Best Practices Enable Teams

Introduction

Successful implementation of tools, workflows, process, applications, etc. requires collaboration and clear communication across teams and organizations. You can enable teams to operate the most efficiently with company-wide guiding principles, resources to develop specialized skill sets, and regular retrospectives.

A common cause of blockers within a team or organization is poor communication. Poor communication leads to misalignment of goals; which can delay deployments and projects if not addressed. Another blocker for teams is a lack of technical expertise or abilities. Which can also lead to delayed deployments, or worse, failed deployments that cause production outages.

Principles and practices

Guiding principles

HashiCorp has a set of guiding principles that defines our foundational characteristics and provides a rubric by which we can make decisions. They also enable us to have a shared understanding that we can use to act collectively in a consistent manner. Shared principles aid with project alignment and deployment goals. They should be considered at the start of a project, as well as at regular checkpoints and during retrospectives.

Additionally, many of our individual, team, and company practices are available on our How HashiCorp Works site. These shared practices are concrete examples that also enable us to operate consistently across the organization.

Technical skills

Technologies and tools change rapidly. A learning mindset should be encouraged through regular training opportunities.

When a new tool is introduced to the team, the introduction should include training materials; either instructor-led or on-demand. Additionally, when certification is available, they are an excellent opportunity to verify understanding. Both certification and training should be refreshed every two years for existing tools. HashiCorp offers product certifications, instructor-led trainings, and on-demand tutorials.

You should also encourage ongoing trainings for new product versions and quarterly when possible. At HashiCorp, we publish new tutorials regularly to enable teams to test new features with step-by-step guidance.

Deliver skill trainings

The success of trainings are often dependent on delivery. When possible, a expert or principal engineer should evaluate the training needs of their team. A skill gap analysis will enable them to identify when a training is necessary and the correct level. You can determine skill level with tasks that require demonstrated knowledge. Demonstrated knowledge is also key to verifying confidence and competence with any technology.