How to Work Effectively with Offshore Teams in 2022: A Detailed Guide

Do you wish to bring your innovative app idea to the market but cannot convince the best developers to work for it, especially when you’re in the initial stages of your tech startup? Or perhaps you want to develop an app that uses cutting-edge technologies (artificial intelligence, blockchain) but can’t commit to the expensive monthly salaries of such rare to find talents? Or do you want to work with seasoned developers adept with new technologies to forge ahead of your competition? If you can relate to any of such conditions, your best bet is to work with an offshore software development company.

Offshoring provides you with the right mix of talent, proficiency, and cost-effectiveness while helping you achieve your bottom-line business goals. However, working with offshore developers isn’t the same as your in-house team. To leverage the benefits of outsourcing, you need to keep certain things in mind. For this, we have rounded up specific tried and tested tips that will help you collaborate successfully with an offshore development team.

1. Discuss Your Project Goals

Before assigning a project to an offshore team, it is vital to discuss your project goals with them. For instance, you want to delegate custom software development outsourcing work to an offshore team. If you don’t share the goal behind the product development, then the developed product or app may not meet the stakeholders’ expectations.

Your offshore team may not have a clear idea of what goals you wish to achieve through that product. To avoid this hassle, tell them the purpose of the product, what functionality you want, whom you’re selling this to, i.e., your target customers, and when you expect it to be developed and delivered. Following this approach will allow offshore developers to think creatively, work effectively, and provide the right product in one go.

2. Pass on Your Vision to Offshore Developers

Share the product vision, values, and roadmap about how you want to proceed with the team. Passing on your product vision will help the team invest in it and work innovatively to meet your goals. They will actively participate in the product discovery and designing session where product managers and owners develop and share a product image. Thus, the team will contribute to new ideas and be more effective, ensuring the final product adheres to your business goals.

3. Leverage the Power of Collaboration Tools

As real-time communication is challenging with an offshore web development company, you’ll need to take the help of communication and project management tools. Leverage project management tools like Slack, Jira, Trello, Skype, etc., to communicate and track your project progress. You can use these tools to engage with the team members and build a strong sense of belongingness with them.

4. Take Advantage of Overlapping Hours

One of the biggest challenges of working with offshore development teams is differences in time zones. However, you can mitigate this challenge by using overlapping hours. Overlapping hours are those hours during which both in-house and offshore teams work. For instance, the end of the shift in one country may overlap with the start of another.

Changing shift timings of one or both teams can help increase overlapping hours. One positive aspect of time-zone differences is continuous development, i.e., when your team in one country is sleeping, work is still going on in another.

5. Go Agile for Increased Productivity

The software development process calls for a high level of interaction and iteration. Adopting an agile team management methodology can improve your offshore team’s productivity. This method works by breaking down long-term goals into short-term goals so that the team knows what to achieve and when to achieve it. It helps the team move fast, change direction and adapt when required. In short, the adoption of Agile team management methodology helps you find what works or what does not. Moreover, it results in a significant increase in efficiency, particularly in the case of remote teams.

Wrap Up

It’s fair to say that many small and large enterprises worldwide swear by the potential of offshore development teams. Offshoring helps you connect with the developers at the forefront of new technologies. Moreover, you can take the help of offshore developers if you’re hard-pressed by deadlines. However, getting the best out of offshore development teams is crucial. For this, you need to consider an offshore team as your own and stop micromanaging it.

Trusting the team’s expertise and keeping their morale high can encourage them to give their best. And in return, it can have a massive impact on a team’s productivity. So, are you on the lookout for a reliable offshore web development company? Head to Capital Numbers. We are a key behind the success stories of many startups whose products are used by millions of people worldwide. To know more about our technology expertise, book a call with our experts today!