Software Delivery-as-a-service
Add capacity to your development team without unreliable outsourcing or expensive contractors that create more work for you and your team
As an engineering manager or CTO,it seems like there are never enough developers to get everything done, to get everything done well, and delivered on time...
You have developers already, dealing with the day to day, the steady rate of change.
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But, what about the projects that come up that the exec team want to drive forward to meet new opportunities, or solve issues faced by key customers?
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You certainly don’t need to hire more permanent staff, just for the few months that should be needed to deliver the project.
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You can’t take your existing developers away from the work streams that are already in progress.
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So, what do you do?
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Typically, you have 2 options:
Option 1 is the outsourcing, or offshoring route.
Find an agency, hopefully one that was recommended to you, and then get them to build the whole project and hand it over to your team.
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It’s a nice idea, but unfortunately rarely works.
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To start with, you will have to invest a lot of time and energy to create an extremely detailed set of requirements for them to quote and build against.
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These requirements are going to be pretty inflexible, and you will definitely be paying dearly for every ‘change request’ you have to put through.
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All of which will cause the original timescales, and budgets to keep growing.
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And what will the quality of the deliverables be like?
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Because the agency is building to the spec, not interested in what happens after they leave, the solution you end up with will only be built to just meet the spec.
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Never mind how easy the code the deliver will be to change, to maintain, to bug fix by your in-house team.
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And one thing is for sure, because the system will have been built for the ‘happy path’, there will be bugs when the system meets the real world.
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So, if outsourcing isn’t the answer, then what is the other option?
Option 2, the one that most engineering managers will reach for is hiring contractors.
Getting some developers in on a day-rate to add to your existing in-house teams.
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In many ways, it makes sense.
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It gives you extra bandwidth, extra people, on top of your existing development teams.
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Hiring those contractors in the first place is not always easy though.
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You are most likely going to have to engage with a recruitment agency in order to find those candidates in the first place.
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You will have to create the job spec, to then share, and wait for some profiles and CVs to start showing up.
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It’s then up to you to screen those CVs, arrange interviews, come up with an interview process, interview the contractors, and again, up to you to make that hiring decision.
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And then, much like a new permanent hire, to have to onboard them, introduce them to your people, your processes, your ways of working.
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You and your team have to take full responsibility for getting them up to speed, and then managing their work on a daily basis, stretching your team ever further.
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If they don’t deliver as expected, then it ends up being left to you to try and resolve.
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All whilst the recruitment agency is taking their daily cut, despite adding no additional value after placing the contractor.
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Who, to be honest, you end up managing just like a temporary employee.
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And let’s not even get into IR35, the risks and hassle that brings with it…
This is what we call the Developer Dilemma.
The situation that most engineering managers and technical leads find themselves in.
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It is why a new model is needed.
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One that we call Software Delivery-as-a-Service
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It is a way to add extra developers to your team, on-demand, scaling up or down as needed, depending on your projects and priorities.
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It’s about more than just developers though.
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It is a way to deliver high quality, frequently, on time, without placing an extra burden on you and your existing team.
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In actual fact, it should free up your team to focus on what they do best.
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Something that is delivered by not just adding people, but by a project management methodology that goes beyond agile, specifically tailored to on-demand software delivery.
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Here’s our proven process, and how it works:
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- Discovery –
- Working with your assigned project manager, we will learn about your project, the key requirements, and most importantly work to create a shared definition of success for this project.
- This shared definition of success is pivotal to how we will work.
- It ensures that you as an engineering team, but also as a business get a ROI on this investment.
- Note that unlike other agencies, we don’t charge for this discovery. We believe in giving value early and proving ourselves.
- Resourcing & Planning
- Determine your timescales, budget, any other constraints, look at what is known, what is unknown and feed this into creating your delivery plan.
- We provide different scenarios for different levels of spend / different core requirements etc.
- This plan is not rigid though – it can always adjust, and we expect it to as we implement. (something we call co-ownership, a more balanced model than working with contractors or outsourcing the whole project
- We don’t agree that everything is unknown though – not as rigid as waterfall by any means, but also not as loose as agile – we value what is known, protect that and use it to your advantage.
- Implementation Begins
- We begin delivering against the plan, working with your key stakeholders as needed
- You receive delivery of work as continuously as makes sense – you don’t have to wait for particular milestones to get visibility.
- This is a transparent process – we bring you in without burdening you and your team – we actually free them up to work on what they should be working on.
- Milestone Review
- Depending on your need, the plans, we will make sure that at key milestones, your wider team are made aware of progress.
- We can present progress to other areas of your business as needed to keep all informed so they can prep for marketing, sales, events, prospecting etc
- Completion Review & Service
- On, and after completion, we want to work with you to ensure that the shared definition of success has been met
- If for any reason you feel that shared definition of success has not been met, we work until we get there, at no additional cost. This is our guarantee to you.
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Schedule a free call to see if software delvery-as-a-servce is a good fit for your business
Client Results
We needed to be able to demonstrate beyond any doubt a highly scalable and robust system.
Testament to Fluent Forward, that scale and performance are not a concern winning large enterprise deals like this.
I worked with Fluent Forward, setting the initial product & technical strategy for my early-stage startup. It was an absolute pleasure to work with them.
They very quickly understood what we were trying to achieve and went out of their way to help us define the initial direction of the business.
I have worked with Fluent Forward a number of times over the last 6 years.
Each time they provided valuable technical leadership, spearheading the architecture of one project to scale one of our software products to a larger and more profitable market
Contact Us
Get in touch
Feel free to write us if you want us to become a part of your technological project or have an idea to discuss!
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Fluent Forward LtdNorth View HouseBristolBS39 7LP