Building Knowledge in a Team: Main Mistakes and Strategies
Introduction
For IT leaders, the topic of knowledge management is often unexplored territory. There is a silent assumption that it happens on its own. While it’s true to some extent, as software developers, we constantly need to learn new things to stay relevant. However, it’s not enough if only some team members learn independently. For a team to work efficiently, they need consistent and up-to-date knowledge. Cutting-edge technology skills alone have limited value.
Read MoreBuilding Knowledge in Teams: Main Mistakes and Strategies
Building Knowledge in Teams: Main Mistakes and Strategies
The topic of knowledge management in teams is largely overlooked by IT leaders. There is a silent assumption that it happens automatically. To some extent, it does, as programmers are accustomed to constantly learning to stay ahead. However, this is not sufficient. It’s not enough for everyone (or realistically, half) to learn individually. If the team is to be effective, cohesive and up-to-date knowledge is needed. Knowledge of new technologies or solutions holds limited value compared to this.
Read MoreWhy Agile Fails
Introduction
Implementing a methodology from the Agile family is not at all easy. The problem usually lies in management, who upon superficially understanding what it’s all about, perceive the new method as a promise that from now on, everything will magically work better. It doesn’t matter if we have subpar team members and adhere to the principle that “any specialist can be replaced by a finite number of students.” It doesn’t matter if there’s complete disregard for knowledge management and skill development in the team because there’s never time for that. It doesn’t matter if people working on projects are shuffled between projects—after all, it’s about interdisciplinarity, and everyone should know everything.
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