The Right Way To Manage Your Dedicated Software Development Team

Most of the time, a dedicated software development team is a goldmine for growing your IT team of experienced software engineers, especially in industries that require constant technology updates like banks. Yet, given the limitation of distributed communication, managing such resources might be difficult.

Learn more: How to Build a Dedicated Software Development Team for Banks

If you’ve found your way here, chances are you’re undoubtedly seeking tips and best practices for supervising your dedicated software development team. As a business that has delivered numerous dedicated IT teams for global enterprises, we want to share our tried-and-tested tips that have helped our consumers run their dedicated software development teams. 

Communicate the expectations clearly 

It’s impractical for your dedicated software development team to stay committed if they have no clue about the goals and why. Failure to set clear expectations can cause your dedicated software team great confusion. You can also risk losing control of the project. 

As a manager, it’s your responsibility to offer ‘’supportive autonomy’’ that is compatible with each team member’s degree of capability. It means you give your team adequate directions to accomplish a task without micromanaging them.

To do this, you must first clearly define your app’s vision. You would need to determine the objectives, target audience, and features of your project in three main sectors: 

Laying out app requirements allows you to estimate the time and resources required for your project. In turn, the outsourced team can establish their own objectives more efficiently. 

It’s also crucial to write down the dedicated software team’s goals and expectations, preferably in the form of a signed contract to refer to in the event of disputes or misunderstandings.

There are three vital signed contracts when collaborating with dedicated teams

1. A non-disclosure agreement (NDA)

This document prohibits the dedicated software development team from disclosing sensitive information they’ve acquired during the project - this aids in safeguarding trade secrets and intellectual properties.

It’s also highly recommended that you sign an NDA as early as the consultation stage. Doing so can ensure that the agency won’t leak your app concept even if you decide not to cooperate with them. 

2. Statement of work (SOW)

The SOW contains a thorough plan of the project’s scope, deliverables, timetables, and payment schedules. Here is how to create the SOW, as per Relevant. 

3. Master Service Agreement (MSA)

MSA might be a great alternative if you plan to establish long-term relationships with your dedicated development team. The contract outlines the terms and conditions on which both parties will work together. 

The difference between MSA and other agreements like SOW or NDA is that it is intended for repeated collaboration instead of one-off contracts. If you’ve found a suitable IT vendor that you wish to collaborate with for an extended period, MSA can speed up the ratification of subsequent agreements by establishing a framework that constructs the foundation for all future collaboration

Read more: 15+ Best Practices for Hiring and Managing a Dedicated Software Development Team.

Build a reporting system

A reporting system should be executed when working with any dedicated software team. It keeps you informed while allowing your team the room and independence needed to complete their jobs. 

Additionally, this prevents micromanagement which can negatively affect your team’s performance. 

Not to mention that micromanagement is an enormous waste of your resources. Time monitoring your dedicated software team could be used more effectively elsewhere.

We get it, though. Many customers are accustomed to seeing their employees at work. Having a remote dedicated software development team means they can’t see what the external team is doing, prompting trust issues and promoting micromanagement. 

By defining a specific timeline for providing frequent updates, the reporting system removes these issues. 

Dedicated software development teams that implement Agile methodology usually have daily meetings with clients to keep them in the project loops. They can also provide in-depth reporting with an app review or prototype demo after the end of each sprint session. Customer feedback will then be integrated into the next iteration. This system enables clients to have complete control over their apps without feeling the need for micromanagement. 

Note that this is just an illustration. You can establish and adjust the reporting protocol and frequency to best suit your situation. The main point is to set up these as soon as possible.

Adopt project management templates 

Having proper project management templates make it easier to outline an action plan, track the project's duration, and manage your team's workload capacity. 

Efficient templates include:

• Agile Project Plan Template: You can employ this feature-focused template to estimate the duration of developing features along with brief description concerning the delivery method. 
  
  
• Capacity Planning Template: This template gives you a ''broad picture'' of the capacity required for the entire project and enables you to plan the productivity of the team members, daily meeting, the number of demos, etc.
  
  
• Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) Template: The plan allows product teams to determine which items to prioritize on the product backlog
  
  
• Team and Technical Agility (TTA) Template: The assessment report offers a visualization that illustrates the team's strengths and weaknesses under three dimensions (Agile Teams, Built-in Quality, and Team of Agile Teams) and multiple sub-dimension

Show your dedicated software development team some support

Instead of micromanaging your outsourced team, you should strive to empower them. 

As your team is given the space and freedom to make decisions and resolve issues independently, in the long run, this strategy can result in higher quality apps as you get more perspectives on your products. 

Don’t feel shy about asking your dedicated software development team what support they require from you to perform at their best. For the most part, you’ll discover that it doesn’t need much from your end to assist your remote team. It’s crucial that they feel confident in their ability to complete the task. 

Maintain frequent and effective communication with your dedicated software development team

Since the dedicated software development team works remotely, communication is an essential yet challenging factor.

After all, meeting and cooperation in a physical workplace have been the norm for many years. Straying from that demands a renovation of communication procedures. 

For effective communication, you should start investing in asynchronous and synchronous collaboration tools.

Synchronous (or real-time) communication is perfect for time-sensitive tasks, brainstorming sessions, and routine team meetings. In such cases, video conferencing and messaging platforms like Zoom and Slack are suggested.

Asynchronous communication, on the other hand, is an ideal method for most daily tasks. They’re excellent for making notes, giving guidance, and sharing files with the team. 

There are several techniques to encourage productive communication among your dedicated software development team. Here are a few examples: 

In a remote team setting, it’s best to send brief, precise, and on point messages with sufficient information for the receiver to understand it correctly. 

Cultural differences are another element that can hamper effective communication. Even though your dedicated software development team can communicate in English, specific nuances in the language can cause misunderstandings.

Managing your dedicated development the right way

Managing an outsourced development team can be challenging and daunting. Here at KMS Solutions, our dedicated software development team models are designed to quickly adapt to suit your needs. We always go the extra mile to assist you in integrating outsourcing developers into your company culture and fostering strong relationships between you and the dedicated team.