Eureka! Your product development team, announce with pride, as they launched the latest update. Indeed, everyone in your organization works hard to take a concept to reality.
And we cannot deny that it would not have been possible without proper team involvement at different stages of the project.
However, as time passes by, there are not enough downloads for the update. Several reviews highlight the bugs after the update, and eventually, customer complaints start piling up.
Where did it all go wrong? Did the developers goof up, or was it something else. Or did you completely ignore team engagement activities during the entirety of the project?
How does team engagement matter in product development?
We may ignore it all we want, but we cannot have a perfect product until the entire organization synthesizes the much-needed synergy among all departments.
Now, product and engineering teams are at the very core of a product’s development. Product managers and engineering teams work hand-in-hand while trying to maintain harmony in the workplace.
But this relationship is a bit more complicated. They often find themselves in a position where they are clouded by disagreements and cannot resolve these scenarios correctly.
While both teams wish to have the same objective, they often follow a slightly different approach. It is often difficult to align the two groups to avoid any misunderstandings. So, what can you do to strengthen their collaboration?
But if it’s just two separate teams working towards the same strategic goal, why is it so difficult to align the two? What is the source of the common miscommunications? Why is there friction? And finally, what can you do to improve this collaboration?
Start With the Why
The first step towards solving the problem is identifying the root cause. If you want to know where to start looking, then here are some commonly identified issues that the product and development teams face.
Priorities:
While the developers are focused on the project’s technical aspect, product managers have to look after other aspects like budgeting, managing backlogs, keeping stakeholders’ influence in check, detecting bugs, and recommend features.
Every aspect affects the development team’s work, and if you fail to have proper team involvement, then the entire project suffers.
Development Speed:
When it comes to software development, pace matters. But very often, speed is also associated with the quality of the final product. If the product development teams are cornered with time constraints, then they are likely to make mistakes.
These are just a couple of issues that disrupt the seamless integration of teams. If you look closely and talk to your managers, you will probably identify more issues.
How to Promote Team Involvement Among Different Teams?
It all boils down to planning and execution. You have to create a plan that communicates the details to everyone involved smoothly. It sounds simple, but can often be complicated to execute.
But none of us has a degree in managing life. We learn by experience, and it will be the same when it comes to improving team collaborations in the company.
Here are a few days to promote team involvement for all teams associated with product development:
Find Everyone’s Purpose:
Life is meaningless without purpose, and so can be a job. Every team member needs to know what they are working on and why. Without a clearly defined path, things can be disastrous.
Even when you are defining strict deadlines, your team has the right to know why the urgency.
Once they have a clear idea of their role, they will be free of any distractions, and everyone will have an easier time working as a united team.
Promote Teamwork:
Keep calm and work as a team. This is how you get to know each other properly and build a team that plays to each other’s strengths instead of bickering about weaknesses.
Give responsibilities to your team members and let them be accountable for their actions. It builds respect between teammates and also adds to the employees’ loyalty towards the organization.
Don’t let any unnecessary tension come in the way of maintaining a calm atmosphere at work. Every individual is different and will have an opinion. It is up to you to make sure that varying viewpoints do not add tension to the workplace.
Make Quality Everyone’s Responsibility:
Quality assurance teams do their best to find bugs in the product, but sometimes they can miss a thing or two.
Make quality testing a joint responsibility and let all teams pitch in with their ideas to amp up quality. Don’t restrict anyone from speaking their minds because sometimes, the most incredible views result from random questions.
Let them know that the final product’s success is credited to their combined efforts and every little contribution in solving problems counts.
Customer Advocates:
Product managers want something, the development team wants another thing, but it is elementary to forget the most crucial opinion between their tussles. Whose opinion? The customer.
Instill in them that customer’s opinion matters the most, and both the teams must work as their advocates. This practice aligns its goals in a single direction and makes things easier.
Focus on solving the customer’s needs, and you will achieve desired outcomes. This is an ideal solution and makes for a win-win situation for all parties involved.
Upgrade Technology Stacks:
When you have a clear roadmap for your business, why not replicate a similar model for your technology stacks.
Bring the entire synergy-building process full circle with an employee engagement software to give you well-structured mechanisms to bring people together effortlessly.
You can align engagement activities, progress reports, project management data, skill-based training programs, gamified progress plans, and more, all in a single solution.
Wrapping Up
Ideas are plenty around us, but it takes a dedicated team and robust software to turn them into tangible results.
Your goal should be to meet your customer’s expectations and exceed them whenever possible. A good development team alone cannot win the battle and needs to be backed up by product managers.
Start working on synergizing your teams and onboarding your customers in an elegant manner. To know more about how you can engage your groups and leverage their skills into product development, get in touch with us today.
Our team of experts will throw light on how a single engagement tool can turn the tides in your organization. Get in touch with us for a free consultation today.
