge of POKEKORO clients. While having a tea party with the planner every morning, she is struggling to make Pokecolo prettier and easier to use based on communication.
H.E.
Joined the company in 2013
He is in charge of PokeCoro client. Recently, he has taken on the implementation of IP collaborations and is growing rapidly.
K.G.
Joined the company in 2015.
He is in charge of the Pokecolo server. Recently, she has been working on new projects along with service planning. He is a smiling young man who is always attentive to the people around him.
K.M.
Joined the company in 2016.
The first founding NHN Japan team of Cocone’s founders, who joined the company in 2016 and is solely responsible for billing all of Cocone’s services.
