REMOTE WORKERS

Coronavirus: Managing
software development
during lockdown
The Computer Weekly
Developer Network
examines the impact of
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W ith only a proportion of developers classified as
key workers, the majority of programmers will
have been forced to work remotely, often in
solitude. Lack of face-to-face meetings can eat
away at team morale and some team members may become
withdrawn and more isolated.
The pressure to develop new software will continue to
increase, but for team leaders and senior IT decision-makers,
getting more work done – often with less budget – needs to be
balanced with the fact that software developers working from
home may well be juggling work with childcare duties, looking
after sick relatives and home schooling.
Research from cloud communications platform Twilio reveals
that 90% of chief technology officers and senior IT decision-
makers at UK businesses view the role of software developers
as important to compete in their industry during the pandemic.
According to the study, based on a Vanson Bourne survey
of 400 IT decision-makers in January 2021, there is a widely
accepted view that technology can be used strategically to
rebuild and reconfigure businesses as they plot a path through
the coronavirus crisis. This puts software development skills in
the front line of business development, creating new line-of-
business applications and reworking existing processes encoded

in software to adapt them to rapid changes in public policy.

Covid-19 on the software From a programmer productivity perspective, what really mat-
application development ters in programming circles is how much functional code has
community. Cliff Saran and been developed, tested, secured, managed, deployed, main-
Adrian Bridgwater report tained and pushed into live production. Have “code commits”

HOME

computerweekly.com 9-15 March 2021 22

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News increased or decreased? Have developers been just as produc- were figuring out how to adjust to remote-first work conditions.
tive by communicating over messaging systems and video col- Engineers made the switch and the realisation settled in that
Goldman Sachs chief’s laboration platforms? Have periods of quarantine, lockdown and this would be the new normal.”
dislike of remote
working highlights
self-isolation actually allowed more work to get done? Broemmer says he was very particular about his own work-
need for balance space. This is generally true of many full-time software develop-
Code productivity metrics ers. “Who can be productive with only a single monitor? Many
Should CISOs stop GitHub’s Octoverse 2020 productivity report illustrates how engineers simply did not have a great setup at home. They prob-
staff using Clubhouse?
software development productivity during the pandemic is ably had a desk where they could work, but used it only occa-
either consistent with the baseline or has increased. The report sionally on a sick day or while waiting for a delivery,” he says. “I
Pandemic was a
catalyst for IT team includes activity from more than 35,000 organisations cover- realised that a stand-up desk for my home office was a necessity.
to prove their worth ing the 12 months to September 2020. A pre-pandemic base- It didn’t matter that my corporate employer at the time wasn’t
at Johnson Matthey
line can be established and changes observed during the first six going to reimburse me, it had to be done. I couldn’t sit all day.”
months of the movement to widespread home working.
Getting the right workflow
Editor’s comment
“In March 2020, there was a sharp decrease in the number
Buyer’s guide
of code commits. While this metric is far from perfect, it does One contributor to the Computer Weekly Developer Network
to colocation provide good insight into developer productivity,” says Darren (CWDN) is Will Blew, a software engineering manager for
Broemmer, developer evangelist at DevGraph. “Organisations Linode, which provides cloud hosting and infrastructure tools.
Coronavirus: Managing
software development
during lockdown

Retailers use tech to

offer something back “I ask about things related to remote work during my
Downtime regular team one-on-ones. It’s important everyone on my
team has the things needed to do the work in this new way”
Will Blew, Linode

computerweekly.com 9-15 March 2021 23

 REMOTE WORKERS

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News Since he started working remotely every day, Blew says the most
common challenge is that some workflows for software devel-
Goldman Sachs chief’s opment do not work well in a remote environment. This, he says,
dislike of remote
working highlights
can be upsetting and lead to lost productivity, but it should also
need for balance be an opportunity to look at how the stress points can be eased.
“One thing I’ve changed since moving to fully remote working
Should CISOs stop is asking about things related to remote work during my regu-
staff using Clubhouse?
lar team one-on-ones,” he says. “It’s important that everyone on
my team has the things needed to do the work in this new way.”
Pandemic was a
catalyst for IT team For instance, team meetings that used to be conducted in per-
to prove their worth son are now based around online whiteboards and other collab-
at Johnson Matthey
orative tools. “Pretty much any time we would have used some
type of physical tool we’re looking for an alternative so we can
Editor’s comment
all collaborate wherever we are in the country,” says Blew.
Buyer’s guide
Video-conferencing tools such as Zoom and WebEx have
to colocation become the preferred method for office workers to interact and
collaborate, and they also seem to work well across software
Coronavirus: Managing development teams. For more formal collaboration, tools such
software development
during lockdown as Slack and, increasingly, Teams, are being deployed.
Another CWDN contributor, Matt Yonkovit, head of open
Retailers use tech to source strategy at Percona, says it encourages social interaction
offer something back and making time for personal conversations. “Using tools such
as Slack groups allows our team to chat simultaneously about
Downtime work and life-related issues,” he says. “We have specific groups Matt Yonkovit, Percona: ”Using
set up for people interested in a whole range of topics. We also tools such as Slack groups allows
encourage video chats, with cameras on, for team and product our team to chat simultaneously
meetings. Not everything needs to be on Zoom, but it does feel about work and life-related issues”
different when you can see and interact with people.”

computerweekly.com 9-15 March 2021 24

 REMOTE WORKERS

Home

News Collaboration is different when team members cannot physi- a funky workplace environment, such as soft seating breakout
cally meet. In terms of development practices, Yonkovit agrees areas, a pool table, coffee machines and even free pizzas.
Goldman Sachs chief’s it’s hard to stay connected with the team if you are used to that For CWDN contributor Holly Cummins, worldwide develop-
dislike of remote
working highlights
office collaboration and culture. “Having standups on Slack or ment lead for the IBM Garage for Cloud product family, it is
need for balance Zoom can help, but it’s more difficult without the watercooler the daily commute. “I didn’t expect that I would miss my com-
conversations or the whiteboard sessions where people can mute,” she says. “The journey to and from London gave me head
Should CISOs stop bounce ideas off each other,” he says. “This is especially true space to think about projects and catch up on emails and social
staff using Clubhouse?
when developers need to work with other teams in the business.” media. I now need to set aside time for those things. I don’t miss
Yonkovit believes remote teams can be more successful if they crowded public transport though.”
Pandemic was a
catalyst for IT team are smaller and tight-knit: “Having a close relationship with the New ways to keep the team spirit going during lockdown are
to prove their worth infrastructure or database team, or with site reliability engi- needed. “At first, we tried to replicate the Friday social drinks,
at Johnson Matthey
neers, for example, is a lot more complicated when you scale up but it just wasn’t the same on a video call. More successful was
the team. This can mean things get missed or taken for granted.” fancy dress Friday where people got more creative and crazier
Editor’s comment
than they would have dared to in the office,” adds Cummins.
Buyer’s guide
Socialising for team coherence She says a team member’s dog has become a bit of a celeb-
to colocation Computer Weekly has heard, anecdotally, that at least some rity on some conference calls. “We get to see Toggle frolicking
software developers miss the creature comforts that come with in the field when we have calls while our practice manager is
Coronavirus: Managing
software development
during lockdown

Retailers use tech to

offer something back “The best thing about returning to the office will be having
Downtime tea with my colleagues. We do our best and most creative
problem-solving on the walk to and from the kettle”
Holly Cummins, IBM

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Home

News walking him. Also, most of us have had those occasions when move between groups and conversations at virtual events – it
we’re on important calls and our kids barge in to tell us some- will be interesting to see how that develops.”
Goldman Sachs chief’s thing ‘urgent’ – those lighter moments help the team with the While it is entirely possible for developers to install the best
dislike of remote
working highlights
strange situation we’re in.” hardware and programming environment with multiple moni-
need for balance For the people who contributed to the CWDN blog, while tors and comfy seating to build a perfect home workspace,
online collaboration platforms and video-conferencing tools Cummins believes the missing ingredient is tea.
Should CISOs stop have a role to play, they do not replace the value of face-to-face “The best thing about returning to the office will be having tea
staff using Clubhouse?
meetings. Not being able to attend conferences has had both with my colleagues,” she says. “It’s not even drinking the tea, it’s
positive and negative effects. “Most of the tools we use, like getting tea in a big group that I’m looking forward to. I’m con-
Pandemic was a
catalyst for IT team Slack, WebEx and Trello, were already part of our work before vinced we do our best and most creative problem-solving on the
to prove their worth the pandemic,” says Cummins. walk to and from the kettle.
at Johnson Matthey
“Our team can now virtually attend or speak at conference “If a few of us are talking about a problem, sometimes a team-
sessions anywhere – opening up a new world of opportunities mate who just came along for the walk will come up with the
Editor’s comment
to learn and exchange ideas. But the serendipitous interactions best solution. Even if we’re talking about something else entirely,
Buyer’s guide
at a conference are just as valuable and we miss those. I’ve been stepping away from the problem combined with a bit of exercise
to colocation trying out Spatial, a VR [virtual reality] platform where you can has a way of untangling problems,” she adds. n

Coronavirus: Managing
software development
during lockdown Casual conversations are often cited as
the most missed aspect of office life
Retailers use tech to
offer something back

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Downtime

computerweekly.com 9-15 March 2021 26

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