Dedicated Team Model - What It Is, Pros & Cons

The dedicated team model is one of the most popular web and app development approaches. In the following sections, we’ll provide an in-depth look at this organizational strategy so that you can better understand how it might meet your software development goals. 

What is a Dedicated Development Team Model? 

A DDT model is a type of outsourcing model where a company hires a remote group of developers to work on a long-term project under their management. This model has become more and more popular over the years. This is mainly because it allows more effective and transparent partnerships between the client and the development team. 

Rather than work on many projects simultaneously, the development team will be 100% committed to their current client initiatives. In many cases, a project manager might hire dedicated development team members in other countries to save money. However, if they choose properly, they’ll get all the benefits of an in-house team with a dedicated project team structure. 

How Does it Work? 

The dedicated team model differs slightly from company to company and can change based on a given client’s needs. However, some aspects of the dedicated development process remain mostly the same across all project types.

Step 1: Gathering Requirements

Most DDT collaborations start with the client discussing their future goals and objectives. Project managers need to communicate their requirements to the prospective development team leader, who will determine the number of employees required as well as the necessary technical skills involved. This process is all very general at first, with broad discussions about the project budget and the associated development costs.

Step 2: Clear Project Definition

After the approximate development requirements are discussed, the next step is to perform a more in-depth analysis of the software development project. At this point, the service provider can better estimate the number of team members, the costs involved, and the overall project scope. The point of hiring a dedicated team is to get a group of people who are 100% fixed for your project. Though long-term projects are the norm, short-term projects are by no means out of the question. At this point, the client will typically discuss how they’d like to manage their remote team. They can do so directly or delegate to a business analyst or project manager. 

Step 3: Onboarding and Introduction 

Once the third party or remote team is selected, it is important to familiarize them with the client’s culture and policies. This onboarding process is generally quite similar to hiring in-house employees. The client might introduce them to their future team collaborators, discuss the internal workflow, and provide an overview of the tools used within the company. Last but not least, they might go over some general business goals and provide information about other projects they’ve attempted in the past.

Step 4: Start of Work 

With the team in place, it's time to begin work on the project. Depending on the project timeline and dedicated team structure, the client might choose to practice full control or give more power to the software development professionals. 

2023 Global Software Outsourcing Rates Per Region (Source - Accelerance)

Who is in a Dedicated Team? 

The Dedicated Team model is made up of three key entities: the client, the outsourcing company, and the employees. Depending on the project, the latter can include a variety of DDT members, such as testing teams, developers, software engineers, designers, and project managers. Depending on the client’s project, the outsourcing team can assemble workers with all the proper tech skills. 

Advantages of a Dedicated Team

There are strong and weak points to every software development workflow strategy. In terms of the dedicated model, the primary advantages include the following: 

Cost Efficiency

The dedicated team model offers clients lots of control over the costs of their projects. Most companies that operate or manage dedicated development teams embrace outsourcing models, so they can typically find talented IT industry labor for affordable prices. Compared to in-house hiring, the dedicated model can significantly cut expenses on things like recruitment, training, salaries, taxes, and equipment costs. And since the fixed hourly rate of a contract makes the overall project cost more predictable, software development companies can avoid detrimental overruns.

Flexibility in Project Requirements

The dedicated team model is ideal for any software development company lacking a well-defined project plan. Dedicated team members are highly regarded for their agility, which means they offer a much more flexible work approach compared to a fixed-price model. Regardless of their business model or location, dedicated project teams are always receptive to changes in project requirements if it means getting the client what they want. 

More Control

One of the biggest benefits of the dedicated team strategy is that it allows clients full control over team member selection, motivation, and management. This allows companies to assemble highly skilled and competent experts, project managers, equipment, resources, and infrastructure based on the project's specific requirements. Of course, having so much control means that clients can decide whether to closely control the project and recruitment process or trust local specialists to handle it instead.

Transparent Management

The dedicated project team model works because of reliable time tracking and task management solutions. Reports on this information are typically made available upon the client’s request, increasing transparency while improving quality and overall reliability. This ensures that everyone is on the same page and allows clients to monitor the project's progress themselves. Business analysts also recommend teams make use of messaging platforms such as Slack and Telegram to enhance this sense of transparency further. 

Faster Development Process

Having a dedicated software development team will usually result in faster results. This is because clients get access to a global talent pool, meaning they can choose each team member based on whether they have the hard and soft skills needed to work efficiently. Also, remote teams tend to be more flexible and adaptive, having worked with many types of clients and projects as opposed to operating in a single niche.  

Focused Approach

The primary benefit of having a dedicated project team is its focused approach. Indeed, from client to service provider, all team members will be fully focused on the future project, meaning no distractions or interruptions. Additionally, the team's flexibility allows it to be reconfigured according to the current requirements and needs of the project. Generally, this helps support faster completion and improved outcomes.

A Dedicated Team Promotes Collaboration

When you hire a dedicated team, you and your team members will collaborate closely to achieve a shared goal. This encourages daily communication and brainstorming sessions, which can help improve workflows while identifying potential weaknesses in the project or project management team. Many business owners know that simply throwing out instructions and hoping for the best rarely produces a good result. Collaboration with dedicated developers is always the better idea. 

Disadvantages of Dedicated Teams

Of course, all business models have their downsides as well. In this section, we’ll discuss some of the disadvantages to consider when you hire dedicated development team members. 

Not suitable for short-term projects

If the project must be completed within a very tight time frame, hiring and integrating an entire outsourced team may not be feasible. In such cases, it is better to consider alternative models for product development, such as the Time and Material model or Fixed Price model. These strategies offer a lot more flexibility during the development stage and beyond.

Hiring a dedicated team takes time

Any collaborative model requires the client to be actively involved in the outsourced team member selection process. This is the only way to avoid problems that affect other projects and get the best possible results. Unfortunately, some companies do not want to work with a project management team long enough to perform detailed research on each member. But if they don’t put the time in, they can usually depend on a less-than-ideal delivery. 

It's not a universal solution for all-size projects

It is important to thoroughly evaluate your project's specific needs before choosing a development model. A good business analysis can help you inventory your short- and long-term goals. It can also help you define and refine your project requirements. Who knows? You may find that hiring dedicated developers is either not necessary or not ideal for your project’s unique scope.  

Reasons Why You Need a Dedicated Development Team

Pros and Cons can be convincing, but it’s necessary to consider some reasons why a client like yourself might want to hire dedicated development team members in the first place. 

Your employees lack the necessary proficiency and knowledge

Lots of companies seek to hire dedicated teams because they either don’t have the right staff or don’t have any staff at all. Either way, if you can’t find or afford workers with the right experience and expertise for your project, it makes sense to find specialized providers elsewhere. 

For early-stage startups

From apps to web services and beyond, thousands of industries are dominated by startups and sole proprietorship. These firms can lack the budgets or experience to hire confidently on the local level. Stable cross-border teams and other such dedicated models are a great way to get software development services for less money. 

It's a project of extended duration

As mentioned previously, long-term projects are perfect for dedicated teams. These workers are usually very versatile, it means they can easily adapt to the changing needs and requirements of longer projects.   

You wish to have control more control over the daily operations

Many recruiters see their customer’s team as a direct extension of their company. In response, project managers often enjoy direct control over the day-to-day operations. Like the name says, clients like DDTs because they’re just that: dedicated. 

Where to Find a Dedicated Team

At this point, you might already be convinced that a dedicated team is right for you. In this section, we’ll review how to find the right team for your project.

Agencies

For starters, you might consider using an outsourcing agency like Odesk or Elance. If you're new to outsourcing and your project is larger-scale, it’s often a good idea to let an agency handle the selection of your dedicated project team. However, if you or your project manager already have some experience with the dedicated project team structure, you can sometimes avoid hiring a third party.

Aggregators

To find a company to partner with, consider using aggregator platforms. Some of the most common examples include GoodFirms, Clutch, G2, and HubSpot. These aggregators offer ratings and reviews on a variety of different software development providers. You can also filter out those that deliver services you don’t want or need, or are too expensive for your budget. Last but not least, you will be able to find links to all the company websites, so you contact them directly. 

Inventorsoft's profile in Clutch platform

Reaching Out

Speaking of contacting firms directly, sometimes reaching out is the best way to get the ball rolling on a potential project. In fact, social media sites like LinkedIn can be a great resource for finding talented individuals. Because they allow for direct contact, clients can simply ask for a copy of a potential hire’s CV if their profile lacks detail. 

How to Choose the Right Dedicated Team

Before you search for a team for your next project, you’ll need some strategies for identifying the right group or company. Since your dedicated team might be halfway around the world or more, you should ensure you employ the following best practices. 

Deep research

Start by checking out B2B ranking platforms such as Clutch.co, GoodFirms, SoftwareWorld, and The Manifest. These platforms allow you to view profiles and customer reviews of numerous companies across various industries. As stated above, they allow you to use filters to find providers specializing in your niche.

Review the portfolio and verify the experience

Most individuals and vendors will have a portfolio of some kind. This allows you to see exactly what quality of work they can provide, and identify any specific niches they might have (e-learning, fintech, e-commerce)

Discuss the vendor's approach

Before committing to a complex, long-term software project with a dedicated team, you need to know precisely how the vendor prefers to work. Their methodology can tell you a lot about the results you’ll get and the type of experience. 

Find out rates and discuss the billing process

Different companies have different rates. Like any other service, some may be within your budget, while others may be prohibitively expensive. That’s why it’s essential to determine the cost of services beforehand. Not only does this allow you to plan your budget and make any necessary adjustments, but it covers any potential legal aspects and gets them out in the open. 

Request references

To determine the quality of a company's services, it's clever to reach current and previous clients. A portfolio may look good, but it can’t accurately describe what it’s like to work with a team or vendor. When you get feedback from past clients, you’ll gain much insight into the pros and cons of hiring that vendor. 

How InventorSoft Runs a Dedicated Team Model

InventorSoft is a web and mobile development company based in Ukraine. Over the years, we have worked with dozens of satisfied customers, from startups to large-scale enterprises. Below, you can gain some insight into our distinct, dedicated team approach. 

Discovery call to understand requirements and client needs

In this phase, we determine the amount of work needed and the number of people required. One of our specialists will talk to you so that we can better understand the scope and deliverables for your project. Everything we do is client-centric, so we believe in starting with an open, transparent dialogue. 

Collecting requirements for candidates

We must know exactly what you’re looking for in a dedicated work team. Of course, we have access to professionals of all backgrounds and experience levels. However, we need to ensure you get the right people for the right job (for the right price). This starts with collecting requirements directly from you and your team. 

Searching and evaluating candidates on our side

Once we fully understand your requirements, we can assemble a team of skilled and motivated professionals to work on your project. We use a variety of internal criteria to evaluate who would be best for helping you accomplish your goals, including their hiring costs, their particular skills, their motivation, and their personality type. 

Interview and test task from the client side

When InventorSoft recruitment team is in the process of hiring a new employee or contractor, they may choose to conduct an interview and provide a test task from the client side. This means that instead of simply asking the candidate questions and reviewing their resume, the company will also give a task or project for the candidate to complete as part of the hiring process.

Finalizing conditions and signing the contract

Once all the conditions of the deal and deliverables are established, we will draw up a contract for all involved parties to sign. This ensures we have a road map to a successful project that both sides can follow.

Trial period for developers

The hiring process of a software developer can be a crucial decision for a company, as their work will have a significant impact on the success of various projects. To ensure that they are hiring a developer who is capable of producing high-quality work, many companies choose to implement a trial period as part of the hiring process. This trial period typically lasts for 2 months, allowing the company to closely evaluate the developer's performance and determine if they are a good fit for the organization.

Regular sync-up calls to check the status

Regardless of how involved you’d like to be in the project, we believe regular sync-up calls are crucial to on-time delivery and the ultimate success of the job. We take it upon ourselves to provide frequent status updates and ensure everyone moves in the same direction. 

Conclusion 

If you're running a startup or a tech business that's still figuring out its needs, a dedicated team might be the best choice. With this model, you get a team of professionals fully focused on your project for as long as the collaboration takes. From cost-effectiveness to flexibility and beyond, the benefits of having a good team on your side cannot be overstated. And thanks to modern technology, it doesn’t matter where they are.