Bridging the Gap Between Businesses and Developers
You are an entrepreneur. You have graduated from higher education, you have started your own business, and you´re leading a team of invdividuals working your way to success. You have a great understanding of business administration, management, human resources, marketing, and have even dabbled around in PR. You are what the world calls, a ¨well rounded business person¨. And although having knowledge and expertise in all of these fields is great there is one part that is lacking. One part that is keeping your business and team from crossing to the next step; basic knowledge and understanding of coding. You as a business person know that technology is without a doubt needed to run your business. Even if you are a digital nomad running your business from your laptop while sipping a mojito in Thailand this is an important area you need to understand.
What most entrepreneurs and business owners don´t know and underestimate is how important understanding basic programming can affect your business. The results of a new CA Technologies study which surveyed over 800 global businesses showed that 34 percent of the business respondents characterize their relationship with IT as combative, distrustful or siloed, and 31 percent on the IT side agree with that assessment.
“IT no longer provides a break-fix service, IT is driving business growth and it is now part of corporations’ DNA. But why is it that business leaders still perceive IT as a necessary evil and not a strategic partner?” asks Linh Ho, OpTier VP of Marketing.
Poor communication and lack of mutual understanding on both the developer and management side can easily derail even the most talented teams and projects. It’s vital that you and your company not only understand the relationship between your software developers and project managers but also have a basic understanding of coding so that your projects can run smoothly and understand what kinds of projects you can create for your business. It is very common for business owners and project managers to not understand the limitations of certain developers and have a miscommunication about project expectations. Software developers and project managers and business owners have very distinct roles and often times there’s a dotted line in the chain of command which can be a root cause of friction. Both are aligned on the output but most are not aligned on how to get there and why.
Include your Developer from Day One
A developer is hired to help solve a problem. That problem could be releasing a new product to increase market share, launch a new feature to improve customer satisfaction, upgrading a website, developing an integration for partner agreement. When a developer is responsible for programming part of the project, it can solve a lot of problems from the very beginning by involving them in the initial launch of the project. Keeping your developer involved in project management meetings and well connected with the team will help them understand the importance of the project timeline.
Understand Developer Wordloads
It’s the role of the project manager to sync up with their software development manager or most senior developer to understand what levels of experience the developers have, what language their coding in, how much time is typically spent on specific tasks and most importantly, what tools and/or services can a project manager provide to the software development team that would help them work more efficiently and effectively. a project manager needs to answer to the client or management, but they must also balance these expectations with the reality of the workload. By understanding the developer´s workload, it clears up a lot of assumptions and better prepares the project manager to address questions from stakeholders and the big guys in charge.
Bridging the Gap
At KeepCoding our goal is to bridge the gap between businesses and developers to help both sides reach their end goals smoother and faster. The need for entrepreneurs and managers to have a basic understanding of coding is beyond important; it´s crucial. With a basic understanding of coding, entreprenuers and project managers can clearly illustrate their expectations for their projects, budgets, and timeline. Having a basic understanding of coding and the work that developers do doesn't´t mean you need to know how to code. Developers have to translate a bunch of crazy ideas into hard reality. It costs a lot of money, and people are going to screw up regardless. Why not make the process easier by understanding what exactly the person you are hiring is doing? By having a basic understanding of coding it also helps you, the entrepreneur, and creator to better translate your ideas to the developer to develop the best product and service possible.
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