Perfect your Nearshoring communication! Embrace tools, regular check-ins, cultural understanding, and clear guidelines to overcome any distance.
Software development and outsourcing have a long-lasting and mutually beneficial relationship. If you're part of a company that's already undertaken a software development project, chances are you've at least considered outsourcing to gain access to more talent, increase your productivity, or reduce your costs. Today, in a world completely changed after the COVID-19 pandemic, outsourcing software development seems more like the default option.
There are several reasons for this – mainly the many benefits of outsourcing. But it's also understandable that some companies that have never outsourced development before are nervous about embarking on such a collaboration. We know this because we see it in many of our first-time clients, who ask us a series of questions to clear up their doubts. The above? How can we ensure better communication between us and your team?
Behind this question there are a multitude of doubts. How can you avoid misunderstandings? How to keep expectations aligned on both sides? How to cooperate better on a daily basis? The list goes on and on. Having been doing nearshore development for over a decade, we know the secrets to maintaining open and smooth communication with clients and remote teams.
We will discuss some of them here, but first let's look at what nearshore development means and how it differs from offshore and onshore development.
What is nearshore development?
Nearshore software development happens when a company outsources its development work to a country or region located close to its headquarters. For companies in the US, nearshoring typically means collaborating with teams based in Latin America. Some of the most popular destinations for American companies include Argentina, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil.
All of these countries have times that are compatible with American time zones. This means you can work simultaneously with remote teams. Additionally, working with Latin American software providers offers other benefits, such as a high level of programming skills and English proficiency, cultural compatibility, and competitive pricing.
Let us now look at how nearshore development differs from offshore and onshore development.
What is offshore and onshore in software development?
Offshore software development means outsourcing work to a company in a geographically distant region from the host country. In turn, onshore software development involves outsourcing development work to a company in the same country, state or even city.
In this way, American companies would be offshoring development if they partnered with teams from India or Ukraine, and they would be offshoring their work if they collaborated with US companies, regardless of their location in the country.
Therefore, the main difference between nearshore, offshore and onshore software development comes from the distance between the hiring company and the software development provider. Naturally, this oversimplifies things, as there are other differences between these models (all with their strengths and weaknesses). Here's a more in-depth comparison between them if you're interested in learning more.
Now that we've got that out of the way, let's see what you can do to optimize your communication with the team located nearby.
Establish ground rules
Communication can get sloppy quickly, so it's extremely important for you and your nearshore development services company to define a list of rules before the project even begins. You do this to clarify the needs and requirements of the project, why not do it for the workflow itself?
Ground rules should include preferred communication channels, tone of communications, frequency of meetings, and expected behavior depending on specific milestones. Let me make that last one clearer. Who will be responsible for the project on your end? How do you want urgent changes and unexpected issues communicated? When should the local team as a whole be involved?
Of course, all of these things will vary depending on the project in question, your own experience with software development outsourcing, and the type of service you hire (it's not the same thing to outsource all of your development than to augment your team with a few resources). -key). papers). You need to take a look at all this before hiring nearshore developers.
Use the most appropriate communication and collaboration tools
We are living in the golden age of online collaboration. This means you can choose from a wide range of communication tools to keep your project running smoothly. There are two main types of communication platforms you will need when nearshoring. The first is obvious: messaging tools to keep you informed about everything that's happening in your project. You can use Slack or Skype (or both) depending on your personal needs and preferences.
The second type of communication tool you need is an issue tracking and project management platform. Among them, one of the best is Jira, which adapts perfectly to large software development projects, as it was designed with the Agile framework in mind. There is also Trello, a good option for smaller projects.
You'll find other options if you explore enough, but the key is to find the ones that make the most sense for you strategically and financially. If you are feeling lost, trust your software development vendor as nearshore software developers work remotely all the time, so we are attentive to detect which tools are best suited for a specific project or client.
Leverage the inherent benefits of nearshoring
We've already said that nearshoring is defined by the location of your software development provider. This provides you with several advantages and it is up to you to make the most of them. Sharing the same or very similar time zones means you can communicate directly with the development team during your working hours. This limits delays and promotes a quick and efficient communication process.
On the other hand, being close to your nearshore development company means you can organize in-person meetings to further discuss certain parts of your project. This may seem like an unnecessary extra step, but it can certainly be worth it, especially on larger projects. Knowing your third-party developers can generate innovative ideas and improve your communication. This becomes even more true if you are just starting your project, as it allows the entire team to be on the same page, without misalignment of requirements and objectives.
Actively disable knowledge silos
Knowledge silos occur when some people on the same development team have more information than others. In other words, some people are more attentive to changes, requirements and information related to the project. This has a negative impact on your productivity and bottom line, as a significant portion of the team is missing the bigger picture.
That's why you (or the engineering manager) need to proactively communicate to disable these knowledge silos as you see them forming. This means that you must keep everyone informed about what affects the project, be it requirements changes, test feedback, market variations and anything else that could compromise development.
To do this, you need to be transparent about what happens in the project. Share your thoughts and questions with the nearshoring team, hold a team-wide meeting to discuss unexpected issues, and send emails to document everything, ensuring every team member has the information they need to be successful. Sometimes it may seem redundant, but it is better to repeat than suffer from the actions of members who are unaware of important changes. Naturally, your development provider should take the lead on this, but it's important that you pay attention to this.
Hire the Right Nearshore Development Company
Nearshoring will have you collaborating with developers who share a similar cultural background, so experienced teams will have no trouble understanding your requirements and accommodating your specific communication needs. In fact, they can give you some specific suggestions on how to best handle specific issues in a variety of scenarios.
There are several things you can keep in mind when hiring a nearshore development company, and you can read the most essential ones in this article.
Good communication is the key to success
These days, turning to nearshore development is a smart move. It can provide high-quality developers to handle the entire software development lifecycle or specific professionals to fill your talent gaps. It also gives you access to a wider talent pool, meaning you'll always get what you're looking for at very competitive prices.
However, nearshoring can bring with it a set of challenges. Communication may be the most important thing, as you will be collaborating with a team far from your office. This is why it is essential to establish good communication practices from the beginning to prevent problems from arising in the future.
