We have a Product and a "Professional Services" (PS) team. PS builds custom projects for clients, one after another. Projects last few weeks to few months.
Project Managers in PS assign tasks to developers and they do the work and go to the next task. Their time is tracked and how much of it is billable is measured. Managers in PS has a target "billable utilisation" they are expected to hit. The target is almost all of developers' time other than company meetings.
We encourage developers to come up with side-projects, improvements, learning goals etc. and we make time for them when there is something tangible. We also come up with initatives and offer them to take these up which would also contribute to their career progression. There is some take up but not much.
We have been having turnover issues and the prominent feedback from exit polls is the work is not interesting or engaging.
We are seeking feedback from the team but would like to hear about how other companies are handling it. If your company has a similar team that only build custom client projects:
- Does your compnay have similar problems?
- Are developers assigned tasks in a similar way or do you have different ways of working?
- What are the things that are keeping them happy and engaged?
Project Managers in PS assign tasks to developers and they do the work and go to the next task. Their time is tracked and how much of it is billable is measured. Managers in PS has a target "billable utilisation" they are expected to hit. The target is almost all of developers' time other than company meetings.
We encourage developers to come up with side-projects, improvements, learning goals etc. and we make time for them when there is something tangible. We also come up with initatives and offer them to take these up which would also contribute to their career progression. There is some take up but not much.
We have been having turnover issues and the prominent feedback from exit polls is the work is not interesting or engaging.
We are seeking feedback from the team but would like to hear about how other companies are handling it. If your company has a similar team that only build custom client projects:
- Does your compnay have similar problems?
- Are developers assigned tasks in a similar way or do you have different ways of working?
- What are the things that are keeping them happy and engaged?