Our Approach to Rotation Between Developer Teams
Arvato logistics is affiliated with the global giant Bertelsmann group, based in Germany, with a turnover of approximately 18 billion euros and 120 thousand employees. It is a leading service provider offering supply chain, information technology and financial solutions to brands.
As the Arvato Türkiye team, we have been using software products we developed for 6 years to adapt to the dynamic environment in our country.
We have 4 different teams carrying out software development activities:
- Core: Central functions and mobile solutions Team
- WMS: Warehouse Management Team
- IMS: Integration Management Team
- DMS: Distribution Management Team
Our development teams’ top priority is to meet deadlines with results that meet the standards we set. For this, we expect our team members to not only acquire domain knowledge but also adapt to the technologies, tools and best practices used by the team.
The workload of teams may vary from time to time. Additionally, some tasks may need to be completed within specified short deadlines. In both scenarios, teams may temporarily need additional software developer resources. Efficient use of software developers is crucial for the company.
Sudden changes made based on need have the potential to cause more harm than good. The following items may negatively affect both development time and output quality.
- Lack of domain knowledge.
- Communication accidents between different team members.
- Lack of familiarity with the best practices of different teams.
Most importantly, developer morale, performance and loyalty to the company may decrease.
Since this need arises during uncertain periods, permanent resource increases cannot be made. In case of sudden need, due to the reasons mentioned above, either no changes are made between teams or we have to bear the consequences.
As a department, we agreed on the necessity of sharing tasks between software teams when necessary. We met with team members who could be rotated and agreed it was a win-win situation. Thanks to this approach, the company can react to extreme situations more efficiently and team members can increase their field knowledge and experience by working in different areas.
So far, we have implemented 2 different approaches by reaching an agreement with all parties. First of all, we made temporary assignments to a different team for 6 months. Then, we made temporary assignments to a different team on a sprint basis. In both approaches, the staff in rotation was included in all processes of the new team.
Instead of sending staff to different teams, we are now considering running separate sprints for different team tasks within the team.
In summary, we are constantly seeking to maximize staff development and department efficiency. By conducting experiments in a suitable environment, we are already clarifying the alternatives and processes to carry them out efficiently when needed.
We carried out all the applications after assessing the suitability of the business plans and obtaining agreement from the leaders and team members.
With the practices described here and similar ones, we aim to contribute to all our colleagues working in a positive environment and using valuable resources in the most effective way.
