Building the desired software can be highly challenging. You have to plan, organize, and execute a roadmap to convert your vision into a fully functional final product. To do so, you require hands-on technical expertise and skills.
An extended development team model can be the perfect solution to complement the efforts of your existing team while helping you combat complex developmental issues with quick turnaround times.
Let’s find out what this model is and its benefits in detail.
What is the Extended Development Team Model?
The extended development team model aims to combine the expertise of an existing in-house team and an extended team to upscale an organization’s existing software development capabilities and share the responsibilities of a particular project.
This model is not applicable to time-bound projects. It is a long-term and ongoing collaboration which does not end even after the project’s completion.
The new approach to team extension helps you overcome required technical skill deficits instead of replacing your in-house development team members.
When to Use Extended Development Team Model
Concretely, this model can be put to its best use when:
- Your project lacks the needed development proficiency and technical know-how to satisfy business-critical requirements. Startups are more likely to experience this and should consider an extended team model instead of IT outsourcing.
- You have access to the required talent across the local market, but hiring them is too expensive.
- You intend to launch an innovative product and want to delegate some essential tasks to certified professionals so that your existing team can concentrate on the core competencies.
- Your project needs the support of dedicated software developers at any particular stage(s).
- You are planning to exploit modern technologies and expand your business agility without adding any full-time members to your team.
- You need extra assistance to address changing requirements and accelerate your software development process.
- You want to hire desired developers within budget by avoiding hiring and onboarding costs.
- You have a small team that wants to complete a large-scale project within a stipulated timeline.
Benefits of Choosing an Extended Development Team Model
There are various benefits to choosing an extended development team for your software development project. We have discussed some of the most important ones in detail to give you a better idea.
1 Flexibility to Hire Professionals of Your Choice
Considering an extended team for software development will help you take part in the hiring process. You get the privilege to screen, shortlist, and interview professionals of your choice from a global talent pool. This helps you identify and hire dedicated developers that can match your project-specific requirements in no time.
Your software development project is likely to have the flexibility to choose from a diverse range of team extension services that can take your business to the next. Depending upon your project requirements, you can receive 360-degree technical consultation covering different aspects of your software development lifecycle (SDLC), including product ideation, team building, integration of features & functionalities, quality assurance, and more.
You can create your own extended development team on an hourly or contract basis and make the best out of available resources. On the other hand, if you have identified any potential skill gaps in your existing team, you can get on board seasoned IT professionals and developers to complement their efforts.
Apart from all this, you can collaborate with top-tier IT experts who promote smooth vendor transition by leveraging industry best practices and methodologies.
2 Get Constant Support
The team extension model exposes your project to multiple IT specialists, such as advisory & execution specialists, front-end/back-end developers, mobile/web technology experts, QA & testing professionals, UI/UX designers, cloud consultants, and DevOps consultants.
Such IT specialists are committed to providing a superior range of software development services that focus on fulfilling your needs at every development stage.
This means your extended team members become an integral part of your organization and continuously strive to add to your existing skills. They align with your vision and work towards accomplishing mutual goals. What’s more beneficial is that they blend in with your team, implement the best practices, and create a win-win situation for your company.
In a nutshell, your company gets continuous support, all-around involvement, and operational excellence with utmost precision.
3 Long-term Collaboration and Effective Project Management
Unlike traditional IT outsourcing, the extended team model is a medium to hire developers at convenience. You can take advantage of this model to fulfill your long-term goals. As we mentioned earlier, this model is not project-based.
It intends to create a partnership for a longer period of time, thereby removing the need to rely on any other external dependencies.
Your extended development team focuses on enhancing your existing software development capabilities and helps you get better visibility across the SDLC.
What’s more important is that you have direct control over the project. You can create potential openings to improve engagement and efficiency at every stage. Moreover, distributing complex tasks, managing timelines, and tracking KPIs become easier than ever before.
4 Transparency
Micromanaging things can be stressful and time-consuming. There will be many aspects and mediators to cover in order to achieve desired results. But the extended development team model can avoid this scenario by helping you hire professionals that are easily manageable.
You can directly connect with your extended software team members without any intermediaries.
You can communicate your ideas or requirements with them as you see fit and seamlessly resolve issues. In fact, you will have two teams at the helm that can create a progressive environment backed by iterative development, flexible experimentation, and a controlled process.
Altogether, onboarding an extended IT team will help you achieve complete transparency, uninterrupted communication, and flexibility to handle recurring problems.
5 Seamless Setup and Team Building
Compared to a standard hiring process, the extended development team model requires little-to-no operational hassle for onboarding desired candidates. The extended team will work in a comfortable working space equipped with the required technology stacks.
This eliminates all the complexities of offering payroll benefits, setting up physical infrastructure, and renting an office space.
The only thing you need to pay attention to is providing your extended software development team with the essential resources, collaboration platforms, and knowledge transfer sessions they need to start their work.
Another thing to consider is introducing your existing team to your extended team. This will help you build trust and improve communication at all levels.
6 Cut Overhead Costs and Additional Expenses
One of the most important benefits of an extended software development team is that it helps you cut overhead costs and makes the best use of available resources. As there is no need to offer any in-house employment perks, insurance, and other allowances, you can save a good amount of capital to be used across core areas.
Besides, you don’t need to invest in resources like looking after tech support and arranging hardware or other equipment to choose the team extension model for software development. And this makes it a really budget-friendly deal, which never comes at the expense of quality.
7 Enhanced Data Security
Even though hiring freelance developers may be affordable, providing good data security is imperative that they may lack in particular. Once you hire freelancers through online platforms or a third-party vendor, you are likely to give them access to your business-critical data.
Many experts believe that freelance developers may prove unreliable during complex data handling. Besides, any misuse of data, exposure to cyberattacks, or accidental data leaks cannot be affordable at all.
You can avoid such inefficiencies and fraudulent situations by hiring an extended tech development team from a trusted workforce and software development partner.
Having an extended IT team can be a credible resource to safeguard your data against potential malfunctions and unauthorized access. This way, your data will be in safe hands and your project will benefit in the long run.
8 Meet Deadlines and Reduce the Time to Market
Meeting project deadlines is really necessary to stand out. Comparatively, companies that can meet deadlines without complexities have higher chances of getting more business opportunities and building trust. But if you are unable to complete tasks within stipulated timelines, you may experience a dynamic impact on your overall software development process.
In-house hiring can definitely help you build desired software. However, it can prove risky while accomplishing tight deadlines. A slight error in conveying the right information to the team members may put your project at risk.
On the flip side, working with a dedicated software development team extension enables you to manage delegated tasks proactively while ensuring that each activity is completed on time without any delays. It helps you reduce the time to market and observe faster project deliveries by eliminating all shortcomings and barriers beforehand.
Conclusion
When it comes to software development, you need the flexibility to focus on the core competencies of your business. An extended development team model helps you achieve this in a hassle-free way.
To put it simply, software team extension encourages shared responsibilities while helping you concentrate on mission-critical areas. It gives you access to diverse skills, strategies, and tech-enabled tools that can help you launch future-ready products and solutions easily.
You can choose our team extension services and begin your software development project immediately if you are ready to boost your existing team’s capabilities with a long-term goal in mind.
Author's Bio:
Pritam Barhate, with an experience of 14+ years in technology, heads Technology Innovation at Mobisoft Infotech. He has a rich experience in design and development. He has been a consultant for a variety of industries and startups. At Mobisoft Infotech, he primarily focuses on technology resources and develops the most advanced solutions.
