Focus Group Kick-Off April 2021
In this article, we show how we organize the knowledge exchange of IT topics across the entire CHECK24 Group and what is behind the term Lead Developer.
CHECK24 is a "software centred company" in which IT focus groups exchange information with each other.
We have opened several locations throughout Germany for a wide range of comparison products. Each of our comparison products has its own IT teams on site. This means we code at the product level in different programming languages and with various tools. These decentralized units enable us to develop quickly and flexibly, adapting to the product and the individual customer requirements. The strong independence from each other is, on the one hand, a significant success factor of CHECK24, but at the same time challenging for the know-how transfer between the divisions. That is why we have established an internal format for technical exchange among experts in IT - the Focus Groups IT.
The IT career path: An important basis for the experts in the Focus Groups
The CHECK24 IT career model offers all employees individual career development. For example, in addition to the classic management track, there is a Lead Developer track focusing on building deep technical expertise. Lead developers have no management responsibility, but purely technical fault and are technical sparring partners and consultants in their product. The Focus Groups IT are an essential part of the content of this specialist track with us.
Exchange platform: Focus Groups IT
The Focus Groups aim to support and drive forward overarching IT topics. They are thus an instrument for implementing the CHECK24 IT strategy and, simultaneously, a networking platform for our top performers. They also sustainably build and document knowledge, in line with our guiding principle of "openness & willingness to learn." To learn about the work results of the Focus Group or to ask expert questions, every employee can follow the Slack Channel of the Focus Groups. The teams' specialist knowledge is also shared via training, tech talks, or meetups, both internally and externally.
Focus Groups Topics
To align the topics of the Focus Groups with what CHECK24 is currently dealing with technically, they are determined anew every year. Among other things, decisive criteria are where cross-product synergy effects can be achieved through know-how transfer. There are currently nine active Focus Groups with different IT topics, such as Data Science, JavaScript, or QA Automation.
Focus Groups IT
The Focus Group IT teams are each an independent, motivated team of experts that combines all topic-specific skills to enable a professional exchange at a high level. In addition, they are available to the entire CHECK24 IT as a point of contact via Slack, mail, or telephone.
Kostas, CTO CHECK24
Current round
This year's round kicked off with the April 2021 kickoff, which is one of two jointly organized meetings where all teams come together. At the kickoff, participants meet for the first time in the constellation, in which they will work together until the end of the year. Due to the current Covid situation, the meeting was held online with around 60 participants. In addition to the overarching exchange of the tech teams, topics from IT strategy or news from the IT area were presented and the goals for the next few months were set. Following the official part, an After Work Hangout was offered in the evening for informal exchange. The participants could choose between a gin tasting or an online Escape Room. In this way, everyone was able to round off the informative and work-intensive day together.
Next Steps
The Focus Groups have started and are working on creating synergies and developing best practices by sharing knowledge - this saves time and increases efficiency, in line with our guideline "agile speedboats."