Software Outsourcing: The Ultimate Guide to Software Project Management Services

Software development is a long, tedious, and demanding process involving large amounts of monetary and human resources to undertake and manage. The likes of which not all companies possess in the beginning. 

But still, they require a custom software built specific to their needs and specifications. So what do they do then? Well, they outsource their job to specialized software project management services for the development and oversight of their software product.  

Software outsourcing has skyrocketed recently, with more than 50% of the companies outsourcing some or most of their software development activities.  

But what is software outsourcing and software project management? How do you find the right company to outsource work to? In this article, we’ll cover what is software project management and some of the key factors to consider when searching for your outsourcing company. 

What is Software Project Management

Simply put, software project management is a process that involves carrying a team towards a unified project goal, with the help of sophisticated project management tools within the given constraints of time, scope and budget. 

What is Software Outsourcing

Outsourcing refers to the arrangement by an institution (Outsourcer) to have another organization(Outsourcee) carry out its tasks. These tasks would normally be some key business functions or a one time activity/process or development cycle performed as part of the regular activities in an institution.  

Sometimes, outsourcing may also involve a specialised web design and development company to develop a software product, website, or web-based application from scratch, based on a set of unique requirements provided by an institution.

What Should I do before Outsourcing

Before considering outsourcing your software project to third party software project management services. It's important to ask yourself a few questions and have their answers in hand. Not only will this help later on when you are shortlisting software development companies but also save you from being misled by the unprofessional ones.  

One of the first things to do is to identify the outsourcing priorities of your company, whether you do it yourself or through an HR assistant, it's important to bring out your expectations earlier than later. if not cleared out timely, it may result in a company being selected that does not truly understand you and your business requirements.  

As a business owner or person responsible for outsourcing, the factors mentioned below need to be first understood and then answered:  

• The technology stack you intend on using and the specific hard skills required? 

• The experience of the outsourced company. 

• The technical competence and domain knowledge you want the company to have 

• Do you wish to work with a fresh or notable company? 

• Should the company have generic capabilities or be specialised?       

• The expected budget for the entire outsourcing job? Do you have a reserve amount in case of project overruns?

Key Factors to Consider When Outsourcing Software Project Management

Technical Competence and Domain Experience

In order to outsource a project to a third party software development company, it's very important for that company to have the right technical competence and domain experience in the technologies, stacks and other areas. A company might be mainly front-end oriented and not so much on the back-end or vice versa. Sometimes companies specialize in a few technologies and are not able to handle requests from others.

Time in the Industry and Maturity

A new company might not always be the best to pursue outsourcing work with. People consider a company to be trustworthy which has been in the market for a significant amount of time. 

Time is a great factor in providing a reflection of a company’s robustness to potential customers, especially through good and tough times. 

Client Feedback

In order to have a better view regarding a company, it's always a good idea to go through the general feedback a company has received. This includes evaluating the past experiences of clients regarding their project experience and from other employees who have actually worked with the company. Client feedback provides great insights into how a client was treated during the contract period as well as their satisfaction levels with regards to the final project.  

Communication

Communication is absolutely essential to the success of a project, especially in outsourcing arrangements where two separate entities are required to be on the same page. Some companies ignore the importance of communication and do not even consider it a top priority. Look out for the companies that focus on good communication between relevant project members and have dedicated channels setup for general and priority communication. Communication directly affects the final quality of a software product, increasing the chances of issues being highlighted and rectified for a finer version of the software product.   

Contractual Clauses

Since outsourcing involves another company doing development work on an outsourcers behalf as per contracted instructions. It would be easily overlooked on who has the intellectual property rights to the final software product, the idea and any specific processes that were developed during the course of the project. The product itself, the ideology, technology combination, the processes or flow could all be patentable. It's important to review the relevant clauses in your outsourcing agreement and consider if they are favourable enough to be accepted, if not they can always be negotiated with mutual understanding that safeguards the interests of both parties.