Research &
Development
Overview
Research & Development (R&D;) is the digital software and product development business of Bloomberg; the majority of all the functions and analytical programs launched by Bloomberg originate here.
Fundamentally, Bloomberg provides software as a service—as an information delivery system for our clients. Since R&D; develops Bloomberg software, we’re a recognized profit center of the organization. The impact of our work is immediate. Many experienced hires join Bloomberg and deploy major products within three months.
R&D; maintains a legacy of technological firsts. We built the functionality that runs the Bloomberg Professional® service—the largest private network in the world. We introduced cloud computing onto the Bloomberg network in the 1980s. We were among the world’s first email providers. As recent as 2006, we beat Google to the market with Natural Language Processing (or "auto-complete").
But all these advancements pale in comparison to what we’re achieving today. You’ll see it when you step through our doors: we’re advancing the next generation of Bloomberg.
Who thrives here?
- Evolutionary minds – people who can think and achieve incrementally. We believe it’s evolution, not revolution, that gets things done.
- Service-oriented minds – we develop solutions for clients through a service-oriented approach. Tailored enhancements and custom solutions are embraced.
- Agile minds – our people respond to new and unexpected challenges. If someone gave five qualities in a series, we could give the last two qualities and finish the thought.
Case Study: New Launchpad
The New Launchpad was a major Bloomberg product release—comprising the parallel efforts of R&D;, Financial Products, Global Data, the Chief Technology Office and more.
Project Origins
The original Launchpad was a breakout function that gave users the ability to arrange news, data and graphs in easy-to-access windows. The challenge for users? Each window was an isolated feed; windows could not interact or co-communicate. In addition, the functionality was keystroke-based and did not support drag & drop.
The Challenge
In the third quarter of 2009, R&D; was given the task to create a New Launchpad program.
The Results
The New Launchpad delivers all the rich content of Bloomberg in a customizable, persistent desktop. Through the New Launchpad’s cutting-edge interface, users can design a personalized view of the markets.
Released to wide acclaim as a dashboard with dynamic capability, the New Launchpad added intuitive sizing and drag & drop functionality. This brought the power of Bloomberg to the surface, connecting robust analytics, cross-asset market monitors and up-to-the-second news and pricing.
The New Launchpad’s Instant Bloomberg feature even lets users share live charts, empowering an entire group to seamlessly co-edit and interact.
The Metrics
The New Launchpad was released through a uniquely Sales-based program. After R&D; developed the function, Sales put the product on display in one-on-one client sessions. Since the function featured groundbreaking new capabilities, clients were not permitted to upgrade by themselves.
Sales required a minimum one-hour tutorial to train clients on optimal use. Such an investment on the part of the client and our Sales force was unprecedented. In the ensuing Sales-client frenzy, more than 175,000 Bloomberg Professional® clients upgraded to the New Launchpad.
To learn more, watch the Launchpad video here.
Bloomberg Designer
In R&D;, we’ve built our own best-in-class IDE designer. This investment has empowered our developers to make changes to applications intra-day. If you are familiar with industry standards like Eclipse or Visual Studio, you’ll be impressed by our designer’s capabilities.
Our IDE frees our developers to make anything from granular to holistic changes with incredible speed. It provides the flexibility to collaborate and work on the same coding challenge from multiple locations.
What’s more, we can test and deploy to one user, to one firm, to one city, etc. We can regulate the release of enhancements, making progressive revisions until the product is set for full deployment.
What we’ve done is dramatically shorten the timeline from conception to delivery. You hear about "Just in Time" delivery—we’re JIT because our designer empowers us to create solutions instantly.
Iterative Process
R&D; is credited with developing the iterative process that defines the speed and agility of Bloomberg. We champion one of the most aggressive software release cycles, equipping Bloomberg with the means to deliver for any client intra-day.
Company-wide, we develop rapidly and launch iteratively. Turnaround times are renowned. Our "small a" agile development process accentuates the rollout of quick, short deliverables. Our emphasis is on getting it done: putting product to market and improving through feedback and use.
In R&D;, we actively pursue big ideas, but we also recognize that you don’t go from Point A to Point B in one swoop. The majority of our enhancements occur through a series of decisive steps. It’s "solutions first," not "me first," which involves maturity in coding, ideation and development. Results-oriented, we identify challenges and then build solutions. Not the other way around.
"Small a" agile (and not "capital A" Agile), we’re not married to one development methodology. We believe that challenges are too complex for any one methodology to pre-plan a full process. Many methodologies are dogmatic. For us, it’s about being pragmatic. We don’t get caught up in philosophy; we simply deliver—ahead of schedule.
Potential Career Path
