More and more businesses are making the shift to digital-first. It is a strategic approach that prioritises digital channels and technologies for the company. As a consequence, the demand for a skilled web development team is higher than it was a few years ago. 

In this article, we will help you successfully staff your team with experienced offshore web developers. Here, we are sharing invaluable tips from Flexisource IT, to achieve this and start seeing exceptional results. 

7 Tips To Successfully Staff Your Web Development Team

With that said, here are seven essential tips that will ensure that you can successfully staff your web development team with the best talents from the Philippines, one of the premier Information Technology Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) destinations in the world.

Determine your needs for the web development team

The first thing to always consider is to specify your project needs and goals. This also includes the specific skills and experience required from your team. 

Addressing this first makes it easier in a couple of areas such as: 

• Attract the right candidates who possess excellent qualifications and expertise.
• Streamline the recruitment process to save time and resources.
• Ensure new members are aligned with the project’s goals and promote better inter-team collaboration down the line.
• Enhance the outcome of the project and produce high-quality outputs.
• Maintain long-term stability since aspects such as job responsibilities and future growth of the team were factored in. 

With these in mind, it would be a lot easier to pick out top web developers that will fit into your team. Here are a couple of questions to consider when establishing the specifics:

• What is the purpose of staffing a web development team?
• What are the needs of your web development project?
• What are the specifications and requirements of your project?
• What are the technical skills and experience that every developer in your team should have?
• What will be the scope of your web development team’s responsibilities?
• What are the objectives and goals your web development team should achieve?

Consider the budget

Staffing your web development team will require a budget. It is one of the crucial deciding factors which is why it is important to set it first before you start the search. When you already have one then it is easier to staff your web development team with the right tech talents.

In addition, setting the budget after establishing the staffing specifications works in your favour: 

• Sets the boundaries on what you can afford in terms of salaries, benefits, and other expenses related to hiring and managing your web development team.
• Allocate funds to effectively recruit and retain top web developers in your team.
• Closely track, manage costs and make informed decisions on which candidates to recruit without overspending. 
• Maximise the return on investment (ROI) by balancing expenditures and the expected output of the web development project. 

One option to help you stick to your budget and get more ROI without sacrificing quality is to hire offshore web development agencies. With this option, you can create your web development team from a carefully-vetted talent pool.

Define the required web development services

With that said, when you partner with an IT solutions agency it is important to determine if you are looking for staffing or outsourcing services. This will affect your budget, how the project will play out, and how you interact with your team.

Usually, there is staffing and outsourcing. On one hand, an outsourced web development team will be handling a large chunk of the project, with you as the overseer. On the other, when you opt for staffing, you hire offshore web developers that will join your team and work on specific tasks only. 

Consider the long-term needs of the web development project

Aside from considering the needs of the project, also factor in the long-term needs of the company when you are putting together an Agile web development team. 

Think about how you can further maximise the skills and expertise of your team. Make sure to also consider the fact that web development is a dynamic field. Expect that there will be new trends and shifts in consumer demand and the industry.

Factoring these when you assemble your web development team can ensure a couple of things: 

• Provide stability and continuity throughout the web development project’s life cycle by minimising the risk of frequent employee turnover.
• Possess a team that has the skills, expertise, and flexibility to adapt and handle the increasing complexity and scale of the project.
• Stay up to date with technological innovations and leverage them to the benefit of the web development project.

Check available web development outsourcing agencies

When you are looking for web development outsourcing agencies to partner with, make sure to look into their availability, credentials, and track record. 

A reliable staffing partner will help you in a lot of ways: 

• Access to a pool of qualified tech talents.
• Vet top web developers based on your requirements and project needs.
• Conduct thorough background checks and assessments of every candidate.
• Present a shortlist of candidates that best fit the requirements.
• Schedule an interview.
• Negotiate with candidates on your behalf.
• Facilitate the hiring process.
• Aid in onboarding web developers about the web development project and your business.
• Provide ongoing support and guidance throughout the project life cycle.

With that said, it is important to keep in mind that there are potential risks to it. An unreliable third-party partner may create a disconnect between your requirements and the goals of the actual team you have assembled or undermine your competitive advantage. 

Assess the experience of the offshore web developers

A web development project needs expert offshore web developers to ensure it is a success. So, when selecting the web developers from the shortlist provided by the staffing agency you partnered with, look into what they can bring to the table.

Each member of your web development team will possess unique skill sets and knowledge that contribute to your project goal. To find these talents, aside from just looking at their resume, you must take it upon yourself to gauge their knowledge and proficiency. 

Make sure to assess the following aspects when you interview them: 

• Depth of their technical expertise
• Range of issues they encountered and how they solved them
• Familiarity with the best practices and standards of the industry
• Work process and collaboration in remote teams
• Process of ensuring the quality of the project output

Evaluate the web development team’s capacity

If you are not a hundred per cent satisfied with just an interview, then another way to evaluate your web development team’s capacity is to test them. This will help you get a better idea of their capacity, the quality of their output, and their capability to take on the project. 

There are different ways to test the potential members of your web development team. One, send them a test problem from one of your old projects that were already solved. Two, work with them for about a month on the lighter aspects of the actual project you are currently working on. 

Testing them first before onboarding them as a part of the team will ensure a couple of things down the line: 

• Get a better sense that they do possess the necessary skills and expertise to handle and complete the project.
• Allocate resources more effectively knowing every member’s capacity.
• Ensure the quality of the project output.
• Realistically set deadlines.
• Assign responsibilities based on the team’s capabilities.
• Mitigate potential risks to the project such as delays and errors.

Keep Standards High With Expectations Low

Staffing your web development team is not rocket science—actually, it is a pretty straightforward affair. 

However, there are a couple of things that will make it time-consuming. One, when you do not establish beforehand the actual skills and expertise you require for your web development project. Two, when you do not have a budget set before starting the search. Three, when you choose to partner with the working company to help you search for the right tech talents.

Luckily, you can avoid these and easily staff your web development team with the tips we share above. Keep in mind, during the staffing process, make sure to stick to your company’s standards while having modest expectations. This enables you to find the top web developers and mitigate any potential disappointment.

Successfully staff your web development team with Flexisource IT! Get in touch with us to get started!