When Max Verstappen arrived first at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, an entire world was impressed. It was his first race for Red Bull Racing, and the one that made him the youngest driver to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix, as well as the first Dutch driver to win the same competition. Hard training, ambition, persistence – all of them pushed him to success. But more than that, it was also the assiduous back-stage work performed by the Red Bull Racing team that led him to the award.
In racing competitions, as in software development, teams play an essential role in building innovative products and speeding up excellence. Known for creating high-performance applications for the widest range of computing and mobile platforms, Java development teams stay behind a large variety of products, including the ones of many Fortune 500 companies (like Apple, Walmart, Amazon, Boeing, Oracle etc.). They are in a perpetual mission of driving innovation and excellence, in the same way Formula 1 (F1) teams strive for performance and acceleration.
From product development processes to racing on the circuit, you might be surprised to discover that Java development and F1 teams have in common more than their passion for innovation. Let’s take a closer look.
1. The power of Agile to embrace change
Working Agile helps Java development teams to focus their energy on the product to be created. When their efforts of building software are supported by constant interactions with the teammates and regular collaboration with the customer, their capacity to respond to change is empowered. In our practice, Agile has proven to be effective at boosting the innovation processes and leading to more optimal results.
You might ask yourself what the best path is to direct the workflow of your Java development team towards Agile transformation. F1 teams are one of the best examples to follow to find an answer. Every new season is preceded by a period of preparations (November or December to February, but it might start earlier), that includes analyzing data, establishing areas of improvement and new features to be added, improving facilities and equipment, and building new F1 cars.
When the season starts, because of the limited time between races (1 to 2 weeks – you could see it as a sprint), the teams must move fast in their way to upgrade and improve cars. Thus, their development is continuous and cyclical. During each iteration, new parts of the cars are designed or improved, 3D printed, and immediately tested in a wind tunnel. The parts that prove to be the most efficient are produced and shipped to the next racetrack. So, the shorter the build-measure-learn cycle, the easier they go to their preset goal: get speed and win the race.
This setup is similar to the Agile Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) used by many Java development teams. Its stages may vary if you choose to work with Scrum, Kanban, or other project management framework, but generally they go through: concept, inception, iteration, release, maintenance, and retirement. For every new software product, there is a period when its goal and concept is defined along with the features to be developed, expected end results, and estimations in time and costs. Once this is crystal clear, is starts a dynamic process of creating the architecture, building the product in iterations, continuously testing, delivering features, incorporating feedback, until the final release is done and the maintenance stage takes over.
2. A large set of skills and talents
Building a product with Java involves more than software developers. Product Owners, Project Managers or Scrum Masters, QA Testers, UX/UI Designers, Software Architects, and Business Analysts could also bring in their expertise. It is not mandatory to have all of them working on your product. The team structure is usually defined according to your needs, and it is recommended to include up to 10 people.
Similar to Java development teams, besides the 2 drivers that race on the tracks, F1 gathers a large set of skills. From the Team Principal, to Managers, Designers, Engineers, Mechanics, F1 teams might count between 200 and 1,200 people.
Either small or large, the key to a smooth collaboration in both Java and F1 teams is to allow to every team member to participate in the decision-making process and to make their inputs feel valued and implemented, when appropriate. Through maintaining a people-centered approach, these teams manage to keep a transparent and clear communication in their daily practices, and to offer visibility and an exhaustive context of the product development to every member.
3. Keeping the pace with innovation is a must
Pursuing innovation is the superpower that keeps Java, globally, one of the most used and popular programming languages. Every new released version integrates a set of emergent and embedded features inspired by the latest technologies. Along with them, Java development teams must stay informed about the ultimate trends, and there is no doubt that there is the same with F1.
Racing is a sport where speed matters not just on the circuit, but also in the capacity of every team to innovate. F1 teams must keep the pace with all the innovations in the field or even come up with them, integrate improvements and add new features to the cars after every race. The more they follow or outrun the rapidly changing environment, the higher their chances to stay ahead.
As noticed in the above, Java development and F1 teams do share a common passion: to innovate. But beyond that, there is also their way of striving for cutting-edge features that drives them to perform better with every race or project.
Are you also ready to speed up your business and build an innovative product? Let’s talk about it.