What are High Performing Teams?

Building teams is a demanding, long-term work. This is especially true when the teams join the structures of the clients and business partners to co-create new value with them. The motto of ArdentCode is building high performing teams. What does it mean? This is clear – the CLEAR model is what defines our DNA.

What is the CLEAR model?

It is a simple, logical, and exhaustive definition of a high performing team that we adopted in ArdentCode based on our long-term project experience. It is an acronym of the key terms that define the attributes of an organisation and a team. It was created as a result of our analysis of our long-term project experience.

C – Culture

Strong team culture that reflects the knowledge of each other’s preferences, strengths and limitations, and trust. Healthy organisational culture is also influenced by the ability to use conflicts and then to solve them in a constructive way.  A conflict may be understood as a factor that initiates change. The culture of the team may also be a catalyst of changes in the organisation. We understand it as the acceleration of changes in teams, also clients’ teams, fostered by constant sharing of knowledge and analysing actions.

L – Learning

The ability to learn new skills, but also to draw conclusions from the activities performed and to share knowledge within the team are the pillars that are necessary to build high performing teams. As a result of the fact that the company is developing constantly and creates conditions that foster learning, our clients receive added value: the guarantee that members of the teams that enter their structures will learn the necessary guidelines or information smoothly and quickly. This guarantees efficient cooperation.

E – Effectiveness

Speaking of efficiency, it is the fourth component of the CLEAR model. Effectiveness is understood as a guarantee of the quality of our work, but also the ability to adjust the work pace and organisation in a blended team. Thanks to that, the processes of creating solutions and applications for our client are more mature, and we are able to deliver on the arrangements and obligations towards our business partners.

A – Autonomy

Autonomy is one of the attributes that are the hardest to work out and, at the same time, indispensable in efficient companies. Still, it may be achieved by combining a proactive approach with the focus on solving problems, flexibility, and business awareness. Obviously, this is not easy, yet it is worth making the effort.Clients may assume that the team will be able to cope with the problems that may arise during cooperation and that it will not require micro-management. It also allows to clearly define the needs (that the team is aware of and able to communicate) and to reduce the participation of people from outside the blended team.

R – Reliable communication  

Reliable communication is the last, but very important pillar of the CLEAR model. It is defined as multi-level communication, both inside the company or the given team, and between the client’s team and ours. It is the communication that enables a clear definition of goals, roles, as well as the scopes of tasks and duties. This category also includes documenting and reporting, because informing about progress and recording the processes in the project are an important element of communication. As a result, our clients may be certain that the cooperation will be clear and transparent.

Conclusion

The attributes of high performing teams that have been described above allow us to better understand the values and competences that we wish to develop in high performing teams. Thanks to them, we know that we are able to offer our clients not only great developers, but also to have a real influence on the organisational culture in the structures of the companies with which we cooperate. Precisely this aspect has been appreciated by our business partners for years.

The CLEAR model is also presented in form of an animation. You may watch here, on our YouTube channel.

WCAG #2 – 994 accessibility fixes, one compliant platform

Introduction:    

ArdentCode has partnered with Wolters Kluwer for several years, and their latest need was to ensure that their flagship legal research platform, VitalLaw (formerly Cheetah™), meets WCAG 2.2 Level AA accessibility standards. This was a challenging task due to the large-scale, long-term nature of the project. 

Focus: 

Objective:   

To ensure that VitalLaw meets WCAG 2.2 Level AA standards, to enhance accessibility and compliance, thereby improving user experience and ensuring compliance with legal requirements. 

Needs:  

  1. Ensuring that VitalLaw complies with WCAG 2.2 Level AA standards, especially as more laws nowadays focus on web accessibility compliance. 
  1. Fix all identified accessibility issues in the VitalLaw platform. 

Approach:  

  1. An external company conducted a thorough audit to identify accessibility issues. 
  1. The ArdentCode team addressed all 994 reported issues, creating Jira tickets for each WCAG success criterion. 
  1. External dependencies were resolved in collaboration with various teams 
  1. Fixes were implemented in areas such as keyboard accessibility, colour contrast, HTML semantics and many others. 
  1. Merged PRs covering some of the work, with ongoing efforts to fix issues, including those awaiting solutions from UI/UX designers and other teams responsible for external dependencies. 

Key changes: 

Results:  

  1. 994 accessibility issues were identified and addressed. 
  1. Improved compliance with WCAG 2.2 Level AA standards. 
  1. Enhanced user experience for all users, including those with disabilities. 
  1. Strengthened Wolters Kluwer’s reputation for accessibility and compliance. 
  1. Contributed to a more inclusive digital environment, in line with global accessibility standards. 

Conclusion:  

Our collaboration with Wolters Kluwer has significantly improved the accessibility of their VitalLaw platform, demonstrating ArdentCode’s capability to handle complex accessibility challenges and deliver compliant solutions. This project highlights our commitment to creating inclusive digital experiences. 

WCAG #1 – solutions with amazing scalability

Introduction:     

As a part of blended team our team members cooperate in a Wolters Kluwer internal team. Its objective is to create tools that other Wolters Kluwer products can utilize to make the products brand compliant, follow the accessibility standards, and speed up the development. Our solutions are exceptionally scalable. By developing a single solution, we can successfully implement it across more than 100 different products, demonstrating its versatility and flexibility.

Focus:  

Objective:   

We aim to revise our principles to ensure that our components are not only visually appealing but also exhibit excellent functionality and behavior.   

Needs:  

Build DEV team awareness of the necessity of accessibility and providing information on what it involves. 

Provide the components that prioritize accessibility, usability, and meet legal standards.  

Approach:  

  1. Leveraging our knowledge to address complex challenges and avoid common pitfalls. 
  1. Analyzing how to implement WCAG requirements in client environments, ensuring compliance while sidestepping typical issues. 
  1. We have introduced automated accessibility testing into our Continuous Integration pipeline. 
  1. Proper keyboard navigation is now the must have in our components. 
  1. We started using the screen reader on a daily basis. 
  1. Strong collaboration with UX team regarding accessibility challenges. 

Key changes:  

Results:  

  1. Components strictly adhere to WCAG AA guidelines and follow the best practices outlined by the W3C, ensuring that they are as semantic as possible and offer a seamless user experience.  
  1. Hundreds of product teams can build their applications based on the blocks that meet the highest standards. 

Conclusion:  

The new strategy that we applied while creating the components helps us to provide the highest quality building blocks for our clients. These can be recommended as inspirational for other teams as a great starting point while building the user-friendly solutions yet following the guidelines of the ADA and EAA. The components are meticulously designed to meet these requirements, helping clients avoid potential legal challenges while fostering an inclusive online environment.  

Solo or in a team? 

Surely, everyone knows when it’s better to work individually and when to be a part of a team. It’s so obvious! Or is it? We’ve prepared a summary outlining when it’s better to work alone and when it is more effective to engage a team. For those who prefer a quick glance, we’ve got a concise graphic. And for the others, we encourage you to read on. 

I’ll handle it myself

Tasks that require deep concentration, coherence, and quick decision-making are better done independently. This way, we can avoid the burden of having to discuss or wait for decisions. Acting solo also works well when there’s a high level of responsibility for results, independence, and control over processes. Tasks that require specialized skills form a separate category for solo work. 

Let’s do it together

Teamwork is more effective for projects or tasks that demand a variety of skills. This is often due to the complexity or scale of the project. Combining the knowledge of multiple experts helps find more comprehensive and innovative solutions. Similarly, tasks that require creativity and the exchange of ideas are better suited for a team. Complex, multidimensional issues are also better tackled in a group than alone, and tasks that require a high level of engagement—when there’s a lot to do in a limited time—benefit from building a team, which significantly increases the chances of success. 

When else should we build a team? 

In our organization, we place particular emphasis on learning competencies and sharing expert knowledge within the company. This is a natural and engaging way to develop skills and strengthen team bonds, leading to a high level of mutual trust among employees. Another important value at ArdentCode is effectiveness, which we understand as the combination of high quality, the right pace of action, and proper organization of work. 

Summary

Modern organizations face the challenge of balancing the choice between individual work and teamwork. The decision which path to choose depends on the problem at hand. Another challenge for companies is finding the golden mean between the need for independence and group work, especially when many team members are seasoned experts with high qualifications. However, those considerations will be left for another occasion.

Case study of Email Editor – great cooperation

Introduction

Spotler Group is a European provider of digital marketing and communication tools, which helps companies engage customers and enhance their brand experience. The Spotler Group has grown in part by acquiring companies that offer solutions in the MarTech space. As the group expanded, the need for a modern, scalable email editor that could be integrated with multiple products became apparent, and in 2022, the decision was made to begin work on such an editor. ArdentCode, with its experience in similar projects, was chosen to partner with Spotler to execute the task.

Product

The concept of the Email Editor had been analyzed and developed within the Spotler Group for some time. However, due to limited internal resources, it was necessary to open up to an external partner. ArdentCode, with its experience, was the natural choice for the project. As work progressed, the scope changed, and we expanded the team, adapting to the client’s evolving expectations.

Focus: 

Objective:  

Implement an application providing an email editor for non-technical users that can also be embedded in existing applications created in various technologies.

Needs: 

  1. Replace previous and costly-to-maintain editors
  2. Introduce a consistent design across products of one group, facilitating the use of the editor in different applications
  3. Eliminate the differences between them
  4. Use and develop Spotler Group’s Domain-specific language for email needs

Approach: 

  1. Take over the internally built PoC (Proof of Concept).

Starting work involved analyzing the implementation of the first version of the editor as a Proof of Concept. We verified the design from both the technical and functional points of view. Based on this evaluation, we provided guidance for the further direction of work.

2. Create the MVP (Minimal Valuable Project). 

After the analysis, we formed a project team that joined the existing team, and as a blended team, we completed the first version of the editor in accordance with the specification.

3. Deployment. 

After testing, we launched the editor’s production version. Proper implementation in one application was the key, to be followed by others. 

Results: 

  1. Reduced maintenance costs. By replacing multiple editors with one common solution, Spotler Group was able to significantly reduce future development costs and streamline the development of a single editor. 
  2. Introduction of a single email editing tool. This change contributed to delivering a vast amount of functionality to several products simultaneously, implementing AI assistants, creating a unified brand management system, and integrating with external service providers.
  3. Verification of the internal idea. The editor uses a descriptive markup language (SPML) created specifically for this project. The project’s success confirmed that creating SPML was a good direction, as the application is not dependent on external solutions.

Conclusion: 

The implementation of the Email Editor allowed for the optimization of various applications offered by Spotler Group, significantly reducing the costs of maintaining the teams responsible for the product operation and creating a wide range of new possibilities. The universal application of the new solution also contributed to simplifying deployment procedures for end clients, who, having access to diversified solutions from Spotler Group, could quickly and easily adapt to new functionalities. 

DevOps tooling

How to simplify the introduction of the CD across business units? Read the case study about the DevOps tooling. Check needs, approach and results.

Introduction:   

ArdentCode partnered with Wolters Kluwer to simplify the introduction of the Continuous Deployment/Delivery approach across business units in the organization.​ 

Focus: 

Objective:  

Create a SaaS solution that supports Continuous Deployment of microservice-based applications available for all business units in the organization.​ 

Needs: 

  1. Support AWS and Azure clouds
  2. Support zero downtime release roll out/back (blue/green, canary deployment)
  3. Allow developers to deploy and test their code in the feature branch environment
  4. Provide UI and CLI interfaces
  5. Let the application development team use the infrastructure with not need of deep knowledgeknowledge of AWS/Azure
  6. Provide logging, monitoring, and alerting to support and troubleshoot the applications in production
  7. Provide a solution to run automated tests (UI, API) to detect bugs before release promotion and to monitor the application availability

Approach: 

  1. Build extendable architecture that allows to deploy to different Clouds
  2. Follow the principle of “infrastructure as a code” to track any changes done to the application and roll them back if needed
  3. Allow to define the single endpoint version using simple schema
  4. Build API layer to be used by UI and CLI interfaces
  5. Build a central mechanism to collect metrics and set up of alerts
  6. Follow best practices and organization standards (HA, security, naming)
  7. Build a service allowing the execution of automated tests at large scale
  8. Build a service executing the automated tests on the new release deployments
  9. Allow to set up synthetic tests monitoring with alerting

Results: 

  1. Onboarded hundreds of products (VitalLaw is one of them, read previous case study here)
  2. Products confirmed that the solution allowed them to:
  1. The support teams are using the synthetic monitoring solution to monitor the availability and performance of the application
  2. The automated tests execution service allows the execution of a huge number of regression tests in minutes instead of hours.

Conclusion:

The partnership between ArdentCode and Wolters Kluwer resulted in a powerful SaaS solution that redefines deployment practices. By enabling seamless Continuous Deployment, the solution empowers teams to deliver high-quality applications faster, with improved reliability and reduced costs. Its cloud-agnostic capabilities, robust testing mechanisms, and comprehensive monitoring set a new standard for efficiency and collaboration across business units. This achievement underscores the transformative potential of well-designed, scalable infrastructure.

5 proven ways to burn out the best ones

Let’s set some assumptions — ideally, articles about inappropriate management practices should not exist. But our daily reality is not a utopia, and burnout issues have been described from many perspectives and in many ways. However, to show how easy it is to lead the best people on the team to have a sense of futility, we present a ready-made recipe—applying these practices guarantees negative consequences, even in the short term.

1. Guess what I expect from you

Most misunderstandings and frustrations arise from gaps in communication. They may stem from managers’ failure to define the key areas for which team members are responsible. Another threat is the inconsistency in defining roles and responsibilities. Examples? One day, give an employee the feeling that they should take the initiative and that their suggestions are valuable. And shortly after, criticize them for their engagement and reduce them to a typical do-it role. However, when the project is delayed or problems arise, blame (and responsibility) should fall on the employee.

2. If I’m not criticizing it, It’s OK—don’t you know?

The highest form of praise is the absence of criticism? Great, if you want to smother any enthusiasm and engagement within your team. Some managers assume that the only form of feedback should be pointing out elements for correction or change, forgetting how important it is to appreciate positive aspects, progress, and development. Lack of appreciation is one of the most common problems in teams. An example from our backyard is a situation where an employee devoted all their energy and skills for weeks to meet expectations within the deadline. However, they received no feedback, so they took the initiative and proposed a one-on-one meeting. When they directly asked for feedback on their performance, they received a response that can be paraphrased as: “Don’t you know that if I don’t give feedback, it means that everything is OK?”

3. Don’t bother me, just get it done

Arrogant remarks directed at team members do not reflect one’s position or competencies but rather significant communication issues. It is worth noting that when involving an engineer with a specific specialisation in a project, it is necessary to trust their knowledge and skills. Pushing for an accelerated process or ignoring information about necessary solutions may result in the project’s failure. The consequence is burnout, manifested by indifference, a sense of powerlessness, and turning a dedicated specialist into someone who just blindly follows orders.

4. I say one thing but do another

There’s a known saying: “Paper will take anything.” But the moment of truth comes when it turns out actions don’t match words. Yet, consistency and responsibility are the key traits of leaders. Here, it’s worth citing an example we encountered in one of our collaborations. Specialists from ArdentCode faced a situation where the client’s representative often suggested ideas without specifying requirements. Changes in expectations, requirements, and vision were also frequent and unjustified for the project. Employees who were involved in this collaboration experienced a lack of stability in decisions. This created concerns since one of a leader’s roles is to provide a sense of stability and security, which are essential in effective and productive team work.

5. What are you saying? You’d better look at yourself

Gaslighting[1] may occur not only in romantic relationships but unfortunately also in professional situations. It’s enough to conduct conversations in a way that instills doubt in the recipient about their maturity, experience, skills, and knowledge. A representation of this status may be a situation where a specialist (yet again) takes the initiative to talk about the team’s situation, project, and the communication style of the project manager. To quickly and efficiently destroy their commitment, just do not accept the criticism backed by specific arguments (constructive criticism). To defend yourself, throw in something about a personal attack and lack of professionalism.  In this way, you will stir up guilt in the employee attempting to change the situation and admit that the problem indeed lies with them.

Summary:

Each of these attitudes will negatively affect the team. Combining them practically guarantees quickly burning out even the resilient and ambitious employees. The ironic tone of this article should not overshadow its real message — that the behaviour described above indicates a lack of leadership skills and improper selection of management methods. At ArdentCode, we place a strong emphasis on effectively preventing burnout among team members, even if they are affected by a negative style of collaboration with clients. We will write about these methods in our future materials.

[1]https://www.newportinstitute.com/resources/mental-health/what_is_gaslighting_abuse/

The role of the CTO in building high-performance development teams

The role of the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in building high-performance development teams is becoming more and more important. One of the tasks of the CTO is managing technology and innovation. Apart from that, he or she shapes the work culture, implements effective practices and selects tools that support team effectiveness.

To effectively manage high-performing teams, the CTO should focus on certain key areas. These include implementing Agile and DevOps practices, using tools for collaboration and communication, and fostering a culture of innovation and continuous development.

1. Implementing Agile and DevOps practices

Agile and DevOps practices are the cornerstone for building high-performing development teams. Agile focuses on iterative development and regular adaptation to changing requirements. As a result, it allows teams to respond quickly to changes and adapt the product to the customers’ needs. DevOps, on the other hand, integrates development and operations teams, automation and continuous integration that make software delivery faster and more reliable.

According to The 15th State of Agile Report from Digital.ai and the 2021 State of DevOps Report from Puppet’s, both Agile and DevOps practices will evolve to further support remote working. What is important, according to the DevOps report, in 2010 only 10% of organizations had highly developed DevOps practices, while in the report of 2021, this number increased to 18%. This shows how much opportunity and growth prospect there can be for companies that, like ArdentCode, offer these practices to their business partners. At the same time, implementing DevOps in partnership with customers allows to save the time required to implement needed changes. 

2. Using tools for cooperation and communication

Effective collaboration and communication play an important role in building high-performing teams. The CTO should take care to implement tools for project and code version management, source code management, progress planning and verification, and testing. Below is a list of suggested tools., Most of them are used daily at ArdentCode:

– Architectural decisions that span more than a single task can be recorded in shared documents, created for a collaborative environment. These include solutions offered by Google Workspace, MS 365 or Atlassian Confluence;

– Source Control Manager (SCM), which supports the team’s code review process, is crucial for information flow and communication. Examples of tools that support this process include: Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, GitHub or GitLab. 

– Bug tracking system reduces the work time of Project Managers and more experienced developers on the team. The most popular and intuitive tools in the industry include Asana and Jira, as well as tools that come with GitLab and GitHub. 

– New solutions require an environment that allows them to be built and tested in a way that is accessible and understandable to the organization. Hence, the need for a CI/CD environment. It should be well integrated with progress planning and source code management tools. Examples of this class of solutions include CircleCI, Bamboo Data Center, Azure DevOps, GitHub, GitLab, Jenkins, TeamCity, and Travice CI.

From the point of view of the CTO and the company, these tools should be interconnected to facilitate workflow and communication across the organization.   

3. Promote a culture of innovation and continuous development

Promoting a culture of innovation and continuous development is a key aspect of the CTO’s role. High-performing development teams need an environment that fosters experiments and implementing new technologies and methodologies. The CTO should support his or her employees by providing them with access to training, workshops and the latest educational resources to help them develop their skills and knowledge.

Investing in the professional development of employees and promoting innovative thinking improve team engagement and satisfaction. This translates into better company performance, as confirmed by numerous studies. Analyzing the satisfaction and key talents of individual team members also has a positive impact on understanding their natural aptitudes and limitations. There are many tools and methodologies to support such research and talent development in teams. The most popular ones are CliftonStrengths™, DISC, MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), and Hogan Assessments.

At ArdentCode, we use the CliftonStrenghts™ survey, also known as the Gallup Test, to assess talents both individually and in teams. Such knowledge makes it easier to decide which talents may be missing from the team and which are secured. This, in turn, makes it easier to manage the planning and work of the team. The CTO, by creating such an environment, not only motivates the team to achieve higher results, but also ensures that the company remains competitive in the market.

Summary 

The role of the CTO in building high-performance development teams is extremely complex. It requires the ability to manage both technology and people. It seems that the latter aspect, i.e. working with the people using the tools, can determine the success or failure of the CTO. Since it is people who use the tools and technology, at the same time, through communication, they develop them and make improvements. It is the people who make up the commitment and effectiveness of the company. And these values, especially in an environment as complex and dynamic as IT, can give an organization a competitive advantage. 

The role of the CTO at different stages of a company’s development and financing

An effective Chief Technology Officer (CTO) understands very well the need to evolve his or her role through the successive stages of a company’s development. These are often directly related to successive rounds of financing.

Seed Stage (Seed phase): Foundations and vision

In the seed phase, the CTO plays a key role as a builder of the company’s technology foundation. During this phase, the CTO often serves as the founder or chief technology officer, who is responsible for:

Challenge: Balancing technology development with limited financial resources.

Series A: Scaling up and formalizing

Once Series A funding is secured, the CTO’s role becomes more organized and defined. At this stage, the CTO focuses on:

Challenge: The CTO manages growth and ensures that technology supports the company’s strategic goals.

Series B: Expansion and innovation

In the Series B round, the CTO’s role involves a broader range of responsibilities, including:

Challenge: Focus on innovation while managing the company’s growing structure.

Series C: Operational scaling and preparing for an IPO

At the Series C stage, the CTO plays a key role in:

Challenge: Managing large-scale technology and preparing the company for future challenges.

Pre-IPO (pre-IPO): Growth readiness

In the IPO preparation phase, the CTO’s role includes:

Challenge: Ensuring that technology and operations are ready for the big changes and challenges of an IPO.

Summary

For mature CTOs, understanding the role and challenges of each stage of financing is critical to successfully leading a technology company. From the seed stage to pre-IPO preparations, the CTO’s role requires constant adaptation and strategic thinking to support the company’s growth and help achieve its goals. It’s also worth remembering that the key and most difficult transition is from the role of a hands-on technical leader and visionary to an agile C-level leader.

Case Study

Improvement of Legal Research: 

ArdentCode’s DevOps Transformation for Wolters Kluwer’s VitalLaw

Introduction:   

ArdentCode partnered with Wolters Kluwer to upgrade their flagship legal research platform – VitalLaw (former Cheetah™). It was a challenge to introduce DevOps practices to a large-scale, multi-year project. ArdentCode aimed to increase frequency of production deployments and lower the time needed for change implementation. 

Focus: 

Objective:  

Enhance the development process for VitalLaw, while maintaining the highest standards of security. 

Needs: 

  1. Increase frequency of production deployments and lower the time needed for changes implementation 
  2. Introduce DevOps practices to VitalLaw – large scale, multi-year project 

Approach: 

  1. Continuous Integration: Through DevOps practices, ArdentCode team was able to change production deployment from two months to bi-weekly production releases. This change also gave a possibility for daily deployments. 
  2. International blended team creation: ArdentCode used DevOps tooling and practices across teams in the USA, Europe, and India, facilitating collaboration and efficiency. 
  3. Process improvement: The adoption of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) enabled smoother development processes and enhanced agility. It was conducted in accordance with the client’s internal processes. Needed improvements were also enhanced.
  4. Testing and verification: There was a need to test the application in a different way – it was a basic need of the project.  The goal was to reduce testing time. We changed the scope of testing to automatically test only the areas touched in the code.  As a result, instead of testing in a few working days, we were able to deliver some changes in a few hours, with testing taking much less time once the changes were made. The number of e2e tests was reduced to each release, integrating with external applications to support testing.  

Key changes: 

Results: 

  1. Accelerated deployment: Deployment frequency increased from 2 months to 2 weeks, with the ability to deploy changes on a daily basis. 
  2. Changes in shortened time: Teams were able to deliver required changes more quickly. 
  3. Agility: Every code change (Pull Request, Merge Request) is a potential release candidate. 
  4. Rollback on demand: Rollback to previous version on demand  
  5. Improved stability: Less number of regression bugs. Higher confidence in the release quality. 
  6. Comprehensive tooling: DevOps tooling and practices were successfully integrated across all collaborating teams, enhancing collaboration and efficiency. 
  7. Security and elevated performance: ArdentCode ensured rigorous security and performance verification, maintaining the highest standards for VitalLaw. 

Conclusion: The adoption of comprehensive DevOps practices by ArdentCode resulted in a significant change, thanks to the reduction of deployment timelines from months to weeks, and the introduction of daily deployment capabilities. The operational shift not only accelerated change delivery but also fostered a culture of agility, where every code change became a potential release candidate, enhancing adaptability and responsiveness within the organization. Moreover, the emphasis on rollback capabilities and the observed decrease in regression bugs underscored a commitment to stability and quality assurance, reflecting a pragmatic approach to software development that prioritizes efficiency and reliability.