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What? Where? How? – Only three questions were in our heads on the 24th of February, though later we understood that the backstage of the economic stability of the country lies on those who continue working. So we had no other way than to ensure the safety of the team and come back to Custom application development as soon as possible.
We wish we had never faced such an experience but already having so, we are here to share the practical steps that help to save the business of a development company. Find how we managed to control ourselves and manage our tasks in digital products development, in our article.
The stress on the stress
To be honest, nobody taught us how to manage the team of developers in times of war. Though, several points became the basis for our future fast recovery:
- COVID-19 pandemics showed us how it is possible to work remotely and still stay a highly motivated team with the target to get results and complete tasks;
- a business continuity plan, even if it is drafted and was never checked under such conditions can help any company with the definition of the responsible persons for some directions and actions that should be taken ASAP;
- most of our managers tried to apply mirroring tactics – whether they wanted to see tranquillity and calmness from their team, they acted accordingly. That helped to arrange the team and continue working;
- constant communication that was the core of our activities before the war helps us even now. Mostly in the first days, we discussed the situation in the teams. In such a way we pronounced our pain and fear, shared it with the people with similar emotions and everyone grew stronger as a result.
With such a background arrangement we entered the darkest days in the life of our team. The relative security of the offices allowed us to provide all necessary hardware for a team to work remotely.
Planning
Project Managers still have daily meetings with the teams as well as our clients to ensure a high level of performance and stable coherence with any deadlines on the projects. And the thing we wish to thank our clients, they agreed to support us and continue our cooperation.
Nevertheless, some changes in our daily planning and meeting arrangement happened – the meetings were shifted due to airstrike warnings. Though, our bomb shelters already have a constant Wi-Fi connection, in such a way we can continue working even from there if the situation requires. The communication process continues to deliver the updated statuses on the projects and tasks fulfilment.
If to talk about general planning, having various plans on occasions “if is” brings great stability to the first moments of panic. And we felt that in our experience personally. That was one of the reasons we succeeded to return to the pre-war level of efficiency within the first two weeks.
Keeping moral stability
One of the defining points for a task’s completion is staying in a positive working atmosphere wherever that is possible. Taking into account that such an approach was valued by the company far before the war, the team takes all necessary pains to keep themselves up with the company’s support. Regular confident one-by-one meetings with the psychologist help to achieve balance and stay concentrated on work tasks. One hour in a week is enough to raise the efficiency of a technical specialist by more than 20%.
Besides working with mentality, volunteering and assistance to those in need help to get confidence in future. When you personally or together with the company add to the victory, all that gives the overwhelming feeling and strong wish to be a highly-skilled professional. This is the true moment where we see that a soft skill set really empowers the person acting in international business.
Fast responsiveness
Under a crisis, a company should become as flexible as possible. This can be true for persona performing. If someone has a too rough period, there should be someone who can take the completion of the tasks for some time on themselves. Such event should be temporary, though helps to avoid broken deadlines and supports readiness to help value.
A hybrid office becomes not the recommendation but the must and both participants, the office and the team should be ready for this. Pandemics shoved us that even working from home under the proper planning can be good, the war proclaimed that aloud. The company should react to various requests on the hardware or creation of a home office as fast as possible and keep an eye on the needs of a team. The more arranged the system of hardware management, the easier satisfaction of all requests.
Security
Making data stay secure and reliable is one of the biggest challenges in any crisis. So that is why it should be considered beforehand in special plans. Luckily we do know how to act and were ready to protect not only the data of our customers and team but also ensure the stability of any systems running on our behalf. No secret techniques were applied – several back-ups, controlled access, team information security training, and other things that make data protected. Moreover, the experience acquired by withstanding hacking attacks can be analysed and applied in the creation of future digital products with better stability.
Besides these 4 steps, there are plenty of things that can be done as well. Though as the basis for a stable work of the company they can be enough for the first time. And each question from a myriad of what-where-how will find their answers at least in the working sphere. The other things can be aside from our professional or personal comfort.
Life sometimes brings unexpectedly awful and painful things, though it is still we who have to overpass them. The steps we described above helped our company to take the first hots of this war, withstand and continue working for fastening our victory. Nothing of these could happen without the team and personal skills of each person. The combination of preliminary planning, management under the crisis and attention to personality are the keys to making the effective development under any conditions.
And still, we are making the team bigger and ready to bring your ideas on the creation of digital products into life. Contact us to discuss the terms of cooperation.
