Is your tech team up to scratch?
Whether your business operates in the field of retail, manufacturing or marketing, you doubtless have a tech team of sorts. From those who ensure the hardware is whirring away properly and that your software is all working together (rather than operating disparately), to specialist developers and coders who ensure your products and services are at the cutting edge of the market requirement, they’re important individuals in a business.
As a result, you’ll want to ensure your team is working in perfect harmony. But, this won’t happen spontaneously – you’ll need to make a concerted effort to ensure you’re getting the best from your tech team. Here are a few things you need to assess in order to determine whether or not yours is up to scratch…
Do they have the right knowledge and experience?
This might seem like an obvious point to make, but double check you actually have the knowledge you need in-house. Technology moves fast and, unless you’re hiring from a diverse pool, you may find that there are serious knowledge gaps within your company. When making recruitment decisions, draw candidates from a multitude of backgrounds, hire for middle to senior positions as well as entry-level roles, and consider finding those who specialize in particular fields rather than constantly taking on generalists. You may have to pay for more for their knowledge and experience, but you’ll have a stronger team for it.
Do you have a lead architect?
Imagine your team is tasked with building a skyscraper, rather than a piece of software (for example). You couldn’t hope to build something that’s structurally sound and great to look at without a great lead architect leading the way, bringing the vision and inspiring the rest of the team to bring its best to the table. The same principle applies to your tech team: find someone who’s charismatic with a creative brain, but most importantly, ensure they’re someone who’d consider themselves a perfectionist who cares about the quality of what’s being made above all else.
Do you have a great team manager?
As well as someone with buckets of passion and vision, you need someone who’s reliable, methodical and organized. Ensure you have team manager who has their finger on the pulse at all times, who knows your products and services inside out, and is also a great people manager. This team member is someone you’re likely to want to introduce to clients to secure major contracts, as they know every nook and cranny of your product while having a knack for talking to people – so they’re invaluable both inside and outside the building.
Is there good communication?
An ability to communicate is important for any team in a business, not just tech teams. But, tech teams face a unique challenge of having to move at a rapid pace to keep up with new languages, practices and ongoing releases, for example. They also need to explain themselves to less tech-savvy colleagues. As a result, your team needs to be filled with strong communicators (or at least have the means to facilitate communication among those who find it harder than others). That’s because there’s simply too much to know for each member to know everything. But, more importantly, no-one is correct all of the time, and a different perspective can sometimes highlight a better solution.
Those are just a few things to think about when you’re considering if your tech team is up to scratch. And if it looks like it isn’t? Perhaps it’s time to make some changes that will improve overall business success.