5 Reasons To Go Local For Your Software Development

Should I work with a local software development company or an overseas company? Here, at SOLTECH, we’ve seen customers debate this question often. We understand the reasons why companies ask themselves this question, and often it revolves around cost.

With the extensive availability of the internet and remote collaboration tools like Slack and Google Hangouts, you can work with a software development team anywhere in the world. However, there is value in working with a local company. Here are 5 reasons why you should consider finding a local software development team that you can meet with in person.

1. Better Transference of Ideas

Software is largely intangible. The ideas you have go from your mind to the minds of your designers and architects, down on paper, and then to the minds of your software developers.

On the surface, it is easy to think we understand something, but it isn’t until we dive deeper that understanding actually happens.

Asking good questions, getting detailed in your requirements, and annotating your designs to call out assumptions are all proven methods for sharing your ideas while minimizing misunderstanding.  But having a sit-down, face-to-face meeting allows both sides to read body language and look for signs that additional clarification is needed by your audience. Nothing beats having all parties involved in the same room to discuss something as important as a custom software solution.

2. Better Collaboration

Collaboration is exciting and the place where many great ideas come from, especially in designing software. Nothing can beat gathering around a whiteboard and volley ideas back and forth as you sketch them up, try them out, and discuss pros and cons.

The interaction is real-time and the direction can change on a dime. Being agile and engaged during collaboration is critical and much harder to achieve when remote.

In this video, a past client talks about his experience working face-to-face with a local development team.

3. Better Communication

Established software firms will have processes in place to provide regular communication with status updates, project progress, and budget spend. This type of communication can be delivered, clarified and effectively understood remotely.

But when it comes to other types of communication like:

• Giving feedback on client demos
• Prioritizing the next portion of work
• Clarifying questions from the team

It’s better to meet in person. Or, at the very least, be in the same time zone.

The conversations around these areas directly impact the product that is being built. It goes back to observing body language and intonation for signs of concern, confusion or disagreement as well as having an open environment to collaborate before deciding next steps. Time becomes a big factor as well. Being able to communicate with someone in person or during the same working ours can mean the difference of getting something done today versus having to wait until the next business day to even be able to communicate your ideas and/or questions.

4. More Commitment To Your Product

Everyone likes to feel like their work matters and that they are contributing to something larger than themselves. Just as the ideas for your future software product are intangible, so is the code that is being typed.

Yes, developers can debug the code and step through it to see if it does what it needs to do, but it is easy to lose sight of why they are writing the code in the first place.

Letting your software team get to know you is letting them get to know your goals and purpose behind the app you are collectively building. You want your team to feel like they are a part of something and understand why the code they are writing is important.

The more there is a personal side to the professional relationship, the more committed and invested your team will be to give you their best work.

5. More Opportunity To Notice And Correct Wrong Assumptions

So many “bugs” in software are less to do with bad coding logic and more to do with making assumptions on vague or unclear requirements. It goes back to the fact that software is largely intangible while it is being built.

Dealing with assumptions is a part of software development. You can ask good questions on the phone or a video conference. You can analyze your status reports to try to identify issues. But the more conversations you have with your team, the more opportunity there is for things to come up and get resolved.

Conclusion

Unlike a house, when software is built, it is largely intangible until it all comes together at the end. Getting involved with your team gives them more access to the ideas and goals you have and gives you more opportunity to clarify and collaborate.

As software is typically a large investment, consider looking for a local company or firm that you can trust, and would enjoy working with during the build-out of your software.

Resource: The Checklist For Sharing Your Software Vision

Before you get started in developing your software app, your thoughts and ideas should be clarified and written down so they can be consistently and easily shared and understood. To help you get started on the right foot, we have created a checklist.

You can grab a copy of that checklist below and share it with your team!