You may associate cooperation with a software engineering company primarily with cutting costs and solving the pressing issues of your company to enable employees to dedicate more time to core business processes. All of that is undoubtedly a significant part of collaboration; however, the points above are rather fruits of your coherent work. And an essence for reaping such benefits lies in cohesive partnership.

How to bring together a community of skilled experts with high soft skills and interact with them efficiently during your collaboration? We will share insights on the topic derived from the experienced project manager from PNN Tech. In 2023, investing in software that does not fit your needs is highly undesired, so let’s discuss ways of preventing it and keeping your newly created team engaged. 

Three core components of efficient collaboration and how to nurture them 

• Communication. 

By that, we mean achieving an in-depth understanding of every team member’s role during both technological and organisational processes. Thus, an initial step of your journey is creating a Communication Policy highlighting issues, demands, and requests worth highlighting. To define the roles more conveniently and prevent employees from being surpassed by the volume of tasks, you may divide major arrangements into smaller pieces of data to be discussed on meetings. Giving short feedback when required is a mandatory part of all stakeholders’ workflow. 

• Trust 

The only way to establish cooperation that exceeds expectations is by treating all the stakeholders as partners and contributors to the project’s ideas. It is significant here to build up transparent communication from the very beginning: for instance, IT vendors should inform you about deviations in the price, which may occur depending on the functions set or complexity of the future app’s UX. From your part, share your feedback promptly and try to be as precise as possible while formulating the expected results. Another critical aspect is discussing problematic questions without fear of mistakes; it will help come up with solutions faster. 

• Mutual vision and objectives

Make sure all stakeholders know the programming product’s final goal: don’t forget to discuss it on dailies closely. Disclosing issues of why partners cooperate, what the objectives are and how to plan the strategy of achieving belongs to the joint responsibility of the enterprise and IT firm. In the long run, the thing that keeps staff members motivated and engaged is a shared vision and values. Depending on your vendor’s specifics, you may slightly modify the collaboration model or invent a workable approach, allowing each team member to contribute to the project most effectively. 

How to define whether an IT company can be a trustworthy partner? 

Conducting at least two evaluations would be good: the initial — during your independent research, and the second — at discovery calls or meetings.

• One of the simplest yet essential steps is considering a portfolio of potential partners. Alongside reading about particular programming products, you may also research the most widespread technologies the company tends to apply (and maybe even map out those most suitable for your future project). 

No less noteworthy to interview previous clients of the company, especially if the companies of business owners are close to your niche. Despite asking about the quality of the end product, feel free to inquire about details of the cooperation process. 

• During the first meeting, discuss the collaboration approaches utilised by the company and ask for advice on the most appropriate model for your project. You can also shed light on post-development phases: usually, software development agencies, including the PNN Tech team, provide clients with further support and prompt updates and upgrades. 

And please bear in mind that there are no universal solutions: each programming product requires an individual approach. So try to analyse your goals for the concrete project, formulate expectations — and find experts who will, first of all, share your vision and values. If you are looking for professionals with an extensive experience in collaboration with different business branches, feel free to contact us: https://pnnsoft.com/