How do you connect with the best development expertise? By working with a remote team. Choosing an offshore development team to partner with your own staff will help you develop and launch software swiftly. But, you need the right approach.
Read on to learn more about the challenges of offshore development teams and how to overcome them.
Getting the best from your offshore development team means tackling any challenges head-on. If you recognize these difficulties ahead of time, you can overcome. The result will be a harmonious and effective relationship.
There may be significant cultural differences between your in-house staff and our outsourced teams. Whether you outsource to Mexico, Belarus, the Philippines, or somewhere else, this is something to consider. Your outsourced team may have slightly different working practices to your own. They may observe different public holidays and working hours. Understand these ahead of time so you can work well together.
Software development involves lots of complex languages. Even if your outsourced team has a high standard of conversational English, this can be tricky. It is worth meeting with the team and defining key terms ahead of time. You may also want to work with a professional translator.
Different time zones bring their own challenges. By scheduling handover times and progress reports, you can make sure that your in-house staff and offshore development teams overlap, no matter where you're outsourcing to.
Your offshore development team won't know about your business. They won't know how you operate or the tools you use. Offer support to the offshore team during onboarding. This will help them to get up to speed quickly.
Security is a huge consideration for your business. You need to make sure that your development team is up to the challenge. Meet with your team and discuss their security practices. Teams in different countries may operate under their own local security regulations. However, if they provide services in your country, they should be familiar with your own requirements. Make sure everything is aligned before you begin. The right partner will treat security just as seriously as you do. They will be able to set your mind at ease, giving you confidence that everything is under control.
These are certainly challenges. But they are not barriers to success. You simply need to make sure that your in-house and outsourced teams are working together effectively. Then, the way is clear for development excellence.
Choose Agile Dream Team for your offshore development project. We provide highly skilled professional teams who deliver the right results, even on the most complex projects.
With a strong track record of success, we are the perfect partners for your next project. Get in touch today and let us know what you need. We'll work with you to define the ideal roadmap for development.
Choose Agile Dream Team for your offshore development project. We provide highly skilled professional teams who deliver the right results, even on the most complex projects.
With a strong track record of success, we are the perfect partners for your next project. Get in touch today and let us know what you need. We'll work with you to define the ideal roadmap for development.
How do you get the best out of your offshore development team? Take a look at these six best practices, and manage your outsourced team to success.
You can't get where you need to be if you don't know where that is. Start with a strategic development vision. This is a general roadmap for what you want to achieve with an offshore development team.
Perhaps you have an idea for a new product you want to launch. Maybe you are thinking of overhauling an existing product for your customers. Or it could be that you want to expand the service you offer to SaaS clients. Deciding on your long-term vision will give you and your outsourced teams direction.
Your outsourced development team is just like your own team. It's made up of human personnel. This is why it's important not to overwhelm this team or swamp them with unmanageable tasks. Breaking down your strategic vision into achievable milestones and priorities will help keep everything on track.
This will also help you to check your progress. Hitting incremental milestones provides confidence that you are heading in the right direction. You can work with your development team to define these short-term objectives so everyone is on the same page.
Lack of company knowledge is one of the big challenges we've listed above. It will take time for your offshore development team to get up to speed. They'll need to learn about your company culture. They'll also need to get familiar with the tools and systems your own teams use.
The goal here is efficiency. Provide support to your outsourced development team so they can get up to speed without delay. A great outsourced team will be made up of fast learners. But you can accelerate this further by offering close support during onboarding.
Communication is critical to breaking down barriers. This is how you and your outsourced development teams will stay in touch, collaborating on key duties. So, define your communication channels ahead of time.
You may want to use instant messaging to keep teams in touch while they work. You might also back this up with regular video conferencing meetings. Unified cloud storage systems and tools will also help your personnel work together. No matter where your outsourced team is based, digital technology can bring your personnel together. Just make sure everyone is using the same communication solutions.
Time zone differences is another big challenge. If your business is based in Boston, there might be almost a full day between you and your development team in Manila or Jakarta. While you won't be able to synchronize operations completely, you can achieve some coordination.
Plan times when your teams can overlap. Schedule video conferencing and progress checks for these times. Put in place a handover system so development operations transfer seamlessly between outsourced and in-house teams. Making these provisions will help you coordinate with development teams even on other continents.
You need your development team to be as efficient as possible. This is why it's best to choose a team that uses the Agile methodology. With Agile, product segments are completed concurrently. Operations are broken down into streamlined, straightforward processes. All of this helps you achieve your aims more quickly and more effectively.
There are different types of Agile processes. Meet with your development partners ahead of time, and find out more about which methods they prefer to use. There's no right or wrong way to go about Agile. However, a good-quality team will be able to tell you which method they use and why.
The best outsourced teams fit seamlessly into your own business structure. This means you need to deal with these teams as you would your own. Be warm and courteous. Reward great results and offer the right sort of praise. Treat your offshore personnel with the same respect and care you would your own in-house staff.
Remember, this is a partnership. You are working together to achieve the same aims. By adopting the right attitude, you can reap the benefits of outsourced personnel. You'll also have a trusted team you can return to for future development projects as and when they arise.
An offshore development team can revolutionize your business. However, you've got to manage this team in the right way. With a clear vision, defined project milestones, and a focus on communication and collaboration, the sky is the limit for your company.
You'll be able to develop and launch products faster than ever. You might even end up exploring ideas you hadn't even considered before. In the process, you'll gain a real competitive advantage in your market. It's very difficult to achieve all of this with just an in-house team of permanent hires.
Here at Agile Dream Team, we provide highly skilled offshore software development teams for businesses like yours. We have experience across a range of industries, delivering development excellence every time. With an expert team of professionals on your side, you'll be able to implement even the most complex of projects. Reach out to our team today, and let's chat about what you need.
Here at Agile Dream Team, we provide highly skilled offshore software development teams for businesses like yours. We have experience across a range of industries, delivering development excellence every time. With an expert team of professionals on your side, you'll be able to implement even the most complex of projects. Reach out to our team today, and let's chat about what you need.
