When you are exploring the world of offshoring, one of the first sights you get is the lower costs and unique possibilities. The potential of finding qualified professionals that can make your business soar in no time is exciting. However, soon you realize there are some things that you need to watch out for. These are like the stumbling blocks of offshoring that make many businesses fail with their offshoring dreams. You do not want to be among these for sure. The purpose of this article is to provide an outline of the top 3 offshore software development team mistakes. It also suggests some solutions that might help overcome this obstacle. Let’s see all these perspectives.
3 Mistakes That Off-Shore Development Teams Make
Communication Issues That Can Upset the Company’s Applecart
Communication is one of the most crucial aspects of a team. If a company has communication issues with an offshoring development team, all sorts of problems can arise.
Misunderstandings about deadlines and project results and a lack of shared vision of the tasks can wreak chaos in the relationship with your offshoring software team.
What’s causing communication issues? The cause might vary. Cultural and time zone differences and the lack of shared space and supervision are not making this easier.
Solution: Proactively manage your offshoring communication
From the moment you begin offshoring, you need to establish a very effective communication channel. You should have a good tool that you can use to enable you to share documents, presentations, and videos and hold video Team meetings.
But the fact you are communicating does not mean the message gets through. Make sure your team can communicate back to you what you require so you can make sure they got it. You also need to have a shared ground of rules and company culture to serve as a base on which you should find your communication and processes. Spending the precious time of your meeting tackling the ongoing issues and assigning who is in charge to act upon the decision and when it will happen. Then, after your meetings, send a document with your decision to all participants, so they are all aware of what will happen and when and who is the person in charge.
An excellent online project management tool will help you in the process. It can be an effective way to delegate tasks or report on issues. This will keep all team communication in one place so that everybody stays on the same page and nothing is lost. You should have a backup solution in case of a tool breakdown, but make clear this is only an emergency solution, and your daily communication stays within the tool.
Implementing these ideas will make your communication problems disappear, and you can have a more fulfilling experience with your software development team.
Lack of Shared Company Culture
When many companies start working with an offshoring team, often they fail to establish a common company culture and values. This is a recipe for disaster as both sides are not on the same page regarding crucial issues such as the company’s highest priorities, its mission, and the ways to achieve it. When your team goes into development, they cannot create a product that will match your standards and what you would like to bring to the world.
Solution: Establish a transparent company culture
Educate your offshoring software team about your values and what matters most to you. What is the nature of your business, and what do you envision the final experience of your users to be. Make sure all team members understand your mission and your vision. Do not assume they know it, but personally make sure it is so. You can choose to have a less formal gathering or individual meetings to win them on your side. You can even create virtual parties where you can play board games online as team building. This way, the collaboration is not only business and technical, but it can also be significant and creative on the human level.
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Lack of Solid Leadership for the Team
If you decide to hire an offshore software team, you, by all means, need to hire a CTO or a technical team leader for your offshoring team. If you think you can manage this role while juggling a myriad of other tasks, you are deceiving yourself and preparing for a massive failure.
Solution: Find an excellent technical team leader for your offshoring development team
An onshore or offshore team leader with an in-depth knowledge of your company, processes, and goals is a precious resource to implement within your offshoring enterprise.
A qualified team leader will establish high scan software development standards and working ethics. He will make sure all problems are solved creatively with a mutual effort. They can see that best practices are followed, and the team has a clear direction and training.
Conclusions
When hiring a software development team, you must go a step outside your country and your comfort zone. You need to make sure that all things look properly and happen smoothly. Communication, company culture, and proper leadership are crucial issues to be addressed, but they are not the only ones.
Many company owners feel overwhelmed by the number of things they need to look into, which makes them turn away from offshoring. This is why some offshoring companies have designed a kind of managed offshoring tailor-made for the customer’s needs. This is called Yourshoring, and turnkey-labs.com are pioneers in the field.
Whenever you choose offshoring or its variations, make sure you are making the most out of this fantastic possibility, and you are avoiding all the underwater rocks.
