Is recruiting locally the best solution to scale Product Development team?

Is recruiting locally the best solution to scale Product Development team?

As your software development business continues growing, there is an urgent need to scale your development team. This is one of the biggest challenges product developers face. In State of Software Development at Startups in 2017 published by CodingScans, building solid development teams is among the biggest challenges faced by product development companies. Hiring also features among the top five main challenges faced by tech startups in a survey by Business News Daily.  Now that you have worked with a reliable team of developers and you have consistently met MAU/DAU and other KPIs, scaling your product development team will present a challenge. This article highlights the best option for your company to guarantee the least disruption, improve your RoI and save on the cost of hiring. Read on.

When to Scale Your Development Team

But the first question is whether it is the right time to consider scaling your development team. Some of the factors that will necessitate boosting your development team include:

1. Notable growth in your business: If the company’s MAU/DAU, and other KPIs are showing good numbers, the audience and the client base keeps growing, and the scope of work has grown over the years, you need to consider scaling your team.
2. Horizontal expansion of the business: When you shift to a platform approach, and you have multiple businesses under one roof, you need to bring in new talent.  For instance, Facebook had to scale when they grew their application base to include WhatsApp, Messenger, Ads Manager, and Pages Manager.
3. When your products are below par: You started well, but along the way you notice despite your marketing effort, your technical products are poor. In such a case you need new skills.
4. Too much work for your team: This is a no-brainer because such a situation can impact the quality of products adversely.
5. Too many missed deadlines: Horizontal development of your team is necessary if you constantly miss deadlines.

Options for Scaling Your Development Team

The options available when you need to scale your development team include:

1. Local Recruitment

When pressed for new talent, the most obvious solution is to contact a local recruitment agency for suitable candidates. While this seems like the easiest option, you have to consider the cost implications of competing for bespoke software development in a growing market. The process could also take longer because your recruitment agency has to find a candidate who matches your skill requirements.

Other drawbacks of scaling your development team through a recruitment timesheet software include the cost of office space, allowances and the cost of training. There’s also a big risk of hiring someone who is not compatible with your work ethics and getting rid of them will also involve more costs.

2. Sub-contracting to an Agency

This is a short-term solution to a long-term problem, and it will bog you down with logistical issues and costs. Most of these agencies have other contracts to fulfill, and you might not be the priority. It is also difficult for an agency to work seamlessly with your in-house development team and the friction that ensues leads to delays and poor products.

3. Outsourcing Product Development

If you need to scale your product development team, the best option would be outsourcing. This option will save you money as you don’t have to go through a rigorous recruitment process. More importantly, outsourcing gives you access to a large talent pool which in turn leads to better performance in the product development cycle.

Outsourcing is the most effective solution when scaling your offshore software development services team because you get a new perspective on your business. The new ideas injected by the outsourced talent boosts your company’s RoI going forward. There’s less disruption in the development cycle in outsourced product development (OPD) and you retain control of every aspect of the software under development.

There’s also a notable reduction of time-to-market, which gives you a competitive edge in your niche. While an outsourced team focuses on specific product development, your in-house team has a bigger role in boosting your business performance through customer support. Your team has more time to focus on the core business including branding and marketing.

Conclusion

Scaling your development team is crucial to take your business to the next level. It is the only way to stay afloat in this overly competitive business environment. While there are different approaches you can take in scaling your product development team, outsourcing remains the most viable one because it is cost-effective and allows your team to focus on the existing core business. It is a less disruptive approach that makes the transformation seemless.