October 4, 2020

Software development is a process of developing software applications or products. The process consists of mainly five stages – gathering requirements, designing the app, developing necessary software components, integrating, testing and deploying into a proper environment.

Software development team roles

Software development team varies depending upon the size, nature and complexity of the project. With the advent of tools like Wix, you can create a simple app without too much effort. However, a more complex project may require a full software development team, which comprises of project managers, designers, developers, testers and devops engineers.  

Project managers (PM) – mainly focuses on gathering requirements, planning, coordinating, and getting the work done. They use different project management processes, tools and work closely with clients and teams ensuring smooth transition of work. They also help resolve any issues.  

Designers – proficient in turning requirements into visual design. They help create an unique user experience for your customers by leveraging various tools, devices and techniques.  

Developers – brings several technologies, frameworks and software components together in building the application. More complex or larger projects may need different types of developers – frontend, backend, and database.

Testers – use many different types and levels of testing ensuring the software application meets user and quality standards.

DevOps engineers – help establish a proper infrastructure, configurations, and deployment of the code into various environments.

Why do you need a team?

In the past, software development was much more simpler with limited devices, and a few technology stacks. But today, the technology advancements in the development space has created numerous processes, devices, technology stacks, frameworks, tools and techniques. This intern has led to many specialized roles and responsibilities. For example, a generic designer role in the past, has branched into many specialized roles such as creative designer, graphics designer, UI designer, web designer, mobile designer, etc. The same goes to other roles as well.

As you can see, software development can quickly get complicated given there are many things to consider. A team can bring diverse skills together, compared to an individual can.

When to hire a development team?

The composition of your development team varies depending on the type, size and complexity of the application. For example, the roles and skillsets required to develop a web app greatly various from mobile, and so forth.

First you need to narrow down the scope of work without thinking more into the technology. Your scope of work should drive the technical solution, technologies, frameworks, etc.

Second, take your time to understand your application user and their journey. If your users use desktops, you may focus on creating a web app. Similarly, if your users are younger, then you may start with a mobile app. By understanding your users, you can tailor the application accordingly.

Before starting the hiring process, narrow down the scope of work and the below additional information. This will help you save time, effort and cost upfront.

• Customer type or persons
• What type of application – web, mobile, hybrid, desktop, etc.?
• If mobile, what type of mobile app – iOS, Android, or both?
• Does your app need any integration with other apps such as Facebook, Salesforce, etc.? 
• Do you have any preferred cloud providers?

The above information would help teams to come with the right technology stack, solution architecture and design for your project.

How to hire a development team?

Traditional team building requires finding the right talent for each role and bringing them together into a team. This involves hiring the right candidates with specific skills, on-boarding and team building. Hiring a freelance software development team from FreelancingTeams reduces the time, cost and effort considerably. Below are a few things to consider hiring a development team.

Necessary skill set

Rather than looking to fill individual members for each role, check to see whether the team has necessary skills to deliver the work end to end. In software development, it is quite common to see a developer performing multiple activities -design, development and/or testing. Often, a senior development may also manage the team.

Experience

When it comes to technology, there are many nuances. Ensure the team has experience working with specific technology, especially the primary technologies. For example, if you are planning to use Java as a primary stack, then ensure the team has relevant Java experience. You can check their past work, interview the team or look at their portfolio.

Communication & Collaborations

Software development is a team effort, and it requires communication and collaboration. So, ensure you can communicate effectively with the team, especially with the project manager or the team lead. Software applications may take weeks and months to develop. So, getting to know the team and working with them closely is key to success.

Supportability

Software development doesn’t stop once you get the product out. It often requires maintenance, support and improvements. Ensure the team can provide continuous support.

Summary

In summary, software development is multi-talent, team effort. Finding right talent and bringing them together to get the work done it time consuming, expensive and requires lot of dedicated effort. By narrowing down the scope and gathering necessary details upfront, you can find the “right” that can make you successful.