Being able to efficiently manage a nearshore development team became critical in the wake of COVID-19. The move to remote working places the onus on technology managers to keep their remote employees inspired and engaged. This requires a proactive approach considering the differences of not having a software development team under the same roof.
When partnering with a nearshore software development company, the remote developers reside in the same time zone as you. Their close proximity remains a critical advantage when compared to outsourcing developers on the other side of the world. That offshore scenario greatly adds to the complexity of managing a remote software engineering team.
Still, many modern IT managers struggle when leading a nearshore development team. To improve the efficiency of your managerial efforts, check out these valuable insights on managing remote developers. Follow this advice to ensure your company’s software projects complete on time and under budget. It’s the right approach to get the most out of your company’s investment in software development talent.
Ultimately, managers of remote teams need to use similar strategies as those leading a group of in-house developers. The biggest difference relates to the importance of sufficiently engaging the remote members of your project team. Because of the lack of in-person connections, all forms of communication help in keeping remote developers inspired.
So let’s look closely at a few best practices your managers must follow when leading a nearshore development team. Note that your tech leaders need meaningful people skills as well as strong verbal and written communication ability. Again, this is no different than managers of in-person tech teams. However, these skills become even more important when partnering with a nearshore software development company on your projects.
Regular meetings using video conferencing remain an essential part of managing any offshore development team. So hold team meetings on a daily basis, especially when following an iterative software development methodology, like Agile or Kanban. As noted earlier, having your entire project team in the same time zone remains a big advantage of nearshoring. Finding the right time for meetings with a team located across the globe requires an inordinate amount of effort.
In addition to full team meetings, also hold one-on-one meetings with each developer on a weekly basis. This helps your managers get a true reading on employee morale on your project team. It also provides your staff the means to share concerns about the project or any personal issues.
Holding these meetings over video conference provides a more meaningful connection when compared to text messaging or phone calls. So make sure you provide your team with the necessary video conferencing technology for high-quality sound and picture. Don’t short shrift this area, as it helps the entire team feel more connected.
As with any software development project, everyone on the team needs to understand their specific role. This becomes easier when you clearly outline the project’s goals, timeline, and the final set of deliverables. In fact, this deliverable from the requirements phase of the project needs to happen before any code is written.
The project manager or ScrumMaster comes to the fore at this point. Ensure the duties and responsibilities of each team member get clearly defined and communicated. When partnering with a nearshore software development company, this approach helps build synergy between the two teams. When everyone resides on the same page, the project simply goes more smoothly. The fact that one team is located in a different country makes little difference.
Of course, the project manager typically serves as the nexus of communication on a project. However, they also need to ensure developers communicate with each other as well as managers and business stakeholders. This is another reason that managers with great people skills remain important for any nearshore development project.
In addition to video conferencing, other forms of communication are essential on any project using a nearshore development team. Provide the team with Slack or similar collaboration tool to help foster interaction using text messaging. The developers need to feel comfortable communicating and collaborating using text, phone, or a quick ad hoc video conference.
Leveraging intelligent chatbots to manage builds and QA processes also boosts the efficiency of the project. It ensures everyone stays informed in real time about the technical details of any software development project. Imagine working with an offshore team when a developer on the other side of the planet breaks the build! Since Nearshore developers reside in your company’s time zone, any issues are discovered and fixed as quickly as possible.
Again, your project manager remains an important conduit of communication throughout the initiative. They ensure business stakeholders stay in the loop regarding project status updates and other important news. Additionally, they share project coming from these stakeholders; ensuring the developers don’t work in a vacuum.
Having a project news portal remains a great reason for using a collaboration tool, such as Slack. Taking this approach ensures all status updates get communicated in real time. Stakeholders and your QA team stay informed when bugs are fixed and new updates are released. Ultimately, it helps engender a measure of trust between your company and its nearshore development team.
Of course, regular communication with your nearshore development team remains critical for a successful project outcome. However, you still need to give your remote staff the autonomy they need to be as productive as possible. An effective project team with open communication channels keeps the project on track despite any issues that may happen.
Remember what we said earlier about engendering trust between your company and its software developers? Avoiding micromanagement matters when building a meaningful professional relationship with your nearshore software development company partner. With strong communication and regular status reporting in place, any tendency towards micromanagement seems heavy-handed and unnecessary.
Mexican software developers typically reside in the same time zone as your company. Because of this close proximity, your business enjoys significant benefits from IT outsourcing services in Mexico. These include significant cost savings, but without the difficulty managing developers located on the opposite side of the world.
Let’s dive into the details for some of the other advantages of working with a talented nearshore software development company. Some of them just might surprise you.
When hiring a nearshore development team, your company gains access to top-shelf software engineers. Mexican developers boast high-end skills making them a valuable resource for your company’s project work. They understand the latest technologies, like AI and mobile development, as well as modern methodologies, like Agile and Lean. Their skills make building a strong project team fast and easy.
When nearshoring Mexican developers, expect the important interaction and communication on your projects to be unaffected. These software engineers typically speak English, so don’t worry about ineffective collaboration when working with nearshore software engineers. In the end, it’s another great reason for leveraging IT outsourcing services in Mexico.
Of course, your company saves significant money when taking advantage of foreign IT outsourcing providers. The strong demand for software engineers in America raised salaries for these talented professionals. By using the offshoring approach, expect to pay less for the same level of programming talent as U.S.-based developers.
However, partnering with a nearshore software development company also provides important advantages compared with offshore companies across the globe. We already talked about the difficulties managing project teams with developers located in a highly different time zone. Forging a true sense of team becomes more difficult in this scenario. In the end, working with a nearshore development team saves money by optimizing your projects.
Other cost savings opportunities also exist. For example, if the entire team needs to get together, expect to pay lower travel costs with Mexico-based developers. The same concept applies if only one or two project team members need to make an in-person visit.
During a difficult project, real-time collaboration with your project team becomes even more critical. We already talked about the difficulties encountered when a developer located across the globe breaks the build. If they are currently sleeping, you might have to wait hours with nobody able to work. These kinds of problems hamper the efficiency of any project team.
Being able to work together in real-time using state of the art collaboration tools ensures a successful project. This same concept applies if your team is in the same room, or working together virtually. Simply stated, getting that same level of interaction becomes nearly impossible when working with an offshore development team. Ultimately, partnering with an IT outsourcing provider in Mexico makes perfect sense.
When searching for a top-shelf nearshore software development company as a partner, look no further than Developers.Net. We provide the high-end software engineering professionals to help your company complete its projects successfully. At the same time, we allow your company to enjoy the cost savings of outsourcing without all the project management hassles.
We provide your organization with all the positives gained by working with IT outsourcing services in Mexico. Connect with us to discuss your company’s current project needs.
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