Published on: 11 January 2017
Last Updated on: 17 August 2019
The word debt in the term technical debt may compel you to think that it is just like any other debt which has to be cleared at the earliest. Well, it is true that tech debts are just like any other debts and it is also true that a little bit of tech debt is also useful just like any other debts. Moreover, it is also true that just like any other debts you must manage it properly to enjoy the benefits and keep your business running. Therefore, you can cut the corners while designing software provided you do not let the debt accumulate and pay it off timely.
Various Debt Issues
You and your technical team may have various reasons to cut the corners while designing your projects like lacking proper skills, laziness or due to the time pressure and willingness to release code within a specific time frame. These reasons can lead to various debt issues as these debts can accumulate over time creating a huge backlog and cause technical inefficiency. The issues can also arise due to the faulty code base, environment of the development of the project, the operating platform, test coverage and automation programs, program designs and libraries and much more.
Addressing The Debt
As the issues of debt can result in defects which can reduce the velocity of the codes it must be maintained properly and regularly to increase the productivity of the codes. You must have a specific and positive attitude while you address the tech debt always. Be vigilant always towards your codes so that you can manage it whenever necessary. You must also use easy and simple designs in your codes so that anyone of your team can understand, identify and make the necessary changes in it. Avoid using shortcuts to achieve a design in time. Track the velocity of it regularly and ask your team to refactor it as soon as detected to increase the velocity.
Service Your Debt
Proper debt management means proper and regular servicing of it. You must also refactor your debt relentlessly and regularly to keep it in check. Once you give up it will start to pile up and the cost of paying off would increase as compared to the reimplementation. No matter what others think about code servicing, you must do it regularly to have a good return. Use various tracking tools and techniques for reworking on your defective codes as you will also come to know how much debt you have currently with the help of it. Identification and registering is the first step of proper management of debt.
Evaluate And Prioritize
Once identification is done you must start working on it by evaluating and prioritizing your debt so as to decide on which you want to work first. During this prioritization process, the factors which you must consider apart from the cost of the debt are the frequency, justification for rework and the economics behind. Check online to know more about prioritization. Consider paying those debts first which are about to expire and then those which have a higher rate of accumulation and keep your debt within manageable limits. Do not forget to check out for bill consolidation loans which are much popular these days and can be of great help.
Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.
Call Center employees are into a most demanding job as they represent the human face of a specific brand or organization while delivering one of the best excellent customer services. Given the intense rhythm of a call center and sometimes isolated nature of an agent's work, team building in a call center industry is considered to be the most essential thing of motivating the employees, enhancing their sense of camaraderie, and sharing their learning driving their productivity. Given here are the five major ideas and strategies for bringing out the team spirit in a call center through team-building activity.
4 Creative Team Building Ideas for a Call Center Industry:
1. Role Play:
Roleplay generally shows the customer service representatives that they could rely on their team members for advice and feedback, giving them an opportunity to ask questions about how they could handle calls in a better manner, allowing employees to walk away from the session with some tips that could apply while receiving calls. Have employees act out scripts one with a customer calling placing an order, and the other disgruntled customer who has not received an order yet. Have your employee being acted as a customer while the other as the customer representative and then switching their roles again.
2. Gamification:
Gamification is one of the most popular trends in the call center industry posing a variety of benefits such as healthy competition, optimizing the training of all the call center employees, and employee motivation to succeed. Call center industry representatives would here compete with each other in order to reach specified goals like achieving first call resolution or signing into new accounts. Gamification is here likely being used to train and assess the agents in a fun yet meaningful way. Agents would share one of the best practices with their friends and employees while being motivated to achieve their best for every business activity they have been doing.
3. Hosting a holiday drive:
During a holiday season have your employees work as a team to collect items for a charity drive. To begin collecting from toys and all the non-perishable foods in order to winter the clothing and blankets. So plan to donate to one or the other several households or to a non-profit organization. Call center to begin to be fulfilled, as they give the community back with the things they need, and continue to feel proud that they along with their fellow co-worker making a difference. Once the drive ends to reinforce the idea of working as a team in order to achieve the goals relating the ideas to provide one of the best services over the phone.
4. Shared Learning:
Agents would continue to feel like a team where their ideas are heard and exchanged among the team members. And in addition to meeting the above best practices, call centers could here make a step further encouraging the employees to read books together in a book club format attending a webinar that is related to their business, or taking classes with the continuous post-activity decision on internal social networks exchanging ideas and take away.
To conclude Call center organizations are typically a force behind the success of customer service and sales, so it does become critical enough to foster a team spirit through call center team building that would recognize the individual potential while establishing their common goals and best practices. Through the team building activities, the employee would here tend to feel more motivated enough to do their best while learning and meeting their professional goals.
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Did you know? Buildings in India account for…
33% greenhouse emissions
38% energy consumption
30% landfill waste
12% water consumption
And, every year, built-up areas in the country grow by 10% with a whopping 700% increase in energy consumption!
It’s time to re-evaluate our priorities,
It’s time to give back to nature,
And for our children, it’s time to ensure that our homes do not destroy the world.
India has been a fascinating growth story. Our story of growth is also about stress on the environment and natural resources. Fragile ecosystems and endangered species are struggling amidst the fast-expanding concrete. However, there is a silver lining in every cloud. Staying true to the traditional ethos of living in harmony with nature, Indian real estate is welcoming new technologies and innovative architecture to ensure a sustainable future. New-age financial solutions and subsidies are likely to encourage the adoption of green technologies in the construction sector.
Your contribution, however small, is significant in creating an eco-friendly living space. Going green is an important milestone for your family where you create a positive environment for growth. It saves you lots of money as you pass down the lessons of conservation to the next generation and add to their inheritance. Green constructions and architecture are the flavors of our times and builders are incorporating environment-friendly and energy-efficient features like LED lights, waste management plants, urban forestry, natural ventilation, thermos bricks and many other design elements for your conservation and well-being.
Why do you need a green home?
Money, money, money
A green building creates many financial benefits for owners and tenants. Natural materials are compatible with the environment, while solar energy, proper ventilation, rainwater harvesting, water recycling, waste management, and foliage help to cut energy consumption and save large amounts of money for you. Tenants are clearly attracted to buildings which offer a reduction in everyday costs.
Environmentally safe with GRIHA
It feels great doing your bit to safeguard the environment. Buildings are responsible for one-third of greenhouse emissions and that portion can be reduced by 35%. Demand for high-quality, eco-friendly and energy-efficient real estate is growing across India. It applies to both, residential and commercial spaces. And with our urban air becoming a pollution hazard, it is imperative that as an Indian, you seek green alternatives to safeguard health, environment, and productivity. You can choose environment-friendly homes as per GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) rating. It evaluates how your home stands against accepted benchmarks of green buildings.
Better innovation
As an investor, you gain a higher yield from green buildings. The practice also spurs design and material innovation, which is important for our nation. The “green wave” has brought forth new technologies, understanding of ancient practices and ample research interest. Green buildings are using traditional material and recycling old materials to reduce our carbon footprint. Reduce, reuse and recycle: that’s the mantra sustaining your green home.
A great start-up culture
Grassroots awareness will drive greater adoption of green technologies. Rural artisans, cottage industries, and agriculture have felt a positive impact of the green drive. A new culture of entrepreneurs providing new solutions to builders is enriching the green economy.
Green buildings in India are becoming a part of the culture. You should be thrilled to know our country was ranked #3 on a list of 10 countries by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) for LEED outside the US. India today boasts of 1 billion square feet of green building area. With over 200 million square feet of commercial space and 45 million square feet of construction coming up, you can say without a doubt: The sky is our limit!
Apoorva Bharadwaj is a freelance blog writer. She has written blog posts largely catering to the real estate industry. Throughout these many years of her career as a blogger, she has kept up with changing trends in the real estate industry. She has written many blog posts on why the real estate prices are skyrocketing in major metros, how to choose the right real estate agents, about new apartments in metros, etc. At present, her latest blog work is on Jain Height’s new eco-friendly homes, luxury condominium projects for sale in Bangalore and about the right time to invest in an apartment.
Are you struggling to keep pace with the ever-evolving demands of your Agile projects? In today's fast-paced development environment, scaling your team efficiently is not just an option; it's a necessity. Therefore, you must use staff augmentation, a strategic solution that can rapidly accelerate your Agile project delivery.
Discover how integrating skilled professionals into your team can bring unparalleled flexibility and expertise, significantly boosting your project's efficiency.
We'll explore the tangible benefits, practical strategies, and insightful best practices to help you effectively scale your Agile team through staff augmentation.
Get ready to transform the way you manage your projects and achieve remarkable results.
Understanding Staff Augmentation: A Quick Primer
Staff augmentation is a flexible strategy for outsourcing the right talent for the right job. This strategy is followed by big firms globally for managing augmented teams.
Unlike conventional hiring, which often involves a lengthy recruitment process and long-term commitments, staff augmentation offers a nimble approach to scaling teams.
This strategy is particularly beneficial for businesses needing specialized skills for short-term projects or to fill temporary skill gaps.
Here’s a breakdown of how staff augmentation differs from traditional hiring:
Time Efficiency: Staff augmentation services enable quick onboarding of skilled professionals, reducing the time-to-hire significantly compared to the traditional recruitment process.
Cost-Effectiveness: It eliminates many overhead costs associated with full-time employees, such as benefits, office space, and long-term contracts.
Flexibility and Scalability: Companies can scale their teams up or down based on project requirements without the long-term commitment of a full-time hire.
Types Of Staff Augmentation
There are three main types of staff augmentation, which are:
Short-term: Typically used for specific projects with tight deadlines or to cover temporary absences.
Long-term: Ideal for extended projects where ongoing support is required.
Specialized: Focuses on providing experts in niche areas or new technologies that are not present in-house.
Understanding these distinctions and the types of staff augmentation available helps businesses make informed decisions about how to effectively scale their teams and meet project demands.
This approach is increasingly popular in Agile environments, where adaptability and speed are key.
The Role Of Staff Augmentation In Agile Project Management
Integrating augmented staff into Agile teams can significantly enhance project management efficiency.
In Agile environments, where adaptability and rapid iteration are paramount, augmented staff provides the necessary skills and manpower to meet fluctuating project demands.
Impact on Agile Processes and Workflows:
Enhanced Skill Set: Augmented staff bring specialized skills that might be lacking in the current team, facilitating more diverse and innovative approaches to problem-solving.
Increased Flexibility: They allow Agile teams to quickly adapt to changing project requirements, ensuring that deadlines are met without compromising on quality.
Improved Productivity: With more hands on deck, teams can manage larger workloads more efficiently, accelerating project timelines.
A practical example of successful integration can be seen in a tech startup that leveraged professional IT staff augmentation to speed up the development of a new software product.
Facing a tight deadline, the startup augmented its existing team with skilled developers who specialized in the required technology stack.
This integration allowed the team to maintain Agile methodologies, like daily stand-ups and sprint planning, while effectively managing the increased workload.
As a result, the product was developed and launched within the desired timeframe, demonstrating the effectiveness of staff augmentation in Agile project management.
The key to success in such integration lies in ensuring that the augmented staff are not only skilled but also align with the company's Agile culture and practices.
This alignment ensures seamless collaboration and optimal results.
Benefits Of Staff Augmentation For Agile Teams
Staff augmentation offers a myriad of benefits to Agile teams, enabling them to tackle projects more effectively and efficiently. Here are some of the key advantages:
1. Access To Specialized Skills And Expertise
Staff augmentation allows Agile teams to bring in professionals with specific skill sets that may be lacking internally.
This is especially valuable for projects requiring niche expertise or for navigating emerging technologies.
2. Flexibility And Scalability
Agile projects often fluctuate in scope and scale, necessitating a flexible workforce.
Staff augmentation provides the ability to scale the team size up or down based on the current needs of the project, ensuring that resources are optimally utilized.
3. Cost-Effectiveness And Efficiency
By augmenting staff, companies can avoid the long-term costs associated with permanent hires, such as benefits, training, and other overheads.
This approach is also efficient in reducing recruitment time, enabling teams to focus more on project delivery rather than on lengthy hiring processes.
4. Enhanced Productivity
With additional skilled resources, Agile teams can manage workloads more effectively, leading to increased productivity.
This also allows for faster turnaround times on projects, as tasks can be distributed more evenly and handled more competently.
5. Focus On Core Business
Augmentation frees up internal resources, allowing teams to focus on core business activities.
This is particularly beneficial for smaller teams or startups, where internal resources are often stretched thin.
Overcoming Common Challenges In Staff Augmentation
While staff augmentation offers significant benefits to Agile teams, it also comes with its own set of challenges.
Addressing these effectively is key to leveraging the full potential of this strategy.
1. Addressing Skill Gaps And Training Needs
One of the primary challenges is ensuring that augmented staff possess the right skill sets and are up to date with the latest technologies.
Regular training and professional development opportunities are essential to bridge any skill gaps.
2. Navigating Administrative And Legal Considerations
Augmenting staff often involves dealing with contracts, legal compliance, and administrative tasks, especially when hiring internationally.
It's important to have a clear understanding of these aspects or work with a partner who can manage them.
3. Ensuring Quality And Performance
Maintaining the quality of work and ensuring the performance of augmented staff can be challenging.
Setting up key performance indicators (KPIs), regular performance reviews, and continuous feedback mechanisms can help in monitoring and maintaining work standards.
4. Cultural And Communication Barriers
Augmented teams might face challenges due to cultural differences and communication barriers, especially in a remote working environment.
Encouraging open communication, cultural sensitivity training, and team-building activities can mitigate these issues.
5. Integration With Existing Teams
Ensuring seamless integration of augmented staff with existing teams is critical.
This requires clear communication of roles, responsibilities, and project goals, along with fostering a collaborative team culture.
The Best Staff Augmentation Practices In 2024
If you want to make the most of staff augmentation for agile project management, here are some necessary practices that you must inculcate:
1. Maintaining Clear Communication
If you wish to have a strong team that gets theory work done on time with zero errors, having clear and open communication channels is a necessity.
Having proper communication between all the members of the team is necessary for development. This is because it facilitates everyone in the team to work together and solve any issues that may crop up.
Moreover, open communication improves team bonding, which is crucial for all team members to understand their strengths and weaknesses. This helps the team leaders to make better decisions regarding the allocation of work according to everyone's strengths and expertise.
Therefore, use team communication tools like Slack, Asana, Trello, Skype, and Microsoft Teams.
2. Clearly Define Job Roles
To get the most out of staff augmentation, you must define everyone’s job roles. If all members of your team know what they must do - and what they shouldn’t do - to get the job done, it prevents chaos and conflicts between your team members.
Moreover, having clear job roles will make everyone's daily tasks clear. In addition, having a job role comes with various expectations. Therefore, it will help team leaders better measure the performance and efficacy of team members.
3. Learn How To Use Project Management Tools
If you want to lead a project from initiation to its completion, you and your staff must use the best project management tools in 2024.
Project management tools provide better documentation and storage of all work done by your team. Moreover, this helps in staff augmentation since many outsourced employees might be from other countries. Therefore, giving them limited access to to your sheets will help you better track and manage their work.
The best project management tools in 2024 are Trello, Jira, and Microsoft Office 365.
4. Encourage Documentation-Driven Development
How do you know that an outsourced staff member has done their work? No word of mouth will be tolerated here. The only permissible proof is proper documentation of your work.
Therefore, team leaders and managers should encourage a work culture where all staff members (especially augmented staff members) must have proper and updated documentation of their daily work.
This will help you keep track of everyone’s work and help you asses future actions and strategies.
Conclusion: Scale Your Agile Team with Staff Augmentation
In conclusion, staff augmentation emerges as a powerful strategy for scaling Agile teams, addressing skill gaps, and enhancing project delivery efficiency.
This approach provides a pragmatic solution to the dynamic challenges of modern project management, offering flexibility, specialized expertise, and cost-effectiveness.
To recap the key benefits:
Access to a global talent pool for specialized skills.
Scalability to meet fluctuating project demands.
Cost savings compared to traditional hiring.
Increased productivity and efficiency.
However, it's important to approach staff augmentation with a strategic mindset.
Choosing the right partner, ensuring cultural and process alignment, and effectively managing augmented staff are crucial steps towards success.
Additionally, overcoming challenges like administrative hurdles, quality assurance, and team integration is essential for a seamless experience.
Moreover, following the best staff augmentation practices will help you manage and track everyone’s work. In addition, it also facilitates clearer communication with outsourced staff members as well.
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