How to work with developers
Tami Reiss is the founder of The Product Leader Coach where she works with product leaders and teams to realize their potential by focusing on their strengths.
If you’re running a software company, and even if you aren’t, chances are you’ll be working with developers. How effectively and efficiently you are able to do so will extend your runway and let you sleep easier at night.
Developers are generally smart people who like to build things that solve problems. Understanding this basic generalization and keeping it in mind when working with them reminds you to respect their opinions and also to inspire them with what your goals are. When you start from a place of respecting your team, they are more prone to listen to you and work hard to achieve your vision.
Rules of thumb when giving developers instructions:
- Pictures are worth 3000 words. Show, don’t tell them what you want. It will save you a lot of headache and allow them to ask questions and provide valuable feedback.
- Explain the goal and expectations. When writing user stories or when describing something, be sure to include both what the end goal is (so that they can potentially suggest alternative routes) and the acceptance criteria (so that they know what you are expecting them to deliver).
- Leave room for creativity. Make sure that when delivering instructions that you leave time for questions and suggestions. When your developers feel ownership of the final product, they will work harder and will often deliver more than you anticipated.
Even if you follow the three rules above, there will still be bugs and features that don’t work as expected. Be careful when reporting bugs and make sure that the software in fact used to work a certain way and now it does not. Provide steps to reproduce the error and what the expected result is.
If the feature is being built for the first time and doesn’t match your specifications, that is not a bug. It is an rejection of the feature and an opportunity to see where the communication broke down. Remember it may be the way you communicated your desires, not only how they were interpreted.
When you keep the items above in mind, you’ll have a better relationship with your development team and accomplish more together.
Have any tips to share?
Hi! I’m Tami, the founder of The Product Leader Coach where I work with product leaders and teams to realize their potential by focusing on their strengths.
If you enjoyed this post, I am available for product leadership coaching or team training. Learn more about my services and upcoming children’s book.
