Expanding too fast often turns out badly for startup businesses. Thus, 70% of startups fail due to attempts to grow the business without the proper foundation and strong processes in place. If you are currently planning to outsource your software development team, first check out these four cornerstone aspects. Below is a breakdown of how one can avoid this mistake.
The core team is one of the important components of the successful running of any new venture startup. Indeed, even the simplest of scaling efforts and initiatives are doomed when there isn’t a stable, carry-through, and aligned core team to drive the process. A weak core team creates erosion of the organisation’s goals, incompatible objectives, and improper coordination and supervision. These issues appear as project delays, deterioration of product quality, and high turnover rates among employees. A lack of commitment from a specific team, for example, might mean the future technologies that are expected to transform the organisation are not going to be developed.
A weak core team has very dangerous implications for your business. Business initiatives may stall or fail flat out due to a lack of clarity between team members as well as the absence of goals. This may result in lost business opportunities and disappointed customer expectations and perceptions of the enterprise. This can be costly, both in terms of time and money because turnover is not only time-consuming and expensive to manage, but it also means losing skilled workers. Finally, it is important to note that engaging a weak core team will slow down growth and hinder innovation, leaving your startup company exposed to competition.
Ensuring that the hardware, software, and cloud services you plan to integrate into your business and use at large can handle the increased volume is vital before growing your team. Lacking the infrastructure that would support it, your system might not be able to work efficiently when the traffic increases, thereby experiencing some performance hitches, downtimes and in the process make users’ experience gruelling. The lack of necessary infrastructure poses a challenge for development processes since developers are hampered in their process of functioning and the projects they undertake. For example, reliance on old-age machines or an organisation’s local servers has drawbacks such as longer processing time and few opportunities to expand capacity.
Lack of infrastructure is one major reason that could really slow down your business. Inefficiency and time loss may cause customer discontent, which results in the loss of potential profits. Long development cycles pose the risk of late new feature releases, and competitors will use the time to advance more than you. Besides, it hampers the efficient delivery of services as weak infrastructure demands more resources to maintain and solve some problems. Finally, there is a failure to scale, meaning that your business may fail to expand and accommodate the needs of a growing market.
Flexible approaches to work processes must be put in place to help the team to deliver on its goals and respond to changes effectively. Often, due to a lack of agile processes, teams end up slowed by the procedures, lengthy decision-making processes, and frustrations. This can result in late delivery, accumulated technical debt, and inability to meet emerging market needs. Non-agile processes are characterised by lengthy planning cycles, excessive documentation, and slow feedback loops, and these are some of the negative impacts that affect productivity and innovation.
The lack of agile processes is a significant problem that may hinder business innovation and strategic adaptation to new changes. Delays in decision-making and bureaucratic issues mean that decisions are not made in time, and the organisation becomes less competitive. Technical debt increases and more development work becomes more complex and expensive. Moreover, poor flexibility causes a loss of morale because developers will be constantly hampered by bureaucracy and unable to work on projects independently. It can result in increased turnover rates and challenges in recruitment and retention of the best employees.
Applying standards for evaluating team performance is important when it is necessary to come to a decision and enhance the effectiveness of the team. The problem is when there are no metrics and analytics; it is difficult to define where the bottlenecks exist, how the progress is going, and whether some alterations affect it. This tends to lead to unproductive processes, emerging problems, and no one to blame for them. They include inadequate visibility on code quality, the pace of development, and user interaction with the application, all of which may affect decision-making.
The absence of a metric and analytics, in general, results in ineffective organisational functioning and missed business opportunities. If there are no quantitative findings, it is challenging to manage and improve efficiency and effectiveness within a process and recognise where investments are to be made. This can lead to inefficiency, expenses, and undesirable organisational growth. Secondly, without proper measurement, there are tendencies for the team’s members to underperform or even demotivate, and, thus, their performance has to be managed. In the end, the absence of data can contribute to the loss of potential for a startup’s development.
Scaling your startup software development team without these foundations can lead to numerous challenges:
Hiring more software developers for your startup is a big step that should not be taken without proper preparation and models in place. To do it, focus on the following areas: construction of a powerful core team, development of infrastructure that can be easily scaled and adapted, formation of an effective work process as fast as possible, and metrics and analytics usage. As a firm that focuses on assisting startups at Ateam Soft Solutions, we pride ourselves in assisting the companies to lay the groundwork for the company to grow to the next level. undefined
One of the best practices is establishing clear roles and responsibilities where frameworks such as the RACI matrix (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed) can be used to avoid role confusion and ambiguity. It is also important to come up with a reporting structure that enhances decision-making and communication systems for instance matrix reporting incorporating functional and project reporting. Cross-functional teams should be established by adopting the Spotify model of organisation, which is composed of several small teams known as squads that are charged with developing some features or services.
Dedicated agencies, LinkedIn Recruiter, AngelList, and, most importantly, specialised job boards help to reach candidates with the exact knowledge and experience you’re looking for. To select candidates who meet these criterias, carry out tough technology assessments which include coding, system design and behavioural tests. Diversify recruitment and selection strategies in an effort to improve the thinking and abilities of the employees who are being hired for the organisation. It is important that new roles are integrated in a smooth manner.
Invest in structured training and inductions that cover technical aspects of working and organisational culture so that the new employees can be assimilated seamlessly. Develop a buddy system and training where experienced software developers mentor the new hire and the constant training can be through online courses such as Pluralsight, Coursera or Udacity. Consider using weekly or bi-weekly performance check-ins with performance management solutions such as 15Five or Culture Amp to keep track of new hires’ activity and progress and give constructive feedback.
Managing the level of software development team you hire in your startup is even more important when it comes to sustaining growth at the right time. This is particularly true for remote software development teams. In this way, having the ability to identify the main signs associated with the necessity for expansion, as well as knowing how to apply efficient and technical solutions, it is possible to keep the startup company adaptable, proactive, and receptive toward market stimuli. That is why at Ateam Soft Solutions, we are ready to assist you in overcoming this and shaping a high-quality remote software development team for your business. Call us now and discover how we can help you grow your business.
