6 Dev Strategies Part 2 💡🛠 Strategies #2 & #3
To Build On Shore or Off Shore? Pros & Cons and Optimizing Your Results
What’s up folks. We’re continuing our series on development strategies to take your project from idea to shipping. Last time we covered the Minimalist Strategies: Wizard of Oz and Concierge Models.
When you’re building something new you need a low cost way to roll something out fast and prove that it has a real market demand. The two minimalist strategies are foundational to running an efficient low cost tech operation. Highly recommend you go back and read it if you haven’t yet.
Kicking Off
As we discussed last time, you usually can’t build an entire business on the backs of Wizard of Oz demos unless you want to end up like Elizabeth Holmes…
“Yea the tech totally works trust me bro just don’t open up my machines.”
Moving past the initial phases to launch is going to require different strategies. That’s what we will cover in this post. I’m going to teach you about two strategies. Which of these two routes you go is going to come down to these factors:
how much you are willing to invest up front
how much time you have before you window of opportunity closes
how much risk you can tolerate
your network
how much confidence you have in yourself/team as a program manager.
I’ll get into more details on how each of these factors comes into play.
Dev Strategy #2: Hire Off Shore Devs
Off shore devs can be an effective way to get started or augment your existing work force. You tend to be able to get more devs for the same price as on shore which theoretically means you can move faster.
However you better make damn sure you have good project management skills. Probably 7 times out of 10 I see off shore projects go sideways because there are either communication issues or inability to hold the off shore team accountable.
Get Your Project Management In Order:
I plan on writing a guide on how to properly manage a software project. As a matter of personal preference, I am not a proponent of the off shore method. I’ve just personally been burned too many times and seen too many arrangements go sideways.
But I understand the low costs can be attractive. Off shore development can be done.
It is imperative that you have sound project management whichever development model you choose. Sound PM skills become even more important when you’re dealing with someone in another country.
Sourcing Off Shore Developers
If you’re going to go with off shore devs this is where you’ll have to start.
There’s a few routes you can go. I’ll list them in the order I’d recommend.
Hire Through Your Network: Do you know or work with someone that is a developer from overseas? Maybe you went to school with someone that is or someone foreign born who works in a related engineering discipline? Start here.
I’ve found some solid high integrity developers working with people recommended by peers from Nigeria, LatAm and Eastern Europe in this way. One of your biggest risks with hiring off shore is being able to trust that they’ll follow through. If you have a friend or someone in your network recommending them, they’ll be more inclined to do a good job and do right by you.
Hire Through a Smaller Agency: There are companies that specialize in helping source developers from specific countries or regions. If you poke around any tech hub in the country or startup mixer you can usually find someone offering these services.
Like hiring through your network, reputation is going to be critical for their business to survive. While I’d consider them less trustworthy than hiring in network, you can use this to your advantage and demand they see to it you’re made whole with your arrangment.
Many of these agencies are even sponsored by foreign governments so they have competitive rates and they’re motivated to do business. I have some contacts in this space. If you want to know more about this route, DM me.
Specialized Sites: I’ve never personally used them but heard good things about sites like TopTal. This route may get pricy but the upside is that the developers are preselected by the platform and need to maintain that status. If anyone tries this route DM me, I’d like to hear about your experience.
One I *don’t* recommend is Fiverr or Upwork. Those sites are good for small projects if you really need to fill a gap but if you are looking to build a rather large product like is most likely the case, I can’t say I’d recommend this route. If you go this route expect speed to take a major hit. Those folks will probably have a huge backlog of clients and your project is just another projec tto them.
Notes on Developer Location
Remote work has opened up a lot more possibilities on who you can hire. With that freedom also comes the responsibility to be selective.
As we know, many people take advantage of remote work. You can mitigate that risk by picking developers who are:
In Similar Time Zones: makes it much easier to schedule regular meetings or have spontaneous collaboration if it’s required.
Share a Similar Culture with You: It’s an unfortunate aspect about human nature but the off shore developers are more likely to treat you fairly if you’re like them. If you’re Indian American, your risk working with an off shore team in India is much lower. If you’re Latin, you will probably do better with developers from Latin America etc. Your biggest risk going off shore is the trust factor!
If you’re in the US you’re probably best off working with someone from either Europe (cultural similarity, time zone not too whack) or Latin America (similar time zone, good especially if you know Spanish). As a matter of personal preference, those are the routes I prefer if I must go off shore.
Difference Between Legal Systems
Developing rapport with your developers is important. You are a small company looking to do business with someone that is in a different legal system. You do not have the resources to allow that legal system to come into play. Absent robust legal recourse, the trust you have between you and your developers is often the only thing that keeps the relationship intact and your project moving. Being able to meet easily with your team and shared traits go a long way to keeping issues from occurring.
Three PM Tips for Managing Off Shore Teams
Off shore teams can easily misinterpret you or sandbag at any time. Much of the time language barriers or difficulty interpreting the spec can result in the amount of work (and cost!) doubling or even tripling. Sound Project Management is the cornerstone of success in this type of situation.
Don’t be a jerk. Don’t be a slave driver. But don’t be a pollyanna either. Make sure you set up good systems to make sure you can build out your vision into a high quality product launch. Here are some quick points on how to maximize effective communication & accountability.
1. Define Priorities and Be Disciplined About It
If you do nothing else in this list do this. It’s imperative that your team knows priorities. They need to be ordered. Defining priorities is what really makes Project Management an art & separates the men from the boys.
Commonly, Clown PMs will say “everything is high priority”. If everything is high priority then nothing is high priority. There’s an economy to this. Without a priority hierarchy, the dev team could spend time on tasks that are low value and waste your time & money! Use your brain and the other posts from the Substack to define what’s important and what’s not for your MVP! If you’re really stuck I offer consultations. DM me.
2. Use Kanban - It’ll Make Everything Smoother
Invest in Trello, JIRA or some other Kanban type board for tracking tasks. These products tend to have a robust free versions. Most of you can get away with using those indefinitely.
Kanban distills your project down into a simple visual. It makes it crystal clear all the things that need to get done by when and by whom. These tools take away excuses for not delivering. I will be writing a post about how to properly use Kanban in the near future.
3. Schedule Regular Touch Points with Devs
Have weekly or bi-weekly cadence meetings to track devs. But. Don’t overdo it and succumb to Meeting Culture.
Devs hate meetings. Don’t give them something to complain about. Meetings that are weekly or bi-weekly can give a good balance between:
a) accountability/communication and b) giving devs ample time to focus, do deep work, and actually move your project forward.
If you follow these three guidelines and stay disciplined with them you will go a long way toward reducing your risk of having your project go sideways.
Now let’s summarize this section with pros and cons
Off Shore Developer Pros and Cons:
As we can see, there is a lot of potential to move fast at lower cost than on shore. But that advantage doesn’t come at zero cost. You need to be prepared for those risks.
If you’re American like me, there are a lot of off shore devs that just see you as one big piggy bank. The stereotype can be justified. Many American “entrepreneurs” lack discipline and the ability to manage a project correctly.
If you slip on the PM front, you will end up pouring your money into a black hole. Best case scenario: your devs try their best but they’re unable to fully grasp the vision you’ve tried to communicate. Worst case scenario: they take advantage of your lack of experience/discipline and make you way overpay.
Don’t let it happen. Follow this post. Get this stuff nailed down.
Onto Strategy #3.
Dev Strategy #3: Hire On Shore Devs
Now that we’ve covered the off shore route, let’s cover on shore devs. Personally, I prefer to go this route if I’m serious about a project. On shore development is where we start spending real money to maximize speed and minimize your risk.
The quality you will get out of on shore devs is typically going to be much higher than other methods because:
You’re going to go to someone with a provable track record
Your communication barrier is going to be much less than that of off shore devs.
If you’re building tech for your fellow countrymen (i.e. you’re American, typical customer is American) the dev will have a better understanding of the user and make better decisions, thereby reducing the risk of rework.
Legal Risk & Accountability
By going the on shore dev route, you lower your risk further by making sure they are in the same legal system as you (i.e. if you’re US you ideally want someone who is in the US). Ideally, you write a contract such that any legal disputes occur on your home turf (if you’re in Florida it happens in Florida not in the dev’s state of California).
This along with the ability to meet face to face drastically improves the dev accountablity and makes it much more likely you’l get what you want. As one of my mentors has said “I like the ability to drive down there, crack a beer on their desk and say - Hey! What the f***!”
Project Management
The fundamentals of project management I recommended in the previous section can still apply here. However note that with on shore devs it’s possible that you can give them more autonomy and trust their experience more. Make sure you have some system in place but ideally you can have give & take so that you can trust whoever you hired to help you keep the project on track.
Sourcing On Shore Devs:
The options are the same with off shore devs except it’ll be a little lower stakes for the reasons mentioned above. To recap:
Hire From Your Network
Hire from an Agency or Firm - if you want to go this route, DM me. I know some reputable ones.
Hire Through a Site like TopTal
On Shore Developer Pros and Cons:
Closing Out On Shore Dev
In my opinion, this is the route to go if you are a no BS type person r an experienced business person. If you have high confidence in your idea why not invest and get the best result. Cut straight to the chase and make certain you’ll actually build your vision.
Closing Thoughts
Deciding whether you want to hire primarily on shore or off shore devs is a big challenge. Hopefully this post helped you understand the trade off of each.
As I’ve stated I prefer the on shore development if I can manage it but I also have an extensive network & tech skills I’ve built over a decade. As always, if you have specific questions or issues feel free to comment or drop me a DM!
What’s Next for This Series
I will be finishing this series off with some more advanced topics such as how to build a product yourself and how to get development work done with the help of students.
But first I may take a couple detours and publish some other posts. Stay tuned.
Good luck and Godspeed 🚀🫡.
Recommended Reading
Check out the full post here.
TLDR:
#1 - Rework by Jason Fried & DHH- Two Tech Startup GOATs & They’ll Teach You Their Minimalist, Practical Methods
#2 - Atomic Habits by James Clear - Learning the Ins and Outs of Human Behavior Formation Is an Incredibly Lucrative Talent
#3 - High Output Management by Andy Grove - Former Intel CEO Shows You How to Use Engineering Principles to Build a Strong Business
#4 - Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink - Former Navy Seal Officer Teaches You How to Build a Team of Doers with Initiative
#5 - Deep Work by Cal Newport - Georgetown Professor Shows You How Connectivity is Massively Overrated, Focus is Underrated and How You’re Currently Fucking Up Your Productivity
#6 - Actionable Gamification by Yu-Kai Chou - Game Development Expert Teaches You How You Can Play 4D Chess with Incentives & Accelerate Growth on a Massive Scale