If you are finding that your software developers are struggling to complete projects on time or seem disconnected, they may be in a rut. Here are 5 tips to re-energize your tech teams.
By Tony Teshara
I'll let you in on a dirty little secret - your development team probably hates you. Well, maybe not you personally, but they definitely feel disdain for the long Friday nights, the failed production launch, or the lack of communication between teams. In other words, they’re no longer engaged.
Company leaders are quickly realizing that with a global workforce and remotely distributed teams, the choice of which organization developers work at has grown exponentially. One of the biggest reasons for turnover is that professionals feel disengaged from their work, and are simply “going through the motions”. More than ever, developers want to feel like their contributions are meaningful and not wasted motion.
Here are 5 tips to make sure your development team stays engaged.
Reorganize Teams For Engaged Development Teams
One of the simplest things to try is mixing up existing team structures. Many teams work together on projects for months or even years, often writing similar code they’ve already developed, working in familiar team roles, and reporting to the same managers. This can create a sense of complacency, which could begin to dull drive and initiative.
By shuffling around resources, developers get an opportunity to try exciting new things they never worked on before as well as providing fresh perspectives. If a backend developer is struggling to overcome UX concepts, placing them with the UX team for a short spell exposes them to front-end development and allows them to see how a project comes together from a UX perspective. The idea isn’t to turn your back-end developer into a UX master, but to broaden their thinking in how to approach their development with fresh eyes and a greater appreciation for the project as a whole.
Another benefit of mixing up teams is allowing developers to work with new managers on different squads. Collaborating with new team leads can spark creativity, fresh thinking, and reinvigorate energy levels that probably dropped over the years. Another great benefit is the exposure it gives both the manager and developer, opening up opportunities for future opportunities or even promotions not previously available.
Create More Buy-In For Engaged Development Teams
A growing trend for developers is a desire to be included on the business case for the projects they are working on. By understanding the “why” of a project, it gives them an emotional element to help engage creativity and problem-solving skills that help them tackle the “how” more effectively.
Let’s say your business has a use case that hasn’t clearly been defined for the development team. All they understand is the beginning/end dates and deliverable milestones. Without being included in the underlying objectives, a sense of urgency and lack of purpose can easily fall by the wayside. Making developers part of the solution creates a mission for them, allowing them to find creative solutions for a successful outcome.
Let Them Help Decide
Most developers find they are excluded from early-stage project decision making and yet are asked to deliver quality results without any input on how to best do it. Developers hate this because it forces them into a direction that they may not agree with, creating massive frustration. They know there might be a better way but are saddled with no choice on the approach.
Involving your developers in the decision making process gives a sense of pride and ownership, letting them showcase their ability among their peers, creating more creativity and collaboration.
Solo Projects
Developers come in all shapes and sizes, which means their personalities run the gamut as well. Many love working as part of a team, contributing ideas regularly across various channels, while others prefer to work independently with very little interaction from others.
While unit economics typically dictate how projects are distributed across development teams, take advantage of small satellite projects that can be completed independently by solo developers. This allows them comfort to work in a style that suits them while still completing smaller tasks that may be piling up in your backlog. Just make sure they understand parameters and that they are still expected to follow company expectations involving communication and deliverables.
Create a Think Tank
Another way to help developers resist boredom is bringing the entire team together for quarterly idea sharing. These meetings can be held regularly in either a shared space in the building or digitally. The purpose is for the cross-pollination of ideas between teams that might not normally interact.
The great thing about these types of meetings is that the teams will stoke the fires of each other’s creativity such that they’ll come away with a new spark and ideas they wouldn’t have otherwise thought of.
Conclusion
It doesn’t take a huge initiative to make sure your development team is engaged. Even if you feel you cannot implement one of the above solutions, start with regular check-ins with your team to see how they feel emotionally about the quality of their work and how they fit in. More and more developers want feedback outside their annual review period, and by making it regular, you increase communication and their comfort with you.
By Handle Editorial Team
Founded in 2019, Handle is a BS free staffing and recruiting firm who has placed over 350 candidates in 6 countries into various North American companies. Our goal is changing outdated recruiting norms by shining a light on hiring practices, trends, and industry news in a frank, no-nonsense matter.
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