How Technical Teams And Non-Technical Teams Can Better Communicate
Ineffective communication costs US-based businesses an estimated $1.2 trillion every year, according to Grammarly’s 2022 State of Business Communication report.
Not only do different teams tend to speak different languages (literally and figuratively), but they also often work in different ways. SCRUM and Agile methodologies are embraced by many technical teams but are often not widely adopted by business functions or executive teams.
Creating a culture of clear and consistent communication between teams and across functional roles can reduce friction and improve performance and efficiency for your entire company.
Let’s look at some keys to helping technical and non-technical teams communicate more effectively.
Plan Together to Communicate Better
Start each new project, quarter, or phase by taking time to plan together.
Create a process of planning that involves everyone and gives cross-functional teams a way to understand the goals and needs of other teams over the course of the upcoming period.
Having a time carved out in the beginning will give the teams a chance to level-set. It will give everyone a better understanding of other teams’ functions and roles relative to their own.
In addition, teams will be able to identify potential bottlenecks and streamline communication to avoid delays and confusion later on.
- Begin each new project, period, or phase by bringing everyone together.
- Make sure all team members understand their roles and the role of others.
- Weekly grooming can be a task in which all team members participate.
Recognize All Contributions From Your Team
Many companies sabotage their own communications by putting too much emphasis on the technical team’s abilities and achievements at the expense of everyone else’s. While the tech team may be accomplishing incredible things, it’s important not to let other teams feel as though they’re simply playing a supporting role in the company.
Do they have the confidence, ability, and autonomy to share ideas? How about to ask questions? Are they given the power to take risks and try new things?
Making all teams–both technical and non-technical–feel comfortable and “safe” in their role within a company is critical for improving communication and teamwork.
- Take time to recognize the achievements and efforts of all team members (both tech and non-tech).
- Provide time for technical and non-technical teams (such as marketers and engineers) to share ideas and ask questions.
- Reward and reinforce risk-taking and question-asking as a matter of company culture.
Create a Shared Project Management System
On many teams, there is a huge barrier between tech teams who use tools like Jira or GitHub to manage work and other teams that use tools like Trello or Asana.
It’s not surprising.
Each of these tools is designed and works best for specific types of teams, projects, and tasks. But having these silos means that teams are often fall out of step. Executives are never quite sure how all of the projects are progressing, marketing can’t quite figure out how close the development team is to launching a new feature, or support isn’t sure if the latest bug fix has been pushed live.
This is one of the main reasons teams use Unito.
It’s an all-in-one solution for keeping teams in sync. Rather than trying to force teams to use different management tools that don’t work for them, Unito allows each team to use the tool they like best and then automatically sync all of them to give everyone a full view of what’s in progress and what needs to be done.
- Trial different software/services for different teams to find the right fit.
- Allow teams to use project/task management tools that are best for them.
- Use a tool like Unito to unify and sync work across each of these tools.
Pro tip: Picking the right project management tool
Deciding that you’re going to create a project management system is one thing, but you also need to make sure you pick the right tool. Depending on the team you’re running — and how big the team is — you’ll want a specific app over another. Some things to consider include how flexible the the tool needs to be, whether you want to build apps on top of it, and features you absolutely need.
Connect your choice of Asana, Trello, Wrike, monday.com, ClickUp, Basecamp, and many more.
Collaboration is Key
Phrases like, “that’s not our job,” or, “I’m not a technical person–ask someone else,” can foster deep-seated resentment and frustration.
Instead, companies should look for ways to intertwine technical and non-technical teams. Whether that’s shifting from role-based organization to cross-functional units or simply structuring a schedule and process that makes collaboration a mandatory part of work, finding ways to get the techies to play along with everyone else will undoubtedly lead to stronger bonds and more effective teams.
- Move people around, if you can. Studies show that collaboration naturally increases with who people sit near.
- Establish clear responsibility and guidelines for who is responsible for what part of a collaborative effort.
- Assume nothing and be very clear about the topic you’re discussing to avoid confusion.
5. Make Space For Different Kinds of Collaboration
The traditional view of a development team is that they all want to work in the dark with headphones on and never talk to anyone. Marketers are famous for being the loud and boisterous team that has crazy ideas and seems too flighty to get anything done. The Sales team stereotype of collaboration tends to be, “get me what I need to close this deal and then get out of my face so I can sell the customer.”
But, the truth is that there are a many different ways for teams to collaborate.
It’s important to realize that a good team should give every team member leeway to work the way that works best for them. Whether this means respecting a team member’s personal space or showing courtesy in how you communicate with them, keep in mind that a lot of collaboration involves working to meet the other party more than halfway.
- Give quiet team members a chance to brainstorm and deliver ideas either before or after meetings.
- Any meeting you can do without, eliminate. Recurring meetings like daily / weekly catch ups can be largely eliminated with asynchronous communication, letting everyone keep focus on their goal.
- If you do have meetings, make sure that you’re creating tasks and deliverables as part of it so that there’s accountability for results after the meeting is over.
Following the tips outlined above should help your tech teams and non-tech teams communicate more effectively, and ultimately be more productive for your business.
When in doubt? Sync with Unito
Here’s one way to keep your technical and non-technical teams collaborating: get them in sync with Unito’s 2-way integration for tools such as GitHub and Asana: