Based on our experience in the software development industry, for every 10 companies who outsource their software development project to a development team or development vendor, nearly 7 of the project will end up failing.
Failing here means failure in completing the development, failure in developing modules/features as requested, very buggy systems/applications.
That means there is about 70% chance of failing when outsourcing a software development project.
And most of the time, a software development project fail not because of the developers, but because of the management.
The leaders and management of the company are more important than the developers
I have seen software houses with a great team of developers but bad managers and leaders.
A lot of business-people when outsourcing a software project, they tend to focus more on evaluating the vendors from the development perspective alone.
But what’s more important is the management of the company itself.
- How are they going to drive situation when things go haywire
- Do they have extra developers to quickly continue the project when one leave the company ? If no, then how fast can the company hire a replacement ?
- What steps are taken to ensure high code quality ?
- Will the company improve and keep growing? Will the company still last next year ?
- How long will they take to assist in case of critical bugs ?
- Do they have a proper communication strategy ?
- What are their core values and ethical standings ?
- What are the track record of success with other clients ?
- What kind of quality management process has been implemented ?
- What are the focus tech stacks and why ?
Above are just a few questions that need answers from a prospect vendor.
When you partner with a software company or a developmen team to build your requirement, you are dependent on them and this is why you should fully understand what you are getting yourself into.