Agile is not just about utilizing Agile frameworks. It's a culture where the entire project team (including various departments) invest in improving project management and team collaboration. Almost all leading software development companies in Dubai chose the Agile path in the last few years getting a number of benefits in return; optimized resource utilization, reduced costs, risk mitigation, better teamwork etc. being a few. 

No matter what Agile framework a company uses, successfully leveraging Agile ultimately requires competent, talented human resource - be it the project managers or devs and testers. If the team isn't motivated, it doesn't matter which framework was chosen or how much the organization invests in Agile. Nothing will change with Agile.

That said, this blog lists a few practices recommended by leading project management experts in the software development Dubai industry to boost team motivation in an Agile environment.

Proper acknowledgement

Employees who are regularly acknowledged for their hardwork and dedication by their managers are more likely to stay with the organization. If the employees feel that their efforts are being ignored even after achieving or exceeding expected outcome, they will likely not put much effort next time. The organization should implement policies that ensure that each Agile member is regularly appreciated by the management and peers. 

Team building activities

The office should not end up as a place where the employees work like machines for hours in return for monetary benefits. Teams are made of people with emotions. The organization should take measures to ensure that team members are more personally connected and professionally engaged. Good manager relations, lively work environments, and proper recognition are all factors that motivate a team while enabling team members to bond with each other. The best approach to achieve all this is to introduce fun team building activities periodically. 

Ensuring that there is no excessive workload

The organization should have the managers keep tabs on the team members to see if they are burning themselves out due to excessive workload. The work culture should not be something where the team members spent all their limited energy on completing their assigned work. Their productivity levels should be observed, and they should be given a time off if there are consistent drops in productivity. 

This can be discussed in daily status meetings where managers can also ensure a balanced workload for the team. Many software testing companies in UAE tend to make this mistake while treating developers and testers as a single team. Experienced project managers can avoid this problem even without Agile expertise. 

Conclusion

Project management shouldn't be seen as something all about getting the job done at any cost. The best approach is to make project management fun for the entire team so the team members will be motivated to work even during potentially stressful scenarios. Hope the practices mentioned in this article can help make a difference in your organization.