Get[Devs] is here to help you and your offshore development team acclimate into a driving force for your business. After the first step is taken and you have hired your development team, we don’t leave you to go it on your own. While you direct your team, giving them their jobs and projects to do, we can help you understand what they are doing and how they are getting their jobs done. If there are problems with communication or time zone, we will work to find the best way for communication between you and your development team to happen.
All that said, we recognize that having an offshore development team can take some getting used to. There are bound to be some wrinkles to iron out. But, we want you to know that the horror stories you hear about working with offshore developers are from people who hire these developers directly and never truly vet them. As you know from going through our vetting process, that isn’t the case at all with Get[Devs].
1. Stay in close contact with your development team.
You will have direct communication – through the internet, email and phone – with your development team in the Philippines. They speak English regularly and are available on your time zone. If you prefer to work through one managing developer, you can hire a lead developer for your team. Daily and weekly updates are recommended and will keep you abreast of what your team has accomplished.
2. Understand how the project is getting worked on and how each piece gets done.
You don’t need to work with the pieces, let your lead developer do that, just gain an understanding of the process so that you can be well informed. It is hard to look at a daily and weekly update and see if your team is actually gaining ground if you don’t understand what should be accomplished.
3. Everyone on the team should have shared hours.
That means if you have part of your team in-house and part offshore and then there is you, you will all need to have some of the same hours each day. Otherwise, your development team may have to wait for an in-house team member to provide information or they may have to wait a full 24-hour cycle to get an email answered to a pertinent question from you. When you all have time your share each day, there will be less communication snafus.
4. Always remember, you are in control of your team.
You have hired them and you direct them on your project. Their sole purpose is to work on your jobs. We do not use them for anything else – there is no sharing of your vendors. Plain and simple, your development team is at your disposal at all times.
5. Treat your offshore development team as you treat your in house staff.
This is one of the benefits of having an offshore staff through Get[Devs], the only real difference between them and your employees is their location. The more you get to know that people on your offshore team, the more productive they will become.
Managing your offshore team will become as easy as it is to manage a team in house. Set up times to communicate, treat your team like your in-house staff and let us know if you need any help. It will be a winning combination.