Partnering up with an outsourcing provider is a great idea, and we have discussed this particular topic many times, often talking about the undeniable benefits of outsourcing and working with nearshore developers.
However, there’s one big problem when it comes to these kinds of collaborations between a company and an outsourcing provider, and that’s miscommunication, an issue that happens more often that we would like to admit.
Now, miscommunication often occurs due to companies not knowing how to handle or what to expect from collaborating with a third party and outsourcing such a big task as software development.
So, in behalf of all the outsourcing providers, nearshore developers and teams, here are the top things your own software development partner won’t say, but wish you knew.
Developing a software is not a linear task
In most companies, people are used to follow a linear curse of action that lead to an almost immediate result, however, when developing a software this doesn’t apply, since the process of creating, developing and testing a software is far away from this method.
Creating a software does follow a regular workflow, but said process often has problems or setbacks that require the team to follow a different road, and ultimately change their course of plans.
As a company it is important for you to realize creating a software is somewhat of an irregular process that doesn’t follow a linear course of events, but it’s rather split into different pieces with different people within the team working on each piece.
It is not easy to give you an exact cost for the whole project
We have also talked about this and touched on the subject of how much does a software development process really costs, and if you’ve read that, you know how complicated it is to calculate any software development project.
You see, as much as your outsourcing provider would love to give you a clear answer for the start, chances are they can’t. They have to look at the scope of your project, analize it, really know what you want and plan out how they’re going to handle it to then start calculating an approximated cost range.
It is likely your provider won’t commit to an exact price from the start, but would rather give you a run down on everything that will take to tackle down your project and all the investments involved.
The point is, do not expect extremely specific and final price costs from the beginning, because you won’t get them. Once you and your provider have discussed all the aspects of the project and deeply analyze it, then you can expect to receive a fixed price for the project.
Calm down, this takes time
Have you ever heard the phrase “Rome wasn’t built in a day”? Well, that’s the exact same case with software development. Of course you want a quick, effective solution delivered to you right away, but “quick” and “effective” really don’t go together.
Your software development partner won’t say this to you outloud, but nothing good ever comes from rushing things. Like we said, developing a software takes time, and your outsourcing team needs this time to deliver a great product.
This is a combined work
Outsourcing your software development process doesn’t mean your partner is 100% responsible for how the final product turns out. As a company, YOU have to be completely involved in the process from start to finish.
Being involved is so much more than just discussing the requirements and go, it’s about constantly checking up the project, monitoring how things are going, communicating any issue, giving useful feedbacks. Work alongside your provider and they’ll deliver an ever greater product.
Including more people into the project won’t make things go faster
Companies seem to believe that involving more software engineers and developers to the project will make things go faster, and that’s not true, if anything, it can slow down and set back the whole process.
Instead of bothering your partner by requesting them to include more people in a project that has already started and potentially decrease the efficiency rate, allow them to work at their own pace and follow the itinerary you both probably discussed at the beginning of your collaboration.
The key to a healthy relationship between you and your software development partner relies on healthy communication and on you understanding all the hard work that go behind creating a software, as long as you do that, you should be fine!
