Engineering Team Communication & Collaboration
Communication and collaboration help engineering teams work together effectively and efficiently. What strategies do tech leaders use to support effective communication and collaboration, and how successful are they in implementing them? Read on to find out.
One minute insights:
- Almost all believe that effective communication and collaboration are necessary for software engineering teams
- Faster project completion and better error detection are the most reported benefits of effective communication and collaboration in engineering
- Tech leaders report that time zone differences and hesitancy to share differing viewpoints are significant obstacles to successful collaboration
- While asynchronous tools are commonly used, recurring meetings are the top way leaders say they support communication and collaboration efforts on their engineering team
- A majority of respondents say they are actively trying to improve communication and collaboration on their teams, with manager training, project retrospectives and new tooling being the top ways
Tech leaders believe that effective communication and collaboration are necessary in software engineering
Question: Do you have any final thoughts to share on communication and collaboration within engineering teams?
There is no way an engineering project is successful without proper communication and collaboration.
Good and timely communication is more important than delivery tools or platforms.
Effective communication and collaboration reduce project time in engineering departments, but differing time zones can present a challenge
When asked about top communication and collaboration benefits, almost three-quarters (70%) of respondents say that effective practices reduce the time needed to successfully complete projects and deploy code.
However, for 62% of respondents, differing time zones make it difficult to connect, which prevents effective communication and collaboration.
Tech leaders also identified discomfort sharing divergent opinions on an individual level (58%), lack of spontaneity due to remote work (48%) and communication skill gaps (48%) as top challenges.
Question: Do you have any final thoughts to share on communication and collaboration within engineering teams?
One must put extra efforts to ensure collaboration especially with a number of folks working remote.
It is very important to leverage on better collaboration tools to strengthen these areas in the organization.
Tech leaders use meetings to support their communication and collaboration efforts, and most are trying to boost these in their organizations
When it comes to communication and collaboration strategies, many respondents use meetings to support their efforts. 69% use recurring one-on-ones where employees can communicate directly with managers, 66% utilize recurring team meetings to synchronize on work and 64% schedule project meetings where attendees can discuss status updates.
Of those currently trying to improve communication and collaboration (n = 174), 60% are offering or planning to offer manager training initiatives to address the issue. 59% are scheduling or planning to schedule project retrospectives and 52% are introducing or planning to introduce tools to streamline communication and collaborative work.
Question: Do you have any final thoughts to share on communication and collaboration within engineering teams?
Collaboration works best when all feel they have an equal voice.
Encourage knowledge sharing: Encourage team members to share their knowledge and expertise with one another. This helps to build a more knowledgeable and skilled team, and fosters a culture of continuous learning.
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