Time to Read – 3 min 32 sec
Summary
Offshore software development means handing your project development to a custom software development company located in another time zone. And what it means is that effective communication will lead the way to the best project development, i.e., you will not be able to physically meet your offshore team and make them understand your requirements clearly. So, an organization like yours must have an effective communication strategy and resources on-board so that you both work uninterruptedly to achieve the common goal. This blog will make you clearly understand the ways of effective communication with your offshore software development team.
Every business is unique in terms of offerings, functioning, requirements, objectives, performance, and goals. With such uniqueness comes various business-specific challenges which require custom software applications to handle their customer requirements.
Also, plenty of custom software development companies are available in the market, and you can select any one of them as per requirements. But the most important thing that you need is the best communication strategy with your custom software development team if you want to get the best version of your customized software.
In the process of custom software development, you need effective communication channels at multiple levels: between individual team members (agile), the R&D team, and many other professionals.
The communication gap with your custom software development team located at a remote location is like marriage in multiple ways. You are not happy with each other, but then something happens, and you both start avoiding each other, and finally, you sit together and talk about it.
Companies suffer from the same issues when their custom software development is offshore, and they cannot communicate well.
Custom software development companies understand customers’ needs very well, and they know how to incorporate them in the best way possible. And effective communication plays an integral part in overall business communication.
So how do you ensure effective communication with your custom software development team? Here are some tips from Integrative Systems that will help you lay the path of efficient communication with your team members.
Communicate Consistently
The first thing that you should remember while conducting team meetings is consistency. Ensure that you attend meetings regularly and the conference schedule is the same for every week. Furthermore, the meeting agenda should be prepared in advance. It would be great to decide the subject matter experts in advance, who are responsible for talking about specific subjects.
This way, you will set clear expectations, and such techniques will ensure that every member of your custom software development team feels like they are part of every communication and know what is going on.
Communicate Clearly
The second thing that you must keep in mind while communicating is transparency. Generally, for an onsite software development team, you can directly email the team leader if you have any questions in mind, but technology is recommended for offshore team use. You can use applications like Slack or Microsoft teams. These technologies would make sure that you have a centralized platform for your team to share thoughts and ask queries, and everybody would be aware of ongoing projects and processes.
Furthermore, such technologies on-board will ensure that anyone within the team will not feel left out, and there are minimal chances of any misunderstanding among employees. When it comes to opening communication with your offshore custom software development team, make sure that you can reach the team lead or a software developer whenever any situation arises.
In the case of general chit chat, you can reach them through text message, and this way, everyday mode of communication will not get blocked.
Have a Communication Pattern
You need to set a communication pattern as per your project, as people get distracted very easily and lose focus, which affects their custom software development process. You can set communication timings on a daily or weekly basis.
For critical projects, you should meet people often. If you end up meeting people monthly, you will not get anything done on time, and things may get worst, so make sure to arrange meetings frequently. Apart from this, make plans for discussion, select topics in advance; you should have identifiable goals that everyone needs to meet.
Ways of Communication for Effective Conversation
Audio, video, chat, and emails are considered the best ways of communication. So, you can always have a conversation with the appropriate medium as per business requirements.
It would be best if you briefed your team about communication methods. You need to make sure that you have enough resources to communicate well with your custom software development team working from a remote location. Moreover, it’s also essential to create a balance by switching to the appropriate communication channel, as per requirement. For example – Email is considered slow, and video is viewed as a high-speed medium for conversation. But, if you need something done quickly and effectively, video is the best option.
Some other communication methods include:
Virtual Chatroom
Virtual chatrooms are also an excellent option to consider for effective communication with your custom software solution provider located at a remote location. In some cases, you want to have open communication, general meetings, to talk to everyone about the things you want. In such a scenario, virtual chatrooms give you a more in-depth insight into effectively carrying out the business operations.
Video Conferencing
Video conferencing is considered the best method to communicate, so you can use the various online application to set up a call with your custom software development team located at a remote location.
Project Management System
You can also set up a project management system and use it. People don’t use it frequently, but you must map that documentation for your custom software development is done correctly.
One more aspect of using a project management system is that if you have something going on in your mind, unfortunately, you cannot communicate it to the whole team instantly. So, for practical and instant communication with your custom software development company located at a remote location, you need to invest in project management software.
Conclusion
By going through the blog, you must have understood the importance of effective business communication and how it can lead your business to success. If you are looking for such a company that can make your custom software development process easy, feel free to connect with us at [email protected], and our experts will get back to you in the shortest time possible.
