How to contract a software development company, without compromising the quality of your software project

You’ve started with an idea of a software project that you need to bring to life, improve, or you’re just looking for the best way to decrease the workload from your team of developers, and already the countless options market offers causes you headaches.
We offer our help, we’ll try to summarize all the necessary steps we suggest you undergo, during your journey of finding a reliable outsourcing partner.

Have a clear vision of what you need

Identify your priorities, needs, gaps in knowledge, and the requirements

Put everything on paper (we don’t actually mean that it’s necessary to use paper, just put everything down on the writing surface of your own preference).
And when we say everything, we mean everything.
Start by checking your (team’s) priorities and needs, identify gaps in knowledge or expertise. If you’re only starting developing the idea, be sure to have all of the requirements set upfront.

Determine what kind of team would suit your needs

Hiring a freelancer vs. contracting a software development company

So you have many options here:

• You can hire a freelancer, and there are many platforms that can help you with it, such as for instance Upwork.
  Freelancers are usually a good option for projects that have limited scope or are short-term. You’ll probably have more work to do on your own, regarding the building, organizing, and managing the team.
• If your project requires multiple domain expertise or more people to be involved, it’s usually easier to hire a team of developers from an outsourcing partner company, or simply put – contract a software development company.
  This usually costs more, but hiring a team of developers, from a software development company has many advantages. For instance, if they’re stuck, there’ll probably be someone (CTO, architects, other seniors, team leads’ and colleagues) that’ll be able to help them, so you’ll probably get a solution with higher quality. You’re collaborating with a team working within a bigger team with the same expertise. You have the company’s know-how at your disposal. And you already have a team that’s built, the people usually know each other and have probably worked together, so you’re saving on the efforts and the time (and the time is money, right?)

You made a decision to contract a software development company. How to select the one that’s right for you?

Take into account the project, the budget, the country, and its time zone, the portfolio, the company, and its learning culture

• First of all, if you’ve completed step one, you know what you need, you know the requirements, the industry, and maybe even the technology stack. So you know what kind of company you’re looking for.
• Do you know the budget you have? Is it 10.000 € or 1 million €? This will instantly narrow your search.
• Consider the pros and cons of onshore, offshore, and nearshore outsourcing, and see which one fits your needs and budget the most.
• Partner company time zone is usually a big deal. It can be tricky to have a team of developers dispersed in different time zones, because it causes a delay in communication, slowing down the pace of the project development. If the time difference is great, one of you (you or your team) will end up making compromises, and if you’re not ready to pay extra, it’ll probably be you.
• Ask for the portfolio, check industries, clients, technologies your team-to-be has worked in. Usually, the wider the scope is, the variety of the problems they’ve faced with is larger. This can help them solve problems effectively.
  But it sometimes happens that the thing you need is pretty specific. So, you’ll need to look for a company with expertise in the field.
• Ask about the company culture. We strongly suggest that you take the time to research this subject. Check the social media pages of the company, website, check their reviews on Google.
  Why would you be interested in this kind of information you ask us?
  Here’s the truth, it’s really important to you as a client what’s the perception of the company in the recruitment market. You want your team members to be a part of your team for a long time? You’re aware that onboarding new members will take time and resources.
  Well, that solely depends on the company how successful are they in keeping their turnover numbers low. Good reviews mean the higher the chance is that the company does it better.
  Don’t forget to ask about the learning culture of the company. The IT industry is fast-paced. You’d like to have onboard someone who’s on board with the latest technologies.

Consider the flexibility of the contract you’re signing

Think of all the possibilities – scaling up, scaling down, termination

Some companies, BrightMarbles is one of them, offer more flexible contracts than others.
It’s important that the contract you have with a company lets you sleep peacefully at night. Are you covered in all scenarios? What happens if you run out of funds half-past the project? Will the company cause your hard times to terminate the contract? Will you be able to scale up, or down the team? Is the company management truly interested in being useful, and bringing that extra value to their clients?
At BrightMarbles we can offer you a contract that’s fully under your control.

It’s time for us to wrap the story up. The lesson here is – know what you want, consider all of the possibilities systematically, and don’t forget the contract.
Let us know what you think, we’re always happy to chat – hit us up in the field below.