When you’re looking for a service for personal use, you may start with a quick Google search. Chances are you may also ask your friends, family, or co-workers if they have any recommendations. While you probably care a lot about their capabilities, you’re interested in the types of characteristics they have too, right? You may ask things like:
Are they reliable? Responsible? Are they fair in their pricing? Are they upfront and honest? Transparent about their services?
These kinds of characteristics are what truly define a business, their level of service, and ultimately, the products they create.
Choosing a software development team is no different. They could be skilled developers, but if they are missing some of these key characteristics, you could walk away disappointed.
So, the natural question is…
What Characteristics Should a Software Development Team Have?
Qualified and Experienced
Being qualified alone is not enough. However, not truly being qualified to do the work that is needed is obviously a nonstarter. Finding a team that is both qualified and experienced with your needs leads to fewer mistakes, fewer additional costs from mistakes, and a better product for you and your team on the other side. It is worth spending a little extra money on a highly qualified team that can get the job done right, the first time and really knows what they are doing.
Complete in All Disciplines
Creating software involves many disciplines, not just development. You want to make sure that you find a software development team that is complete and understands that creating a great piece of software is more than just great developing. From deployment, to design, maintenance and testing, find a team that can do it all!
Empathetic and Human
We’re obviously a huge proponent of a human-centered approach, but it’s more than just the design or the development. It’s the working relationship too, between the client and the software development team. We can probably all agree that working with grumps is never fun and when you enter into a business relationship to create custom software, it is typically lengthy and quite involved. Find a team that is empathetic to your software needs and business goals, but also just regular life too! Positivity, a can-do attitude, and an element of fun should not be underprioritized here.
Dependable
A software development team should set clear expectations and deliver on them. They should be available for questions and help to eliminate concerns or worries you may have. Part of being reliable as a team should be is also be in regular communication. Before choosing a team, ask what normal communication looks like week to week. When you get updates or progress reports? Will there be a normal meeting time? Asking these questions will help you get a good idea if the team can be counted on in the future as you begin work together.
Getting started with a custom software endeavor can be both exciting and a little scary too. Finding the right team that can support you through the process makes ALL the difference in the world.
Are you ready to get started on a custom software solution? We’d love to chat with you about it. Not ready for a conversation just yet? Take our free quiz to find out if custom software is right for you!
