Beyond the developers: 3 positions you absolutely need in your tech team

How can management and design professionals add value to your tech team? In this article we will get into detail about 3 positions you absolutely need to outsource for your team: the project manager, the architect and the UI/UX team.

You need to outsource some developers for your brand new project. Initially, you thought about hiring them directly, but by outsourcing, you can assemble the team according to the needs of the project, plus the payment terms are easier to meet. And you don’t need to worry about contracts, VISA or any paperwork that will come along if you end up selecting someone from a distant location. Just imagine: freedom to hire tech talent from everywhere. The possibilities are endless.

Besides, if you really like the consultants and your business needs them constantly (and not just for an occasional project) you can hire them afterwards.

But then another question arises…

Should you outsource just the developers or the whole IT team?

To answer it let’s first make sure you know the basics of staff outsourcing. Nearshore, offshore, onshore… do you know what those terms mean? Or do you need some clarification? We thought you might, and that’s why we wrote the article Professional IT Services Glossary. Take a look at it and make sure it’s all clear in your head before you continue reading this article.

Now that you know the difference between the several outsourcing work models, let’s go into other positions you may find useful for the development of your project.

The Project Manager

If you think your developers can do everything by themselves without the need of a person creating tasks and checking how things are going – because that’s all a project manager does after all, right? Think twice.

Starting by the fact that programmers and business owners speak different languages. Even if they have the same mother tongue. Business owners speak the language of business. They know what an app must look like to serve their business and please their customers. They know all the technicalities of the business… but not the technicalities of building the app itself – and that’s the language the programmers understand.

So that’s where the project manager comes in.

Preferentially with a background in IT and great communication skills, the project manager can easily translate the expectations of the business owners in a way programmers are able to put into practice. And vice-versa.
The project manager is also responsible for defining priorities, managing deliveries and giving updates on the project – so you know about the evolution of it without wasting the time of the developers.

The Architect

You read this subtitle and your brain immediately goes back in time, to Ted Mosby from How I Met Your Mother… we’re big fans too!

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But here, instead of buildings, think software and instead of materials think programming languages.

An IT architect is therefore responsible for planning, architecting, implementing IT solutions and services. He’s also the one that makes sure the architecture developed delivers the capabilities that address the current and the future needs of the business.

The UI / UX Team

Your IT team won’t go far without the designers. The “UI” stands for “user interface”, that is to say, the graphical layout of your application. UI designers will design all the visual elements, interactions or animations you want your app to have. Their main concern is the aesthetics of the product.

Then, the “UX” stands for “user experience”, which is determined by the difficulty level users have when interacting with your app. The functions of the UX designers couldn’t be more different from the ones performed by the UI team. UX designers won’t be concerned about aesthetics, instead, their main task is to make sure the user interface elements, designed by the UI designer, favor the user experience, while at the same time meeting the needs of the business.

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Fig 1: The different concepts associated with UI design and UX design (OpenClassrooms)

Final thoughts

By outsourcing not only a team of developers but the whole IT team, you will have extra free time, while the architect plans and architects the solution, the project manager organizes and supervises the work of your team, and the team of designers make sure your app looks attractive and provides a positive experience to your clients.

How can you spend this extra time? Focusing on what no one knows better than you: improving and developing your business.

At KWAN, because of the large experience of our recruiters – specialized in tech talent – our consultants are qualified and experienced in their area, whether we’re talking about developers, project managers, architects, or designers.

Is it clear now who do you need to outsource for your tech team? No problem if you’re not sure yet, we’re happy to give you some advice!

Get in touch and let’s find out together.