Should I hire a developer in-house or outsource my web and software development? What about Staff Augmentation?Where to find experienced professionals and how to organize a development team? How to turn my idea into reality?

These are the crucial questions you will undoubtedly face at the start of every software development journey. And whether you’re a startup with an innovative product idea or a company looking for digital transformation, sooner or later you’ll have to make a decision.

Development is a core part of every IT project and asking the right questions can set you up for success. Every software project has its requirements and factors to be considered, and it is hard to recommend one approach. This article will outline the key advantages and disadvantages of each approach and help you make an informed decision.

In-House Software Development 

First, let’s clear things out. What is in-house software development?
In simple words, it is when the team of developers works in your company’s offices and builds the software to support the business operations and the specific needs of the company.

That means you are responsible for recruiting and hiring full-time developers and provide them with a regular salary and other employment benefits. Furthermore, you are also responsible for providing the resources and infrastructure to support the software development.

 Pros of In-House Development

• Control. With an in-house team, you can have complete control of the development process from beginning to end. Additionally, you can manage teamwork and quickly resolve any issues that may come up. That means you have the opportunity to know the abilities of every team member and can assign them tasks accordingly.
  
• Cultural Fit. Since you control the recruiting process, you will certainly choose people that share your values and organizational culture. That helps employees to integrate with the company efficiently and eases communication.
  
• On-Site Availability. Being in the same office and within the same time zone makes the process faster and more effective. If you have a question, you can always ask your colleague and get an immediate answer. Although this point is slowly losing value as more and more people work from home.
  
• Response Time. Having an in-house team increases the speed of implementing unexpected changes. If there is an urgent need to change a project’s features and make certain modifications, a team under your control can make the changes faster.

Cons of In-House Development

• High Cost. In-house software development is time-consuming and way more expensive than outsourcing. Maintaining a team takes time and money. It is costly because it includes recruitment and onboarding and training costs, salaries, and other employee benefits. Plus, infrastructure, taxes, rent, and much more.
  
• Narrow Talent Pool. Lack of talent is a serious problem for in-house business models. And with the fast development of the IT industry, the competition to hire the best developers is higher. The local talent pool available might not be adequate for your business plans and technical needs or fit into the planned budget. When there is a talent shortage with a specific skill set, your only option is to pay a significantly higher amount to bring in the required talent or consider the global outsourcing market.
  
• Staff Turnover. The technology industry has the highest turnover rate for any industry. One of the most significant in-house software development risks is poor employee retention. Developers are in high demand and frequently switch jobs in search of better opportunities. There is always a risk that a lead developer will leave during crucial stages of the project, which in turn harms software development productivity and product quality and can even bring a project to a standstill.

Outsourced Software Development

Outsourcing software development is a business strategy of hiring an external company to fulfill your software requirements. In this case, your software development team will work remotely, usually from another country.

These teams have experience and skills gained while working on development projects for clients across various industries. Businesses from startups to enterprises turn to outsourcing specific business functions such as IT, marketing, or human resources. This helps them grow and get quality services at lower rates. Outsourcing has become an essential part of business management worldwide.

Recently, Opinium and LiveArea provided research that explores the impact the pandemic has on businesses and operations. According to it, 10% of companies already outsource their marketing department, and 32% consider outsourcing. To develop greater business agility and resilience, companies are looking to reduce risk through outsourcing, and it is expected that the outsourcing market will grow significantly in the coming years.

Pros of Outsourcing Software Development

• Significant Cost Reduction. Software outsourcing allows companies to hire top-notch talent at a reasonable price. You’ll be paying local market rates for skilled labor. Since you are paying for the service, not for the work, you will reduce the cost of hiring, training, and housing staff. Plus, you’ll save much money on administrative expenses like equipment, rent, and software licenses. This allows a company to develop its product at a lower price.

• Access to Top Talent. Software development outsourcing solves the problem of a lack of local tech talent. Outsourcing gives you immediate access to highly skilled experts from all over the world without any difficulties or increased costs.

• Increased Efficiency. Delegating the recruitment and training process to an outsourcing partner will allow you to allocate your time and energy to focus on core business activities and future strategies. Having access to quality tech talent means that you can begin building your software almost immediately and launch your product faster, thus gaining a substantial competitive advantage.

• Shared Risk. A quality outsourced IT service provider will take the time to study your project specifications and identify any potential issues. That will help mitigate any risks associated with your project.

Cons of Outsourcing Software Development

• Less control. Although you will be working closely with the IT company, you won’t be able to control your IT functions as well as you could with an in-house team. You can’t monitor the development team and see how tasks are performed. However, this should not be an issue if you find a trusting outsourcing partner. Plus, you can always track your team’s progress using modern software and management approaches that will help keep them accountable and help you maintain visibility.

• Communication Issues. Language barriers, cultural differences, and contrasts in time zones can significantly impact the whole project. Software Development is an industry that requires intensive communication, especially during the requirements phase. If your outsourced team doesn’t have a good grasp of English, that can be a valid concern. Moreover, if you partner with an offshore company located in an entirely different time zone, that will require an additional level of planning and management. When you don’t have face-to-face communication with your development team very often, you may not receive responses as quickly as you’d like, and it may slow down the project. However, experienced providers know how to deliver optimal services regardless of their location and offer you software developers who speak excellent English.

• Risk of Exposing Confidential Data. When you outsource important IT functions, the outsourcing agency gains access to all of the information that passes through the organization’s computer system and there is a risk that confidentiality and security may be compromised. You can mitigate these drawbacks by teaming up with an experienced, reliable, and trustworthy outsourcing company.

Our Hybrid Approach 

If you still can’t decide which approach is better, you may consider a third option, a hybrid approach, or as we call it, staff augmentation. In some cases, the combination of in-house and offshore software development will deliver the most benefits. The blended workforce model will let you develop an agile, cost-efficient workforce that will match your business needs long term.

For example, your in-house employees can be a better choice at the start of the project, but as you progress to the next stages, it is best to hire a remote, dedicated development team. Using the hybrid model, you will get better quality, more timely production, and the ability to scale operations at a lower cost. Plus, if you are concerned about security risks, the hybrid approach is probably the most fitting for your business.

How do we do that?

By providing dedicated talent solutions for our clients, also known as staff augmentation. When you partner with us, you will usually get more than team augmentation. We can also cover various software-related services, such as analysis and design, quality assurance, project management, or support and maintenance. Our top-tier developers will become a part of your in-house team and will work closely with them for as long as you need them. The exchange of knowledge and ideas between in-house and outsourced developers can be highly beneficial and will help you overcome the challenges that come in the way. 

We have more than ten years of experience in shaping remote agile teams, and we have learned how to tackle the disadvantages of the above-mentioned models.

Pros of Our Hybrid Model

• Control. Our clients have more control over every step of project development and implementation. We have client managers assigned to every team, and every office has its HR Manager. 

• Cultural Fit. With close communication with our clients, we make sure every candidate we hire fits their company culture and unique requirements.

• Response Time. Our dedicated client managers are there to help you if there’s any delay or issue. We will handle your needs in a personalized way, and the team will dig deep into your business and get to know your actual needs.

• Communication Issues. We have team managers who are responsible for the availability and performance of their team members daily. Each member of the team is composed of highly experienced software engineers with the required talent and expertise. 

• No Risk of Exposing Confidential Information. We sign NDA’s and follow procedures that protect every client’s data. 

Cons of Our Hybrid Model

• Recruitment may take longer than anticipated. In exceptional cases, when the set of skills is not standard, the recruitment process can take longer than usual. Thus, we keep the client updated on the process at all points, and we are fully transparent.

All this and a combination of typical outsourcing benefits make Cosmic Development a close and trusted partner, not just a temporary service provider. Reaching a maximum level of productivity with our staff augmentation hybrid model is a very realistic goal. You can immediately benefit from reduced talent costs and increased development capacity to achieve your goals.

How We Can Help

Outsourcing is an excellent way to boost your business’s digital transformation and support growth through innovative solutions. By choosing this approach, you will not only save time and money, but you will build a team of dedicated developers without adding the expense of full-time employees and additional office space and equipment. Outsourcing will help you gain a competitive advantage and help your business work smarter.

Cosmic Development is a Canadian IT company specializing in providing IT solutions and staff augmentation to business owners who want to get outsourcing services for lower prices but excellent quality. With a decade-long experience and a range of successful software projects, we can provide the best software development services for your business. 

We are committed to building digital talent solutions that create rewarding results. 100 % of clients’ satisfaction is our priority and we always keep an eye on quality assurance, ask questions, and encourage strong client cooperation to ensure that.

We at Cosmic strongly believe that staff augmentation is not a purchasing project but a partnership, and we maintain a trusting relationship with our clients. We offer access to unique talent and expertise and will help you with any project regardless of its needs, size, and budget.

Let us know your needs, and we will help you build an agile remote team. Arrange a free consultation today, and we will get you started.

The post In-House vs. Outsourced Software Development. How to Get the Best of Both Worlds? appeared first on Cosmic Development.

As we are walking in the last quarter of the notorious 2020, we can state one thing for sure: Remote work and distributed teams are here to stay. However, companies can be skeptical about moving their agile processes online when it comes to working remotely. At first glance, why wouldn’t they be? Especially having in mind that Agile was initially intended for teams that are physically located together in the same workspace. Even according to the 12 Principles of the Agile Manifesto: “The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation“––the first agile teams were intended to work together physically.

Some challenges arise for distributed software teams:

• Synchronizing teams in different time zones
• Building rapport without face-to-face contact
• Collaboration between different cultures
• Coordinating stand-ups and meetings considering that team members are online at the same time for a limited amount of time

These are genuine problems, but they are far from unsolvable. With almost ten years of experience in staff augmentation and software development services, we can share some insights and strategies to help you narrow the gap between working on-premises and remotely.

Structure Your Teams

Think of your team from a software engineer’s point of view: quality software architecture needs modular design, so design your software accordingly. The same goes for building teams. Every team should be able to develop a single fraction of the project, and by that, successfully reduce the dependence between your teams in different time zones or locations. You will actually make teams autonomous parts of your project or company. When a project requires team members to take part from different locations, they can focus solely on their integration points and APIs.

Code reviews are considered as an important part of the development process for remote teams. Since your people are working at different times, sharing knowledge of the code between teams makes maintenance easier.

Building and Maintaining Rapport

Agile teams need to build solid rapport between team members. This brings trust, reduces misunderstanding, makes self-organization easier, and builds morale and motivation. Take time, as much as possible, to get to know everyone within your distributed teams. A personal touch is a must. Creating strong rapport will lead to smoother communication between teams, which in turn leads to better workflows.

After all, who said that face-to-face meetings have to be offline? Especially these days, when Zoom and Google Hangouts have become our new-normal offices, we encourage using them in order to minimize the gap between distributed agile teams. At Cosmic Development, we are avoiding strictly scheduled Hangouts meetings for intra-team communication. Instead, we strive to create a culture of using video chats even for spontaneous informal conversations and ad-hoc meetings. Needless to say, instant-messaging tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams are very helpful in solving small issues or in simply keeping in touch. 

To help address some remote communication challenges within the team, you need to stimulate team members to have one-on-one video sessions whenever possible. These should not be formal, but they still need to be focused on work and oriented around knowledge sharing in a casual way.

Structuring a United Development Culture

Here are the four simple rules our teams follow in order to make remote work easier:

1. Overcommunicate decisions and procedures
2. Minimize the onboarding friction
3. Clearly define terminology
4. Create reporting guidelines 

Now, let us discuss each of them more thoroughly:

1. Overcommunicate Decisions and Procedures

When members of a distributed agile team make decisions, they need to communicate those decisions thoroughly. That sounds a bit obvious, but it is very easy to forget. Important decisions are often made in informal conversations; they are brainstormed between individuals or discussed spontaneously on calls between individuals. In contrast to this, small decisions are often dismissed as unimportant, especially if we focus on another part of the conversation. 

When working in a remote culture, everything, even the minute details, need to be communicated until the whole team starts moving in the same flow.

It is easy to lose meaning or essential information if you announce important decisions via email. Everyone in your dispersed teams needs to understand the decisions, the reasons behind each decision, and how they will be implemented. Team members that are working on outdated information can lead to major setbacks, hitting a blockade, and then re-communicating the whole process costs the team more time than accuracy sharing information in the first place.

2. Minimize the Onboarding Friction

You can tame the “first-day-friction” by utilizing a good onboarding procedure. Remote team members should feel at home right off the bat, which helps build cohesion between team members of different cultures. 

3. Clearly Define Terminology

While working with remote teams, clear standards around simple terminology like “complete” and “done” help manage expectations and ease communication. A clear definition of task completion eliminates ambivalence in work. For example, when sending a release that involves work from multiple teams, make sure to make it clear what “complete” means in this particular context: (a) the code needs to be written, (b) pull request created, (c) code needs to be reviewed and tested, (d) and finally integrated into the main codebase.

4. Create Guidelines for Reporting

Distributing the development process means that not everyone is online and ready for work when problems come up. We recommend setting systems and guidelines for troubleshooting, but reports and issue tracking. You will not believe how much easier such systems and guidelines make it for anyone on the team to track down and resolve issues. Code reviews and automated tests should be part of this process as it enables the remote team to make changes and validate them so they will not have any unexpected side effects.

Maximize the Mutual Online Time

The golden hours for remote agile teams are when most of the team members are online at the same time. This is the perfect time for stand-ups, coordination meetings, or one-on-one calls.

For teams that work in different time zones, a stand-up meeting is an excellent opportunity to share their issues, obstacles, or decisions. Having the stand-ups via video calls makes it easy to coordinate and catch-up with the flow, so everyone is up and running as soon as the meeting is done.

Instruct the project manager to closely monitor the entire team’s engagement during the stand-up. If there is an undue tension, or communication is becoming unfocused and counter-productive, your team members will quickly disengage.

Stand-ups do not have to be strictly daily meetings. You can have them a few times per week and use the other days for informal communication. Thus, a stand-up does not have to be just a morning routine, but you can organize it at the most convenient time for everyone that forms part of your remote agile teams. 

We all need to adapt and learn how to work within remote teams, communicate efficiently, and grow a cohesive culture. Many large companies have successfully implemented distributed agile workflows long before the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing them to cut costs and work more efficiently. On the other hand, remote work is very easy to implement for small teams that have previously worked together in a common office. Such teams can significantly benefit from the advantages of working remotely.

Stay tuned for Part Two, where we will talk to Bookmark‘s Project Manager about her hands-on experience with managing a remote team.

Sources:

• agilemanifesto.org/
• agilealliance.org/resources/experience-reports/remotely-agile/
• blog.stormid.com/distributed-agile-working/

The post Remote Work and Agile Teams are Here to Stay appeared first on Cosmic Development.

When hiring a web developer, you need to find the most suitable candidate with strong technical experience. However, it is also very important that the web developer you want to hire possesses a set of basic soft skills. Acquiring a web developer on your team, who has not only the technical abilities to get the work done but is an ongoing person with excellent communication skills, is the key that might bring success to your business. 

During a time when many IT companies have the “work from home” policy, abilities like clear and tactful communication with colleagues within or outside of the department who are also remote can determine whether someone fits for the job position.

Below you can find several questions that you can ask your candidate when hiring a web developer at a job interview:

1. Ask the candidates to explain to you a project they have worked on and the approach they took from start to finish.

Interview questions for a web developer’s position will help you learn more about the candidates’ work mindset — how they are gathering requirements, solving problems, managing user feedback, handling QA, and collaborating in a team setting. This way, you can also see whether they pay close attention to user experience.

2. Do some roleplay. Pretend you are a tech novice and ask the candidates to explain something in plain English.

Your candidate will likely work closely with other departments of your company. In other words, they will need to communicate effectively with their colleagues who are not tech-savvy, such as colleagues from marketing, sales, corporate communications, and other company areas. Ask the candidate to describe a topic all web developers should be familiar with, and look for their ability to communicate in non-tech terms. Some concepts to choose from are: Microservice architecture, AWS/Azure, Responsive design, MVC model, APIs, etc.

It would be of great help if you ask them to compare web development-related terms, for instance, to make a distinction between UI and UX or between front-end and back-end, depending on the candidate experience.

3. Ask if they have ever given a presentation.

The web developer you hire will play an important role in your company, so public speaking is a must-have skill. You will want to hire someone who feels comfortable when giving a presentation. And bonus points will definitely go to those who have spoken in front of large non-tech groups. After the presentation, ask them some follow up questions on how they gathered and organized information, and what they did to keep their audience’s attention. 

4. Ask them to name a website or app that annoys them and let them describe what was wrong with it.

Here is how to get an insight into your candidate’s awareness of current issues in web development, as well as their problem-solving abilities. We consider the right answer to be the one where they do more than just gripe about someone else’s work. They also need to offer real solutions to practical issues.

5. Find out what they do when an application stops working.

Problem-solving is at the very core of web development, so pay attention to how candidates talk about fixing things that go awry. Do they prefer to break down the situation and analyze potential causes? Are they able to ask for help when needed, and do they know where to find answers? How do they respond if their initial idea for a solution does not work out? 

6. Make them tell you about a time they have had to respond to negative feedback.

Your candidate will have to deal with many comments from beta testers and actual users of your product. The web developer you are looking for needs to know how to take that feedback, analyze it, and turn it into an action step. Listen to them and, if needed, ask them how they would walk through the issue and arrive at a conclusion.

7. Ask if they have ever been blamed for something that was not their fault.

This is a very challenging question. However, it is a good way of catching the candidate’s attitude towards teamwork. If your candidate is quick to throw a team member under the bus, that is a red alert. You need to hire a diplomatic person who does not get frustrated quickly and concentrates on working toward a solution.

8. Find out what was the biggest challenge of working on the front end of an application.

Your candidate would have worked closely with the rest of the development team. Find out if they understand how data is structured, what functions are available, how APIs are called, and how web services are configured. The chosen candidates should be capable of discussing the entire development lifecycle. They also need to show an understanding of where do they fit in. These inquiries will help you find out if you are talking to a web developer or a web designer who has a little Java knowledge.

9. Ask them to tell you about the projects they are working on (or have worked on) in their spare time.

Technology is moving fast. Therefore, when hiring a web developer, you need to be aware that you are looking for someone who invests some of their spare time in growing their skills and staying on top of current trends. Your candidate should be able to discuss their personal projects (past or present), and if possible, show you some of their work.

10. Ask what APIs have they worked with.

All applicants should have worked with APIs, at least for well-known commercial services, like those offered by Twitter, Slack, Dropbox, and the APIs suite that Google offers. The candidate you choose to join your team should demonstrate knowledge on API functions and should know how to integrate results into their design. Bonus points would go for the candidate that has helped to develop and document their own APIs. They need to be able to talk about how they worked with the development team to create secure and useful interfaces.

11. Find out what do they think will be the biggest trends in future web development.

This is an excellent open-ended topic you can begin when hiring a web developer. Your candidate may talk about technologies like Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages technology, Motion UI, AI-powered customer service chatbots, voice search, emerging cybersecurity threats, or advanced analytics techniques. Notice what they focus on and ask them about their genuine opinion on how this will improve, for example, user experience, what kind of challenges this technology brings, and how they would integrate the latest technology with their current work. By doing so, you can also find out whether they have the basic five personality traits that every web developer must possess.

12. Try and discover their SQL skills.

Maybe the web developer you currently need in your team does not interact directly with a database, but they must understand how data is structured. Any practical SQL experience, such as having worked as a database administrator, is highly valuable. 

13. Ask them what the most significant difference between developing for mobile and desktop is.

As you know, the most significant portion of your users browse on mobile, but the majority of the development work happens on a desktop. Your perfect candidate should know how to develop for both. They need to be able to name some crucial differences, such as screen size, touch input, limited multitasking, and variation in browser plug-ins. Candidates must know how to create a great user experience on any platform.

14. Show them a code, and ask them to find the error in it.

When hiring a web developer, try not to ask your candidate to write code by hand during an interview, because it is not an ideal setting for code-writing. We suggest you show your candidate a piece of code — such as a Java class and the JavaScript that invokes it — with some strategic errors in it and ask the candidate to debug it. This is a quick way to check their technical knowledge and find out their attention to detail.

While hiring a web developer at Cosmic Development, these 14 questions help us narrow down our list of candidates to those with the best technical qualities and strong interpersonal skills. For us, hiring candidates with balanced skills has been a great way to get ahead of hiring high-quality web developers in recent years. Using staff augmentation, we select top-notch developers and create high-performing dedicated teams for our clients and business partners. We can hire the most suitable candidates for you. Let us know by clicking here.

Sources:

• codementor.io/blog/web-developer-interview-questions-3ey8yl7epg
• theappsolutions.com/blog/development/tips-how-to-hire-web-developer/
• medium.com/@arun_goyal/how-to-hire-a-web-developer-7ee05caf5519

The post 14 Questions You Need To Ask When Hiring A Web Developer appeared first on Cosmic Development.