In the first two parts of this series, we discussed the numerous benefits of hiring an offshore development team. These include reduced hiring and training costs, reduced risk, access to a diverse range of skills and expertise, scalability and flexibility, and transparent and cost-effective pricing. In this final post, we will provide some tips on how to make the most of offshore development teams to ensure that your project is successful.
Here are some ways to maximize the benefits of working with offshore development teams:
- Choose the right software development team: Select a team with the qualifications, skills, and experience that match your project’s requirements and goals. Initial consultation or workshop may be beneficial to ensure that you get to know the team while ensuring they have relevant, proven experience that will help your project run smoothly.
- Establish a clear company/product vision: Getting your developers to understand what you want them to do and motivating them is critical. Share the whole picture of the project with them, not just simple tasks, so that they understand the overall solution you’re looking to deliver. Before starting an Agile project with an offshore development team, ensure that all developers understand the full product vision.
- Define clear project requirements: Define clear project requirements before hiring an offshore development team. This includes understanding the project scope, timelines, budget, key assumptions, and the specific skills and expertise required. This will ensure that you select the right team for your project, and everyone is on the same page from the start.
- Set clear milestones, priorities, and deliverables: To ensure success with offshore teams, break your project into specific requirements and project milestones. Prioritize understanding your schedule, project gates, and key performance indicators. Research, plan, and provide clear orientation/training agendas before beginning work.
- Effective onboarding: Treat your offshore team as part of your core team by providing full orientation, detailed training, and mentoring systems.
- Establish effective communication: Communication with your offshore team is essential for success. To improve success, set clear expectations on “who?”, “what?”, and “when?” in every piece of communication. Be aware of implicit assumptions and ensure they have the information they need to start the day and complete tasks. Over-communicate and use simple yet precise language.
- Ensure there are overlap work schedules: Creating a shared daily work schedule is essential for managing an offshore development team. Schedule at least several hours daily for live communication with the offshore team.
- Set realistic expectations: Understand the potential challenges that may arise, such as differences in time zones, cultural and language barriers, and project management issues. Setting realistic expectations from the start can help avoid misunderstandings and ensure that everyone is on the same page.
- Use project management tools: Tools such as Trello, Asana, and Jira can help track progress, manage tasks, and communicate with the team.
- Provide regular feedback: Providing regular feedback on the quality of work, progress updates, and any issues or concerns that arise is important when working with an offshore development team.
In conclusion, offshore development teams can provide numerous benefits for businesses, including cost savings, access to a global talent pool, reduced administrative burden, and faster time-to-market. By following these tips, you can increase the success rate of your project and get the most out of your offshore development team. See our case studies and learn how Labs8 helped various companies quickly scale their teams while achieving cost savings via offshore development. Contact Labs8 today to learn more about how we can help your business succeed.
