Outsourcing software development project to an offshore development partner is a strategic decision that can help reduce your time-to-market. Ultimately, it helps build a better product for your business and your customer, get technical debt solved, replace big old solution to be ready for continuous integration, and the emerging market. But accessing and utilizing the specialized talent pool through offshore outsourcing can be a challenge. The prospect of working with an offshore software development team located thousands of miles away may leave you with a lingering question. That question is whether or not you are prepared to tackle these challenges.
In this article, we share with you four simple principles that will help you choose an outsourcing software development partner and benefit from the working relationship. Hopefully, the offshoring journey becomes a lot less daunting.
Think long-term and always share your vision
You will not only outsource a software development project; but also making a partnership with your vendor. This vendor is the one that you hope will help you achieve your objectives. Therefore, you should aim for this relationship to be as long as your business life. Sharing your vision and values is vital to help your partner understand your strategy and contribute effectively on the journey to success. This is particularly true when it comes down to having an offshore development center where your partner will be working closely with you on your software development initiatives. Having a clear vision of your product will, in turn, give the software development team a straightforward instruction, and help them stay aligned with your values and your strategy.
This process helps to build trust and get your offshore outsourcing partner on board with a deeper understanding of the big picture. It also gives your software development team a chance to determine their goals before building the product. During this initial collaborative phase, both you and the offshore development team need to agree upon a mutual working methodology as well as set milestones for the project. Planning the journey together emphasizes the same level of responsibility from both parties and helps smoothen the rough road ahead.
Have an idea and need help in developing your software product roadmap or your Agile transformation? Contact us for a consultation and start your offshore software development team today.
Choose the right partner for outsourcing software development
Choosing the right outsourcing software development partner is one of the most difficult tasks. But it is not impossible. There are ways to find that perfect offshore outsourcing center where people can understand your goals and requirements of your projects. First of all, it is worth visiting your partner before you make a big decision. Take a look around and make sure you know how your partner is working.
More specifically, when you search for a trustful partner, look for their methods of communication and transparency standards. These are essential to building the foundation of long-term partnership. You must be able to initiate constant communication with your offshore development partner. The ideal partner should be completely transparent throughout the whole software development cycle. Their business structure should not be so complex that you have to go through multiple management layers to address your issues. In other words, it is important that you can get direct access to the management. Not excluding the technical competency such as stable internet and video, modern facilities that ease distant communication will help you narrow down the list of options.
At Axon Active, our offshore software development center offers dedicated engineer teams, infrastructures, and facilities to accomplish your long-term business objectives. The starter package includes a minimum of 5 software engineers with skills and expertise tailored to your specific requirements. Workstation, necessary tools will be supplied to your outsourcing development team besides a well-designed working process, to get your project started in the shortest time.
Improve your communication with your team
In software development, communication between stakeholders and the development team is especially important. But when you go offshore, communication becomes harder, taking into account probable differences in language and culture. You should consider the Agile mindset. It encourages the formation of a united team, consisting of a representative from your company and the outsourced engineers. It creates a direct communication line and helps maintain the information flow between business team and software development team by shortening the feedback loop.
Communication is not just about status updates. Lean management helps reduce waste. More importantly, it improves the feedback loop and the focus on working towards the goal instead of having status reports and just getting what-is-not-needed done (The Standish Group International, Inc., Boston, 1996, Modernization Clearing a pathway to success).
It frequently requires face-to-face contact, common senses, and team building. Frequent visit to your offshore development center contributes to bonding the relationship and bridging the gap of cultures. When everybody in the big team is connected to each other, both online and offline, it enhances the working relationship and boosts confidence, leading to productivity and efficiency.
Choose the right framework for your project
As mentioned above, Agile mindset promotes communication, stakeholder engagement, transparency, change management, adaptability, and continuous improvement. Agile mindset not only improves collaboration in offshore projects, but it also leads to a better product.
At Axon Active, our mission is to build an Agile culture. We are thinking long-term, while keeping our actions responsive in the short-term. Since 2008, our engineer teams have been using different Agile frameworks and approaches in working with foreign partners and clients. Most of the teams follow the idea of Scrum. They also adopt other Agile frameworks such as Kanban, LeSS, SAFe… The decision is made based on the best way to integrate the team with your process.
Clients recognize the value that Agile thinking brings to their projects and overall offshore experience:
“It’s been a reallygood engine for the execution of our development projects. We’ve proven thatthe productivity of offshoring our development is a beneficialoneand one that we want to continue.” – Mr. Lee Atkins, Chief Product Innovation Officer, H&L Inc.
We encourage you to go Agile when selecting your outsourcing software development partner. Choose the one that is experienced in Agile and believe in their working methodology. Again, visit them and feel the atmosphere.
Thinking about going Agile and needing a team to start with? Contact us to get a consultation for your outsourcing software development team today!
Communication and collaboration both play an indispensable role in offshore software outsourcing. Agile methods encourage and allow both when working with your offshore development team. Building a long-term relationship with a strong team will help to boost engagement between your business and offshore partner, leading to a fruitful partnership.