How do you improve your SDLC team's learning culture?

Agreed. Certain learnings come from experience and certain learnings require investments. Investment for training adds to the overall cost of the project. So in this changing industry or modern world we need to have diversified investments. So prepare 30 to 40 percent of resources for direct training and ask them to do the training for rest of the team. This will provide org. a chance to validate the trained resources and improve their engagement level. The rest can be trained on some other skills and their learnings can be exchanged. This principle takes care of training needs, cost optimization, employee engagement etc

1. Goals of a team and that of individuals within the team need to align - for example, a team’s goal to migrate into cloud has to align with each individual’s goal of becoming cloud engineer or cloud architect 2. Architecture plays a crucial part in defining the goals. A teams goal should be completely in sync with the architectural direction 3. Over used but true - goals should be SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely

Before you define your learning goals you first need to know 1. What is your goal statement based on what you know so far. 2. What are customer needs. 3. What are your milestones to meet 1 and 2. 4. Ask yourself where you are and where you want to be based on 1, 2 and 3 above. Once you have answers to the above 4 points 1. Define what skill set and technology stack you will need to achieve your goal. 2. Separate required skill set into three or more categories like soft skills, tech skills, leadership skills 3. List out your comfort level for each of the categories. Biginners, Intermediate, Expert 4. Identify skills you want to learn. Define timeline with minor and major milestone. 5. Evaluate your progress with predefined check points.

I will recommend the following: a) Identify the training needs of the individuals in the team b) There might be a requirement for a complete team training if we are going in with a new technology or it might be some individuals who require to top up their existing knowledge c) Identify the right learning path d) Very important is to monitor their performance after the training. This will send a message that training is not for name sake , but to be taken seriously

Learning and Talent Development is driven in THREE dimensional: 1st - Organizational/Business driven demands 2nd - Industry trend and need of adoption 3rd - Individual driven (aspirations/desire to learn) As a Leader/manager, one needs to analyze and come up with a plan to organize and execute. Sometimes learning plans are driven just from temporary motivational perspective and it will be lost quickly, hence we need to consciously tie them to targets, goals and measurement criteria post of completion

Recognition to your learning goals does not end with materialistic rewards. 1. The real reward is to apply your - knowledge in your work to innovate new ways 2. Sharing your learnings to expand your knowledge graph is the true reward to your learning goals! One should have the growth mindset to accept feedback through hands on experiment as you traverse from beginner to expert level in your skill development. Self-realization to learn and contribute is key to celebrate your learning achievements. Peer recognition helps in self validating your new exposures and encourages to mastery in your learning subject.

Learning needs to be continuous and the real value of the learning is in how it can be effectively implemented. Also, an efficient recognition framework needs to reward the learning behavior. Recognition acts as a positive reinforcement of the learning behavior.

Feedback should for the below: - Talent Development organization driving the learning programs to improve quality of planning, execution - Individual attending and implementing as part of the assignment - Department/organization sponsoring to translate back into the savings/productivity improvement or business development achieved with the learning

Foster an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing what they've learned. This could be through regular meetings, presentations, or an internal knowledge base. A 'lunch and learn' session can be a great informal way to encourage this.

In my experience, feedback and recognition are integral components of a thriving work environment, contributing significantly to team member's engagement and performance. Constructive feedback serves as a valuable tool for professional development, offering insights into strengths and areas for improvement. Feedback becomes a catalyst for growth, empowering individuals to refine their skills. Equally important is the power of recognition. Acknowledging and appreciating the efforts and achievements of team members fosters a positive and motivating workplace culture. The combination of feedback and recognition creates a balanced feedback loop within the team.

You can’t have experimentation if you train your team to fear the consequences of failure. The most innovative companies and teams encourage freedom. As a leader, when things break it’s not “who” did it, but what happened and how can we make our systems better for next time.

I worked at a company where the CEO wanted to "make a note in their personnel file" anytime someone made a mistake. It completely killed the teams' motivation to try new ideas or even speak up. You have to break a few eggs to make a cake. In startups especially if you are afraid to make a mistake you can't build anything truly disruptive and innovative. Embrace the failures, learn from them, and try again.

In my experience, the practical approach to drive change is to recognize that each team member is different, and it is better to start small, with a few team members who are early adopters in their nature. After some time the rest of the team will get used to the change and will be able to do the change as well.

Innovation thrives on experimentation and curiosity. Encourage a culture of exploration, where questions are welcomed, assumptions are challenged, and new ideas are celebrated. Provide a safe space for your team to take risks, learn from failures, and ignite their creativity.

Experimentation and curiosity are essential for a learning culture. To expand developers' skills, managers should provide time for R&D, prototyping & tinkering. To uncover possibilities, leaders can spark curiosity by asking questions and brainstorming. Developers gain experience with emerging technologies as a result of being empowered to satisfy their curiosity through experiments. Developers learn from each other in an experiment-friendly environment. When curiosity & experimentation are emphasized, unknowns become exciting challenges instead of obstacles. As a result of this learning mindset, individual and team growth is accelerated.

Leaders can enhance the SDLC learning culture by setting an example, offering learning resources, promoting mentorship, organizing regular training sessions, establishing feedback mechanisms, embracing Agile, fostering collaboration, emphasizing documentation, allocating time for innovation, and recognizing contributions. These strategies create an environment where continuous learning and improvement are key to the SDLC process!

We have a knowledge sharing session every sprint as a part of SDLC. This sessions are something where team members meet every two weeks for 30-60 mins and share what they learned during the sprint or in last few weeks. Doing this in casual manner rather than a planned training session, keeps team members motivated to speak and also helps every one to learn something new

Continuos Learning is a biggest motivator in SDLC world. Everyday there is something new coming in on the radar and if you dont update yourself then you will become outdated and hence will be in less demand and oppurtunities will get curtailed for you. Just imagine if the OS of the phone does not get updated with new features, that phone utility will go down overtime. So recommend any channel to enhance your knowledge or skills. Simple approach is to pick 1-2 external certification as an annual target as a learning goal. This not only will keep you motivated but will also help you to get recognized.

Every person is different. Each of us have had a different learning curve. Some are visual learners, some rely on muscle memory, others are oral learners, others are self-learners. Hence, a team needs to have multiple learning sources at their disposal. For example, I recall one of my former trainees was an oral learner. He may read a any documentation or go through any online learning course, or attend any offline training session. But his learning outcomes were best when was exposed to peer-to-peer discussions within the team. Hence, being mindful of such factors is critical to one's success as a Team Manager.

When a developer overcomes a particularly challenging situation have them share solution and why they took the approach they did. They don't have to be an excellent speaker but it will encourage them to be bold in their thinking and approach to problems. They should share with the team their favorite blogs, articles or books. Knowing where to find relevant information for the technology in use is extremely valuable.

Research has evidently shown that mentoring people helps not just the mentee but the mentor as well. It helps solidify the mentor's understanding of the subject matter better and provides a greater in-depth understanding of it.

Learnings must be applied and shared to enrich team knowledge. To cement new skills, developers should incorporate insights from training directly into their work. Providing mentorship sessions to help team members apply techniques optimizes learning. By enabling code reviews and demos, managers can exchange practical insights. "Lunch and learns" allow teams to learn from each other about emerging best practices. The establishment of online discussion boards and wikis provides an ongoing repository of communal knowledge. Through direct application of learning and peer-to-peer teaching, a team culture ensures continuous skill enrichment.

In my experience, applying my learnings, practising them and then sharing them with the team has helped to a great extent. During experience sharing, things that worked out and had a positive impact have helped team members adapt and follow. But most importantly the experience sharing on failures or the things that did not work out. These pointers have helped the team to understand the possible failures in their journey. They started learning to be cautious and take precautions through my experience. As a leader sharing your own experience adds great value to your team members to grow

My recommendations are as follows: 1. Encourage developers to directly apply insights from training into their daily work. Learning is most effective when put into practice. 2. Facilitate knowledge sharing through code reviews, tech talks, mentorship programs, and informal discussions. This reinforces learnings across the team. 3. Document key learnings, solutions and processes in a shared knowledge base for future reference. This prevents loss of knowledge. 4. Recognize those who proactively share their expertise and coach others. This motivates knowledge sharing behavior. 5. Lead by example - managers should dedicate time to learn, experiment with new technologies, and then share their learnings with the team. This sets the culture.

Applying and sharing my learnings allows us to provide more relevant and practical guidelines , enhancing the overall user experience. It enables people to adapt to various contexts and offer insights that align with users' specific needs. Sharing knowledge fosters a collaborative learning environment, benefiting users by promoting understanding and clarity on diverse topics.

Take some dedicated time for a peaceful self-reflection session. Use this time to look back on what you accomplished last week, what challenges you faced, how you could have improved, and what you've learned from your experiences. This process allows you to pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, it helps you recognize any missed opportunities and enables you to celebrate your achievements more meaningfully. The longer you wait to reflect on your experiences, the harder it becomes to remember the context in which they occurred.

A lot of people thrive in a learning-driven culture BUT remember not everyone wants to learn, and this shouldn't seen as a bad thing. You'll find that in the later stages of your career, you may not want to learn new things, you might feel you have a wealth of experience that is ripe to pass on. Don't punish these people. These people can help your team grow and still deliver, and saying they don't want to learn anymore doesn't mean they don't, it just might mean they don't want to do classroom-led learning. They will still discover new things online and also if you give them the right tools learn in their own time, away from work when it's quiet and there is no pressure on delivering.

Scaled Agile utilizes iterative retrospectives as a cornerstone for enhancing a team's learning culture. By systematically reviewing processes and results, SDLC teams can identify improvement areas. Promoting an environment where knowledge and experience are openly shared nurtures collective growth. Integrating Agile practices, like ongoing cross-functional training, further develops team skills, fosters adaptability and innovation necessary for delivering exceptional products.

It is typical, albeit often unintentional, for a team to jump into the next software development initiative after the current project is launched. The key and most practical data points for improvement for the next initiative would come from retrospection, reflection, learning, and making it a goal to apply those learnings in the next initiative.

Don't let valuable lessons slip away. Regularly review your team's progress by analyzing results and data to identify key takeaways. This reflection period allows you to celebrate wins, address challenges, and most importantly, solidify learning. Use this opportunity to refine goals, plan the next steps, and seek new learning resources. By transforming experiences into knowledge, you ensure your team keeps growing and adapting.

I've found that individuals are too caught up in the "now, rushing to meet deadlines or get one more thing out the door. Continuous improvement is often put aside as something to do "later" when there is time. For a team to start embracing a learning culture, leadership has to support the team by 1) providing the work-time and space for the team to reflect and improve, and 2) giving the team the autonomy to self-identify and prioritize their improvement goals. If the team starts seeing how self-identified improvements add up to significant impacts in the delivery of business value, they will gain a sense of ownership and pride in their work which, in turn, will become the foundational motivation for continuous learning.

The IT industry is one of the most exciting sector as new innovations are being developed faster than a midsummers shower. This means we all have to learn new skills and attain new knowledge to stay ahead. Learning is a must if you work in IT and this means you have to stay curious, open and eager for new ideas and approaches. What skills you have attained 10 years ago might not apply anymore and you must stay hungry to learn "the new".

To foster a strong learning culture in your SDLC team, try mentorships, cross-training, open communication. Dedicate time for learning, create knowledge banks, host lunch-and-learns with external experts. Stay current with industry trends and support certifications. Encourage peer learning and accommodate different preferences. Reflect, celebrate milestones, seek feedback. Use surveys to measure team perception and maintain leadership support for ongoing growth.

To encourage learning culture... Its important to understand "Whats in for the learners in our sdlc teams"? And the learning culture can be inculcated by any of the below 3 methods, as I practice with team: 1) Learning making their work "Interesting" or "Simplified". 2) Learning making them feel More "Productive" or "Competitive" 3) Learning getting them recognition & appreciation in their key interests These are some things i prefer practicing to promote learning culture. Its important to understand which method works for our potential learners.

The expansion of skills and knowledge among Agile SDLC teams is essential to collaborate across, fostering adaptability and innovation within teams. T-shaped Skills: Refers to having deep expertise in one area (the vertical part of the "T") and a broad breadth understanding of various disciplines (the horizontal part). Pi-shaped Skills: Extends the T-shaped model by adding a second deep expertise (forming the top horizontal line of the "Pi"). Combo-shaped Knowledge Expansion: This concept combines expertise from multiple domains, creating a diverse skill set. In summary, incorporating T, Pi, Comb skills in SDLC teams, coupled with a strong learning culture, builds cross functional teams with problem-solving abilities, and adaptability.