The debates about time trecking do not subside in the IT community from the moment of its occurrence. Hard control leads to discontent and a shuttlecock. Lack of control - to a decrease in efficiency. The founder of KR Digital Sergey Kovalev reflects on how to find a middle ground.
The article will consist of two parts: in the first we will talk about the problem itself, in the second - about the concept of management, which helps to keep the balance between flexibility and efficiency in KR Digital.
On the approaches to the problem
There are two poles in the dilemma with time trecking. On one - IT companies operating on the outsourcing model and Bodyshop. They live on the sale of developers' watches (who most often work remotely), so they are forced to build a streaming system for evaluating, accounting and selling these very hours. At the same time, the final product itself is far from always distinguished by high quality.
At the other pole - startups of the late rounds, fintech, large business. Here, programmers are not a profit generator, so such companies can afford to keep a large state, not save resources and work strictly for the result. In many large companies, the development periods are ten times superior to common sense, as well as costs, and the responsibility of the team is blurred.
Small IT teams without unlimited financing are trying to find their own path somewhere between these poles. On the one hand, the clock counting is not suitable for them: the vast majority of developers are extremely negative about working time control. On the other hand, they cannot afford such freedom in terms, tasks and budgets, such as corporations. We have to look for your own recipe, which will allow you to combine flexibility with efficiency. In part of the companies, financial bonuses are used - from options to separation of profit between the entire team. Somewhere, daily calls help to build work, somewhere-good personal relationships within the team.
An ideal solution for all three cases is when it is possible to create a motivated team that burns its work. But in order for such a team to develop, a human factor and banal luck are needed. The construction of "Drimim" will require large cash and time costs; Her foundation is a strong and “charged” leader. A leader who is able to collect and hold the team will have to select (grow) for a long time, hold a large salary, and his loss can cost a direction or a whole business.
Time for a change
In the current situation, when the market is in the need for IT specialists, developers can afford to dictate the conditions. The pandemic also helped here, which became a catalyst for the “digitization” of many spheres - as a result, personnel hunger became even more tangible.
But all the good, as you know, quickly ends. Now the inflated technological business market begins to sag a little, investments in new projects and directions are reduced. The California dream no longer absorbs ITSHNOVs in thousands: the reverse process begins.
The most media examples are heard by everyone: the dismissal of half of the 7500 Twitter employees, the dismissal of 11 thousand employees in META, freezing of hiring in Apple and Amazon. And there are also mass reduction in less well -known companies. Crunchbase counted 91 thousand dismissed employees in the American technological sector in 2022. LayOffs.fyi resource - more than 152 thousand.
The Russian market also experiences a recession: in 2022, the number of IT-vakance was 25 %, many companies cut out the costs of long-term projects, startups are closed or relaxed. It is necessary to optimize costs even to those who have traditionally focused on quality without deadlines.
We are often working on the automation of business processes in KR Digital and see a great demand for digitalization of in average business. The leadership of such companies wants to understand what is happening under their nose to optimize costs. But now the time of optimization of expenses occurs everywhere: a wave of reductions in the “Big IT” confirmation of this. And small, medium and large business-everyone is looking for a way to cut expenses for IT departures, so you need to look for a new approach that will take into account the interests of all parties.
What is the root of trouble?
It is worth removing control - the life of the work is stretched, the pace of the team is reduced, the revenue falls. At the same time, the developers do not want to integrate into the system of accounting - conflicts begin, there is a gap in communication. So what to do?
In my opinion, to answer this question you need to dig deeper. The nature of man is to avoid danger, eat tasty and sleep a lot, without spending unnecessary efforts. Many developers use the fact that management does not understand all the subtleties of their work in order to avoid responsibility. Responsibility for their promises, assessment of time, bugs. Moreover, this often happens unconsciously, at the time of the decision or conversation with the manager. Ask yourself a question and answer it honestly: what is easier - to write off a mistake for a bug and take another month for revision or obey and give half of the salary? And you can always nod to the TK, which was not accurate enough.
Of course, among the developers there are many people of crystal cleanliness. But there are different life situations, different emotional states, and all adverse factors push “back to nature”: to relieve themselves of responsibility in order to avoid danger and extra labor.
So maybe the key to the effective interaction of business and IT teams in increasing the responsibility of developers for terms and result? Replace constant control of responsibility?
