Steps for Building A Successful Software Development Team
As previously mentioned, building a software team goes beyond coding and developers, but is highly dependent on each of the skills and members that make up the team. Engineering leaders have the responsibility of ensuring that each of their team members understands the business goals and aligns their individual tasks to a common goal to withstand challenges that may come with developing a product or executing a project.
However, to build an effective software development team, here are some imperative steps to follow:
Implement a Well-defined Hiring Process
The hiring plan and process of your organization are as crucial as the people who will fill those positions. Having a plan that defines the job description, beyond merely listing required skills, will broaden your talent pool. For instance, if you decide to use a software vendor like Devsu, which boasts a pool of over 200+ tech talents, a comprehensive job description will aid in selecting the right skill set for your team.
Having clear business goals allows you to identify precise business needs and objectives, thereby aligning engineering skills with the overarching business goal.
To enhance your hiring process, identify four to five measurable tasks that a candidate can connect to their expertise, using these as the core requirements of the job.
Pro tip: Implement a clear hiring process that facilitates the selection of the right tech talent.
Hire Passionate People
The tech industry has the highest turnover rate, at 13.2% with a shortage of qualified tech talent which gives larger tech companies an advantage in acquiring top talent and passionate professionals. However, a myriad of opportunities and talents exist at Devsu. Therefore, when hiring, it's crucial to seek out passionate individuals who align with your software product's vision and are committed to building the right software for your customers.
During the screening process, identify passionate tech professionals who exhibit enthusiasm. For instance, they may have personal projects, share their knowledge through teaching, or engage in passion projects for fun.
Pro tip: Hire someone who has a great attitude towards work, and domain expertise, and can collaborate well with other team members.
Develop A Great Software Team Structure
Selecting tech professionals who are suitable for the project will drive project success. This can be done by having a software development team structure that will improve the team's effectiveness. Each team member will pull their weight and add valuable contributions that will assist other team members. The three major categories your software team structure should have, are:
Generalists
These are people who have knowledge in different areas and can proffer solutions to the team, however, they are not specialists. As generalists, they are versatile and have knowledge of different technologies making it easy for them to work on various projects, adapt quickly to new projects and technology, and troubleshoot issues seamlessly.
A major advantage of generalists is that they understand how a product works and can focus on product development. Although they lack specific expertise, they are valuable to have in a team. Examples of positions that can be classified as a generalist are product owner, product manager, and business analyst.
Specialists
An ideal technology team possesses specialists who are experts in specific areas such as frontend, backend, UI/UX, QA testing, and many other technical roles. Majorly, these specialists have strengths in different programming languages like C++, Python, Java, etc. These specialists can be software developers and programmers who are proficient in their chosen areas.
One of the benefits of having specialists on your team is that they have a vast knowledge of product development and can build quality software products that can beat the competition in the industry. As specialists, they work independently with little to no supervision because they have profound knowledge in their field.
One disadvantage of specialists' team structure is that they may not understand the roles of other team members due to their independent nature, and this can lead to miscommunication. Also, they may lack expertise in other technologies and languages.
Hybrid
The hybrid software development structure is most times considered the best because it incorporates both the generalist and the specialist's approach. While the generalists focus on the overall project needs the specialist will focus on the core components of the project. This gives a good balance to the team.
An advantage of the hybrid team structure is that it allows the specialists and generalists to thrive in their domain expertise, giving them the flexibility of developing a quality product without a missing gap in skill sets. Importantly, the hybrid structure allows for improved collaboration and increases the performance of the team.
However, this team structure can be expensive and is often considered time-consuming. For example, a developer who works on two different projects may have more knowledge in coding in Python than in Swift or Java. Therefore, demanding the same level of expertise or output from that developer on both projects may slow down their ability to work on specialized tasks. The hybrid structure is excellent for teams working on complex projects that involve different roles and specialties.
Pro Tip: Select a team structure that is effective for your project. Consider aligning your project requirements to the most suitable team structure to eliminate the failure of your software project. To save cost, time, and effort, most companies opt for a software development company that has each of these roles on-demand and can increase the speed of the project according to business demands.
Provide Communication Tools & A Collaborative Work Environment
In addition to defining your software development team structure, you should outline clear communication principles for your software team. This includes documentation, guidelines, and deadlines which are crucial for the effective operation of your team. To achieve this, have communication tools at your disposal. For example, at Devsu, use Slack for daily communication, Jira for project management, and Google Meet for meetings.
If you're managing an agile software development team, you'll experience different phases such as sprint planning, daily standups, sprint reviews, and product backlog refinement. Clear communication, thorough documentation, and comprehensive guidelines are essential during these phases to ensure a successful product development lifecycle.
A good communication tool and process will be of great advantage to any team specifically if you operate remote teams who work in the same or different geographical locations.
In terms of documentation, maintain a shared document containing all project requirements that each team member can access. It's also important to have software documentation that describes the software utilized in building the project, along with instructions for deploying and using the code.
Pro Tip: Consider hiring a team of people who are time-zone aligned and can operate during your organization's work hours to enable faster collaboration among teams and improved results.

How To Hire A Dedicated Software Development Team
With the shortage of tech professionals and the lengthy recruitment time, most companies prefer to use software development companies that have the skill set they need on demand to save cost, time, and effort.
What Is A Dedicated Software Development Team?
A dedicated software development team is a team of professionals who are responsible for planning and implementing long-term project needs to satisfy the users and solve the client's challenges. Clients can choose the number of people and the specialized skills required for a project for a specified period of time. With a dedicated software team, clients have the flexibility to augment or reduce tech professionals on the project as needed.
When You Need a Dedicated Software Development Team
As a start-up, the best time to hire a dedicated software development team is when you're building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). An agile software development team will speed up the launch of your product to users.
For a mid-sized business, consider hiring a dedicated team if you're aiming to scale your product or develop and refine your product to encompass new features and functionalities.
As an enterprise company, a dedicated software development team would be ideal if you're seeking to transform your digital products, scale your products, or develop new ones based on your business needs.
Devsu, Your Software Development Company
Choose the best software development for your project. Choose Devsu for a robust skill set with over 10+ years of experience in building top-tier technology products for businesses.
Contact us today for all your software needs.