What makes a good software project leader?
A successful manager has an innate number of skills, no matter the type of team he is leading. But for computer sciences, these individuals need a specific set of qualities to achieve the company’s goal of delivering cutting-edge software while listening to the clients and the development teams. Let’s take a look at five essential skills a successful project leader has in a software development team:
Perseverance with a meaning
Every software project has its nuances. The more complex the problem, the long and tedious a project can become. A project leader will try and test different approaches and still find errors. Therefore, patience is needed to understand that it takes time and planning to find the optimal solution.
But this comes with a warning. A project doesn’t need to be perfect, but it’s often too easy to fall into a perfectionist trap: “one more change, and it will be perfect” can sometimes be the worst way to close it out. The best project leaders know when their software solution is good enough or needs a little more reengineering.
An analytical brain with attention to detail
Most software engineers are naturally analytical, so they were probably drawn to the field in the first place. From the moment they were able to speak, they continually asked questions and analyzed their world. But a successful project leader can go a step further than simply exploring and finding solutions to problems.
And this step is attention to detail. Seeing that all the small things are thoroughly checked while also looking at the whole ecosystem (timeframes, team strengths, and weaknesses, among others) can ensure the delivery of a well-rounded product to the customer.
Strong organizational skills
You need organizational skills to handle the amount of information that a software development team deals with regularly. It’s essential to accurately track status changes and project history and create documents and understandable reports.
It is also essential to be aware and use tools to improve how a team organizes its tasks. Optimal performances are, in many cases, the result of systematic organization. And that is good for the team’s reputation, the company’s name, and the final product.
Communication skills
Effective communication is key to gaining the team’s trust, align efforts to achieve goals, and deal with final customers. When communication is missing, it opens the door to misinterpretation, causing relationships to suffer and, ultimately, creating barriers that hinder progress.
Team leaders need to communicate well. They must be able to guide people properly. But communication skills take time and practice to perfect. Taking the time to polish these skills is essential to be a successful manager.
Ability to follow
At some point in your career, you will have led, followed, and worked as a team. The best team leaders know how to do all three well. A good leader knows how to follow and work together with others. A leader understands what his team needs to know. The inability to do all three can be detrimental to a project. Software developers do vital work and need a good leader to follow and an excellent team around them.
