A good development team does not build itself and you need to put some effort into gathering and managing an effective software development team.
The question of how to build a software engineering team is a pressing one for chief technology officers (CTOs) across industries, and the answer might not be as simple as it would seem. Building a software development team is a multifaceted process that involves several key players as well as a number of developers. Each of these key players and developers is going to play their respective roles in your project, so you want to make the best picks.
Today, we will take a look at some of the most efficient ways you can build your software team from scratch and ensure its efficient functioning throughout the software development life cycle.
Understanding the Goals
Every team must have a clear goal and a justification for its very existence, to begin with. You don’t hire a team just because your competitors do – you hire software developers because you have an idea of a product that would help you outdo the competitors.
One of the ideas on how to set up the goals for the team is to align your Objectives and Key Results (OKR). The OKR approach allows you to build a neat hierarchy of goals within the company that goes down to the teams and to each individual employee.
Cycles of Aligning OKRs:
- Set a general business objective
- Team objectives: These are dictated by the business objectives
- Set individual objectives: Each team member has to contribute to the team objectives
- Focus on the essential tasks.
The process of aligning the OKRs requires synchronization on all four levels
Simply put, you have the company’s core objective that divides into team objectives. So, now your team has an objective, and thus, the reason to exist. From there, you can divide its goals into personal objectives for each individual while keeping your focus on the few key goals.
Defined Roles and Responsibilities
Now that you have established your business objectives and the results you are trying to achieve, you can start looking for people with the right expertise to help you achieve those objectives.
By defining the roles of each person on your team, you can not only choose the right experts but also give them a specific set of tasks. That is the best way to identify how many and what types of experts you need on the team and to assign the right tasks and responsibilities to each of them.
Choose the Right Recruitment Method
There are several different approaches to recruiting people and each of them has its value under different circumstances. If you already have a small team in place and need a couple of developers more, you can just hire them using job networks like LinkedIn. If you need a whole team and fast, it is better to partner with a custom software development agency that can just give you a whole team of experts.
The latter option is good for building a software team for your specific project. The main benefit here is that your software development partner will give you the exact people you need. Companies like Intersog focus on delivering dedicated teams of developers that match the requirements of your project. Partnership with a reliable development partner is the best and the fastest way to get your project going if you do not have a pre-existing development team in place.
Choose the Team Building Approach
Depending on their skills, developers usually fall into one of the two categories – generalists and specialists. Both have their pros and cons.
| Generalist | Specialist |
| Broad scope of responsibilities | In-depth knowledge |
| Extensive industry expertise | Specific skills |
| Broad skillset | High efficiency |
| High adaptability | Top-quality |
| Jacks of all trades – masters of none | Low flexibility |
Of course, you can gather a hybrid team of both types of developers if that’s what makes sense in the context of your project. If you partner with a reliable development partner though, you can get valuable insight on how to organize a software development team from them.
Proper Communication
Your team needs to know what they are working towards; nobody likes working blindfolded not knowing what is going on around them. Miscommunication or lack of communication is one of the primary reasons why software development projects fail.
That is exactly why you have to communicate your vision to the developers before you start the development process. That way, you’ll know everybody is on the same page. And that all of the involved parties have a clear vision of the project objective.
Communicate your vision clearly and select the people who have a clear understanding of what you want to achieve. With the right set of people on board, you would be able to accomplish all of your objectives. And you will be able to launch your project with maximum cost and time efficiency.
Wrap Up
Creating a software development team can be a daunting task but it might be a lot less painstaking if you manage to find the right people. After you hire the right people, there’s also a question of software development team organization, which is also integral for driving your project home.
Gathering a team that truly matches your requirements can be done in just a couple of steps if you pay close attention to their execution and follow the tips we offer in this article. The best way to accomplish that goal is to partner with experts who know exactly what they are doing. That way you can avoid redundant headaches and achieve the expected results faster and at a lower cost.