Visiting your offshore software provider
One of the first things we tell our US companies is to go visit your offshore development team. Sure, there is a cost, but it’s nothing relative to laying a strong foundation for working together in the future. We’d suggest at least a week spent in the office together. It can be particularly useful at the beginning of an engagement or during a tough technical problem where the whiteboard can be helpful.
It would be hard to overstate how enjoyable these trips can be. Learn the culture & see where your team works on a daily basis.
Get to know your team at a social level. Go out for dinner and learn about the city, get to know their friends and families as well. It’s so much easier to communicate with people when “back in reality” after having done a trip like this. Depending on the location, we’ve had clients who will go each quarter and others who have been only once.
Whenever possible, we always recommend bringing the developers to visit your office as well, it’s incredible how much context can be picked up in just a short week. The developers get to meet other members of the team as well.
A bonus perk of our jobs (and yours as well when you work with us) is that many of the nearshore and offshore partners are located in incredible places. We’ve always enjoyed going to visit our software partners and it doesn’t hurt to spend a long weekend on the beach if you’re in Latin America or on the Mediterranean Sea.
Dev Shop Advisors is a boutique software outsourcing advisory firm. We help companies connect with a highly curated list of remote software teams around the world. We’re happy to be of assistance, and there is no cost to companies looking to hire. Check out DevShopAdvisors.com and contact us to schedule an intro call to get your questions answered.
