Despite the stereotypes about typical software developers, communication is everywhere in the IT workplace: from requirements discussions to advising each other on how to fix a bug faster and more effectively. It affects everything, starting with the overall environment and ending with how well we meet deadlines and resolve problems. The more open our communication is, the more productive we are. For that, we have different channels of verbal and written communication, apart from occasional talks with a neighboring teammate.
Meetings
Meetings are an effective way of discussing different development aspects and sharing experiences. They allow software creators to understand the big picture rather than only focus on a specific task. Depending on the development stage, the meetings can have different aims.
an initial meeting with discussion and explanation of projects’ requirements;
tech meeting where we choose technologies and tools;
planning meeting with the outline of each teammate responsibilities and deadlines to meet;
daily brief reports of the completed tasks;
the retrospective meeting helps to take a fresh look at the finished assignments and analyze what accelerated or disrupted the work.
Our project managers usually perform one meeting per day. For example, our PM Lina gathers developers together on a couch daily. They discuss the work done and in progress. Devs can say if they are stuck on something and obtain valuable advice from their teammates. Based on all this information, it is easier to plan further actions and keep the client updated on real progress.
Video Conferences.
In the mids of the pandemics, face-to-face meetings became a rare luxury, and video-calling apps replace them more with each day. However, online conferences were a thing long before that because of many software development companies throughout the whole world. Daily or weekly online meetings keep the product owners updated about all processes and allow developers to specify some of the requirements. It results in better and faster results. Wonder what software it is better to use? Let’s ask SapientPro clients about their experience!
Pepijn Middeldorp
“We keep in touch mainly through Telegram and track progress through Redmine. Our project manager works nonstop and is always ready to jump on a call when necessary”
Peter Topor
“We managed the project internally. We used Slack, Jira, Zoom, and GitLab”
Jasper Budel
“We used to Skype, but now we usually use Slack. Even though they’re far away, are in a different time zone, and speak a different language, they’re always available”
Group Chats
A great solution to drive small interactions between the company members and keep updated about the progress on different projects. Group chats are a place where every developer can refer for help and instantly obtain feedback concerning their task. They serve as a team-building channel, as often enough the whole team discusses recent news or shares some entertaining content. It glues people together in strong team relationships, which improves overall productivity.
How SapientPro uses group chats to improve communication?
1) We have separate chats for different projects. Here we discuss work, report progress, and get feedback from managers. For example, as a copywriter, I obtain different types of information from Copywriting, Social Media, and SEO chats. It helps to structuralize information and feel freer to refer for help in specific problems. If I don’t know what keywords are better to use, I’ll write straight to SEO chat instead of the common Copywriting. Same with developers and their group conversations.
2) We have one group chat for all company members: those working in the office and remote. It’s a place to communicate about organizational matters, discuss news, and share company updates. We also use this chat as a team-building channel, conducting different quests and sharing results there.
Presentations
Explain how something works and tell more about your project! Here are some slides and a tablet with text. Only don’t forget to keep eye contact with your audience from time to time. You need them to feel united. You need them to care about what you say.
Yes, presentations are a practical way of informing and influencing people. Only think of TED talks and how they’ve mastered the approach to public speaking. You can have it at your company, too! Presentation is a way of letting your employees express themself to other members of the company. It is a tool for conveying important information to all people working with you. Requirements presenting, training, brief instructions – all of it benefits if you add some presentation tools to it.
At SapientPro we had a tradition of holding presentations. Each week, before the quarantine, one team told all others about their projects, highlighting the challenges and insights they had. This way, we created a positive environment for our devs to share experiences.
Small talks
Kitchen. Three people in a queue for the coffee. An awkward silence and only the pouring water is heard. There’s only one way to fill in the blank space – by referring to small talk. So many of us hate it, yet so many feel unsoothing without it.
However, small talk is also one of the powerful communication channels. Once the strain of initiating a conversation fades, it helps co-workers to be on better terms with each other. Small talks are also a way of accomodating the newly recruited people in the company. It’s how we get to know each other and become a real team.
To improve communication in the workplace it is necessary to remember different boosting strategies that we will tell you about slightly below. Some of them we adopt intuitively. Others we learn the hard way – mostly because there often occur communication barriers.