This Is Not What I Expected – How to Hand Over a Software Project to New Developers
Creating an application is a complex task that requires significant time and money. Given the scale of the investment, it is crucial to strive for excellence and build a first-class product that appeals to the target market and generates revenue.
For a successful outcome, it is essential that the members of your software development team have a deep understanding of your industry and can smoothly integrate that knowledge into the application while using the latest tools and technologies.
Small project management mistakes can snowball into a dead end for your dream product. That’s why choosing a partner who truly knows their field is so important.
We have tried to make the entire software development process easier for you by explaining how to prepare for mobile development, offering ideas to reduce the cost of such an application, and showing how to check whether the project is on track.
So, before dropping a software development partner who isn’t meeting your expectations, we strongly recommend reading these articles – there may still be a chance to improve the situation. However, if you don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel for this collaboration, learn how to perform a software handover.
Finding a Replacement Team for Your Project
There are several reasons you might be dissatisfied with your development company partnership. Lack of transparency and proper communication, insufficient technical skills, or broken promises can erode trust in the relationship.
Unfortunately, these are not issues a company can fix overnight; rather, they are organizational culture and business know-how that take years to build and refine. If you find yourself in this situation, the best way to save your project from complete failure is to find a replacement for your current development partner and begin the handover process.
Identify the Problems
But before you set off to find your dream development partner, you need to thoroughly analyze what exactly went wrong in the project before. And even more importantly, uncover the reasons behind it. Only a deep analysis of past mistakes will allow you to find a company that can fill all the gaps.
The team you decide to partner with should also be aware of the bottlenecks and issues that slowed the project down or pushed it in the wrong direction. A careful review of the current situation will enable them to plan the next steps effectively.
Gather Technical Information
After identifying the pain points, you should collect information about the technologies and tools used in the project up to that point. A detailed technical overview will help potential companies determine whether they can take on your project, and if collaboration happens, it will speed up the work.
If you don’t know what to include in the technical specification, we have listed the main pieces of information your new team will need to manage the project effectively.
Start Looking for a New Development Team
So you’ve decided to search for a suitable replacement. But what aspects should you look for to avoid another failure? We’ve answered this question in a previous post in this series, but let’s revisit the topic once more.
This time, we’d like to focus on some red flags to watch out for when determining whether a company is fit for your project. Let’s dive into the details.
Lack of Project Audit
A technical audit is a must when handing over a project to another software vendor. Why? A proper assessment of the code, tools, and UI/UX provides a complete picture of the project’s state and identifies all issues the new partner will have to face.
It also helps uncover unproductive development practices and outdated technologies, as well as examine security risks to avoid costly mistakes caused by existing shortcomings. These elements can delay the project, so it’s critical to spot them early on.
The outcome of the code verification should be a detailed report on the various levels of the project and suggested improvements.
If you still need such a report and the organization doesn’t even plan to verify your application before diving into specifics, run. Working on an unfamiliar project will bring nothing positive. In the end, it will cost you a lot of money and disappointment – and you’ve already had enough of that with the previous partner.
Empty Promises
A lack of proper code audit at the start of the collaboration is unacceptable, but making empty promises is even worse. If the project manager assures you they will immediately solve all your problems without even asking what they are, that’s a bad sign.
Typically, a new team needs some time to get acquainted with the codebase, documentation, project specifics, previous issues, and so on. Think of this as an investment in the long-term success of your product.
By spending enough time at the very beginning to understand the project and its requirements, they are likely to save a lot of time in later development stages, which will ultimately benefit your budget.
Complete Rewrite as the Only Option
Many companies taking over a project face a dilemma: whether to keep the existing piece of code and extend it as needed, refactor it, or rewrite the project from scratch.
If the technological aspect of the project wasn’t the reason you decided to look for another partner, then your application’s code may be well-written and easily extensible. However, more often than not, old code requires rework, and in the worst case, it has to be rewritten.
Developers use refactoring to clean up code without slowing down development. Since refactoring, unlike rewriting, doesn’t require maintaining two different codebases, developers can complete it while simultaneously advancing deployment processes.
However, while such rework can improve part of the code, it cannot solve deep architectural problems. Therefore, when refactoring isn’t enough to improve the software, developers usually decide to write new source code from scratch.
The potential issue with rewriting is that it typically requires more people and effort to complete. This is because if the existing application is already released, your customers rely on it, so you can’t simply get rid of the old code. Instead, developers must split into two teams: one analyzes the existing code documentation to identify and duplicate the features that should remain in the new product, while the other project team handles bug maintenance.
However, some software development companies may use rewriting as a shortcut. After all, writing new code may be easier for them than evaluating low-quality code and restructuring it. But everything comes at a cost. And you will be the one paying, since rewriting requires huge resources and may not be viable, especially if there’s no solid indication that it’s the best way to fix the code.
If the vendor insists on building the application from scratch and can’t explain why, it’s better to walk away from such a partnership. In general, you need a partner who uses the most appropriate methods to achieve the best results and justifies their choices, rather than one who cuts corners just to get things done.
Project Handover Checklist
Suppose you have found a software development company that meets your requirements in terms of tech stack, price, experience, organizational culture, and attitude. Now it’s time to hand over the project from one team to another.
A successful project handover is crucial for all parties involved. For you, because you have to brief the new team, and for your partner, who must fix the previous mistakes. That’s why a solid handover strategy is key. But how do you do it right to avoid possible downtime and extra costs?
We have developed a process that such a transition should follow to achieve optimal results.
Code Audit
A good start is half the battle. So a new partnership should begin with a thorough analysis of the project, including code and UX audits. As we mentioned earlier, front-end and back-end reviews are necessary to assess the usability of the current code, identify potential issues, and determine the new team’s ability to fix them. Additionally, a technical audit allows the new partner to estimate how much resources and work the project will require and to create a roadmap for further development.
During the code repository evaluation, a range of issues may be uncovered, such as inefficient algorithms, significant technical debt, numerous bugs, security vulnerabilities, and so on. Overall, based on the state of your code, the technical partner should propose a suitable strategy to improve your product. From our perspective, there are three possible action plans.
Working on the Existing Source Code
After analyzing the code, the company should summarize the findings, outlining the issues and suggesting corrective actions. However, if the quality of the source code is satisfactory, no corrective actions are needed. Instead, the development team forms a strategy for further software development, which includes adding new features or functionality that the previous company failed to implement.
Working on the Existing Source Code
After analyzing the code, the company should summarize the findings, outlining the issues and suggesting corrective actions. However, if the quality of the source code is satisfactory, no corrective actions are needed. Instead, the development team forms a strategy for further software development, which includes adding new features or functionality that the previous company failed to implement.
Addressing Issues Through Refactoring
The development strategy for software that needs to be updated for sustainable growth will look somewhat different. The development team should provide you with a detailed overview of the problematic areas and explain why they occurred. You should also expect a step-by-step plan for fixing the code and a clear indication of what risks this may entail.
Rewriting the Code from Scratch
In the worst case, the code has to be written from scratch. This could be due to critical system errors, outdated architectural decisions, or simply the impossibility of further expansion.
While this may seem like a daunting task, keep in mind that if the code quality is truly poor, patching it with temporary fixes will only increase technical debt over time. Investing in a complete rewrite now can save resources and headaches down the road.
If this scenario applies to your project, the company should demonstrate how they will structure your code and what updates they will implement. But beyond that, they should develop a clear handover plan from the previous team, including the estimated duration of each stage and the type of development services required, so you can get a sense of how the project work will proceed.
Knowledge Transfer
The most effective approach to sharing technical project details is to create conditions for collaboration between the former and new teams. This method of knowledge transfer allows developers to communicate directly, speeding up the onboarding process. However, due to the often abrupt termination of existing partnerships, this situation is rarely possible.
That’s why we urge you to gather technical information from the previous partner, since it is now your responsibility to familiarize the new team with the product environment.
To maximize the productivity and efficiency of this process, break it down into several meetings. This method will allow new team members to better absorb information and get clarification on points they might not fully understand.
This is also an appropriate time to establish communication norms and articulate your expectations for the collaboration. Set deadlines, coding standards, and best practices that you would like your team to follow during product development.
Effective transfer of important information and your requirements can lead to a faster project startup, smooth development, and rapid deployment of the improved application.
Gradual Transition
Finally, it’s time for the new team to start working on the project. However, it can be challenging for software engineers to dive into complex tasks from the very beginning. To make the transition period as painless as possible, try to initially delegate some maintenance work to them so they can immerse themselves in the codebase and get familiar with it.
Once they have a good understanding of how the source code is structured and what it contains, the team will be ready to move on to more complex tasks and accelerate their work as the project progresses.
Monitoring Progress
If you thoroughly vetted your future partner before starting the collaboration, that doesn’t mean your work is over once the process begins. From your previous experience, you should know all too well how quickly a project can go off the rails.
To avoid another fiasco, stay vigilant. Monitor the work, observe how the team communicates internally and with you – whether they dwell on a problem to find the best solution or pretend everything is fine.
Another aspect is the pace of development. A well-organized development process ensures timely product delivery and reduces the likelihood of errors. It’s also a good sign if the work gains momentum over time, as it means the developers laid a solid foundation from the start.
The point of this ongoing monitoring is not to be unreasonably suspicious, but to stay in touch with the team, answer their questions, and verify that the project is moving in the right direction.
Software Project Handover in a Nutshell
We would be lying if we said that handing over a project between two companies happens without a hitch. It is a complex process that takes time and care.
Identifying the difficulties the previous team faced, gathering technical information, and thoroughly vetting potential partners will enable you to select a team with the necessary abilities and experience to take over and effectively complete the development of your product.
Add to that a well-organized transition process involving a technical audit, knowledge transfer, and ongoing monitoring, and you’ll have a formula for a seamless handover and, ultimately, a successful application delivery.
Of course, this doesn’t mean the new team will avoid mistakes, but if you follow our advice, there’s a good chance they won’t be as severe this time.
If your project needs a breath of fresh air and you’re at a loss choosing a new technical partner, reach out to us! We have all the necessary knowledge and skills to get your project back on track.