Over the years, Avisi staff have developed a wide range of expertise in the field of software development. This led us to offer expert services for such things as Agile development, 'Big Data', software security, dev process, code audits and, my personal specialty, Atlassian products.

As experts, we often meet potential clients who hesitate between implementing a new tool or process themselves or relying on an expert to help them through it… And it's easy to understand why: developers are typically resourceful and like to figure things out by themselves.

Therefore, when dealing with tooling or processes that have a relatively limited scope, we find it preferable to look internally to try and fix it. But when we're looking at more complex solutions, ones that can potentially affect our entire organisation, our experience teaches us that looking internally might very well have some negative consequences, such as these:

1. High Costs

Our devs make us money. When they're not spending their time on what they were hired and trained for, it costs us revenue. Also, learning something new from scratch takes time… sometimes a lot of time. And you know what they say about time...

2. Shaky Base

When you don't have the experience, you do the best you can, but you do make mistakes. These mistakes will show up in time and usually lead to some level of inefficiency. So whether you fix those mistakes or not, you're still looking at more costs.

3. Ill Communication

Our devs, however enthusiastic they may be, might not always be the best people at spreading their new found knowledge across the whole company.

What we do

For a while now, regardless of the actual tool, the process or the use case, when dealing with complex solutions, it's simple: We don't try and do it all ourselves!

We take the time to find an expert that's right for us. An expert who understands our business and has produced solutions similar to what we need.

Here are some of the advantages we've encountered when working with experts:

1. Cost Effective

Yes, experts often cost twice as much as a dev per hour, but knowing what they're doing means they'll actually complete the work in a third or a quarter of the time! So that's a definite win.

2. Solid Base

They've seen or made most of the avoidable mistakes, so you won't have to repeat them. Plus they should know how to optimise the solution itself and it's use within the company. Starting on a solid base with an eye for the future makes all the difference in the world.

3. Engage!

They should know the resources, how and what to communicate so your staff actually takes full advantage of your tooling or process investment.

A few concrete tips

1. Start small, start smart

Hiring an expert doesn't mean you shouldn't do any of the work. Try and start with an evaluation phase that will result in a clear implementation plan or detailed report. With that in hand, you can make an informed decision as to whether you want to implement the solution yourself or have this expert implement your solution partially or completely. Of course you can also choose to take your business elsewhere at this point.

This is a good way of giving yourself maximum flexibility and keeping costs low, while getting tangible insight about implementing the solution for your particular situation.

2. Not all experts are created equal

This goes without saying, but take the time to find the expert that's right for you. Do they understand your business, your needs, your way of working? A good expert should be just like a good partner.

3. Think about the future, from the very beginning

It is always wise to think about the long term implications of your tooling & process choices… Good experts should help you look at this critically. Also, make sure you have people in house that have the inclination and the time to handle tool or process support in the future. If you don't, look for an expert that will give you the flexibility and availability you need going forward. Regular maintenance is certainly the key to long term efficiency.

I hope this article was interesting to you. Please leave a comment below if you have comments or questions about any of this!