Many small companies don’t enjoy the luxury of an in-house tech development team and rely on independent contractors and outside firms to handle their technology needs. And even a company that does have an internal tech team is sometimes faced with heavy project loads and, occasionally, the need for special skills its group of developers doesn’t possess.
Finding the right outside contractor(s) can be complicated; it’s important to assess not only what outsourced devs can add to the equation, but also how bringing them on will impact the internal team. Below, 20 members of Forbes Technology Council discuss essential factors tech leaders tasked with hiring and managing outsourced developers need to stay on top of to ensure these partnerships yield successful results.
1. Culture And Values Alignment
An essential metric for evaluating outsourced developers is a culture and engagement check. The partner team needs to align with your company’s values and culture, because that impacts teamwork and communication. Regular feedback ensures a harmonious and effective collaboration. – Sriram Subramanian, LINK
2. Consistency And Quality Of Communication
While quantitative metrics offer insights into progress, they don’t tell the whole story. The key to a fruitful and robust working relationship lies in transparency and consistent, candid communication. It’s important to see action and progress through regular updates. A lack of communication is a red flag in any partnership—silence often indicates underlying issues that need urgent attention. – Jonathan Cardella, Ventive, LLC
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3. Team Velocity
Team velocity is a good indicator of performance, but leaders must consider that adding new members can decrease productivity initially. Onboarding takes time, and someone needs to train the newcomers, which can lower the team’s overall output. Prepare for a decline in velocity for the first three to nine months, although you can expect improvement with each sprint until you hit your desired target. – Nacho De Marco, BairesDev
4. Work Quality
Evaluate outsourced devs’ work quality to ensure it aligns with project goals, maintains consistency and meets standards. Assess their work for seamless integration within the project’s context and ensure it meets expectations. Monitoring their quality for project compliance will reduce the risk of deviations. – Damian Wasserman, BEON.tech
5. Data Privacy And Security Compliance
It’s important to ensure outsourced developers adhere to strict data privacy and security standards, especially when handling sensitive information. Compliance with international standards such as GDPR, HIPAA and/or others relevant to your industry should be tracked. – Anthony Lancaster, Professional Robots
6. Quality And Frequency Of Code Commits
To ensure outsourced developers deliver expected results, a key metric is the quality and frequency of their code commits. Assessing the number of bugs, adherence to specifications and software stability indicates their understanding and progress on the project. This, along with regular communication, helps align outsourced work with company standards and project goals. – Dmitry Mishunin, HashEx
7. Time To Value
Companies should focus on time to value as a key metric when outsourcing development. This measures how quickly the outsourced team delivers tangible results. A shorter time to value indicates efficient collaboration and effective project execution, ensuring that outsourcing efforts align with the company’s strategic goals. – Favour Femi-Oyewole, Access Bank PLC
8. Successful Task Delivery
The key measure for an outsourced provider is successful task delivery, with prior experience being the most crucial skill. The relevance of their experience to the current task impacts the likelihood of timely, budget-compliant project completion. While core capabilities are vital, previous experience is of paramount importance. – Slava Podmurnyi, Visartech Inc.
9. Scrum Agile Standards
Aside from having an outsourcing ISO 37500 standard, leveraging Scrum Agile methodology is a good way to measure the success of your development team—especially outsourced developers. Scrum Agile’s feature-driven development method manages both in-house and outsourced development effectively. The daily 15-minute standup meetings will ensure deliverables are met and bottlenecks are addressed immediately. – Nihinlola Adeyemi, ErrandPay Limited
10. Meeting Time
Meeting time is a crucial metric when outsourcing development. Meetings are often needed to onboard new resources and hand over development work from in-house management to development companies. However, if the time for the meeting outpaces the time required for the development itself, it might not be a wise use of resources. – Kevin Korte, Univention
11. Adaptability Quotient
Implement an “adaptability quotient” to gauge the outsourced team’s responsiveness to evolving project demands. AQ evaluates the ability to adapt swiftly to changing priorities, tech updates and market dynamics. A high AQ indicates that the outsourced developers deliver expected results and demonstrate agility in navigating uncertainties and adjusting to the company’s evolving needs. – Jagadish Gokavarapu, Wissen Infotech
12. DORA Metrics
Assuming the outsourced developers can operate independently, I recommend using the four DevOps Research and Assessment, or DORA, metrics: 1. lead time for changes, 2. deployment frequency, 3. change failure rate, and 4. time to restore service. If the outsourced developers don’t have this level of control, I’d measure number 1 slightly differently: time from code commit to tested and available for your team to release. I’d also continue to measure numbers 3 and 4. – Dave Todaro, Ascendle
13. Delivery-Time-To-Quality Ratio
One key metric for assessing outsourced developers is the delivery-time-to-quality ratio, which evaluates the timeliness of deliverables against their quality. It ensures that projects are completed on schedule without compromising on the standards and architectural pattern set by the company. Tracking this metric helps maintain the balance between efficient delivery and high-quality outcomes. – Satpreet Singh, Pinnacle Digital Advisors
14. Innovation Rate
Monitor the outsourced team’s innovation rate, quantifying the frequency and impact of their unique, creative solutions. This metric evaluates their contribution to technological advancement and project enhancement beyond basic deliverables. A high innovation rate signifies that the team actively introduces cutting-edge ideas, pushing the project beyond standard expectations. – Nicola Sfondrini, PWC
15. Defect Density
One metric companies should track when outsourcing developers is their defect density, which represents the number of bugs and errors found per 1,000 lines of code. This is an excellent way to tell if the company you hired to help is good at paying attention to details. If you consistently see a high error rate (over 1%), it may be time to outsource elsewhere or train in-house. – Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster
16. Time Management
Time management is the key metric companies need to track to ensure outsourced developers are delivering. This sounds simple and low-tech, and it is both of those things, but it is also a key indicator of the performance level of both employees and contractors. Ask, “Does the developer show up to meetings on time, manage time expectations and meet the deadlines they’ve committed to?” – Jonathan Doughty, Mentat, LLC
17. Delivery Time To Market
Focus on delivery time to market for outsourced projects. This metric evaluates how efficiently external teams align with your deadlines and quality expectations, ensuring projects not only meet technical standards, but also contribute to competitive advantage and customer satisfaction. – Bob Ras, Coreum
18. Feature Adoption Rate
Focus on the feature adoption rate. This metric measures how often and effectively end users utilize the features developed by the outsourced team. High adoption rates indicate that the features are not only technically sound, but also align with user needs and preferences, reflecting the outsourced team’s understanding of the project’s goals and user requirements. – Andres Zunino, ZirconTech
19. Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is a critical metric. Track user feedback and support tickets to gauge if the delivered product meets users’ needs and solves the intended problem. This goes beyond code quality, capturing overall value and impact. Pair it with regular communication and performance reviews to identify areas for improvement and build a strong, collaborative partnership. – Shelli Brunswick, SB Global LLC
20. The Same Standards As Your In-House Team
Outsourced developers are an extension of the in-house team. They should be brought in as partners with shared goals and held accountable to the same standards as the in-house team—velocity, escaped defects, code coverage, deployment frequency and lead time, to name a few. – Anupama Sharma, ASG (Alpine Software Group)
