How to Manage the Offshore Development Team

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused enormous damage to almost all areas of life. In particular, the need to convert business online became a real test for companies and showed the importance of ability to coordinate the remote work of employees. Those events resulted in the trend of offshoring, especially in the IT segment. Today, the global IT outsourcing market is over $355 billion. It is expected that by 2025 this figure will increase to $397 billion.

Offshore IT team management solves many complex tasks and pitfalls to achieve the desired performance, success, and scalability. Below we will view ways of effective management for an offshore development company.

Tips on offshore development company management

Proper management of offshore development teams is, first of all, effective planning and focusing on burning issues. What should you pay attention to? 

1. Collaboration models

When entering into a contract with an offshoring company, you decide on a cooperation model to clearly distribute duties and responsibilities within the project. The most popular models are outsourcing and outstaffing. 

The difference lies in the side of the management; in outsourcing, the contractor bears more responsibility for the final product. Outstaffing and dedicated teams are suitable for cases where the project manager and business analyst are on the customer's side. 

Learn more about different outsourcing and co-sourcing options and remuneration formats (FP, FFF, T&M) offered by developers in Ukraine.

2. Monitoring development time

Service costs will soon exceed your expectations without controlling the duration of completion tasks by developers. Therefore, it is better to clarify such issues on the shore and in the form of a signed contract. Such contracts often contain a part Time & Materials Pay, which uses an hourly rate to calculate wages. The performer must outline the approximate number of hours required to complete the tasks and justify the result. 

Ask your developers if they have any platform to track the progress of your project, such as Hubstaff, Jira, Trello, etc. Such monitoring will allow you to check if additional correction work is necessary and effective and, accordingly, if payment for overtime is justified.

4. Developers' instruments

Easy communication and effective task setting depend on your awareness of the tools used. Find out if the tools are installed on your servers. Or is the option of working without being tied to the customer's server systems chosen? All these factors determine the effectiveness of offshore software development. 

5. Methodology of the development

The Agile development methodology is considered to be a golden standard of programming. Teams with extensive experience are supposed to be familiar with it, but it would be useful to learn from employees about the experience of implementing the methodology. Employing "flexible" standards will improve work efficiency, which means it will be easier to manage subordinates. 

6. Documentation of internal processes

Easy and effective communication with the programming team depends on how immersed they are in the politics of your processes. Perhaps there is a development chain they must follow or internal security protocols in the company. It is best to provide the team with a written explanation of your processes. 

Sample list of project documentation: 

• Project charter
• Project plan
• RACI
• Risks
• Project vision
• Functional map
• WBS
• Glossary
• Functional requirements
• Non-functional requirements
• Quality management plan
• Change request procedure
• Communication plan 
• Reports strategy
• Architecture
• Project documentation
• ReadMe, Licences list
• SDLC
• Design files
• Test strategy
• BCP & DRP.

It will be useful: Technical Documentation for IT Startups: Types & Examples

7. Schedule with the time difference

In the case of offshore employees, it is important to plan the work schedule correctly. Perhaps it will be shift work or tasks at a certain time. The main thing is to create a basis for productive problem-solving and maintain a working rhythm. 

An offshore executor can become a successful alternative to an internal team, subject to competent management, namely, sharing the specifics of the company's work with employees, and choosing the right work schedule.

If you’re also a startup owner looking to hire an offshore development team, then Software Development Hub is the best choice. Software Development Hub has a large pool of 100+ talented, skilled developers, QAs, PMs, BAs, and DevOps that can fulfill all your offshore development requirements. We take a well-balanced Adjail-and-Waterfall approach with strong communication, excellent technical skills, and clear deadlines. 

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