Encourage collaboration and teamwork with a recognition program that is effective and enjoyable!
Book a demo now to take advantage of some incredible offers!
Discover the best knowledge-sharing platforms for dev teams – and how to get your programmers to buy into using them.
.webp)
Every development team has that one team member who knows the codebase inside out. After all, they probably wrote half of it.
What happens if that person decides to hand in their two weeks’ notice?
If you don’t have a knowledge sharing platform in place, all their knowledge leaves with them.
What’s more, onboarding new employees is a case of drowning them in documentation on how to set up their environment and how the codebase is structured and hoping they swim.
Knowledge sharing software changes all that. Read on to discover the best knowledge sharing platforms for dev teams – and the keys to getting your programmers to buy in to using them.
A knowledge sharing platform is a piece of software that hosts all your organization’s important institutional knowledge in the cloud. It empowers your teammates to access all the SOPs, meeting notes, and codebases they need to do their job – as well as update them when they become outdated.
Knowledge sharing software is particularly useful for developers, as it allows them to trace back the thinking behind changes to the codebase, helping them solve problems more quickly.
Getting your team set up with effective knowledge sharing software is the first step towards creating SOPs and building workflows that will boost their productivity.
Instead of staying trapped inside your employees’ heads, important institutional knowledge gets recorded for everybody in your company to access whenever they need it and update in real-time.
That might sound simple, but it can have a huge impact on your bottom line.
In fact:
A knowledge sharing platform is the first step to solving all those problems and making your dev team more productive.
Looking to arm your dev team with tools with knowledge sharing tools tailored to their exact needs? Here are our top picks:
GitHub is most companies' go-to code repository – and for good reason.
GitHub is free knowledge sharing software that makes it easy for dev teams to share and review code and manage software projects. It’s ubiquitous in the dev world, so it’s unlikely any new employees are going to have to get up to speed with it on the job. And since it’s a cloud-based platform, each of your team will always be working from the current version of the codebase.
As far as free knowledge sharing software for developers goes, you can’t look past GitHub. Combined with an effective project management software tool and it has almost everything modern dev teams need to get software projects over the line.
Other than a code repository like GitHub, Assembly is the only team knowledge sharing software dev teams need.
It arms your teammates with all the tools they need to collaborate on projects, keep updated on the latest developments in your company, and access all the information they need to do their jobs with a few clicks of their mouse.
We designed Assembly to be one of the best ways of knowledge sharing in virtual software development teams. For example:
Getting your dev team set up on knowledge sharing collaboration software like Assembly can throw rocket fuel on their productivity – not to mention avoid institutional knowledge being lost when teammates choose to move on.
Every remote and hybrid dev team needs two bits of company knowledge sharing software: Zoom and Loom.
Zoom is perfect for daily stand-ups, sprint retrospectives, and one-to-one meetings. And Loom is ideal for async communication, like recording a quick walkthrough of a process or an explanation of the thought process behind a feature.
These two simple tools alone can do wonders for streamlining knowledge sharing in agile software teams.
Picking the right tools is only half the battle. Here are the keys to successfully implementing a knowledge sharing platform with your programmers:
Let’s face it – software developers can get stuck in their ways. They all have their favorite languages and their favorite ways of doing things, and getting them to change the way they do things is often an uphill battle.
But if you want to capture the knowledge from that one coder who knows everything about your product, you’re going to have to find a way to get them to engage with your corporate knowledge sharing software.
The secret? Recognition.
Sounds too simple, right? Well, did you know 40% of employed Americans say they'd put more energy into their work if they were recognized more often? And 70% of employees say that motivation and morale would improve “massively” if managers simply said “thank you” more?
We crave recognition so much we even respond to praise from a robot. When electronic systems were installed that immediately praised hospital employees for using hand sanitiser, the number of staff who regularly washed their hands rose from 10% to 90%.
So, be sure to reward the members of your dev team for adding their knowledge to your company wiki and creating SOPs. This doesn’t have to be anything lavish or complicated, either – a simple, thoughtful, and imaginative reward can go a long way.
Project management knowledge sharing software can do wonders for your programmers’ productivity. But you shouldn’t treat it as a replacement for face-to-face training.
Here’s the thing: people learn faster when they're taught by an expert. Studies have shown teams learn a new process faster if someone already familiar with it walks them through it in-person rather than just documenting their knowledge and sharing that with them.
With this in mind, pair programming can be a great way to get new team members up to speed quickly. It might produce half the work in the same amount of time in the short-term. However, it will get your new programmers familiar with your codebase as fast as possible, since they’ll be able to talk through any stumbling blocks they encounter with their teammate there and then.
Code reviews are another invaluable knowledge sharing exercise for both new and established members of your dev team.
They’re a great way to onboard new employees, as it gives them hands-on experience with how things are done at your company and gets them familiar with the coding style they’ll be working in. It might also give them some ideas they can implement in their own work.
Plus, a fresh pair of eyes can often spot a bug or a potential weak point in a piece of code. And someone who’s fresh to your organization and reviewing the code without any previous knowledge or preexisting biases is the best placed to spot those weaknesses.
Knowledge sharing software can supercharge your dev team’s productivity and make onboarding new programmers a cinch. Plus, it makes it easy to capture all your teammates’ important institutional knowledge so it isn’t lost when they move on to another role.
Follow the tips we’ve outlined here to pick the perfect knowledge sharing software for your dev team and make sure they buy into it as much as possible.
Get the foundational knowledge on creating an employee recognition program that boosts employee engagement and helps them feel valued.
Explore Guide
Yes, at Assembly, security is a top priority. Each quarter, we have ongoing security work that is everyone’s responsibility. While we maintain a strong security posture, it was important for us to prove to our customers that we do everything we claim to do. This led us to pursue a SOC 2 Type II report that would provide evidence of our compliance with industry gold-standard security practice.
There is study after study showing that employee recognition leads to increased engagement. This in return creates an environment where employees are happier and more motivated which increase productivity and reduces voluntary turnover significantly. In order to filled critical roles, companies tend to spend nearly twice the value of an annual salary. Assembly is an investment in your employees that supports your bottom line.
Yes, we will offer contracts for companies with longer-term agreements to help larger customers have more certainty around future costs.
The minimum agreement term is a 12-month subscription.
We do and for FREE! Any new customer needing further support to get started with Assembly to ensure you're set up for success can request custom onboarding support. Improving your employee experience is about much more than just using our amazing software; it’s about transforming your business to create a workplace that people love. That’s much easier to do with the personal support and advice from our passionate people experts.
Yes. We offer a completely free plan for up to 50 team members. This plan is intended for teams or organizations that are looking to get started with an employee engagement tool. Keep in mind, this plan is limited in features.
All customers can open an Assembly account for free and get started without a credit card. Then you can change plans as necessary.
At the time of redemption (when your employees exchange their points for a paid reward) you'll pay face value. If a reward is a $10 Amazon gift card, your cost will be $10. All paid rewards are billed for on a monthly basis.
The good news is that you don't have to pay for rewards upfront because we only charge you when points are redeemed, not when they're earned.
We offer discounts or educational or charitable organizations. In order to secure a discount, you'll first need to book a demo with a customer support specialist.
For all other organizations, we are willing to consider longer-term agreements in exchange for discounts. To set up annual plans or longer, you will need to book a demo with a customer support specialist.
If you're on a month to month plan, you can go here and cancel anytime. If you're having concerns or need help setting up your account for success, you can always book a demo with a customer support specialist.
If you're on a longer-term custom plan, you'll need to reach out to your customer support specialist to cancel your account or email us at support@joinassembly.com.
Great question! You can customize your core values to match your organization's to boost and track alignment. You can change your currency from the 🏆 emoji (our default) to any emoji of your choice. You can swap our logo for your own. You can also set up company culture rewards such as, "Lunch with the CEO," "Buy a book on us," and so much more!
While we recommend a peer to peer set up where anyone in your organization can give or receive recognition, you can set up Assembly however you want. If you need to limit the people who can give or receive recognition, that's perfectly fine and can be done from your Admin, here.
Assembly connects to the tools your employees use every day to offer an easy, seamless experience with minimal change management.
Assembly has integrations with HCM/HRIS systems like ADP, Google, Office 365, and Slack. We also integrate with communication tools like Slack and Teams so you and your employees can access Assembly wherever they work now.
That depends on the company's permissions set up. That said, over 90% of the employees on Assembly's platform are recognized on a monthly basis. That means nearly every employee across all of our customers are receiving regular recognition from their peers, managers, or leadership. We're extremely proud of this.
They are not required. You can use Assembly without having rewards set up. However, we don't recommend it if you intend to have a high adoption and usage rate. You can always keep the costs down by offering internal culture rewards that are fulfilled by you internally.
No, you can remove allowances from anyone or everyone. It's up to you but we do recommend using points whether they're worth a real dollar value or not. Companies that use points have a much higher engagement rate even if those points don't exchange for real dollars.
Please schedule time with an expert and we will help you to get all your questions answered
