Software team augmentation: 5 approaches for rapid business expansion

What is software team augmentation?

Software team augmentation means bringing in outsourced professionals to boost your team. Your own staff have skills and expertise that are highly valuable. But augmentation adds to these skills, filling any gaps along the way.

What does this look like in practice? Let's say you have some talented in-house developers, but they lack the design skills needed to craft a new product. You can augment this team with software design professionals to plug this gap. On the other hand, you may have designers and developers already. The problem might be testing. Team augmentation can give you the software testing professionals you need to get the job done.

Alternatively, you might have a development capacity issue. You might already have all the skills you need — but not the numbers. Augmentation can help here too, filling your ranks to make sure your team is ready for action.

Basically, you need to take a look at your existing development team. What's working well? What do you need to add? This will give you an idea of how to augment.

How is software team augmentation different?

There are other hiring and outsourcing models available to you. So what makes software staff
augmentation different?

When to scale a software development team?

It's all about timing. Scale your software development team too early, and you'll end up paying for skills you don't need. Go too late,
and you might miss your targets. So, when should you add extra skill and capability to your team?

The answer to this really depends on what your business is doing. Let's take a look at a couple of development business models.

• 

  Software product development

  If you're in the product development business, here are a few signs that you might need to scale now:

  • Your company is too slow in bringing products to market. If other companies are launching products faster than you, this is a problem. You might find yourself losing the competitive advantage. Augmentation can turn this on its head. You could find yourself leading the pack rather than playing catch-up.
  • You don't have the in-house skills to develop your new product in the right way. Having an idea for a product is great. Putting this idea into practice is something else entirely. You may need additional development skills to make this happen.
  • You keep on thinking of new features, but your development team can't keep up. Software products are constantly evolving. If you can't add your new features, you might get left behind. Scaling up your development team can help you turn these feature ideas into reality.
  • Your company is experiencing massive demand, but you lack the capacity to capitalize on this. High demand shows that you're moving in the right direction. Augmenting your development team at the right moment can see you capture this demand.
• 

  Software as a service (SaaS)

  But maybe your business model focuses on services. Even if your base product is already developed, a software-as-a-service model has its own challenges. If you recognize any of these points, it might be time to scale up your team.

  • Your clients are asking for software updates, and you don't know what to tell them. Your SaaS business lives and dies by your clients. You need to keep them happy with software updates and improvements. If you can't fulfil the contract with your clients, they might jump ship.
  • You are finding bugs in the software but lack the capacity to patch them properly. Bugs can be a real problem. You might even end up putting security at risk if you can't patch them all in time. Bringing in additional development skills and capacity can help you make sure your software is performing at its best.
  • You want to release the next generation of your software, but you don't have the skills needed to do this. If you're stuck in v1.0, while your competitors are churning out the big numbers, this can quickly become an issue. You may need extra capability to get your next software version over the line.
  • Your team is overstretched with your current workload, and adding further tasks might push them to breaking point. Your development team is already working hard. At the same time, your business needs to grow. This is a major conundrum, but a well-timed staff augmentation move can solve it.

Benefits of software development team
augmentation

Before you begin, you need to get some perspective. Think about the triggers we've discussed above, and decide whether now is the right time to scale. Next, consider what you want to gain from augmentation. There are many benefits to this development model. By identifying the benefits you hope to achieve, you can gauge the success of the project.

While team augmentation is supposed to be short-term, there's more to consider here. You want a partner you can return to in the future. Let's take a look at a few of the main advantages so you know what to look for. If your development partner can tick these boxes, they may be a good fit for future scaling projects.

Gain access to expertise

This may be the biggest benefit of augmentation – development expertise. It can be difficult to get the skills you need in-house. You'll need to hire team members with specific expertise. This can be expensive. Otherwise, you'll need to train up your existing personnel, which takes time.

Development team augmentation gives you almost immediate access to this expertise. You will bring in personnel who already have a high level of knowledge. These personnel will be able to get to work with minimal delay. The result is a highly skilled team that is ready for action.

Enhance overall team capacity

As we've seen in the above section, sometimes a skills gap is not the only problem. It may be that you simply don't have enough capacity to meet demand. Staff augmentation can be a big help here. You'll be able to increase capacity and accelerate your processes.

The magic of augmentation is that it is temporary. When you need more capacity, you can bring in new team members. When you no longer need them, you can go back to how you were. You won't need to commit to long-term hires to expand your capability.

Make everything more efficient

Efficiency is vital in software development. If there's a bug, it needs to be fixed right away. If you've got a new product in development, the sooner you get it out there, the better. Staff augmentation creates smoother processes that boost efficiency.

This will certainly make your clients happy. You will find that you keep hold of customers who may have gone elsewhere. In addition, it gives you a competitive advantage. If you are getting the jump on your competitors, you are leading the way in your market.

Reduce operational costs

Releasing updates keeps your customers happy and protected. Bringing out new software products creates revenue for your business. But you still have a budget to think about. If you are spending too much on development, this is going to impact your profits.

Hiring permanent development staff is expensive, especially if you only need those staff in the short term. This is where team augmentation makes a big difference. You'll gain the skills you need only when you need them. And so you'll pay for these skills only when you need them too. If you have a clear endpoint for your project, team augmentation can be a great option for keeping your costs low.

The risks of augmenting
your team

Software staff augmentation can score big wins for your business. But there are a few risks you need to be aware of. Overcoming these
risks will help you get the best from this outsourcing model.

How to succeed with team augmentation

How do you make staff augmentation work for you? Take a look at these five implementation approaches and achieve success for your development project.

Understand your project and timing

To begin with, you need to know what you want to gain. Augmentation works best with a clear set of project parameters in place. So define these parameters and set the development project endpoint.

You also need to time the project just right. Refer to the key triggers we discussed earlier in this article. If you recognize any of these triggers, it might be the right time to scale your team.

Know your team

Remember, you're not bringing in a full development team. Instead, you're adding to your in-house skillset. So, what skills do you need?

Audit your current team. Get to know what they are good at and what they need help with. Identify any development skill or capacity shortfalls. This will tell you what you need from an outsourcing partner.

Meet with your partner

Communication is going to be vital across the whole project. So start as you mean to go on, and meet with your partner. Discuss what you need and find out how they operate. Ask them how they will navigate the initial onboarding process. This is the main delay in augmentation, so it's useful to know how this delay will be overcome.

The initial consultation is useful for both parties. It will let you know whether or not the development partner is a good fit. And it will help your partner learn how they can work with you.

Collaborate from the beginning

Once you've chosen your outsourcing partner, collaboration needs to begin immediately. As we've discussed, onboarding can cause a delay in implementation. Work with your partner and help them get up to speed on your tools and systems.

This is also a good opportunity to familiarize your partner with your corporate culture. By collaborating from the very beginning, you building a strong foundation for your partnership.

Develop lasting relationships

Great development team augmentation services are both short-term and long-term. You'll use the outsourced professionals for a short-term temporary project. But you'll come back to this trusted partner again in the future.

Building a relationship with your partner provides real advantages. Next time you need to augment your team, your partner will already know about how you operate. They'll be well-versed in your tools and systems too. The whole process will be much easier, and you'll gain all that lovely expertise in double- quick time.