You’re the manager of a technical team and you’re concerned. Your group of five isn’t making their deadlines despite hours of overtime. You know that someone else needs to be added to the team but the question is who? And what kind of skills will they need?
While in some scenarios the answer is obvious, it isn’t always. In some situations, you’ll need to look at the whole picture to understand the root of the problem. Don’t worry. We’ll help you through it. Today’s blog post will give you 3 steps to finding the best fit for your team’s needs.
3 Steps to Fulfilling Your Team’s Needs
1) Define Your Need By Talking To Your Team
Not reaching deadlines because you’re not creating enough Java code? All you need to do is add another Java developer to your team then, right? Not necessarily. Your current Java team might not be creating enough code because they are so busy with other things, like building .jpg)
HTML/CSS. In this scenario, if you added a Web UI resource to the team, your throughput and quality would increase dramatically.
So how do you figure out if you need a Java developer or a Web UI resource? Talk to your team. Ask them why they feel like they are unable to get enough done. This sort of upfront questioning brings problems to light, and ultimately makes the answer to the Java vs. Web UI problem clear.
You’ll thank yourself for talking to your team when you don’t experience setbacks. On many occasions, our IT staffing and technical consulting firm has brought forward a candidate only to have the client say, “That’s exactly what I asked for, but now that I see it, I realize that I need something else.” These clients didn’t talk to their team right away, and, as a result, chased after the wrong solution and lost calendar time.
2) Define Duration
You must determine for how long you’ll need this new addition. Think about the problem at hand. Is it a glitch that has stumped your current team? Or are you trying to meet next year’s deadline?
Understanding exactly what you need this person to accomplish (step 1) will help you to determine the length of their stint. Ask yourself, “How long should it take them to solve x problem?” Is it a year-long task or one that should only take a week or two? Once you’ve defined their task and duration, you can begin your search.
3) Find flexibility in order to create a larger candidate pool
Once you’ve established need and duration, your next step is to find the best fit for your team. Flexibility will help you locate the appropriate talent.
Can you be flexible with the calendar? For example, one client of ours is busy doing a 4+ month search for a Java Lead. They recognized that finding the right person is critical to their business and have been flexible with their project start time. If such flexibility is not appropriate for you, maybe you can be flexible with skill set. Going back to our example in step 1, maybe you could add EITHER a Web UI or Java developer by moving resources around internally. Flexibility with timing or with skills, gives you more candidates to choose from.
An IT staffing issue begins to be resolved once you talk to your team. This conversation allows you to better understand your need and duration, which in turn lets you begin your search. Try to be as flexible as you can when finding the best fit for your team; it will allow you to choose from a larger candidate pool.
What other advice would you give to team managers who need to add someone to the team? Let us know in the comments section below, or join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
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// ]]>Thanks to Tim Morgan and photosteve101 for the use of their respective photographs.
