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Over the last two years, the unprecedented digital explosion heralded the need for more talented developers, leading to a rise in the engagement of dedicated offshore teams. According to the report by CompTIA, there were nearly 900,000 IT job postings in the first quarter of 2021. Firms in various parts of Europe sought to employ software developers from IT outstaffing services, cyber security experts, system & network administrators, web developers and python coders for hire.
So, we’ll explore the best practices in managing offshore development teams from a broader perspective and explain how you can deal with the surging talent shortage and other challenges. After this, you will be equipped to handle any situation or need that arises as you collaborate with people across the globe for the success of your projects.
Offshore employees are one of the most promising fixes to the rising development expenses, worker shortages, and the effects of the pandemic. An offshore development team is one that works on your project from another country without the need of being in your offices physically.
For example, a client business operating from London can outsource the entire project to a better-resourced company in Ukraine or hire ukrainian programmers. Such an unconventional work set-up is a glimpse of what the future holds being the best cost-efficient alternative to the freelancing approach claimed by Bairesdev benefits.
Faced with a 40 million skilled worker shortage, recruiters have found hiring developers on-demand is a complex task. Therefore, they have turned to offshore which has proved to be effective for many companies, whether they need to hire golang web developer or any other programmer. However, when collaborating with such teams, there are stumbling blocks to look out for. Here is a list of challenges that will help put your potential concerns into perspective:
A team could be located globally with a completely different time zone, adding challenges working with offshore team. If not adequately accounted for, this difference can work against monitoring, maintaining stable work schedules, and other management activities.
For example, a client company located in Britain (a GMT zone) would require its groups that work remotely from Ukraine (an Eastern European Standard Time zone) to synchronise their watches to the British local time.
Language barriers lead to miscommunication and negate advantages of offshore software development. Developers must have a good command of the English language to ensure nothing is lost in translation or misunderstandings. With this in mind, many high-profile tech companies like Microsoft, Oracle, and Siemens, who know perfectly how to work with offshore teams, have established R&D centres in Ukraine and Belarus where skilled professionals have a good command of English as an addition to their favoured attributes.
Effective communication is key to successful collaboration. However, not being able to have a face-to-face conversation lowers the effectiveness of your communication. Thankfully, some tools can bolster communication like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and more.
Integrating a new group with an already existing one may take time since they might have different work cultures, especially if you are not sure how to manage offshore team productively.
For instance, a client company can emphasise consumer service as a major pillar for growth. In contrast, the outsourced company emphasises the quality of the product – the distinct views about what’s important and what’s not present cultural differences.
Even with these issues that might seem like serious drawbacks, most businesses opt to operate with this ever-evolving employment model as it produces great results. Importantly, they choose their destinations carefully, so countries like Ukraine naturally benefit the most by providing offshore teams.
In remote collaboration, all the data is transferred via the Internet, even those on which the safety and life of the entire project depends: credentials, pieces of code, documentation, personal data, etc. Leaking of these data leads to financial and reputational threats. Therefore, it is transferred only via private protected channels after the NDA is signed.
Building an offshore team is not as easy as it sounds. There are loopholes only an experienced company can effectively manoeuvre. For more information about offshore teams, challenges related to building one, and how to hire full-time developer contact Talmatic today!
Pre-hiring managers are advised to consider several factors, including the company’s needs, budget, and project duration when hiring programmers online. These will determine who they can work with and in what format. The most popular types of groups to work with are:
Outsourcing is a general term for extended and dedicated teams that fill the client company’s in-house deficiencies. Generally, any third-party contracts for software development constitute an outsourcing model. An outsourced team is usually located far from the client company headquarters.
As the name suggests, the extended team is an actual extension of the existing in-house development team. The extended team is there to supplement skills that the main team lacks or help meet a tight deadline. Both the in-house and extended teams work in a closely-knit relationship geared towards the company’s goals as opposed to freelancers, which you can find on platforms like Toptal or Upwork.
A dedicated team usually encompasses a group of professionals in management, product development, testing, and anyone else who collaborate on a given project. Therefore, when startup companies do not need in-house developers on a full-time basis, they can contact a service provider that brings an entire team to work on the project.
A well-managed team of offshore programmers works like a well-oiled machine with excellent remote work communication at the centre of its operations. Although managers are overly improving, becoming close employee allies, there are some unsettling facts that make bad management practices worth looking into.
A recent survey by the Predictive Index found that:
Learn Best Practices from Industry Experts.
That being said, here are a few management mistakes:
Micromanagement is a management style where the manager constantly monitors employees individually. That is considered bad practice because it takes away the employee’s freedom and replaces it with frustration, too much pressure, and general feelings of lack of trust, eventually crippling productivity.
Your in-house and offshore teams can collide, working under the same payroll. If not properly managed, a competition could instill hostility between the two teams, eventually resulting in a toxic working environment. This poor example of working culture is filled with unnecessary resentment, overwork (employees struggling to prove who is better than the other), and insecurity.
Both teams need to be on the same page where everyone’s efforts are synchronised towards the company’s objectives. This can be achieved by taking time to do proper onboarding and team building which some neglect as they do not consider the offshore team as part of their company.
Workplaces are not immune to difficult circumstances. Sometimes, breaking bad news to your employees or informing them of difficult issues is easier said than done. Good, effective leadership would employ simple, comprehensible correspondence channels to prevent miscommunication. In addition, transparency and the timely flow of adequate information should not be neglected either.
Commitment to agility gives a competitive edge and helps to stick to strategic goals. It comprises request changes and process adjustments. For impeccable work, offshore team management should be built upon clear constant dialogue. Every adjustment in the plans and goals should be immediately communicated to your partnering devs via project management to avoid gaps in understanding and performance.
Top productivity, unparalleled products, expert services, and seamless collaboration are just some of the things you can achieve with offshoring. To get there, however, the best management practices need to be undertaken.
Remember, the external team is by your side. Sharing all your expectations, risks, and burdens with the development team is vital to achieving the best results. Always bear in mind the vitality of effective correspondence when hiring IT developers offshore. Share your company’s goals, mission, and objectives clearly and let your offshore partner work their part.
All development activities undergo a series of planning, initiating, controlling, and execution processes. Technologies like Jira exist for the sole purpose of operating a project, saving and tracking time, and overall operation oversight. Even access to the best web browsers for programmers provided to the development team in time can serve you in handling operations efficiently. All those tools can be cross-linked across your teams and integrated with your company infrastructure to help manage the project process.
The product roadmap outlines essential information about your product. It defines your product, what it is meant to achieve for your customers, its features, and the problems it will solve. Simply put, a product roadmap outlines exactly what you are building.
Keeping constant touch with your external workforce helps identify and solve problems sooner than later. Make sure to schedule regular meetings to discuss any emerging issues and find solutions before moving on to the next stage. Frequent conventions also help control activities, receive on-time information, and boost commitment.
When everything is done, and your product is ready to launch, it’s time to piece it all together with the technical documentation. Tech documentation basically outlines all the information about your product: the functionality, the architecture, the user manual, and everything else your clients or in-house employees need to know.
Weighing the pros and cons of offshore software development is impossible without making sure that the best industry practices are adopted. Remote coding is very connected to agile offshore development. Working processes, continuous communication, and CI/CD practices are the ingredients of the secret sauce called “agile” working best for offshore team challenges and making devs perform at their best.
Work hours of the remote team members may differ drastically, but it is still important to have some common time: for the syncs as well as for the interpersonal communication. A bit of remote team-building will turn the overseas workforce into part of your in-house team – an ally who will share your risks and success.
A product journey or roadmap is the fundamental thing for understanding goals and strategy for achieving them. If you have a clear understanding of it — great! Now it’s time to share it with all your allies, including the remote IT unit you cooperate with. Shared understanding makes a path to the goal easier, no matter what you choose — staff augmentation vs IT outsourcing.
One of the greatest challenges of managing people who work remotely is juggling between time zones and working schedules. If you win this challenge — you win a team of people who work like a clock and are highly motivated. The largest pitfall here is over-supervision — don’t let your PMs control every minute of crew.
Leading offshore team is more complicated than hiring a couple of boys to write some code. Integrated into your IT unit, these people give the project an immediate boost, But to do this, they have to be on the same wavelength with others, feel welcome and valued. This is one of the most important things, when you choose outstaffing or outsourcing hiring models for your project.
Local PMs spot perfectly the devs they are working with, and they are experts in arranging them in the projects. They will empower the collaboration, building a strong bridge over different time zones and cultures. They are usually perfect communicators able to ward off most troubles before they arise.
In case you’re looking to hire an offshore development team in Ukraine, don’t go with anything less than the best trustworthy recruitment agency with access to a wide pool of talent.
At Talmatic, we have over a decade of experience providing unmatched dedicated development teams from Ukraine and Poland. Contact our team today and build a custom team hassle-free.
30.12.2021
Looking to hire remote software developers but have a few questions unanswered? We are sharing our list of frequently asked questions by our clients when hiring software developers.
view allSuccessful offshore team management consists of a precise strategy, strong management, and flawless coordination.
We use tools for successful offshore teamwork like agile methods, time allocation, remote team building, and domestic management.
Utilize the assistance of local PMs seasoned in managing the remote units for their clients.
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