My journey at Softhouse began last May. I was looking for a change in my leadership role, a new context with culture and values, and that led me to Softhouse. 

There is much to say about the culture that characterizes Softhouse, which also has made the company successful for 25+ years. I will share my reflections on a factor that I, and we as a company, value particularly highly – collaboration through “Softhouse Teams.“

Team – untapped potential

The value of effective teams is evident for most of us, in the same way as competence. But it is strangely not as evident in the IT consulting industry. Here, competence is prioritized among consulting customers, while the extraction of competence through well-functioning teams is often underestimated. I have been a leader for many years and part of many different teams, and through experience, I know the value of well-functioning teams. In short, I see potential in leveraging the strength of teams more in the IT consulting industry to benefit buyers and sellers.

Customer value and well-being

Our core competency at Softhouse is building software, and I strongly believe in doing it together. At Softhouse, we naturally help our customers with specific expert skills and see this as a central part of our offer. The one does not exclude the other. When we develop software together in teams, teams we enjoy working with, we create exponentially more value. The great thing about this simple equation is that there are no opposites. We create increased value for our customers while at the same time we get happier employees.

It is not only more fun to work in a team, but to the same extent individually developing. It applies whether you are a recent graduate and get to learn by working with the best developers or for senior developers to assist their less experienced colleagues in strengthening their abilities. We see how our employees grow when they are challenged within the framework of the environment that well-functioning teams offer.

Strong teams build relationships through openness, which creates efficiency. Partly because you use the team’s collective skills and abilities, but also because it minimizes risks of misunderstandings. Or, as one of our employees put it: “You are not best at everything, but the team can be the best at everything.” Strengthened by the passion of their professional pride, we also see that well-functioning teams improve the quality of what we deliver, as the team spurs and helps each other through code review, etc.

We see that most of our employees prefer to work in teams and those who do so tend to stay longer with us. The values ​​of Softhouse are obvious. But the attractiveness we create through teams is also important for our customers, as it strengthens the supply of skilled developers for their specific tasks.

Most developers in the consulting industry have made a conscious choice to work as a consultant and seek personal development through various assignments.

I see this drive for development as a strength. If we use the driving force correctly, we create satisfied customers through skilled experts while at the same time, we get happy employees. Therefore, our employees must be on the “right assignment” in relation to individual needs for development and variety. The follow-up becomes particularly important when we offer an individual consultant to our client, as it increases the risk of individual dependencies and, thus, consequences if the consultant quits. In team deliveries, we counteract this risk through proactive competence sharing, which creates long-term competence supply and stability.

Our team deliveries often mean that customers hand over the responsibility for competence provision to us, which frees up time with the customer with the effect that we get an increased focus on WHAT you want to achieve. We take responsibility for planning competencies based on what the assignment requires and the team’s needs while ensuring an effective onboarding of new employees.

Learning culture

Last but not least, I would like to highlight how our team deliveries strengthen our learning culture and knowledge sharing. Passionate developers want to continuously learn new things, which builds culture when it happens in the community, where developers learn and are inspired by each other. If knowledge is lacking in one’s team, there are 300 other specialists at Softhouse to help, only a slack message away – which further strengthens the team spirit – through the network of teams of teams. In short – we build tremendous value for our customers while developing our teams and employees, and it’s a win/win.

 

Are you curious to hear more about Softhouse teams? Maybe you are a potential customer or developer looking for new adventures? Regardless, you are welcome to contact us.

/Jörgen Persson