Improving Technology Through Teamwide Feedback

Problem

As our company began to grow, the survival strategy for technology that we were working with was no longer functioning. We needed a more formal technical strategy because outside of the most senior people, there was no view of where we were headed as a team in terms of technology. We wanted to create something to enable everyone to be on the same page.

Actions taken

• We involved the entire team in an initial feedback process. To do so, we had to start by asking ourselves the right questions that would be needed to reach the right type of feedback we were looking for.
• The questions we formulated were: "What can we do to improve our current technology?" and "What makes your daily work difficult?"
• From these questions, we administered a google form for written feedback, with a sole focus on technology. Everyone, from the most senior, to the most junior, was required to give feedback on these questions.
• After the forms were completed by all, we collected and curated them. We tried to group all the feedback in segments (like frontend, backend, etc) that document them as initiatives you would need to improve technology.
• Once curated, we defined 5-6 drivers to help prioritize the issues within every segment.
• The final step we took was to ask the team to set scores that corresponded with each of the initiatives. This helped us create a roadmap for the technology strategy. Alongside this, we created complementary strategy documents for that roadmap in order to provide clarity. Additionally, we added a product roadmap to this so we knew how to use it in conjunction with the product we were working on.

Lessons learned

• We realized this feedback process was something that needed to be created as a cohort. After all, the team almost always knows best what they need to improve and what we are missing in terms of technology.
• I think it's better to ask for the initial feedback as a written response. It allows more time for everyone to think about and discuss the topic rather than making it a meeting where one or two people may overpower the conversation.
• It is important to ask those providing feedback to focus solely on technology because people might include irrelevant information regarding managerial feedback or personal issues they may be having.
• When setting scores for each of the initiatives, it is better done in a session because you can give context and rich consensus on the given scores as a whole.
• This entire process needs to be an initial version of the strategy that sets you up to have regular checks with the tech leads. From there, you can review how things are going with the tech strategy and its evolution.
• When people do not have a clear vision of where things are going you can't expect them to take actions that will improve it. Once we have this setup we enable people to be on the same page and make incremental efforts to get us to our technological vision.
• Overall, this process helped us question ourselves on a regular basis and allowed people to raise their hand when they noticed something missing. We learned that when the opportunity to participate is given, it provides motivation for the team and makes it a part of the solution.