Colocation and Why It Matters When You're Optimizing for Alignment

In a world where software projects often carry the stigma of being unpredictable black box efforts prone to cost and schedule overruns, Atomic has always been on a mission to make custom software product development a predictable, transparent, and manageable endeavor.

We’ve consistently found that the early phases of custom software product development are best handled by a co-located team engaged in cross-disciplinary, creative, and collaborative work.

Our approach optimizes for alignment in our software teams. We maximize the speed of value delivery by enabling agility and responsiveness through efficient and effective collaboration.

Optimize for Alignment

One way to think about this is by recognizing the value of optimizing for alignment. Building and maintaining alignment at both the macro level (what should be created) and the micro level (the best way to create it) is crucial for managing schedules and budgets.

New product development is fertile ground for misalignment to creep in frequently. Misalignment causes rework, which delays delivery speed and drives up costs. A particularly costly form of this occurs when unidentified rework builds up over time and emerges late in the project schedule. At this stage, the cost of course correction is higher because the team has built on faulty assumptions. Cost and schedule changes late in a project also require more change management and expectations management across the organization.

We reduce the risk of misalignment and shorten the time needed for intervention when we work as a co-located team. Working together optimizes for alignment through frequent collaboration and unscheduled interruptions, all aimed at delivering the right product, at a high level of quality, and with speed.

The cost of misalignment greatly outweighs the cost of an interruption. For example, pulling a team member out of their flow for an alignment conversation might cost someone 15 minutes of lost focus, but it can save many hours of rework.

Direct Experiences Reported from Our Team

We worked entirely remotely for nearly a year between 2020 and 2021 due to pandemic-related workplace shutdowns and the health safety of our team. However, we always planned on resuming in-person work because we know it delivers more value to our customers and ourselves. During our transition back to in-person work in 2021, we held small group workshops and engaged in conversations with everyone in the company. We listened and learned from our team about what was working well and what wasn’t.

Below are a few key findings and discussion notes that informed and reinforced our perspective on the value of optimizing for alignment.

Themes Related to Collaboration, Mentorship, and Social Connection

Atoms reported that in-person work is better for collaboration and mentorship, improving both one-on-one and team interactions. In-person work increases awareness, communication, and trust across the team, making it easier for members to contribute ideas and feedback across work streams early and often.

Activities like pairing, ideation sessions, and whiteboarding are all more effective in person. Atoms felt more productive and energized when working together in the same space.

Atoms reported feeling isolated and lonely during the all-remote period. Both individual and group connections suffered, leading to a weaker sense of connection to Atomic and a negative impact on company culture.

After returning to in-person work, Atoms experienced feelings of happiness and joy. The return brought spontaneity, humor, and fun back into the workday. It also made it easier to build relationships within teams and across the office.

Detailed Notes - The Value of In-person Collaboration and Communication

• Pairing and workshopping have been 1,000x better in person.
• Communication between meetings is easier.
• Onboarding/pairing in person has been beneficial.
• Being in the office makes it easier to get to know the project team — something much harder in an all-remote setting.
• Face-to-face collaboration and the use of whiteboards have been greatly beneficial.
• The spontaneous learning opportunities from “bumping into” colleagues or overhearing conversations have been invaluable.
• Pairing with Accelerators or onboarding new team members in person has felt more energized than over Zoom.
• Communication among the team improves when sitting next to each other, leading to spontaneous conversations and quick, effective collaboration.
• In-person problem-solving with whiteboards is highly effective.
• High-bandwidth, low-latency communication in person is irreplaceable.

We continue to find that working in person as a cross-disciplinary, one-stop shop for custom software product development offers the highest value to our customers. It also fosters an environment of constant skill-building and growth for our team.

Factor In The Value of Alignment In Software Project Management

When you’re hiring or building a team for custom software development, I encourage you to critically consider the value of optimizing for alignment and how that impacts your team’s structure and workflow.

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