For every startup, the importance of having the right people on your team cannot be overemphasized. Yet, hiring the best people for the job is a very challenging task for an entrepreneur especially when you have access to limited local talent. A common alternative many companies go for is to outsource your software development tasks to an offshore team. However, another scenario is when you have already hired some technical staff, and you only need to have the team augmented with some people with specific skills and expertise. In this case, using an extended team model is the recommended solution.
What is an extended team?
There is no single way to define an extended team since different companies will need different variations of the same model. However, there are still some basic features of an extended team model that remains unchanged.
An extended development team is not project-based and is not discontinued after the project ends. It is ongoing cooperation between your core team and the extended team offshore.
It is meant to augment your in-house staff, not replace it
You are entirely in control of your project, and both in-house and off-site developers communicate and collaborate to make things work
Distributed responsibility between team members
So what are the benefits of hiring an extended development team?
1. The best talents are hand-picked to meet your needs
You can personally screen and interview the potential candidates to choose the ones with the required skills and fit perfectly into your team.
2. Motivated and invested developers
The developers you hire work on your project full time. They are entirely focused on making it work. Thus the team becomes an integral part of your company even though it is a separate entity of some sort.
3. Flexibility and transparency in resource management
Since your team is under your control without any intermediaries you can manage the team and your resource anyhow you want
4. A transparent and efficient payment model
You pay your extended fee an agreed monthly fee. This covers the salary, operational costs, and bonuses of the developers. It is a simple and transparent process for everyone involved.
How does this work? A guide to extended team integration
As far as hiring offshore developers is concerned there is a gradual learning process involved especially in making both your core team and the extended team work together as one. Here are some great tips that will help with the process of integration
Pre-planning
The first stage of the process is to examine the scope of the project and determine the roles that will be required. You need to decide which positions you can fill internally and which one has to be sourced offshore.
Candidates screening
Based on the analysis of your basic requirements carried out, the recruitment team will have to carry out an in-depth research of each of the candidates as a form of pre-screening to choose the most suitable ones based on their technical and soft skills.
Team onboarding and integration
This is the start of the process of integrating the remote team into your company workflow. With this model you get:
Accountability and reporting: Your extended teamwork as a part of your in-house staff which means they receive a direct order from you and have to follow all the internal processes. You have full control over your project and can keep track of the time and efforts expanded and optimize it according to your desire.
Direct communication: Since you get to communicate directly with the developers and the project manager you appointed, you there is absolute clarity and transparency.
Tight-knit team: Responsibilities are effectively allocated within the team such that no developer is left out. As a result, everyone is invested in the project and is held responsible for specific tasks. At the end of the day, every member of the team is familiar with the entire cycle of development.
Complete sync-up: the extended development team will be designed to sync entirely with your management style, ethics, practice, and methodologies thus establishing a convenient workflow for both your extended and core teams.
Easy kick-off: To get a good headstart, on-site training, planning sessions and company meetings between extended and core team members will help.
On-demand scaling and support
With this model, it is easy to add more developers to your extended team if there is a need for it or dissolve any staff that is no longer needed and Team Extension is ready to help you out.
