Strong management ensures JazzTeam always provides a high-quality service
Strong management and an established culture of development processes management are integral components of our company’s service. In JazzTeam, a manager participates in all types of projects (including cooperation within the framework of team augmentation) regardless of the type of services being provided. We establish a culture of proactivity and apply a value-based approach in the team to build relationships with engineers within a soft acting force in the Scrum format. When working with our managers, you will get a single entry point for escalation, always be aware of events on the project, and be sure that your product is evolving through the application of best practices.
Active participation of a project manager initiated by our company does not contradict Agile approaches or full-fledged self-organization of the team. A manager in JazzTeam is also a Scrum master acting as a facilitator and leader. This approach contributes to the improvement and efficiency of processes, and also allows the reduction of non-production costs of engineers, which makes product development cheaper for you.
Our management culture is the result of active work on various projects and the sum of tremendous knowledge accumulated over 10 years of cooperation with companies from Europe and the United States. Based on this management expertise, we prepared special documents, regulations, and checklists that reflect our principles, standards, and processes in project management. Every JazzTeam manager follows this culture and can also influence its development and improvement. In the process of their work, our specialists rely on the company’s best practices and approaches, and always focus on customer values and interests.
The combination of effective tools and qualities like empathy, flexibility, and openness allows us to build long-term relationships where we successfully complete several projects for a single customer and continue working on new ideas:
- Technological expertise. Our managers have a strong technology background, so they speak the same language as the engineers and are able to implement CI/CD and effectively manage deliveries.
- Reliability and effectiveness. All the projects managed by our managers (over 100) have been completed successfully.
- Trust and proactivity. We often work in a form of long-term cooperation, where the customer trusts our managers to manage their distributed team and consults with us on various issues.
Our approaches to Project Management are based on Scrum methodology and Agile practices
Since the company was founded, our processes have been based on Agile and Scrum principles. We use short iterations and strive to constantly receive feedback from the customer. This approach allows our customers to receive and evaluate the first results of the work done and make sure that our processes are transparent after just two weeks from the start of our cooperation.
Scrum is an excellent organizational framework for company operations because we are able to learn from experience. Every JazzTeam employee is the keeper of their own tasks, assesses risks in advance, achieves concrete results by the end of the sprint, and analyzes their effectiveness during retrospectives. All this contributes to the efficiency of our processes.
- Effectiveness. Agile methodologies involve quickly starting work and providing the necessary conditions for testing hypotheses on the MVP (minimum viable product). The team’s prompt response to changes in requirements and priorities on the project provides opportunities for the creation of the most relevant and important functionality that contributes to the customer’s business development.
- Transparency of processes. Agile culture increases the efficiency of cooperation through an open discussion of statuses and situations on the project with the customer. A short feedback loop and regular communication (standups, demos, retrospectives) contribute to the achievement of a common vision shared by all project participants. The development team and the customer have a common vision of the current state of affairs on the project, current events, the current status of tasks, and the overall progress. Constant direct communication both within the team and with the customer speeds up the process of making important decisions and prevents the emergence of unforeseen risks, ensures continuous transfer of knowledge, and increases the efficiency of interaction between team members.
- Productivity. The iterative approach aims to obtain concrete demonstrable results every 1-2 weeks. The main progress indicator of a team working according to Agile methodologies is frequent and regular deliveries of new product versions, which brings real benefits to the customer during the development process. At the same time, the team’s productivity is maintained throughout the project.
- Flexible terms of cooperation. Agile practices involve flexibility of project parameters. The customer can effectively redistribute their budget by deciding what functionality to invest in now and what to delay or opt out of. The same applies to the use of best practices, for example; in response to product instability, the team focuses on test automation. It is also possible to terminate the development at any time (according to the terms of the contract), for example, if the customer understands that the created functionality is enough to achieve the set goal.
Over many years of working according to Agile methodologies, we have accumulated extensive experience in building processes based on Agile methodologies. This type of project management is the most suitable for us and, as experience has shown, is highly effective.
Would you like to start Scrum implementation on your project and optimize your processes? JazzTeam experts are ready to implement all your ideas!
Types of Project Management Services
Every project needs competent management, so we can always start cooperation with this service. JazzTeam provides project management as a separate or complementary service. For example, you can order only professional management of your project, or involve our manager together with the team of our test automation engineers or developers.
- Management of a project by our team.
- Management of a project run by your distributed team.
- Consulting on improvement of management processes in an IT product:
- Implementing Scrum methodology and Agile practices in project management.
- Using system Test Management as a basis for lean manual and automated testing.
- Managing the implementation and enhancement of Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) by the existing team.
What do you get when you order a Project Management service from JazzTeam?
In JazzTeam, project management techniques are formalized, documented, and proven by years of real practice. Our specialists undertake comprehensive training according to a special program developed by the company, and are allowed to work on customer projects only after completing internal training. Therefore, we can ensure that all JazzTeam managers follow our project management culture and meet our high standards.
When ordering a project management service from JazzTeam, you will receive a comprehensive solution for the following tasks:
1. Project budget management
JazzTeam managers implement the practice of task decomposition and estimation, and give reasonable estimations based on their project experience. In particular, managers track team progress and productivity, and help develop realism among specialists in task estimation. In addition, our managers precisely determine at which stage of the project it is most rational to invest in the implementation of certain practices (CI/CD, test automation). All this helps avoid unnecessary expenditures, and allows for rational spending and control of the project budget.
2. Risk management
JazzTeam managers analyze possible risks and take necessary actions to prevent them happening. An important part of JazzTeam’s management is honesty and joint discussion of risks with the customer. You will always be aware of what is happening on the project, and will be able to choose a solution that corresponds to the current priorities of your business.
3. Prevention of conflict situations and misunderstandings in the team
One of the most important tasks of our managers is project team synchronization. For this purpose, the manager constantly asks for feedback and makes sure that each project participant is focused on important priorities, tasks, and relevant goals. Each team member can express their opinions and be heard at regular retrospectives. All problems and difficulties are openly discussed both within the team and with the manager. This approach helps prevent conflicts and misunderstandings, and also contributes to maintaining a friendly atmosphere in the team.
4. Focusing the team’s work on the customer’s goal
JazzTeam managers convey the customer’s vision to the team, set up specialists to solve priority tasks, and explain why certain activities are especially important at a particular moment. A clear understanding and vision of each sprint goal contributes to well-coordinated work and helps the team to achieve their common goal in a timely manner. Our managers constantly maintain a friendly atmosphere in the team and do everything necessary to make each specialist feel the importance of their work and involvement in the overall success. This motivates the project participants and contributes to team stability.
5. Project monitoring
JazzTeam managers constantly track project progress, maintain the necessary speed of work, and are responsible for achieving the set goals on time. To continuously track progress, our managers perform the following activities:
- Ensure the project start-up uses best management practices. At the beginning of the project, the manager makes sure that all requirements are clear and understandable to the team, agrees with the customer on the methods and schedule of communication, and if necessary, distributes work within the team.
- Perform hierarchical work breakdowns and agree with the customer on the priority of tasks and deadlines for their implementation.
- Monitor the progress of work on the project and provide information about its status to the customer.
- Act as a single point of escalation in case of problems. Whenever necessary, involve an expert consultant to solve misunderstandings.
- Manage the technical debt accumulated by the team and focus the customer’s attention on the need to work on strategically important technical tasks.
- Provide reporting in accordance with the customer’s requirements (working hours of employees, test documentation, etc.).
6. Communications management
Competent communications management plays an important role in preventing risks associated with customer dissatisfaction with the end result. Organizing regular meetings, demonstrating the results of work performed, and constantly receiving feedback contributes to achieving a common vision. As a result, the product fully meets the customer’s expectations. This result does not require additional investments or changes and achieves its exact goal.
Our specialists maintain regular communication with the customer. One of JazzTeam’s notable features is the constant use of video communication (with the camera turned on) with the customer in cases of remote cooperation. We believe that this allows us to better understand your emotions and establish a common understanding. It is very important for us that working with JazzTeam brings you benefits and leaves only a good impression.
Why should you entrust your project to JazzTeam managers?
High level of technological expertise. Our managers do not shift the responsibility for the technological development of the project onto team leaders. They have an excellent understanding of the current technologies and approaches, can prepare the necessary diagrams, and develop a strategy for implementing complex practices (CI/CD, test automation). They can also work in teams without the participation of team leaders and CTOs, and immerse themselves in the product’s work principles and architecture. This high level of technological expertise allows our managers to speak with developers in the same language, which contributes to increased respect from the team and makes the manager a full-fledged team member. This approach ensures smooth, controlled work and constant technological progress.
JazzTeam managers hold the values of best development and testing practices. The introduction of new approaches in the team is always associated with the risks of team resistance. In this case, it is very important to have the support of a leader who will be able to convey the value of change and show how small improvements reduce the number of routine actions and time expenditures. Our managers can become the driving force of your project by establishing the process of CI/CD implementation, organizing regular work with the technical debt in the team from scratch, introducing the practices of competent decomposition and estimation, and launching the creation of a reference project for experience preservation and transfer. They perfectly understand the developers and communicate the value and usefulness of the implemented practices to the team in an easy-to-understand way.
The company’s strong management expertise accumulated over more than 10 years of experience. Our company has a well-developed management culture. We pay great attention to this area of services, and develop and improve practices and approaches, as well as hold regular standups and additional synchronizations for the exchange of experience, where managers share their insights and challenges encountered on the project. All this ensures constant professional growth and the high expertise of our management.
Single entry point for conflict escalation and resolution. If necessary, and at the request of the customer, our managers turn to escalation in a timely manner. Among other things, they use the expertise of other managers or involve the company’s management on the project. Therefore, you can be sure that any issue you have, no matter how complex it may be, will be resolved in the best possible way.
System project management built around the CI/CD concept. Our project managers often act as delivery managers. They not only control processes, but also ensure and guarantee the required quality and timeliness of delivery. In addition to risk management, negotiation, and communication, JazzTeam specialists are responsible for test management and able to implement it in manual and automated testing. They are also well versed in the concept of CI/CD, and can manage the processes of implementation and support of continuous integration and delivery.
JazzTeam managers can be a soft facilitating force in the form of a Scrum master. Our specialists act as Scrum masters and facilitators on projects, and take into account the wishes of the customer and the opinion of engineers, and gently contribute to the continuous improvement of processes to increase team efficiency.
Documented management experience and clear regulations. All project management activities involving our managers are carried out following clear procedures and in accordance with the unified system, the effectiveness of which is proven by years of JazzTeam’s success. The unique knowledge and specifics of our management approaches have been tested over time and are proven by the successful solutions to real-world problems we’ve devised. Each JazzTeam manager possesses a complete package of ready-made documentation (instructions, manuals, checklists, articles), which help them follow the best management practices, solve complex management issues, remember the most important things, and constantly improve the processes on the project.
We will take charge of all issues related to immersion in the project and experience preservation
Transfer of management to a new manager is a difficult stage for both the team and the customer. JazzTeam takes all necessary measures to ensure that the transfer process is seamless, as comfortable as possible, and that it doesn’t affect the productivity of developers. We carry out all activities related to immersion in the project, transfer of the work in progress, and establishment of relationships with the team ourselves without taking up the customer’s time.
Our managers can deeply immerse themselves in the specifics of the architecture and domain area of complex products and ask the necessary questions without distracting you and your specialists.
JazzTeam has developed and formalized a special process for the transfer and acceptance of projects, which includes a detailed study of each stage of these activities. We develop a clear transfer plan that makes it possible to not forget about important things, initiate communication with every team member, and set clear deadlines for tactical and strategic goals.
When starting work on a new project, our managers analyze the management style of the founder or previous manager, find out what the team is used to, and see what special arrangements and principles already exist in the company. All innovations are introduced gently and step by step. This makes it possible to minimize the stress of the team members’ transition to a new style of management and maintain a stable team. Therefore, our specialists gradually join your company and build project management based on your goals and values.
In any team, the need to replace or hire new engineers always arises sooner or later. Therefore, the issue of experience preservation and transfer is relevant for each IT project. JazzTeam managers pay special attention to accumulating and retaining experience within the team, and establish the processes of onboarding and creating reference projects in a timely manner and without compromising commercially important deliveries. This has a positive effect on the speed and effectiveness of new engineers’ immersion.
JazzTeam approaches to the preservation and transfer of experience has been greatly appreciated by our customers many times. One customer initially doubted that our specialists would be able to immerse themselves in the project without having worked in their office for several months. This was due to its previous negative experience with another outsourcing company. Indeed, the project belonged to a very complex business domain and had a large-scale codebase. However, we applied our practices and methods of immersion, showed proactivity, and as a result were able to independently understand the project’s features within a short time and in the distributed team conditions. This impressed the customer and allowed us to gain credibility in their eyes.
In cooperation with another customer, we prepared a comprehensive plan of immersion on our own initiative. It included both a technical description of the product itself (a large and complex billing system) and general information about the customer, the project environment, and the tools used (frameworks, diagrams). This plan seemed so interesting to the customer that they decided to apply it to all new developers of the distributed team. So, more than 10 engineers from different countries successfully passed through our immersion program.
