Software development team augmentation

Fill the right gap in your team

A growing backlog does not always mean you need more developers. Your team may lack a specialist skill, need help turning priorities into a workable plan, or be waiting for a senior technology decision. The engagement should address that gap rather than simply add people.

We support organisations with established software teams and those that need an external team to take on a defined stream of work. Our experience includes extending live products, maintaining inherited systems and delivering new functionality alongside existing engineers.

Choose how we work together

The main options have different responsibilities:

• Staff augmentation: individual specialists join your team and work within your delivery direction and priorities.
• A fractional team: an agreed share of a multidisciplinary team combines senior development with design and product management as needed.
• A fractional CTO: senior technical guidance helps your leaders and engineers with strategy, architecture and delivery decisions.

We can discuss a combination, but keep each role clear. Technical advice, product prioritisation and implementation are related responsibilities; one should not be assumed to include the others.

Work with your people and practices

Before starting, we agree the scope, capacity, communication and ownership of decisions. Access to repositories, delivery tools and relevant stakeholders helps our team understand the context. Code review, documentation and regular demonstrations keep the work visible to the people who will maintain it.

We are predominantly based in the UK, with colleagues in other time zones. Working overlap and any support arrangements are agreed for the engagement rather than assumed from team location. We also plan how responsibilities and knowledge will be handed over when the work or team composition changes.

Experience extending an established development team

At Easol, our engineers joined daily stand-ups, collaborated in a shared Slack channel and worked within the client’s development practices. The work included Rails upgrades, performance improvements and new features. Our CTO also provided advice during the client’s search for a new CTO.

The engagement illustrates how extra capacity and senior advice can sit alongside an existing team without obscuring its responsibilities.

What should we agree before the engagement starts?

A useful proposal identifies the role or team mix, allocated capacity, onboarding, delivery responsibilities and how progress will be reviewed. We also agree who approves the work, what affects the estimate and what happens at handover. The commercial scope should reflect the work you need rather than assume that every service is included.

For a complete build with a defined project scope, start with bespoke software development. For ownership of an existing application’s ongoing care, see support and maintenance.

Can capacity change as our needs change?

We discuss the expected workload and review points before agreeing the engagement. Changes depend on the skills and availability required, with the implications for priorities and handover made explicit.