6 Signs Your Software Project Needs Staff Augmentation

Ever had a moment when you look at your project board and think, “We’re never going to finish this on time”? I think we’ve all been there at some point, and in many cases, the best solution is to bring in extra help. 

Extra help can come in many forms, and adding more full-time developers to the team is usually the solution that many companies opt for. However, staff augmentation is quickly becoming the new favorite approach, and for good reason. It’s faster, easier, and more flexible. With IT staff augmentation services, you can quickly scale your team and add professionals to your team temporarily to fill the skills you’re missing or meet a tight project deadline. 

In this post, we’ll walk through six clear signs that your software project could really benefit from staff augmentation. If some of these sound familiar, it might be time to consider this approach. 

Staff Augmentation and Its Benefits

Staff augmentation is an alternative to traditional hiring, a process that involves adding professionals to your in-house team temporarily. Instead of going through the lengthy hiring and onboarding process, in staff augmentation, you get skilled people who can get started right away. This saves a lot of time and extra costs. 

This approach can be really useful when your projects hit a point where your in-house team has its hands full with responsibilities, or maybe it’s missing some skills that you need. When you choose IT staff augmentation services, it’s important to know that you have full control. The extra developers work under your management, follow your processes, and help achieve your goals without slowing things down.

The great thing about staff augmentation is that you can get help when you need it and for as long as you need it. That can mean a few weeks or months, it’s really up to you and your project’s needs. If the project slows down, you can wrap things up without having to worry about what to do with the extra full-time staff. 

Let’s say you quickly need a specific skill or experience in a framework or security feature, but no one in your team has that background. This is another example where staff augmentation can be a good solution. You can bring in someone with the right expertise without having to train your team or hire someone permanently. 

Staff augmentation also allows you to budget more efficiently, keeping costs lower compared to in-house hiring. We know how the latter involves multiple different costs like onboarding, benefits, equipment, etc. With staff augmentation, you only pay for the skills and time you actually need.

It’s important to know that with staff augmentation, you are not handing off your project to another company. The new team members will fully adapt to your processes and work under your direction. 

6 Signs Your Software Project Needs Staff Augmentation

It’s not always easy to admit your team could use some extra help. And maybe it’s not always that clear either. But there might be some telling signs your project could benefit from adding a few more people to your team. 

Your team is overloaded

Is your team working late, skipping breaks, and still falling behind on things? That’s the first clear sign they’re overloaded. If developers are doing the job of two or three people, they might be close to burnout. If that’s the case in your team, it might be time to consider staff augmentation to quickly scale and give your team some breathing room.

Deadlines are slipping

Projects don’t always go as planned or just simply change directions sometimes. New features get added, or things may take longer than expected. If you find it hard to meet deadlines, bringing in extra developers can definitely help get you back on track. 

You need skills your team doesn’t have 

Missing skills are one of the most common reasons companies opt for IT staff augmentation services. It’s fast and convenient. Sometimes software projects require stuff your team isn’t familiar with, like a certain framework, cloud setup, or a tricky integration. Bringing in someone who already knows what to do will be easier for everyone. 

The project grew fast

We’ve seen software projects change directions many times. This is perfectly normal. Sometimes the client or business needs change, and the project you’ve been working on suddenly doubles in size, and your team isn’t big enough to handle it all. Full-time hiring doesn’t always make sense, and staff augmentation lets you quickly scale up for the time you need. 

You need to move faster

Timing is very important when you’re planning on launching your product, especially if there are competitors launching similar products or the market is changing fast. Sounds familiar? Adding a few extra developers can speed things up, and you can deliver your product on time. 

You want flexibility

Full-time hiring is a big step, and it comes with a lot of commitment. Not every company or project can justify it. Staff augmentation is perfect if you want to keep your core team small, but still have the flexibility to be able to bring in extra help to handle bigger workloads. 

How to Get Started

If any of the signs mentioned above sound familiar to you, you could be a good candidate for staff augmentation.

Still, it’s important to take a good look at where exactly you need help. Is it the lack of certain skills, tight deadlines, not enough people, or just needing to move faster? Make sure to define your project scope first, and this will make it easier to find the right support for your project. 

The next step is finding a trusted partner. There are many companies out there that offer staff augmentation services, but make sure to do detailed research and take a look at their track record. In your initial discussions, share your needs and requirements. They should be familiar with your tech stack, your type of project, and your overall work processes. Staff augmentation works best when it doesn’t feel like staff augmentation. The newly added people should feel like part of your team. 

Another tip we can give you on staff augmentation is to start small and not bring in a huge team right away. It’s better to start small and bring in one or two extra developers, see how things go. You can always bring in more people as the project progresses. But no need to overcomplicate with more people than you actually need. 

Treat your augmented staff like part of your team. Include them in meetings, standups, code reviews, whatever you normally do. The more they feel part of the team, the better results they will deliver.

Staff augmentation is meant to be flexible. If your needs change, you can adjust your team’s size as you like or bring in people with the skills you’re looking for.

Conclusion

No matter how good your team is, sometimes a project grows bigger and faster than you expected. That happens pretty often. Luckily, you can go with staff augmentation, which often makes more sense than full-time hiring when you need to scale your team up quickly or add specific skills.

Just remember to be clear about your requirements, treat the augmented staff as part of your team, and keep things flexible. After all, this is what staff augmentation is all about.