There are three key drivers of team excellence: communication, customer focus, and continuous innovation. In the first two parts of this blog series (see part 1 / part 2) on unlocking team potential, we've explored the power of feedback and how strong customer relationships can improve product quality.

In this final part, we'll look at how continuous innovation is a key component for development teams looking to gain a competitive advantage.

Embrace failure as a learning tool

The most innovative teams are those willing to try new things. Even when those ideas don't pan out, there are still valuable lessons to be learned. The best teams aren't afraid to try new things and fail because they know it allows them to learn and improve. This promotes a culture of continuous innovation that comes from seeing any misstep as an opportunity rather than a true failure.

Customer-centric innovation

The best ideas don't always come from team brainstorming sessions. No one understands the market better than your customers and they should be a resource you tap into regularly. With a deeper understanding of your customers and their needs, it can be easier to find innovative solutions with the potential to disrupt.

With a focus on continuous innovation, you can bring this customer-centric approach into your monthly and quarterly workflows. Instead of turning to the customer when it's time to do something new, speak to them at regular intervals for feedback and insight. As their needs change and the market evolves, there could be new opportunities for innovation that would otherwise be missed.

Encourage cross-functional collaboration

While communication is important, taking this beyond the core development team is the cornerstone of innovation. When you add the expertise and insights of other teams within the organization, it's possible to innovate while improving productivity. Innovation thrives when different voices come together and these fresh perspectives could be the secret to your next breakthrough.

For example, working with the marketing and UX teams early in the development process can help set good foundations for the user experience. Encouraging this collaboration from day one can also mean fewer changes in the future. Equally, working with customer service teams could yield some interesting insights into customer needs and what they might be struggling with. This allows developers to deliver projects and fixes that solve those problems—taking a lot of the guesswork out of sprint planning.

The key here is to embrace the insights from different stakeholders. Their insights from different angles of the business can lead to a breakthrough during the brainstorming process.

Experiment relentlessly

Small, rapid experiments lead to big results. The key here is to give the team space to iterate quickly to test ideas, gather feedback, and pivot if needed. Working in sprints allows developers to experiment and adapt as things change. Making small changes during each iteration helps explore new value for the customer as developers build on the MVP (minimum viable product). This allows the team to explore new ideas while making other necessary changes based on priority.

This builds flexibility into how the team works and helps drive a culture of continuous innovation. The result is a product with proven value backed up by technology.

Nurture a culture of curiosity

Experimentation comes from curiosity so it's important to weave this into your company culture. Developers who are encouraged to ask questions and try new things will be the ones most ready to innovate—and often, the most enthusiastic about their work. Encouraging curiosity and exploration creates an environment where big ideas are born.

Innovation isn't a one-time event, it's something that needs to be nurtured on an ongoing basis. Encouraging this mindset in developers and giving them the space to experiment will result in disruptive ideas as well as innovative new ways of doing things.

Remember, the most innovative teams are the ones asking 'what if?'

In the first part blog post on unlocking team potential, we looked at the power of communication. This is a vital part of team productivity but great communication extends to the customer too. Teams that continually keep the customer's priorities top of mind are those who can deliver high-quality products that exceed expectations.

In this article, we'll look at how a focus on a client's needs can guide development teams and improve customer satisfaction.

Get to the bottom of the problem

What a customer says they need and what they really need aren't always the same thing. When identifying the key pain points that will drive feature development, it's important to make sure you're getting to the root of the problem. For example, customers might ask to reduce update size to speed up over-the-air (OTA) processes. However, one of the challenges lies in the downtime, where our technology offers a significant advantage—regardless of the update size. This capability could be even more valuable to customers than the update size itself.

Asking questions and listening to the challenges the customer is facing is vital. In this example, a developer might dig deeper into why the customer wants to reduce update size because focusing on downtime may be more effective. Taking this active listening approach leads to solutions that deliver real value for the customer.

Ongoing engagement

Your customers should be involved throughout the entire development process, not just at the end. They should be considered partners throughout the entire product lifecycle. Looping in customers early on helps to prevent surprises, catch any issues (or scope creep), and strengthen the connection between everyone involved.

Feedback is key

Every interaction with the customer is an opportunity to improve. While feedback between team members is important (as I talked about in part one of this series), it's also important to give the customer plenty of chances to give feedback on your progress. While this might seem like a way to hold things up, the time needed should be built into development workflows.

Even if the customer requests a change to the work done so far, this is going to be much easier to rectify than if it'd been caught later in the process. For example, if a customer needs to change the way a feature works, this is easier to complete before that feature has already been pushed to production and becomes tangled with other functions.

Gain valuable market insight

Your customers will likely interact with the market more regularly than your team. This means they'll have a deeper understanding of the current landscape and key challenges. Through regular conversations with your customers, you may be able to identify unmet needs, find new opportunities for innovation, or get a competitive edge by spotting emerging trends.

Innovative products aren't created in a vacuum. They're created in response to customer requirements, challenges, and pain points. To uncover what the market wants and what will best serve the organizations you work with, it's important to keep communication open and listen to those evolving needs.

Read our last part: Unlocking Team Potential: Continuous Innovation

As all developers know, there's pressure to balance speed, cost, and quality of projects. For those working in a high-tech, agile team, clear communication isn't just a nice-to-have—it's a vital part of any successful team.

In the first part of our series on unlocking team potential, we dive into the things that can boost team performance to consistently deliver quality code.

Align on the 'Why'

A successful team will always understand why they are doing something. Whether it's the reasoning behind a new feature or the overall objective of the project, everyone should understand the purpose of what they are working on. This allows team leaders to get proper buy-in from developers, as well as executives.

Speak one language

Speaking one language is about finding a common vocabulary to discuss the project at all levels. And it's not just developers who need to be on the same page but all stakeholders involved in the process. This means everyone understands the objectives, progress, and expectations.

Focus on MVP

It's tempting to aim for perfection but it's far more effective to define a minimum viable product (MVP) and then work iteratively on new features and updates. Proper communication during this process is vital as everyone needs to understand what the properties and trade-offs are. This helps the team avoid getting bogged down by perfectionism, allowing them to deliver value quickly.

Document, document, document

It's important to document as if your product depends on it—because it does! Clear, up-to-date documentation is the guiding force for every decision and task. This is important during the early stages of any project but becomes even more vital when it comes to delivery updates or fixing bugs.

Team leaders should properly communicate the importance of this at all stages. Give developers the space to include documentation duties in their usual workflows during a sprint to ensure these important tasks are completed alongside other tasks.

Feedback is a two-way street

Proper communication is built on a culture where everyone feels comfortable giving honest feedback in all directions. This fuels continuous improvement but also helps avoid roadblocks in the future. Build in time for developers to share feedback but make it clear that it's also welcomed at any stage during the process.

Listen

Your team, customers, and stakeholders could hold the key to innovation. This is why it's so important to listen. Direct feedback can be useful and it's important to take this on board but listen for the meaning behind all communications. A customer talking about a challenge they're currently dealing with could be an opportunity to add something new to a contract or a chance to go above and beyond for them.

The most groundbreaking products don’t come from the loudest voices—they come from teams that value communication and collaboration. When team members listen to each other’s feedback and understand the purpose behind their work, they can achieve even more together.

Read our next part: Unlocking Team Potential: Focus on the customer

In the early 2000s, the mobile phone industry underwent a shift, spearheaded by the introduction of the iPhone. This revolution wasn't just about hardware, it was the combination of software and user experience that set Apple apart. Today, a similar revolution is happening in the automotive industry, particularly among electric vehicles (EVs). This transition, initially dominated by Tesla, is now pivoting towards a new paradigm where automakers are focusing on the digital user experience as much as the physical features of the vehicle.

The Rise of Electric Vehicles: A Hardware-Centric Approach

The beginning of the mobile phone revolution saw a focus on the hardware. With more players in the market, it was important for traditional mobile phone manufacturers to focus on features and technology to stand out. This saw the introduction of slimline models, QWERTY keyboards, and later touchscreens.

The beginning of the EV revolution was akin to the advent of the smartphone. Drivers were interested in battery life (akin to mobile phone battery capacity), charging infrastructure (similar to network coverage), and physical performance metrics. Tesla, much like Apple, was a front-runner, not only for its battery technology but also for its ability to balance this with a unique user experience.

Chinese manufacturers, paralleling companies such as Samsung and Huawei in the mobile phone arena, quickly followed suit. They emphasized not just the hardware but also affordability, rapidly expanding the EV market's scope and accessibility. Our recent Automotive Software Survey showed that 31% of people would consider an EV from a Chinese manufacturer, with 21% of those stating the reason was that the price was attractive. 

This shows that the EV market is becoming more competitive with Chinese manufacturers able to compete on price in a way that others aren’t always able to. This means legacy manufacturers are looking for ways to increase their competitive advantage.

Software: The New Player in Automotive Innovation

As EV hardware matures and becomes more standardized, the distinguishing factor shifts to the digital user experience. This is determined by the vehicle’s software and how it serves the overall experience of the vehicle — an echo of the mobile revolution where iOS and Android defined user preferences.

The software in an EV encompasses everything from the intuitiveness of the infotainment system and the sophistication of autonomous driving features to the personalization of the driving experience. A vehicle’s software functions can be the thing that separates a good vehicle from a great one and users are beginning to pick up on this as they shop for their next car.

User Experience: Driving Customer Loyalty

In the mobile industry, Apple's success was due to its product and ecosystem. The seamless integration between hardware, software, and services (like the App Store, iCloud, etc.) created a loyal customer base. A study found that Apple has the most loyal customers — 92.6% of iPhone users plan to stick with Apple for their next phone, compared to 74.6% of Samsung users.

In the automotive world, a similar trend is emerging. Manufacturers are not just selling cars; they're offering a holistic driving experience that extends beyond the vehicle. This will only increase loyalty as drivers get used to the user experience of their favored brand.

This all comes down to functionality such as over-the-air updates that refresh the vehicle's capabilities, apps that control the car’s features remotely, and even subscription-based services that unlock additional features. The focus is shifting towards creating an ecosystem where the car is an extension of the driver’s digital life.

Some automakers are moving away from siloed third-party systems such as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay and are instead focusing on creating intuitive native infotainment systems. While consumers might want easy integration with familiar services, this shouldn’t come at the expense of the in-cabin experience.

Automotive strategist and influencer James Carter recently spoke about this on LinkedIn, praising Rivian and Tesla for their infotainment systems. He said: “Both took the time to develop a ground up solution that is fully integrated with other features, such as Supercharger location details, ideal charge time and alternate route ideas. Everything you need is right there on the screen. What’s more, the maps are fast and the overall experience is seamless.”

According to our Automotive Software Survey, 40% of automotive professionals feel there’s going to be a shift in the industry to embrace Tesla-like continuous quality processes within five years. However, many manufacturers seem to be struggling to match what Tesla has been able to do. In 2022, 55% of automotive professionals thought the shift would come in five years. Now, more respondents than even think this will come within 10 or 15 years.

https://www.auroralabs.com/2023-survey-results/

Challenges and Opportunities

This shift isn't without challenges. Traditional automakers must adapt to a software-first approach, which differs from their traditional mechanical expertise. This opens up opportunities for new players, much like the mobile revolution, where many traditional phone manufacturers couldn't adapt to the smartphone era.

With software as a competitive differentiator, many automakers need to balance new hurdles with the traditional challenges of automotive manufacturing. Fisker, the US-based EV maker, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy at the end of June 2024. While the company intends to keep serving existing customers and building a network in Germany, there was a critical issue with its software 3.0 deployment. The update compromised several large data volumes, which frequently drained the vehicle’s small 12V battery.

For other automotive professionals, safety is, as ever, a big concern with 27% of respondents to our Automotive Software Survey stating that ensuring safety and reliability is one of the most challenging elements of automotive software development. Furthermore, data security and privacy are paramount, just as they are in the mobile industry. Consumers will demand transparency and control over their data, and regulations will likely follow.

The automotive industry is at the cusp of a revolution that will change how people buy cars. The companies that will dominate this new landscape are those that will understand the importance of software and user experience. They will be the ones to create not just vehicles, but holistic, connected, and personalized driving experiences. Just as Apple reshaped our perception and use of mobile phones, we await the visionary companies that will redefine our concept of the automobile in the era of electric vehicles.