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They are constantly hovering over the project and asking questions such as "What is the estimated time for this?" This shows that they do not understand the software development process, and worse yet, they end up getting in your way.
This is not the kind of manager you want when you are leading a team that develops software. You can still set yourself and your team up to succeed, even if you don't have much technical knowledge. How can you manage software developers and lead a project to success?
Leading Software Teams Without Being A Techie
Leading developers is similar to leading any project team. It's not necessary to be a coder to understand the way your team members work. Even if you don't understand the technical aspects, such as architecture or programming, you can still gain an understanding of their roadblocks, tools, and best practices. If you work in an Agile environment, for example, and are an Agile expert, you can still manage Agile operations without having extensive IT knowledge.
Learn the warning signs of something going wrong. You should create a positive working environment and guide your employees without micromanaging.
Smart managers also know that each development team has its own set of unique challenges and needs. You've come to the right place if you want to know more about software project planning. We've put together these tips and tools to help you succeed, whether you're managing a team of software developers for the first time, improving your management skills, or learning to manage a team remotely.
How To Manage Software Development Teams With Project Management Software
Software development and project planning are closely related since developers work their way through the Software Development Life Cycle. Software project management is a simple process that outlines all the steps needed to reach a specific development or deployment goal. SDLC has a number of methodologies that are used to complete the individual projects.
All project management methodologies, whether your team is using Agile, Scrum, or Waterfall, are built on a framework. What better way is there to manage software development teams as they complete their future projects than using project management software? Project management software has five essential components that are vital to the success of a team.
- Expectations should be clearly defined and mapped out
Leading a team of software developers and producing high-quality software requires identifying and mapping requirements. By clearly defining the scope of development and the expected deliverables within a certain timeframe and storing these in a central location within your project software development management tool, you can ensure that developers are all on the same page.
By capturing the requirements in writing and committing them, you can help avoid scope creep or adding last-minute features to your workload.
- Assign tasks to developers according to their expertise
The list of tasks for your developers can be long. Prioritizing the workload of developers can be difficult when bugs need to be fixed, defects are discovered, or new code is needed.
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You can use project management software to assign tasks among team members. This will help you and your team stay organized. You and your team will be able to see what tasks are currently being completed or coming up. This allows you to pivot work and reassign it as necessary when there is an urgent request.
- Keep track of deadlines
What is the cost to your client or organization if the team fails to meet the deadline? You and your team are at risk if you miss deadlines. While these dates may not be firm commitments but rather estimates, they should still be monitored to ensure success.
You can communicate proactively to key stakeholders if your team is in the middle of a sprint and you know that the work will not be completed within the original deadline.
Project management software can also be used to keep on top of deadlines because all tasks are not assigned the same. This allows you to track multiple deadlines simultaneously and see how they compare.
- Share and distribute files from one location
You can become the best manager by sharing information, collaborating with others, and communicating effectively and quickly with your team. Project management software allows you to distribute information much more efficiently than sending email after email or using a chat tool to share critical information.
You can distill messages from management or non-technical groups to extract the information that your developers care about. Your team will have more time to work if you make the information easier to digest.
- Real-time updates
Most project management software provides real-time reports, such as time tracking and task completions, to show your team's output.
You can use detailed analytics to better understand your team's tasks and projects. This will help you identify any gaps in your resourcing and manage conflicts or deadlines.
How To Manage A Group Of Developers Who Have No Tech Experience
It may seem impossible to manage a group of developers who lack technical experience, but there are many non-technical management strategies that you can use.
No matter how technical you are, these six tips can help motivate and manage your team.
- Do not treat them as code monkeys
Your team will need time to solve problems and come up with new ideas. Give them time to think, and don't measure their performance based on how many lines they write of code each day. Are deadlines being met? How many defects have been created, discovered, and corrected? What do their peers think of their performance? Consider a combination of quality, quantity, and the ability to work with others.
- What motivates people?
Developers are often motivated by the desire to solve a challenging problem. Many developers are willing to spend their free time working on open-source projects that interest them or reflect their passions. You can motivate them to work harder if you get them personally involved in the project.
- Ask questions without fear
You shouldn't pretend to know what your team is doing. They'll probably use unfamiliar terminology. You should not hesitate to ask a member of your team to explain something you do not understand. If you want to ensure that everyone is on the same page, grab a pencil and paper and draw something.
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- What they need is what you should give them
The main thing is to have complete requirements and give precise feedback. To deliver high-quality software, you need to have the right requirements. Talk to as many people as possible to define usability and functionality. To uncover the real problems and needs of the project, ask "why." It's easy for developers not to know these details and produce something that isn't on target.
The feedback that is precise also appeals to developers. Instead of saying, "This needs faster," specify, "We need it to load in under one second." To make your expectations crystal clear, use numbers as often as possible.
- Protect them from what they do not know
Avoid distractions by tackling unnecessary meetings, office politics, and paperwork. Let your team concentrate on their work. Refuse to accept unrealistic and arbitrary ship dates or deadlines.
- Understanding your own strength is important
Although you may not be an expert in software development, your insight into the client's mind and what they want is invaluable. Help translate client goals into smaller tasks by breaking large projects down. Explain to clients the work of developers, including any errors, roadblocks, or opportunities.
Developers are no different from any other team. Don't micromanage; provide feedback regularly, give clear instructions, and clearly define roles and responsibilities.
How To Lead And Manage A Remote Team Of Developers
Over the years, the tech industry has introduced many progressive policies that allow employees to work from home. Recent research indicates that tech professionals view remote work as an important perk. This means that it's crucial to understand how to manage remote developers.
Here are five ways you can manage and lead a team of developers in a remote setting.
Hire A Team That You Can Trust
It's important to hire a remote team of developers you can trust. This is especially true when the developers are working remotely, and you can't keep an eye on their work or interactions.
It doesn't mean that they won't require supervision. You'll still need to provide them with the training and tools they need and then step aside. Be approachable so that they can express their concerns and create a relationship based on transparency and trust.
Your team will be more trusting if you establish clear project guidelines and processes at the start of each project. This way, they know what to expect. Documentation and a process-oriented approach are the basis for building a strong team. Make sure that the team is aware of the company's strategy and the alignment between each project and it. This will help to promote accountability and clarity.
Time Zones Overlap To Your Advantage
Communication between team members can be hindered by working across time zones. Plan recurring meetings for your team and urgent meetings at times when time zones overlap to maximize attendance.
A well-organized, planned schedule can improve the efficiency of your team and reduce the need to reach out to team members after their normal working hours.
Regular 1:1 Meetings And Team Meetings
It is easy to make sure your developers are getting the information they need and have the chance to ask questions by holding regular 1:1s or team meetings.
You need to find a balance between scheduling productive meetings and ensuring that your teams are able to concentrate on the tasks they have to do. Prepare agendas and find a schedule that suits you and your team.
Use Collaboration Tools
Software development is a complex process that requires communication and collaboration. But teams working remotely face a greater challenge. Remote team collaboration tools are available. Identify your team's needs and determine which tools will work best.
What is the importance of direct messaging, chat functionality, and other chat features? Do you require a file-sharing system? Are you looking for an application that allows you to create backlogs of requests?
Find out what your team requires to be able to work together at their best. Then, find a tool, or several tools, that will help you meet those needs.
Read More: Choosing Custom Software Development Company
Ask For Feedback Regularly And Provide It
Provide immediate feedback at the end of your development cycle to let team members know what worked well and how they can improve for the next cycle. Feedback is an important part of software development, which is why iterative improvements should be discussed and incorporated into the process.
Don't limit your feedback to just your team. Spend time collecting and analyzing feedback from your team to ensure a successful partnership.
Project Management Best Practices To Drive Successful Software Development
It may seem impossible to increase the success rate of a software implementation with so many failure factors. However, it is possible. You can reduce surprises and ensure projects are delivered on schedule by following certain software management best practices. Here are six best practices for project management to keep you on budget and on track.
Prioritize Communication And Partnership
Communication is crucial for the success of software development. 59% of U.S. employees say that communication is the biggest obstacle their team faces to achieve project success. It is also important to clearly define and allocate roles among team members. This will ensure that tasks are listed and allocated in a way that avoids chaos and redundant effort.
Documenting all information helps you to have access to the data that you need to make informed decisions and to learn from past challenges. This includes project steps, bottlenecks, and scope changes. Meetings between members of the team are important to keep everyone in the loop.
Leadership issues, such as those relating to business and organizations, should be identified with clarity and analyzed without emotion. Executive leaders say that lack of clarity in business goals is the main reason why projects fail. It is important to remove all organizational barriers, both inside and outside the organization. This will ensure that everyone works towards the same goal: project success.
Report Statuses Proactively And Transparently
Many organizations set unrealistic go-live dates, despite the limitations and realities of the project. The design phase may extend, but not the timeline. Avoiding downstream impacts can be avoided by monitoring project progress and identifying key milestones at the beginning of the project lifecycle. KPIs that only address past phases and not the readiness to approach project tasks and activities should not be accepted blindly.
It is important to monitor, identify and align project tasks in order to ensure a smooth flow of work throughout the organization. Understanding dependencies at the beginning of a project and tracking them through the entire project lifecycle will ensure that resources are allocated correctly, and the timeline for the project is met.
Plan Clearly
Proper planning is essential to successful software development. Set realistic expectations, and ensure that the team doesn't lose its focus during the project. The objective oversight of a project can be a powerful tool to overcome organizational obstacles and protect against failure's high costs. Continual assessment of the project's progress will help identify failure indicators and allow you to adjust expectations to meet milestones.
Prepare Yourself To Handle Change Management
Often, stakeholders in a project change their minds about the deliverables. Sometimes assumptions made before the project begins may not be valid. It would be necessary to alter the scope of the project or its deliverables. Accepting all changes blindly into a project can create additional risks, such as the possibility of going over budget or exceeding timelines.
Change management is, therefore, critical to the success of software development. By managing changes, you can make decisions about whether to accept changes now, at a later date or to reject them. It increases the likelihood of project success because there is no control over how changes are implemented. Resources can then be allocated appropriately, and deployment changes fully planned.
Support Critical Business Applications
Don't risk the success of your software development by putting at risk critical systems and business applications that are essential to day-to-day operations. It is important to understand how critical applications function and what you can do to prevent costly and disruptive failures. It can be difficult to maintain continuity in knowledge and support as people leave or IT support is outsourced.
It is, therefore, vital to provide end-to-end software support for critical applications, where failure can result in costly downtimes and unhappy customers. It's important to monitor system availability and proactively troubleshoot problems, as well as enable timely system enhancements and upgrades to ensure that the most critical applications are operating at their peak performance.
Standard Risk Management Techniques
Each project has different levels of risk. You should always have a team of risk responders who are the first to react when problems arise and keep the project on track. A specific plan can be created by identifying risks during the planning phase, determining their probability and impact on the project, and calculating the impact.
Even medium-risk events can occur, and they should also be evaluated in order to determine if proactive management is required. Low-level risks can be seen as assumptions. Although there is a risk, a positive outcome seems more likely. Risk assessments should be performed as soon as a project is launched to identify any new risks that may need to be managed.
Implementing A Robust Project Methodology For Software Development Success
It is surprising that in a world of software innovation, successful projects are only 26%. To improve project success rates, you must implement a robust methodology that allows you to overcome traditional barriers. It allows you to identify and resolve strategic, tactical, and intangible problems, as well as manage human factors before they become impossible. While following best practices like frequent communication, proactive status reporting, planning, and change management, timely support of critical business applications, and standard risk management can't guarantee success; they do increase the chances.
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Use Cisin To Manage Your Development Team
As a project manager, you can monitor resources and the progress of your projects in cisin while your entire team is busy building new software products, fixing bugs, and incorporating customer feedback.
Cisin streamlines custom software project management with its request forms, Kanban charts, and Gantt Charts to help Agile planning and a sprint plan template to kick-start every iteration. cisin makes it easier than ever to communicate with your teammates.
The cisin and Jira sync is a two-way system that allows managers to monitor work status and adjust priorities. They can also send feedback to developers via cisin. Developers are able to respond to these requests without having to leave Jira.
