How to Convince Your Development Team to Use Unito
Getting buy-in from your development team to try a new app isn’t always easy.
Even if your development team’s current workflow isn’t super productive, they may have gotten comfortable with their preferred routine. Before you get them to share that “a-HA!” moment and try something new, you’re going to run into several objections like:
“I don’t want to change my current workflow and get out of my comfort zone.”
“Syncing tools sounds complicated.”
“Why do we need to sync tools anyway?”
After trying Unito, these concerns will sound absurd. Although getting them to try it and find out for themselves is the tough part. So how can you get them to step out of their comfort zone and optimize their workflow?
Informing them about the benefits they will enjoy, as well as showing them how easy it is to use, and how quick it is to set up, can surely get their buy-in. Let’s take a closer look at what you should help them understand:
1. Clarify the Need for Unito
Why is it so valuable to sync tasks with Unito? Here’s what your dev team needs to know:
Multiple Tools Can Distract You
Your development team likely has to collaborate with other departments, or at the very least stay in the loop and communicate with the rest of the company via tools like Asana or Trello. The problem with this is that devs have to multitask between the tools they use for work, like Jira or GitLab, and other tools used throughout the company. Although multitasking can feel productive, in truth, it reduces your performance. A study found that brief mental blocks created by shifting between tasks can cost as much as 40 percent of someone’s productive time or 16 hours per week! As developers move from one tool to the next, they’re flooded with notifications that distract them from their current workflow.
By using Unito, the need to shift tasks gets eliminated. Devs can sync projects (and repositories) in their favourite tool, to projects in other tools used by others in the company. This enables developers to work in the tool of their choice, and get all notifications, issue requests, and updates directly there.
Multiple Tools Demand You to Duplicate and Re-enter Data
Developers often have to duplicate and re-enter data across tools to collaborate with non-tech team members.
For example, your company may have an Asana project dedicated to filing bugs and issue requests. The developers will likely prefer to work in GitLab, then update project managers and non-development teams via Asana. Unfortunately, importing data and switching back and forth between tools can take hours out of their weeks.
With Unito, those bugs filed in Asana can be synced directly to GitLab issues, where developers can start working on them immediately.
Multiple Tools Make It Difficult to Consolidate Data and Generate Reports
Have you ever tried to ask developers to write up a status report and post it in your team’s project management tool? If you did, you know they don’t enjoy that. And even if it does get done, your developers are using their time to duplicate and re-enter data rather than focus on doing what they do best.
With Unito, developers create a dashboard of all the most important tasks they and other teams are working on. They can streamline data, messages, and notifications from multiple tools used at their company, to a tool of their choice. This means data can be available and accessible all in one place.
2. Demonstrate the Benefits
Words can send a message, but data sends a louder one. Let the data speak for itself, on how using Unito facilitates collaboration, communication, and performance. Some options to try are:
- Sign up for a trial and sync a few projects. Try syncing projects between your development team’s tool for tracking issues, such as Gitlab, Github or Jira, with other tools used by other teams such as Asana or Trello. Chat with one of our customer success representatives for help on getting started!
- Compare changes in workflow before vs. during the trial: Jot down improvements you experienced during the Unito trial. You can then relay this information to decision-makers and the team. Information to note could include:
- Time saved on communicating with other teammates or teams
- Efficiency in transferring and gathering data between teams
- Reduction in status meetings
- Experienced benefits of having a dashboard of your teams’ priorities
- Experienced benefits of having a customizable workflow that best meets your teams’ needs
3. Convince Decision-Makers
The next step is to share your data and get decision-makers on board. Schedule a meeting and provide a meeting agenda. Here’s an example of what that may look like:
- 5 minutes: Explain the limitations or problems with the current workflow
- 5 minutes: Explain what Unito is and the problems it will solve
- 10 minutes: Discuss current workflow vs. optimizable workflow with Unito
- 10 minutes: Discuss benefits experienced during your trial
- 10 minutes: Discuss when you wish to implement Unito, which projects should be synced, and which teams you think should be given access.
- 5 minutes: Discuss accessibility to Unito’s customer success representatives. Explain that teams will have easy access to assistance around the clock.
4. Meet With Your Development Team
Next, it’s time to chat with the dev team. Discuss the same points mentioned above, explain when the app would be implemented, and how set up will work. If everything goes well, your dev team will see the value and feel comfortable getting on board! It’s possible everyone won’t understand your points, so be prepared to answer inquiries and respond to disagreements. A good tip is to think of and prepare for possible questions they may ask you.
5. Help Them Get Set Up
Once you’ve got buy-in from your developers to try the app, help them use it. No one is a fan of change, so having access to prompt and helpful support will help them with the process and validate the benefits of going about it. Set up a demo with one of Unito’s customer service reps, who’ll show the how to solve problems unique to their workflow, and how to perform syncs step-by-step.
Encourage them to make the most of the Unito Help Center, it’s full of tips and tricks. It’s also useful to establish a point person that the team can go to for questions or assistance, as well as conduct weekly conference meetings to discuss experiences, answer questions, and offer support.
Ready to Build Your Case?
Let’s recap what we covered today.
- First, clarify why Unito will benefit your development team
- Next, consider supporting your proposal with evidence of workflow improvement
- Finally, establish buy-in from your decision-makers and the dev team themselves
At this point, you’re ready to build the case for using Unito, and show your dev team how it will simplify their lives.
Questions? Speak to one of our representatives or tweet us at @unitoio!