What's the best way to work with developers and stakeholders in your system projects?

1 Understand the problem and the goal

Before you start designing or coding your system, you need to have a clear understanding of the problem you are trying to solve and the goal you are aiming for. This will help you align your vision with the needs and expectations of your stakeholders, who are the people who have a stake in the outcome of your system. To understand the problem and the goal, you should conduct a thorough analysis of the current situation, the desired state, the gaps, the risks, and the benefits of your system. You should also define the scope, objectives, deliverables, and success criteria of your system, and communicate them to your stakeholders.

2 Involve developers and stakeholders early and often

One of the most common mistakes in system development is to exclude developers and stakeholders from the initial stages of the project, or to limit their involvement to formal meetings and reviews. This can lead to misunderstandings, conflicts, delays, and rework later on. To avoid these issues, you should involve developers and stakeholders early and often in your system development process, and seek their feedback and input throughout. This will help you build trust, rapport, and collaboration among your team members, and ensure that your system meets the technical, functional, and business requirements.

3 Use agile and iterative methods

Agile and iterative methods are approaches to system development that emphasize flexibility, adaptability, and responsiveness to change. They involve breaking down your system into smaller and manageable units, called iterations or sprints, and delivering them incrementally and frequently to your stakeholders. This way, you can get early and frequent validation of your system, and make adjustments based on the feedback and changing needs of your stakeholders. You can also use agile and iterative methods to improve your communication and coordination with your developers and stakeholders, by using tools and techniques such as user stories, backlogs, daily stand-ups, demos, retrospectives, and pair programming.

4 Establish quality and performance standards

Quality and performance are essential aspects of any system development project, as they affect the reliability, usability, and satisfaction of your system. However, quality and performance are not absolute or universal concepts, but rather depend on the context and expectations of your system and your stakeholders. Therefore, you need to establish clear and measurable quality and performance standards for your system, and communicate them to your developers and stakeholders. You should also use appropriate methods and tools to ensure and monitor the quality and performance of your system, such as testing, debugging, code reviews, refactoring, optimization, and metrics.

5 Manage changes and expectations

Change is inevitable in system development, as new requirements, feedback, issues, or opportunities may arise during the project. However, change can also be disruptive, costly, and risky for your system and your stakeholders. Therefore, you need to manage changes and expectations effectively, by following a structured and transparent change management process. This process should include identifying, evaluating, approving, implementing, and communicating changes to your system, and assessing their impact on the scope, schedule, budget, quality, and performance of your system. You should also keep your developers and stakeholders informed and engaged about the changes and their implications, and manage their expectations accordingly.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?