Insights
Staff augmentation vs a dedicated development team
Both models give you engineers who work only on your product. The difference is whether they join your team one by one, or arrive as a complete team.
Staff augmentation
Staff augmentation fills specific gaps in a team you already have: an Android developer, a DevOps engineer, a QA engineer. Each person joins your existing team, works under your tech lead or engineering manager and follows your process.
A dedicated development team
A dedicated team is a complete group, for example developers, QA and a team lead, assembled for your product and working only on it. It can run its own sprints and own a whole product or area, while you set priorities and review results.
How to choose
- You have a tech lead and a working process, and need one or two specific skills: staff augmentation.
- You need to build or own a whole product area and do not have the people to lead it: a dedicated team.
- You are not sure how much work there will be: start with one or two engineers and grow.
Questions to ask any provider
- Will we meet and interview the engineers before they start?
- Will the same people stay on our product, and what happens if someone leaves?
- Which hours will they share with our team?
- Who owns the code, accounts and documentation?
- How can we add or reduce people as our plans change?