Bringing in a tech team - What should you look for?

Do you need to bring in a tech team (under contract) or should you employ your own tech people? The tech companies you approach will probably refer to the former as ‘Outsourcing’ and ‘Team Augmentation’. Why is it useful, what do you need to look for? How do you decide what’s is best for you?

In summary, Outsourcing is typically done for a discrete entire project that can be packaged and given targets and defined outcomes. At Journi we often work in this way when the client needs a new application or product.

The aim of Team Augmentation is to expand your capacity to deliver work within your own structures and processes. You remain in control of the work but have additional people with specific skill sets to add to your team. This is useful for companies where there is a more general ongoing need. Team Augmentation can be an individual or an entire dedicated team. Many organisations will use a hybrid of these two approaches.

The main benefit of bringing in a tech team is that it takes away the headache and cost of recruiting and managing technical people, when you don’t have the tech understanding to know who you need and why. It’s therefore the recommended approach for start-up and growing companies when the founders don’t have a technical background.

Some of the key things you should look for when deciding on a supplier are:

• Flexibility - How quickly can the team increase and decrease in size? A small business, as I’m sure you already know, is a bumpy road. Being able to match your needs and scale quickly is essential. You don’t want to be in the position of the team not being able to meet your demands, or wasting money on a team you no longer need. At Journi our teams can upscale in 2 weeks and downscale in 4 weeks.
• The right skills - No two companies are the same. You need your supplier to match their skills to your requirements (technical and non-technical). In many companies you’ll be given the team they have available. At Journi we find the people you need.
• The right type of people - Of course you need ‘best in class’ engineers so that your product or service is exceptional. However, another key success factor in your business, often overlooked, is to ensure that the team are a cultural fit. Do they understand what you’re trying to achieve, do they seem interested, even passionate about it? It’s not enough for them to have the skills, you need people you can work with, who share and understand your values. They need to fit with the rest of your team, or they’ll cause friction that will undermine everything you do.

Larger tech companies often seem like the safest (but most expensive) option. They’ve had a long track record so must know what they’re doing? However, with a smaller tech company, you will be important to them, your success will be their success, you won’t simply be another client. A smaller company will be much more likely to bend and flex around your needs. At Journi, for example, you will be given access to the skills of the whole team, not just those we identify at the start. You should start to feel that your tech team is part of your business, that they are part of your success.

Once you’ve decided on your team, you’ll need to sit down with them to define exactly what you need, your budget and timescale. This is called the ‘discovery phase’. It will be a detailed process as it’s important to get it right. The outcome will be documented for you to agree, and they should then be able to get on with the work. If the discovery phase is done well your input should then be minimal. However, commonly there will be further questions and decisions for you to make as not everything can be anticipated.

I hope that demystified it for you. Do get in touch if you’d like to talk more about how we can help you.