Outsourcing web development

A web and mobile development company

Who am i? Wessel Kooyman!• Web Developer and entrepreneur• 8 years in Silicon Valley doing development and

web product design• CEO of Cole Street, a web development

outsourcing company• Organizer of Startup Weekend Paris, writer at

Rude Baguette, etc

Outsourcing web development, how to do it right

What is outsourcing?• Accounting company• Cleaning• PR agencies• In web tech: SEO, development, design, hosting

So: outsourcing is when you use an external company instead of an employee

Outsourcing web development, how to do it right

Employment, how does that work?Benefits• You recruit• You manage• Sits next to you• Great

communication• Easy to get

informal estimates

Outsourcing web development, how to do it right

Drawbacks• Firing is yuk in France• Can’t scale up or down• Hiring takes 2-4 months• On-time delivery

unpredictable

The virtuous cycle of feedback

• Seeing every step of the development process allows you to fine tune the product management

• Quick informal estimates improve product management

• Developer understands product better making development faster/better/smarter

Outsourcing web development, how to do it right

Reasons to outsource development• It’s a skill you need temporarily• Leverage cheaper labor offshore/nearshore• One-time project that is finite• Non-core business

Outsourcing web development, how to do it right

Hourly vs Fixed PriceHourly• No need for ‘great’

spec• Easy to get started• Enables Agile

Development and Lean methodology

Outsourcing web development, how to do it right

Fixed Price• Fixed budget is

awesome• You outsource your

project risk• No need to be very

involved

How does web or mobile development really work?• Discovery – hard to get it right immediately. That’s

why we have Lean methodology and Customer Development

• Maintenance never goes away• The competition does not stand still, neither should

you• Software development is still a dark art

Outsourcing web development, how to do it right

The desire for fixed price when outsourcing• Don’t know the team• Don’t know the management• Don’t know how long it’s supposed to take

Outsourcing web development, how to do it right

The spec – the holy grail of development

Outsourcing web development, how to do it right

“Functional Specification Document”

• Describes what the site/app will do

• Describes the UI• Describes the processes

and what happens when

How to do development outsourcing right:#1: with a spec

Outsourcing web development, how to do it right

Select several companies for a competition• Ask people you trust for names• Select 2-4 companies• Check reference• Compare proposals and talk to them

How to do development outsourcing right:#2: Agile

Outsourcing web development, how to do it right

Work directly with developer• Easy to figure out the quality

Work directly with a project manager• Should have a tech profile

More info..

Outsourcing web development, how to do it right

Article on Cole Street websitehttp://www.colestreet.com/outsourcing-web-development-myths-around-fixed-price/

This presentation

Contact Wesselwessel@colestreet.com