How to hire remote software developers? That’s what every software development company is finding answers for. There will be a lot of advice coming from different people, however, no one really knows what exactly will suit their business’s requirements. However, organizations are relying on remote software development teams’ now.
Don’t do this, avoid that, that’s how you stay productive, and all of those ‘on-the-go’ tips can be found on the internet. However, not all of them really work.
So, what does really works for the software app development team? How do you manage your remote software app, development team? Is a remote development team better than your in-house development team? Let’s find out the answer to all these questions in this guide now!
How to Hire a Remote Software Development Team?
To figure that out, we need to understand what a remote team is, in reality.
What are Remote Teams?
When we hear the term ‘remote teams,’ we think that this team is a bunch of different people functioning from across the world to attain the same goal of a particular organization. However, in actuality, the remote teams have employees coming from the same country or even the same city, with everyone working remotely from their own places.
Employees do not have to visit the office, and that saves traveling time and cost of the employees. That’s why organizations and even employees prefer remote hiring nowadays. Both the employees and organizations enjoy the idea of remote working.
Industries employing software developers, worldwide, as of early 2019
Hiring Remote Development Team to Get your Money’s Worth
To ensure that the team you have chosen is the most valuable solution for your organization. It should suit the customized needs of your firm. Hence, a few steps have to be considered to hire the most qualified remote development team.
1. Team Must Deserve your Trust
You must go with the team that deserves your trust. There is no point in investing in a development team, who can’t be relied upon. To get started aptly, you will have to focus on preparing a list of all the teams that you have shortlisted. Pick companies with good ratings and reviews, also don’t forget to read customer reviews cautiously before making your final decision.
Make your decision only after you have checked the consistency of the firm. How many projects have they successfully built in the past, and how quickly? Reading bad reviews will make you understand where your would-be remote development team really stands. That’s how you will be able to find your reliable and trustworthy remote software development team for your firm.
2. Apt Skills and Experience Needed
Hire a remote software development team that possesses apt knowledge, skills, and experience. You will have to rely on a team that you believe can invest their efforts, time, and skills in completing the project. Additionally, it's important to follow best practices in IT procurement to ensure that the process is transparent, and aligned with your company goals.
Also, provide them with remote employee returning equipment to ensure seamless operations and support their productivity.
For finding the best lead, make sure to interview all the shortlisted candidates, so as to finalize the best one. Just discuss all the skills and experience required to complete the project. Once you have interviewed all of them, it would become easier for you to select the most suitable remote development team.
3. Communicate with Them, and Do it Well
The key to a successful software development process relies on how well you communicate your business and project objectives to your teams. For maintaining good communication, you will have to check your remote developer’s communication skills.
How good they are at understanding things and how well they can implement it – has to be checked. Show them your project and put-up queries about the same. That will help you in knowing how well they understand the project and what is actually to be achieved with it. Learn as much as possible about the team members and their skills.
Here are some questions that you can ask your potential remote software development team:
- a) How many customers have they handled in the past?
- b) How many projects have they handled at one time?
- c) How many hours do they need to invest in completing a specific project?
- d) Will they support your project even after the development process has ended?
- e) How long will you be able to enjoy their customer support after the development process?
- f) Do they possess specific skills and experience needed to complete the project?
- g) How interested are they in communicating with you?
- h) How frequently do they reach out in case of queries and concerns?
- i) Are they reliable and trustworthy for your project’s success?
Practices for Managing ‘Remote Software Development Teams’
Different practices allow organizations to manage remote software, development teams. You can apply these practices for managing the remote software development team that will help you in delivering the results on the expected time.
People are the soul of any team. They have to be right and hired aptly, otherwise, the organization will suffer, and eventually the revenue. Therefore, if you hire the right professionals for your remote team, consider it as a halfway success for your firm.
- Build a Resilient Rapport with Team Members
- Monitor Team’s Performance
- Communicate Well
- Clear Objectives & Goals
- Don’t Treat Them Like a Remote Team
- Serious Training & Recruitment Demanded
1. Build a Resilient Rapport with Team Members
Amongst the best practices for managing remote software development teams would be to build a resilient rapport with the team members. When you are constantly investing to improve your relationship with your remote app development team members, you are investing in a long-term relationship with them. Besides, when they feel special even being a remote team, it is easier for you to get the best out of your remote development team. Hence, the need of the hour is to invest in building good and strong relationships with the team members. No matter how far your remote development team exists, you should be in regular touch with them, besides involving them in every vital process of the development. That’s the right way to build a good business and manage your software development team.
2. Monitor Team’s Performance
Another management strategy to survive your development business is to monitor the team’s performance. Of course, the team being remote, there is less control on their performances. You can always conduct a meeting, do a video call, or even an audio call will do.
However, for in-person meetings, utilizing conference room scheduling software ensures efficient coordination and prevents any conflicts in booking shared spaces. Meeting planning templates can simplify the process of meeting planning, ensure consistent communication with your team, and monitor their performances well on time. You can use multiple effective tools to monitor the progress of your teams. Continuous performance tracking and growth recording allow you to enhance your remote software development team’s performance. That is an essential step to progressing your organization and even improving the performance of the team in the long run.
3. Communicate Well
Good communication is the key to running a successful business. Communication with the remote software development team will only halt the smooth app development process. It might sound easy to keep the remote software development team in the dark; however, that wouldn’t do any good for your organization. Don’t just speak to them once and disappear. In fact, be sure to communicate with them as and when needed. The early days of communication should be good enough to maintain a good long-term relationship with them in the future.
4. Clear Objectives & Goals
The remote software development team must understand the firm’s objectives clearly. If they don’t comprehend the firm’s objectives, it won’t be possible for you to attain successful outcomes. Don’t just assign easy tasks to your remote software development team. Allow remote developers to work on some serious tasks, which help your organization in attaining quick results. Share the firm’s objectives with them and let them work on some serious projects to discover their full potential. All remote app developers must understand the goal of the certain project assigned to them. Your remote development team needs to make smart choices, for which they must understand the company’s culture and goals clearly.
Use best practices to communicate with your remote software development team. For instance, you can conduct video sessions to connect with your remote developers for utmost participation in achieving the project’s success.
Apart from working, your remote team needs to feel secure, too. You will have to offer them job security. Also, tell them how they matter to your business in the future. Include them in important business processes such as sprint planning, important meetings, and even project strategy planning so that they feel a vital part of the organization.
5. Don’t Treat Them Like a Remote Team
Create an ‘Us’ feeling and mentality amongst your remote team members rather than promoting a ‘them’ mentality. Creating a bond with your remote team will build better relationships, attain business objectives, and get better results from projects and businesses. When communicating with them, avoid using the word ‘them,’ in fact, use we or us to maintain a bonding between you and your remote development team. Including them in the meetings and making them feel an important part of the development processes will enhance your relationships while building a better connection.
6. Serious Training & Recruitment Demanded
Be mindful of the cultural differences and suggest the best training for different remote teams. Good training ensures that you build a trustworthy team that sticks to your business for longer. Use of a Candidate tracking system can streamline the hiring process, helping you find the right talent efficiently.
Also, providing your remote developers apt training ensures that the business runs successfully in the long run. Improve your remote team by allowing them to enhance their communication skills, which is sure to be affected by cultural differences. Hence, when you seriously initiate a training program for your remote development teams, it is easy to achieve success in the projects. Also, overall organizational growth can be expected. Also, an apt recruitment process is essential to take your project towards success. Hence, training and a good recruitment process is required to manage the remote software development team.
What Factors Lead to Failure of a Remote Software Development Process?
There are several factors that may affect the success of a software development project. It could be anything from custom solutions that costs time and huge money. Even after that, there are some chances of the project being failed.
However, there are some factors, which you can control. Remote developers will do their job excellently, only when these common factors are avoided:
1. Unrealistic Expectations & Budget
Software development project needs time and money; however, one has to set realistic expectations, which can be fulfilled by the teams. Companies will have to invest good cost and time; however, you will have to discuss the same with your remote software development team to make it work for your organization. Calculate the risks involved and then plan what should be expected from the development process. Be proper about the budget as well, as that might lead to project failure, if not planned properly.
2. Inconstant Communication
Poor communication often leads to confusion and poor outcomes. It might lead to results, which are not proper and as expected. So, be wise enough to invest in a communication model, which is reliable and trustworthy. Discuss the frequency and nature of updates that you need from your remote development team. The communication model must suit both your clients and your remote developers. Set a realistic schedule to communicate with your remote development team and make sure that is followed.
3. Dearth of Quality Testing
Relying on a buggy solution will only lead to the project’s failure. That will only frustrate your audience and even the clients. Invest cost and efforts in hiring a remote development team who can pay attention to quality and best results. Discuss in advance the nuances that might happen in the software development process. Hence, investing in a team that lacks quality testing can lead to a project’s failure.
The Takeaway Message
Outsourcing software development will continue to be in trend and grow, as the industry is growing. Remote work is in vogue right now, and this trend will continue to be in the market for a while now. hence, it is a wise decision to invest in a remote software development team for the best outcomes. Remote developers are a solution that can be relied upon.
