Dedicated Development Team: 5 Key Factors to Make a Right Choice

Dedicated development team might become considerable part of your main team. Therefore, it may become an essential part of your success. If you'll hire the right team, of course.

And that's where we would like to share with you some tips from our own experience. So here are 5 key factors to make a right choice while choosing a dedicated development team.

1.Check your requirements first

Strictly define your goals and preferences. What's the point to contract a huge agency if you aim to develop a simple landing or a one-feature app with a few actions in it. Small dedicated team of developers from UpWork will totally handle this for you.

To achieve the best result you'll have to assemble a team responsible for the team selection process. Given you have the one. Even if you don't have one, it's a good idea to consult familiar to you developers, testers, PMs and team leads. This will give you all-around conception of what your project really needs, what's your approximate roadmap and, consequently, whom to hire.

What's most important, this is the point where you are able to cut the losses by figuring out rough budget and defining realistic timeframes. And now, with that numbers you can start selecting your future team.

2.Now check the team

As you've found a handful of dedicated development teams which suit you more or less, it's time to put all of them under the scope. Portfolios, experience, references, previous projects (especially failed ones) and whatever you're able to find. It's time to be detective Colombo!

To verify the experience of a dedicated team and assure yourself on their competence in desired field just check these facts: types of clients, quantity and types of projects, sector or industry of expertise and technology stack.

Conduct quick interviews to get acquainted with crucial team members, especially with devs and PMs. It is also a good idea to ask them to go through skill tests.

Also, do not be lazy and thoroughly check the reviews on them. It would be perfect for you to reach out their previous clients and ask about some feedback.

3.Clear communication is #1 priority

First (and the most obvious one) point is to check the ability of a dedicated team to be online whenever you need it. To achieve this you have to decide on a preferred communication channel (Skype, Trello, Slack etc). And the most important point - there always has to be somebody on their side who is in control of your project. It's a good idea to appoint yourself the one from their team and get well acquainted with that person.

Second - time zone differences, language and cultural barriers. If neglected, those may cause huge obstacles in your communication. It is pretty tough to work with a team if it is already a deep night in their time zone and they have some religious holiday, isn't it? But the biggest fun begins when both of you posses average knowledge in a language of common understanding.

4.Do not chase the cheapest price

You get what you pay for, right? The guys who agree to work for $10/hour for a whole team may appear to just incompetent starters or a bunch of charlatans. Either way there is a little chance that you'll get your project done at all.

The best rule here is to find the average price on the market (duuuh...). But remember that prices differ drastically on various markets. Developer with pretty much same competence level may cost you $120/hour in the USA and $40 in Ukraine. Whom to entrust your project is up to you to decide.

5.Build relations as with your own collective

You are going to trust your whole project to these people, your success depends on them. Therefore you have to be 100% sure about them. To build a proper bridge between you and them is an essential component of any outsourcing relationship and core focus for both parties involved.

But building strong relations isn't one-moment process. Therefore, it is necessary to start this process even before your first meeting. Get prepared by developing detailed roadmap, making your demands clear yet strict and be as frank as you can. Make those people trust you, so you could trust them.

Author - Alex Volski:

I'm a content writer at Thinkmobiles for 5 years, with PM experience in the past. From my own experience I'm pretty familiar to cooperation with dedicated teams. And now I'm happy to share this experience. If you'd like to get some additional info - please contact me. And if you have something interesting - contact me ASAP. Hope to hear from you soon.