10 Questions to Ask a Software Development Company

The market is saturated with outsourcing and outstaffing companies competing for your business. While such competition and a wide range of selection can get you the best price for developing your project, it can be difficult to select the right offshore programming company. In order to assist you in the search for a provider, we prepared a list of questions to ask when outsourcing software development.   

1. Which Processes Go into App Development? How Would You Describe them?  

Asking such a question can give you a lot of information. First of all, it will tell you how professional the provider is and whether or not they have incorporated the best practices into the development process. Also, perhaps, more importantly, it will tell you just how much the service provider has taken into account the business aspect. For example, let’s say you come to them with a with an outline or barebones representation of your idea and they start offering you to build an MVP right away, this is not a good sign.   

Make sure that they have a step by step process in mind or perhaps they might come already prepared with a plan. The most important thing to see is that they take both the technical and business aspects seriously.

2. Have You Ever Done This Before? 

Certainly, if they have experience building something similar to what you have in mind, then they know your industry very well and they will know what your project is all about. They have already dealt with all the pitfalls and know how to avoid them, and they will not be intimidated by some of the advanced features that your project might have. If a service provider does not have experience with a project that is similar to yours, this does not automatically mean that they cannot do the job but be prepared to explain some of the finer details more since it will avoid a lot of confusion down the road.

3. Which Technologies are You Specialists With? 

This question will be especially important if you have already begun developing your product. For example, if you are building something advanced such as an AR/VR app you are used to working with a certain SDK and switching to another one will be very expensive. Therefore, you must confirm with the service provider whether or not they are comfortable using the technology you would like to use and if they are not comfortable, you should continue shopping. 

4. Do You Have the Necessary Amount of Developers? What is their experience?

Let’s say that you asked the previous question and the service provider starts giving you a laundry list of technologies. While the list may be impressive, you must follow up by asking how many such specialists have and inquire about their experience using it as well. For example, they might have one Kotlin developer on a junior level, but your project requires many Kotlin developers with more experience to get your project in a satisfactory way. This is not to say that someone on a junior level will not be able to handle the workload, but you need to be aware of all of this to account for potential problems.

5. How Long Will It Take to Scale My Project? 

Let’s say that you decided to expand your team and you will need more developers. How long will it take the service provider to fill these vacancies? One of the features of a good software development company is being able to find the right candidates quickly but not make you wait a month or more.  

6. Can You Describe the Communication Process in Detail? 

Communication goes well beyond simply using Slack or Jira. It is important to know how often the team has meetings together and whether everybody will be available for a meeting with you on Skype or another platform. Also, it is vital that developers can be accessed directly because the last thing you want is a broken telephone when passing along important instructions.  

7. Which Files Will You Be Able to Access? 

It important that the service provider is honest and gives you all the complete information. They should give you access to: 

• Source code 
• Burndown charts 
• The PM board 
• Time reports 

This list is not comprehensive, but these are the most important things in terms of what to know about software development.  

8. How Do You Envision the Role of the Customer in the Project? 

You should be aware of what the service provider expects you to provide over the course of the project. Pay particularly close attention on how involved they want you to be. A good service provider will want the customer to be involved as much as possible since the customer’s role is integral to the overall success of the project.  

9. What if the Results of the Project are Not Satisfactory? 

Find out how the service provider intends to ensure a superior level of quality and whether or not they guarantee that you will be satisfied with the results. Make sure to find out what happens if the project does not go as planned and what the steps are in such a situation.  

10. Do You Have References?  

You wouldn’t buy a pair of shoes without reading the reviews first, right? So why not ask the service provider if they can provide references for companies who can confirm their level of services? You can also look through third-party resources such as Clutch, which has detailed reviews and factor in things such as productivity, engagement levels, the overall quality of work and many other categories. Figure out which categories will be key for determining a service provider and be sure to focus on them during the interview process.   

We hope this list on how to choose a software development company will be useful to you when you will be looking for a provider. Regardless of how complex your project may be, you can use Skywell Software development services to get your project done with the tools you want, on time and on budget.