IT Contracting - Top Tips For Leading Teams of Developers

IT Contracting - Top Tips For Leading Teams of Developers

Being a great IT contractor doesn't always mean you will be a good leader of IT contractors. Technical and managerial skills are not identical. Here are some top tips to help you lead teams of IT developers successfully.Meet the requirements:Once you have established the set of system requirements make sure you only build those, nothing more and nothing less. Very often you find developers who like to 'guess what the users want' and 'build things that are 'very cool'. I'm sure you know the type. Try not to fall into this trap.Instead try to build a culture where creativity and suggestions are actively encouraged, but ensure that those suggestions are passed to the requirements manager.How would your developers feel if they went back to a garage to pick up their car after a basic service, to find that the garage had decided to upgrade the engine to a new one, and that it would cost 5 times as much and not be ready for another week?!Manage Risk Early:Establish the project risks, monitor them, and eliminate them. This is the role of the team leader. Building a piece of software is like trying to rob a bank. You don't want to get caught by the cops. The cops in a software project are all the risks that will stop you achieving your goal. These risks will range across the board from requirements risk, to environment risks, to technical risk.Note down all the project risks, and make sure everyone in the team is aware of them. Mitigate them as soon as possible.Keep it simple - no "future proofing":Keep the design of your code simple. Build only what you need right now, and avoid 'future proofing'. Many developers like to try and design the most flexible solution to a problem that will future proof them should the user ask for a, b, c and d etc. This is a bad idea.Complex flexible solutions take much longer to write, are hard to debug, are expensive to maintain, and the user hasn't even asked for them!If the users ask for a Mini, build a Mini. Don't build a Mini with a Rolls Royce under the bonnet. Keep it basic and build the simplest solution that meets the requirements.Feedback, Feedback, Feedback:The majority of money spent on software projects is spent after they have been released, and are spent on changes and enhancements to the software.One common reason is poor requirements gathering, resulting in the developers not really finding out what the users what they want until something is built that they can use.Focus on short iterations and getting software released as early as possible, to obtain continuous feedback from the user. It mitigates the large risk of building the incorrect thing - which is the largest risk most projects face.Know your team:Get to know your team. Every software developer has different capabilities. The productivity rate of one developer could be up to ten times quicker than another. Some will tell you the task will take 'another 5 minutes', when in fact the reality is a week. Some like to build a Rolls Royce when only a Mini is required. Some will write code that has more defects than others do, and isn't fit for release. Others will spend too much time focusing on fixing minor bugs rather than moving onto the major ones. Some developers don't test their work. And so on.Know your team. If you don't know your team then their 'surprises' will present a risk to your deadlines.Time Estimates:Many developers do not include development, build, integration, debugging and testing into their estimations.To avoid ty surprises at deadline dates ensure the developers give you time scales that include the whole life cycle. Write down their estimates and get buy in from them. Use them to feed into subsequent estimates. Help them to become much better at providing you with estimates.Make sure estimates from developers include the whole lifecycle.Manage Your Problems:Make sure you keep track of all issues and project risks, and also track your defects. Prioritise them and resolve them accordingly. If you don't formally log them, they will get lost and you run the risk of not resolving some important issues raised.And finally:Remember that developers are human beings, not robots. They need to be cared for and looked after. Don't work them too hard all the time, and when you do, allow them to rest. Stand up for your team, and they will stand up for you and want to do a good job for you.

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