Dedicated Team Model: What is it, Pros and Cons
Before starting any type of development work or project, the first step is not assembling the team, but choosing the optimal collaboration model, which will be the most efficient for your project. You can find yourself at the crossroads between pure outsourcing, getting an in-house team, or extending it with a team outside your staff, and then realize that neither fits you fully. Well, here is a space to try a dedicated team model for your project due to its flexibility and efficiency, and here is everything you need to know about this model.
What is a dedicated team model?
Let’s start with the dedicated team meaning. It is a type of business relationship between a service provider, e.g. your development team, and the client, namely you, in which you hire an outsourcing team for your project full-time. The reason why this model is called so is that, due to the full-time hours, the team only works on your project until it’s finished. Thus, you can enjoy the benefits of an in-house team without extra expense. You can find one according to the scale of your project, budget, or any other definitive factor and make changes in your collaboration with the team for the next project.
Vendor’s functional responsibilities in this model include hunting, recruiting, and onboarding of the new employees, as well as legal and financial management of your project. Payments and pricing systems are quite transparent and simple. It usually consists of monthly salaries for team members and provider’s fees. Such a type of model does not require you to pay for office maintenance, insurance expenses, and all the other charges that come with an in-house team.
Does your project need a dedicated team?
A dedicated development team model is not a silver bullet for any project or startup, but it is another format you can opt for if it suits your business and requirements. Nonetheless, you could use one of the following criteria to match with an ideal one.
Your in-house team doesn’t have all the necessary skills. If you start working on something new or moving in a new direction, it is natural that your in-house team may lack skill or expertise in the field. If you don’t have time to educate the staff, hiring a dedicated project team will be more efficient and will pay back sooner.
Your project is quite large. The larger the project grows, the harder it is for your staff to keep up with maintaining performance and productivity. Therefore a dedicated team will help you save the level you once set up for them.
The project requires long-term dedication. Sooner or later, you can realize that your company or startup has grown and there is a lot more than one project to manage. Not to overload your teams with diverse projects, hiring a dedicated one will fix this problem.
Your project or your circumstances require flexibility. No project goes perfectly as planned from day one, and the winner is always the one who can adjust. It is natural for new goals, problems, and requirements to emerge along the way, which is why a dedicated development team is structured the way that allows you to evolve and make changes with minimal pain for efficiency.
You want to be involved in the project and control every aspect of it. It is crucial for the leader to acknowledge all the processes, issues, and improvements in the project, and dedicated teams are transparent for you to be able to manage every aspect of the team itself and the project it works on.
You need to track the progress in real-time. Tracking progress is important not only for management and information. It is also a great motivation for you and the rest of your team in recognition of their labor and the distance to the goal.
For you to estimate the relevance of hiring such a team for your project, here is a table with a criteria that different outsourcing models are supposed to meet.
As you can see, there are a lot of instances, in which a dedicated development team may come in handy, and we are moving on to discussing how exactly it will.
Pros of the dedicated team model
If you are considering hiring a dedicated team for a particular project, here are the benefits you and your business will see.
It is budget-friendly
Usually, this advantage is decisive for many businesses, which is why it crowns the list. Indeed, most of the dedicated development teams work at lower rates. The reason is that they are usually located in countries where development services are cheaper compared to the US. Thus, the developers still receive competitive compensation for their home and you get the quality services for a lower price.
The most exciting thing about such a collaboration is the fact that the professionalism and the expertise of the people you hire are proportional to the global development market, which means they will not yield the performance. In other words, their skills are defined by the global labor market, while their salary expectations follow the tendencies of their local ones.
Besides, apart from the developers per se, the dedicated model allows you to save on human resources expenses since you do not have to hunt each team member separately.
Your team is focused on a sole project
As its name goes, a dedicated team is dedicated to a single project. Unlike freelance developers, who have plenty of side gigs, and an in-house team, which has other responsibilities or has to juggle projects within a company, this type of team puts all its working time into your project specifically, which allows you to see the result faster.
Plus, such a team is flexible in terms of re-configuration, whether it is the very start of the project or you’re already halfway through it. Narrow focus with such flexibility will ensure the team’s efficiency, which you will definitely like.
The team has relevant expertise and experience for the particular job
When you look for an external team for a specific project, you can find the developers having the exact expertise that you need. When you clarify the details of your project to the service provider, they will most likely suggest to you a team that already has similar works in their portfolio, so the onboarding will take and, consequently, cost you less time and resources. Professionals with relevant expertise will also be of help for you throughout your collaboration, as they can pinpoint the details you haven’t known about.
Finally, when you take the whole team on board, they have already worked together, so the processes within it will be smooth, which also saves onboarding time.
The collaboration is tight and transparent
It is easy to manage and track progress with dedicated development teams, as all the processes there are well-oiled and protocolized. Such teams usually use task management and tracking tools that allow you to see the full picture of their achievements and react quickly if the process is stuck. As the team has already worked together, they have the necessary level of synchronization and ensure you will always be on the same page. Plus, daily communication via work messengers makes the process even more transparent and improves troubleshooting.
Close collaboration allows the team to communicate, fix errors, adjust to the new challenges, and brainstorm together to achieve the common goal.
You see the results faster
The advantage of a dedicated team model encompasses all of the above. It is not the choice between the quality and the cost, it is just an approach that fits specific circumstances. Thus, with a well-organized, narrow-experienced, and tightly focused project team, you can go ahead and plan the steps of the project with solid deadlines, as well as expect the work done within a shorter period of time.
Cons of the dedicated team model
Despite all the pros we mentioned before, it is necessary to acknowledge the downsides of working within this model.
It doesn’t exactly fit short-term projects
This model works best and is specifically created for long-term projects, so it makes little sense to hire a whole team for a one-time gig. Dedicated teams are for long-term, flexible and ever-evolving projects, so it is unreasonable to work with them occasionally both in terms of expenses and human resources use.
The solution is not universal
A dedicated team is not a solution that fits everything. Before hiring or even starting looking for one, make sure your project fits the list above. As teams are coined for long-term collaboration, it requires signing a contract. If you do so before estimating what exactly your project needs, this decision may turn out to be rushed and unwise.
You will face the challenges of working in different time zones
Working with people abroad has its flip side, and it is clearly the time difference between your office and the team’s one. It may damage the problem-shooting and communication a little, but with the right agile approach, it can be easily avoided. Besides, you can find a team that is close to your residence country, so that this difference will not be as dramatic.
Dedicated team organization structure
Usually, a dedicated development team is quite similar to the one companies have in their offices on a constant basis. Each player has their role, but their competencies, responsibilities, and flow may differ due to the specification of the model. Let’s take a closer look at the dedicated project team structure, how software development happens here, and the key players.
- Front-end engineers are responsible for selecting, installing, and testing the user interface and its elements. They make sure the end-user sees your website or application as it is supposed to look, along with the functionality of the product.
- Back-end engineers are all about server components of applications. Their main responsibility is to implement the logic of the business rule with a focus on data and web services.
- QA engineers make sure your user will not stumble on any bug in their flow. They are responsible for technical design documents and timely feedback on the functionality of the app.
- UX/UI designers collect user insights, map user journeys, prototype, and create a visual representation of the information the product provides. They are responsible for the usability and accessibility of the product.
- DevOps engineers ensure troubleless coordination of the work of the above roles.
- Business analysts connect the customer with the IT team. They have to involve in and deconstruct every process at the very start to minimize inefficiency and build an optimal process for the team that is sufficient for you. Their task is to embody your expectations of the end result of the project.
- Project managers are overall responsible for the success of the project. They create a roadmap, plan, make check-ups, and finish the project, making sure everything works well al every aspect of the task.
The team usually goes in bulk for you to know that every step in your project is calculated, predictable, and reasonable. As a client, you will mostly communicate with business analysts and project managers. But then again, the transparency of such a model allows you to take a glimpse at every stage of the work.
Dedicated development team: Is it right for your business?
Creating any type of software is a creative process, after all. It means that there is no solution that will fit every particular case, as it requires a custom approach. However, if you are planning on opening a new project and it will be a long-term one, a dedicated team collaboration model will benefit you in terms of efficiency and cost.
Try to find a service provider you can trust, and make your decision after a detailed discussion with the manager.
Choose from more options for your project…
A dedicated development team model is one of the formats that the market suggests. It is one you can choose when it seems suitable for your business or goals. It has multiple advantages, as a DTM combines the dedication of an in-house team with the flexibility and affordability of an outsourced one. Naturally, your company will benefit from such collaboration when you’re in sync with managers and the team, and if such a model fits your business expectations. The existence of this model does not make other formats any worse, it simply diversifies your options for delivering a great product to your users.
