ishanguptauk
Hi everyone

I'm new to this site. Indeed a great one for HR management.

Let me introduce myself: I'm Ishan Gupta, the owner of a registered IT firm.

I started with registration
Then I started marketing my ideas
I have gained two projects (Medium level - for a start up)

The projects I'm talking about are completely my idea. But frankly speaking I do not know as to how should I go about their execution. The project require skills in Software development. I've never learnt any programming language in my life.

Please help answer the following queries:
1. Can I get work done from employees, though I do not have any knowledge about development
2. How should I go about hiring people, myself being illiterate when it comes to software development
3. Should employees ever know that I am not a developer, rather their employer doesn't know anything about the internal aspects of the project.
4. What about the security of codes
5. Will my employees not feel insecure on the other hand will they not try to take advantage when it comes to setting deadlines
6. Since it cannot be me, who should be given the responsibility of the project execution and complete process.

I understand that this kind of an owner of a company will be one in probably one lakh but i dont want to lose the projects just because i cannot develop them.

Please advice.

Warm Regards
Ishan

From India, Delhi
Cite Contribution
1858

Greetings,

First and foremost, in a project based company, you will always get projects that will be beyond your current knowledgebase. But thats not a limitation. I have worked in IT Firms and have seen manager managing project primarily based on the system not entirely because of their own technical proficiency. . Here's my suggestions for you:
  1. Can I get work done from employees, though I do not have any knowledge about development - Please set a dashboard for work allotment and completion. This can be easily designed from the SLA that you have with your client. You need to refine it for every activity and set a time limit to it. You may consider the E-lance and Odesk
  2. How should I go about hiring people, myself being illiterate when it comes to software development - Please review the delivery part as mentioned in the resume of the developer you hire. They would always talk greatly about the projects they have been working on and start including the tasks delivered by other experts in their teams. But when you drill down to what they have done and was measured , let them discuss the scorecard , you will get a hang of what they have exactly done. You may visit the tech forums where the talents of the skill sets you would hire generally visits. This would give you an idea about the buzz . Finally speak to the IT Recruiters . Specially the ones who have spend 3-4 years are the best people to discuss how to find the defect in a resume and figure when the candidate is lying. A senior recruiter with an experience of 7-11 years can give you a complete view to the recruitment cycle, talent pool, what attracts the developer most during hiring process and other vital areas in recruitment.
  3. Should employees ever know that I am not a developer, rather their employer doesn't know anything about the internal aspects of the project- Mostly business owners are not developer or they are 'once-upon-a-time-developer'. There is nothing wrong with it . The employees would initially tend to play with the technical jargons and give explanation which these business owners would n't understand. But in the long run, they all fall in a line. You will very easily understand if they are playing with jargons and not giving you a solution. Suppose in a team meeting you ask them for a new project web-design, primarily the infrastructure. They would start explaining codes and stop somewhere so remote that even an expert would fail to understand. Just nail them to the primary points including the range for defects. You will start noticing a difference in their communication.
  4. What about the security of codes - Ideally every company requires the employees to sign the NDA . Other than this, you may set points in the project team, whee not every developer would be working on those codes.
  5. Will my employees not feel insecure on the other hand will they not try to take advantage when it comes to setting deadlines - The deadlines if set right in the beginning with clear expectations set out for each developer, it should not create any hassle. Your apprehension of their fear is true, but will die down , when they will see your efforts to support them.
  6. Since it cannot be me, who should be given the responsibility of the project execution and complete process- Hire a project manager. Its entirely your choice, but this will save half of your operational worries.

I am requesting Nikhil Gurjar to respond to this post. He have worked in senior leadership positions with IT Giants across the continents. He would have many more value adds for you

Regards,

(Cite Contribution)




From India, Mumbai
archnahr
113

Hi Ishan....

Congratulations for being an entrepreneur and welcome to the forum...

Please find my answers in different colour.

1. Can I get work done from employees, though I do not have any knowledge about development



Yes, Dear you can get the work done from employees. Technically i guess, (Cite Contribution) has given good suggestions, and if you know most of the hospitals are also not run by doctors but they get the work done from them, similarly, hire a guy who have good knowledge or take help from a friend who can help you in this regard. Lately, if you want to run a successful business you can acquire these skills.

2. How should I go about hiring people, myself being illiterate when it comes to software development

There are various sites which you can find through google that can help you gain some knowledge about programming and codes and things like that. Sometimes it becomes very difficult to find out a difference between a good programmer or bad...both will know how to do coding but one can do coding in 3 lines and another one may do coding in 10 lines.

To find out the difference it would be better if you hire through some consultants and take them in confidence to hire good guys for your company.

3. Should employees ever know that I am not a developer, rather their employer doesn't know anything about the internal aspects of the project.

Yes eventually they will come to know if you won't brush your skills, No I' not suggesting that you should also learn all this but why not attain some knowledge so that it will help you in long run. Also, as I mentioned above hire a senior guy first who can help you in hiring other programmers and developers so that the work flow becomes easier.

4. What about the security of codes

Security policy is required not just because it doesn't trust you or your code. It's also there to protect against well-intentioned code that's been exploited by outsiders. Choose a security context for your server code that grants access only to the resources it needs to get its work done. If certain parts of your code require significantly higher privileges, consider factoring the code out and running just that code with the higher privileges. To safely separate code that runs with different operating system credentials, your best bet is to run this code in a separate process that runs in a more privileged security context.

5. Will my employees not feel insecure on the other hand will they not try to take advantage when it comes to setting deadlines

No it won't happen if you work in a team, do not boss around, have trust in them and they will also do the same. But it does not mean that trust them blindly initially. It will take some time, teething problems will also come....but then you need to show your entrepreneurial skills at some point...right??

6. Since it cannot be me, who should be given the responsibility of the project execution and complete process.

As I suggested in one of the query, hire the senior guy first, a project Manager as (Cite Contribution) says or A senior developer, give him a percentage in profit sharing. One project and you will get to know what are the problems you can face and we can discuss them again here.

All the best for your projects.... we have good IT guys here in this forum..lets see what they have to say.

Regards,

Archna

From India, Delhi
ngurjar
50

Hi Ishan,
Thanks (Cite Contribution) and Archana. Excellent remarks.
As a startup, you need to first understand that you have a lot of risks. And that includes the failing-to-deliver to client commitments. It is like any other business risk. Lets try to answer your questions one-by-one.

From United States, Daphne
skhadir
288

Dear Mr. Ishan
What you possess inside you is an ENTREPRENEUR and i am sure you will travel a long journey as you keep learning more about ENTREPRENEURSHIP and LEADERSHIP skills which are most important for you to manage your organisation.
Congratulations for being SELF EMPLOYED as you have decided to take THE BIGGEST RISK OF YOUR LIFE where you'll definitely succeed in your mission provided you handle everything with utmost CARE besides being LOGICAL & PRACTICAL in all your moves.
There is not impossible as such. You can get almost everything. GO STEP BY STEP.

From India, Chennai
skhadir
288

Dear Mr. Ishan
The great A.P.J. ABDUL KALAAM of India said "YOU NEED NOT BE A PILOT TO FLY AEROPLANE"
One thing i found common in human beings is that "WE THINK NEGATIVE MORE THAN REQUIRED AND WORRIED ABOUT CERTAIN THINGS DOESN'T HAPPEN IN OUR LIFE". It has been proved by most of the trainers, across the globe.
Please be positive all the time, focus, set your goals, train your team members to think positive and motivate them for best productivity. Compensation should be in par with PRODUCTIVITY.
Never allow NEGATIVE THOUGHTS TO OCCUPY YOUR BRAIN and be ready TO FACE CHALLENGES. Include this in your DO's & DON'T...
Good Luck
with profound regards

From India, Chennai
Cite Contribution
1858

Greetings, I am glad to see your reply. Did you find a way out ? How has it been so far ? I look forward to hear from you. Regards, (Cite Contribution)
From India, Mumbai
ishanguptauk
Hey (Cite Contribution)
I'm confused now....I have set up an office, decent space, in a small city, Gwalior. However, after having posted an opening for software professionals i have learnt that not a good sect of people like to work in small cities.....
What can i do in such a circumstance
I have two options
1. Let this office be and start development in Bangalore or Delhi in a plug n play kind of office for the time being
2. Make use of the one that i've already constructed (in Gwalior) some how by convincing developers in some way, probably by giving them some incentives for joining me in Gwalior
The first one being an expensive option and second one doesn't seem to work out easily.
Please suggest....
Regards
Ishan

From India, Delhi
ngurjar
50

Hi Ishan, I can see your concerns. However, there is no 'blanket' advise that can be given at this stage. You might want to re-assess your business plan before its too late. Reg, Nikhil
From United States, Daphne
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