Dedicated Development Teams, Ins and Outs

Here, at Voypost, we have decided to ease the process for you with our outstaffing services. Instead of wasting your precious time searching, hiring and training, you can spend it doing business. We will help you to form a dream dedicated team for your project.

Wait, but what is a ‘dedicated team’? Let us answer some common questions concerning dedicated development teams, so you can better understand how it may help your business.

What is a dedicated team?

Put plainly, this is a business model that refers to your own team of specialists that work solely on a single company’s digital project on a long term basis. Its goal is for the team to compensate for the lack of necessary experience and work seamlessly as an extension of your in-house team. It may also be called ‘outstaffing’ or ‘staff augmentation’.

The specialists, of which a dedicated team consists, are hand-picked depending on your demands as a client for their skill sets and expertise. You may decide to manage the team from your side, or to assign the outstaffing vendor’s PM to coordinate the communication process.

This model has a transparent pricing system, devoid of any complexities. You pay only after you deem each milestone complete to your satisfaction. This is especially useful when the scope of the project cannot be strictly defined and your requirements change during the development process.

To sum up, members of your dedicated team are technically your employees, but you do not have to worry about administrative, HR, tax and social benefits’ issues. On the contrary, you can dedicate yourself to high-level business issues, while your dedicated team takes care of the development.

How is it different to outsourcing?

The primary difference is that within a typical outsourcing model you hire a third party that does its thing separately. They take full responsibility for a project and present to you the final product. They may work on several different projects at the same time. On the other hand, outstaffing is about becoming a part of your team and working together.

You have complete control over the team processes. While your dedicated team may not be present physically in your office, they are a full-fledged part of your organisation for the time being and are working on your project exclusively.

What does a typical dedicated team look like?

A typical dedicated team is customised according to your business requirements. It can look however you want. It can be 5 data operators or a single front-end developer — you set the rules.

Usually, though, the team looks somewhat like this

• Front-end and back-end, full-stack engineers, mobile developers;

• UX/UI designers;

• DevOps engineers;

• Quality assurance specialists;

• Business analysts;

• Product managers;

• Project managers.

Why would I need a dedicated team?

The dedicated team is useful for complex long term projects, especially if there is potential for its expansion in the future. For instance, if you are an early-stage startup, you will benefit immensely from a dedicated team. Startups are expected to grow, and this model will let you build a specialised team quickly and consequently, develop the product faster.

Another instance is when your project has vague requirements. If your idea does not have the product-market fit, the dedicated team can help you greatly by providing time and resources for you to focus on the discovery stage without the fear of spending all your or your investors’ money.

Companies that use the dedicated teams include even tech powerhouses by the likes of WhatsApp, Apple, American Express, IBM and Amazon.

I have decided to hire a dedicated team. What’s next?

Voypost has an extensive experience of outstaffing collaboration. Below is the description of our usual working process:

1. Scope estimation.
   Firstly, we determine the amount of work and how many people are required for it. You may have a predefined scope already. Brilliant, then we can discuss the budget and outline priorities and timelines. In case you don’t have one, no worries, as we can carry out a discovery stage for you.
2. Talent selection.
   At this phase, we select a team of skilled and motivated specialists whose expertise will suit your objectives the best.
3. Proposition.
   During this stage, we discuss the milestones and priorities for the first sprint. Then we present a solution, expected team composition, time estimates and budget.
4. Kick-off.
   You meet your dedicated team. They receive access to the development tools. We get the green light from you and set out to work.

Hiring a dedicated team is a big step. Your desire for awareness of all the nicks and crooks of this business model is natural. We can help you decide whether outstaffing is the right choice for you. If it’s a large, long-term project with a variety of tasks and an unchanging need for high-quality deliverables, then most probably you will need a dedicated team. However, if you have a small, time-limited project with a known deadline and predetermined resources, we may be able to suggest you our other outsourcing services.

We would love to hear about your project and help you choose the best cooperation model.