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IT Consulting | Outsourcing | Vietnam

Outsourcing software development services is becoming a more common approach for companies to gain access to top IT talents while being able to control costs. Recently, outsourcing for agile methodology software development has been an excellent strategy thanks to how it emphasizes client-centricity, quick feedback, and iterative offshore development.

When you combine agile methodology with outsourcing, you get the best of both worlds and reap various benefits. However, you can also face new challenges, which are fortunately preventable. Read on as we share benefits, challenges, and tips to leverage agile outsourcing.
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## What is Outsourcing for Agile Methodology Software Development?


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In essence, outsourcing for agile methodology software development is a project management approach that focuses on iteration and collaboration between business owners and outsourcing providers throughout the software development cycle. 

When breaking projects into manageable chunks, the agile methodology model will allow a team to rapidly receive feedback and make changes as necessary. As such, IT partners can continue to adapt to the ever-changing technologies and business demands, resulting in a final product that accurately reflects clients’ expectations accurately.

When it comes to outsourcing, agile methodologies and frameworks will be implemented similarly, allowing smoother cooperation and communication between the offshore and in-house teams. This will ensure that both parties will be on the same page, working towards achieving project goals.

Utilizing the agile model will provide outsourcing providers with more flexibility when taking care of changing customer requirements or circumstances, which makes it easier to review the outcomes of such iterations efficiently.

In short, agile outsourcing is a hybrid of agile methodology and software development outsourcing, allowing businesses to reap the benefits of both.

## The Advantages of Agile Methodology for Software Development Outsourcing

### **Faster Delivery Time**

Agile methodologies must be adaptive and iterative. With a quicker feedback cycle, the software development process will be divided into various parts and then delivered in cycles. This will allow in-house and outsourced staff members to perform single tasks at once, moving to different phases efficiently with continuous testing, thus ensuring a faster delivery time.

Phases will be conditionally released after you and the stakeholders test, review, and approve of them, so your IT partner will be confident they can officially release the product within the timeline while meeting the standards and client requirements. Doing so will help with successful and frequent deliveries, as well as result in better risk management when it comes to missing deadlines or reworking caused by unexpected changes or requirements.
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### **Reduced Cost**

An IT partner that utilizes the agile methodology will improve the quality of every iteration, ensuring they provide accurate results at every stage. Meaning that once your team has delivered the product, it has passed all quality gates, meeting client requirements. You won’t need to waste more time or resources changing, or even remaking, product features later on.

Besides this, you can continue making any small adjustments and minor fixes throughout the software development process, ensuring that you have a high-quality product even before it reaches the final result.

Beyond ensuring quality assurance, agile outsourcing can help you save on development costs in the long run, which is one of the best benefits of outsourcing. Because the project will be broken down into smaller portions, you’ll only need to spend on the actual parts of development that are completed until the end of the process. Moreover, quality will be ensured at every stage, reducing the risk of spending any more time and resources on fixing errors, making changes, or debugging.
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### **Access to Resources**

Outsourcing for agile methodology software development will give you access to proper resources and specialized skills, which would be both expensive and challenging to receive if you plan to hire an in-house team.
 
When you outsource IT partners, the in-house staff can focus more on core tasks and still be able to partner with IT professionals who possess the technical abilities to assist wherever needed.

This will then increase the overall productivity levels of remote teams, allowing them to begin agile projects, and subsequently provide results even quicker than expected. 

### **Greater Collaboration**

Most times, outsourcing to offshore development teams can bring various challenges in communication and operation because of differences in work culture, the cultures of different nationalities, time zones, and the like.

Because of this, businesses will find it difficult to manage collaborative teams. As such, this is where both agile methodology and outsourcing come to change the game. 

Agile outsourcing will make sure there is both communication and transparency among clients and remote teams. Thanks to today’s project management and collaborative software and tools, it gets easier to communicate with your IT partner effectively, regardless of where you are all from.

The ease of communication will help both parties communicate efficiently, coordinate tasks, check the current progress, keep updated on tasks, and measure performance throughout the software development process.

## **Become Successful with Agile Development Outsourcing**

Now that you know more about the advantages of outsourcing and the agile methodology, you must also be aware of how to leverage the services you receive from your chosen IT partner.


### **Set Clear Goals and Expectations**

Before you even begin the project, it’s important for both parties, aka you and your IT partner, to have a clear discussion over what’s expected. Have a meeting with all parties and relevant team members involved to set clear and attainable objectives for every phase of the project.

You should also use this time to define the roles and responsibilities of your outsourced team, as well as an equally clear timeline with the necessary deadlines and milestones.

When you do this, you can easily stay on top of the software development progress, making any adjustments as needed to meet your business goals. Besides this, you must ensure that both your in-house and outsourced teams receive adequate support and training for everyone to be aligned with the objectives and become completely aware of their roles in the project.

### **Be Flexible as Needed**

Agile software development outsourcing isn’t a one-size-fits-all framework. It will constantly require monitoring and adjustments for a smoother process. As such, you and your chosen IT partner must be open to embracing change.

Stay on track with the software development progress and manage your outsourced team with daily meetings, where you both provide continuous feedback and ways to improve the project flow. Doing so will help you keep updated with your project’s current progress in real-time, as well as identify any risks to correct before they worsen.

### **Face Outsourcing Challenges**

Even with the many benefits that outsourcing has to offer, there will be a few challenges that you must prepare for. Such challenges include language barriers, differences in time zones, communication gaps, or approaches when dealing with issues.

You can address these problems to ensure success with your agile process by assigning a dedicated employee from your in-house team to help manage your agile outsourcing partner. They can be in charge of assigning tasks, monitoring progress, resolving issues in case of potential obstacles, and ensuring that all team members are in sync with one another.

Other than hiring a project manager, it’s also worth providing training, and possibly even team-building activities, for your in-house and remote teams so everyone is well-versed with the company’s culture and unique work practices, which can boost collaboration.

### **Have Open Lines of Communication**

Communication is crucial to succeeding in both the project and the long-term professional relationship. When you outsource agile projects, it’s important to trust your outsourced team and have confidence in their skills and expertise to take care of the project and overall operations. 

You don’t need to hover over your outsourced team but you must set up proper communication channels so all relevant team members and stakeholders are involved. This allows everyone to receive updates on the project's current progress frequently, thus lessening the challenges when managing the operations and your outsourced teams.

Besides this, you must have regular team meetings to identify possible roadblocks and remove them before they escalate. Doing this gives you and your outsourced team better communication, as well as helps you coordinate tasks, monitor progress, and measure performance.


## Hire the Best IT Partner for You Today

Before being able to reap the benefits of outsourcing for agile methodology software development, you need to first find the right IT partner to collaborate with. This process will make and break the results, so you’ll first want to plan ahead and consider your choices carefully.

The right agile outsourcing partner should provide you and your company with the necessary technical expertise, offer a flexible approach, and be knowledgeable of the well-known agile methodology. 

 ![](https://res.cloudinary.com/innomizetech/image/upload/v1708333312/production/Capture_d_ecran_2024_02_19_a_15_51_05_35e807dbeb.png) 

Here at [INNOMIZE](https://innomizetech.com/), we apply Agile Methodology, specifically Scrum framework for software development. We adopt Test-Driven Development and DevOps among the different agile practices.

Contact us today and let’s discuss your project and scope!



Leveraging Outsourcing for Agile Methodology Software Development: A Strategic Approach

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