Are your dev teams moving at the same pace?

When teams aren't aligned it can have significant repercussions. Approximately 97% of employees believe that a lack of alignment within a team impacts the outcome of a task or project. When your teams aren't synchronised, the damage can include burnout, missed deadlines, errors, and mismanagement.

Conversely, when your teams are aligned, communication, productivity, and engagement are enhanced. Plus, it can positively impact the wider organisation. Businesses with high employee engagement are 21% more profitable and grow profits up to three times faster than their competitors.

Although synchronising different teams takes more than teamwork. 

Feedback loops are vital for high-performing development teams, guiding continuous improvement. Structured formal feedback sessions provide a platform for in-depth discussions on project progress and individual contributions. Equally important are informal interactions, fostering a culture where insights flow freely through quick check-ins and peer-to-peer feedback. Any developer can tell you that formal code reviews and rubber duck debugging with coworkers are equally valid and important strategies for strong and successful code. 

Beyond improvement areas, feedback loops celebrate achievements, boosting team morale. Ensuring team members feel comfortable expressing concerns resolves issues and builds trust. Think of feedback as a continuous loop, evaluating processes, communication, and team dynamics for adaptability in the dynamic software development landscape.

A well-established feedback loop in software development is a powerful tool for steering the team towards success. It's about fostering an environment where feedback is sought and valued, creating an adaptive team ready to respond to changing project requirements and industry trends.

Cross-training is the backbone of team versatility, encouraging team members to acquire a broad understanding of different roles fosters flexibility. This ensures that work can seamlessly continue, even without specific team members, promoting resilience and adaptability within the team.

Investing in cross-training is an investment in a well-rounded team. By broadening skill sets, team members become interchangeable, ensuring that every team member remains invaluable without being irreplaceable, reducing inter-team dependencies, and enhancing overall productivity. Cross-training also nurtures a collaborative spirit, where individuals appreciate the intricacies of various roles, fostering a holistic approach to problem-solving.

Cross-training is a strategic initiative for future-proofing teams in the ever-evolving software development landscape. It equips them to navigate changing project requirements and industry demands, creating a dynamic and versatile workforce that thrives in a fast-paced environment.

In the ever-evolving landscape of software development, cybersecurity vigilance is paramount. Developers must maintain awareness of secure coding practices and data protection protocols. Integrating cybersecurity into the development lifecycle, often through a DevSecOps approach, ensures better protection and quicker resolution of potential security issues.

As teams move at the same pace, a secure methodology is crucial. Developers should adhere to secure coding practices, and the DevSecOps approach introduces security considerations early in the development lifecycle. This safeguards sensitive data and reinforces accountability and trust within the team.

Cybersecurity awareness is an ongoing commitment. Regular training on emerging threats and best practices ensures the team remains vigilant. With cybersecurity as a foundational element, teams can confidently navigate the digital landscape, providing a secure foundation for collaborative and efficient development.

We've established that alignment benefits everyone, from the team to the wider organisation. Next, we'll discuss how to encourage your teams to work at the same pace. 

1.      Enhance communication

As a team leader, you'll know the importance of clear communication. Luckily, plenty of apps and software are available to help create a clear and efficient workplace. Communication tools provide a place for teams to collaborate while providing help with document organisation. They are particularly effective when it comes to supporting remote working collaboration. Set clear expectations for how your teams should communicate, with what information, and how frequently. 

2.      Promote knowledge sharing

Employees can work faster and smarter with easy access to insights, resources, and expertise. Sharing knowledge increases productivity and empowers employees to do their jobs effectively and efficiently. Create a culture that encourages learning and cross-training by setting aside time for team members to teach and learn from each other. 

3.      Set realistic deadlines

Realistic deadlines can help your team stay on track and motivated as they move towards achieving their goal. Hitting a deadline is good for morale and provides a sense of achievement. However, unrealistic deadlines lead to mistakes and low-quality work. Considering whether the deadline can be achieved given the available resources and time is important. 

4. Use time-tracking tools and DevOps metrics

Consider introducing time-tracking software to augment the productivity and accountability within your team. Time-tracking tools offer a digital record of work hours, helping you evaluate the duration spent on various tasks, projects, and clients. Many apps and software are available to support your team in maintaining track of their work hours.

In addition to time-tracking tools, leveraging key DevOps metrics can be pivotal in your team's success. DevOps teams have traditionally considered the four significant DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) metrics for defining success:

(a) Deployment frequency: The regularity of successful releases to production by an organisation.

(b) Lead time for changes: The period it necessitates for a commit to successfully make its way into production.

(c) Change failure rate: The proportion of deployments failing in production.

(d) Time to restore service: The time an organisation takes to recover from a failure in production.

These DevOps metrics can equip your team with insights to anticipate, resolve, and prevent potential issues. DevOps metrics also enable a detailed understanding of your team's operations, allowing better decision-making and smoother operations. For a deeper understanding of harnessing these metrics, check these insightful resources here and here.

Integrating time-tracking tools and DevOps metrics into your team's routine enhances their capability to work with a more aligned, efficient, and productive approach.

5.      Embed alignment into your company culture

In the search for alignment, collaboration is critical. It should be at the heart of your organisation's culture, embedded in every action and intention. While it’s not an overnight fix, DevOps can bring about the cultural change required to place collaboration at the heart of an organisation.

6. Use Machine Learning and AI

AI and Machine Learning can improve processes, help decision-making, or offer predictive analytics to prevent potential issues, keeping the team aligned and moving at the same pace. GitLab’s new AI tool GitLab Duo is an example of this in action. 

7. Availability of continued professional and skills development

A dedicated effort to cultivate your teams' skills and knowledge emphasises improvement and adaptation—the key to staying nimble and relevant in the ever-evolving software development landscape. Encouraging your teams to engage in continuous learning allows them to grow with technology trends, stay abreast of the latest methodologies and practices, and consistently inject fresh ideas to enhance processes.

DevOps, the methodology that integrates development and operations and closes the gaps in the overarching software development lifecycle, revolves around collaboration. One of the ways it sparks collaboration is through cross-functional teams.

Cross-functional teams bring together individuals with different roles and expertise to work together to achieve a common goal. Team members with varying perspectives and backgrounds form a collective to problem-solve and achieve the goals of a project.

Cross-functional teams break down silos that occur within a traditional organisational structure. Ultimately, by creating cross-functional teams, you can improve speed and efficiency.

The influence of DevEx

Developers are pretty much the backbone of your entire operation; therefore, developer experience (DevEx) can make or break your operation. DevEx refers to different inputs that influence the effectiveness of software development, including the system, technology, process and culture.

As outlined in a recent study by McKinsey, a positive DevEx can have many benefits for organisations, such as improved employee attraction and retention, enhanced security, and increased developer productivity—all of which can influence or even determine your teams' speed. As you might expect, low DevEx can drive away top talent and reduce productivity, disrupting the pace and motivation of the rest of the team.

DevOps self-service

DevOps self-service helps break down silos so teams can work more efficiently. It can empower developers by giving them access to development resources, tools, and infrastructures. Plus, it eliminates bottlenecks resulting from dependency on the operations team and creates a consistent development speed.

Internal developer portals

A well-architected internal developer portal is a central information hub about API products, documentation, and microservices. It can help your developers get up to speed with access to resources, documentation, and tools, and it’s a vital tool for knowledge sharing. More crucially, it can help maintain a consistent development pace.

Keeping your teams in sync is crucial for achieving your goals, collaborating effectively, and avoiding misunderstandings. But you’re bound to face obstacles along the way. Being prepared to face these obstacles can help eliminate or lessen their disruption. 

1.      Teams work remotely

Keeping your remote teams in sync involves deploying tools and platforms that facilitate collaboration and information sharing. In remote software development, leveraging DevOps tools can significantly boost productivity and alignment.

These might include but are not limited to:

• Project management tools—DevOps tools like Jira are designed to help manage, track, and streamline tasks, deadlines, and dependencies.
• Version control systems—tools like Git can allow your teams to work collaboratively on code, accommodating multiple inputs and versions, allowing for easy integration of various project contributions.
• Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) tools—tools like GitLab, BitBucket Pipelines, GitHub Actions, and AWS CodePipeline. They help to automate the stages of app development, allowing for faster, smoother deployment to production.
• Communication tools—DevOps team communication leverages tools like Slack or Zoom, which provide chat, call, and video conference platforms. With their integrations and bots, these tools can also keep teams informed about the build status, deployments, and other notifications from the tools mentioned earlier, providing a comprehensive environment for seamless remote collaboration.

In the remote working scenario, these DevOps tools help speed up the development process and ensure efficient collaboration and effective information sharing among the team members.

2.      Teams with different skills, roles and expertise

When teams come together, different roles bring different experience levels and knowledge. One of the first steps to manage this effectively is to clarify roles and responsibilities within the team. Plus, you need to define deliverables and how they will be measured. This will help avoid confusion, duplication, or gaps in their work. You can use DevOps metrics, as mentioned above, or OKRs or SMART goals to define and communicate your roles and expectations.

3.      Team members lack accountability

A team member's lack of accountability can swiftly exacerbate into larger problems, negatively impacting team member engagement and team morale. Accountability is important for maintaining a smooth workflow and a significant factor when considering security.

Incorporating a secure methodology in software development as your teams move at the same pace is crucial. Here, the DevSecOps approach comes into play. DevSecOps introduces security considerations early into the development lifecycle, ensuring better protection and quicker resolution of potential security issues.

Accountability involves setting clear, measurable goals and expectations for yourself and your team. This breeds responsibility and incites each member to contribute meaningfully and securely to the tasks at hand. A secure work management platform can assist in keeping everyone on track with goals, progress, and also ensures the safe handling of sensitive data.

Promoting a culture of accountability ensures team members take ownership of their tasks, leading to better productivity, morale, and security in your operations. Consequentially, this helps keep your teams moving in unison and securely.

4.      Lack of collaboration and communication

The core principle of DevOps centres on enhancing collaboration and communication between traditionally separate teams, facilitating unified and efficient workflows in software development and IT operations. The integration enabled by DevOps tools, such as version control and CI/CD platforms, cultivates a collaborative approach to the construction of software and applications, helping to prevent miscommunication and potential inconsistencies. Further complemented by video conferencing and project management tools like Slack and Jira, DevOps forms an effective nucleus for communication, thereby bolstering the team's alignment and work synchronisation.

5.      Lack of motivation, trust and morale

Build trust, morale and motivation within your team by celebrating wins and acknowledging challenges. Share their achievements, thank them for a well-done job, or reward them when strenuous efforts pay off. You can acknowledge challenges by being honest, supportive and solution-oriented.

User feedback integration:
In software development, user feedback is a proactive strategy for product refinement, not merely a post-release formality. It guides user-centric excellence, ensuring products align with user expectations and fostering a feedback loop for continuous improvement. Regular feedback sessions provide valuable insights, enabling the team to adapt swiftly and deliver solutions that resonate with end-users. Integrating user insights aligns development efforts with the pulse of the user community, fostering a shared sense of purpose and driving product success.

Agile methodology is more than keeping teams and organisations adaptable; it can help teams make continuous improvements, respond to changing business needs and increase efficiency. 

Agile project management can be broken down further into different approaches, including Kanban and Scrum. Let's take a closer look at each approach.

Kanban

Kanban can be particularly useful if your team has unique requests from all over the organisation. As project requests are made, you can visualise them on the Kanban board and prioritise them. It optimises workflow by grouping tasks and removing obstacles. Plus, it helps you to predict and resolve bottlenecks before they impact progress.

Scrum

Alternatively, Scrum requires the team to have more control over the scope of their work. It emphasises agile values while providing clear guidelines for understanding the development process. You can structure your workflow and assign team members specific roles so they can complete projects in specific time frames. 

Implement your solution

Once you’ve researched and chosen a solution, the next step is to set out a strategy or roadmap. Whether you’re leveraging DevOps, enhancing DevEx or establishing self-service, there are three basic stages involved:

• Plan and prep to implement your solution
• Implementing and monitoring
• Review and analyse the success of your solution

A thoughtful implementation plan will save time and resources. Your plan will help you communicate your expectations, organise and avoid pitfalls. It should outline the goals, tasks, resources, timelines, and responsibilities.

Measure and evaluate the impact of the solution

The final step is to measure and evaluate the impact of your solution. This will help you determine if what you set out to achieve has been achieved and what benefits or drawbacks it has brought to your team and organisation. You can use DORA metrics, KPIs, surveys or interviews to measure and evaluate the solution's impact. Don’t forget to celebrate positive results with your teams to keep morale and motivation high.