Are you unhappy with your existing development team? Too slow to respond or too expensive are just some of the reasons you may decide to take the plunge.
If you invested in developing bespoke software for your business, switching to a new development team can be risky.
Here are 5 simple steps on how to reduce the risk of switching development teams and minimise the risk to your business.
5 steps to successfully switch to a new development team
1. Maintain a good relationship with your current team
It goes without saying but maintaining a good relationship with your current team is extremely important. Being open and honest about the reasons you decided to switch is the best approach and prevents any misunderstandings in the future. In most cases your existing team will understand and accept your decision, an easy transition should be in their interest.
Remember, you’re going to need your existing team during this time and remaining on good terms is key.
2. Ensure all/your software is well documented
Unfortunately, a lot of the time software documentation lives in the heads of the developers, and not on paper. Having the software documentation ready will give your new team a head start.
If you don’t have any instructions, you will need to ask your existing team to write them up. As a minimum, we recommend starting by making a high-level list of hidden or complex features that might need extra documentation.
It’s also worth asking your existing development team to create some high-level architecture diagrams. We suggest asking for the following information to be included:
- Applications
- Servers
- Databases
- Integrations
- Firewalls
If you already have the documentation in place, then it’s simply a matter of keeping it up to date which should already be done by your existing team.
3. Take control over source code and hosting
Most modern web applications and services are hosted in the cloud and not on premise. You should aim to be in control and have full access rights to these accounts.
Source code is usually stored in online repositories such as Github or TFS. You should own the account that administers the repository. This will give you access to the latest source code without having to request it from your old development team.
It’s also common for software environments to be hosted on platforms provided by AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure. You should own these accounts. This will eliminate the time pressure to migrate servers when switching development teams. You will simply have to give access to the new team avoiding any disruption to the business.
4. Arrange developer to developer meetings during the transition period
If possible, you should arrange meetings between your existing and new development teams during the transition period. At this stage, the meetings should maintain a technical focus and not involve wider business stakeholders.
Once your new developers start, they will undoubtably have follow-up questions. You should facilitate contact between the old and new development teams, it will likely save your team spending hours reading lengthy code.
5. Conduct a software audit
A software audit can save you time and money. A software audit is best carried out by an external party and usually involves the following 3 steps:
- Setting up your software in a development environment.
- Verifying that the application works as expected.
- Conducting a code review to ensure code quality.
The output of this is a report detailing any issues that should be handed over to your existing development team to resolve prior to transition.
These 5 steps significantly minimise the risks when switching development teams. At DevStack we offer a wide range of services to support you business during the transition. To get in touch with our team click here.
