Why Agile development is perfect for the Dedicated Team model
Dedicated team is one of the most popular approaches to software outsourcing nowadays. This approach is highly valued for its ability to facilitate communication and streamline development processes.
It is also highly compatible with the Agile methodology of project management which helps deliver projects with various modern technologies, such as the cloud or ML and AI. In this article, we will take a closer look at this approach to software development, outline its key benefits, and provide some insight on when it is best to use a Dedicated team.
What is a Dedicated team?
The Dedicated team is a separate, fully independent team of experts that are responsible for developing either a particular part or the entire software project. Such teams do not require constant involvement from the client’s side since management is usually taken care of by the company that forms and provides this team. This results in a much smoother and faster development process, leading to faster time-to-market and efficient cost allocation.
When it comes to pricing models, a dedicated team offers the following:
Fixed-price model, which includes regular monthly payments using a previously fixed budget that does not change based on requirements, technologies, or tools used by the team.
Time and material model, which includes payments based on the time and effort that the team puts into project development.
Agile methodology perfectly fits the Dedicated team approach
The Agile methodology ensures fast and efficient software development by splitting it into sprints (usually 2–4 weeks long) during which the team delivers specific parts of the project. Everything from project scope to technical requirements and deliverables is reviewed regularly, ensuring that the project is kept on track.
This methodology fits any development approach but truly shines in a fully independent group of experts such as the Dedicated team. Agile enables non-stop feedback loops within the project and constant development and support.
Agile Dedicated team: structure and development process
Let’s take a closer look at the composition of a typical Dedicated team.
Product Owner — usually a single person who ensures that the product is developed on time and according to all previously set requirements.
Team Lead — the person who oversees all day-to-day activities of each team member and makes sure that the team stays productive and works in line with the project roadmap.
The rest of the roles include software architects and engineers, Scrum masters, QA engineers, business analysts, UI/UX designers, etc. Project objectives and the chosen pricing model define the size and roles of the Dedicated team.
Agile software development consists of the following stages:
- Defining requirements;
- Distributing tasks;
- Creating the backlog;
- Elaborating on the schedule;
- Software development;
- QA and debugging;
- Launching the product;
- Support and maintenance.
How businesses benefit from Agile Dedicated teams
Any business that uses a Dedicated Agile team for their project development can benefit from the following advantages:
- Additional expertise and field knowledge that an in-house may lack;
- Fast and flexible team scaling based on the client’s needs;
- Full involvement in the development process;
- Improved development efficiency with short sprints that focus on delivering one particular feature or part of the solution at a time.
When should you use a Dedicated development team?
Since every company, whether it’s a small startup or a large enterprise, has its own unique needs, there is no universal rule that defines when you need to switch to a Dedicated team. There is, however, a factor that can nudge you in the right direction when you are analyzing your development process, namely, how difficult it is for you to find and hire new experts. Here are a few interesting facts for you to consider:
- Up to 40% of business leaders experience hiring difficulties, according to Code Institute.
- Most small business owners spend up to 40% of their working time on tasks that do not generate income, according to Entrepreneur.
Finding, interviewing, recruiting and onboarding new employees takes a lot of time and effort for any business. This problem can be easily avoided by acquiring help from an Agile Dedicated development team.
Such teams have the required capacity and technical expertise to fill all your development needs. They can deliver high-quality products that match your requirement in terms of functionality, costs, and delivery time.
What the Dedicated team approach can expect in the near future
With the rapid pace of technological advancements, all industries find themselves in the need to introduce new platforms, applications, and other solutions to match the expectations of their customers. Since finding the right talent locally can often prove to be quite challenging, many businesses are turning to outsourcing. Indeed, the IT outsourcing market is booming at the moment and is expected to reach an impressive USD 682.3 billion by 2027. This signifies that more and more businesses will delegate their technical needs to experts abroad. As a result, fully-independent Dedicated teams that can deliver software development projects with limited supervision from the client’s side will become increasingly popular.
How Abto’s dedicated teams continue their services in the time of war in Ukraine
The cruel and unprovoked war that russia has declared on the Ukrainian people has affected everyone in the country, from individuals to businesses and entire industries.
Luckily, the IT industry, which is very important to Ukraine as it represents 4% of the country’s annual GDP, was among the least affected by the war. Most companies were able to relocate their employees from danger zones and maintain the high levels of delivery, allowing them to continue cooperation with their clients. A recent survey by DOU — the largest local tech hiring platform — has found that 44% of all Ukrainian IT companies continue delivering their services to at least 80% of their clients. Furthermore, 37% have not suspended cooperation with any of their clients, proving once again the reliability and resilience of the Ukrainian IT industry.
Since Abto Software’s development center is located in the safer, western part of Ukraine, our company was able to quickly adapt to the new circumstances. Also, the additional security measures that we had implemented before the invasion allowed us to keep the day-to-day operations of all our teams relatively unaffected. Moreover, these measures help us keep our infrastructure and data safe by mitigating the cybersecurity threats that have become more common since the beginning of the war.
Here is how we ensure that all development processes stay safe and secured:
- Moving all critical and sensitive services to remote data centers;
- Storing and regularly updating all services in the cloud;
- Duplicating all critical infrastructure services and devices;
- Adding separate fiber and satellite channels to on-premise data centers;
- Encrypting data while it is both at rest or being transferred;
- Segmenting the network based on roles and projects;
- Monitoring all key system security metrics 24/7.
Conclusion
Agile Dedicated development teams help businesses increase their development efficiency, optimize costs, and accelerate the time-to-market of their products. They also provide excellent scaling capabilities and let you focus on developing your business rather than the technical implementation of the projects that you require. Even in times of war, our teams are able to maintain the highest levels of delivery.
Abto Software continues providing agile dedicated teams with the right technical expertise to deliver high-quality products. Feel free to contact us to discuss your next project and our capabilities for implementing it.
