Best ways to bridge the gap between developers and project managers

If your organization comprises highly specialized professionals, there is a big chance of disagreement if it is not well managed. Friction can exist between developers and designers, back and front-end developers, and, most commonly, between project managers and software developers.

When it comes to software development, the roles of project manager and software developer are critical to the project's success. Both parties must collaborate to provide clients with the most refined quality product if productivity and output are maximized. Despite this, we frequently observe a gap between the two professionals.

Even the most talented teams can be derailed by poor communication and lack of respect. Your firm must gain a better understanding of the interaction between software engineers and project managers so that you can manage it effectively.

Most entrepreneurs and business owners don't realize or underestimate how crucial it is to grasp fundamental programming and understand the basics of programming, especially if you are a project manager. A definite project management plan also includes ample knowledge about what the developers are working on and the trajectory they follow.

So let's dive deeper into the major problems that arise within managers and developers within a team and how they should go about it.

PROMINENT REASONS OF PROJECT MANAGER AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPER DIVIDE

SCOPE AND REQUIREMENTS

While predicting project time and resources may be the more difficult task, identifying the project scope and needs may assist avoid estimation problems. Project managers and developers should know the client's business objectives before deciding on the project scope. That includes both project managers and developers. Because the developers will be writing the code that will make those business goals a reality, they must be included in the scope and requirements planning.

After everyone is clear on the project's business objectives, the customer should prioritize features. The PM must ensure that the customer understands that must-have features are considered critical to the project's success.

Project managers and clients agree on project scope and feature priority not by selecting which features are must-haves and nice-to-haves but by assigning monetary and time values to those features. This compels clients to classify features into two categories: must-have and out-of-scope/out-of-budget.

PROJECT ESTIMATION

The largest point of contention between developers and project managers is most likely time estimation. Project managers are frequently pressured to commit to firm deadlines, and the problem is that software development is notoriously difficult to precisely forecast. To overcome shifting conditions and reach excessive deadlines, developers cannot be asked to work nights and weekends.

Ego and emotion, cloud judgment, should be removed from the equation to arrive at more accurate estimates. Be practical: the project should be broken down into features, and features should be broken down into short stories. Each story is estimated based on its complexity and available resources.

EXCESSIVE MEETINGS

Meetings are super-important to keep up with team performance and bring all members on the same page. Meetings have their time and place, but it's also necessary to have a framework and a plan. Daily scrum sessions or weekly stand-ups are held by some teams. These meetings are timed, and everyone understands ahead of time what questions will be asked and what they will be reporting on. A scrum master, who may or may not be the project manager, facilitates scrum meetings.

Project managers should be aware that developers dislike being summoned to meetings for simple communications or updates that could have been accomplished asynchronously using a project management tool, instant chat, or email.

Use a task-ticketing system to arrange your backlog to minimize unwanted or ineffective meetings. An ordered-list, such as a board, can be used to rank and pull tasks. Project management software will keep everyone up to date on when tasks are pulled, in progress, and completed in real time, reducing the need for superfluous meetings.

TAKING OWNERSHIP

The project manager is the team leader, and it is their responsibility to keep the team safe. Don't put the developers under the bus when management has tough questions or requests. The project manager should handle those difficult questions so that the developers may focus on their work. Likewise, push back if clients are unreasonable with timelines or project scope!

While it is the Project manager's responsibility to protect their team, promote cohesion in the team and avoid hazards by taking ownership of the project. Updates, delays, and changing circumstances should be communicated to all clients and stakeholders as soon as possible.

A project manager must discuss any changes requested by the client with the developers. Before they're turned in, double-check that time tracking and worklogs are complete.

HOW TO BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN PROJECT MANAGERS AND DEVELOPERS

GIVE CLEAR FEEDBACK

Feedback is paramount to the success of a team. It entails structuring your work in a way that allows you to get feedback, being transparent so that others can see what you're working on, and incorporating that feedback into your work so that you may continue to improve. You can improve your product and produce happier consumers by increasing the role of iteration and input in your development process.

Feedback loops are like a boat between two shores in traditional development practices. On one hand, there are the business users, and on the other, the developers are constructing the application. You send data back and forth slowly, in a high-latency procedure that exposes you to a great deal of distortion.

Rather than ferrying input back and forth, look for solutions and methods that help engineers and business users. Low-code platforms, for example, make collaboration simple and encourage regular, explicit input, which helps you verify assumptions along the road to the appropriate answer.

INVOLVE THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM IN THE PROCESS

Increased collaboration and iterative development also aid in early stakeholder buy-in. Conclusion: Users can assess and modify the program as it takes shape before their eyes, rather than development happening in silos and all value coming at the end of a project. Prototypes and in-progress versions provide users something tangible to react to, speeding up the design process by ensuring your development team understands precisely what is required.

When a developer is in charge of the project's programming, they can prevent a lot of problems from occurring in the first place by incorporating them in the project's first launch. It offers developers a better understanding of why they're being pushed to create software on such a short deadline.

For example, if your team communicates via Slack, build a project channel and invite everyone involved. This enables everyone on the team access to the project, even if they aren't active in the day-to-day discussions.

UNDERSTAND SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT BETTER

The lack of understanding some project managers have for the time it could take a developer to finish a task is a common scenario that can generate a split between the two parties. This is a scenario seen repeatedly in numerous businesses, and it happens in marketing departments with front-end developers, product departments with back-end developers, and everywhere in between. Programming in a specific language requires specialized abilities, and different experience levels are needed.

The project manager's responsibility is to communicate with their software development manager or most senior developer. Though they don't necessarily know how to code a website, they must determine what level of experience the developers have, what language they code in, how much time they spend on specific tasks, and, most importantly, what tools and services a project manager can provide to the software development team to help them work more efficiently.

One potential solution to this problem is to use assessment software that can generate reports on completion. This way project managers who can't code can read the reports to get an estimation of the developer's ability.

USE COLLABORATION TOOLS

The entire project team must be connected using a collaboration tool to boost communication and operate more efficiently.

You're probably using Github or another code repository tool if you're a software engineer, which most project managers despise. And if you're a project manager, you're probably using a complicated project management application, which most software developers hate. Software developers are only interested in managing code, while project managers are only interested in executing tasks, and both are equally crucial when building software launches.

Using team collaboration and work management software is extremely important to bridge the gap between developers and project managers. Such tools make it easier for teams to stay productive by describing how they spend their time on assignments.

Using a work management platform, they can better manage their time and deliver projects on schedule. Team collaboration software also helps you streamline your review and approval process by allowing teams to receive clear feedback on files and decreasing the number of rounds of revision.

WRAPPING UP

When working as a team, everyone must be on the same page, and nothing should hold them back.

A project manager is responsible for the timely completion of a project as well as team harmony. A development team, on the other hand, must provide high-quality work and complete the tasks assigned to them. It's critical for engineers and managers to be on the same page and work together seamlessly.