10 MISTAKES TO AVOID WHILE OUTSOURCING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

In its simplest sense, outsourcing is handing over the responsibility of certain business projects to a qualified third-party vendor. Widely considered a cost-effective arrangement, it can lower the cost of production and market price and boost competition.

For most start-ups and small businesses in the technological sphere, the secret to their business success lies in picking out the right outsourcing partner. The right outsourcing partner can significantly bring down costs and work pressure.

Set aside the advantages, tech start-ups and IT businesses often commit crucial mistakes while outsourcing. Those mistakes can result in unforeseen failures, additional costs, and a waste of time. Therefore, anticipating and planning to overcome these pitfalls would be a big step in the right direction.

Whether you are running a tech start-up or an established IT company, here are the ten mistakes you should avoid while you outsource your software development projects.

1. Collaboration with Old-fashioned Outsourcing Companies.

When you focus mainly on low costs, you can end up in collaboration with old-fashioned companies – the companies that are not only out of sync with the current market trends but also may be unaware of legalities, the contrast in culture, work ethics, and internet capacity in your country. The collaboration may bust your budget or may bring your whole project to a standstill.

2. Build up Short-term Partnerships.

A lack of long-term goals and partnerships in an era of unpredictable, volatile market conditions would be a serious mistake from your side. When you engage in a short-term partnership with an outsourcing company, it provides very little time for the company to understand your project and your business. It affects the final product quality and puts a bitter end to your relationship with the outsourcing company.

3. Insufficient Research and Analysis on The Outsourcing Company.

A major mistake most companies make is picking out an outsourcing company based mainly on low costs. Even though cost-effectiveness plays an important role, focusing only on it will cause glitches in your project or lead to its failure. You should also consider factors like the outsourcing company’s expertise and portfolio, feedback and reviews, and mode of operation. Invest time for research and preparation, and consider it as an investment in your project.

4. Being Unclear About Your Project Requirements.

If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else. It applies well to your software development projects. Never embark on a project unless you are clear about your requirements and provide a clear vision of business goals to your team. You should be able to present your project’s vision and mission to your outsourcing partner in a clear-cut manner that your outsourcing partner must understand exactly what you want and devise effective ways to implement your idea.

5. A Closed-end Budget.

Approaching a dynamic process like software development with a shoestring or a closed-end budget is one of the biggest blunders you can make. The cost of production will keep on changing during project development, and maintaining a fixed-price approach can hamper new developments. It would always be better to keep an open-ended budget until the successful completion of the project.

6. Play Down the Role of Communication.

Good communication with your outsourcing partner can do wonders for your business. Assigning an efficient project manager with excellent communication skills helps team building and provides the team with a clear vision. A project manager should also be responsible for maintaining strict timelines and budgets for the project.

7. Lack of Real-Time Quality Assessment.

Real-time quality assessment is a crucial part of the software development process. Failure in real-timereal-time testing of any software results in errors that will invite bugs and glitches, lead to poor feedback and reviews for the software, and your brand. Appointing a full-time tester for your project can guarantee the effectiveness and user-friendliness of your software project.

8. Fail to Compare Cultural Differences.

In an outsourcing project, you will be working with a team culturally different from yours. To enhance the efficient cooperation between your in-house and the outsourcing teams, you need to make them aware of your work ethics and cultural norms.

9. Inflexible Timelines and Schedules.

Software development is a time-consuming process. It requires patience, hard work, and the skill to handle the unpredictability of the project schedules. It is always better to plan and implement your schedules around software development rather than trying to align the process with your strict timeline.

For the proper functioning of the project, rather than multitasking by trying to take care of every department by a single person, it would be better to appoint skilled personnel at every department. It can reduce the pressure and smoothen the development of the project.

10. The shortfall of Technical Personnel and Expertise at Your Disposal.

Your outsourcing company will have required technical expertise, but utterly depending on the outsourcing company wishing to take utmost care from the order acceptance to the project execution would be a serious mistake.

You should always position at least one tech-savvy team member with basic technical know-how who can handle every stage of project development. He or she should be responsible for creating milestones, planning schedules, and helping the project be done technically.

The objective of outsourcing software development projects should be to reduce time, money and effort spent on software development.

Collaborating with such an outsourcing partner frees you from the pressure of bringing technological upgrades to your software in future and provides you with the benefit of enriching your future projects with the latest technology.