Dave Jacob
by Dave Jacob
What it means to be a part of a software development team has dramatically changed over the course of my career. Yet while the current remote employee approach to software development is very different from the centralized approach used in my early days, the goal remains the same – deliver quality systems on-time and within budget. Davalen does just this. Using remote employees, with little relocation and travel, Davalen maintains a high project success. However, the change to the remote development model was not without its challenges.
For me, the largest challenge, other than cultural, language, and time zones differences, was communicating requirements and validating work on an on-going basis. Initially, we focused on “perfect” design documents that the team at large (on- or off-shore) could code to. Design documents were created in time-consuming, pain-staking, details and the project scope had to be frozen early in order to have a prayer of working. As it’s common to experiment with part of the design before creating it entirely, an inflexible design document could never work. The saying, “You built what I asked for, but it’s not what I want” was often heard and understood. Since Davalen has earned a reputation for quality, on-time delivery – this was not going to fly. We had to update and create effective project management and communication standards.
Adapting to this new virtual environment in a way that was beneficial to clients as well as employees required effective communication–instilled with training and education. For our needs, all Davalen consultants learn three important things when they join the company:
- How Davalen consultants conduct themselves;
- What tools are available to help them do their job; and
- The design patterns Davalen uses in our projects.
Being on the same page before the project begins saves time and money. For example, our junior developers begin their career at a Davalen facility under the direct supervision of a mentor. Senior employees often begin remotely but they still go through the same three step education process mentioned above.
Our lead Web Experience Factory developer, Michael “Spoon” Witherspoon, explains this well stating,
“Our use of remote meeting and collaboration tools combined with ample use of cloud computing is so effective our work is nearly 100% location-agnostic. We teach remote classes, hold meetings, and deliver presentations world-wide so often that working remotely is very comfortable and effective.”
Technology has made remote teams able to access networks and servers from any location. Davalen uses cloud-based source control and development environments to centralize development work so our architects can review code regularly, make suggestions, and keep the project standardized and on schedule. Since we are all trained on using the same design patterns, we can assign additional resources to each large project for back-up and expansion when project needs dictate. This allows us to manage staff personal needs without negatively impacting the project schedule or utilization. The team remains a living, breathing, creative, productive team using the techniques described in Len Barker’s article this month.
Remote software development has resulted in more productive and happy employees who are able to juggle multiple jobs and priorities more effectively than if they were onsite. While we can’t go out to lunch together as often as we would like, we can still have a corporate culture that involves employees in the decisions of the company and provides quality, on-time, within budget projects that always impress our clients.
At the upcoming IBM Web Experience Conference I will be discussing this in combination with best practices tips for development. Having a blended approach is something I’m passionate about providing my clients with and I hope to have the opportunity to do so in Austin this May.
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