It’s
no secret that every business stands on its people. This reliance is
based not only on how dedicated and professional they are but also on
how effectively they are managed.
Building
a software engineering team for a new project may be a frustrating
task, especially to those who have no experience in this area.
Being a large software development vendor whose success significantly depends on effective team management,
Intersog
offers a step-by-step guide on how to structure your IT department so
it will deliver paramount results. The guide also answers a few
frequently asked questions, such as:
-
How big should my team be?
-
What specialists do I need for a project?
-
How do I assign the roles correctly?
All
of the tips are time and experience proven. We hope they'll be helpful
for your business and development goals. So... it's reading time!
Step 1: Decide on the size of your crew
Intuitively,
it may seem that the rule “the more the better” suits every case
perfectly, but the reality is not that straightforward. It is true that
two developers will do the job faster than one, but ten developers will
never outperform five.
Why? The reasons are as follows:
The bigger the group is, the lesser is the
personal responsibility; it becomes more difficult to assess the
contribution of each team member. Feeling that their job is less likely
to be rewarded employees feel less engaged and are more exposed to
tempting ideas such as, “Eventually someone will have to do this job.
Let it not be me!”
Yeah,
we all know those teams who spend more time conferencing than actually
working. The major problem with large groups is not in the number of its
members but in the connections they have to maintain, simply to prevent
the process from becoming a disaster. The strength of the chain is in
the weakest link. And when there are too many links it is only a matter
of time before one of them fails, causing holdbacks and fierce arguments.
A
lot of distraction, accompanied by the feeling that the job is
meaningless, is a highly combustible mixture. This volatile situation is
bound to burn out your employees before they even get their first
paycheck. Unhappy workers are not the best performers.
All
the factors above, being combined eminently, lead to the well-known
Rigelmann effect. It shows the decrease of individual responsibility
with the growth of the group. The effect is also called “Social loafing”
which we believe describes it the best.
So,
to prevent your business from turning into a wicked blend of torture
and charity you might consider using the “two-pizza rule” introduced by
Jeff Bezos. It says that if you can't feed your team with two pizzas
it's too large. Taking into account people's varying appetites it's
better to clarify that the optimal team size is 5-7 members.
But what do you do if your team is much, much bigger? This is what step 2 is all about!
Step 2: Split your team into smaller groups
Many
technology powerhouses such as Uber, Facebook, or Google run teams of
hundreds of people and still manage to make them work like a Swiss
clock.
What they do is restructure this crowd into comfortable smaller teams.
That
helps a lot, but you still need to consider that increasing the total
number of teams also makes it more difficult to coordinate their
cooperation. You may need to hire another specialist to streamline the
communication. Otherwise, you're at risk of creating a situation where
two teams are hammering at the same task.
Step 3: Select the optimal team structure
To reach the ultimate team performance, every team member should understand his duties and scope of work.
Generally, there are two ways to organize your team using methods adopted by most companies.
This
team structure is rather popular among startups and small businesses
that can afford only one team for a project. It usually includes all
areas of expertise from engineers to designers and testers. This
approach allows you to keep communication easy and avoid many issues
associated with bigger teams. This structure also gives you more room to
experiment with approaches. Agile, Lean Scrum, Waterfall, and
Feature-driven development – all work well with small teams. As well, it
becomes easier to shift between them when needed.
For
bigger companies it's almost impossible to keep all processes up and
running within one large team. In that case, companies prefer to divide
their team into smaller goal-focused squads, commonly called chapters.
Each chapter includes all the specialists in a certain area (e.g.
designers) while these specialists may be assigned to separate projects.
Here's a quick comparison of these two set-ups:
| |
One Universal Team
|
Goal-Driven Squads
|
|
Company type
|
Startups and small businesses
|
Large companies
|
|
Project type
|
Small and rather simple projects
|
Complex projects that demand working on several tasks at the same time
|
|
Pros
|
Easy to manage
Plain structure
Straightforward communication
|
Each group understands its responsibilities
Ability to accomplish different tasks simultaneously
|
|
Cons
|
Sometimes the barrier between team member responsibilities is rather blurred
|
Harder to manage
Higher risk of communication issues
|
Yet,
the team will never be independent and effective if you don’t build it
and assign roles correctly. Our next tip is just about that!
Step 4: Choose the right specialists for your team
As
we've said before, splitting your team into smaller groups may be the
right choice... but only when done the right way. Putting 5-6 random
people together may be good for team-building but not for building a
good team.
Take
care to keep your crews balanced. In other words, make sure they
include all the experts needed for successful completion of the task.
Most commonly a team includes:
Of course, this list may vary depending on your needs and project specifics.
Step 5: Assign the roles
There
is a huge difference between being called a “team” and actually being a
team. To turn a group of people into a perpetual coding mobile you
might think about assigning some special roles.
Here are a few of the most commonly used:
Team Lead
First
of all, a Team Lead is not a Project Manager. While a PM usually cares
about the overall process running smoothly, the Team Lead ensures that
the team is cohesive and all the resources are available. The Team Lead
is also not the best coder (he can be but it's not a must). It should be
the person who is able to care about the team’s needs – a coach to some
extent.
Chief Architect
This
role is crucial for large teams with a branched structure. The
Architect ensures that everyone has a common understanding of the
product's vision and architecture as well as coordinates the
communication between teams.
Product Owner
This
person ensures that the team builds the right product. He's responsible
for planning and prioritizing. In other words, he plays the role of a
bridge between the team, stakeholders, and customers.
There
are plenty of other roles that can help you bring your team to the next
level. Describing all of them will require another article. In most
cases, the roles stated above are more than enough.
Sum up: There's always room for step 6, 7 and so on...
An
important thing to understand is that when all the teams are loaded,
your work doesn't end. To ensure the perfect productivity you always
need to stay involved in the process. Here are a few other factors you
should pay attention to as a manager:
A
psychological conformity of your team members is as important as their
expertise. Pay attention to how your workers treat each other. Solve
conflicts as soon as possible, encourage cooperation and do your best to
inspire your staff to outperforming themselves.
Every
business poses its own requirements on the development process. For
example, the situation may require you to shuffle your teams or change
the management approach. Don't be afraid to implement such changes.
Try
to assign employees to the projects that match their interests. You'll
be surprised at how productive, engaged, and proactive people may be.
About the Author:
Intersog.com
delivers high-performance software engineering and agile team staffing
solutions that help businesses be more successful tomorrow.
