Power to the People
Posted on Wed, Mar 17, 2010
"The power of passion far exceeds contractual obligation and you can take my word for it!" - Raja Nagarajan
One might assume that successful software development, thanks no doubt to the highly technical nature of the discipline, depends above all else on something technical. This is not the case.
Successful software development depends on people. Not only that, it depends less on their technical skills, in the long run, than on their people skills.
Actually, it goes deeper than that. Sure, people skills - the ability to communicate; the ability to plan and design; the ability to think and persuade and inspire - matter. But what matters more is that the people involved behave like, well, people.
How do people behave? People care. People get excited. People get invested in things. People become impassioned.
When people care, when they get invested at a personal level, they take things seriously. What happens next, the outcome of their actions, really begins to mean something.
And ultimately, when you are working with someone, when you are collaborating with them on a complex software product, for example, isn't that how you want them to think, feel and act? You want them to care; you want them to be invested; you want them to want the outcome as much as you do.
Now, we could point you to studies by McKinsey and A.T. Kearney and all the rest to show why performance management and a focus on people as people can pay big dividends.
We could also point you to our white paper, "Mastering the Art of Globalizing Software R&D," that addresses this issue in some detail. There you can read all about the importance of fostering executive buy-in, of enabling frequent and ongoing communication, of eliminating (corporate) cultural barriers in support of a "one company" approach, and of recognizing that your team is not a cost but an asset.
Finally, we could regale you with stories from our years of collaboration with companies like PayPal, Pearson Learning, Business Objects and others to demonstrate that this "people first" philosophy is the best way to globalize software development.
Of course then it would seem like we were trying to pitch you or sell to you. In other words, we'd be treating you like a "prospect," rather than a person.
So, instead, having stated our view, we'll simply ask, "What do you think?"
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