All web developers make simple mistakes – from badly chosen tools to omitting obvious bugs. However, some basic issues can be easily avoided by introducing proper management policies in your web development team. In this article, we’re going to talk about soft skills and communication issues that are often neglected by CTOs, managers or lead developers, yet can be a difference between success and failure of the whole project.
Keep the whole web development team up-to-date
The most important rule of Scrum methodology is keeping everybody informed about what has been, is, and will be done. This way the whole web development team knows exactly what’s going on with every element of the project and how their work is influenced by other developers or client’s requirements. When you know what’s going on, you can act accordingly. Otherwise, it won’t matter how amazing at coding your web development team is, if someone introduces some unplanned or changes and breaks the whole thing.
Set up regular meetings
Daily, weekly and monthly meeting help your web development team to share information – from long-run planning to last-minute changes. Everybody should get an opportunity to share their progress and problems. It really helps to raise concerns and maybe do some brainstorming sessions before everything goes on the production server. Developers mustn’t be closed in their own bubble. Every element of the project is connected and they need to be aware of the changes happening around them.
Be prepared for the worst-case scenario
Unfortunately, people often assume that if something worked in one project, it will also be okay in another. Well, web development doesn’t work that way. Every change matters, and can make your go-to solution insufficient. Some changes can have massive consequences in places you’d never think of. That’s why it’s crucial to analyse the script flow because every additional line of code means more places to fail. Even if something doesn’t cause problems now, it still could confuse the developers who will maintain the code in future.
Don’t forget about updating the documentation
Managing a project without proper documentation will be the cause of massive frustration to your web development team. When projects grow, teams expand – and there’s a 100% guarantee that a new developer will go to the documentation straight away. If the information there is unreliable, incomplete or outdated, they won’t be able to perform their duties already. And that leads to precious time being wasted on rewriting code or correcting mistakes. So, in order to avoid all the confusion, it is advisable to spend some time and effort to create a reliable document. Documentation should be treated respectfully, almost like a contract for the whole web development team, newcomer developers and future managers.
All tips listed above may be considered little things, but remember that the devil is in the details. Innocent mistakes and lazy omissions can lead to massive problems when the big picture is concerned. Crashing a popular website with millions of users depending on it definitely damages the business and puts the whole team in a bad light.