A Complete Guide to Manage Your Offshore Technical Team
Managing the offshore technical team can be tedious. You may spend hours just tracking and monitoring the milestones. However, if you are prepared from the start, managing the team will be easier.
We will guide you through the pointers important to preparing and managing your offshore team towards success.
#1 Preparing the Team
The first step towards successful outsourcing is building the right team. You cannot manage a team till you build a capable one. Preparation includes the right team members. However, it is not limited to finding the right people alone; you are also supposed to work on tightening the scope.
We will look at what preparing the team means for the business outsourcing their project.
#2 Define the Project Scope
The first step is to create the scope of the project. Answer a simple question- what do you want your outsourcing team to do?
Start with the simplest answer- build the Android or iOS application to support your business goals. Now move along the reverse direction, and start tightening the scope to make it rigid and spot on.
Create the purpose of the app you are planning to outsource. Think through the goals you aim to achieve. This will help you plan two things with greater ease:
- The features you aim to include in the project.
- The usability and accessibility design for the project.
This would help you identify all the people you need in the team to help you build the application. For instance, if you want to check if the audience is ready for the application, create a prototype.
This means your goal is to produce a simple/basic application with the foundational features. You don’t need a lot of technical expertise or a senior team to build the application. You can suggest the team type and of course, the people you need using this answer.
#3 Determine the Key Stakeholders
Accountability is the key to quality deliverables in the remote world. You need to make the team accountable for the services they are offering. They should maintain the quality and deliver it within the stipulated timeline.
Making everyone accountable for the project can cause chaos. You will note each one handles these things differently. However, you must make them accountable for their tasks and work. At the same time, decide the person who would be responsible for a particular workload.
For instance, if you are handling the design aspect, there should be someone manning it. This would mean assigning stakeholders for individual group tasks.
At the same time, you must have a single point of contact for the project. This would help determine whether the tasks are completed. It can also help with continuous contact and seamless deliveries.
#4 Team Size and Composition
While you are discussing the team accountability and other details, you must also decide the approximate size of the team. It is important to note the total team you need to build the application.
Do you need one or more people to handle the experience design for the application? Similarly, would you need a junior developer, a coding specialist, and an AI expert for your development?
These questions can help you lay the foundation of the mobile application development team. Hire an offshore development team that comprises important members.
You would be able to recruit the right people through appropriate techniques.
Read More: Dedicated Developers Team Vs. Staff Augmentation
Strong Foundation for Effective Project
“Without a strong foundation, you will have trouble creating anything of value.” ~ Erika Oppenheimer
Isn’t that true? Imagine building a robust house but, not creating enough foundation with the blocks. It can fall anytime and be a prey to the bad weather conditions.
That’s what happens when you outsource without defining the foundation. Preparing the base for communication, development, and culture alignment can go a long way.
Despite operating in different cultures and countries, you can create a long-lasting relationship with the right foundation.
We will discuss all the parameters you must consider when planning the foundation.
#1 Communication Protocol
Start by identifying the communication protocol that fits best for the two teams. If you believe in asynchronous communication, you might want to invest in the right formats.
The key to succeeding with an offshore technical team is over-communication. The more you communicate with your team, the better results you will get. For instance, if you have a real-time messenger and have created channels, you can resolve problems in real time.
This would ensure you have no bottlenecks while moving about the project. Similarly, if you have created an email chain to keep the stakeholders updated on the progress, it would also create transparency.
The key goals of communication protocol include- transparency, resolution of issues, and seamless operations. This would enable better outcomes for your team.
#2 Selecting the Tools
It is time to select the tools that can help you achieve your goals. These tools include project management solutions and go way beyond communication. The tools should serve the purpose of ensuring remote conversations and proper development.
The infrastructure for the app development should be perfect when outsourcing. You must consider all the aspects of creating the application before you plan the tools. No battle can be fought without the proper weapons. Similarly, you cannot forge ahead and win excellent opportunities, if you haven’t planned the outsourcing properly.
#3 Identifying the Time Zone Differences
When you are outsourcing your upcoming project, you must think through the time differences. Say you are operating in EST. The offshore technical team is operating in the IST time zone. In this case, you might face issues.
They may not be able to communicate your problems in real-time. having proper conversations can be difficult. However, you can solve this issue by considering a few things.
- Have regular meetups with the offshore company. Start by deciding the team’s meeting dates.
- Have a single point of contact for both sides. These people will communicate in real time if needed.
- Have someone from each team operate in the other’s time zone for better resolutions.
- Keep everyone in the loop with regular updates through reporting and other methods.
- Leverage the time zone differences for faster deliveries and quicker responses.
#4 Clarity in Roles and Responsibilities
One of the biggest issues when working with a team is unclear roles or responsibilities. However, this can put you at a bigger risk if you are working with an offshore technical team. If they are not sure how they will help your case, you might receive poor-quality solutions.
If you haven’t assigned dedicated roles to all the team members, you might not see the clear picture. Your problem might not be completely resolved by the end of the day.
#5 Clear Job Description
Along with mentioning the clear roles, you must also ensure that everyone is aware of their responsibility. Adding a clear description while mentioning the jobs is a must for everyone. This is an important part of planning to work with the offshore development team.
For example, when you say skilled developers, mention the type of skills you are looking for.
Write down what you expect each team member to do. Note the things that your team member must offer. Lastly, put it out in the form of a job description for greater clarity.
Onboarding the Team
Once you have created the team, your job goes to the next level. Making them a part of your company and vision is important. Onboarding is a critical part of the offshore development process. Most companies do not visualize the need for this process, which is why the teams are out of place.
If you want to attain success, you must prepare the onboarding strategy. there are various parts of your company that they don’t understand. They may not be aware of how you work, what your priorities are, and how you compete in your niche. There are a few things that you must consider when planning the onboarding process.
#1 Training
Kick off the onboarding by training them in your niche, particularly the company. While they have the necessary understanding of the industry, they may not know your company’s needs. proper training can help them understand your vision better.
You might need to tell them how you operate, what your priorities are, and how your application will help. These nuances will help them plan your application better. During the training process, you must also introduce them to your company’s positioning in the market.
It is equally important to talk about communication methods. At the same time, train them in the company’s data systems for better understanding.
#2 Culture Alignment
No two companies have the same structure or hierarchy. While you have an open culture, your offshore development team may be practicing a different approach. You must ensure complete alignment with the cultures for better outcomes.
If you don’t understand the other’s culture, you may experience issues. That’s why you must always check for culture alignment when planning the onboarding.
#3 Mentorship System
It is important to have a mentorship system that can help both teams work on their training and culture alignment. You cannot expect the offshore technical team to understand your business in one go.
That’s why you must resolve to include the mentorship system for your business. This will help your offshore team to seek help and resolve their problems in real-time.
#4 Team Integration
Integrating the offshore team into your work mode is equally important if you want to achieve success. If you work like silos, you may not get the desired results. That’s why it is best to integrate the teams to work with each other.
Similarly, you must think through ways in which the collaboration is successful.
Read More: How to Find a Dedicated Software Development Team?
Team Management Software Tools
We touched upon this point briefly. Let’s discuss it in detail at this point. If you are managing an offshore company, you must invest in all the tools that can get the job done.
Managing the team, handling the entire project, and ensuring success can be difficult. Here are a few things that can help you improve your project management capabilities. It can also help you achieve milestones and goals.
Knowing the tools that you need to succeed with outsourcing your application is important.
#1 Project Management
Managing the entire project is very important when you are working with an offshore development team. However, if you don’t have the entire thing streamlined, you might find it to be tedious. That’s why you must work through the project management strategies and effectively manage them.
#2 Defining the Milestones and Goals
The first step to effective outsourcing is defining the goals and milestones for the job that you are conducting. What are some of the short-term and long-term goals you wish to achieve with this project?
Secondly, when do you wish to achieve the completed project? Are you planning to divide the entire project into smaller milestones? When you are thinking about achieving goals and milestones, you must understand what to expect from the team.
Smaller tasks are easier to achieve as compared to a huge chunk of work. It is a good idea to break down your entire project for better management.
#3 Implement Agile
Agility is a great way to grow your business. it can also help in succeeding with the project management work. That’s why you must implement agile methodology in your project management.
You can work on small iterations, conclude it, and move to the next part. When you work on smaller bits, you can resolve the issues faster and implement the whole project successfully.
#4 Defining the Metrics
The key to successful project management also lies in determining the metrics. This can help achieve the rightful success. You can easily measure the project movements, know if there is a slack, and conclude accordingly.
That’s why metrics are a project manager’s best friend. They help monitor issues, resolve bottlenecks, and gain complete outcomes.
Agile vs. Waterfall: Selecting the Right Approach
If you have been struggling to identify the best approach for your upcoming project, we have your back. Here’s the basic difference between Agile and Waterfall.
| Agile Methodology | Waterfall Methodology |
| The software development lifecycle is divided into smaller sprints. | The software development is divided into proper phases. |
| It is a flexible and adaptable methodology. | Waterfall is rigid and doesn’t adjust to the changing software requirements. |
| You can always introduce new changes to the project despite freezing the requirements. | You cannot change the software needs or add to the scope with this methodology. |
| It breaks down the development process into smaller iterations, which can easily help build the solution. | As the project is divided into different phases, you can release the model only after all the phases are over. |
| In this case, the testing process works alongside development. | The testing phase begins at the end of the development phase. |
| This method works best in collaborative environments. | You can easily use this in silos. |
The Future of Offshore Technical Teams
Offshore technical teams are the future of software development. Whether it is the need for competitive pricing or better quality, most companies rely on their offshore partners. They can easily offer a reliable solution in the timeline defined. Moreover, the offshore team will help improve the business’ productivity which can help them stay competitive in the niche. However, to ensure that the teams can offer the required solutions, businesses must adopt a proper management process.
You should tighten the budget, work on the scope, and define the team. Best Remote Team can help you identify the right team, and hire dedicated offshore developers. We engage with the right models and take your tech needs to the next best level.
If you are looking for the best offshore technical team to partner for your upcoming project, connect with us.
