The 10 Best Practices For Outsourcing Software Development in 2022
Outsourcing software development has become an increasingly popular way to help entrepreneurs and businesses grow over the past few years, with many companies starting to realize that offshoring is more cost-effective than hiring full-time employees.
But although it’s growing in popularity, it remains a relatively new practice, with many companies struggling to find the right methods and partners, leading to failed outsourcing attempts or projects that don’t go as planned.
Luckily, you can use these 10 best practices for outsourcing software product development in 2022 to give your business the best chance of success while saving time and money.
Let’s get started!
1) Do You have an Idea?
First, if you’re considering hiring a developer overseas (or any remote location), you should have an idea. It doesn’t need to be a fully formed product or service but rather an idea that needs to be brought to life by a computer. If it’s not clear, leave it alone.
You don’t want to hire someone only to discover no real value in your business idea. On top of that, spending money on developers without having a clearly defined goal can become very costly and wasteful. You could end up just throwing your money away on code that never even makes it into production.
Spend time refining your ideas before starting implementation. Ensure you know exactly what is required when talking with potential providers about your project, so neither party wastes valuable time working together toward an unclear outcome!
2) Define Your Goals
What do you want to achieve? Do you need a simple HTML page that displays data from a database? Or do you want something more complex, like a web app, mobile app, or SaaS product?
As your project’s complexity increases, so will your needs. More time working closely with your developer will yield better results and help ensure you get exactly what you want.
Some developers charge by how much time they spend on a project; others may offer packages at certain price points. If cost is of no concern, opt for as much handholding as possible; if cost is crucial, make sure it doesn’t impede collaboration by being too rigid—something both parties should feel comfortable communicating about before work begins. Don’t rush into anything unless it feels right!
3) Determine Your Budget
The right budget should accommodate the full range of costs associated with an outsourced software project, including direct expenses like workers’ salaries and indirect expenses like hardware and internal resources.
In order to create a realistic budget, it’s essential to identify every expense that you expect from your outsourced solution. Ideally, your partner will provide you with exact estimates; if not, you may have to come up with those estimates yourself based on similar projects that other companies completed within your industry.
Once you’ve estimated all potential expenses, don’t forget to include a buffer—the last thing you want is for your outsource project to go over budget!
4) Create a Requirements Document
As an entrepreneur, it’s your job to understand exactly what needs to be done for your startup and what you’re willing to pay for it. You need a requirements document to wrap your head around these things entirely.
This is a comprehensive outline of everything you expect from any developers or designers on your team, including goals and deliverables. It should cover every feature that will ever make its way into your product, as well as timelines for each release. If something changes during development that might affect other parts of your app, include that information here. You may also want to have multiple people from different departments write this guide.
5) Understand Your Legal Obligations
Before you even think about working with any outsourcers, make sure you have a handle on your legal obligations. Often, companies might be concerned about intellectual property theft or getting ripped off, but if you don’t understand your company’s requirements by law, it can quickly become an issue.
Taking time to research and establish some clear procedures will help prevent you from being blindsided down the road. Consider taking a look at The 22 Immutable Laws of Software Development. If nothing else, these laws are great reminders that not everything done outside your company walls is necessarily up to snuff!
6) Figure Out How to Get Started
It’s never too early to start a project. Before you begin outsourcing, make sure that you have decided upon your core business goals and where your business is going. After all, you can’t expect a team of developers to meet your needs if they don’t know what those needs are!
In short, before you outsource anything, be sure to work with an experienced professional who can help organize and focus your efforts.
7) Decide on Your Tech Stack
When you choose which platforms to build your application on, it can be challenging to decide which platform is right for you. Although each platform is tailored to different businesses and has its advantages and disadvantages, it ultimately comes down to business needs and personal preferences.
If you have an idea around a specific set of technologies, having knowledge or experience with those technologies will make launching easier; if not, start researching your options early.
Have a conversation with developers who use whatever tech stack you’re considering to get their input. The sooner you define your tech stack, the better.
8) Gather All The Right Tools
Before planning your next project, make sure that you have all of your tools ready to go. Creating an issue tracker is an excellent way to ensure that you and your team can easily keep track of bugs, feature requests, and everything else that comes up during development.
Consider using an open-source service like GitHub Issues or JIRA or pay-as-you-go services like Taiga. The type of tool you use depends on how large your team is, and its kind of work. Regardless of which tool you choose, ask yourself:
- Are my developers having trouble keeping their work organized?
- Is there something we need to improve communication?
- Is anything missing from our workflow?
- What about customer feedback?
Answering these questions can help you determine if you need a better issue-tracking solution.
9) Spend Time With a Project Manager
No matter where you are in your project—whether it’s launching or already running—it’s essential to make time to talk with your project manager. A dedicated resource should be part of any offshore development effort, and they can help keep a lid on costs, reduce risks, and guide you through any implementation issues that come up along the way. Take time every week to meet with your PM and touch base on how things are going.
10) Test, Test, Test
The more you test your products, services, and processes—with customers, your employees, and yourself—the better they’ll be. It takes time to get things right; it also takes feedback from others who have a stake in what you’re creating. If your company has ever produced a product that flopped, then test early and often!
There are many different types of tests you can conduct: interviews, surveys, usability studies, or even just talking to people face-to-face. Make sure you keep track of these tests to know where to improve. Remember: A failed test is better than no test at all!
Final Take!
Software development is an ever-evolving profession. It takes years of experience and a strong understanding of business dynamics to deliver high-quality results. Like professionals in any other industry, software developers need to know where their next paycheck is coming from.
Although major corporations can hold onto employees who have proved themselves valuable assets, small businesses often cannot afford that luxury. Because of these circumstances, small businesses need to consider software development outsourcing. This way, they can reduce costs without compromising quality or delivery timeframes.
The 10 ten best practices for software development project outsourcing will help you develop solid relationships with top offshore software developers and successfully coordinate software projects. These practices will help you find all details needed to execute outsourced projects successfully, So make sure you don’t miss any points.
Good Luck!