When you hire an offshore software development company, you deserve to know what the team is working on hour by hour, day by day. Here comes the project manager, the star of our working methodology. Transparency should be a must and a common aim among all the team members.
Without appropriate communication, no cooperation will be successful. Transparency promotes teamwork since you get all the information you need to make the right decisions. Transparency also keeps team members accountable, which is essential for fast results. Transparency is ensured by the project manager responsible for keeping you informed of the progress by reporting on a daily basis about the development process status through video calls. In this post, we discuss the software development project life cycle and how to ensure its progress at every hour of every day. The perfect tools to get team organization and workflow control are available; you just have to dive into them.
The success of every development project: a transparent working methodology
A clear working methodology, which all the team must be aware of, is the key to getting the solution the client is looking for within the project deadline. Once the task is ready and approved by the client, we use an online platform that provides real-time updates. The project manager (PM) communicates with the customer and synchronizes all the members involved to create that desirable flawless final product. The PM sets up absolute transparency of the work done. If a task is not getting done, the PM will seek solutions to resolve any issues immediately, eliminating any possible delay.
The workflow is designed to keep the project managers and developers in constant communication as they track working hours. If you hire a development company, a strong PM/developer role divide can jeopardize project success. We have designed a model where the team members have hourly contact with the PM and the client, who can see what everyone is working on, has been working on, and is going to continue with in real time. The project manager plays a vital role in this method, providing continuous updates to the client about the development progress.
There are several platforms where you can see in real time what every member of the team is doing, how much time has been spent on each task, and what is coming next. Redmine is a great open source tool you can customize that makes it easy to track hours and filter information and is very useful for reports during and after every project.
Redmine allows you to assign tasks to each member of the team, and everyone can reassign when it is finished or when feedback is needed. Time tracking is one of the most useful tools RM has; everyone can fill in how many hours they have spent, and also, you can specify the estimated hours for each task. This allows you to get reports during the work process, not only about the hours spent but also the completion of tasks and the person who has been working on each one.
This tool can be customized in different channels to organize the work, specify subtasks when needed and due dates, and provide the status of each task (new, high, in progress, waiting for feedback, QA review, resolved, closed). Every member of the team can change the properties of each task, and all of those changes are tracked in Redmine. This open source tool is a great match for team organization and coordination, reporting the workflow during and after the project is finished, and redefining the work methodology to get greater results.
The role of the project manager is crucial within web development teams
The project manager should be the one you interface with, so you see what happens every day within the team. Here are some tasks our PM does to have a transparent workflow. The project manager works everyday throughout the entire lifecycle of the project to create an online space where all developers can log in and see what is happening to their code.
Project managers work on daily updates and meetings, gathering the team’s feedback and discussing new functionalities or bug fixing,to keep everybody current. The role is to report on developments and reduce the friction that can appear among them and with the client. The project manager’s job is to see the collaboration within the team and take care of group cohesion.
The right person for this job is someone who understands how to manage client expectations, timelines, costs, and team management. He/she must know every member of the team and be in constant communication with each one and understand what everyone is working on. Here, Redmine will be the perfect partner, motivating specialization and professionalism.
Constant communication among all team members: the best apps for this task
Team communication and transparency should be must-haves in every development project. To get these, there are communication apps, like Discord or Slack, where everyone is constantly connected. In these platforms, you can organize the team into different channels, one for each project, where everyone can be in communication via computer or mobile.
Everything from doubts to ideas to reporting can be discussed. Documents and images waiting for feedback can be uploaded, and links can be copied and pasted — whatever you need for fluid team communication team needs. The communication apps ensure that everyone can be in contact, even when the time zone is not the same, and it’s not necessary to wait for email responses.
Physical distance and cultural differences shouldn’t be a problem in today’s marketplace, where all these amazing tools can promote team success, getting you the offshore rates you are looking for with high-standard professionals.
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