Bridging silos in software development: How Tech Chapters and Tech Items can help your team scale.
Are you facing growth challenges in your software development team?
As a software developer, team leader, engineering manager, product manager, or CTO, have you ever felt the sting of duplicated efforts, communication breakdowns, and missed opportunities?
Do you see your teams working in silos, often unaware of each other’s progress and innovations?
Have you witnessed the frustration of solving the same problem multiple times across different teams?
These are common issues in growing software development companies, and they can stifle innovation and efficiency.
Welcome to the first article in our series on
, where we delve into the concepts and practices that can help software development teams overcome these growth challenges.Here, we introduce Tech Chapters and Tech Items — two powerful strategies designed to enhance collaboration, streamline development processes, and foster a culture of continuous improvement.
Hi, we are Ubiwhere, and we help cities solve their issues with digital tools.
At
, we have experienced these challenges firsthand. As a pioneering company driving digital transformation and technological innovation across various sectors, we have continuously sought ways to enhance efficiency and collaboration (both internally and with other stakeholders).Our journey led us to develop Tech Items — modular software/hardware artefacts that serve as the backbone of our product ecosystem. Tech Items enhance interoperability and scalability, ensuring our solutions seamlessly integrate and expand across different projects and domains.
Growth challenges in software development
As a software development company grows, the number of projects and customers increases, and the scope of developments can diverge. Teams may work in different domains or for various customers, using similar technologies but for distinct use cases. This can lead to a frustrating reality where team members unknowingly “reinvent the wheel,” facing similar challenges and doubling efforts unless they communicate and collaborate effectively.
In the early stages of a software development company, communication can be straightforward, and collaboration can flow naturally. Teams are small, there may only be a few projects running, and everyone is (or should be) on the same page. However, as the company grows, these idyllic conditions often give way to communication breakdowns and isolated teams working on similar problems without awareness of each other’s efforts. This outcome can lead to duplicated work, inefficiencies, and missed opportunities for innovation.
For sure, you know the “ancient” adage of software development, “Don’t Repeat Yourself” (DRY), as a guiding principle aimed at reducing redundancy. But how does this principle hold up when the organisation scales and multiple teams start working on similar challenges for different stakeholders and products?
The Duplication Problem
Consider this scenario:
Different teams are tasked with retrieving, processing, and normalising weather observation data from a weather provider.
A city can use this data to monitor the weather conditions in its urban environment; a tourism agency can use it to plan a big event, an agricultural organisation to optimise its crop irrigation schedules, or even a logistics firm to ensure safe delivery routes.
Each team independently develops solutions to store this data in a database and create an API to serve it to various user-facing applications. While each team might solve the problem efficiently, the overall (duplicated) effort has led to wasted resources and inconsistencies.
Introducing Tech Chapters and Tech Items
To combat these challenges, forward-thinking organisations should adopt innovative strategies such as Tech Chapters and Tech Items. These concepts foster cross-team collaboration and ensure that knowledge and resources are shared effectively across the company.
Tech Chapters are structured groups within the organisation focused on specific technical domains. These chapters consist of members from various teams who share knowledge, best practices, and solutions related to their domain. For instance, a Tech Chapter dedicated to backend development can share experiences about data processing and create standardised methods for retrieving, normalising, and storing data, which can be used by all teams, ensuring consistency and efficiency.
Tech Items takes this further by providing reusable, atomic software components that can be shared across the organisation. These items are developed in a shared repository and are designed to be used as libraries, plugins, tools, or components that comply with specific requirements and common structures. This modular approach accelerates product development and fosters collaboration by providing teams with ready-to-use solutions that can be easily integrated into their projects.
We have faced these challenges at
, with our teams working in silos, often solving the same problems in different ways. Motivated by the need to streamline our development processes and enhance interoperability, we gathered dispersed teams under different Tech Chapters (Backend, Frontend, IT & Operations and Quality Assurance) and introduced the concept of Tech Items.Each Tech Item is meticulously crafted, including technical and non-technical documentation, software architecture, and integration potential. They are packaged for ease of deployment using tools like Docker and Terraform, ensuring they are readily accessible and implementable across various projects.
Anatomy of a Tech Item
To truly appreciate the power of a Tech Item, we need to understand its components. Every Tech Item needs to have the following key elements:
- Technical documentation: comprehensive guides and specifications detailing the Tech Item’s functionality, usage, and integration points to ensure that developers can quickly understand and implement the component within their projects.
- Non-technical documentation: user-friendly manuals and overviews that provide context and instructions for non-developers to make them accessible to product managers, project managers, and other stakeholders who need to understand their role and benefits.
- Software architecture: a well-defined structure that ensures one can understand how the Tech Item works and how it can be easily integrated into existing workflows and systems.
To sum up, a Tech Item is a modular software or hardware artefact designed to integrate seamlessly with other Tech Items or external software and hardware products, capable of implementing specific feature sets of a larger product.
Each Tech Item shall typically provide a standard and well-documented interface or protocol, such as an API (e.g. REST, GraphQL, gRPC) or a service (e.g., MQTT, AMQP, or even an SDK), to facilitate integration with other systems. An example of a Tech Item available as an open-source tool is this library for Django solutions that enables REST APIs built with Python and Django to be protected with API Keys: uw-api-keys.
Tech Items and Market Dynamics
Tech Items are not just internal tools; they play a significant role in
‘s market strategy. By creating a hierarchical market positioning, we can offer tailored solutions that meet our clients’ and partners’ needs. Through our DNS Testbed, we extend this capability to support SMEs and startups’ digital transformation and growth.Empowering SMEs and Startups: the DNS Testbed provides a robust platform for smaller companies to leverage @Ubiwhere‘s Tech Items. By using these building blocks, SMEs and startups can overcome technical barriers, accelerate product development, and drive innovation with reduced costs and time.
Product families: Tech Items are grouped into families that address broad market needs. For example, a family of Tech Items might focus on data processing, offering solutions for retrieval, normalisation, storage, and API creation. These families ensure that companies of all sizes can find the right tools to meet their needs.
Custom technical specifications: we provide customised versions of Tech Items to meet unique client requirements. This flexibility allows Ubiwhere to cater to various projects and industries. In the DNS Testbed, SMEs and startups can access tailored solutions that precisely fit their developmental and operational needs.
Sales and Consultation Process: Tech Items help
demonstrate its capabilities and provide concrete examples of how the solutions can address the customers’ challenges. This approach builds trust and showcases the practical benefits of adopting modular, reusable components. Through the DNS Testbed, we can offer hands-on support and expert consultation to help smaller companies fully realise the potential of these technologies.We are committed to fostering innovation and growth among SMEs and startups, ensuring they can access the tools and expertise needed to thrive in a competitive market. This initiative strengthens our market position and contributes to a vibrant, innovative ecosystem where companies of all sizes can succeed.
Stay tuned for more insights!
Please stay connected with us since this article is just the beginning.
In our upcoming publications, we will explore Tech Items’ practical applications, success stories, and detailed components to share insights on how they can transform your development processes, drive innovation, and streamline operations.
Follow us on Medium and social media to ensure you get all our future articles. We will cover a range of topics, including:
- Detailed case studies showcasing the real-world impact of Tech Items.
- Lessons learned and best practices for integrating Tech Items into your existing workflows.
- Insights from our team members on overcoming the common challenges in digital transformation.
By following us, you will gain valuable knowledge that can help you navigate the complexities of software development and open silos aimed at promoting a culture of continuous improvement to push your team forward.
What about you?
Join the conversation: please share your thoughts, experiences, and questions about Tech Items and Tech Chapters. I would love to hear from you!
How have you tackled the challenges of growth and collaboration in your organisation or team?
Let’s foster a community dialogue promoting knowledge sharing and continuous improvement in software development.
Together, we can grow faster! 🚀
For those interested in learning more or engaging with
’s team directly, we welcome you to reach out and explore the exciting possibilities of Tech Items and their transformative potential.
