When to Outsource Software Development
By 10Pearls editorial team
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When to Outsource Software Development: Considerations and Best Practices
In this guide, we provide you with a simple yet robust decisioning process to help you decide whether you should outsource your software development process. We leverage our over 20 years of experience as an outsourcing partner to help you determine the best way to get your project done.
Blog contents
How to decide when to outsource software development
Is your project clearly scoped?
Does your in-house team have the skills to complete it?
Does your in-house team have the bandwidth for this project?
Is this project aligned with your core competencies?
Do you have the budget to hire and train staff?
Will those staff be needed for the long term?
Are there strict time constraints?
Augment your team for faster results.
Below, we take you through each of the decision points in the flow chart above in detail.
Identify your project requirements
List the full scope of your project, including:
- Goal: The project’s final goal.
- Deadline: The final date for project completion.
- Tech stack: The platforms and systems dev teams will use.
- Timeline: The steps required to complete the project and expected completion time for each. It’s usually best to create a timeline by working backward from the deadline.
- Development skills: Specialized development skills necessary to complete the project.
- Bandwidth: Number of man-hours required to complete the project.
If you lack the skills or experience to scope your project clearly, a consultant can help. This step is crucial to help ensure you select the best tech stack, identify the skills you actually need, and develop a timeline that makes sense for your project. Missing the mark on any of these components can put your budget, timeline, and the success of your project at risk.
Once you have a clear and complete project scope, you can assess whether it’s best to complete your project in-house, augment your team, or outsource it.
Assess your in-house expertise and bandwidth
Does your team have the skills and experience required to complete the project?
To be successful, your team should have prior experience with the range of your entire tech stack and cover the full range of development skills needed to complete the project. Ideally, they will already have experience working on a similar project from start to finish, so they’ll know what roadblocks and challenges to expect.
Your team will also need to have enough available bandwidth to complete the project according to your timeline. Compare their available bandwidth to the hours required to complete your project on your timeline.
How team experience and bandwidth impact whether you should outsource:
- If your team has sufficient experience and bandwidth, your best choice is likely to keep the project in-house as long as no other competing initiatives appear on the horizon.
- If your team has the experience but needs more bandwidth to complete the project, you will need to expand your team with new in-house hires or outsourced developers.
- If your team has the bandwidth but not the experience, you can either adjust its composition or augment it to compensate for skill gaps.
- If your team has neither experience nor bandwidth, you will likely want to outsource the project as a whole or in part.
Augmenting your team with outsourced developers is an effective way to fill skill gaps. It is especially effective when only a discrete portion of the project requires specialized skills, making a full-time hire cost-prohibitive.
Fully outsourced development is a better option when a team is already at capacity or has little or none of the experience needed to complete the project. A strong outsourcing partner can help your team meet tight deadlines and keep projects on track.
Assess your budget & strategic priorities
If you need to augment your team because it lacks the skills or bandwidth – or both – you must decide whether to hire in-house developers or outsource. Your budget and strategic priorities will help you determine the best choice for your company.
Hiring developers to fill skill and bandwidth gaps is feasible if you have a budget sufficient to cover recruiting and hiring new talent, as well as onboarding, training time, and oversight. In addition, new hires must fulfill strategic medium- or long-term company needs. You also need the appropriate management experience and skill to manage, develop, and evaluate those resources.
Hiring to fill gaps is a good option when the project is a core strategic initiative for your business and will require ongoing development or maintenance. In this case, you’ll want a dedicated resource who is fully enmeshed in your team and therefore, worth the investment.
Outsourcing is a good option for limited budgets, as well as projects linked to short-term initiatives or those that lack alignment with strategic priorities. In this case, a team of developers who can start immediately and require no investment for training or oversight can help reduce the budgetary burden and keep your team focused on strategic priorities. The extent of your outsourcing will depend on how many internal resources you assign to the project and the resulting budget restrictions.
Risk vs. cost in outsourcing structures:
- Fully outsourcing to an offshore team offers the cheapest option. However, it also poses the greatest risk regarding team communication and alignment.
- Outsourcing to a nearshore team enables closer communication and collaboration with your in-house team while maintaining some cost-saving benefits.
- Augmenting your team with onshore developers with highly specialized skill sets is the best way to access those skill sets without investing in a full-time hire.
A strong outsourcing partner will work with you to find the best balance of cost, communication, and skill level. Options may include configuring a team with both offshore and nearshore resources – also known as rightshoring – to leverage the benefits of both.
Decide whether to outsource
Once you have a clear project scope and have evaluated your team, timeline, and budget, you will have a better sense of whether your team can truly handle your project in-house, or if you need to hire or otherwise augment your team in some way.
If you are considering augmenting or fully outsourcing, this is the time to explore potential partners. The right partner will have a clear understanding of your project’s scope and requirements, and can help you determine the best way forward based on your needs, in terms of budget, timeline, and skills.
10Pearls can help you determine whether to outsource your software development project
With over 20 years of experience, we have seen it all. We can help you scope your project and determine whether you should outsource some or all of it.
And if outsourcing is right for you, our outsourcing models and engagement options can provide the exact support your project needs. We have a worldwide network of top tech talent, so we can provide support and development 24/7. Our collaborative culture fosters efficient and effective communication with your internal teams.
10Pearls provides exceptional outsourcing services, providing:
- Cost and operational efficiency: Using rightshoring and agile CI/CD development, we keep your project costs low and maximize your operational efficiency.
- Innovation: We hire top global talent with expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet of Things, edge computing, cloud-native development, and other emerging tech.
- Fast delivery: Your product can reach the market faster with our global reach and efficient practices.
- Collaboration: We reduce silos and streamline communication by using transparent development practices.
