Choosing the Right Software Product Development Partner

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Software

There are a lot of decisions that if made poorly can blow down your software product’s development cycle like a gust of wind. However, one of them takes the prize as one of the most important: your software product development partner. You need to choose a team that can build your product out of bricks, not straw and sticks. The strength of your software solution is only as sturdy as the team who built it. 

So, why take the risk? It’s time to consider the key factors when choosing the right software development partner so your product can succeed. 

Assessing Relevant Industry Experience and Technical Expertise

Assessing the experience of software product development companies may not be easy, but it’s still one of the most critical stages in product development. You need to know if the team you’re looking at has the industry-specific experience and technical expertise that applies to your project.

When building your list of prospective development teams, investigate their portfolios. Do they have past projects in similar industries? Are they using similar technology stacks to the ones you’d like to use? More broadly, how would you grade their problem-solving skills? Good case studies can help you decide on that last one.

Compliance

This will be a no-brainer for good outsourced software product development services, but make sure that the team you’re looking into knows their stuff when it comes to regulatory compliance. They may be dedicated to their work and security, but they might specialize in a different set of laws and rules than you need. 

For example, if HIPAA compliance is something you need to implement into your product, make sure your team worked with this before and knows all the pitfalls and best practices.  It’s important to get that out of the way before you start working on your project.

Ask These Questions

  • Can you provide any case studies from our industry?
  • What technologies do you have experience with?
  • What security measures do you have in place?

Evaluating Development Methodologies and Processes

Your project, like a house, starts with its foundation. In this case, that foundation is the methodology that an outsourced software product development company will use to build your product. With solid development processes, like Agile and DevOps, you can ensure the effectiveness and flexibility of your project. 

To figure that out, you need to assess not only their methodologies, but also their quality assurance processes. You should also determine the team’s adaptability to change. If they aren’t very flexible, that will be an additional challenge to consider.

Ask These Questions

  • How do you handle project changes?
  • What project management tools do you use?
  • What methodologies do you use for your software development services?

Understanding Communication and Collaboration Style

Without clear communication, transparency, and collaboration, you’re leaving the door wide open for trouble to arise. At the very least, you and the development team need to decide on something when it comes to communicating about your software project. However, it’s going to make things a lot easier if you find compatibility in your communication styles. Bonus points if you use the same collaboration tools.

That being said, excellent software product development services for startups know that being stubborn about communication software won’t gain them any better relationships with clients. Instead, great development teams will go out of their way to meet you where you are. If they primarily use Slack and you use Teams, for example, then they’ll master and use Teams to give you project updates. 

Write It Down

Make sure you have set agreements, even written ones, about how you and the development team will communicate and how often. Will you check in weekly? Monthly? What will be discussed at each check-in? Clear up all these details at the beginning so nobody gets caught off guard down the road.

Ask These Questions

  • How often can we expect project updates?
  • What communication tools do you use?
  • Are you willing to use our communication platform?
  • Who is the main point of contact?

Checking References and Client Testimonials

Don’t just look at their portfolio — look at what the clients of these development teams are saying. This feedback will give you a more objective look at a software product development company’s reputation and abilities. Great software development teams are proud to showcase their good reviews and will have a testimonials side of their website that you can investigate. 

Another strategy you can take is to look up the company’s reviews on selling platforms like UpWork. Their review ratio can tell you a lot about the quality of their work. You can also investigate their negative reviews more closely to see what criticisms clients have.

Go Straight to the Source

If looking at their client list isn’t enough, reach out to those former clients and ask them about their relationship and work with the development team. Their answers will tell you more about the team’s strengths, responsiveness, and problem-solving capabilities.

Ask These Questions

  • Can you provide references for projects you’ve worked on that are similar to ours?
  • Have past clients criticized you before? How have you improved on that criticism?

Examining Cost Structure and Value for Money

Not everyone likes surprises. Even fewer of us like surprises that involve money (except for the lottery). Similarly, you don’t want to be caught off guard by software product development outsourcing teams giving you an invoice for things you didn’t expect. The best way to avoid this is through the same strategy as everything else in this article: ask questions and do your research. Look for teams with transparent pricing and flexible billing models. Make sure they are outlining the costs of the project from beginning to end in your talks with them. 

Good Development Teams Understand Your Budget

Not everyone has the budget for a cutting-edge enterprise solution. However, not everyone needs one. Excellent software product development services for startups understand this reality deeply. That’s why they work to understand the problem you’re having first and make suggestions about the approach you can take to solve that problem – all according to your budget needs. 

Ask These Questions

  • How do you structure your project pricing?
  • What’s included in your development cost?
  • Can I get that in writing?

Build a Stronger Software Product

Building a software product is a lot of work with a lot of boxes to check. A few simple mistakes at the beginning, like a gust of wind, make it all fall down later on. Of course, the best first step is to check out software development services you can take to ensure your product stands the test of time. 

By asking experts the right questions, avoiding common pitfalls is easy. Not only that, but it will improve the quality and reliability of your product, improving customer satisfaction and solidifying your brand’s reputation and image.

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