Executing a successful relationship with decentralized software partners

Once you've defined your strategy for collaborating with a software partner, how do you run a high-performing and world-class relationship?

As a company, we were born out of demonstrating our execution capabilities through working, functional products. Doing this is not easy; that’s why it was important for us to share the way we have developed many of our customer relationships over the last few years, crafting software out of Latin America with business decision-makers & stakeholders located mainly in the US.

In every single region of the world, particularly those mainly involved in technology, the challenges the industry is facing in terms of talent acquisition are evident: political changes, immigration policy adjustments, scarcity in the volume of roles and people, an underskilled workforce for the type of activities you need to cover — these are just some examples of the many things a business needs to care about when building a software team and an engineering culture. Even more, when your company is based in a city with no significant concentration of engineers or of any type of role you might be seeking, how do you start attracting talent and retaining them?

Panel interacting with the audience, answering their questions

We arranged a panel in conjunction with the Austin Technology Council (ATC) and invited one of our most loyal customers, PointB, to the conversation to share thoughts on the main topic: “Global & Agile: How to execute a high-performance decentralized team strategy”. Along with the ATC, we agreed it was important at this particular moment in time (Jan/2020) to discuss in detail how to run and execute a proper strategy to manage a relationship with remote teams, particularly software partners and companies that can allow businesses to quickly tackle the learning curve from an engineering and software standpoint, and assemble a team to beat any type of challenge right away.

The discussion was relevant to the audience, approximately 30+ decision-makers and C-level executives from the Austin, TX metro area, and the conversation was incredibly well led by Amber Gunst. We wanted to condense the most relevant key takeaways into a set of steps for running these partnerships once your company has decided it needs to work with a company abroad.

Over the course of around 60 minutes, we took notes and created a sort of chronological path for any company, once the strategy has been internally defined and the company is ready to execute a partnership:

1. Select based on culture alignment and expected outcomes
2. Plan a quick and small test to validate
3. Communicate properly: find ways to mitigate any lack of understanding
4. Being transparent and reciprocal prior to and during the relationship
5. Consider frequent in-person interactions

Select based on culture alignment and expected outcomes

Before jumping into a relationship of this kind, consider the entire model, philosophy and work culture the partner has. Some years ago, I wrote a post describing the factors any business should consider to select the right software partner. I believe it is still relevant, even more so when you want to foster a long-term relationship and grow along with those partners.

There should be a similar foundation between both companies, and this will allow the engagement to thrive. Complementary values, company activities, cultural rituals, even an alignment in purpose and value proposition, will be part of the cultural common ground and will allow all the following points to be carried out without friction.

As for outcomes, there are many ways to weigh an outcome in a relationship like this, but generally speaking, you will look for a partner either: 1) who can augment your execution capabilities with greater control on your end, or 2) who can provide some guidance and support and add layers of value on top of your current service or product.

How you want to measure that outcome will depend on your business objectives, financial modeling and how you perceive value in this relationship. It won’t make sense to select a partner for the 2nd scenario and then tell them most of the things they should do and how to perform those activities; nor does the other way around. An up-front conversation about outcomes is a must in the initial conversations of a potential engagement.

Plan a quick and small test to validate

There’s no better way to prove an engagement will work than testing the waters together. The test will benefit both parties: the partner, to realize whether this is a relationship they would like and are able to take on, and the client-side company, willing to invest in a small-win test to prove whether what they see (and hear) is what they get.

In this particular step, visiting the other party to have the first physical interaction is critical. Getting a feel for the counterpart’s environment and meeting the leadership group, the culture and the way they work is the first step to moving forward with the test. Of course, you would need to go back and forth with some emails and calls and do your job in selecting this partner. But consider the whole cost an investment, compared to a failed relationship because you didn’t have the chance to visit and shake hands with these people.

Additionally, the test you select should have a low or medium level of criticality within your organization, so it can be easily managed and so you can establish a clear list of outcomes to be measured once the test is finished. All points highlighted in this post should happen in some way, even though this is just a test. If the test project is successfully delivered, then you can confidently move forward with that partner.

Communicate properly: find ways to mitigate any lack of understanding

Throughout the entire process, communication is critical. This is why selecting the area or region where the partner is located becomes relevant: to handle any culture shock and communication troubles and reduce them as much as possible.

This starts with the ability of that partner and most of the team to speak English properly, and includes being straightforward about what you expect, turning on video cameras in calls (in some countries, people might not express disagreement through words), and reinforcing messages to ensure all parties are on the same page and expectations are aligned at the end of any session or meeting.

Using written agreements is also important. Much information and many agreements might remain only in past conversations between your company and the partner, but capturing that information via email, perhaps a contract (depending on the severity) or any other medium to trace the decision will be a source of truth whenever you need to recall a decision. Sign-offs, handoffs, scope changes, team member transitions, or just a question — all need to be captured and shared with the right stakeholders in the current engagement.

Being transparent and reciprocal prior to and during the relationship

If throughout the relationship we can find transparency in sharing information and upcoming work, the entire relationship will be able to develop, grow and move at the rhythm it needs. Whether for capacity purposes, introducing people to new technologies, preparing the staff to learn something new, or simply adjusting the current model to adapt to other contexts — having an open, two-way channel will allow businesses to deliver the right value to the end customer or the end user.

Additionally, a reciprocal mindset will allow both organizations to respond in similar ways and with similar values. For example, if you need to visit the partner wherever they are located, next time try inviting them to your office and performing similar exercises in a different context. Or, if you ask for a specific price point, you should expect to share a similar type of information on your end. Reciprocity is powerful and will only work in a context where both companies are culturally aligned, where it will surely foster the extension of the relationship.

Consider frequent in-person interactions

This is one of the most critical steps throughout this journey. Consider traveling on-site with the partner every 1.5 to 3 months (at least) for planning sessions, to work together and/or to celebrate an important goal.

Recognizing that we are, in the end, human is the simplest way to generate empathy and rapport. Everyone has feelings, wants to be appreciated for the work they perform, likes to celebrate when they achieve something meaningful, and has fun with other human beings. Whether it is a meeting, a presentation, or a heavily loaded week of activities, having these physical interactions is crucial to building real trust between the parties. With trust come confidence, assertiveness and transparency.

An important consideration for this factor is selecting the region you would like to work with, and adding in all the other elements, such as social and cultural affinity, time zone, and other typical factors analyzed as part of the strategic piece of working with a partner.

The more the parties can visit each other, the better for the outcomes of the relationship — it doesn’t matter whether you visit the partner or have them visit you. The less effort and energy these activities require, the more likely this interaction is to happen frequently, and the better the relationship that can be developed.

Whether it is for talent access, cost optimization, a business opportunity or an experiment within your organization, nowadays the modus operandi of many engineering teams relies on — and will keep growing around — this strategy: partners and members located in regions other than the main headquarters (or any other formal office) of your organization. All of this is due to technological advances that make it possible for any team to sync across different time zones and work on parallel activities from various regions, allowing any company to hire the best talent wherever they are.