If you know you need a team of developers, that’s great!   But are you prepared to manage a team of individuals, or are you really better off managing a project timeline and corresponding deliverables?

This is the primary difference between outsourcing vs. staff augmentation (bringing on a partner to run your project or a staffing agency to staff some bums in chairs – be they onsite, or virtual).

Honestly, when thinking about outsourcing vs. staff augmentation, both have their advantages and disadvantages but…

In an ideal world, where you know the end goal, an application build, or migration, a data center move or the like, outsourcing may be your best bet. 

If you have the time and inclination to micro manage the details, or the project isn’t that large, a staffing agency could do the trick. But, in all honestly, partners are often easier. Here’s why:

Outsourcing to a Partner Means Less Time Waste

In the end, while costs may be the same for outsourcing and staff augmentation, your time involvement in managing a team of developers will nearly always be far greater than if you have a partner managing the entire project for you.

Your Project Will Stay Within Budget and On Schedule With a Partner

System integrators are well suited to delivering projects on time, and within budget. In addition, you will avoid a lot of the noise and fuss around juggling multiple interviews, multiple people and personalities, replacing underperformers, and the like.

You’ll get a Single Point of Contact to Keep the Project Organized

There is also the advantage of having the proverbial ‘single throat to choke’ for any missed milestones, or delayed deliverables, should that come to pass.

So, what’s right for YOU? Outsourcing or Staff Augmentation?

As a rule, projects requiring smaller teams are often well suited to a ‘staff aug’ approach, while projects requiring more considerable work effort (hours, time, varying skill sets), lend themselves to an outsourced project approach with a partner.

Know the value of your time and energy. If you know you don’t have the time, your time is too valuable, or you have too many tasks to juggle, partner with a firm and let them handle the details, while you simply hold them to the overall timeline.

If desired, most companies might outsource development, while handling QA themselves. Or the reverse in some cases. There are infinite variations of project solution approaches, limited only by one’s imagination.  Most integrators and solution providers will customize an approach to maximize your ROI, and minimize your stress… so don’t overlook outsourcing just because it sounds more expensive. Oftentimes it’s the more cost-effective option for you and your team.

Over to you… what do you think about outsourcing vs. staff augmentation? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.