3 Traits That Separate Great Software Teams From Good Software Teams

A good software team can help you meet your digital needs, but might leave you wanting for more. A great software team anticipates the needs of your business and its digital presence to ensure that you shine online.

But how can you tell them apart? How do you know an average team from a great software team? We’re here to help with three traits that set the great apart from the good. (You will definitely be able to see the results.)

1. Ongoing Desire to Learn

Ongoing, regular learning and development helps a team to maintain strong, deep technical knowledge.

While it’s not always a skill you can see on the surface, it often emerges from teams that embrace life-long learning. These people don’t necessarily live in classrooms. Learners are all around and exhibit a thirst for new information and skills even if they never set foot in a traditional classroom.

Listen to the way they talk about new technology or gadgets or techniques. Are team members excited about the developments? Are they trying to get in front of these things as they happen and be a part of the wave?

It’s more than degrees and educational attainment as well. It’s about networking with peers and others in the industry to glean information, share creative ideas and processes, and learn together. It can happen in online forums, in-person meetings or conferences, webinars or training classes or more formal settings. What’s important is that desire is there.

Strong adult learners exhibit a few common characteristics including curiosity, an understanding that learning takes effort and isn’t always fun, ability to ask questions and a desire to share knowledge. A great software team will include people that exhibit these characteristics. While no single individual will necessarily have them all, most of them should be seen across the team.

2. Strong Culture That Embraces Diverse Backgrounds

A strong culture that embraces various backgrounds and levels of expertise can bend and evolve but doesn’t break.

The concept applies to almost any team, really. Think about it. The long-standing developers on a team can be energized by new hires that bring different ideas and experiences to the group. Younger developers can learn from the lessons of their more seasoned counterparts to help avoid mistakes and get up to speed quicker.

It takes both kinds of people on the team for balance, structure and strong development of complete ideas and processes. Energy creates and fosters more energy and more creative thought.

Now here’s the important part. Culture.

The team culture has to be willing to embrace this concept so that everyone can share and work together with an open exchange of ideas. The mood must be collaborative and inclusive so that everyone feels equally comfortable to contribute and engage with the group. (The good news is this can be pretty easy to see when people interact with one another. When there are culture issues, there’s often an odd tension that comes with it when the team is together.)

3. Embraces New Technology Head On

Look around the room: What gadgets or toys do you see surrounding your software team? Sleek new phones, VR headsets, wearables?

Not being afraid to embrace new technologies, and stay up-to-date with the advancing field of development is vital if you want to be on the cutting edge in your field.

But embracing technology is more than being first in line at the Apple Store. It a way of thinking and actions that early adopters tend to exhibit:

• They are imaginative. These team members tend to think outside the box, and that’s a good thing.
• They take risks. Early adopters are willing to try a lot of different things; some will succeed and others will fail. That just comes with the territory.
• They are natural promoters. Once that new tech has been acquired, these team members are going to want to talk to you about it and share. One of the things that will make the new technology cool is having others join in to use it.
• They are organized (or want to be). A lot of new technology is rooted in planning, to-dos, schedules and tools designed to make life easier. While not every one of these early adopters will appear organized, technology is a tool that can help them get there (even if they fail to fully reap the benefit of it).
• They continue to dream. The latest gadget can be a lot of fun, but it’s never the end. Those who embrace technology crave more development, more sophistication and even more advanced tools with each new release.

Conclusion

A quick conversation is often enough to help you get an idea if someone has these traits. It’s a little tougher to see it within a group environment, but it is doable. Just sit in on a meeting and watch how interactions occur. Think consciously about these traits to see if they exist in individuals and your team as a whole:

• Ongoing desire to learn
• Strong culture that embraces diverse backgrounds
• Embraces new technology head on

Here’s the thing: You don’t have to handle all this software knowledge yourself. Even if you have a good software team within your organization for daily tasks, you might need a great team for some other projects.

That’s where Mayven can help. The team is committed to ongoing learning and is knowledgeable when it comes to new technology. Mayven can help you integrate some of the latest software tools into your websites or apps (or even build you a new one). And you can trust that every design and build comes with a team that exemplifies these traits of great software teams.