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10 Business Tips from CTOs to Developers

Indrani Roy Apr 25, 2018

307 2 minutes read

Chief Technology Officers supervise developers in a product or service development process. However, frictions between them and developers occur, and the reason is lack of effective communication, says Qwyit CTO and founder Paul McGough. In this article at TechRepublic, Alison DeNisco Rayome shares the 10 tips that CTOs must give to developers.

10 Ways to Bridge the Gap in Understanding

All do not have the same level of skills or understanding in a development team. You should clearly define project vision and goals, as per McGough. Also, create a work environment where anyone is free to share viewpoints.

1. Seeing Beyond

Ben Johnson, CTO of Obsidian Security, notes that developers do not know how a project outcome influences the overall business. CTOs also have little idea about developers. To get the desired result, include them in the ideation process and clear roadblocks.

2. Setting the Objectives

McGough opines that developers often fail to grasp why more features or routine jobs does not mean more value. Constant monitoring during the development process helps developers create products aligned with your business objectives.

3. Prioritize Security

James Goepel, CTO and vice president of ClearArmor Corporation, remarks developers must include security from the beginning. This removes risk factors and penalties at a later stage.

4. Different Approaches

Hector Aguilar, Okta CTO and executive vice president, says there are different ways to address an issue. Everyone should come up with ideas to get the best solution rather than following the manager’s suggestion blindly.

5. Nothing Is a Waste of Time

Eric Lee, CTO of Left Field Labs, reveals that sometimes features are not included in the product despite all the hard work. However, developers should consider these failed attempts as a learning process.

6. No Free Lunch

Lee suggests developers should consult legitimate sites to evaluate the codes they found in open source libraries before implementing them in the ongoing project.

7. Shared Responsibilities

Sean Suchter, CTO and co-founder of Pepperdata, opines that majority of the developers can make changes only to stack components they have knowledge about. So, developers who can manage multiple components must train others to work faster.

8. Framework Dependencies

Lee remarks that frameworks are built to save time in a project. Learn about them before taking that leap of faith as blindly following them can result in issues around tools, performance, security, etc.

9. Follow-Ups

John Kodumal, CTO and co-founder of LaunchDarkly, says that developers should follow up after completing a feature. It is their duty to find out if the feature is functioning well post-launch.

10. Set the Context Right

You might not be able to reveal confidential company information to the development team. However, Mike Duensing, CTO and executive vice president at Skuid, insists that you put the context as closer to the truth as possible to optimally utilize the team.

To view the original article, visit the following link: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/10-things-ctos-wish-developers-knew-about-tech-and-business/

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Indrani Roy

Indrani Roy is currently working as a Content Specialist for CAI Info India. She has knowledge in writing blogs, product descriptions, brand information, and coming up with new marketing concepts. Indrani has also transcribed, subtitled, edited, and proofread various Hollywood movies, TV series, documentaries, etc., and performed audio fidelity checks. She started her career by articulating a knowledge base for an IT client, and, eventually, went on to create user manuals and generate content for a software dashboard. Writing being one of her passions, reading books is naturally her favorite pastime. When not lost in the world of letters, she is a foodie, movie buff, and a theater critic.