One of our products that we see consistently good results with is our software coaching offering - a lightweight service (typically 1-3 hours a week) where we help your team "be the best that it can be". The most obvious question we get asked about software coaching is "why should we invest in it?" So, this post tries to set out some of the main reasons why you'll benefit from it - no matter the level of maturity you currently have.
1. Improve your team's effectiveness
The most obvious benefit is that you'll increase the overall efficiency and effectiveness over time, by learning how to be a better software team. This can take the form of "hard" skills - such as learning a specific technology e.g. F#, SAFE Stack or working with specific Azure services, or "soft" skills - such as time management, liaising with the business or becoming a more cohesive team.
2. Help plan and achieve long-term goals
A big part of what we do is help you think about the strategic aims for your team and the impact your team have within the context of your business. I'll speak more about this in a future blog post, but trying to focus not just on the immediate goals that are in front of you but also to look at the bigger picture is critical to building a much more valuable asset for your organisation.
3. Address immediate blockers
Whilst most coaching services focus exclusively on strategic aims (a worthy goal), we know that there are sometimes a number of short-term "tactical" issues that you'll need help with. Perhaps you can't solve a specific problem effectively, such as how to model a specific domain correctly in F#, or how to use CosmosDB without getting stung with a large bill at the end of the month. Our team will help you solve these kinds of blockers wherever we can - or put you in touch with partners that can - to allow you to focus on delivering more value to your users.
4. Get objective and fresh advice
Something that working with an external coach should help is to avoid the echo-chamber of ideas that will originate from your own team. Getting an external and professional viewpoint guarantees an objective view on strategies and technology choice as well as can provide ideas that your team have never been exposed to before. This can again can apply for both hard and soft skills.
5. Prioritise and focus on key goals
A coach will try to help you gain some perspective and concentrate on what's really important to your business. This means avoiding falling back into the same old habits and losing focus of what's really important for your team and organisation - and investing time and energy in upskilling in the most important parts of your technology stack.
6. Keep yourself honest
A coach will also ensure that you stick to the goals that you've set and make sure that you're honest with yourself about them! So, the next time your team break a committment that you've agreed up-front, you'll have someone to remind you of the reasons why you're trying to change that habit for the better!
7. Stay motivated
It's easy to get down; for example, you're in the middle of a software delivery but things aren't going well - the customers are complaining about high bug rates, your team are feeling undervalued or you just can't seem to get out from under. A coach will help give you some perspective, to see the progress you've made and to see the goals that you're working towards.
And in case you're wondering - yes, we use multiple coaches on a regular basis, so we see this benefit from both "sides" of the fence!
How can I find out more?
If you're interested in finding more about how software coaching can help you, feel free to drop us an email directly or through our Coaching form.
Look forward to hearing from you!