It’s not unheard of for a software product to migrate from one development team to another at some point. Different project phases may require different kinds of teams — for instance, a consultancy to build an MVP, an in-house team to scale it, and a freelance developer or a small support team to maintain it. Perhaps you want to switch from an exclusively in-house model to a distributed one, in order to save on costs and improve time to market.
Regardless of your reasons for switching development teams (or incorporating remote members into your in-house team), you need to be prepared.
Insufficient documentation and subpar communication will lead to slow progress, wasted time, and frustration.
To help you out, we’ve created a guide on how to make the transition from one team to another as smoothly as possible. Let’s get started!
Reasons to Migrate Projects to a Team in a Different Region
There are several reasons why companies might choose to migrate their software projects to an overseas team. First of all, it gives them access to incredible cost savings — without compromising on quality.
For example, the Eastern Europe region has some of the best software developers in the world, yet the average base salary is equivalent to about $50,000 per year. Yet, in the US, developers of comparable quality earn more than double that amount, on average.
So, if you’re looking to reduce your overall expenditure on a project, turning to an overseas development team is a viable solution.
But there’s more than just cost savings: for instance, when you have developers located in various time zones, they are often able to achieve faster delivery. Employees can take advantage of the time difference to get the project delivered faster — essentially, you’ll always have people working on the project, around the clock. What’s more, it’s easier to move resources around, and the hiring process is much faster.
Two Migration Models
There are 2 main team models that we’d like to go over: distributed and Remote In-Sourcing®. Both models provide the advantages listed above: cost savings, round-the-clock work, and a faster hiring process.
However, there’s a major area in which they differ — that is, who handles the hiring and logistics. With a distributed team, you need to handle everything: from finding top experts across the globe, onboarding them, setting up workspaces, and so on.
Conversely, with a Remote In-Sourcing® team, you’ll work with a vendor who does all of the hiring and logistics. You’ll tell the vendor your needs, and they’ll find you top talent that fits within your budget. But it’s still your team: they act as your employees, are dedicated exclusively to your project, and you get to keep all the intellectual property.
How to Transfer Projects to a Distributed Team
Before you even look for new developers, you need to know the technical specifications of your project. Make sure you know what tech stack your current team is using, so you know which technologies the new engineers you hire must be skilled in.
Furthermore, pinpoint all the third-party integrations that have been added (or will be added) to your project. This includes payment, shipping, and invoice integrations, as well as CRM tools. It’s also important to consider your hosting platform and devops approach: you’ll want to hire technical specialists who maintain an app on whichever platform you use.
Now that you know the ins and outs of your project, it’s time to develop a knowledge transfer plan. Essentially, you’re compiling information that the new team needs in order to smoothly take over the project. What to include:
- Tech stack info
- Credentials for services/cloud/databases
- Repository URLs with access details
- Server configuration information
- Business requirements documentation
- Documentation of internal and external APIs used
- Deployment procedures
- Test cases
After you have a solid knowledge transfer plan, you’ll need to find employees for your distributed team. This can be a little overwhelming to do on your own since you’ll be scouring the globe for top talent. There are several options for finding developers: posting on international job sites like ZipRecruiter, using social media platforms like LinkedIn, and working with recruiting agencies.
Besides sourcing developers, you’ll also have to consider workspaces. Will you have central hubs located in various countries? This can be costly, so if you have tight budget constraints, it may be best to find developers who can work from home.
When you have a team put together, it’s time to start transitioning the project over. Because your team is distributed across the globe, you’ll need to meet them virtually. Take this time to familiarize everybody with documentation, let them know which project management methodology to follow, clarify roles and responsibilities, and establish communication tools.
There may be road bumps along the way, but following the steps listed above will make the transition to a distributed team go much smoother.
How to Transfer Projects to a Remote In-Sourcing® Team
What if you want to switch to a Remote In-Sourcing® team rather than going with the distributed model? It’s actually much easier to transfer projects this way, as you can eliminate the entire recruitment step, and it isn’t necessary to set up workspaces.
What you’ll do to switch to this model:
- Identify your existing team’s gaps
- Assemble documentation
- Meet your new team and set expectations
- Assign work and keep all intellectual property the team creates
And here’s what your Remote In-Sourcing® vendor is responsible for:
- Recruiting and hiring your team (in as little as 2 weeks)
- Maintaining facilities and operations
Tips to Keep in Mind
There are a few key things to keep in mind when migrating your software projects to a different development team — no matter which model you are switching to.
- Make sure to establish clear communication with your new team and tell them from the get-go what your expectations are. Clearly set deadlines, coding standards, etc.
- Give the new team a chance to get familiar with your codebase. Make sure to provide them with accurate, thorough documentation.
- Be prepared to answer any questions the new team may have about your project. This could include structural queries, which libraries are used, and so on.
- Provide the new team with enough testing data, so they can make sure the migrated project works the way it’s supposed to.
Ready to Switch to a New Team?
Migrating from one development team to another requires special care — without proper documentation and clear communication, you’ll run into bumps in the road. But the good news is, with a model like Remote In-Sourcing®, you don’t have to worry about the stresses of recruitment and logistics on top of migratory activities.
Reach out to Intetics today — we’ll set you up with a remote team of expert developers that can either take over your project or integrate seamlessly with your existing team. You set standards and expectations, keep all intellectual property, and interact with the team like they’re your own employees.
