Question

Type an essay on Do you want the population of software developers to become more diverse? Why or why not?

If you think it would be good, what are the barriers to making that happen? If you don't think so, how would a more diverse future affect you?

350-500 words

Answer 1

Yes, it id very important to maintain diversity in software development teams.

1. The Right Solutions

The value of diverse teams goes well beyond the obvious sentiment that inclusion is the right thing to do. The diversity of thought is crucial in coming up with the right solutions to business challenges, customer success and creative thinking. When team members are too similar, a large part of the innovation spectrum is missed. Quite simply, diverse teams win more often and more consistently.

2. Best Ideas Rule the Day

Simply put, diversity is how we ensure the best ideas rule the day. My company has recently taken the ParityPledge to ensure that we are considering women for leadership roles where they are statistically under-represented today. Not only does that commitment present us with the best possible talent pool as an employer, but it also broadens the perspective and diversity of thought we can leverage in how we best serve our customers and employees.

3. Solve Problems Faster

Innovation is crucial for any tech company and diversity plays a significant role in this. A company is much more likely to experience innovative change with a diverse team as they have an array of different knowledge bases. Diverse teams provide different perspectives and new ways of seeing a problem. This way, teams are able to identify, assess and solve it faster than they would as a homogenous group. Therefore, diversity is essential to innovation and delivering better business results.

4. Build A Product For Everyone

Diversity isn't just about race or gender. It's about background, perspective, age, education and so much more. If you have a homogenous team, then you're going to build a product that serves that team. In order to build a product that serves everyone, you need voices and input from all types of people.

5. Increased Creativity

Teams need to be innovative to be truly valuable today. Innovation happens when teams challenge the status quo, look beyond the obvious and work creatively. If everyone on the team has the same knowledge, the same skills, the same worldview and the same biases, they will inevitably reach the same conclusions. Diversity is the only way to avoid this trap and foster truly creative teams.

6. Connect With Customers

Ultimately, it goes back to customer-centricity. The audience for our software is widely diverse, so why wouldn’t we want our team to reflect that level of diversity as well? Teams that are too homogeneous have a challenge in tapping into empathy for customers and being able to reach a wider market.

7. Increased Profits

Analysis of a global survey suggests that the more gender diversity there is in a company, the higher the performance and the higher the financial results. In fact, it was proven that it is simply good for your business. The more gender diversity there is, the better the company performed including in the financial profitability, exit price, share price and the return over investment ratio.