How to work efficiently in a software development team

A developer can work quite well on his own and at his own pace, but it is very different when he has to work within a software development team. There are many professional skills that are put to the test working collaboratively since the person not only needs to have technical skills but also to have the ability to communicate assertively with the rest of their team.

When collaborating with other companies in the software development of their projects, we have found IT departments with several deficiencies that slow down the execution of projects a lot, which in the end has a direct impact on the productivity of both the base team and the technology partner.

How to work efficiently in a software development team

For this reason, many software development companies have standardized many of their processes with clients, as a way to adjust the quality of their projects and to regularize the relationship with their clients, to avoid difficulties and misunderstandings in the future. In fact, you as a client have to make sure that your partner has its standardized and documented processes, which is a guarantee of quality and productivity.

There are many ways to inject efficiency into the work of a software development team, ranging from technical to communication aspects that are important to address. Our experience has taught us that a software development team must:

Know how to listen

In a work team, NOBODY has the absolute truth in their hands. Nobody. Nobody works in isolation, each one of the developers needs the other partner to carry out the project and move forward. Just as you must communicate in a timely manner, it is also essential to know how to listen to your colleagues. It may be an underrated strategy, but it is highly effective in getting work to flow successfully.

A project can fail because, simply, a project manager did not listen to the recommendation of a Mid developer or because a superb Tech Lead did not want to take into account the alert that a junior developer gave him. Try to erase these attitudes from your performance.

Listening to the other is to internalize what they say, analyze it without premature judgment or predisposition, to understand their point of view and act accordingly. This practice allows a mutual and effective understanding, making the team relationship harmonious and proactive.

Be transparent

It means that all team members are clear about what the work will be like in each of the software development stages. It is not a matter of guessing which tasks will be carried out: from day 1 of the project, each engineer must know what the customer's expectations are, what they specifically want to do and what is the scope of each of the tasks.

When these aspects are not very clear to the team, the effort is dispersed, making it very easy to lose focus. This can lead to irreparable delays in the development of the project, wasting time and budget.

Analyze before drawing conclusions

Our years of experience in this industry have confirmed to us that no immediate conclusions can be drawn when a problem occurs. For example, if you are the CEO of a company, don't just rely on what your leadership team tells you. Talk to the developer who is on the project, review the documentation, watch the chats, go to the code and transparently check how things happened to create your own opinion and conclusion of what happened.

Project management software

Obviously developers are responsible for the success of the platforms they create, but when they have some failure or delay in deliveries, much is due to the disorganized execution of the tasks. Project management software is very useful to organize the entire flow.

In these platforms, in general, the project manager creates tickets by organizing the tasks, appointing those responsible and setting estimated times for each one. It is a very useful tool to monitor the progress of the tasks, evaluate the productivity of the team and attend to any blockage in a ticket. Some of the most used software are JIRA, Trello, among others.

Sprints

In the technology area there is always a lot of work. MUCH. We know it and we live it daily. Therefore, the main thing to keep our work days organized and smooth are sprints. It is a good strategy to divide the work evenly throughout the project. In each sprint, locate the tasks that the software development team will work on for the week. Try to set achievable goals, tasks that engineers can actually work on according to their available time.

It is true, there are many aspects that a software development team must evaluate in order for it to function efficiently and optimally. Although it is a process that goes in stages, it is important that these strategies are present in the workflow so that the project ends with more success than stressful and overwhelming moments.

Don't be afraid to start the digital transformation of your company. Rootstack has more than 10 years of experience supporting companies in various industries, implementing efficient and modern technological solutions. Contact us now!

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