Dedicated Teams Model Explained

One of the most popular work models we employ is a dedicated team model. 

It’s great for long-term projects with flexible requirements and at the same time keeps expenses predictable.

In this article, we’ll dwell on the advantages and disadvantages of a dedicated team approach, the team structure, criteria for choosing one, and will answer your most frequent questions.

What Is A Dedicated Team Model?

DTM represents a team that works remotely on a project, to significantly reduce a product's time to market and improve the client's business processes.

Such a team is not an extension of the customer's team but a separate unit with its own framework and management, meaning it is less dependent on the customer than other models.

A Dedicated Team Organization Structure>

A dedicated project team structure usually includes the following key players who are focused on your project solely and completely :

• Front-end engineers – select, install and test the user interface elements of a website or application. The front-end developer focuses on the look and feel along with its functionality. 
• Back-end engineers – work on the server components of multi-tier applications, focus on web services and the data store and are involved with business rule implementation logic.
• QA engineers – assess the quality of specifications and technical design documents to ensure timely, relevant and meaningful feedback.
• UX/UI designers – create the user interface based on user research insights.
• DevOps engineers – works with other developers to facilitate better coordination among operations, development, and testing functions.
• Business analysts – bridge the gap between IT and the business, assessing processes, determining requirements and delivering data-driven recommendations and reports to executives and stakeholders.
• Project managers – have overall responsibility for the successful initiation, planning, design, execution, monitoring, controlling and closure of a project.

Advantages

There are a lot of dedicated team advantages, we will cover the key ones below.

Cost Efficiency

Cost efficiency is at the top of the list, and here is why: hiring a dedicated team for a project is usually much cheaper than recruiting in-house specialists, especially if the team is located in a different country where development costs are much lower than in, say, the US.

A group of experts with a proven track record of successful projects similar to yours won't cost the Earth and will do the necessary work without compromising the product’s quality.

It's a great chance to reduce HR costs and slash the overheads that would be involved if you were to hire new employees.

Focused Approach

Another huge advantage is a focused approach. All the people involved in the project will concentrate exclusively on it, ignoring potential distractions.

And that's not all. The team is flexible—it can be re-configured at any time according to the current requirements and needs of the project, ensuring the project’s faster completion and better results.

Transparent Management

Dedicated teams use time tracking and task management solutions which the customer can access upon request. This helps them to be on the same page and gives the client an opportunity to check on the progress themselves.

Regular communication via messengers like Slack and Telegram and daily reports that you will receive will also contribute to transparent management.

Relevant Experience and Expertise

Selecting external developers delivers professionals who have the necessary skills and professional expertise.

And, quite often, this also means that these people have already completed projects similar to yours. They can give you useful advice and take into account the tiniest details that you could have missed.

Working together for some time, they have established polished workflows and know how to delegate tasks. You won't have to do this from scratch and deal with conflicts that may arise, and it is highly beneficial too.

Tight Collaboration

The customer and team members work closely together to achieve the common goal and obtain visible results. They not only communicate with each other on a daily basis but also participate in brainstorming to assess strong and weak points of the process, improve workflows and long-term planning.

This approach is indispensable for timely solving of unexpected issues and overcoming project-related challenges.

Faster Development

How quickly would you like to get the work done? Speed is one more advantage of dedicated models. Bringing their experience and expertise and quickly adapting to new requirements, they can speed things up considerably.

Disadvantages

There are some snags, of course. The biggest disadvantages of the dedicated team model are detailed below.

Low Efficiency for a Short-Term Project

The model works best for long-term projects that constantly evolve and in which requirements are flexible and change frequently. In all other cases, it's better to choose another model.

Not a One-Size-Fits-All Solution

Before selecting such a model, double-check that it is exactly what you need. Your project may be long-term, but if you have clearly defined goals and the set of requirements seems to be final, signing a contract with a dedicated team may be an unwise decision.

Different Time Zones

Different time zones may become a serious problem if an offshore company is involved. But this problem is solved easily if the team applies the principles of agile development.

When a company is located in the same country as the customer, this problem will simply never arise.

Checklist: Does Your Project Need A Dedicated Team?

We’ve covered the major pros and cons of the model. If you are still in two minds about whether you need it, consult the checklist we have compiled for you. If you answer ‘yes’ to most of the statements below, the chances are high that a dedicated team model is a viable option for you.

Your employees don’t have the required experience and expertise

Are you sure that your workers have enough experience and expertise to embark on the project? If no, you need help from the outside.

It’s a large project

If the project is large with multiple tasks and numerous requirements, it may be difficult for your employees bring it to a successful conclusion themselves.

It’s a long-term project

No matter whether you are a startup or a well-established company, you will definitely launch other projects later on. In short, it’s nearly impossible to stay efficient when working on multiple projects simultaneously.

You need a great deal of flexibility

The project may change in the course of time, leading to completely different goals and, ultimately, new requirements. The dedicated development team structure is built in a way that gives the project flexibility to constantly evolve.

You wish to have control over the resources

With a dedicated model, you gain complete management control over the project and also the team running it.

Real-time progress tracking and daily updates

If you are a control freak or simply wish not to stay in the dark about how the project is going on, you’ll be able to obtain this information from progress-tracking tools used by the team and daily reports sent to you.

Choosing a Dedicated Team

So, you’ve decided to employ a team to work with you. But how do you select a winning team? Follow the simple steps listed below and you will find the best of the breed.

Review the portfolio

You’ll find examples of previous projects there and will be able to judge whether you want to move further with them.

Agente has an extensive case portfolio in a range of fields, including e-learning, fintech, traveling, entertainment, and e-commerce. Check it out.

Request references

Reach the current and previous clients of the company to find out if they were satisfied with the choice of specialists, communication, delivery management as well as with product development. These feedbacks are always the best guarantee of quality.

Discuss the approach to work

We consider the best approach when working with a dedicated team on complex and long-term software projects is Agile Development Methodology. It allows us to develop the project gradually defining top priority requirements first. Agile is flexible and relatively simple, at the same time providing high visibility into the project status.

Find out the rates and discuss the billing process

Companies have varying rates. Their rates may either fit your budget perfectly or burn a hole in your pocket. This will help you plan your budget and make adjustments if needed.

Ask what documentation is provided

We document every step to reduce any misunderstandings and strive to improve team collaboration in every possible way. To do this, we identify the right tools for this purpose:

• Team and project management
• Bug and issue tracking
• Code review system
• Source code and repository management
• Release management.

Dedicated Teams FAQ

How to be sure a dedicated team model is right for the project?

You can start by defining the type of project you are working on right now. If it’s a long-term and large project with a variety of tasks and an unchanging need for high-quality deliverables, then a dedicated team model is the right choice for you. 

Who needs a dedicated team?

Sometimes companies face problems like, they don’t have the required skill set or lack of capacity which restricts them to fulfill their business needs. DTM provides a ready-made team of talents that fill the skill gap.

What is the difference between staff augmentation and DTM?

Staff augmentation involves the identification of a very niche talent gap in your company and filling it with a highly skilled expert for a short period of time. Outsourcing a dedicated team means partnership with a remote software house and handing over the project to its staff.

What is the process of hiring a dedicated team?

• Contact the provider and inform it of your project scope, the resources you require (the number of specialists and technologies).
• The contractor brings together specialists with specific skill sets and experiences who match your expectations.

Dedicated Teams at Agente

Agente specialists have vast experience in setting up and maintaining successful dedicated teams businesses of any scale: from corporations to startups. Team success  largely depends on how well the service provider takes care of the  talent resource and how good the infrastructure and environment are.

We have an organized and worked-out set up for gathering the exact requirements from the client and setting up a dedicated team based on these requirements. 

We keep the development process transparent and problem free with a project management team and BA in constant touch with the client.

We can easily scale up our dedicated team upon the client’s request.

If you are not sure whether this model is right for your project, contact AGENTE to discuss all the nitty-gritty.