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Software development teams are under increasing pressure to speed up their rate of productivity. Many employing companies or clients provide contracts dependent on the constant obtaining of performance-improving results.
This makes the management team responsible for finding alternative, varied and effective techniques of improving how group members perform individually and as a team.
As a group manager, you will need to motivate your SD team without overwhelming them or adding to their stress.
You will also need to help them expand their knowledge in methodologies relevant to the field, without micromanaging their routine. Here are a few strategies you will want to employ.
1. Setting Attainable Goals
Goals are necessary for all teams because they allow each member to have clear expectations of the tasks they will be expected to achieve.
The goals you set for your development team should be based on fair projections of each member’s productivity based on their abilities, expertise, and the resources they are being provided.
These goals should be communicated in an inclusive, feedback-seeking manner, with the emphasis being put on the attainability of set goals.
2. Creating A Streamlined Workflow
Workflows are highly important to the smooth running of operations, yet they are often overlooked by companies, leading to chaos in the division of work and the scheduling of deadlines. You will need to create a workflow that promotes team collaboration.
Efficiency can be maximized by removing unnecessary tasks and duties, as well as distractions and bureaucratic requirements. You will want to set out that workflow on a board, visible to the entire team as they work, to heighten their focus on the set tasks.
3. Offering Motivation And Incentives
Providing professionals with motivation and incentives to be productive and efficient isn’t too different from encouraging anyone else. Typically, the individual will seek a sense of personal and communal gain from achieving what is required of them.
In this case, your software developers will want to know that their careers will be enriched in the long run from the swift and effective completion of their projects.
You can use incentives such as expertise-boosting training — which they can later use to strengthen their resume — or the promise of management acknowledgment and rewards to push potential high achievers.
4. Providing Resources For Further Training
A fantastic way to improve your SD team’s performance is to constantly provide them with opportunities to expand their skill set.
You can do so either by offering team members the chance to take on new challenges or to enroll in training courses such as Agile Training. Such methodologies make for diversified methods of handling, breaking down, monitoring, and completing tasks to achieve greater efficiency.
5. Creating A Culture Of Mutual Support
A mutual support culture involves the group leader or manager delegating some of the duty of caring for the team’s performance to its members.
It involves creating an idea of individual responsibility, where every person is encouraged to support, motivate, and assist team members to the best of their ability, keeping the achievement of set goals in mind. This can create a sense of trust among employees, which can improve their ability to collaborate.
6. Outsourcing Software Development Consultants
Sometimes, an outside perspective is what you most need to identify necessary changes or potential obstacles to the achievement of your goals.
Hiring a software development consulting company will allow you to measure your workflow against the data gathered by the objective third party and establish whether you are operating at the level of efficiency your team ought to be capable of.
This external team can also shed new light on practices and methodologies that your team could effectively integrate.
7. Using Feedback Loops To Increase Productivity
Team leaders and managers are encouraged to give as much feedback to team members as possible. This helps them remain focused by establishing areas on which they could improve, and how to learn from their mistakes.
These loops should be done regularly, at least once every week, to establish what went right, and what is cause for caution and improvement, when reviewing each completed sprint.
Whether you choose to provide this feedback one on one (which provides a more personal and informal atmosphere) or in a group (which allows for members to engage with the feedback as a community), you will want to remain as encouraging and supportive as possible.
8. Rethinking Your Performance Reporting And Management Process
Annual performance reviews are the go-to performance assessment process for many companies. However, in the software development landscape, this approach can lead to teams being made to confront the past, rather than being steered in real-time towards positive improvements that may lead to the better end of year results.
Managers and group leaders should constantly check in with team members to assess how well each member is performing, whether some priorities ought to be reviewed, or provide course correction guidance when necessary.
