Nearshore Teams software teams are like ship harbors — filled with resources, knowledge, and expertise in short proximity. But as it happens with many harbors, the danger looms around the corner, ready to strike unpredictably and severely.
So, how do you escape the pitfalls of working with nearshore teams and find the road to success in your harbor?
Here’s a glimpse: Rise your ship’s flag sky-high, and let your harbor know what you need. Don’t just appear. Conquer and demand. Communicating your goals and nurturing the relationship with your nearshore team makes or breaks your business.
Everything you need to know about nearshore teams
What sets nearshore software teams apart from pure outsourcing is that you’re not looming the seven seas trying to find the right professionals for your quest. Everything is there: the nearby location, language, communication style, and company culture you know you want.
Even in the back ol’ days, pirates traveled with like-minded pirates. The sense of trust, bond, and celebration of conquered goals was ingrained in them.
That’s what makes nearshore teams unique and highly sought after compared to offshore teams. It takes much less time to establish that bond with nearshore than with fully outsourced ones.
Sounds peachy.
Things you shouldn’t do with nearshore teams
Here are the red flags nearshore teams don’t want to find with you:
- Don’t just dump the treasure map in front of them and say, “Figure this (insert dirty word) out!”. Define your goals and targets as clearly as possible and ask a lot. Nearshore teams love questions. Vetting them with the ones about their expertise, technical skills, and personalities that align with your business Kodex only strengthens the bond.
- Treat your nearshore team like someone you just brought in, not as someone you hired for the bounty hunt. Making them feel like a strategic partner brings that warmth into the relationship rather than you acting as the ice queen. Including them in business meetings about software development and taking their point into validation speaks volumes!
- Ditching the ship on documentation is something you want to avoid, even with the most professional nearshore software teams. It sends a signal that you’re immature and don’t mean business. Instead, share with them the necessary documentation and how you go about your development processes as much as possible.
- With that in place, there’s no second-guessing and throwing whale bones on the table to see what stars meant to say.
- Pirates love treasure hunting in person! Don’t let your communication only involve emails and soul-dreading, one-in-never meetings. Use the “near” part of the equation and meet your team in person. Being on the same cultural level and language, meeting with your nearshore team is even more manageable and tells them you’re there for the long term.
- Breathing down their necks and nagging like the captain’s parrot is what kills your nearshore teams, figuratively speaking. Nobody likes the annoyance and frustration that micromanagement brings. And why would they? It only crumbles the relationship. Lost time and productivity take a deep dive.
How to leverage the benefits nearshore teams bring
Cost is one of the biggest benefits nearshore software teams bring to the table. With outsourced labor that’s nearby and of the same cultural style, you’ll become more focused on scaling different areas of your business at a fraction of the price you’d pay in your country.
Most of the nearshore teams run on Scrum or Kanban software development methodologies, so rest assured that your ship will run as lean as possible. And if your business is used to working with such methodologies, even better.
Set course for scalability and increased revenue cause high winds will blow in your mast with those benefits!
Many nearshore teams have one component that’s hard to build in-house — a technology stack.
Imagine this: You’re a medical manufacturer that needs an e-commerce store for their devices. Bringing in-house talent with full-stack web development skills like Node.JS, Python, React, and Java is highly difficult and costly.
- Why not leverage the technology stack nearshore teams are equipped with and use it for your e-commerce store? It frees up the time for doing what you do best — creating medical devices.
It isn’t said lightly: “Work smarter, not harder!”
Let’s say everything is smooth sailing, but the relationship wouldn’t be successful unless you do one last thing.
Many SaaS managers and business owners forget to implement the Evaluate-Review-Push to the Production cycle and directly skip to the production part. Every software solution that’s created needs rigorous testing and revision from your side before it sprinkles into life with production.
But don’t worry because reputed nearshore teams offer high-quality services with testing tasks built into their process. That way, you’re 100% sure you’re getting high-quality software that aligns with your in-house values.
It’s like building the finest sailing ship from top-notch Scandinavian oak, only to find out it sinks like lead because you failed to take the time to test things out.
What to keep in mind when working on reaping the benefits
Working with nearshore teams is nothing short of amazing.
With every green flag check-marked, you should keep the following in mind when working with nearshore teams:
- Since they are within a “drivable distance,” don’t expect them to work around the clock like outsourced ones.
- Nearshore software teams often deliver supreme quality compared to offshore ones. Still, they can’t tap into the global talent as offshore ones can, and making a presence in different markets can be a little more difficult with nearshore partners.
- It’s a fact that getting a nearshore team is cost-effective, but don’t expect the dirt-low prices you’d get when choosing offshore in third-world countries.
Even with these disadvantages, the benefits outweigh the cons by 1000:1 when searching your path to success with nearshore teams. Well, at least that’s what happens when you hire a renowned nearshore company.
Path to success with nearshore teams – finding the X on the map
Trust brings outstanding results when working with nearshore teams. Treating your team like a strategic partner fosters that bond and sets you on the path to success.
If you trigger the red flags described in this article, you’ll only doom your project and waste a lot of time and productivity. The main game with nearshore software teams is to communicate your goals and software targets as much as possible in person without any cultural or language barriers.
As a wise software senior once told me: “Remember, behind the hiring process, nearshore teams are made of people, so cheer and celebrate every successful software release you can with them. They’ll stay for life with you because of that!
