3 Ideas to Make Quality the Priority for Your Dev Team

Your software developers are very much responsible for your bread and butter. Basically, a dev team will help you fulfill your business dreams or crush them to pieces. In order for the first to happen, it’s essential to understand the challenging circumstances that developers face to help them with overcoming them.

With this in mind, we’re going to discuss the major issues that are very common with dev teams and suggest three ways of inspiring your team to constantly do their best!

Why being a developer is tough

Before we delve deeper into how to motivate developers, let’s take a brief look at why developers are somewhat infamous for getting bored or why the term “developer imposter syndrome” has become so common.

Firstly, many developers often get the feeling they aren’t good enough. With so many frequent changes in their area of expertise, it’s easy to get distracted and feel as if you don’t know anything. This surely is demotivating — why bother if you’re never going to be at the top of the game since it’s impossible to “know everything“? It’s tough to keep up with all the latest updates and breakthroughs. Consequently, developers start slacking since they think they’ll never be good enough.

Secondly, focusing on endless lines of code can be exhausting, and devs are prone to burnout. 83% of software developers suffer from burnout, which always reflects on product quality. This needn’t be a consequence of harsh deadlines but rather a signal of poor management.

So, let’s see what actions you can take to protect and inspire your team of developers.

First piece of advice: create a productive environment

To ensure you have high-quality software that beats the competition, it’s not enough to just gather the best developers — you need to make your company the best workplace for them as well.

Creating a productive environment, in a nutshell, refers to a list of actions that help devs maintain their focus and do their best. Here are the most important techniques you can employ to keep your developers happy:

• Create an optimal working space —

Cubicles or separate offices for a single person are far from a productive environment for a developer. Try to have an open space that devs can use just for themselves and provide space for relaxation, as well as sufficient fuel (snacks and drinks). If your team is remote, try to help them equip their home offices providing them with the devices and tools they need to do their work. You can even help them get ergonomic chairs and even some decor to liven their workspaces!

• Define the workflow —

Developers don’t like surprises. Just think of the nature of their job: the whole point is to make something uniform. It’s essential to set clear goals and expectations and that each team member has their own specific task.

• Give regular praise and support —

Developers can be engaged in long and tiring projects, so the significant results aren’t always visible till the end. Make sure to celebrate the small victories to boost the team’s morale.

• Support personal time off —

There are, and always will be, tight deadlines, but no dev should feel pressured to sacrifice their well-deserved vacation days just to meet another company’s goal. Such pressure can easily lead to burnout, not just for one dev but the whole team.

Creating a productive environment is something you’ll be doing daily, so if you aren’t satisfied with the current situation, you should know it will take some time for the quality of work to increase.

Second piece of advice: invest in new technology

Every single employee loves seeing the proof that their department is getting attention. To ensure your team of devs makes the top quality software, you need to get them out of the grind and give them a professional challenge. For example, testing a new tool you are considering investing in is always a good idea. There are several reasons for this.

First, it brings a breath of fresh air into their routine and definitely confirms there is enough time to meet the deadline. Secondly, you’re making a statement about how valuable the dev team is to you by letting their opinion be crucial in deciding on the company’s big purchase.

Finally, they’ll be happy they had the chance to test their skills and enrich their CV with extra expertise.

Third piece of advice: give devs their freedom

Yes, you read it right. Give your developers the autonomy they need, and the revenue figures will go sky-high.

Now, this doesn’t mean that your team of devs will get permission to delay the deadlines, buy any tool they want, or constantly reject proposed tasks. There will always be a structure and set goals, but you should allow them to figure out how to achieve them on their own. Too much micromanagement can ruin any team.

The freedom to make decisions comes in many forms, and it’s intertwined with the above tips. For instance, you can ask them to decide which open space they want for their office, let them order the decorations, and vote on the equipment. Ask the team to prepare a report on what help they need with the work or what improvements they would like to see. Let them organize the workload according to their personal preferences within the team while still respecting task priority.

Autonomy impacts teams in so many positive ways. Eventually, your devs will be more motivated with better performance results.

To make quality the priority, you’ll have to motivate your developers in more ways than one. You’ll have to do it daily, but provided you do it right, your highly motivated developer team will deliver the best results you could ever ask for.