Frequently asked questions in software development outsourcing
The article is a part of Code Inspiration’s software development outsourcing Knowledge Base.
Really happy our series of articles regarding most frequently asked questions in software development outsourcing got a success and, as we promised we proceed with comments to the questions we got from our readers.
A very interesting concept of classification of that kind of questions was proposed by Joanna Szumowska, Digital Marketer & Strategist at SoftwareHut. Joanna divided questions into subcategories. Questions which start with:
- HOW?
- WHY?
- CAN?
- WHO?
HOW section consisted of 7 main questions.
- How long will it take?
- How will you prepare it?
- What will the process look like?
- How much will it cost?
- How many people will be involved?
- How long will it take?
- How come…
To be honest the last one is my favorite 🙂
In this paragraph I will try to answer to all of “how” questions in few sentences. In order to get replies to all of those questions, which are really very important especially when you select a development team, ask to document all those points in a commercial offer your development team will provide you with before the start. In order to provide them with an opportunity to give a detailed document – try to explain or prepare some written documentation for them in advance. The main principle here is – THE MORE YOU GIVE THE MORE YOU RECEIVE. The more detailed would be your initial request the more detailed and valuable will be the proposal which you will get from the company. Also, it might already contain few considerations or “good” questions which will help you not only in deciding with which team to go, but will contribute to your first steps of project development.
WHY
- Why is that price?
- Why can’t we have it for tomorrow?
- Why do you ask so many questions?
- Why so long…?
- Why is that?
Here I would like to pay attention to the first question regarding pricing calculation and questions number 3 and 4, which are related one to another.
“Why is that price?” is really one of the most frequently asked questions. For this reason, it is always important to explain how the price is calculated and to be as transparent as it is possible with your clients. Detailed PERT estimation, division of sprints into very detailed tasks and per task estimation, all these usually reflects how the scope of work is calculated and provides customers with an understanding of what to expect. Also, it helps to avoid a situation, when you mean one scope for the price you indicate, but your client has his head a scope much bigger which he thinks would be delivered. And in the end both sides would lose their time and would be dissatisfied with the results.
“Why do you ask so many questions?” – a lot of questions might be annoying, but usually a big amount of “good questions” shows the proficiency and seriousness of both parties, development team and customer as well.
“Why so long?” – At Code Inspiration we usually provide our customers not only with working hours which would be required for completion, but also with a calendar timeline for that. Mostly it is done in order to prevent the question “why so long”, everything is not fast and not long, everything is according to the schedule :).
CAN
- Can’t you still…?
- Can we make a phone call?
- Can you write this down?
- Can you take this into account?
- Can we make changes?
- Can we postpone it until tomorrow?
- Can you make sure…?
Section CAN provided by Joanna Szumowska looks like a “communication section”. Communication, being one of the most important parts of every business, be it IT or any other niche, really requires proposals and considerations. All these frequently asked questions which start with “Can we” or “Can you” reflect the necessity of 2020 to be flexible to any change and for sure to the needs of your partners, customers, employees etc.
WHO
- Who is responsible for this?
- Who did this?
- Who didn’t do it?
- Who to send it to?
- Who’s PMing here?
This range of questions shows that in software development personal approach and factor is very important, as business is something always about people, who will be developing your product, who will be your project manager and other points of contact.
Communication in software development especially when applying agile methodology is something of the highest importance.
Many thanks one more time to Joanna Szumowska for her questions. We will proceed publishing comments to the list of “frequently asked questions in software development outsourcing” which we received from our readers. Keep tracking our blog, maybe the answer to YOUR question will be published next.
The article is a part of Code Inspiration’s software development outsourcing Knowledge Base.
