Five Offshore Development Best Practices

You have a skilled set of developers but you still want to hire some more. What if, you get a bunch at half price and with additional skill-set? You hire them, make them work when you require, ask them to train existing developers and make them work on additional technologies. Give them deadlines and they will be on their toes.

Offshoring developers to complement the in-house development teams complete the task assigned to them in addition to finding out the best possible solution to the problem in hand. They can be fully integrated with the internal development team, working on the same projects or they could be dedicated to sustaining engineering tasks like helping QA team to fix bugs and defects in code. Give them the task and they will align themselves accordingly.

In-house developers often imbibe certain preconceived notions, about off-shore developers and often perceive them a threat to their core jobs. Well, this should not be taken this way. Offshore team is often involved to expand development talent and to amplify QA tasks sometimes. This diversification of talent helps in streamlining the efforts. So are you doing something to develop that culture between onshore and offshore teams? What methods are you adopting to develop and sustain the communication between the two?

Explain the swiftness of your culture

During onboarding, offshore developer make sure that you explain your organization’s culture, values and prevalent practices to the newbie so that he gets to smell the same coffee as everyone else in the in-house development team does.

Give them Real Problems

Make them know that they matter. Give them the value they need and they will outshine even the most valued in-house developers. Assign them important tasks, so that they stay motivated and quality of work always pitches high.

Allow them to Make Independent Decisions

Give them the power and you can test them in adversity. Make them take important independent decisions and they will feel motivated to deliver high-quality results.

Business and Technology Cannot Be Demarcated

If they want to say anything for your business, listen carefully and act early. It might do the trick and can ease out the delivery process. They are the ones who see your product inside out every day and thus you won’t be able to spot issues with them.

As soon as you accept that the offshore team is your own, they will adapt to the way you want them to. They need to know that they are as important to them as your other in-house developers. And once, they realize this, the quality of their work will skyrocket which will eventually help you!

Start Questioning During the Hiring Process

Hire a developer who lives up to your expectations maintains a healthy work relationship:

Slow Down

• Don’t rush to fill a position if it means setting someone up for failure
• If you have your doubts about a candidate, listen to those doubts

Communicate

• Set expectations up front, and give clear and consistent feedback

Act Early

• It is often apparent very early that something isn’t right. Make changes as soon as possible.

Help them lend well

• It will reflect well on your company and help you sleep

Winding Up: Raise the Communication Barrier

Communications of any type (verbal or written) take place asynchronously and must not be intrusive of individual’s time. They can take place on a daily or hourly basis. In crux, if an offshore development team has struggled to make its mark and reach its potential, few of the above steps can help you achieve luck.

Here are some of the steps you must take to ensure good communication:

• Start early and ask voraciously during the hiring process. It is going to be a one-time affair, so ask as many questions as required and make the interview happen at various levels.
• Once the written and verbal rounds are done, a face to face interaction must be considered if feasible. In other cases, a video call will illustrate some traits further.