DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION BLOG

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16 May 2019

IT Staff Augmentation vs Outsourcing for Software Development

Agile , Distributed Teams , Team Building , Software Development , Rightsourcing Comments: 0

Often IT professionals don’t see much of a difference between staff augmentation and software outsourcing when they are putting together development teams. Before I worked at Unosquare, I wasn’t really aware of the distinction and thought of them basically as synonyms. But now that I’m a Tech Lead, I’ve learned that there is a clear and important distinction between staff augmentation vs outsourcing and have come to understand why it’s vital that companies choose the right solution when getting started with remote team services.

Justine 2
09 May 2019

Don’t Forget These Quality Assurance Soft Skills

Effective Communication , Distributed Teams , Team Building , Software Development , Quality Assurance , Testing Comments: 0

1. BE TACTFUL

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03 May 2019

Software Development Guidelines Pt 2: The Do's & Don'ts

Agile , Distributed Teams , Team Building , Software Development Comments: 0

As a reminder, last week we covered: Starting with Why, Defining Roles, Breaking Things Down, Drawing Pictures and Writing Words and Not Starting with the Small Stuff. These steps should provide a pretty solid foundation for a team to build on. So without further ado, mute your notifications for 10 minutes and let’s dive in to the remaining “Do’s and Don’ts” of our software development guideline.

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25 Apr 2019

Software Development Guide Pt 1: Do's & Don'ts of Software Development

Agile , Distributed Teams , Team Building , Software Development Comments: 0

Since I joined Unosquare, my co-worker Tom DiGati has been hounding me to write up a post for our blog. I suck at writing, so it takes me a while to do these things. I politely deferred (aka, blew him off) until his promises of eternal gratitude, friendship and agreeing to ride bikes whenever I wanted (you owe me, Tom) changed my mind. So, I sat down to labor over words that had been rattling around my brain for a while. This post is representative of the experiences I’ve had over the years creating products, services, and apps.

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16 Apr 2019

How to Set Up Outsourcing IT Projects For Failure

Effective Communication , Agile , Distributed Teams , Team Building , Software Development , Rightsourcing Comments: 0

1. SELL YOUR SERVICES

Hate about Software
15 Mar 2019

10 Software Development Challenges Everyone Hates

Project Management , Team Building , Software Development Comments: 0

1. ALWAYS BEING BEHIND SCHEDULE

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01 Mar 2019

Examples of Bad Leadership You Can Learn From

Effective Communication , Team Building , Leadership Comments: 0

At some point during your professional life, you’ll probably encounter an exceptionally poor leader, boss or manager – someone you’ve worked for, or you’ve seen in a close team. I have, and it’s stressful and exhausting. I’ve seen some toxic leaders in other teams and watched that team reach a crisis point sooner or later. These bad leaders can make you feel like you hate your job, but the truth is you only hate them. As ridiculous as it may sound, bad leaders can be good for you. You might suffer under their command, but the experience will make you stronger. You can learn from what they are doing wrong. Like my mom says: “you are not useless, at least you are a bad example.”

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05 Feb 2019

Do You Trust Your Agile Software Project Roadmap?

Project Management , Agile , Remote Workers , Team Building Comments: 0

Maybe it's time to review it with your team....

We're currently experiencing significant pain with one of our software development projects. The effort of the project was to improve an e-commerce platform which Unosquare had previously built and has been maintaining for a few years now. Currently, the delivery of the promised features is past its estimated date of completion. The testing of the bug fixes have become contentious because of their effect on the client's budget which is now overrun. The client is obviously upset about this and so are we.

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04 Jan 2019

A Guide Towards Right Sourcing: Software Development Outsourcing

Effective Communication , Agile , Distributed Teams , Team Building Comments: 0

This post is the first in a series intended to provide my guide to “Right-Sourcing.” This term is what I use to describe finding the best fit for distributed agile augmentation of your software development team. Over a series of posts, we will discuss how aligning your software staffing needs with available options – whether offshore, onshore, local contractors, or FTEs – is critical to the success of your digital transformation projects. Although a variety of best practices keep projects on track, choosing the right approach in the first place is a huge advantage that continues to pay dividends.

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18 Dec 2018

Assuming Leadership and Managing Distributed Teams

Effective Communication , Career Advancement , Distributed Teams , Remote Workers , Team Building , Leadership Comments: 0

Being promoted from within to assume a leadership role on a team where you were once a member has a set of inherent challenges — many of the issues that you would encounter come from assumptions and not taking the opportunity to set expectations. If it is an outside hire, they will likely be more descriptive in their approach to taking charge as they need to assess several team characteristics of which you are already aware. Because things like communication, ways of working, culture, etc., need to be understood, there will be a need to define them and therefore setting the expectations of the new leader. I suggest you set your expectations early and assume nothing.

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