One of the most important goals of a software development organization is to improve the efficiency of its team. For many years of research experience in the field of teamwork management, many nuances have shown themselves. For instance, a new member integration process is an important part of a team working. Therefore, in this article, we will focus on this as the starting point for the team. It is obvious that effective teamwork is beneficial for the entire company as a whole. After all, this will increase productivity and reduce costs, because there will be fewer edits in projects.
Initial Knowledge
In the first days of work, a beginner may get confused by the amount of information that he needs to remember. And the hardest part about this is remembering organizational processes. Therefore, the member integration process should include familiarity with the structure of the team and this structure should be clear and understandable. You can read about this in the article – How to Structure Your Software Development Team for Success.
In addition, in the early days, a beginner must understand the purpose of the company and its strategy. After all, the absence of this item can create misunderstandings between team members. Some of the team members may think that the purpose of the company’s work is to maximize income. And this, in team member eyes, may even be due to poor, but fast work. But maximizing income at the expense of a company’s bad reputation may not be your company’s purpose. The same misunderstandings can be with the strategic part of work.
Feedback
During the member integration process, it is important to get feedback from the newcomer. It is also very important to provide feedback on the work of the new team member from your side. And the best way to do this is to follow a clear-cut review procedure. When setting a trial period for a new team member, stipulate that after a certain time, each of the parties will give their feedback on the work. These reviews should include the overall impression of the work, which points are enjoyable and which ones should be improved.
Also, this practice of feedback will greatly help in the future work of the team. This means it can be helpful to have feedback sessions every two weeks, or whatever time frame you choose so that employees can speak up about their work experience. But this should not limit employees if they want to talk about their inconvenience at work. An important nuance in teamwork is clean communication. So that each of the employees can talk to the manager or team leader without fear.
Team Building
Team building is an important point for the member integration process. This issue can be solved in different ways. It is often and popular to arrange general leisure time for the team. But some of the team members may feel uncomfortable under these circumstances. Therefore, there are other ways to build a team. Such as frequent meetings or calls to discuss different work points. It is possible to arrange sessions for proposing ideas to improve your product. These sessions help to unleash the potential of your employees and make newcomers feel like full-fledged team members. While new team members may initially feel ineligible to suggest new ideas or improvements, over time this will pass. This practice can bring you an understanding of the potential of each of the team members.
Сompany Expansion
It is possible to assume that the productivity of the team increases with the increase in its members. But the result is just the opposite. However, large teams are often not so efficient as smaller ones. Because large teams require clearer management, more communication channels, and in general, as this structure grows, its complexity increases. Needless to say, it will be more difficult for a new team member to adjust to a large team than to a small one. Therefore, to simplify the member integration process it is necessary to initially have ordered team structures. A good solution in this situation would be to create a perfect team-size-formula. According to world experience, 4-7 members is as close to perfect as it gets. Unless, of course, we are not talking about software development departments, which may consist of fewer employees.
Good Team Lead
And one of the most important things in the member integration process is a good team leader. A product development leader should be a good communicator. Ye need to be able to set clear goals and requirements. It’s also the responsibility of a project leader to make every team member understand what their role is and what is expected from them. And this is a key factor for the comfortable and productive work of a new team member.
Summarizing all of the above, we can say that the successful member integration process is a set of things that must be done. And fundamental in this set is the initial data structure of the team. The more it is thought out for comfortable work, the easier it will be for new members to enter it. And without a doubt, good relations within the team play a significant role.
