How the Squads Model Ensures the Success of Your Digital Experience
When you entrust your digital experience project to nventive, it is managed by a small team of experts, each highly specialized in the technology specific to your project. This team, known as a "squad", provides you with dedicated support throughout the various development phases, until the realization of a product that exceeds your expectations.
In 2018, as we rolled out this new structuring of digital solutions projects, our experts boldly and enthusiastically welcomed the new challenges ahead. Mathieu Fillion, development team manager at nventive, has in fact witnessed the teams' transition to this new work organization. With hindsight, he's very pleased with the results of the close working relationship that this organization of the working model offers on our customers' project results.
What exactly is a squad?
At its simplest, the squads working model is the division of a technology company into a number of small, autonomous, multi-disciplinary teams with a variety of different competencies. Each team is composed of members with complementary skills, such as a Project Manager (PM), a Team Lead, a Quality Assurance (QA) team member and several Developers. Some teams may have additional functions within their group, depending on their specialty.
What makes this working model effective?
"Team autonomy is one of the major advantages of this working model. Rather than building a team around a project, projects are assigned to a squad, building on the affinities already established among team members and leveraging the team's common strengths and specific skills. This working method promotes a stronger team cohesion. The idea is to build our cohesion and effectiveness over successive projects." Mathieu Fillion, Development Team Manager.
One of the most significant benefits of the squad working model is the cohesion among teammates that strengthens as the project progresses. Unlike a group, the primary strengths of a squad lie in its continuous progression, both in terms of relational symbiosis and productivity performance. While squads are woven together by strong bonds, groups do not necessarily display the particular cohesion that is the key to a successful project. This cohesion is gradually built up from project to project, capitalizing on affinities developed during previous projects.
This closeness among team members facilitates better communication with team leaders. The squad model also allows for quicker response to emergencies or blockers. Indeed, since team members all work on the same projects, it is easier to organize their schedules to find common time for meetings. This ensures closer collaboration, fostering a deep understanding of the client's needs.
Fostering collaboration generates value within the company by bringing together diverse working methods, distinct backgrounds, and ideas shaped by a strong identity and a sense of belonging to their squad. Mutual trust and support between team members ensures a high level of devotion to assigned tasks.
And what does this mean for the client?
The collaborative and intimate nature of the squads working model also ensures a close relationship with the customer. Because teams are smaller and tighter-knit, customers benefit from the ability to interact with a smaller number of people, building closer ties and trust more quickly.
This approach goes beyond simply completing daily tasks. The squad model relies on recognizing the chemistry that coexists within a team. As a result, clients place their trust in the hands of a more efficient team capable of delivering results more promptly, thus strengthening the bond of trust. In other words, it becomes easier to deliver a product that meets expectations.
«By offering our teams the stability that comes with teamwork, we enable them to focus all their energy on implementing their expertise in the digital solutions we create. These confident teams are then able to adapt to the realities of each project with less risk, compared to a group of people who don't work together on a daily basis,»
Jessica Frigault, VP Operations at nventive
By entrusting your digital experience project to nventive, you benefit from the expertise of an efficient, fast-moving team where strengths and weaknesses complement each other. Unlike the traditional team working model, we daily emphasize mutual trust and support among experts ensuring a high level of dedication to the assigned tasks. This approach aims to consistently meet the needs of our clients, who place their trust daily in the hands of teams where synergy prevails.