Giving developers feedback can be rather challenging. But once you master the habit, it can become a powerful tool to help your development team succeed and improve performance. This article will discuss why developer feedback is essential and the best ways to give constructive feedback.

Providing constructive feedback is essential to developers’ success and performance. When given or received correctly, it creates a healthy environment and boosts developers’ productivity and engagement. It also clarifies expectations, reinforces positive behavior, and addresses problem areas. Well-delivered feedback is also fundamental to the success of any company or organization as it becomes a catalyst for change and a point of reference for improvement.

But giving constructive feedback can be a tricky area to navigate, especially when it comes to input for negative actions or results. Poorly delivered feedback, be it positive or negative, may hurt developers’ performance and leave them demotivated and discouraged. Having that in mind, managers and team leaders must learn to give feedback the right way. To do that, they should plan their approach and set some ground rules that will benefit both the organization and the employees.

Why feedback matters?

Why is feedback so important, and why is it a win-win situation for both the company and the software development team?

• Creates better relationships
• It helps your team avoid significant issues
• Increases motivation
• It allows developers to understand the impact of their performance better
• Keeps the team on track
• It leads to higher productivity and overall job satisfaction
• Promotes personal and professional growth

Tips on how to provide constructive feedback to developers

Here are some useful tips to help you structure and deliver constructive feedback to your development team.

Plan ahead

Planning and preparing are crucial parts of giving constructive feedback. Set baseline expectations early on and follow their progress carefully. And always remember that effective feedback is corrective and not critical. Here are some things you should consider:

• Review previous feedback sessions.
• Go over your task management system like Trello, JIRA, or Monday, to see what tasks they have worked on.
• Observe your employees during daily sessions.
• Write down as many observations as possible.
• Create clear and measurable goals.
• Determine what is worth sharing.
• Come up with suggestions.

Ask permission

Before you give feedback, make sure you ask permission first. By doing that, you approach the person with respect and provide them with time to prepare.

For example, you can say: “Would you mind if I gave you some feedback?”, “Is this a good time to share some feedback with you?” or “I’d like to give you some feedback. Is that okay with you?”

In that way, you can deliver feedback when they are more receptive to listen to it and feel more in control over the situation.

Be specific and objective

The more exact the feedback is, the more useful it will be. Provide facts and specific examples of good and bad performance. Unless there is evidence to back them up, you should avoid giving opinions and judgments. Software Developers are more likely to respond to objective and specific feedback when they know what aspect of the project you are talking about, what went wrong, and what can be improved.

Example: “You are an excellent team leader” can be replaced with something like “I want to thank you for demonstrating optimism in the face of uncertainty at the meeting this afternoon. The numbers were worrying, but you set the tone for the rest of the team. I’m impressed by it, and I want to tell you to keep up the good work.”

Be timely

Developers should receive feedback as soon as possible and at regular intervals throughout the year. Providing feedback immediately following an event such as work product submission or presentation will significantly impact performance. You shouldn’t wait for a quarterly or yearly review to address specific issues because they may multiply by a domino effect if left unaddressed. Regular feedback will help you track and analyze your developer’s overall job performance much easier, and it will help the developers recognize areas of strengths and weakness.

Create solutions together

You should listen to the developers’ point of view and allow them to offer solutions, even if you have particular solutions in mind. Be open to their ideas, and don’t forget to let them be part of the problem-solving process. You will also learn a lot from their perspective and maybe understand the root cause of the problem.

In the end, provide your suggestions and explain the positive results they will lead to. Ask questions and see if they received your message and know the next steps. Lastly, encourage your development team to provide feedback about your performance and role as a manager. Then, discuss openly and try finding a way to make it work and use the feedback effectively.

Giving negative feedback in a positive way – examples

When giving feedback, you should think carefully about the language you will use and the expressions you choose to avoid misunderstanding and hurting someone’s feelings. Here are more positive and negative examples of delivering feedback:

Instead of saying, “You keep missing deadlines, and that impacts the rest of the team and the project.”, you can use “I’ve noticed you are struggling with time management. Is there anything I can do to help?

Or, “You haven’t met your targets. I think that is going to affect the team’s performance.” It can be replaced with “You haven’t met your targets, but I know that you are working hard. Are there any barriers in your way that I can help with?”

Follow these five guidelines, and you will get better and more comfortable giving feedback, and your employees will be more open to receiving it.

The Bottom Line

Remember, providing developers with continuous and constructive feedback is one of the most powerful performance enhancement tools at your disposal. The final goal is not only to improve the developers’ work performance over the long term, but it will also lead to your company’s long-term success.

Cosmic Development- a company that fosters a strong feedback culture

We at Cosmic Development believe that creating a healthy feedback culture can break the difference between a strong and thriving company and a company that remains stagnant. That’s why we foster openness and honesty, and we strive to improve and maintain healthy relationships. We have created a psychologically safe workplace where employees are actively encouraged to share feedback with another person in the company regularly, regardless of their role.

If you want to unlock a new chapter in your career and be a part of a company that fosters a workplace culture that values, supports, and inspires its employees, feel free to explore our careers page and find out more about our current vacancies.

The post Giving Developers Feedback the Right Way appeared first on Cosmic Development.

Developing a high-quality code while staying productive can be quite challenging. Here are some valuable tips that can help you boost your productivity without compromising on work-life balance. 

Completing tasks quickly and efficiently without sacrificing quality is what it means to be productive. Being productive is an essential aspect of any industry or area of expertise. Still, it can be a real game-changer in a complex and tech-centric industry like software development. A developer’s job is one of the most complicated and mentally demanding professions, and staying productive is not an easy task. They work with complex algorithms and juggle multiple tasks. Adopting a healthy work ethic and habits and making minor adjustments will lead to lasting changes and increase their productivity. 

This article shares some handy productivity tips to help developers enhance their efficiency while boosting productivity levels.

1. Put a schedule in your flexible schedule  

Flexible working hours or work from home can be incredible, but it comes with its own set of challenges. It can be difficult to focus, especially if other family members or distractions are present during your working hours. To stay organized, you need to set some rules and have a productivity plan that will allow you to get the best out of your day. Scheduling daily tasks will measure your progress and manage your time effectively. The best results always come with proper planning.

Find your most productive hours and decide when to start and finish your workday. Be consistent. Set realistic goals and prioritize your most critical task first thing in the morning (or whenever you start your workday), when your energy and willpower are at their highest.

Take planned breaks away from the screen. They are essential to your productivity and well-being and boost your creativity and motivation. Analyze your workspace and make adjustments to help you work better and quicker. Finally, don’t forget the good old eating and sleeping right, staying physically active, and making time to socialize.

All these habits will help you maintain a healthy work-life balance and allow you to have more time for personal activities.

2. Keep away distractions and stop wasting time

A focused developer is a productive developer.

Another way to describe productivity is getting complex tasks done with minimal distractions or interruptions. Developing software is a demanding job, and it’s not easy to maintain focus and concentration when there are so many distractions around you. Every distraction affects the quality of your work and can result in a mistake.

It takes only a few seconds to get out of the flow, but you will need over 23 minutes on average to get back on task after an interruption and into the flow again. Moreover, a Georgia Institute of Technology study states that a software developer will need between 10-15 minutes to recover from distractions and resume work. That is why learning to deal with distraction and decide what is essential and non-essential is a must for every developer.

Your typical distractions could be answering emails, browsing through social media, phone calls, being in a busy work office, etc. It may not be easy to let go, but think of all the time you can save.

Some of the ways to help you cope with interruptions include:

• Put your phone in silent mode during working hours
• Turn off social media notifications
• Turn off email alerts
• Create an auto-response to text messages
• Learn to say NO
• Don’t multitask. Focus on one task at a time
• Set a social media blocker on your computer browser
• Have specified times for answering emails, messages

These changes will not only increase your productivity but will also prevent you from getting mentally exhausted.

3. Use the right platforms and tools

Team collaboration tools, project management, time tracking, automation, or tools that help you avoid distractions. Developers can use various tools and platforms to speed up their work and maximize productivity and efficiency. Here are some that you can check out:

• Distraction canceling software tools: Escape, Cold Turkey, Dewo, or Freedom.
• Bug tracking tools: BackLog and MantisBT
• Code searching tools such as The Silver Searcher
• Time tracking tools like Hubstaff or Jibble
• Project management tools like Monday.com, Trello, Jira, Asana, Wrike
• Team collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, Slack, Trello, ClickUp
• Code management tools: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket

Additionally, you can try Habitica, a habit-building and productivity app that allows you to treat your work or tasks as a role-playing game, and ZType, a game that helps you practice your typing speed and accuracy. Finally, you can relax with some music and visit the website musicforProgramming intended for listening to ambient music while programming.

This is only a fraction of the productivity options available. Do your research and choose based on your individual needs and preferences.

4. Take breaks and get some rest

Studies have shown that taking breaks and brief rests throughout the day leads to higher productivity, job satisfaction and improves your overall well-being. It can also:

• Boost creativity
• Help you focus
• Improve mental health
• Process and retain information better
• Reduce stress

The Pomodoro Technique is a straightforward way to remind yourself to take regular breaks. This technique, popular among the developer community, is a time management method that breaks down your work at intervals – 25 minutes sessions, followed by short 5-minute breaks. Every four 25-minute sessions take a more extended 20-30 minutes’ break. Will it work for you? Go ahead and try.

So, go on, give your eyes a break from the screen. Stand up, stretch, get some water, walk around, and chat with your friends or colleagues. When you return to your work mentally and physically refreshed, you can stay focused on your task and do better work.

5. Automate repetitive tasks

Another excellent productivity hack is to take full advantage of automation. Automating time-consuming and monotonous tasks will save you hours of coding and will simplify your job in a way that significantly improves productivity.

6. Keep learning 

If you want to stay productive, you must constantly update your skills. As you gain more experience and expand your knowledge, you become a better problem solver, faster and more efficient. Plus, you learn how to be more productive and what methods and practices are best for you.

Invest in yourself and your knowledge. Explore new tools that will help ease and speed up your workflow.

An excellent way for professional growth is to work on hobby projects or participate in the development of open-source projects. You will learn many new tricks, keep your mind fresh and grow as a programmer. Listen to podcasts or audiobooks while exercising, commuting, cooking, or cleaning. Read books and blogs, complete courses, or talk to mentors. There are more than enough options available to keep up to date in the fast-moving world of programming and development.

7. Final thoughts

Implementing the strategies above will take time. Developing a healthy productivity plan is a long process that requires consistency, resilience, commitment, and patience. Once it becomes your habit, you will see a significant difference.

But there is no one-size-fits-all approach to time management and productivity. Everyone has a unique personality and working style. What works for one developer could be a total failure for another. Hopefully, this article will spur you to find an approach that works the best for you and will help you boost your productivity and efficiency. The benefits are manifold – being qualified for new job opportunities, higher pay for delivering quality work with less effort, better work-life balance, and internal satisfaction.

The post Productivity Tips for Developers in 2022 appeared first on Cosmic Development.

2021 was a challenging, unusual, and fantastic year. Here’s a recap of what Cosmic Development accomplished in 2021.

As we are coming to the end of another challenging year, we reflect on everything we have accomplished in 2021. Despite all challenges, we at Cosmic Development successfully adapted to the rapid changes brought about by the new reality of life and doing business. During the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, we showed resilience, flexibility, and compassion and supported our people and clients through uncertainties and unpredictability. We continued working hard and provided our clients with high-quality services and innovative solutions. And we proudly say that we have seen some excellent results. To wrap up the year, let’s look back at some highlights of 2021.

Ten years of Cosmic Development

This year, we’ve marked the first decade for Cosmic Development. What began with a small team of six young and passionate people slowly grew into a larger crew. Today we are a renowned international IT outsourcing company with over 200 highly skilled and dedicated professionals. We have over 300 completed projects with over 90 clients around the globe. In the past ten years, we kept on our growth path. We established ourselves as a global provider of skills, knowledge, and expertise, offering a wide range of digital outsourcing solutions. Even though we had a virtual party, we can’t wait to celebrate this important milestone in the good old-fashioned way by gathering our people from all locations. 

Happy 10th birthday, Cosmic Development, and a big thank you to our fantastic employees and clients for making this journey a success. With you, we are well set for success in the next decade. 

We continued our path of growth

If this year has taught us anything, it is that uncertainty and progress can exist together. Despite all the ups and downs, we’ve made the most of the current circumstances and continued growing our business. We have achieved this by utilizing our core skills and providing services that add value for our clients. Next, we implemented strategies and innovations that drove the company forward and led us to a better future.

We have launched new partnerships during the year and continued to build the team. From the beginning of 2021, we have welcomed 47 people in many different positions, and we are actively looking for more to join us. Our loyal client, Bookmark, an AI-powered website builder, has also continued with its considerable growth and is expanding its team with us. The latest opportunity is for a Software Developer with the following specifications.

Cosmic’s hard-working employees are the foundation of our business, and it is our priority to make them feel valued, appreciated, and motivated. As part of Cosmic’s employee reward and recognition strategy, we acknowledge their hard work and accomplishments on various turns.

To name a few, this year we are proud of:

• our loyal employees who celebrated five-year and ten-year anniversaries,
• our Cosmic ambassadors who took part and represented the company in external events,
• our diligent people who went above and beyond giving their contributions in internal projects,
• the ones who stood out in the creative challenges,
• the youngest members of our Cosmic family who amazed us with their original works in the World Space Week kids’ workshop. 

Further, we invested in IT infrastructure and equipped our employees with the technology and services to stay productive. Our teams are fully prepared to respond to the increasing demand for IT outsourcing and rapid digitization and help our clients successfully navigate the COVID-19 environment.

Thank you for being a part of this incredible community and being an essential part of our growth in 2021.

Events we attended and initiatives we supported

Every year Cosmic Development takes part in various events and initiatives, and this year was no exception despite the circumstances. Let’s look back at the following:  

Sports events. Our commitment to healthy life choices and wellbeing has always been a part of our company culture. Our team members participated and successfully represented Cosmic Development in the Wizz Air Marathon Skopje 2021, the Skopje Run 10k race, and the “Trcaj Be” race in Bitola.

Charitable initiatives. Social responsibility is another significant aspect of our company culture. We feel it is our duty to help the communities in which we live and work, and we are dedicated to making a real difference in the lives of those in need.

Traditionally, every year we take part in Christmas and New Year charitable initiatives. This year we supported nonprofits and charities in Macedonia and Serbia. We helped 30 families and donated food, clothing, and money to children without parents, children with disabilities, and low-income families. Additionally, we responded to the call to donate IT equipment and computers to families who can’t afford it and joined the “Donate a computer” initiative. The donation is going to be realized in the first week of January.

Tech events. In December, our colleagues Bojan Angjelkovski and Viktorija Krstevska represented Cosmic Development at DIGIT (Design and Interactive Graphics in IT), an educational event for students in the field of design and programming. At this year’s DIGIT Web – Angular Edition, Viki, a web developer, shared her personal story at Cosmic. Whereas, Bojan, a professional in Angular, mentored and assisted students in building a website with the help of Angular.

Bye 2021, hello 2022! 

2021 has been a year of challenges, learning, and change – not only for our team but for our clients, too. However, we remained strong and persistent. We plan to use everything we have learned from this past year to continue providing the best services for our clients.

We are looking forward to an inspiring 2022. Hopefully, we can put the pandemic behind and continue building Cosmic Development’s success story. In 2022 safety remains one of our highest priorities, and working from home will continue to be our core way of functioning. Despite the remote work policy, we will keep on growing our teams and hiring many new people. We will work hard and support our people and clients in reaching their goals and succeeding in 2022 and beyond.

Still, our biggest wish waits to be fulfilled as we can’t wait to gather all and celebrate everything from our rapidly growing community, birthdays, to new wins, new clients, and much more.

Eager to join us? You can find out more about our current vacancies by clicking here.

The post Cosmic Development’s 2021 Year in Review appeared first on Cosmic Development.

Hiring software development talent has proven to be quite challenging in 2021. With the rise of technology and rapid digital transformation across businesses spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, rising customer expectations, and transition to remote work, the need and competition for skilled tech experts are proliferating. Whether back-end, front-end, or full-stack, software developers are the fundamental building blocks of any organization whose business operations rely on software. Today thousands of companies compete to recruit and retain from the limited pool of high-quality software developers. It is no wonder it is a costly and time-consuming process. This high demand is projected to continue in the coming years and grow 21% by 2028, as reported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In this article, we’ll give you some insights on what makes a great software developer and how you can make the whole hiring process much more manageable. Lastly, we’ll offer our valuable experience to help you find the right for your business needs. Read on.

What Does a Software Developer Do?

First, let’s clarify what a software developer does and why this profession is essential and sought-after.

In simple terms, a software developer, also known as a programmer or coder, uses programming languages to create computer software programs. An excellent software developer should be creative, have a passion for learning and development, and have excellent communication skills. Above all, it must have exceptional technical skills.

Although their duties and responsibilities may range depending on the type of organization and industry they work for, as well as their experience level, they are engaged in all stages of the software development life cycle and generally include tasks and responsibilities like:

• Gathering and evaluating user requirements
• Creating efficient and clean code based on consumers’ and clients’ needs
• Testing code
• Fixing, maintaining, and improving existing software
• Communication and collaboration with management and tech support colleagues
• Compiling and assessing user feedback to improve software performance
• Developing technical documentation for reference and reporting

What Makes a Great Software Developer?

The best software developers of today have a good mix of technical proficiency and soft skills. They are able to figure out solutions to problems at any stage of the application development at any time. Beyond knowing programming languages and being excellent at writing code, there are other significant skills and qualities outstanding software developers have in common. Here are the traits that can differentiate a great software developer from a good one and that can help you identify one that would make a great addition to your programming team:

1. Strong communication skills 

The capability to communicate complicated ideas clearly and precisely is essential in the development process. The developers should be capable of interacting with people and explaining themselves to non-technical stakeholders and other developers. They should convey and understand problems clearly, break down complicated ideas into simple concepts and propose solutions.

2. Quick learning and curiosity 

Acquiring new skills is essential for developers. Being a great software developer requires constant practice and dedication. Technology is the innovative branch that is constantly evolving, so developers must be curious, learn quickly and adapt; otherwise, they will be left behind. The best programmers have the ability to learn new languages and technologies quickly, process information, and above all are amazing self-learners. Successful programmers are willing to admit they don’t know and are not afraid of new technology trends.

3. Broad technical experience

Technical expertise is fundamental for software development. Technology is a broad field, and there are numerous tools, platforms, and languages a developer must master and integrate in order to make a good product or software. Professional software developers need a combination of technical skills to succeed. Here are some of the skills software developers are expected to have in 2021:

• Cloud platforms
• Programing languages like Python, C++, Java, and CSS
• Data Structure and Algorithms
• Database and SQL
• Computer networks
• Software testing
• Operating System
• SDLC (Software development life cycle)

Keep in mind that this is no complete list, and you shouldn’t expect that a good software developer has experience in working with all these technologies; however, it provides a good starting point.

4. Team player

The ability to help teammates when there are stuck and teach them new skills is a quality of top software developers. Teamwork is crucial for software development, especially in cases when the project has time and budget constraints. When developers on your team lean on each other, the success of the project is inevitable.

5. Time management

Time management is a valuable skill that every aspiring software developer should develop. The ability to use time effectively and efficiently increases focus and productivity. Plus, it reduces distractions and procrastination and lowers stress. A great software developer has a strong work ethic and organizational skills and respect deadlines. Time management is a significant factor in software development because it can influence the outcome of the whole project.

6. Business sense

When combined with technical expertise, business acumen can be a great advantage. Business-savvy developers understand how the business works. They are able to analyze business problems and make quick, precise, and profitable decisions, and deliver technology-focused on customers’ needs.

The characteristics we mentioned above are just a few the most wanted and are practical guidelines that can help you hire the best software developers.

How to Hire the Best Software Developers?

Most businesses today depend on software development and the people behind it. Hiring the best software developers is one of the biggest technical challenges for today’s recruiters. Software development is a complex and fast-paced field, and the people you hire determine the success of your project. The selection process can be a laborious, slow, and expensive process.

If you are a company that needs fast access to talented developers that will fit your team, drive your success, and provide you with a competitive advantage, you need to look beyond traditional hiring practices. Outsourcing software development is a cost-effective and flexible solution that can save the headache of talent shortage and bad hires. The right outsourcing partner can help you find highly skilled candidates fast. It will support growth without the need for significant investments in new hires, technologies, and IT infrastructure.

Hiring Skilled Software Developers with Cosmic Development

Building a solid team of experts is imperative for business success, regardless if you are a startup or a well-established enterprise.

Cosmic Development is an IT outsourcing and software development company with more than ten years of experience. We can help you build software development teams quickly and affordably, and we will ensure their skills and commitment to work. With Cosmic Development, you are just a click away from finding the right talent. Contact us today to learn more about our development services.

The post Hiring Developers in 2021: Key Things to Consider appeared first on Cosmic Development.

What a year, right? It’s been over ten months since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic. We lived through lockdowns; we learned how to function with social isolation; we disinfected almost anything that could be disinfected; and most important of all, we made the abrupt shift to working from home. We did all that we can to embrace the ‘new normal.’ However, leading an IT outsourcing company through one of the most challenging years in the 21 century was anything but ‘normal.’ This year brought economies worldwide to their knees. Millions of people lost their jobs. And for so many industries, the future still looks uncertain.

So, what did this mean for the successful functioning of Cosmic Development? What did we, as an IT outsourcing provider, achieve despite the new reality? What were the main things that marked 2020 for us? 

Overcoming the challenges imposed by the new reality:

Introducing work from home policy

Since we are an IT outsourcing company with an employees-first policy and offices in three countries across four different locations, we took the prevention measures recommended by the WHO very seriously. After the first cases appeared in Canada, Serbia, and North Macedonia, we immediately shifted to working from home for the foreseeable future. 

As the situation with the virus escalated and it was clear that remote work was here to say, we made sure all our colleagues are safe and have all the essentials to do their work at their best. And having in mind that working from home was available for us even before the pandemic, we adopted this new way of functioning with ease. You can read more about introducing remote work and the useful tools we used here.

However, a huge role in the successful implementation of remote work as a permanent way of functioning had the HR department with representatives in each office location.

Keeping employees engaged during a worldwide pandemic

As we have all witnessed, this whole crisis happened overnight, and it majorly struck our social life. Within a short time-span, the entire world adopted a “new normal” where people practiced social distancing and avoided public gatherings. The bars were shut-down, the restaurants became take-outs, schools and day-care centers were closed, and we forgot what theaters look like. And, to top it all out, there is the global economic crisis and recession.

This harsh reality affected us all. Employers had little time to adapt and provide all the required conditions for successful operation. Whereas employees had to make sure they stay proficient and effective in a whole new scenario. And with the kids staying at home, caring for family members, and psychological pressure from the lockdowns, it became very stressful. 

Being the link between employers and employees, HR teams worldwide had to rethink their role as they had to adjust whole companies to social distancing practices and a new work environment. More than ever, they played a crucial role in keeping their teams productive, motivated, engaged, and connected.

Cosmic Development’s HR manager spoke thoroughly about measures that need to be taken in order to ensure employees’ wellbeing during these, well, let’s say, unprecedented times. She pointed out holistic and agile people management as best practices because every individual is different and unique in their own way. “To do so, our department has been in touch with all employees on a regular basis. Personal coaching in the form of one-on-one sessions were introduced for the most affected employees. While for the outgoing, we organized online contests and events where people could spend time with each other.”

The name we gave to these activities was “Cosmic Beats Isolation”, and we gotta say, it was fun being part of them.

Cosmic Development’s small wins during disruptive 2020:

1. High-quality work has never been at stake

From leadership to newbies, our offices (including the ‘virtual’ ones) have been a place where a bunch of skilled and dedicated professionals work together and achieve tangible results. Having these like-minded people gathered together and adding the nurturing company culture that Cosmic promotes resulted in one compact and very productive team.  

We talked with our team members on their experiences on several subjects, including: how our content editor keeps up with the ever-changing viral video market, overcoming stressful situations from a PHP Developer’s point of view, the technical challenges that video editors face, and how do they overcome them, and how to manage an agile team in these remote times.

Do you want to join our growing Cosmic family? We are hiring! Check out the most recent vacancies here! 

2. Events worth mentioning

In early March, two Rumblers, Marija and Natasha, attended the Digiday Publishing Summit for a good reason. As Business Development representatives and one of the first people to join the Rumble team at Cosmic, they had an excellent opportunity to mingle with the most prominent names in the publishing industry. An event where media leaders talked about the latest trends and useful tools. There were interactive workshops, speed networking sessions, and cocktail hours.   

Another event of no less importance was the Virtual HR Transformation Summit. Cosmic Development’s HR Manager Biljana took the stage and shared her valuable insights on contemporary HR practices and retention strategies. She joined a distinguished list of HR professionals to discuss Human Resources management’s most critical aspects of the new reality.

3. Constant growth has been maintained 

Thanks to our diligent Cosmic crew, we continued to grow even when the whole world stopped. Looking back, we can see incredible growth of some of our loyal clients and on-going scale-up of those who have joined us recently.

This year we have been working with clients worldwide and kept our presence in North America, Western Europe, Western Asia, and Australia. As more and more companies had no other choice but to go remote, our dedicated-team talent solution became an attractive option globally. 

Now let’s get back to our loyal clients. Rumble is winning the battle against Youtube, and here is why it became the obvious choice for video creators. If eager to learn more about Rumble, read how video content brought success to the platform. 

Another platform that saw incredible success this year was the AI-powered website builder Bookmark. What lies behind Bookmark’s success its combination of outstanding leadership and dedicated-team talent solution. Bookmark’s success story is now available, and you can become a part of it, especially if you are a full-stack developer.  

Let us help you scale up with the best IT outsourcing solution. We build dedicated teams for brands! Schedule a free consultation today! 

Watch Video: Cosmic Development 2020 Rewind – A Year in Pictures

With the vaccines rolling out slowly, we can say that we are looking to a brighter future in 2021. Our team is generally thankful for making it to 2021 with all employees being well and sound, bigger in size and experience, and ready for new challenges. What can be more valuable than walking out as a winner from one of the most challenging years in modern times?

The post Cosmic Development, an International IT Outsourcing Provider, is Looking Back at 2020 appeared first on Cosmic Development.

As we are walking in the last quarter of the notorious 2020, we can state one thing for sure: Remote work and distributed teams are here to stay. However, companies can be skeptical about moving their agile processes online when it comes to working remotely. At first glance, why wouldn’t they be? Especially having in mind that Agile was initially intended for teams that are physically located together in the same workspace. Even according to the 12 Principles of the Agile Manifesto: “The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation“––the first agile teams were intended to work together physically.

Some challenges arise for distributed software teams:

• Synchronizing teams in different time zones
• Building rapport without face-to-face contact
• Collaboration between different cultures
• Coordinating stand-ups and meetings considering that team members are online at the same time for a limited amount of time

These are genuine problems, but they are far from unsolvable. With almost ten years of experience in staff augmentation and software development services, we can share some insights and strategies to help you narrow the gap between working on-premises and remotely.

Structure Your Teams

Think of your team from a software engineer’s point of view: quality software architecture needs modular design, so design your software accordingly. The same goes for building teams. Every team should be able to develop a single fraction of the project, and by that, successfully reduce the dependence between your teams in different time zones or locations. You will actually make teams autonomous parts of your project or company. When a project requires team members to take part from different locations, they can focus solely on their integration points and APIs.

Code reviews are considered as an important part of the development process for remote teams. Since your people are working at different times, sharing knowledge of the code between teams makes maintenance easier.

Building and Maintaining Rapport

Agile teams need to build solid rapport between team members. This brings trust, reduces misunderstanding, makes self-organization easier, and builds morale and motivation. Take time, as much as possible, to get to know everyone within your distributed teams. A personal touch is a must. Creating strong rapport will lead to smoother communication between teams, which in turn leads to better workflows.

After all, who said that face-to-face meetings have to be offline? Especially these days, when Zoom and Google Hangouts have become our new-normal offices, we encourage using them in order to minimize the gap between distributed agile teams. At Cosmic Development, we are avoiding strictly scheduled Hangouts meetings for intra-team communication. Instead, we strive to create a culture of using video chats even for spontaneous informal conversations and ad-hoc meetings. Needless to say, instant-messaging tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams are very helpful in solving small issues or in simply keeping in touch. 

To help address some remote communication challenges within the team, you need to stimulate team members to have one-on-one video sessions whenever possible. These should not be formal, but they still need to be focused on work and oriented around knowledge sharing in a casual way.

Structuring a United Development Culture

Here are the four simple rules our teams follow in order to make remote work easier:

1. Overcommunicate decisions and procedures
2. Minimize the onboarding friction
3. Clearly define terminology
4. Create reporting guidelines 

Now, let us discuss each of them more thoroughly:

1. Overcommunicate Decisions and Procedures

When members of a distributed agile team make decisions, they need to communicate those decisions thoroughly. That sounds a bit obvious, but it is very easy to forget. Important decisions are often made in informal conversations; they are brainstormed between individuals or discussed spontaneously on calls between individuals. In contrast to this, small decisions are often dismissed as unimportant, especially if we focus on another part of the conversation. 

When working in a remote culture, everything, even the minute details, need to be communicated until the whole team starts moving in the same flow.

It is easy to lose meaning or essential information if you announce important decisions via email. Everyone in your dispersed teams needs to understand the decisions, the reasons behind each decision, and how they will be implemented. Team members that are working on outdated information can lead to major setbacks, hitting a blockade, and then re-communicating the whole process costs the team more time than accuracy sharing information in the first place.

2. Minimize the Onboarding Friction

You can tame the “first-day-friction” by utilizing a good onboarding procedure. Remote team members should feel at home right off the bat, which helps build cohesion between team members of different cultures. 

3. Clearly Define Terminology

While working with remote teams, clear standards around simple terminology like “complete” and “done” help manage expectations and ease communication. A clear definition of task completion eliminates ambivalence in work. For example, when sending a release that involves work from multiple teams, make sure to make it clear what “complete” means in this particular context: (a) the code needs to be written, (b) pull request created, (c) code needs to be reviewed and tested, (d) and finally integrated into the main codebase.

4. Create Guidelines for Reporting

Distributing the development process means that not everyone is online and ready for work when problems come up. We recommend setting systems and guidelines for troubleshooting, but reports and issue tracking. You will not believe how much easier such systems and guidelines make it for anyone on the team to track down and resolve issues. Code reviews and automated tests should be part of this process as it enables the remote team to make changes and validate them so they will not have any unexpected side effects.

Maximize the Mutual Online Time

The golden hours for remote agile teams are when most of the team members are online at the same time. This is the perfect time for stand-ups, coordination meetings, or one-on-one calls.

For teams that work in different time zones, a stand-up meeting is an excellent opportunity to share their issues, obstacles, or decisions. Having the stand-ups via video calls makes it easy to coordinate and catch-up with the flow, so everyone is up and running as soon as the meeting is done.

Instruct the project manager to closely monitor the entire team’s engagement during the stand-up. If there is an undue tension, or communication is becoming unfocused and counter-productive, your team members will quickly disengage.

Stand-ups do not have to be strictly daily meetings. You can have them a few times per week and use the other days for informal communication. Thus, a stand-up does not have to be just a morning routine, but you can organize it at the most convenient time for everyone that forms part of your remote agile teams. 

We all need to adapt and learn how to work within remote teams, communicate efficiently, and grow a cohesive culture. Many large companies have successfully implemented distributed agile workflows long before the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing them to cut costs and work more efficiently. On the other hand, remote work is very easy to implement for small teams that have previously worked together in a common office. Such teams can significantly benefit from the advantages of working remotely.

Stay tuned for Part Two, where we will talk to Bookmark‘s Project Manager about her hands-on experience with managing a remote team.

Sources:

• agilemanifesto.org/
• agilealliance.org/resources/experience-reports/remotely-agile/
• blog.stormid.com/distributed-agile-working/

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