Let’s view two options. Either you should hire freelance
developers and go through the trouble of the screening and selection process or
apply to software development outsourcing companies in the market who can help
you to choose the right engagement model and make the development process
cost-effective without waste of time and money on hiring an in-house
development team, training, and investing in the tools and frameworks. And
surely the guarantee of the success of this process and the highest value
contribution will be the right pairing with the vendor and the right engagement
model.

For this situation, I would recommend to get familiar with
the most common engagement models, choose the most suitable options and discuss
them with the software vendor. Would recommend to consider the team extension
model in your list. This model enables organizations to meet their work demands
without too much effort or financial investment. It is an excellent opportunity
for companies looking to hire great talent in a short period without breaking
the bank. This model is also called staff augmentation model which suggests
short-term services especially for making up for the removal or absence of a
local team member.&nbsp; Though there are many
other different considerations that should be accounted for making the best
efficient decision. 

Let me speak about the most common engagement models in IT
industry, discuss the pros and cons of each one and provide tips on choosing
the right one.

Software development engagement model is a mechanism of
project execution describing the collaboration between the client and the
vendor. It’s a basis for deciding the level of control, involvement of
developers, responsibilities, obligations, payment terms, time limitations, etc.

There are three main types of engagement models: dedicated
team, team extension or staff augmentation and fixed bid or project-based
model.

DDT-Dedicated Development Team is a good choice when the
company has no in-house team at all or lacks the needed expertise. So the
client hires a dedicated team of professionals for a long time to get the
software work done without spending time and money on the full supervision. The
self-managed team of developers, designers or other professionals works
remotely from other country getting assigned to the project or some part of it
for a long time thus minimizing the development costs and insuring fast to
market delivery. 

DDT is an ideal choice when the scope of the project is not
properly defined and the requirements change frequently. This model is easily
customizable to the business requirements and allows outsourced team
adjustments on different stages. 

Easily customizable to get fitted to the business
requirements as it provides opportunities to collaborate with the expertise of
need. Flexible engagement allows the customer to adjust team composition on
different stages. One of the main disadvantages of this model is that you
should bear in mind that some time will be needed for the recruitment process
and onboarding of the selected staff including the efforts on embracing the
company’s culture and internal rules.&nbsp; 

The most common billing method for this engagement model is
the Time and Material, when the payments are done according to actually worked
man-hours. Monthly flat rate is the second choice when fixed payments are
defined monthly for the delivery of the pack of the features agreed beforehand.


Team Extension, called also staff augmentation, is a process
of filling the gaps of expertise in the internal team by outsourcing some
business functions to a third party while keeping the control over strategic
competencies inside your company. Both the internal and external developers
work as a team sharing experiences, motivating each other, collaborating on
task level, and delivering the team result. Time and Material billing method is
the common choice when Team Extension Model is used which assumes payments
according to the confirmed worked hours and is based on the actual workload for
the specific time period. 

Staff augmentation is mainly used for short-term projects
which don’t have long ramp-up time, as otherwise team extension costs higher
and implies capacity building for managing additional staff and the added
processes. 

Whereas team extension is aimed at work efficiency and the
pace of the process, the DDT has the project’s uniqueness and quality as a top
priority to come up with the most customized solution.

For small and mid-size
projects when the scope can be properly defined and requirement specifications
can be planned appropriately, it would be preferable to choose the
project-based engagement model which assumes that the scope of the work &amp;
budget are fixed, the timeframe is set. Here the client provides a clear vision
of the product and the vendor company properly estimates and cares for project
management and the ultimate delivery within a preset timeline. Respectively,
fixed-priced billing is the common choice for this engagement model and the payments
are made on pre-defined milestones.

You should bear in mind
that this model supposes a longer time for estimation and usually the planning
stage is the longest one as the requirements should be divided to task-level
pieces of work for being able to provide an accurate time and cost for the
delivery.

Though the project-based
engagement model assumes clarity and transparency alongside the process, it
usually is not flexible and creates difficulties for the changes which appear
to be needed during the development process. And a lot of time and money is
wasted on planning and estimation though in the end the estimate variability
tends to increase during the main development process. So this model should be
used for specific short-term projects when the requirements and specifications
are rigid and predictable. 

The decision on the
engagement model can be based on various factors like the delivery time,
envisioned budget, size of the project, the expected deliverables, etc. When
choosing the most appropriate engagement model for your project make sure to
carefully consider the pros and cons of each type and discuss the most suitable
option with the software vendor. If you would need a discussion of your
requirements and possible alternatives, feel free to <a href="https://developway.org/contact-us/">contact us!</a>

We are midway through a project, but have lost some key developers. We would like to add 2 developers with those skills to our team, but are not looking for full-time employees. Can you suggest what would be the best way to add resources to our project to avoid any delay?&nbsp;

How do I decide on the right engagement model for my project?