9 Signs You’re Working With the Wrong Nearshoring Dev Partner

Over the years we’ve attended a lot of functions, conferences, meetups and events. We’ve heard our fair share of nearshoring horror stories. These are the top 9 things that fill us with the heebie jeebies (tech term 🙂 ) when our clients tell us about their dealings with previous companies.

1. Nearshoring Company_X introduced me to a senior dev: and after the first day swapped him/her out for a junior dev.
@Espeo – We will never swap out a senior dev to a junior one (unless of course you want us to). What’s more, we work only with approved and vetted US and EU personnel.

2. Company_X told me it would take 20 hours and then sent me a bill for 800 hours.
@Espeo – We will not inflate the hours, we prefer to make everything transparent and encourage the use of time trackers. You will see our estimations.

3. Company_X needed a fully approved, cast-in-iron specification document. We’re a startup and we’ve gone beyond our MVP – but we don’t have this sort of time.
@Espeo – We will not ask you for a fully completed and drawn out specification document. We’re an Agile company and we can help you to gather your requirements and work on a time and material basis. If you’re going beyond your MVP, then we’re the perfect team to help you.

4. Company_X told me that my nearshoring development team consisted of one developer called Boris and his girlfriend Tatiana who did everything else. Including the translation.
@Espeo – We’ve got the team, we’ve got a big office direct in the heart of our city. We even encourage our clients to come along for training sessions/workshops and open days here. Our Project Managers are big boys and girls. They can effectively track and report on each sprint and inform you when there may be any upcoming blockers. There’s no period where the devs are sitting there doing nothing. Plus we speak English fluently!

5. Company_X could never tell me what was happening to my project. Each time I called or emailed I waited for days for an answer. As for Project Management – all Company_X gave me was an Excel spreadsheet once a month!
@Espeo – We make effective use of Project Management and reporting tools, we don’t just say we use them – we really do. We’re also versatile. If you want to use a specific tool (e.g. Trello, Asana or something else) and we’re using a different one, then we can adapt. We want you to feel comfortable. We also have a policy of 90 minute turnaround time during normal working hours. We’re avid note takers and the management insists we capture everything that’s important electronically, in notes that end up in our CRM system.

6. ‘Help me Company_X, your product keeps crashing – didn’t you test it?’
@Espeo – We write integration and unit tests, and we’re good at writing e2e tests if that’s what the customer wants. Our extensive experience allows us to write tests really efficiently. We also can connect the tests to the environment (Continuous Integration): a smooth software development process is a substantial bonus. We can also show the results of tests on charts, in html or xml. Convenient!

7. ‘Dear Company_X, can I have a meeting with you today?’ ‘No’.
@Espeo – We work Agile. There’ll be enough meetings, we’re sure of that. Planning, demo, grooming (to get the backlog in order) and continuous communication on our channels.

8. Company_X is rather tough to get hold of. Nobody’s picking up the phone!
@Espeo – At all times, we’re reachable on Skype, Hangouts or Slack and by phone. Also, we can adapt to various timezones. We can promise you that during a normal working day we can get back to you at times you’ll feel comfortable with.

9. I was really unhappy paying for this product but Company_X wouldn’t give it to me until I paid for it in full!
@Espeo – We provide a full written guarantee stating that if the client is in any way dissatisfied with our process, then once this is communicated to us (in writing, with the reasons stated) – the first sprint will be for free. No mean feat, I can tell you, as this is normally up to 2 weeks of dev work. You’ll see what kind of work is being done for you, and the milestones will be clearly visible. You will see how many of the parts of the milestones will have been achieved. Only then will we ask for payment.

Most importantly – we won’t leave you hanging in mid air, send you a bill and say ‘thanks and see ya around’. We encourage maintenance contracts according to your budget, so that we can help you over time to maintain and enhance your product. We’re in it for the long term.