The Essence of Staff Augmentation in 25 Questions and Answers

Team augmentation is one of the most effective ways to scale your in-house team, avoiding extra costs and speeding up the hiring process. Despite the seeming simplicity of the model, there are a lot of questions and concerns those getting started with team augmentation usually have. That’s why in this article, we have gathered the ultimate list of questions and answers about team augmentation so that you can make sure whether this development tactic matches your project specifics. 

Let’s get started. 

1. What is IT staff augmentation?

IT staff augmentation, in turn, is a recruitment model according to which an in-office tech team is extended with a team of remote developers. Depending on the project necessity, the company can also hire remote testers, researchers, designers, and analysts following the IT staff augmentation model.

2. How does staff augmentation actually work?

Staff augmentation works in a pretty simple way. Your in-house team members proceed with their daily job, while an augmented team supports them remotely, helping deal with increased workload or repetitive tasks.

3. Are staff augmentation, team extension, and team scaling the same things?

Yes, these are the same concepts. Augmenting an in-house team means scaling or extending it with remote developers.

4. When should I choose staff augmentation?

Usually, tech projects choose staff augmentation in the following cases:

• There is a significant increase in the workload and the need for additional hands and minds;
• There is a local tech talent shortage or the required job position is hard to fill;
• The company isn’t ready to hire additional developers in-house, preferring to hire them remotely;
• The company is eager to outsource some of the business processes, for example, QA and testing.

5. What are the benefits of staff augmentation?

Augmenting your staff with remote tech talent can be a great opportunity to save operational costs, get the benefits of remote work, keep your project running when there is an urgent workload, bridge the talent gap, plus avoid hiring risks in case you hire an augmented team from a talent sourcing vendor.

6. What are the risks of staff augmentation?

There are several staff augmentation challenges and risks. The main ones refer to an inability to find the right specialists and onboard them in such a way so that they can feel like an integral part of an in-house team. There can also be communication and collaboration challenges but partnering with a reliable team augmentation vendor can help you avoid the pitfalls.

7. Staff augmentation vs outsourcing

Staff augmentation is one of the possible software development outsourcing models. In the case of staff augmentation, the company outsources some processes or tasks while the project development mainly goes on in-house.

8. Staff augmentation vs fixed price

Fixed price in software development outsourcing means hiring a remote development team for a fixed fee, as the name suggests. In this case, the hired developers deal with the pre-estimated scope of work - that is why the fixed price is the right model for highly predictable projects. Staff augmentation, in turn, is a more flexible tactic that allows for expanding or shortening the augmented team, according to your current project necessities.

9. Staff augmentation vs dedicated team

The only difference between a dedicated and extended team is that the first one is an independent unit that works on the whole project, while the second one is an augmented unit that helps the core team with certain tasks or processes.

10. Staff augmentation vs time and material

Time and material contract, in addition to fixed price and a dedicated development team, is one of the possible engagement models in software development outsourcing. Time and material contract implies a “pay as you go” approach; that is you pay for the hours the developers actually spent working on your project. 

The main difference between Time and Material and staff augmentation contracts is that in the first case, your remote team is an independent unit, while team augmentation means extending your in-house team.

11. How to get staff augmentation services?

The best way to get staff augmentation services is to get in touch with a tech team augmentation vendor. We, at SpaceBus, would be happy to source the best-in-class developers with practical experience in working as an extended unit and carefully selected according to your job requisition. Get in touch with us now to extend your team with top technical candidates.

12. How to choose the right location to hire augmented developers from?

There are several countries recognized as top software development outsourcing destinations globally. However, each of them differs with the tech talent pool available, the skillset of the local developers, their hourly rate, the investment climate, and the ease of doing business. Also, some of the countries make remote collaboration with the project owner even more challenging because of the language barrier and significant time zone differences.

To make one more step toward the right choice, pay attention to Eastern Europe. This destination is equally suitable for projects from the US and Western European countries. 

Most of the Eastern Europe destinations can be proud of a wide and top-skilled tech talent pool, plus the rates of the programmers are pretty competitive in these countries. We suggest paying closer attention to Ukraine and Azerbaijan. While the first is a globally-recognized software development outsourcing leader, Azerbaijan is a country with a growing IT market but less competition for the best-in-class specialists.

13. What is the best way to find a reliable staff augmentation agency?

First thing first, you have to decide on the destination to hire augmented staff from. There are a lot of winning countries with growing IT outsourcing markets - Turkey and Azerbaijan, for example, are some of them. Next, you are welcome to proceed with searching for a trusted staff augmentation company. 

Get started on Clutch.co and shortlist the companies with the necessary expertise and suitable rate per hour. Then, review each of the companies in more detail, shortlist them one more time and get in touch with the most attractive ones. 

You can also ask for recommendations from your colleagues and partners, plus now you are at the right place to hire a credible team augmentation vendor. SpaceBus would be happy to source top programmers for your project and support its exponential growth.

14. How to hire the right specialist?

Well, hiring the right specialists is the main challenge recruiters face, even despite the availability of large talent pools, data-driven search, and matching algorithms and their practical experience. So, the only way to hire the right candidate is to follow the next algorithm step by step.

• Decide on the actual necessity of the new job position
• Draw the detailed requirements for a candidate
• Prepare an attractive job description. It should never be generic but shouldn’t also be overloaded with the details.
• Pitch your job description to the job boards, social media, and your company’s website.
• Get started with searching for candidates on your own, using global and local job boards, candidates’ databases, and social media.
• Reach out to suitable candidates with personalized messages and emails.
• Pre-screen them one more time and schedule the first interview. Make sure the candidates have the necessary skills and competencies that are in-demand in 2022 and match your job requisition. 
• Next, schedule the technical interview and make a personal fit evaluation.
• Choose the best candidate among those left. 

15. What’s a staff augmentation strategy?

A staff augmentation strategy is a step-by-step tactic according to which you scale your in-house team with remote developers. It foresees the project development stages and tasks you need additional programmers to cope with.

16. How to augment my staff step by step?

Below are the main ones.

• Identify your requirements being guided by your project specifics and its current needs
• Get in touch with a development vendor, choosing the company carefully and following the tops we have shared above
• Get the first list of potentially suitable candidates and proceed with interviewing them on your own
• Choose the developers that suit you best and onboard them
• Manage your extended development team together with your talent sourcing vendor.

17. How to avoid staff augmentation risks?

There are two main ways to avoid staff augmentation risks. First of all, you should make sure that this engagement model is the right fit for your project. To do it, analyze your project’s specifics and current necessities, discover how team augmentation compares to other outsourcing models, compare the opportunities and make the final choice. 

Also, make sure to partner with the trusted team augmentation vendor to avoid remote team management challenges and communication issues.

18. How soon can I hire developers?

Usually, it takes 42 days to fill the position. However, if you partner with a team augmentation vendor, like SpaceBus, you will be able to get the list of suitable candidates in 24 hours. Then, you are welcome to proceed with interviewing them and making sure they are actually a great fit for your project.

19. How do I manage an augmented team?

Augmented teams are managed by both tech vendor and customer, following the collaboration and communication approaches discussed in advance. You will be able to communicate to the Project Manager and team members to stay on the same page and quickly switch the focus if the development priorities have changed.

20. Will my developers be engaged, retained, and committed to my project?

Yes, they will. We source the developers experienced in working as augmented units to avoid onboarding, engagement, and commitment pitfalls. Engagement and retention are ensured with the help of our strong corporate culture, plus we carefully vet the developers to make sure they will actually be dedicated to your project when working remotely.

21. How can I be sure of my developers’ qualifications?

All the developers we source for the projects of our customers are pre-selected, screened, vetted, and validated to make sure they actually have the necessary background, skills, knowledge, and competencies. Most of the programmers you can hire with our help are the ones that work as a single team for years, finishing one project and getting started with the next one, so there are no doubts about their technical skills and personal qualities.

22. Can I ask a developer sourced by your company to complete my test assignment?

Of course, you are welcome to do it. You are free to assign a tech task, make a personal evaluation, ask for a real-time coding challenge, check their English fluency, and schedule an additional interview.  Meet our developers right now to find out more about them and proceed with hiring the best-fit ones for your project.

23. Can I be present during interviews?

You not only can - you are welcome to do it. We encourage our customers to interview the developers on their own so that you can make sure the suggested candidate matches your project requirements, you have no language barrier and it is easy to stay on the same page for both of you.

24. How will I communicate with my developers?

You can communicate to your developers in any way you find effective for your project development. Usually, we suggest using Jira, ClickUp, or Trello for transparent collaboration and remote coder’s productivity measurement, plus use Slack or Discord for internal team communication and staying in touch with the customer. You are welcome to suggest any other tools and communication practices as well.

25. How much do team augmentation services cost?

The cost for team augmentation services mainly depends on the location you hire the developers from. For example, augmenting your team with the developers from the US or Western Europe will cost significantly more than hiring tech talent from Eastern European countries because of the salary difference. The skills and competencies of a programmer also matter for the final cost to hire them per month. Lastly, the larger the team you have to hire as an extended unit, the higher will be the cost per project but as a rule, team augmentation is significantly more cost-effective than hiring the same specialists in-house.

Conclusion

Augmenting your in-house team with remote developers can be a great tactic. What’s more, now you have the answers to the most frequent questions those getting started with team augmentation usually ask. 

So, get back to your project requirements, define your hiring needs and get in touch with us for the best-in-class team augmentation services!