Scale Your Software Development Team with Staff Augmentation Services

Any company may feel the lack of tech talent during software development. At this moment, it might be crucial to find available developers who can support your in-house team. 

Staff augmentation might be the most suitable solution to the issue. By resorting to IT staff augmentation services, a business can quickly and efficiently attach skilled remote developers and scale their projects, still saving control over the development process. 

Of course, businesses should consider some details when choosing a staff augmentation model. This article will discuss the major points you should understand about augmented teams and how to get the most from this outsourcing model.

Staff Augmentation vs Other Model for Scaling Your Development

Outsourcing models usually are divided into three important ones:

• project-based model;

• managed or dedicated team;

• staff augmentation. 

They all differ in the level of involvement and ownership of an outsourcing vendor. 

The project-based model means that the development team is entirely on the vendor’s side and is ruled by their project manager. The client usually has low control over the process and is updated by the team’s manager about what is happening on the project. 

A managed team typically contains a certain amount of diversified specialists (developers, designers, DevOps, etc.) who work independently of your in-house development team but coordinate their actions and decisions with you. The vendor might also provide the project manager, but the company’s manager, CTO, or another employee can also cover this role. 

Staff augmentation or team extension is the model where the customer of a software development company gets the most control and impact on the decision-making process. A business hires remote software engineers and integrates them into a current in-house team. Augmented developers work along with in-house ones under the management of business managers. 

When should you choose augmentation services over other popular cooperation models?

Various cooperating models exist to cater to businesses at different stages and with different software development needs. Managed services or project-based options are more suitable for companies ready to delegate the significant parts of project ownership to a third-party vendor.

Your company may need to resort to staff augmentation services when:

• there is a local team that is already working on the development, but needs extra talent to strengthen and speed up the development process;

• you have a tech lead on your side who can set the pace of development;

• you are fully taking care of project management on this development and able to integrate remote developers;

• You need immediate access to expertise your team lacks, such as mobile developers, DevOps engineers, quality assurance specialists, etc.

Staff augmentation is perfect if you have an ongoing software development project and want to expand your team but lack the time or resources to hire specialists in-house.

Is Staff Augmentation Suitable for Long-Term Partnership?

Opinions differ on this matter. Many companies state that staff augmentation services are suitable only when additional developers are required to fill short-term job positions.

At the same time, there is no reason to abandon this model when looking for augmented staff for a long-term cooperation, such as six months or a year.

Staff augmentation can yield great long-term results, especially with adequate project management and established processes. Augmented developers may be as efficient as full-time employees; however, the company must contribute less to support their employment.

Advantages of Staff Augmentation

What makes IT staff augmentation services stand out from other project outsourcing models? Let’s review the main benefits companies may gain when engaging augmented tech professionals. 

Benefit #1: Moderate expenses for additional developers 

Budget often plays a crucial role for business leaders when choosing between cooperation options or other providers. Staff augmentation is a cost-effective solution, especially compared to in-house hiring or managed services.

Staff augmentation implies that the company must pay the salary of every augmented specialist and administrative overhead. Usually, this price is significantly lower than the sum you need to invest to hire and support in-house software engineers.

Moreover, you don’t need to worry about employees’ benefits, taxes, health insurance, equipment, additional office space, etc., as it is the vendor’s responsibility before the aforementioned developers. 

IT staff augmentation services might also be cheaper than other project outsourcing models, as your side covers management efforts and doesn’t demand additional investments.

Benefit #2: Fast kick-off

When software development is underway, you must add developers quickly and ensure they start contributing as soon as possible.

With augmented teams, you will need less time to onboard new specialists, as you will need to integrate them within the specific development teams and specific tasks. 

At the same time, it is also less time-consuming than traditional hiring. Instead of spending weeks or months looking for suitable specialists, studying numerous CVs, and conducting dozens of interviews, you could start after a short period of negotiations and a few interviews with the developers themselves. 

It’s possible to add new developers to your staff through augmentation within a few weeks, while other options might require months to achieve the same result.

Benefit #3: Quick access to top talents

Staff augmentation opens access to a vast talent pool of highly qualified and experienced developers. 

Staff augmentation vendors usually have many specialists, and they will pick the ones who will suit your needs, code, and budget. These developers often have substantial knowledge and relevant experience in the field and show strong soft skills. 

Whether you need to increase the velocity of your software development or reach a specific outcome, you will get people who know what they do and how to deliver the best results under current circumstances through an extended team.

Benefit #4: Flexibility in the development 

Staff augmentation is one of the most flexible and adaptive models on the market so that any business can feel comfortable with it.

You can adjust your team composition pretty easily to match your short-term perspective. As augmented developers are usually temporary workers, handling the administrative aspects and regulating their involvement in your project is much easier. 

At the same time, you get complete discretion over the extended team, and you can direct and manage the efforts of developers in any way you prefer. Whether the project’s success is almost entirely your responsibility, you can build and control internal processes single-handedly.  

Benefit #5: Less effort is needed to support developers

IT staff augmentation services are a way to reduce costs on your development team. As mentioned, you aren’t responsible for any employment aspects, like actual work contracts, taxes, ongoing support, etc. 

The vendor fully manages it, relieving you of this kind of pressure while you have new, contributing team members.

However, the development’s results depend heavily on you, and you must hire strong project managers. It is quite possible that this need existed even before the company resorted to staff augmentation; hence, it doesn’t create any additional complex problems.

How to Scale Your Software Development with IT Team Augmentation

More businesses are succeeding when using staff augmentation to scale up their development. Still, every company should evaluate its needs and resources wisely before engaging with any custom software development vendor.

To gain the best result, any business should prepare to onboard augmented developers to their local team and review possible risks.

Here, we share the central insight into staff augmentation you need to know before initiating cooperation.

Main Challenges You May Face with Staff Augmentation

Challenge #1: Communication

Communication may be weak for many companies, and a remote development team is especially at risk.

Without seamless communication between an in-house team and augmented specialists, a business would find it almost impossible to feel the impact of staff augmentation services.

Developers must stay informed about the latest decisions and changes, synchronize with colleagues, and be involved. As augmented engineers aren’t located in your office and are newly introduced to your team, this may create someides.

Your goal is to create a united team in which your employees and augmented specialists work together to deliver the best possible software product.

Hence, your project manager or managing director should make an extra effort to ensure efficient communication. 

Solution: Build Communication System

To do that, you need to establish clear rules for everyone, explain the importance and value of augmented staff’s contribution, and mitigate emerging conflicts immediately.

We suggest:

• creating a schedule of the regular daily meeting, retros, groomings, etc.;

• discuss and agree upon beforehand on coding practices, management practices, and other important aspects;

• conduct regular reviews;

• endorse socializing and team building activities;

• create a non-toxic, transparent working environment.

Challenge #2: Knowledge Transfer

Proper knowledge transfer is no less important than proper communication. 

Even the most experienced tech leads may struggle if they don’t get clear documentation on the project. Usually, as the custom software development projects go forward, it becomes more and more difficult for newcomers to understand how the system operates and how this code works. 

Unfortunately, the lack of knowledge transfer is a common problem during software development. On long-term projects, the development team may change drastically. Without records and adequate documentation, you might spend more time and resources scaling or finishing this software.

Solution: Implement Knowledge Transfer Framework

To ensure that any developer will understand your code and won’t need any redevelopment, you must take care of knowledge transfer from the first day of development (or develop it immediately, if you have worked without it till now). 

We suggest:

• always allocate time in every sprint for documentation writing;

• document everything that is done with code;

• define the people who will be responsible for knowledge transfer;

• conduct a Q&A session if needed.

Challenge #3: Legal issues

There are a lot of risks when cooperating with a third-party team, and some of them may drastically affect your project.

This includes payments, quality control, ownership of the project, and other aspects. Any aspect that causes misunderstanding, unnecessary pressure, and a low level of satisfaction can be problematic.

Solution: Sign a Decent Contract

A well-thought-out contract guarantees that you can handle any contentious issues gracefully and without damaging the relationship between the two companies.

In the negotiation stage, you should discuss all the aspects of your future cooperation with an outsourcing company and augmented team and then, reflect your decisions in the contract. 

How to Get Prepared for Staff Augmentation

The success of your cooperation with the staff augmentation company depends on the effort of both sides. If you choose a reliable partner, you shouldn’t experience any complex problems from them. However, you should take care of your inner processes.

So, what aspects should your team contemplate before onboarding augmented developers? 

Firstly, you need to prepare your internal team. If this is your first time using IT staff augmentation services, it might be difficult for your employees to adapt and build strong relationships with partners. However, clear and transparent communication from management might resolve these issues.

Secondly, you need to create an onboarding plan for new developers so they will have a guide for their first days with you instead of moving in a chaotic direction. Write down all the data developers should read, plan entry meetings, and grant access to essential documentation and collaborative tools. 

Thirdly, stay responsive and help new team members adapt. Support their integration, ensure their comfort, and ensure their ability to deliver necessary results.

How to Choose a Reliable Staff Augmentation Company

Cooperating with the right partner is an excellent basis for a successful project and satisfactory results. 

The current IT market is full of staff augmentation vendors from any place in the world. You may choose to resort to nearshore software development and choose a company from a nearby state, or you will be able to cooperate with developers from a distant country with the same level of success. 

However, some companies still would be more suitable for your business and your case. 

So, how do you understand what company will best match you? 

Evaluate your need. What expertise do you need to obtain through staff augmentation? How many developers do you require? For how long do you plan to cooperate with the augmented team? 

These questions will help you formulate requirements for your future partner and choose the one who can provide the specialist you need now and will need in the future.

Learn about a vendor’s employee brand. If previous and current employees are ready to share positive feedback on their employer, this company will be able to ensure stable staff and low turnover, which is a plus for you. 

On the contrary, if the feedback is mostly negative, you will have unsatisfied developers who won’t perform well. 

Study their portfolio and clients’ testimonials. Don’t miss the feedback from the previous clients as well! A reliable company usually shares its success cases publicly and reviews left from previous customers.

You can check vendors’ profiles on Clutch, GoodFirms, other directories, and social media to see if others trust them.

Choose Us as Your Staff Augmentation Company

Altamira is a custom software development company and staff augmentation vendor for dozens of businesses and startups worldwide. Since 2011, our team has delivered more than 200 software development projects and created the same number of satisfied clients. 

Our IT Team Augmentation Process

It’s easy to start cooperating with our team! To have our augmented developers join our team, you need to go through four steps:

• prescreening, when you got a list of available developers and their CVs;

• pre-interview, when you have a chance to get acquainted with a developer;

• tech interview, when you can evaluate the skills of your specialist and see if it matches your needs;

• hiring, the final step when we finalize all administrative and legal aspects of our cooperation.

The Value We Offer Our Partners

By cooperating with us, you receive:

• access to a vast talent pool of skilled specialists who go through ongoing training;

• top talents in different technologies (front-end, back-end, mobile, QA, UI/UX design, solution architecture, DevOps, etc.)

• transparent pricing and different cooperation models;

• a client success team with your personal account manager who will work to ensure a positive outcome of our cooperation;

• established processes and clear frameworks for efficient cooperation and software development;

• low overhead and fully covered administrative aspect of developers’ employment;

• strong infrastructure with three offline offices and an efficient online environment built for the needs of our team.

In Conclusion

Staff augmentation is an efficient tool for any company to scale its software development. It grants easy access to top development talent worldwide and requires only moderate costs.

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