If you’ve been thinking about partnering with an outsourcing company, chances are you’ve done some internet research and gotten bombarded with advice. The thing is, we often find that advice coming through in the inquiries we receive here at Agile Fuel – and people aren’t always asking the right questions. That’s partly because much of the opinion out there is specifically about traditional outsourcing, but you have another option. Outstaffing has many advantages over outsourcing. You get access to dedicated teams of vetted remote developers and more control too.
So, how do we know you’re not always asking the right questions? Well, anyone who knows anything about the Agile Fuel backstory will realize we’ve been there and done it ourselves – and we’ve already made all the mistakes you can make when building our own development teams. In fact, solving those issues for clients is why we chose to develop an outstaffing model in the first place!
Let’s Start a Conversation About Distributed Engineering Teams and Why Outstaffing Works
It’s like this. If you find yourself here, the way we see it, you’re considering some form of outsourcing or outstaffing, and this article is designed to leave you with three things. We’ll tell you the questions we wish we’d asked way back when we were founding and building companies in the past. You’ll get a good idea of why we recommend those questions now too. The third thing we’d like you to take away from reading this article is a basic understanding of the difference between outstaffing and outsourcing. The suggested questions here aren’t exhaustive, but they’re an excellent place to start learning about scaling engineering teams using outstaffing.
What Are Your Recruitment and People Management Strategies, and How About Ease of Scaling my Engineering Team?
At times, you’re going to need access to specialized talent, and you’ll want to know that’s possible, precisely as and when the demand arises. Outstaffing uses custom recruiting based on the exact skillsets and experience you require, and talent rarity doesn’t pose a problem - you need it, we find it, and we’ve become extremely good at that. While it’s essential to vet engineers based on skills and experience, we’ve also learned over the years to consider other factors. Team fit and vetting based on language skills and culture produce flawless, problem-free communication with client-side technical leadership. Incidentally, and admittedly it’s more by an accident of geography than design; we’re pretty lucky on all those fronts here in Ukraine.
How much time does recruitment take?
Resources wise, how many people will be working on recruitment for my team, and how do you go about finding the right developers?
Do I get a say in recruitment? Can I participate in the interview process?
How big a part of what you do is recruitment, and do you have experience with the talent I need?
How quick can we get things moving? After recruitment is complete, how long does onboarding generally take?
How easy is it going to be for me to expand the team, and what if I need to let team members go? What’s your policy on that?
How can you make sure the retention of staff is good? What’s your approach to supporting the right culture?
What About Communications and Team Management, and How Exclusive are my Vetted Remote Developers?
When you’re outsourcing, good communication is absolutely critical for success. With outstaffing, you communicate directly with a team you interviewed and signed off on personally, and you can even choose your project management software and methods. We think it makes sense for companies with in-house technical people to manage their distributed engineering teams, their own way - directly. Unlike with outsourcing, you get a dedicated team that works solely for you. That’s not to say we won’t take care of the admin side of running the team from our end; that’s part of our role.
Will my team work just for me, or several clients?
How do I manage my team?
Can I use project management tools I’m familiar with?
How will I communicate with my team?
Tell me About the Workplace, Resources, and Security You Provide?
The connections between positive outcomes, staff motivation, performance and retention, and a work environment’s quality and culture are widely known. We see the direct results of our investment in comfortable workstations, properly equipped office space, and how we support our teams in the output they produce. Security has to be at the very core of our practices as an outstaffing agency, and we’re always happy to talk you through exactly what you can expect from us in that regard.
Will my team by adequately equipped with the right tools and technologies?
Where will my distributed engineering team be working?
How fast are your internet connection speeds?
What hours do you work, and can we tailor that to gain a decent time overlap with my timezone?
Can I contact my team after hours when I need to?
What about confidentiality? Does every team member sign non-disclosure agreements?
How do intellectual property rights work when I’m using a distributed engineering team via outstaffing?
Tell me about your security measures. How can you guarantee only authorized people get access to data and equipment used for my project?
What’s the Cost to Hire Vetted Remote Developers, and How is that Structured?
You already know by now that we started out based on problems we’d experienced ourselves in the past. As we continued to learn from our clients and develop the Agile Fuel outstaffing model, we knew we wanted to avoid multiple fees and complicated charging systems. We also wanted it to be easy to budget for our services. That’s why you just pay a flat monthly fee per specialist, and we take care of salaries, taxes, admin, and resources. That fixed monthly fee covers everything from tailored specialist recruitment of team members, to a quality, well-equipped workspace, to good, strong coffee. There are no hidden charges and zero surprises – and none of that will stop you from scaling your engineering team up or down precisely as you need.
Vetted Remote Developers – Scaling Engineering Teams Using Outstaffing
If you‘re looking for vetted remote developers, but you don’t have the time or recruiting skills to find the talent you require exactly when you need it. Suppose you want full control and open communication channels with dedicated people that fit your company culture. Also wish to scale engineering teams fast via a cost-effective service with no hidden fees or hassles? In that case, you’ll likely gain a lot from the lessons we learned building our own companies and serving our outstaffing clients. Get in touch and find out more about how Agile Fuel helps companies achieve success with distributed engineering teams.
