Therefore, the culture is a reflection of the working environment and the leadership within this.
Why is culture important for software development?
A healthy culture rallies developers around a common goal, of creating high-quality code, continuously improving and enjoying the process. Culture is not only key to the alignment and effectiveness of the work, but to recruiting and retaining high-level talent.
Creating a good culture for software development teams can be achieved by
Whilst the culture of a business often is defined by the behaviours, the actions put in place can create the trajectory towards a successful working environment.
The second falls under the expectation of the business. To give employees access to the tools and technologies they need to do their job, and let them work in a way that works best for them to be more efficient. If admin systems are slow and inefficient, this can impact the moral of individuals. Without the tools in place to do admin focused tasks efficiently, this impacts productivity elsewhere.
However, this culture path isn’t just about providing the opportunities for learning but creating a true shift, to allow the workforce to take on the full impact that training has to offer, to provide the time and expectations.
Focusing, specially on the continuous learning culture, a set of values and practices that encourage individuals (and the business as a whole) to continually increase knowledge, competence, performance and innovation. This is achieved through commitment to relentless improvement and promoting a culture of innovation.
It can help teams work together towards a common goal by creating the habit of challenging a process, or assumption. Also speeding up the transfer of knowledge.
By creating this culture within software development teams, it helps reduce turnover of talent by improving employee engagement and job commitment to contribute to the performance at both an individual and team level.
Within software development teams, by having internal CoPs people can be connected who would usually not collaborate (if they are on different teams, projects) This encourages a share of information and experience across the whole business. The coordination between all members of the business allows for problem solving, sharing of best practices and often helps remove any blockages within the process.
This communication increases knowledge sharing, and helps improve the culture of coaching and mentorship.
Communicating externally also increases the rate to attract new talent.
Creating a business culture that employees feel happy to work in, not only however, helps with retention, but as mentioned above provides a space for effective working, growth in productivity, and initiative for innovation. Therefore, culture becomes important in software modernisation, as its key to helping developers work towards higher quality code, and a working environment where every one strives to continues improvement. Ensuring software, and the employees, evolve with the business, rather than working how it's always worked.