How to Keep Your Drupal Developers Happy and Inspired!

How to Keep Your Drupal Developers

Happy and Inspired!

Stanford DrupalCamp 2016

● Developers are the lifeline of the business.● Open source software development is hard.● Unfortunately it can be easy to take a

developer's work for granted.

Facts

Common Issues

● Frustration with organizational bureaucratic necessities.

● Diminishing returns in mutual value.● Simple boredom.● Lack of accountability.

Common Issues

Hire the Right Developer for the Job

Be Organized

Developers as Problem Solvers.

What Makes Them Unhappy?

● Clueless Project Managers

● Low-level QA

● Data Entry

● Incomplete Information

● What makes YOU unhappy?

Obstacles to Good Rapport

Create a Culture of Awesomeness

● It’s not about free lunches and ping pong.

● Like attracts like.

● Ask your developer up front what style of

culture they enjoy.

● Create your own #FreedomFridays.

Creating Awesome

Make your Developers Feel Valued

● Provide a Fair Base Salary (duh).

● Involve them from the start!

● Appreciate their work.

● Show them the small ways in which you care

for them.

Recognizing Good Work

Be the Intelligent Meat Shield

● Ask them for reality, assume nothing.● NEVER throw them under the bus.● Be there at the 11th hour with them or when

they need you.● Communicate regularly. Find out about

blockers early and often and help them troubleshoot.

● Listen and learn from them.

The Good Project Manager

Detect and Avoid Burnout

● Make time for breaks, period. Force breaks!● Force developers to take vacation - or simply

unplug!● Set realistic timelines.● Don’t cry wolf - not everything can be ‘High

Priority” but when it is, they’ll believe you.

Encourage Balance

Flexible Work Schedule without Sacrificing

Client Service

● Night owls, early birds, they are all magical creatures - let them work when inspiration is at its best - as long as the work is consistently delivered on time and on budget.

● Support one another.● Communicate when you are on and offline.

Flexibility + Accountability = Trust

Build it and They Will Come

● Bored developers will leave or produce poor work or miss deadlines.

● Provide freedom to experiment and be creative.

● Ask what their work style is and try to accommodate.

Creating the Right Environment

Mental Vacation from Endured Stress

● Take a support vacation.● Take a client vacation.● Refocus on a different type of client or

project or pet project to take a mental break.

Dealing with Stress

Give Credit

● Figure out how your developers like to be recognized.

● Give them credit in front of clients, peers, and on social networks.

● Send a small token of your gratitude.● Do it in the heat of the moment, when

stress is the highest.

Positive Reinforcement

Listen to their Advice and Solutions

● They are not there to delay a release or undermine profits.

● They may have solutions to issues on projects they are on or for others on your team.

● Do not interrupt them. A million pings a day does not get the work done.

Developers as Partners

Educate the Client

● It goes back being an intelligent meat shield.

● Communicate roles and development processes to clients so they understand how developers work.

● Create realistic timelines and budgets that set everyone up for success.

The Project Manager - Part 2

Feed them Beer.Regularly

Do you think your developers are

unhappy?

● Hold a developer meeting to discuss issues.

● Look at internal policies and see if there are areas for improvement.

● Revisit and see what is working and what you may need to adjust or address new issues.

Troubleshooting Issues

Becoming the Developer People

Want to Keep

● Create trust● Communicate early and often● Are realistic - Don’t over promise but

keep their word. ● Are honest about their skill set.● Are flexible● Anticipate problems and offer solutions.

Good Developers

Thank You!

Anne Stefanykanne@kanopistudios.com

@kanopi_studios