Software Engineers work best in blocks of time and groups of tasks….
Software Engineers work best in blocks of time and groups of tasks
You may want to read my statement as ‘Agile’… defined in different words, and from a different perspective!
Let’s set the stage:
In today’s world, software engineers are some of the most sought after and difficult to find professionals… I am talking of the good ones! They are also, as a result, some of the most expensive ones to replace.
Development is a stressful job and every business owner that depends on his tech team has the challenge of maximizing the productivity of his team while also ensuring that he does not burn his team out.
Keeping them motivated and energized over a marathon of constant sprints, while letting the project deadlines not slip… fanning their egos… never allowing focus to shift from product quality and business outcome… is challenging to say the least!
In this backdrop, it is extremely important that the right working methodology be adopted.
‘Agile’, to a business or marketing man really means the business/ product features that he can expect at the end of each sprint.
To a scrum master/ technology project manager, it is a mountain to climb over the next two weeks (assuming a 2 week sprint).
I have found that all this can come together by bringing the engineers into the main fold of delivering the expected business outcome over the next sprint in a manner where they are challenged with a small group of tasks within the set amount of time.
Commit the mistake of micromanaging them down to individual tasks, and you will have not only demoralized them, you will also have reduced the value of some of the smartest thinkers in your team down to task workers!
You can bring the best out of your engineers by:
- giving each individual, the ownership of a certain module or component
- letting his or her brilliance achieve the business outcome
- sitting all of them together, even if in virtual (geographically spread out) rooms,
- giving them the freedom to work in the manner they like,
- letting their creativity and ingenuity take charge…
- ensuring that they are held accountable to accomplishing the outcome within the agreed upon times….
This will get you your desired results and will enable constant process, quality and product improvement!
Do not micromanage! You cannot herd the big cats… not without casualties… not for too long!!!
