We bet you know these yellow guy who is a true Gru’s servant. In fact, we are deeply impressed by Gru’s ability to manage more than a million (!!!) of employees. So for that article we’d like to discuss not the issue of coding or estimating, but more intangible thing – management.
Having a remote development team can seem scary at first sight, but why is there so much around building a dedicated team? Perhaps, companies that feel okay with their remote teams exist
Where is the fail?
We won’t pool the wool over your eyes telling that a remote team is a sweet pill that will solve all your problems in a moment. That’s a smart way chosen by both small and large companies aimed to optimize the development costs together with the product quality improvement.
Frankly speaking, only 40% of the software projects meet schedule, budget and quality level (report by MNC). Another 60% turn to be a damp squib. Let’s face it: every second project has numerous difficulties at development stage that cause missed deadlines, unnecessary features, bugs, team’s stress, unhappy customers and wasted money as a result. But wait, don’t quit the article since we’re going to share tips and tricks to make your outsourcing experience a dream.
Outsourcing providers usually do their best to assist their customers choose skilled development team, provide them with all necessary stuff and very often here the matter drops.
Technical skills test is not a challenge provided you have an expert to evaluate the candidate. So all other factors held equal we’ll discuss the aspects that put outsourcing into effect.
Poor communication – Leading reason for fail
Our customers (both development teams and their clients) often request us after having negative outsourcing experience being sure we’ll deliver working solutions. But often they eager to realize why it didn’t work or how to make the most of it.
So let’s set the record straight. The graph below describes customer satisfaction fluctuations.
- As you can see the first interval in green is when you start a project. Here your customers are fulfilled with positive expectations and sweet promises your sales department has previously fed them with. During the first iteration everything goes smoothly, no worries both for the team and customer.
- The second interval which is red you can see a case that 80% of customers face: their remote team underperforms, has missed the first deadline or whatever. Here your rose-coloured glasses crash and you as a customer think that is how your collaboration will look like: constant troubles and extra expenses.
- Finally, a third part in green is when a development team does their best to overcome such crisis and improve your experience for the level that exceeds Normal.
As soon as everything goes ok, pay more attention to each other to avoid the red line. Now we have a question:
“Why do teams fail to provide proper customer care to avoid frustration?”
Many clients think that once they’ve hired an outsourcing provider they can leave the team to their fate. The results reveal the opposite. It turns that having necessary skills, expertise and knowledge is not a 100% guarantee for successful collaboration. A development team is a not a watchwork, it needs to be properly managed for high-quality performance.
So let’s take to pieces “all that aspects” that make up a communication process.
Is your dedicated team really dedicated?
Talking about delivering projects on time and budget is one story. It’s about your team’s skills and competence. But your team’s motivation and professionalism is completely another side.
The first essential step is to take you outsourced team as a part of your in-house employees. They have to feel they make a difference for your company. The vital moment of setting up a dedicated team is during the first 2 weeks of your collaboration. You need to be very patient, involved and inspiring during these period, by keeping the following points:
- Share your company’s objectives
Put yourself into your developers’ shoes. Coding is not very engaging exercise. Provide them with a wide view of your business goals. This helps your team to feel a part of something greater and learn that your success depends on their efficiency.
- Respect and appreciate your team /li>
Lower wages of your remote team don’t mean they are less professional. We do really believe that the core reason you hired them are competence and skills, didn’t you? They are just the same part of your company as the rest, so it would be nice if you ask for their opinion, share your ideas and consult for any improvements for the project. It works best when your remote team feels responsibility for implementing vital for your projects features. Give them such opportunity. Together with being extreme coding professionals they’ll feel as a valuable and contributing part of your success.
- Provide with all necessary infrastructure
Some outsourcing providers fail to provide a QA team with 15 models of modern smartphones, for example. So do your best to make sure your team has all necessary tools, equipment,l licensed software or security solutions if you appreciate your data to be protected.
- Respect their time
Managing a dedicated team is a challenge in some cases. First of all when you set up a team be sure to mention all your expectations in an SLA (Service Level Agreement). Be very attentive to details: deadlines, notifications on development progress, time for feedback, types for prioritized tasks, overtimes. Such approach will only bring structured understanding of your expectations and ways for better communication.
- Project management tools: Make the most of them
Use project management cloud services to track timing and tasks’ assignments. For simple tracking you can use Google services (calendars, spreadsheets, chats etc) that are free, simple and reliable. They are convenient also due their availability via smartphones and tablets. If you don’t use Elance tracking tools for your project but need detailed reports, try Jira, Redmine for traditional tracking or make use of Kanban boards for more Agile-oriented approach. For more complex tracking solutions overview keep updated with our blog.
Are you ready to get involved?
Well, let’s assume you’ve hired a highly-motivated team, what’s next?
Do you really believe that after you have provided a specification document for development you’re done? No. That’s where everything begins. Remember that the most important period is setting up a team during the first 2 weeks. That’s your responsibility to put these people work together.
Managers provided by your outsourcing provider can assist you, but you’re the leader, anyway you slice it. Frustration happens to both sides, so let’s consider which ways you can involve your team by involving yourself?
- Take active part in recruitment
Some customers prefer to delegate this function to their deputies in order not to waste time. But wait, we are talking about your future employees! It is not mandatory, but many executives take part in teams’ selection to match their project needs. Remember, no one but you knows best all the aspects of your project and concept. Moreover you have high chances to inspire and “hook” the best candidates with your enthusiasm! So do your best as a CEO to avoid frustration.
- Get involved into the process
Once you decide to invest money to your outsourced team, try to invest your time as well. Your team will be definitely inspired if you pay great attention to them and take part in status calls, video conferences and keep a close eye on email correspondence according the project. It comes vital talking about project features and especially design. Make sure you did everything possible as a customer that your ideas are correctly interpreted to the team. Here all visual services, screenshots and even pencil mockups can be of assistance. Just keep your eyes at the ball.
- Organize knowledge transfer
You can tell how inspired our teams get after visiting companies they work for. But if we leave emotions aside, that’s a very effective method to bring your company and your outsourced team closer. If you have an opportunity to travel and visit your team or invite them to visit your HQ, we recommend to do so at an early stage or even BEFORE the development starts. This way you’ll just speed up the process of getting to know each other, your corporate culture and beef up relations between the teams.
Communication
That is where the real kicker is. Managing people to work together is hell of a challenge. After you have successfully chosen the country, company and candidate, that is where the most interesting thing begins.
- Get your team work together
You outsource to a company with a different corporate and organizational structure. All around you have to bring your existing and outsourced teams together. If you’ve chosen a provider where it’s uncommon for developers to communicate directly with the client, there’s no way you can increase the team spirit. Otherwise you get a chance to work close with outsourced team, so do not neglect such an opportunity.
- Provide detailed feedbacks
Uh, feedbacks. That’s a sore issue for the majority of customers.
Weather your team failed or succeeded your feedback is a must. The sooner the better. If your team has done something great – go and shout about it from the top of the roof! Opposite, if your team underperforms, provide guys with detailed explanation, supported by facts on what exactly you didn’t appreciate. And that’s just a part of a story. Your dissatisfaction should be followed by constructive list of points you’d like to change and how you like the process to look like. That regards both communication and development process. We practice to get feedback from customers within 24 hours to optimize the process and not waste their money. To be on a safe side. just include the points according your and your team’s feedback as a special part for SLA agreement.
- Work done, have fun
Remember that your dedicated team very often has a different time zone, so when you start your computer they might be in a deep sleep. Why should they sacrifice their personal time? So schedule the process the way it could work for both sides. Your midnight call won’t make their day. Arrange some email exchange process with various indicators revealing how fast you like to get the reply. Another idea is to have an agreement of requirements for each day so that your team has an idea of your expectation on their performance. For more advanced methods of remote team management keep up to our blog.
Inspire, Communicate and Control
Let’s say these are three pillars outsourcing leans on. The vast majority of development staff from EE countries are highly-skilled engineers who can not only write the code but contribute to project they work at. And the success factor in most cases lies between you and your team which is called communication.
Remember:
Lack of communication causes frustration. Frustration leads to stress, stress causes absenteeism and that is a dead end. You’ll get missed deadlines, unhappy staff and a hole in your budget.
Just remember to communicate with your team and they’ll be fine. So as you.
And for those who would like to “taste” the cream of working with remote dedicated team most cost-effective way, please address directly. so that we could offer you an appropriate solution. Our customers have already experienced the value we bring to their projects. We not only select teams, but we work together with you up to the launch of your product, helping solve communication issues and nerves.
