Building a Systems Development Team - Mistakes

While there are many benefits to contractors starting their own internal Systems Development teams, there are also many risks.

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  • First of all, it wasn’t the best fit as previously discussed. 
  • Underestimating the cultural mismatch between developers and other team members that were brought in from outside the construction industry.
  • Not funding the development team properly, including funding of individual roles. Just like the field, many times the cheapest labor is not the most productive per dollar.
  • Not putting the right amount of resources into the management of the team. Managing software engineers and developers is very different than managing a field workforce or project managers. A hands-off “hope” style or a micromanaging style are both typical mistakes.
  • Not sequencing the projects properly, so a return is seen for the investment across the organization.
  • Over-building when a “Minimum Viable Product” or MVP is what you really need. This will impact returns as much as not sequencing properly.
  • Not planning for and managing the roll-out, training, continuous improvement, and support aspects of an internally developed tool.

This is Part 16 of an 18-Part Series


Topics Covered in the Series Include:

  • Workflow
  • Management
  • Balance
  • Risk
  • Outsourcing

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More from Steve Jost
Building a Systems Development Team - Apps
Can’t I just buy an app for that? One of the biggest shifts in the construction technology ecosystem is the transition from a few large monolithic packages to a mixed regime of comprehensive software packages and smaller apps.
Building a Systems Development Team - Starting
Most Systems Development teams start with someone doing report writing or other forms of data extraction and integration, such as creating a dashboard or streamlining through imports.
Building a Systems Development Team - Outsourcing
Can’t we just hire somebody to do this for us? The answer is more complex than a simple "Yes" or "No."