Are your employees productive?
The productivity of the same person may differ depending on the time of day, mood, team, phase of the moon, and sometimes the political situation in Honduras. It is clear that you cannot influence some factors, but it is easier to make a programmer’s life easier and, as a result, more productive. So, what do you need for this?
It seems that this topic has been repeatedly discussed, but, nevertheless, many companies force programmers to come at 9 am, forgetting that a developer’s work is a creative process (ask your staff how often the solution to a pressing problem comes during a walk, in the subway, in time sex), which is difficult to combine with a standard office schedule. And if we take into account that most of the projects come from both Americas (time shift to -8: 00), then the mandatory arrival at 9:00 looks like a strange decision.
Who does not agree that the work of the programmer is creative?
')
Many developers are owls, and for such people the range of morning hours from 09:00 to 11:00 is actually lost time - both for the developer and for the company.
Fixed time for project / product managers is generally nonsense. After all, you need to remember that managers are valuable for their decisions, and not for the hours worked.
But, on the other hand, if everyone comes at what time they want, then a cross can be put on the work process. The solution is very simple: set a “corridor” of time within which employees can arrive without administrative consequences, for example, no later than 11:00, and the task of the team leader in this situation is to select the optimal time for meetings, demos and reports for all team members.
Sounds funny? By no means. If the workplace is equipped no worse than the home workplace (believe me, for the developer this is the second most important place in the house after the toilet), then be sure that the developer will be happy to go to work.
Yes, 4 people per 6 square meters is not enough, a budget notebook is also not suitable for development, and 8 out of 10 nearby employees in headphones are a clear sign that something needs to be done with workplaces. A whole chapter in the book Peopleware by Tom Demarco is devoted to the problem of arranging the workplace.
The second, equally important issue is software. It must be modern and adequate to the tasks performed. Two things need to be understood here: increasing the savings on licenses is directly proportional to the decrease in developer productivity. No money for ReSharper? Be prepared to spend 20% more time on refactoring and correcting errors. No profiler? Prepare two additional servers. Well, if in 2012 you are developing controls yourself, I can only keep silent meaningfully.
Internet does not work? Does it take more than 4 hours to complete a new person? You have half a thousand employees, but you don’t have a workflow system? The most experienced employee in the department configures all SQL Server and administers the server? I will tell you that you have big infrastructure problems.
The IT department should make sure that your developers code is compiled quickly.
Many companies forget that the IT department in a company should help, and not interfere. Unfortunately, in many companies there is a cold war between developers and admins. And they lose everything in this war - from developers to owners. After all, time spent could be spent on more useful things.
Almost all modern companies say that they are engaged in training and development of employees. In fact, this is far from the case. In 90% of cases, training ends with English language courses on little-needed books (and this is at best). But if there are sites on the screen like Habr, narratives about spending time and company money begin (by the way, in the last Ukrainian Forbes there is a good article on the topic of growing demand for software to track employees, but I think the use of such software in IT companies unacceptable).
The learning process should be clear and necessary for both parties.
Ask the developer to choose the preferred method and direction of training and plan the costs accordingly.
Unfortunately, the terrible word “bureaucracy” does not bypass the seemingly most progressive sector of the business - IT. Scrum rallies, daily reports, weekly reports, time tracking systems ... familiar? But the correct setting of the version control system + workflow system (SharePoint + TFS, for example) can work wonders in which the writing of retarded reports for no one needs will disappear by itself. And if managers do not know how to use anything other than email, skype and Excel - welcome to the ranks of bureaucrats! It is clear that more irritation of developers can be achieved unless the lack of wages over the past three months.
Especially deliver those companies that are forced to keep their own accounting. Strange, why do not they take an accountant for the position of .NET developer, if these works are interchangeable?
Companies must understand that working with developers as with private entrepreneurs, in the first place, is beneficial to companies, and then to developers. Therefore, when the next time the developer spends two days on communication with the tax, do not be surprised unsatisfactory performance.
First of all, I would like to advise for the mandatory reading of the Peopleware book as an excellent collection of tips for companies that want to have productive employees on their staff.
Secondly, try to understand the motives and goals of your employees - this will help you become a company where employees will go as if on a holiday!
Do not install frames
It seems that this topic has been repeatedly discussed, but, nevertheless, many companies force programmers to come at 9 am, forgetting that a developer’s work is a creative process (ask your staff how often the solution to a pressing problem comes during a walk, in the subway, in time sex), which is difficult to combine with a standard office schedule. And if we take into account that most of the projects come from both Americas (time shift to -8: 00), then the mandatory arrival at 9:00 looks like a strange decision.
Who does not agree that the work of the programmer is creative?
')
Many developers are owls, and for such people the range of morning hours from 09:00 to 11:00 is actually lost time - both for the developer and for the company.
Fixed time for project / product managers is generally nonsense. After all, you need to remember that managers are valuable for their decisions, and not for the hours worked.
But, on the other hand, if everyone comes at what time they want, then a cross can be put on the work process. The solution is very simple: set a “corridor” of time within which employees can arrive without administrative consequences, for example, no later than 11:00, and the task of the team leader in this situation is to select the optimal time for meetings, demos and reports for all team members.
To work as a holiday
Sounds funny? By no means. If the workplace is equipped no worse than the home workplace (believe me, for the developer this is the second most important place in the house after the toilet), then be sure that the developer will be happy to go to work.
Yes, 4 people per 6 square meters is not enough, a budget notebook is also not suitable for development, and 8 out of 10 nearby employees in headphones are a clear sign that something needs to be done with workplaces. A whole chapter in the book Peopleware by Tom Demarco is devoted to the problem of arranging the workplace.
The second, equally important issue is software. It must be modern and adequate to the tasks performed. Two things need to be understood here: increasing the savings on licenses is directly proportional to the decrease in developer productivity. No money for ReSharper? Be prepared to spend 20% more time on refactoring and correcting errors. No profiler? Prepare two additional servers. Well, if in 2012 you are developing controls yourself, I can only keep silent meaningfully.
Infrastructure
Internet does not work? Does it take more than 4 hours to complete a new person? You have half a thousand employees, but you don’t have a workflow system? The most experienced employee in the department configures all SQL Server and administers the server? I will tell you that you have big infrastructure problems.
The IT department should make sure that your developers code is compiled quickly.
Many companies forget that the IT department in a company should help, and not interfere. Unfortunately, in many companies there is a cold war between developers and admins. And they lose everything in this war - from developers to owners. After all, time spent could be spent on more useful things.
Education and development
Almost all modern companies say that they are engaged in training and development of employees. In fact, this is far from the case. In 90% of cases, training ends with English language courses on little-needed books (and this is at best). But if there are sites on the screen like Habr, narratives about spending time and company money begin (by the way, in the last Ukrainian Forbes there is a good article on the topic of growing demand for software to track employees, but I think the use of such software in IT companies unacceptable).
The learning process should be clear and necessary for both parties.
Ask the developer to choose the preferred method and direction of training and plan the costs accordingly.
Bureaucracy
Unfortunately, the terrible word “bureaucracy” does not bypass the seemingly most progressive sector of the business - IT. Scrum rallies, daily reports, weekly reports, time tracking systems ... familiar? But the correct setting of the version control system + workflow system (SharePoint + TFS, for example) can work wonders in which the writing of retarded reports for no one needs will disappear by itself. And if managers do not know how to use anything other than email, skype and Excel - welcome to the ranks of bureaucrats! It is clear that more irritation of developers can be achieved unless the lack of wages over the past three months.
Especially deliver those companies that are forced to keep their own accounting. Strange, why do not they take an accountant for the position of .NET developer, if these works are interchangeable?
Companies must understand that working with developers as with private entrepreneurs, in the first place, is beneficial to companies, and then to developers. Therefore, when the next time the developer spends two days on communication with the tax, do not be surprised unsatisfactory performance.
findings
First of all, I would like to advise for the mandatory reading of the Peopleware book as an excellent collection of tips for companies that want to have productive employees on their staff.
Secondly, try to understand the motives and goals of your employees - this will help you become a company where employees will go as if on a holiday!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/285460/
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