A compelling guide on setting up a dedicated development team model

Dedicated development teams have gained popularity with the spread of the pandemic. More enterprises with no in-house IT departments trust their software projects to remote developers. In this post, we’ll try to figure out how a dedicated team works, how it is different from other engagement models, and offer use cases when you can consider hiring one.

Dedicated Team: Meaning

Dedicated Team is the name of a special model of cooperation used in the IT sector, usually, between a software vendor and a client. What does it mean? Traditionally, it means that any company can hire software developers to build a custom solution for them. These developers will make a dedicated team, which means they will work solely on this project, without being distracted by another project.

How does it work? As mentioned, any company can hire such a team for software development. However, more often it relates to enterprises with small or no in-house IT departments. They can’t deliver a software product on their own as they lack expertise, experience, or resources. Such enterprises often need bespoke solutions to address their business challenges with the help of technology. For example, a fast-growing enterprise would like to scale its operation but has no technological potential. To face this issue, they would probably search for a professional team of developers to build an ERP system (enterprise resource planning).

Learn more about a Dedicated Team model for software development projects.

Comparing a Dedicated Team with other engagement models

Apart from the Dedicated Team engagement model, there are two that are considered to be among the most popular — Fixed Price and Time & Material. Although all three models are very similar to each other, they should be distinguished.

Below is a table where you can see the similarities and differences between these models. For example, the budget is more predictable if you choose a Fixed Price or a Dedicated Team, whereas you can’t forecast how much it will cost when you select T&M. It’s because Time & Material means you pay per resource upon a time worked.

Advantages of a dedicated team

Why do customers choose a dedicated development team? We gathered some of the most vivid benefits below.

Budgeting is quite clear

This cooperation model can save you costs. You don’t have to hire full-time IT staff to build a software product for your company. So, you will spend the sum of money needed solely for the end-to-end development. Afterward, you can plan if you need extra services like maintenance or technical support.

You are flexible about the terms and resources

First off, you get access to a huge pool of specialists that can’t be reached if you recruit or hire devs on your own. It’s quite easier to find the required skills if you need some asap. Your team can be scaled up quickly because IT companies usually have thousands of potential candidates in their recruiting pipeline.

Communication can be set up in a way you wish

Before you start the development, you can set up a communication flow with your vendor in a way that is most suitable for you. Reporting is provided weekly or monthly so you see what’s going on. Traditionally dedicated teams communicate via specialized software like Jira, Slack, or Trello, which helps you understand the project’s progress.

Fast time to market

Professional developers can accurately estimate the scope of your project and the time needed to complete it. They conduct business analysis to appropriately discover and identify functional and non-functional requirements and offer the best tech stack, and team composition. Understanding all project details ensures on-scope and on-time project delivery.

When do you need a dedicated team?

As you can see, Dedicated Team cooperation gives great benefits. And you may wonder when to consider it. Below are the most frequent cases when you can think of hiring remote developers.

Your business grows fast

A growing company requires continuous digital space and the right technology to manage processes and people. A growing technology company may require a larger workforce, specific skills, and scaling capabilities. Dedicated teams allow any customer to hit its goals: develop unique software or extend in-house resources.

You don’t have a clear understanding of what you need

Dedicated developers fit best if you don’t know what solution you need to overcome your current challenges. It relates also to the tech stack, number of people, and general flow of the project. Such teams start with a discovery stage when they explore your problems and define all the requirements first instead of beginning right with the development.

Your project will likely last long

Dedicated software developers usually work on long-term projects. When your project is complicated, it obviously requires intelligent planning, breaking the work down into smaller parts.

Steps to start cooperating with dedicated developers

Where to find a dedicated development team? The best way is to start with a custom software development company that offers such a type of cooperation. However, you also should be familiar with the essentials of setting up such a partnership. So, below are the steps to follow.

Step 1. Understand your pains and requirements

To find relevant services and the right IT staff, you should at least be aware of your main goal. For example, if you are a fast-growing online store, you can face difficulties processing payments. Your solution might be a modern payment processing platform. So, you would need a dedicated team to develop a custom app or integrate a ready-made solution.

Step 2. Gather a team

Once you partner with a seasoned IT vendor, they will give you a piece of advice on how many developers you need, and what skills and seniority level they should have. Very often, dedicated teams consist of a business analyst, an architect, frontend and backend developers, a designer, a QA engineer, and a project manager. That is the simplest composition. The number of employees varies from project to project and depends on the project’s complexity.

Step 3. Transfer knowledge about your project or business logic

Before the team starts, you will need to organize a few sessions where you can transfer the knowledge about your company, project, and goals. Your stakeholders will get acquainted with the new team and talk about the things which bother them.

Step 4. Set KPIs

You should be able to assess the performance of developers. Often, IT vendors propose their KPIs and metrics to monitor the work progress, performance of team members, quality of code, etc. However, you should discuss these moments beforehand for you to clearly understand what your vendor is talking about.

Summary

Consider remote developers when you don’t want to hire full-time in-house IT departments. This decision will help you avoid extra costs for equipment, special hardware, software, space, etc. Dedicated developers are highly skilled as they usually have from two to ten years of experience on average. They are flexible and know how to appropriately plan and execute complex IT projects.

Should you have any questions about this cooperation model, our experts will be glad to consult you for free.