In our last discussion, we had a look at the present scenario of distributed teams, its advantages, and why business organizations are embracing this business model in order to make their processes more efficient rather than following the traditional process of software development outsourcing. Today, we will create the war: Software development outsourcing vs a distributed workforce to know the truth!

Also, as you are very well aware that distributed team management is very different from software development outsourcing, the next step in the sequence is the obvious question of how to hire and manage distributed resources. This blog is going to make you understand each option via Software development outsourcing vs a distributed workforce war!

Well, before we delve into that it shall be worthwhile if we have a look at some of the misconceptions associated with remote development teams. It is better you are clear on these so that there is no confusion. If you want to hire a distributed workforce for your developmental needs in place of software development outsourcing, the following should be of interest to you.

Know the myths before we start the Software development outsourcing vs a distributed workforce war!

Software development outsourcing vs a distributed workforce: Remote development teams are a passing fad

There could be nothing which is further from the truth. The big IT vendor Dell, which has over $60 billions in annual revenue is working on ways to bring half of its workforce under the remote worker category so that they can work from remote locations.

Also, UBS has a large part of its workforce working as a part of a distributed model of workforce development. Lastly you might be surprised to know that Github has almost two-thirds of its workforce on the remote payroll list. Well, none of the above mentioned above are in favour of software development outsourcing.

Software development outsourcing vs a distributed workforce: Domestic developers are better than offshore developers

Well, this is probably the most amusing of the lot. Is it possible that technical excellence is confined to just one geographical area in a certain continent in a certain country. There is every probability of getting a good developer in any place of the world, whether India, Israel, USA or Kenya for that matter.

A good developer earns his technical prowess based on a high level of commitment to technical processes which includes software programming languages and associated areas of technology. This is followed by continuous and ongoing education about technological platforms and their possible applications. Hence, a top level developer shall be one who has followed this technical path rather than one who can be accredited to be so based on just his nationality.

Software development outsourcing vs a distributed workforce: Time zone and cultural differences may create a problem

Well, there is a probability here that there might be some minor differences but that can be easily taken care of during the hiring process itself. As you shall not be going for software development outsourcing, you shall be exposed to a work force coming from diverse cultural backgrounds but what should actually concern you more is the fact whether they possess the right work ethics and attitude.

There might be some issues in the language front, but ask yourself — do you really need Shakespeare to do the coding for you. Shall you not be better off, if there is an extremely gifted programmer who might not be excellent with his English but is good enough so as not to be an impediment to the progress of your project.

Since you are not going to go for software development outsourcing but want to have a dedicated team at your disposal these small things might matter in the long term execution aspect of project execution but the solutions are easy to come across.

As far as time zone differences are concerned, instead of it being an impediment in project execution this can be made to work to your advantage provided you can distribute work accordingly within your team members. If work is so distributed within your distributed team such that there is an overlap of a couple of hours between certain members, it ensures that your project activity is progressing at a rate of 24/7. This adds to the efficiency and effectiveness of the overall project activity. Well, what more can you ask for? So, going for a distributed workforce in place of software development outsourcing does make perfect sense.

Software development outsourcing vs a distributed workforce: We can be a part of your distributed team

As you have been briefed about the salient features of having a distributed workforce, it might be of some use to you to know that our organisation has been a part of this business model for long. As you are not looking for software development outsourcing process, we can be just the right fit for each other by leveraging on the professional experience we both have acquired over time.

This blogpost shall give you an idea about what we can offer our partners with whom we engage in the distributed workforce model.

Software development outsourcing vs a distributed workforce

Software development outsourcing vs a distributed workforce: Manage remote team

Prior to the signing off, we ensure that you and me shall be spending some time into establishing effective channels of communication so that all members of the team are in the same page at any point of time. This is all the more important as we shall be working far away from you and not face to face. Our experience over the years has shown that it fosters healthy professional engagements which automatically translates into excellent project activity. This aspect is very vital as it needs a much higher level of engagement as compared to software development outsourcing.

Software development outsourcing vs a distributed workforce: Adoption of standard project management practices

We have adopted the scrum agile project management process since it helps inculcate a culture of honesty and accountability and also ensures a high level of productivity. Since we shall be separated by geography it is essential that you should know the exact status of each work activity. We use Jira, Docker and have our customized scrum management tool in order to track project progress.

Software development outsourcing vs a distributed workforce: Accountability

As you are looking for us to be a part of your distributed team and not for software development outsourcing purposes we take it as our responsibility to update you once a week on the progress of the scheduled project activity. This is done by engaging in weekly conference calls and we use Slack, Skype so that we can be in real time communication with each other.

Well, it has been our endeavour to emphasise upon you our credibility as reliable partners whom you can bank upon as members of your distributed team since you shall not be looking for software development outsourcing. We have a whole bunch of experts proficient in different areas of technology who can take care of all your technical needs.

All you need to do is to drop a mail below and our team of experts shall get in touch with you so as to understand your requirements. Just like you, we are also looking for partnerships to follow the distributed workforce model since you favour this model as compared to software development outsourcing.

Please drop your feedback on our Software development outsourcing vs a distributed workforce blog, comments below so that we can have more interactive engagements.