It refers to the group of people (software developers, testers, project managers, product owners, etc.) who are working on the same project or company. However, usually it refers to a team of software developers.
139
votes
23answers
11k views
How can I deal with a team member who dislikes making comments in code?
One of my team members consistently avoids making comments in his code.
His code is not self-documenting, and other programmers have a difficult time understanding his code.
I have asked him ...
120
votes
17answers
2k views
How to develop a career path for programmers in a small company?
I am working in a small software company, which has grown from 4 to just over 50 employees (1 to 12 developers respectively) in the last 4 years with me being the lead developer/manager of the ...
92
votes
15answers
6k views
How should I behave as a developer in a project that's headed for failure?
I am a developer in a 5-member team and I believe our project is headed for disaster. I'll describe why in the bottom, but my question is how should I behave? The deadline is in 1.5 months and I feel ...
65
votes
20answers
5k views
What is the Best Way to Incentivize a Team of Developers?
I know in advance that people are going to see this question and think "free Red Bull." But I am actually looking for the best way to tie rewards for developers to the company's long-term goals.
For ...
49
votes
7answers
3k views
Programming with a group of people I've never met
I've been assigned a group project from my AP computer science class, and I am required to work with three other people. I've never talked to them before, I have no idea their skill level, and all I ...
42
votes
13answers
1k views
Is individual code ownership important?
I'm in the midst of an argument with some coworkers over whether team ownership of the entire codebase is better than individual ownership of components of it.
I'm a huge proponent of assigning every ...
41
votes
7answers
2k views
How do you keep track of what classes and functions your team has written?
When working on code, I face many of the same challenges that my teammates do, and I have written some helpful functions and classes, and so have they. If there is good communication, I'll hear about ...
36
votes
8answers
2k views
What are the main things a programmer expects from the senior programmer?
Recently I read the following 5 Types Of Bosses and How To Deal With Them
, which describes the attires of the worst boss. I've just started leading a small team of software developers.
I would like ...
23
votes
6answers
1k views
What actions to take when people leave the team?
Recently one of our key engineers resigned. This engineer has co-authored a major component of our application. We are not hitting Truck number yet though, but we're getting close :)
Before the guy ...
23
votes
10answers
2k views
How to handle conflicts between developers in your team?
This is happening in every team.
For some reasons, a conflicts arise in the team and they affect the overall motivation and productivity.
What is your recommended approach to solve that common ...
22
votes
15answers
846 views
How do I convince my team to use smaller classes/methods?
Disclaimer: I'm a newcomer (this is my third day of work), and most of my teammates are more experienced than me.
When I look at our code, I see some code smells and bad engineering practices, like ...
22
votes
18answers
2k views
Is rotating the lead developer a good or bad idea?
I work on a team that has been flat organizationally since it's creation several months ago. My manager is non-technical and this means that our whole team is responsible for decision-making.
My ...
20
votes
10answers
2k views
Are performance and salary reviews *really* harmful?
In the second edition of PeopleWare, DeMarco and Lister suggest that annual performance and salary reviews foster teamicide because they encourage competition within the team. Spolsky re-iterates this ...
20
votes
13answers
2k views
Does a team of developers need a manager?
Background:
I'm currently part of a team of four: 1 manager, 1 senior developer and 2 developers. We do a range of bespoke in-house systems / projects (e.g. 6-8 weeks) for an organisation of around ...
20
votes
5answers
1k views
Tips for a solo programmer's resume [closed]
Short version:
I've been a solo programmer for 5 years, right out of school, and am looking to for resume tips as I aim to get a job with a larger, well structured company.
Long version:
I am a 26 ...
20
votes
2answers
242 views
At what stage of an Open Source project should you invite contributions from the community?
I've been wondering about getting contributions to a new open source product my team will be developing. There's encouragement for us to get as much support from the wider community as we're able, ...
19
votes
6answers
513 views
Headaches using distributed version control for traditional teams?
Though I use and like DVCS for my personal projects, and can totally see how it makes managing contributions to your project from others easier (e.g. your typical Github scenario), it seems like for a ...
19
votes
4answers
673 views
More productive alone than in a team? [closed]
If I work alone, I used to be superproductive, if I want to be. Running prototypes within a day, something that you can deploy and use within a few days. Not perfect, but good enough. I also had this ...
18
votes
8answers
1k views
My first job in a dev team - what should my priorities be?
I just landed my dream job - working in a big (famous) company as a frontend web developer. I've never even worked in a proper dev team before - the last 4 years since I started learning web dev I've ...
17
votes
7answers
497 views
Advice for solo programmer whose team will expand in 2011
For 4 years now, I've been the solo developer for a small company. We have a handful of well establish products in a niche industry. We will be hiring 1-2 developers soon, and that will drastically ...
17
votes
8answers
327 views
What do I do when my team leader is breaking my database schema with a release coming up?
My team leader has this terrible habit of mucking with the database schema, and making changes that would cause severe breakage on the code base (without really consulting me on how the changes would ...
17
votes
10answers
812 views
Inspiring a co-worker to adopt better coding practices?
In the Handling my antiquated coworker question, various people discussed strategies for dealing with coworkers who are unwilling to integrate their workflow with the team's.
I'd like, if possible, ...
16
votes
7answers
583 views
What can you do about the quality of existing integration and unit tests while being the new guy in a team ?
A recurring theme that I came across in my career is being the new developer to arrive in a team, and quickly having an inherent distrust of the existing unit and integration test suites.
During the ...
16
votes
7answers
958 views
How to become a good team player?
I've been programming (obsessively) since I was 12. I am fairly knowledgeable across the spectrum of languages out there, from assembly, to C++, to Javascript, to Haskell, Lisp, and Qi. But all of ...
16
votes
3answers
635 views
Advice/guidelines for managing a distributed development team
What are some strategies, methodologies and best-practices for managing a distributed team?
What can be done to encourage and enforce communication between the various team members?
Is it possible ...
15
votes
12answers
3k views
Do you want to work alone or in a team? [closed]
If you can choose whether to work on a project alone or in a team, what would be your choice and why? And if you want to work in a team, what is the ideal team size?
15
votes
8answers
806 views
Too many seniors in one team?
Can having too many senior programmers in one team turn out to be a bad thing?
Having like say, 4-5 senior programmers in a team of 6-7 people.
What is the optimal number/ratio in these kind of ...
15
votes
3answers
871 views
Integrating into a new team
I've just joined a new company where a lot of the developers have been working for more than ten years. How do I integrate into the team without stepping on too many toes?
15
votes
3answers
435 views
What is the ideal mix of senior to junior developers on a team?
On any team, you are going to have the need for more grizzled and grey developers and some young pups. Some reasons include:
Money. There are often tasks that don't require the same level of ...
15
votes
8answers
902 views
Strategy/algorithm to divide fair teams based on history
We are a group of people playing floorball together on a regular basis. Every session starts with the daunting task of dividing teams...
So what would be better than an application to pick teams ...
14
votes
6answers
896 views
Should a developer be allowed to use VSS if he prefers it?
I introduced Mercurial to my department. I love it, but it is my first version control experience. I am using it with NetBeans PHP for web development. Another developer who works on internal company ...
14
votes
9answers
1k views
What to do if a team member delivers bad quality code? [duplicate]
I work as a kind of mixture of a Scrum Master and a team lead. In my team I have the problem that one of the members delivers bad quality. The code he produces is difficult to understand, difficult to ...
14
votes
10answers
1k views
Skeptic in a Scrum Team
My company has recently switched to an Agile way of working and as a part of it we've started using SCRUM. While I'm very comfortable with it and feel that this way is superior to a traditional one, ...
14
votes
5answers
460 views
Are my team's processes out of control?
I'm a software dev team leader (I recently took control of a new team), and ultimately responsible for maintaining high productivity, good quality and organized priorities.
I have 6 senior developers ...
14
votes
10answers
304 views
How effectively “sell” a good design in large meetings
Many times I have witnessed a sad tragedy. Here's what happens:
A team design review for a new project.
I see a simple design that has quite a few holes.
I casually mention the holes and ways to ...
13
votes
9answers
355 views
If you could implement one change in a development team, what would it be? [closed]
The goal is to compile a list of best practices for a development team. This can be anything from management techniques to software that make the team more productive.
Please keep one suggestion per ...
13
votes
9answers
763 views
Are there successful examples of development “shifts”?
There is some thinking going on around how to get more output from the current resources we have. The thought is that two teams working different shifts might produce more output. The first shift ...
13
votes
6answers
519 views
Solo .NET Programmer moving to a team
I've been a solo .NET programmer for a small startup for the last 8 years. I've put together some pretty decent software, and I always strived to better myself and conform to best practices, including ...
13
votes
9answers
421 views
Should programmers help testers in designing tests?
How much should programmers help testers in designing tests?
I don't think they should help at all. My worry is that if they help testers in designing tests for their own code, they'll 'infect' ...
13
votes
7answers
1k views
Leading an offshore team
I'm in a position where I am leading two teams of 4. Both teams are located in India. I am on the west coast of the U.S.
I'm finding leading remote teams challenging: First, their command of the ...
13
votes
7answers
1k views
How to run developer team meetings?
Our team of 10 developers meet weekly. The meetings are rather boring and not particularly useful. What format/agenda do you utilize to have good meetings?
We meet weekly in the conference room with ...
13
votes
4answers
283 views
Should we move programmers between rooms to group them by project they're involved in?
Assume that a company runs several projects simultaneously. When a project reaches certain state (is completed, beta is shipped, etc) some people move to the other projects, then to the other, ad ...
12
votes
4answers
807 views
How should code “Goal Tending” be handled by a Development Manager?
First allow me to coin a term:
code goal-tending: Checking out code in the morning, then silently reviewing all of the changes made by the other developers the previous day
file by file, ...
12
votes
5answers
494 views
Can there be too much uniformity in coding standards?
Is there such a thing as too much uniformity? Where I work we of course have standards including naming conventions, architectures, frameworks to leverage etc. However lately there has been a lot of ...
12
votes
6answers
588 views
How important are code formatting guidelines?
Coding standards are common in any software development organization, but how important are they to follow? I can understand the need for some consistency, but when dealing with simple things like ...
12
votes
4answers
3k views
How to structure a development team
I am the manager of a team of 11 software developers who look after my company's web sites / web applications, running up to 4 concurrent projects plus day-to-day support at any time. Within the 11 ...
11
votes
7answers
496 views
Will giving new recruits a separate subproject from experienced developers help the newbies ramp up more quickly?
We have 7 developers in a team and need to double our development pace in a short period of time (around one month). I know there is a common sense rule that "if you hire more developers, you only ...
11
votes
4answers
728 views
Which web site gives the most accurate indication of a programmer's capabilities?
If you were hiring programmers, and could choose between one of (say) the top 100 coders on topcoder.com, or one of the top 100 on stackoverflow.com, which would you choose?
At least to me, it would ...
11
votes
14answers
613 views
How to get new team members up to date with the project? [closed]
We are about to hire 1-2 new engineers for the software team (consisting of 3 developers, 1 tester).
What are the steps to integrate them into the team?
My ideas are :
read documentation (coding ...
11
votes
4answers
431 views
How to deal with programming projects that fail?
It's not uncommon for projects to fail.
As a programmer, how do you deal with projects that fail?
Some definitions of failure:
Misses deadline.
Code and functionality does not do what it's ...
