Are you planning to hire developers to build your software? A dedicated development team might be the answer.
Engaging dedicated developers to build your software product is the best choice for startups and organisations. This model is widely used in software development when collaborating remotely with devs.
Assembling the perfect dedicated team structure has never been easy, especially for non-tech startup founders – from getting all the experts to managing the squad and building a product that meets business requirements.
What is a dedicated development team structure? Who is in the dedicated software development team? How do I build a dedicated team? This article provides a complete guide on building the right dedicated development team structure.
Key Points
- A dedicated development team is a high-performance dev squad of several experts collaborating to build software.
- A dedicated software development team structure includes a product owner, business analyst, software architect, designer, developer, and QA and DevOps engineers.
- The factors that affect how you structure your software development team are the project type and complexity, how long it takes to complete the product, the budget and the development methodology.
- The four steps to assembling the right development team structure are to examine the development goals, choose a team size and structure that fits the project, cover all roles and facilitate collaboration.
What Is a Dedicated Team of Developers?
A dedicated team consists of several software development professionals collaborating with a business or startup to build a software product.
It refers to the long-term cooperation between the clients and the outsourced team, where clients expand their in-house staff with outsourced specialists to work exclusively on a project basis.
When you engage a team of dedicated developers, you get a squad of professionals who resemble an in-house team selected specifically for your business goals.
How Do You Structure a Dedicated Development Team
What is the structure of a dedicated software development team? A typical dev squad structure includes a product owner, business analyst, project manager, product designer, software architect, developer, QA and DevOps engineer.
Product Owner
The product owner is an important member of a dedicated team. The specialist is more customer-oriented and responsible for creating the product's vision and ensuring it meets customer expectations.
The product owner balances business needs and market trends, defines the business strategy, shapes the product and ensures it is what the customers need.
Business Analyst
The business analyst helps translate customer business needs into requirements. To do that, this expert understands the customer's business process and dives deep into the workflow, accepting feedback to help clients formulate what their product looks like.
The business analyst also translates ideas into tangible requirements and aligns customers' visions with what the development team is producing.
While the responsibilities of a business analyst and product owner might sound similar, there are differences between the two. The product owner provides the vision without considering how it will be technically implemented.
On the other hand, the business analyst links the customer and the team, ensuring the product requirements align with customers' expectations.
Project Manager
The role of a project manager as part of a dedicated development team structure is to manage and ensure quality delivery on time and within budget. This expert is responsible for planning the activities, assigning tasks to each team member and updating the project status.
In Agile software development, where the focus is on transparency, self-management and shared ownership, the project manager sets the product's vision, facilitates communication, maintains transparency and seeks to improve the development process.
Having a project manager as part of your dev team is vital because they connect the dots between stakeholders' requirements and day-to-day task execution on a team level.
Software Architect
As part of a dedicated team, the software architect is responsible for designing the architecture, setting code quality standards and creating plans for project-specific technical requirements.
Also, the software architect is responsible for selecting appropriate tools and platforms to implement the product vision.
UI/UX Designer
The UI/UX designer in a team of dedicated developers is responsible for transforming the product vision into a user-friendly design by creating an easy-to-use and aesthetically pleasing user interface.
Software Developer
The software developer codes the application. No matter the size and complexity of your project, you will need a developer to help you build a functional website or application for your business.
You can hire three kinds of software developers: front-end, back-end and full-stack programmers. The front-end developer is responsible for using front-end coding languages and frameworks to build the user interface of a site.
Unlike the client-side developer, the back-end programmer builds the server-side APIs, database and everything that powers the application from behind the scene. You can add a full-stack developer to your team to build your software's front and back end.
Software Tester
Also known as a QA engineer, the software tester's job is to verify whether the application or software meets both functional and non-functional requirements.
To test the software, the QA engineer runs various checks and analyses the results based on its functionality, usability, performance or security.
QA engineers may create various kinds of testing documentation and design quality assurance processes and procedures that help prevent defects at other stages of development.
DevOps Engineer
The DevOps engineer is part of a dedicated team and is responsible for building the CI/CD pipeline for faster software delivery. Aside from that, this expert is responsible for facilitating cooperation between the development and the operations team.
DevOps engineers unify and automate the delivery process and help create a balance between adopting changes quickly and keeping the application stable. In addition, the DevOps engineer oversees code release on a CI/CD basis.
Why Do Businesses Use a Dedicated Development Team?
There are many scenarios where using a dedicated development team can benefit startups and businesses of any size. Here are a few reasons businesses might have to engage one.
Startups Requiring Quick Product Development from Scratch
Hiring a dedicated team can save you stress if you are building your first MVP and looking for proficient developers. Why? You move from idea to product faster than hiring an in-house team.
And don't forget that the right dedicated developers' team structure functions like an in-house team, building software that meets your requirements.
The bottom line is that local talent is expensive and scarce, but dedicated devs are available, making it easy to build your MVP quickly.
A Company Working on a Big Project
Hiring a dedicated developers team can be beneficial if you are a new tech company needing additional skills you can't get in your location.
The outsourced team will extend your development capabilities with experts, making it easy for the company to start operating and get clients.
Unlike hiring in-house teams, you only pay the developers when you use their services.
A Company Working on a Big Project
Developing software may require the services of a few programmers, but building complex or various software can mean you have to seek the help of an outsourced team. Hiring dedicated developers can be helpful if you are creating a product that needs more workforce.
An Organisation that Wants to Tap into a New Technology
An organisation may be in a situation where the present tech expertise no longer matches the business goals or may be planning to enter a new industry.
Working with a team of dedicated developers will solve the problem. This model will give you access to the global talent pool, and you can assemble a dev squad with experts across tech stacks unavailable locally.
Businesses moving into cutting-edge technologies like AI or ML can engage a dedicated team if they can't find all the necessary skills.
You Have a Long-term Project
If you are a startup or long-standing business, you might want to launch a new project to achieve new objectives or overcome challenges.
While some projects can be finished quickly, others might take months or years. Hiring dedicated developers is the way to go if you are up for a long-term development project.
You Want Control
A dedicated dev team functions like your in-house team, except that they work from an external location. This means that you can easily manage the team as if they are your employees since it is made specifically for your project.
Being in control of the team, you can track progress, evaluate the performance of each member and get daily updates.
Key Factors behind Dedicated Development Team Structure
Every development project begins with hiring devs. How you set your business objectives to the roles of the devs in a team will determine whether the project will succeed or fail. So, when structuring your team, you should ensure it reflects such factors as:
Your Project Type and Complexity
Before building the perfect team structure, you have to work out your project scope. If you plan to build a product prototype, structuring your team with a few programmers may be enough to accomplish the task.
But if you want to launch a new software product with several features and third-party integration, your team's structure should accommodate more developers.
For product discovery or proof of concept, you need up to five experts: product owner, project manager, software architect, business analyst and UI/UX designer.
For MVP development, the team structure should accommodate more than six devs, including a product owner, business analyst, project manager, UI/UX designer, and software and QA engineer.
Suppose you adopt the Agile methodology when building your software. In that case, you can structure your team size to accommodate up to nine devs, including a project manager, product owner, software architect, developer, QA engineer, DevOps engineer, security engineer, performance engineer, etc.
How Long You Have to Complete the Project
How fast you want your product will determine the team size and structure. Adding a few team members will extend how long it takes to build your software because there's only so much a few devs can do, especially if your project is complex.
So, if you decide to build a state-of-the-art software product with various features and complexity, you might have to add the right specialists to the team.
Budget
From the number of team members you can add to the experience level, your budget is a key factor in determining your team structure.
To reduce expenses at the early stage of development, you can choose Agile project management, which will allow you to deliver in increments by focusing on high-priority features first.
Development Methodology
Whether you choose the Waterfall or Agile methodology will directly affect your workflow and dedicated dev team structure. The software project management methodology you adopt will shape your team size, team members' responsibilities and the number of specialists in the squad.
Things to Consider Before Building a Team of Dedicated Developers
Before structuring your development team, you must understand the development process, know what the devs can do, sign an NDA and get a detailed contract.
Understand the Development Process
You must be aware of all the details in the software development process, no matter how minute they are. It would help if you clearly understand the team's responsibilities and your own to avoid any conflict during the development process.
Know What the Developers Can Do
This is easy if you add developers to your team based on their skills and experience. You can assess their technical and soft skills during the vetting process. Knowing more about team members' expertise can save you time if your project requires additional requirements.
Ensure You Sign an NDA
Security and trust are two great concerns when outsourcing to a dedicated team of developers. To ensure it won't be a problem, you should review the team's intellectual property policies and NDAs before kick-starting the development process.
Also, remember that when you hire a team of software developers, you can sign a personal NDA with each member.
Sign a Transparent Contract
When signing a contract with the team, you should ensure that it spells out the development rates with a detailed breakdown of all expenses, payment, and invoicing protocols. Aside from that, the contract should mention what the developers will do and the expected deliverables.
Four Steps to Assembling the Right Development Team Structure
To form the right team structure, follow the steps outlined below.
Evaluate Your Business Goals and Determine the Team Size
Consider the complexity of your project, the business goals, budget and deadlines before making up your mind about the right approach to project management. Estimate your team's size based on your project requirements.
If you decide to go Agile, your team size would include four to ten devs. In a Waterfall project, the team size can span up to 15 experts. It is best to divide large teams into several smaller ones, each with a team lead, to avoid management issues.
Choose a Structure that Fits the Project
Three types of dedicated team structures exist, specialists, generalists and hybrid teams. When deciding on the structure of your dedicated team, you have to consider the pros and cons of each.
- Generalist team. In this dedicated team structure, each member has a wide range of skills and can apply their knowledge across vast areas. The generalist team is perfect for projects of medium complexity.
- Specialist team. Here, team members have a narrow area of expertise and can deliver high-quality software products. The specialist team structure is right for projects that require deep expertise in a specific field.
- Hybrid. The hybrid team has a combination of specialist and generalist devs. The specialists will handle tasks that require specific expertise, while the generalists will develop the software as a whole. The hybrid team structure is perfect for large-scale, complex projects with tight deadlines.
Ensure You Cover All Roles
If you are hiring a dedicated development team to fill a skill gap, you must evaluate what skills you need to fill and ensure you hire to cover all roles. For a new project, ensure your team is balanced and has all the experts to build your software.
Facilitate Effective Communication
Communication is necessary for every software development project. You must frequently communicate with the team to provide feedback for continuous improvement.
To do this, you must set up project management software to speed up daily operations. Aside from that, you can use video conferencing tools to facilitate verbal communication.
Benefits of Hiring Dedicated Developers
Several benefits come with engaging a dedicated team of developers. Here are a few.
Cost-Efficiency
Hiring an external squad of dedicated developers from a nearshore company is much faster and cheaper than hiring in-house software engineers.
When you engage dedicated developers from an agency like Deazy, you can count on professionalism and efficiency. This is because the devs squad can do the job faster and better, saving you time and resources.
Also, a dedicated team will only charge you for work done; there is no need to worry about extra charges.
Vast Talent Pool
If you lack the right in-house team, hiring dedicated developers will give you access to a large talent pool. You are no longer limited to your local talent, so you can hire expert nearshore devs across tech stacks from across the globe to kick-start your project.
More Control
Your dedicated team functions as an extension of your on-site team. This means the team virtually belongs to you, giving you more control over the project.
You are in charge of the squad; you can set deadlines, assign tasks, schedule work and control all other aspects of the development process. Of course, every dedicated team has a manager that oversees tasks; this doesn't prevent you from monitoring the project as you wish.
Fast Kickoff
Hiring in-house programmers may take weeks or months if you want to add all the experts to the team. To cut down that process and reduce the kickoff time, you can outsource your project to a nearshore company that will help you assemble all the experts you need to build your software.
Conclusion
The success of your software development project depends on the skills and expertise of the programmers involved in building it. That is why there is no gainsaying that the team structure matters. A dedicated development team structure should include all the experts needed to build your project.
From adding a project manager to a product owner, business analyst, software developer, UI and UX designer, QA and DevOps, your team's structure should reflect your project scope and complexity.
With the right dedicated team structure, you stand a 100% chance of building a market-ready product for your business.
Need to assemble a team of dedicated developers? Deazy can help you kick-start your development project with the right dedicated development team structure in two weeks. Feel free to say hello to our team, who will assist you.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do You Structure a Dedicated Developers Team?
To build your development squad, you have to decide on the team size, choose all the experts, and define the roles and responsibilities of everyone on the team. Also, implement communication tools to make it easy for you to collaborate and manage your team.
How Do You Manage a Dedicated Development Team?
To effectively manage your dev team, you should ensure expectations are communicated and establish a progress reporting system along with feedback mechanisms. Also, communicate with the team, set deadlines and prioritise quality.
