This article will discuss what is a dev shop and how to find the best dev shop. Let’s get started!
What is a dev shop?
A dev shop is what the companies are looking for at this moment to increase their digital presence in the market. It can also be referred to as an agency, offering a plethora of services to companies, including creating and maintaining websites and mobile applications and building multiple software products.
The companies consider a dev shop as a means to outsource their app development work. The important things to consider are the target audience, the purpose to be resolved through the digital mode of exposure, and the customer pain points and objectives to be resolved through the software and the applications.
Also read: Continuous Software Development: Agile’s Successor
How dev shops work?
Now that we understand what is dev shop, let us focus on how dev shops work. Dev shops comprise teams that specialize working in agile development methodology. The skills of the people working in the teams vary from scrum masters, mobile developers, front-end and back-end developers, UI/UX designers, and QA specialists.
The team works in a shared service mode in various programs, which helps in the agile strategy, meeting deadlines, and reduction of costs. They work mostly remotely from various locations, thus harnessing the best of talents and flexible time zones for better productivity. There is a significant reduction in downtime and faster work completion.
What is a dev team?
The next important point is to understand what is a dev team, the dev team meaning or more precisely who is going to be contributing to the development work. The dev team is a sub-set of the Scrum team in an Agile program. It consists of engineers, application developers, mobile developers, and even testers.
Also read: Who usually needs to hire dedicated development team?
Dev shop Vs Internal tech team
There are certain advantages of having a dev shop in comparison to maintaining an internal tech team. The key ones are:
- A dev shop eliminates the need to spend time, effort, and money to hire dev teams which sometimes is a time-consuming exercise
- Companies can focus on more strategic things in the company while the outsourced dev shop takes care of the technical or dev work efficiently and faster
- Companies need not be worried about training, retention, and up-skilling the internal tech team
- Further, there is no guarantee that a hired employee will perform 100% from day one, which may eventually delay the entire program and lower the productivity.
Advantages of software development shops?
There are several advantages of software development shops. The following are the key points to consider:
- Outsourcing to a dev shop saves most time and money for companies since recruiting demands expenses and the return on it occurs in an elongated time span
- Software development shops help to tap the right talent and expertise faster as required for the program development
- With the advancement of technologies and skills, sometimes it is a challenge to upskill or cross-skill the in-house technical team, a dev shop is a better option in such a scenario
- Companies seldom need to be concerned about the availability of resources for a development work
Also read: 8 Mistakes To Avoid as a Remote Team
Key aspects to note while finding a dev shop
Let us now focus on the key aspects or tips to think of while finding or selecting a dev shop. Companies need to be mindful while selecting the right partner for their development work to maintain a long-term partnership and commitment.
Perform background checks for the short-listed development shops
It is essential to perform background checks like the origin of the dev shop, the customers served by them, and the recommendations and past history. You may either outsource the verification process to a professional agency or leverage your HR team to confirm the same. Checking client testimonials is important for an assurance that the work assigned to the development shops will be full-proof and of high quality. Further, the success of assignments will guide you in understanding the credibility of the dev shops and their performance rate with customers, thus confirming the expertise.
Provide precise instructions to the dev store shop
You must provide clear and precise instructions to the dev shops so that they understand the objectives, mission, vision, and expected business outcomes. Stating the needs and requirements like the purpose of the website, target audience, the website orientation, and the content that needs to be displayed. The frequency at which the content needs to be published, the tentative idea of the look and feel of the website, the expected menus and sub-menus, and the expected number of pages in the website. You must also state the future roadmap of your company so that the same is reflected on the website.
Also read: What Are Learning And Development Programs? | A Complete Guide
Ask questions on the competencies of the dev agency
You may ask questions about the past responsibilities and projects of the dev agency and check how they had tackled the expectations of the customer and met the desired objectives. Enquire about the technologies adopted or leveraged for the development work. If possible, it is good to interview the expertise so that you are confirmed the work will be delivered on time and with superior quality. Also, it is good to be aware of the tech stack that is going to be used and the competency of the team working in the dev shop.
Maintain communication with the dev company
You need to establish constant communication with the dev company or the dev shop so that you can work collaboratively and resolve any kinds of issues, problems, queries, misunderstandings, and risks. Besides transparent communication helps to create a healthy, stable, and long-term relationship. Hence while finalizing a dev shop, it is good to understand whether they are open to communication and do not work in silos or conceal facts and information. This is essential as you need to know which state your product is in and whether it is following the requirements and guidelines.
A dedicated and reliable web development shop
Since the target is to establish a long-term relationship with the dev shop, it is good to be clear on the budget for the projects they are going to work on. Check out their innovative ideas, and plan for executing the roadmap which you have in your mission. Ensure the dev shop is responsive and proactive in its answers.
Kuntala is a versatile writer with a focus on diverse areas around work, productivity, collaboration at work, hiring, management, HR, and training. Her background of past experience in technology and consulting helps in molding razor-sharp insights into the research and user-focused content she creates. Professionally she is an IT consultant in a sales role and also a writer of short stories and poems, travel blogger, and fashion influencer.
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