Blog article
Deliver expertise
TAAS offers a reasonable solution. We look at the challenges within the IT-project at hand. It is important to take a broader view than just proposing people, as that is not always the solution. What distinguishes our approach is that we look at the entire process. Does the customer have the right idea about what needs to be done and how? At TAAS we help you develop ideas. We look at what expertise we can provide in the short term and who needs to be involved from within the organization. By combining expertise from the organization with our developers, we can put together the perfect team.
Strict selection
We look closely at the type of developer required for a project. We use our existing network, mainly in Eastern Europe. We select on either work experience within the domain (for example, a programmer who has often built medical software), or on expertise (a programmer who knows what an optimization grid is and can execute it across the domain). We ensure that there is a match, so the people we provide can contribute immediately. This is possible thanks to our strict selection procedure.
The cultural aspect of nearshoring
At TAAS we make use of nearshoring (not offshoring) due to timezone and cultural fit. The closer to the Netherlands, the more we think alike.
"Yes is yes and no is no". We also work with people who are used to working for Western companies and therefore know how the Dutch corporate culture works. We have experienced that our colleagues in Eastern Europe particularly appreciate our directness.
Get your own team to collaborate
A team is a collaborative body with a common goal. It is essential that members of a team get on well with each other. You can imagine that when a Dutch company scales up and calls in help from abroad, sometimes colleagues are initially hesitant. "Are they critical about our work? Do they need a lot of support and will it cost us time? Are they better and also cheaper?" All these questions arise from insecurity within the team, which the new colleagues may initially see as a threat. This resistance can obstruct scaling up. For TAAS this is one of the most important obstacles to eliminate. Everyone must feel confident about it for the cooperation to start well.
Integrate and guide
As soon as we know the project and we know which skills we will add to the development team of the customer, it is important to integrate and guide all team members. In fact, this is one of the main activities of TAAS. We introduce the project and ensure that it is properly explained to the Dutch team. We also prefer that they participate in the decision-making in the initial phase, so that they feel comfortable with the collaboration. It's important that the team doesn't see it as a threat but as a resource.
Empower ambassadors and enjoy the benefits of a mixed team
Empowering ambassadors is important. You see that there are some individuals within your own team who are truely open to collaboration. We will then involve these people in the project as soon as possible. They can influence their own teammates to cooperate. Sometimes it is better to use a mixed team. You then add an external developer with certain expertise to a team. He or she can therefore contribute immediately and earn credits by using skills that they lack.
Another way is to take on a project that the team itself has no time for, which is not their main task, and something they may not even feel like doing. This method of getting credits is also quite safe since you don't touch the main product. When the team then sees that this works and the foreign developers deliver on a technical level, this gives confidence. You create creditworthiness along the sidelines.
The importance of communication, facilitated by scrum
It is important to continue to communicate well, not only in the initial phase but also when the collaboration is going well. In this, the scrum method already enforces communication in the right way. When you use scrum, for instance, a short stand-up is held every day where all team members briefly discuss what they have done, what they are going to do, and what problems they encounter. Team members can help each other with problems and quickly switch to solve the puzzle together.
