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So you've finally convinced investors to bankroll your tech business idea? That's great. Technically, finance is no longer a challenge. It's the software development work that now requires managing as techs contract keep rolling in. You now need competent developers who are fluent in specific programming languages.
As such, it looks like there's only one way to go — get more hands on board. But here's the thing; it’s unlikely that technology would stop advancing, programming languages won't stop evolving either. So, instead of hiring personnel when the need arises, the best move is to have an extended software development team at your disposal. This way, you'll not only become flexible but replacing workers who decide to leave won't be a problem.
Here at Cloud Employee, we’ve seen the immense improvement in our client’s operations in terms of workforce efficiency thanks to our premium offshore staffing solution. They were able to quickly hire offshore developers in the Philippines, which not only extended their workforce but also came with fewer costs than onshore staff.
With this article, we’ll run you through some of the ingredients that'll get you the best out of outsourcing. In the end, you'll have a better understanding of outsourcing, what to expect from offshore talent, and overall, how to be successful with your decision to hire an offshore development team.
If you want to know more, let's look at five ways to extend software development teams and what to expect from adopting them.
If there's one thing that can not be overemphasized in any business, it's reaching your goals. You'd be surprised that lots of entrepreneurs miss it here by spending once the need arises, instead of having a clear plan of where their business is heading and how to get there in phases. In software development, establishing clear goals will help your business in many ways.
It'll drive projects your company chooses to execute and motivate/guide your tech team from the point of code-writing to arriving at the software market. Furthermore, setting clear goals helps manage massive projects in phases or milestones, making it easy to have your dedicated development team available in compact, easy-to-manage units.
This way, you can assign some to your in-house team and others to the outsourcing team. Altogether, with an effective means of communication and integration of work from each unit, high productivity and a faster turnaround can be achieved.
When looking for a logical and conventional approach to extend your software development team, the first point of call is making your in-house tech team more robust. It may be expensive as you not only hire but also have to train towards the needs of the company continuously.
However, if you are doing the right things, your company is going to experience growth. The larger you become, the more your projects, and the higher the trust clients and users will have for your software products. Trust us; there's are some operations you can't take elsewhere. Your trusted in-house team will have to execute them.
So, what are you to expect with the in-house approach of extending your team? Well, there is better communication and work integration with in-house teams. It's easier to manage an in-house team since you share the same zip code. As such, they are your point of call when handling emergencies. With an in-house team, introducing adjustments in large projects is a lot easier.
Unless they are going to resign, the risk of abandoning projects is reduced. On the flip side, hiring in-house tech talent to extend your development team can waste time, because getting the right talent can be altogether difficult. Acquiring personnel and retaining them is expensive.
According to the United States Bureau of labor statistics, the average software developer's salary is $100,000 per annum. Even more, terminating their contract can get complicated since labor laws protect them.
Outsourcing entails allowing an external team of developers to handle some of your software development operations. Organizations can outsource anywhere, especially when the aim is to achieve more within a short period. However, going offshore is killing two birds with one stone.
You'll get to save money since developers' wages are a lot less in developing countries. As such, you can hire more hands by leveraging the exchange rate. Outsourcing to extend your tech team isn't an avenue to employ cheap labor; it's a partnership. You will have to trust an offshore team with part of your operation, and intellectual property, as the case may be.
The outsourcing developer company has the responsibility of delivering your project on-time and within an agreed budget. Whether you are trying to scale up or bring in new research and development ideas, outsourcing offers tremendous benefits. Not only will you achieve more development at a more affordable cost, but you'll also arrive at the software market early enough to enjoy some of the market shares.
What to Expect When Extending Your Software Development Team by Outsourcing
Like outsourcing, you can engage the services of freelancers in your area or offshore. The practice is becoming more popular as lots of professionals are picking it up as a side gig. Others prefer it for the flexibility it offers them. Hiring a freelance developer may not be ideal for large tech companies, but it can be a huge asset for startups.
Suppose you don't have a steady stream of software development projects, having a hoard of salary-earning in-house team members, and may not be ideal. However, an extension of your small team can give you the liberty of scaling up or down at any time.
What to Expect When Adopting Freelancers as an Extension of Your Development Team
Similar to outsourcing, outstaffing also involves hiring an offshore developer team. The primary difference is that the extended team of software developers is an integral part of the client's organization. They may not be in the same region, but they work in tandem with the primary in-house team. Altogether, the in-house team maintains control and supervision of the external unit.
The advantages of outstaffing are quite similar to outsourcing, and you can engage their services through an outstaffing agency.
What to Expect When extending your Software Development Team by Outstaffing
An excellent dedicated development team can give you peace of mind from the angle of project completion with speed, quality, and offers you the freedom to focus on other needs of your company. As your business starts to grow, you'll undoubtedly face the challenge of extending your team to achieve more goals.
Therefore, choosing the best method that works for your company might be the best way to go as there's no one-size-fits-all. Many companies recommend outsourcing for its money and time-saving benefit. However, if the risk of data exposure matters to you, you might want to keep the software development within the in-house team bearing in mind the cost.
Q1: How can I speed up my software development process?
You can speed up your process by planning and establishing goals to guide your team; going in blind leads to too many adjustments and an overall waste of time. Furthermore, automate most of your process, and test as the work progresses. If it's absolutely necessary to hire more hands, hire what you need.
Q2: What is an extended team?
An extended team is an extension of the in-house tech team. This extended team may work independently on a different project or the same project broken into parts.
Q3: How do you build a good software development team?
After you have established your goals and requirements, hire according to business needs. Hire a few in-house team members if you're a startup, then outsource some of your operations to an offshore team to offer more flexibility, cost reduction, and seamless team management.
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Q4: How do you structure a development team?
The size and structure of a development team depend on what you need for your project or company. Here's an example of a tech team structure:
Test Engineer: The test engineer is responsible for creating scripts to identify and fix bugs.
Database Administrator: They create and manage databases for software solutions.
Business Analyst: This member most likely can’t or doesn’t write code. Their role is to ensure the project requirements correspond with deliverables and market expectations.
QA Manager: This person converts requirements into test scripts for success measurement.
Client: The client is the owner of the software developers project.
Project Manager: This person creates the project plan as he's the overseer.
The Developers: These are the actual coders/software designers who build the software product. They can be few or many, based on project needs.
Q5: How do I start a development team?
Define your needs as a tech business owner and set your goals in line with your project. If your project is one-off, hiring a freelancer is ideal. However, if you in for a long ride, you'll have to research software development companies. While doing this, hire some in-house coders to manage some tech operations that you can't pawn off to a third party team.
Q6: How many developers can there be in a development team?
The number of developers on a team depends on the amount of code-writing that needs to be done. If it's a massive project, there may be a need to split the project into smaller units so that different developers can work on them simultaneously. On the other hand, a small project, like designing a website, may not need more than one or two coders depending on the complexity.
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