With the world becoming increasingly interconnected, offshore software development is a game-changer for businesses. Tapping into talent pools across borders enables you to leverage the vast knowledge and expertise of overseas IT professionals, not to mention the drastic reduction in operational costs compared to hiring an on-premise development team.
However, as with any partnership, both parties should be on the lookout for potential risks and conflicts. As such, let’s delve into some offshore software development best practices to mitigate possible liabilities.
7 Best Practices for Offshore Software Development
Implementing the following best practices unlocks the full potential of global collaboration to achieve success in your software development operations.
1. Define your project’s scope and expectations
Any partnership is prone to miscommunication—and that challenge is magnified when working with an offshore software development team due to the physical distance and difference in work culture and communication styles.
As such, it’s crucial to clearly define and present the job’s scope, goals, deadlines, and deliverables to manage expectations. It enables them to align their software development skills and processes with the project’s goals for a more efficient and productive workflow.
An excellent practice to achieve mutual understanding is documenting each agreement, policy, and standard operating procedure in detail. In turn, you can develop a playbook that both parties can use as references whenever someone misses or exceeds the project’s scope or in case of miscommunications, among other conflicts.
2. Foster strong lines of communication with the offshore team
Communication allows both parties to work effectively and efficiently. However, certain factors, like different time zones and channel preferences, can make it challenging.
Both parties must be ready to adjust to accommodate each other’s communication needs to resolve this issue. For instance, you can establish regular meetings and reports to update each other on operational changes for better transparency. Moreover, deciding on a preferred communication channel, such as Slack or Microsoft Teams, is crucial to make correspondence more reliable and efficient.
3. Create a comprehensive service-level agreement
A service-level agreement (SLA) defines your offshore software development team’s standards. It lays out the performance metrics to monitor and the partnership’s terms and conditions, ensuring all parties know the project’s quality requirements, timelines, testing protocols, and other vital standards.
Moreover, having a solid SLA will ensure both parties have a document to fall back on to rectify or terminate their relationship legally should a problem arise.
4. Secure your data and intellectual property
Let’s face it—trusting a team you don’t regularly see in person is challenging. While trust is vital to a positive work environment, it also helps to be on guard against possible threats to company security. In turn, you can secure valuable information and comply with rapidly evolving data protection regulations like the Data Privacy Act of 2012.
So, consider implementing comprehensive legal requirements during recruitment, such as a non-disclosure agreement (NDA), to secure sensitive company data, like client information and trade secrets. You may also register copyrights and patents to add another layer of protection. Additionally, perform regular security audits to ensure your safeguards are always up-to-date.
5. Monitor and evaluate the offshore team’s performance regularly
Keeping tabs on your offshore team’s performance is crucial to ensuring your software development operations’ success. It allows you to identify potential performance issues and proactively mitigate their impact on the company.
Start by defining key performance indicators (KPIs), which are instrumental in tracking growth towards a specific goal, like code quality, debugging time, and productivity. Then, conduct assessments to identify your offshore team’s progress in meeting their KPIs and gather insights into any challenges hurting their metrics. Finally, use these findings to implement adjustments to improve their overall performance.
6. Manage language and cultural differences
Working with an offshore software development team means you’d have to interact with people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. However, conflicting beliefs and opinions might cause internal issues, so managers must prioritize fostering a harmonious environment in both on-premise and remote workplaces.
The most straightforward way to achieve this goal is to encourage staff to recognize and respect cultural nuances via one-on-one sessions or company-wide seminars.
Overcoming language barriers using a common tongue also helps improve workplace harmony. English is an excellent option, given that 20% of the world speaks it, but it depends on your location. You could also celebrate cultural holidays to promote diversity and inclusion and use these characteristics to improve the organization’s operations.
7. Start with the right offshore software development team
While you can certainly do the practices listed above to improve your working relationship with your current offshore software development team, it pays to partner with people with high professionalism and proficiency right from the start.
Before committing to a vendor, thoroughly research their background and evaluate their technical expertise, experience, and industry knowledge to determine if they can perform the required tasks up to your standard. Also, assessing the vendor’s communication and project management capabilities helps ensure they can contribute to workplace and company growth rather than negatively impact it.
However, this process might be tedious for managers and leaders such as yourself. So, to minimize the guesswork, consider hiring an offshore software development team via a well-established recruitment firm like Manila Recruitment to facilitate your offshore hiring in the Philippines.
Elevate Your Software Development Team with Manila Recruitment
Hiring an offshore team presents an opportunity to tap into global talent to elevate your software development operations. However, this setup is no stranger to conflicts, so consider implementing the strategies above to foster collaboration and mitigate possible risks. In turn, you can reap the benefits of having a diverse overseas staff while improving workplace harmony.
We can help you build the best offshore team. As the leading recruitment firm in the Philippines, Manila Recruitment can find expert remote and offshore IT staff to elevate your software development operations and secure its success. Contact us to learn more!
