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How to Make Software Engineers More Productive
Software development has come a long way in just a few years. Ever since Agile methodology became popular back in 2001, the process of delivering working software has improved and now we have numerous solutions and apps available for everyday use. However, as technology progresses and produces innovations and new approaches, software development changes as well. Software engineers constantly improve and learn new things so that they can remain productive and efficient at what they do best.
Still, organizational leaders cannot simply expect their software engineers to improve on their own volition. You have to motivate them and help them along if you want to leverage their fullest potential.
New technologies and new trends bring the necessity for new solutions and adaptive software that will remain relevant. For that, you need skilled engineers that know how to build software the right way. With that in mind, here are a few trends for 2020 that will help make your software engineers more productive.
Create a unique environment
The key to successful software development is collaboration and communication between IT departments. Software engineers need to share ideas and leverage teamwork if you want them to be productive and efficient.
Therefore, create a unique environment that will foster collaboration and communication as well as help empower engineers to continuously improve.
For example, you should try implementing the aforementioned Agile methodology. Agile, as a set of principles and practices, encourages organizations to create unique environments where their development teams will thrive.
For instance, this is mentioned in one of the principles of the Agile manifesto: “Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.”
Agile methodology fosters this approach and empowers employees to further motivate them. You can use any framework, such as Scrum, Kanban and XP to create such an environment for your engineers.
Provide software engineers with the right resources to make them more productive
Productivity, in many ways, depends on what you have to work with. Obsolete software and technology won’t boost productivity, performance or efficiency at all. Instead, it will hinder everything. Talk to your engineers and see what they need. Don’t neglect their feedback because they can help you improve the process of software development.
For example, consider implementing the DevOps approach. Basically, DevOps is a set of practices and techniques to improve software development by emphasizing the collaboration between the development departments (i.e. software engineers) and operations (i.e. IT department), hence the name DevOps.
This approach focuses on leveraging proper technology, automating processes, managing both planned and unplanned work, faster time to market and many more factors. If you provide your teams with the right means and the right resources, you can expect them to become more productive when they have reliable technology and practices to work with.
Provide additional training and education
As mentioned before, technology continues to evolve and software development continues to change as well. New programming languages, new processes, new tools and new platforms emerge every year. Creating new software is not like it used to be.
You have to have consumer demands and expectations in mind and you simply must adapt to the new trends. In addition, you can’t expect from software engineers to keep up with all of this on their own.
Therefore, provide your engineers with additional training and education so that you can ensure their productivity and efficiency. Here are a few things you can do.
- Organize seminars, training courses and classes.
- Provide engineers with an option to learn a new language.
- Help them hone their skills or learn new ones.
- Provide means for engineers to obtain the necessary certification.
- Bring in an expert to coach others.
Tend to their wellbeing
Software engineers are still human. They are not programmed machines and they can’t keep producing the best results forever. Therefore, if you want to ensure their productivity, as well as that they remain motivated, you’ll have to tend to their wellbeing.
Organizational leaders need to come up with a solid strategy that will allow their software engineers to work efficiently and prevent any burnouts. If you overwork your engineers, the entire project will suffer. For example, here are a few things you can do to help your engineers be more productive.
- Introduce flexible work hours.
- Allow remote work.
- Allow employees to make their own decisions.
- Provide more free days, sick leave days and vacation days.
- Incentivize and reward good work.
- Appreciate what your engineers do and accomplish.
2020 is here and the market is more dynamic than ever. Moreover, the need for reliable software isn’t fading in the slights. That’s why you need to keep your software engineers motivated and productive so that you can meet the market demand and ensure success for your organization.
About the author:
Jacob Wilson is a business consultant, and an organizational psychologist, based in Brisbane. Passionate about marketing, social networks, and business in general. In his spare time, he writes a lot about new business strategies and digital marketing for Bizzmark blog.
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