Software development outsourcing exists to make business leaders and employees’ lives easier. Thanks to your outside development team, your in-house team can focus on core business tasks and work more quickly and efficiently, improving turnaround times and the overall quality of the technology you produce.
But before you begin work with your software development company, it is important to onboard each team member. How else will your new team members understand your expectations and become fully up to date on your processes?
Some aspects of the onboarding process will look similar to when you hire a new employee, but many elements are different. But in any case, onboarding demands careful attention. Here’s your guide for getting your new development team up to speed quickly.
Preparing for Onboarding
Before you begin onboarding your new remote developers, you will need to take some steps to prepare ahead of time. This will make the process easier and less time consuming. It will also set both your employees and the external team up for success in the longer term.
Assessing Your Needs
Start by identifying the specific technical skills and expertise required for the project, as well as the general qualifications this task demands. This is a step you would take with any new employees—you begin by considering what particular qualifications you are looking for.
Consider soft skills that are must-haves for all members of your team, such as strong communication, problem-solving, collaboration, and critical thinking skills, along with the necessary hard or technical skills.
This involves a few factors, including the skill sets of your in-house developers, the complexity and size of the project, and what gaps exist. You will need to fill in those gaps with the expertise of your external team.
Additionally, consider the size and structure of the team. What specific roles are you looking for? That is, is it only developers you’re looking for, or do you require other roles, such as quality assurance (QA) engineers and user experience (UX) designers?
Additionally, do you need an independently functioning unit, or are you looking for professionals who will work together with your team members? It is possible to utilize a hybrid model, too—that’s different types of software development outsourcing, such as staff augmentation and delivery teams, contributing to one project. This is important for selecting your software vendor in the first place—and it will play a critical role in setting up your development environment and team up for success.
Selecting the Right Partner
It is essential to choose the right development team to partner with your business. This is a collaborative process, whether or not your in-house team members and the outside professionals are directly working together side by side.
Technical expertise is the starting point, of course, but there are other factors to consider, such as experience in your industry and niche, client testimonials and referrals, and reviews. Research your prospective partner thoroughly so that you can better evaluate their fit and qualifications. There are plenty of third-party resources available to assist as well, such as Clutch.
Interviews are also an important part of the process—they will help you evaluate the cultural fit of the potential partner. Then, taking all these factors into account, perform a careful review of each prospective vendor, before determining which one is the best fit for your organization.
Establishing Clear Expectations
After you have selected the right vendor for the job, begin planning out the partnership in greater detail.
Before the project kicks off, you need to establish clear objectives and expectations for the team and project. Along with relevant technical guidelines, you should define project goals, timelines, and key deliverables. Go over all of these guidelines in detail with the provider and ensure understanding.
You should also discuss expectations regarding the communication channels you will use, work hours, and procedures for reporting. This will prove important as you progress through the initiative and need to touch base.
Preparing Internal Teams
You should also prepare your internal team for the partnership. Bear in mind that there may be some resistance so you need to tread carefully. Fully describe the rationale behind the decision, and make it clear that your internal team will be involved and is not being replaced.
Of course, any internal stakeholders should be involved in the onboarding process, as well as be informed about their roles and responsibilities.
It is helpful to assign a dedicated project manager to oversee the outsourced team and act as a point of contact for your partner team. This person should be a liaison between the two teams, as well as the one to communicate any important issues or feedback.
Onboarding the Outsourced Team
Like any onboarding process, remote onboarding of the outsourced team requires building trust and rapport. Because the outside organization will be working closely with your internal team, start by facilitating introductions between the internal and outsourced professionals.
In order to foster collaboration and connections between the two teams, you might organize team-building activities, which encourage all professionals to bond and work together more congenially and effectively. Of course, this will all need to happen remotely, so brainstorm icebreakers that you can conduct over a video conferencing platform or another communication tool.
Knowledge Transfer
Knowledge transfer is a critical component of the onboarding process for every team member. They need to be informed about all the details of the project and your requirements. To get your outside team members up to speed, share all essential project documentation, including information like technical specifications, user stories, and design assets.
Additionally, you should conduct training sessions to ensure that the outsourced team understands all the project requirements and the tools and technologies that they will be using to complete the project. Both sets of teams may need to be involved in these training sessions, especially if these are relatively new platforms for your organization.
Setting Up Communication Channels
A successful partnership and project demands solid communication tools and techniques. You may be dealing with a time zone difference, so coordination is paramount.
Determine how your working hours align. You may be in different time zones, so coordinate together about how you will navigate this. You should have regular meetings and status updates at a time that makes sense for both partners. Additionally, establish communication tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and/or Skype to have multiple modes and methods of getting in touch and updating each other.
Integration with Project Management Tools
Project management tools are integral to your project’s success. Every team member—including the outsourced ones—should have access to your project management tools and systems, such as Jira, Trello, or Asana.
It is important to make your outsourced team aware of any procedures and processes you have in place regarding these tools. You should also provide ample training to ensure that your new team members understand the platforms and are up to speed.
Monitoring Progress and Performance
Even after the onboarding process is complete, you must continue to track and monitor progress and performance. This requires careful oversight, along with the following steps. Remember that these steps are not one-offs—they are continuous.
Tracking Milestones and Deliverables
Before beginning the project, establish a system for tracking the progress of the outsourced team. It is helpful to designate a specific platform for viewing progress, such as a kanban board, where you can visualize each team member’s roles and responsibilities.
Along with tracking and evaluating overall progress, you should set clear milestones, benchmarks, and deliverables. This will help you measure the overall performance of the team and ensure that you are making headway toward completing the project.
Providing Regular Feedback
In any business context, feedback is important not only for the overall success of the project but also for the growth of each professional. While you are unlikely to see these professionals in person, given that they are remote developers for the most part, you can still offer commentary on their performance and progress. Make time to deliver both constructive criticism and positive feedback to the remote team—this is how they will understand your expectations and take strides to meet them.
In general, it is important to encourage open communication. There should be an ongoing dialogue about performance and expectations so everyone is aligned.
Addressing Challenges and Issues
Inevitably, problems do arise during the software development process. You’ve probably experienced challenges with your in-house professionals, and they can occur with outsourced, remote developers as well.
What is most important is that you have a process in place to identify and resolve any issues that do arise over the course of the project. You don’t want your team to be caught of guard by obstacles that present themselves.
Work with your provider to establish a process for catching problems before they escalate and interfere with your project. Frequent check-ins will certainly help. Additionally, you should designate a point of contact on each time to communicate challenges and feedback. There should always be an open line of communication with the outsourcing partner to address concerns along the way.
Evaluating and Adjusting the Onboarding Process
Your onboarding process will require constant attention, evaluation, and adjustment. Circumstances change, in-house employees may come and go, new hires join the team, and so on. That’s why you need to stay on top of your procedures, including onboarding. It’s important to assess and reassess so that your onboarding process continues to align with your company’s values and stays up to date.
Conducting Periodic Reviews
It is important to conduct periodic reviews of your onboarding process. Set up a schedule with incremental reviews. The regularity of these reviews should depend on factors like how often you work with outside teams.
As part of this process, solicit feedback from both internal stakeholders, including your own employees, and the external team. They can offer you ideas about how to improve your onboarding process, as well as give you their thoughts on what’s working and what’s not. Based on this feedback, you can make adjustments to the procedures that will improve them and make your relationships with outside vendors even stronger.
Implementing Changes and Improvements
This feedback will prove instrumental when you’re working with any new developers and professionals, whether they are full-time, internal employees or outsourced team members. As you review comments from your stakeholders, pay particular attention to those that are coming up frequently.
Make sure to continuously refine the process to guarantee optimal collaboration and productivity. This will serve you well not just for onboarding but for the entire partnership between you and your outsourced team.
Final Thoughts
Onboarding outsourced tech professionals demands careful consideration and attention. It’s important to establish a good relationship between your internal and external team members and ensure that everyone is up to speed. This is how you can make certain you hit the ground running and carry out your project successfully—as well as establish a positive collaboration for the future.
FAQ
How can I ensure a smooth onboarding process for outsourced software development teams?
To ensure a smooth onboarding process for outsourced dedicated development teams, you should establish clear expectations and communication channels and deliver feedback regularly. You should also set up platforms and tools to assist with the process, as well as make time to touch base with all stakeholders.
What support do outsourced developers need vs an in-house team?
When considering outsourced developers vs in-house teams, it’s important to note that outsourced developers often require support that may not be needed for in-house teams. As you’ll be working with a remote team, it’s crucial to provide communication channels and designated points of contact. Any additional concerns or needs should be addressed upfront before the commencement of the project.
What are some best practices for integrating a remote team into my existing team?
It’s important to integrate a remote team into your existing team to boost collaboration and teamwork. Some ideas for doing so include having team-building activities, sharing project management tools, and ensuring that you are always in communication with your partner team.
How do I monitor the progress and performance of an outsourced software development company?
To monitor the progress and performance of an outsourced software development company, it’s helpful to establish and track milestones and deliverables, provide regular feedback to the outside team, and always address challenges and issues as soon as they arise.
