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Developing Great Leaders: The Human Workplace Perspective of DevOps

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By Wendy Dessler

One of the most challenging aspects of working in the tech industry is remembering the most important component of excellent performance: humanity. Software development is a great springboard for building competent, collaborative leaders when it’s done correctly. 

The DevOps mindset brings different teams together to create a continuous workflow that thrives on human interaction. Here are some useful tips for developing great leaders through DevOps, as well as reasons why the human side of the tech world matters.

The Benefits of DevOps

DevOps brings development and operations teams together to create a unified system that allows businesses to get projects completed faster without sacrificing quality. In doing so, businesses ultimately improve their bottom line and make scaling more attainable.

Successfully implementing DevOps also benefits a business by:

  • Improving cross-team functionality
  • Improving flexibility and production speed
  • Allowing for multiple projects to be handled at any given time
  • Creating a culture of respect and collaboration

For the various benefits of DevOps to be achieved, businesses need to break down the barriers between Quality Assurance, Operations Management, and the core development team. 

Traditionally, these different areas have been in silos– separated and isolated from one another. By breaking the barriers, businesses provide an opportunity for understanding and appreciation. In other words, some of the foundational qualities of excellent leadership.

Mentorship: A Benefit for Both Parties

A standalone benefit of focusing on the human side of DevOps is the potential for mentorship opportunities. This enhanced workflow creates opportunities for senior and junior team members to come together and learn from one another.

For example, a senior member of the team may have the opportunity to help a junior member with a challenge they’re facing. Alternatively, junior members provide the opportunity for developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills for senior members, and may even teach them new, updated skills.

Some organizations are even going as far as to have DevOps Dojos, to create a space for mentorship and the development of insightful, passionate leaders.

How to Implement DevOps: A Human-Centric Approach

Unfortunately, you can’t flick a switch and make DevOps work. It takes a lot of planning and change management to create a human-centric DevOps culture. Here are some important considerations when implementing DevOps. 

Have the Right Tools

Implementing DevOps can be a challenge for all. Humans naturally resist change, preferring the comfort of a routine, even when the end-result of the change would be simpler. By having the right tools in place to support a collaborative environment, you simplify the road to DevOps. 

One of the most important tools you can have in place when implementing the DevOps philosophy is powerful, streamlined project management software. While nothing will ever compare to the visual of a well laid-out whiteboard, having cloud-based project management ensures everyone is up to date, no matter where they are. 

Logging services can also streamline DevOps efforts and create a virtual map of what’s happening in the system; you can visit the Papertrail website to learn more about this process.

Transparency Matters

When implementing DevOps, it’s important for all members of the team to know what is happening and when regardless of the hierarchy. Share successes and failures, challenges, and solutions. Create a safe platform for everyone to be heard and ensure that all questions are eventually answered.

There’s a lot of concern surrounding job losses when DevOps is put in place, as automation plays such a key role. Be sure to address these concerns early and nip employee discontent in the bud.

Make the Business Fit the Format

Trying to make DevOps fit your current business, rather than the other way around, is a recipe for disaster. It’s essential for key stakeholders to be involved in the DevOps implementation process, as it might cause widespread disruptions and restructuring. The more buy-in from the executive team and management, the more effective the result will be.

Focus on Human Development

Empower your people to take an active part in making the changes. Present opportunities to take ownership of various tasks and develop their skills. For some, the implementation of DevOps could present a stepping stone into a leadership position.

Before and during the implementation process, take time to assess people individually and talk to them about their goals. Collect their insights and work with them to create a positive environment that promotes respect and teamwork, as these are more important than the technical components for making DevOps work.

Prioritize Cybersecurity

Ensuring that your business is kept secure for every step of the way is essential when implementing DevOps. It should be addressed early on before changes are implemented. 

Consider who needs access to what, and what areas of the infrastructure should be limited. Work these security considerations into any restructuring efforts. While tools like access rights management and logging are great solutions to many of the cybersecurity problems, it’s important to think about the various areas that need to be addressed before choosing the approach that works for your organization.

Remember Your People

While implementing the DevOps philosophies, automating processes, and streamlining business efforts to improve the bottom line, it’s important not to lose sight of what matters the most: your people. 

By focusing on the human side of software development, you can create a positive workplace culture that cultivates great leaders and ensures the business’s continuity for years to come.

 

About the Author: Wendy Dessler frequently writes about the latest advancements in tech and digital marketing. She currently focuses on helping SaaS businesses create a better world for our kids.

Photo by Perry Grone on Unsplash

5 Ideas for Gamification in the Workplace

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By Kayla Matthews

Gamification is a tool used by businesses to achieve new goals. However, with the emphasis on fresh new technology, many small companies are hesitant to adopt the strategy.

Implementing gamification is easier than you think and can lead to significant results. That’s why many large brands, including Microsoft, Target and Nike, have already undertaken the challenge.

What Is Gamification?

Gamification is a tool that implements game design and content elements into non-game applications to motivate participation, engagement and loyalty. It doesn’t have to be digital, relegated to your website, apps or social media. It can also be analog and relate to day-to-day operations.

The elements of gamification are referred to as game mechanics, covering competition, challenges, collaboration, levels, badges, instant feedback and more. These elements can be used in various combinations to achieve your desired goal.

While some businesses use gamification as a way to connect with customers, many have already realized the benefits of bringing the tool into the workplace.

How to Gamify Your Workplace

For gamification to be successful, it has to be well-planned, executed and maintained. If done right, it can increase engagement and motivation in employees.

When considering how to gamify the workplace, ask yourself the following questions:

  • What goal or objective do you wish to achieve?
  • What is your target employee behavior?
  • How do you think gamification will help?
  • What motivates your employees?
  • What tech will employees be comfortable with?

The gamification process isn’t an instant one. It’s a method you should test and tweak each time you implement a new idea.

  1. Train New Hires

Training new hires can be tedious, especially when there’s a lot of information to cover in a short amount of time. At the end of orientation, it’s not uncommon for trainees to feel they learned very little. By implementing gamification into the new hire training process, you can create a system that promotes learning through gaming mechanics.

One example of this is using badges as a user progresses. Samsung developed a similar program dubbed Samsung Nation, which rewards users with badges as they create content, watch videos, review products and engage with the community. Other companies are using a similar gamification process where new hires can gain achievements as they train.

  1. Boost Employee Performance

Outside of new hire training, gamification is used as a tool to enhance employee job performance, with 90 percent of employees rated more productive when using gamification. It can add a fresh and healthy competitive air to your office space, spurring employees to have fun as they work harder.

One example of using gamification to boost performance is Salesforce, which introduced its Big Game Hunter program to entice sales representatives to use the customer relationship management (CRM) system. Each team member started at the first level as a chicken hunter. As they became more aware of the CRM features, they could work their way up in status.

  1. Implement Team Goals

To make gamification work, you need to understand what your employees want. Once you have a goal in mind, create a path with actionable tasks to achieve it. By creating a clear objective, using a focus both you and your employees can agree on, you can use gamification to align employee goals with your own.

One example of a goal that can benefit both employees and management is a new R&R space, which can easily be added with an office pod. While you may think napping during work hours can’t possibly be beneficial, research shows there’s a strong correlation between rest and recovery and workplace productivity.

  1. Use Clear Communication

From new hires to top-tier managers, employees need clear communication and feedback to perform well. This can be a major issue employers face, especially those with a large workforce. Without open and clear communication, workers often feel disconnected and unpassionate about the work they do.

One way to combat this is to learn from Target, which wanted to connect with front-of-the-line staff — cashiers. Target decided to create a game they could play when checking out items for customers, providing real-time feedback in the form of red and green blinking lights. Before this method, cashiers had no way of knowing if their methods were effective.

  1. Improve Workplace Efficiency

Employees may be knowledgeable and hardworking, but that doesn’t mean they’re being as efficient as possible. One method businesses have used to evoke leaner practices is to introduce gamification in the form of challenges, achievements, rewards and recognition.

One company utilizing gamification is Omnicare, which created a series of achievements sales representatives could work toward, starting with a challenge at the beginning of each shift. As workers progress through the day’s problems, they can earn rewards. This led to less wait time for customers, an increase in customer satisfaction and a reduction in employee turnover.

Utilizing Gamification in the Workplace

When implementing gamification in your workplace, the key to success is understanding precisely what you wish to achieve. Listen to your employees to better understand their wants and motivations. Try to come up with a rewards or achievement system that works with their unique desires and limitations.

Once you’ve used this tool, be sure to assess if it’s effective and what areas can use improvement. You should always be searching for new ways to optimize and improve results, even when you’ve already achieved your desired goal.

 

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

Featured image: Eric Tompkins on Unsplash

Customer engagement on a budget

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Customers typically want two things when they seek out your company online:

  • fast answers to their questions
  • someone to listen to them

If you’ve delegated your customer engagement to a “free” social network, you’ve automatically made it more difficult to accomplish either of those goals.

Have you ever tried to search for something that was posted a while ago in a Facebook Group? You know, that amazing answer you wrote to that customer who wanted to know if you offer discounts to dog owners? Go ahead and try it…I’ll wait…

No bueno, right?

Now try digging up a Tweet or a Twitter DM in your corporate account from a month ago where you solved that nagging login question.

See what I mean?

What if you had a space that you controlled, where you and your customers could easily find answers? A forum gives you a central hub, connected to your website, where PDFs, images, tutorial videos, Q&A, ideas, and more can be found.

The bonus? If you’re using your own domain, all of that useful information is also helping your SEO.

Some customers who have incorporated your brand into their identity (how awesome is that) may want to reinforce that by helping other customers. Research shows that customers who participate in an online community stick around longer than those who don’t.

revenue attributed to community members

This article will show, using Convolio forums as an example, how you can engage with your customers like a boss (even if you’re an army of one). These same tips apply, regardless of your community platform; the bottom line is to provide value to your customers.

Make Your Customers Insiders by Sharing Useful Resources

Set aside one of your forums for resources. You can attach files, embed media, and include pull quotes in your forum topics, which makes it easy to share all sorts of information in one place. It’s all searchable (including the attached files)!

Your customers will appreciate being able to comment or ask questions inline too. For example, if you post the menu for your upcoming event, they can ask whether there are gluten-free options (that’s always the first question, isn’t it?).

Collaborate with Your Customers by Getting Feedback and Suggestions

The only bad feedback is no feedback at all. Whether you’re building a product or providing a service, you should always be listening when your customers tell you things. You can give them space to offer constructive criticism, ideas, and real use-case responses. Because it’s a forum, you can actually have a back-and-forth conversation about the idea, gathering more details to flesh it out, and getting input from multiple different customers in the same thread. Best practice is to go back and let them know once you’ve implemented their idea. Customers who have contributed their own ideas to your business, and seen them come to life, become your most loyal fans.

Communicate Proactively and Specifically

You should be sorting and segmenting your members so that you can send customized emails based on their interests, or introduce them to other customers who have similar interests. When they join the forums, give them a quick dropdown menu to tell you something about themselves. That information then gets you closer to knowing them as people, and then being able to give them what they actually want, rather than just guessing at personas.

Create a New Revenue Stream with Premium Memberships

Use paid memberships to monetize your forums. Offer enhanced features or content to paid members of your forum community. You get to decide the rate, the frequency, and what is included in the membership. When you are offering so much value through your forums that members are willing to pay, you’re doing it right.

See How it’s going, At a Glance

You don’t have to be a Google Analytics junkie to see how your forums are doing. Use built-in Advanced Reports to see your member leaderboard, top topics, and more. In Convolio, it’s all downloadable if you want to go all spreadsheet on it.

How does this serve your customers? Double down on the topics that are seeing the most traction. If forum content that offers how-to information is getting the most page views and comments, make more of it!

Clone Yourself with Automation Tools

The secret recipe is….Recipes! In Convolio, you can automatically screen out posts that include specific words, take a look at posts that include images before they go live, reply to someone who’s made their first post, and ban spammers who get in the way of real customer engagement. Use your community’s moderation tools to create a fun, interactive space for your customers.

Subscribe to administrative email notifications and get alerted when new members join, when someone mentions you, or when there’s new content that needs review. That means you can spend more time working on your real job, which is making cool things for your customers, not dealing with forum technology.

Conclusion

It’s time to stop blurting out marketing messages all over the web, and hoping your customers will bump into them. Time to provide real value for them, in a place where you can give customers the experience that fits your business promise, without algorithms dictating your reach.

Convolio is the new low-cost hosted forum from Social Strata, the pioneers of engagement software. Some other forum options include Discourse (open-source software) and Vanilla Forums (priced  for the Enterprise).

How are you engaging with your customers?

 

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is Co-Founder of Social Strata, makers of Convolio forums and the Hoop.la community platform, and Narrative, a new social content platform for consumers.  You can find Rosemary on Twitter as @rhogroupee.

Featured Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

How to Develop an HR Strategy for Your Startup

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By Kayla Matthews

Since startups often have limited resources, you may not think it’s necessary for yours to have a human resources (HR) strategy. However, the people you hire will have a direct impact on the organization’s long-term performance, along with its culture, turnover rate and more, and the HR strategy could affect all those things.

Also, if you only begin forming such a strategy once problems become apparent, it may be too late. Instead, be proactive and ensure there’s an HR strategy in place to promptly deal with issues that arise.

Being Aware of Needs Is Essential

One of the earliest parts of making an HR plan involves being aware of skills gaps that are hindering the startup’s progression. Determining that means meeting with all the decision-makers at the startup and getting input about hiring needs.

Anything you bring up at this stage must also be feasible concerning the company’s budget. Plus, any needs assessment should include company or industry-related forecasts. After all, those projections could cause needs to shift.

Have a Goal-Oriented Mindset

Staying focused on goals is also helpful when creating an HR plan. Looking at the company’s goals and determining how the human resources department or person fits into those aims is a good start. However, it’s also necessary to find out about the individual goals employees have. There are many things for startup companies to know about HR as a whole, but learning about employees is valuable, too.

Perhaps the HR strategy could accommodate some workers’ aspirations through online or night classes, cross-training or mentorship programs. The results of a global survey from PwC found only 33 percent of HR professionals had talent practices in place to drive skill development, but a majority of those polled recognized the connection between skills and the future development of the company.

Startups must realize how skill development ties into overall company prosperity and move beyond that knowledge by actually coming up with actionable programs.

The HR Plan Should Make Dedicated Individuals Responsible Answering Specific Questions

An excellent HR strategy should spell out how human resources professionals are the points of contact for questions employees have. For example, a person might want to learn information about workers’ compensation or know the process for requesting time off from work. HR professionals can handle both of those queries and many others.

When the HR plan outlines the kinds of questions HR professionals will answer, it’ll become clear which topics the HR staff needs to periodically stay abreast of while working at the startup. Plus, when employees know how to get the insights they need, they can avoid frustration.

Designating an HR professional as a point of contact for particular matters also sets professional boundaries by ensuring unqualified people don’t get swamped by questions they can’t or should not answer due to a lack of expertise.

A Hiring Process Offers Uniformity for Job Candidates

Even if your startup isn’t hiring right now, it may soon, and it’s best to prepare. Implementing a hiring process into an HR plan means all candidates applying for jobs have consistent experiences. The hiring process involves factors such as how and when you post positions, the methods you use to contact people for interviews and the steps of the onboarding process.

It’s smart for companies to address the hiring process in an HR strategy to prevent problems. Otherwise, people could make discrimination accusations or become so frustrated because of rampant disorganization at the startup that they have second thoughts about applying for jobs at the company.

Software Can Facilitate Creating or Adhering to a Human Resources Plan

Thinking about employee succession is another aspect of a well-rounded HR plan. That involves thinking ahead and getting people ready to replace leaders who may retire or leave the company due to other opportunities. Specialized software programs can make succession planning simpler by providing insights related to potential candidates within and outside of the startup.

Also, many software titles offer numerous features. That means companies may find options that meet several of their needs simultaneously.

Adapting to Change Should Factor Into Any Strategy

Things such as market developments, unmet needs and profit margins may cause changes in a startup’s direction. When those alterations occur, HR professionals can play crucial roles in managing change and setting expectations. As such, an HR strategy should detail the responsibilities HR professionals must handle, such as informing employees of changes and addressing their concerns.

Your HR Strategy May Evolve as the Company Does

In addition to being mindful of the recommendations here, remember you don’t need to make a plan that’s overly rigid. As your startup makes progress, it may become evident it’s time to make changes to the HR strategy, too.

 

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

Featured image: Photo by Mimi Thian on Unsplash

Take Your Law Firm Marketing to New Heights

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In operating your legal practice, have you factored in the importance of marketing?

In the event you have not, do you have concerns that your law firm may be a step or two behind your nearest competitors?

When you come up with a winning marketing plan, your legal practice can benefit in so many different ways.

With that in mind, is it time to see what digital marketing can do for your firm today?

Where Best to Start?

In deciding if in fact digital marketing is right for your law firm, where best to start?

There are many digital marketers out there. But how will you know which one is best suited to help you grow your legal practice?

To get you started off in the right direction, do some Google research on the marketing firms out there.

Sure, you can’t look at them all, but you should get a fair sampling of them to better help you make a decision.

That said you may want to see who some of your legal competitors are using for marketing help. Unless they are doing in-house marketing, they have probably reached outside for help.

You should also spend time seeing which marketers get the highest grades in their field.

By having some good research info to work off of, you are in a better position to hire the right digital marketer. Whether it is Legal Legends or another top company, get the help to grow your brand.

Do You Know Your Role?

Even if working with a top-notch digital marketer, you still have some work to do on your end.

First, are you adept at social media and the importance it plays in today’s digital world?

Sure, the digital marketer you go with may very well set up and oversee any social media accounts you have.

Among the sites you should be going for:

That said you should still do some posting on your own. When you do, you should become more comfortable with how social media works.

You want to engage prospects with questions and comments on your legal services. Doing so could make the difference between you representing them or not.

Second, you might want to see if some of your clients who’ve you represented are willing to do a testimonial for you.

Such testimonials can carry a fair amount of weight with consumers. When they do, you could see more prospective business head in your direction.

Those testimonials could be on a local TV station, in the local newspaper, and even appear on your website. No matter where they go, they can be a difference maker when people are deciding which law firm is best for them.

Last, always work with your digital marketer to see where trends in your industry are going. You want to be at the forefront when it comes to digital marketing in the legal world, not lagging behind.

So, are you going to take your law firm marketing to new heights sooner than later?

Photo credit: Pixibay

About the Author: Dave Thomas writes about business topics on the web.

 

4 Ways the Public Library Can Support Your Small Business

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A few days ago I went to the library. You know — one of my local public libraries. I went there to borrow some books that I had placed a hold on. For research. As in — business research. That’s right. I went to the local library to borrow books to support research I was doing for a client project.

As an entrepreneur, I’ve come to realize that the public library system is actually a great resource for my small business. Over the years, I’ve used library services across the Metro Vancouver area for a multitude of business reasons. Here’s 4 ways I have found that local public libraries support small business:

  • They often provide great access to affordable meeting spaces for small (or large) group gatherings.
  • There’s usually quiet (in some cases — virtually silent) and comfortable areas to read, work or conduct research.
  • Most libraries provide free access to good quality,  wireless high-speed internet. This can be especially handy when I’m traveling and don’t want to spend a ton of  time working in noisy coffee shops.
  • And, most importantly, there are all the books and resources that libraries have to offer. Over the last while, I’ve found myself ordering more and more physical books to read and review for various client projects, for business research and for general planning purposes. Of course, many libraries also offer e-book borrowing as well. All in all — libraries are a super affordable way to access a huge range of resources, reading materials and reference items.

So, as you can see there are lots of ways that the local library system plays a role in supporting the work I do through my small business here in Canada.

As an entrepreneur, I’m just one of the many different types of people that public libraries serve. In reality, today’s libraries are busy offering programs and services to an absolute multitude of people! For example, on any given day 50,000 people come through the doors of the Toronto (Canada) Public Library’s 100 branches, while 85,000 make an online visit.  And — just in case you thought Starbucks had cornered the market on access to free high-speed internet in the United States, think again. According to American Library Association there are more public libraries than Starbucks in the U.S.—a total of 17,566 including branches. Nearly 100% of public libraries provide Wi-Fi and have no-fee access to computers. Plus, many libraries have local coffee shops located very close to them. Some libraries even sell coffee right inside the library.

Isn’t that amazing? Wow.

With respect to business and careers, I came across this other bit of interesting information from the American Library Association. Did you know that libraries actually strengthen local economies? For example in the U.S. –

  • 73% of public libraries assist patrons with job applications and interviewing skills;
  • 68% help patrons use databases to find career openings;
  • 48% provide access to and assist entrepreneurs with online business information resources;
  • More than 36% offer work space for mobile workers.

And while we almost all turn to Google Search for the answers to a great many things, the reality is that many people also still relay on reference librarians in the public and academic libraries across the U.S. Did you know that collectively reference librarians answer nearly 6.6 million questions weekly in the nations libraries!

That’s another wow!

Here’s a few super helpful library websites that have been developed to support small business owners.

The Berkley Public Library offers a comprehensive listing of resources, events and research links to support small business as well as jobs and career planning.

The New York Public Library provides a great Small Business Resource Center that is packed with local, state and national links and information.

The Vancouver Public Library offers a super listing of recommended books for entrepreneurs to read as well as links to many different websites to help small business owners with planning, operations and much more.

So — the next time you are in need of some support for your small business, you need to do some research for the development of a new product or are trying to find the answer to that impossible business question — head to your local library. You might just be amazed by how much your local library has to offer! If you need help finding the public library service in your community check out this great listing of libraries around the world.

Jane Boyd is a Partner in GeniusShared. She is also the CEO of 45 Conversations Media & Education Ltd, a Canadian education and training company based just outside of Vancouver Canada. She works with educators, business, community and government in the areas of early learning, work-life, community development and employee engagement.