Time Estimations & Expectation Management: The Benefits of Outsourcing

When it comes to tackling complex IT tasks, there are many factors to consider. Doing everything in-house can be overwhelming, both financially and logistically. That’s why many organizations are turning to an outsourced IT partner for help with these projects. By outsourcing selected tasks or entire projects, you can be confident that each task will receive the specialized attention it requires. This also frees up your team members to focus on other aspects of the business.

The planning fallacy

When it comes to complex IT projects, it is important to recognize the potential for planning fallacy. The planning fallacy refers to the tendency of people to underestimate how long a task will take, even when they have a great deal of experience with similar tasks. Unfortunately, this can lead to unrealistic expectations and promises of quick turnaround times that are not met.

Communication as a key

Miscommunication between internal teams and their outsourcing partners can lead to a misunderstanding of the scope and time estimation of the project. Depending on the complexity, a particular feature could take anywhere from 5 to 25 hours to complete. It is important for both sides to come to an agreement on what level of quality is expected in order for accurate estimations to be given.

When you have an outsourced IT partner, one way to judge if they're doing a good job is by comparing their time estimates with your own estimations. Ask yourself: Is the scope right? Did the outsourcing partner understand the need accuractly? And did you forget something that impacted your own estimations? This will help make sure that expectations are accurately aligned with reality and each project is completed without any delays or issues.

How we operate

Here at NerdCloud we have an 8-hour rule. So, if we ever come across a task that will take longer than eight hours, we simply break it down into smaller chunks for transparency. Another benefit of this way is that, instead of one developer working on a big project for days on end, we can have multiple developers working on different parts of the task at the same time. NerdCloud has a global workforce of vetted senior developers available as a service, we take care of the onboarding to make sure the velocity is as great as needed to get the tasks done efficiently.

By being transparent with our customers, they know what we are up to and how we plan on completing the tasks at hand. They can also give us feedback or advice, since they have a broader understanding of the overall project and solution - that way we ensure the teams are aligned and the results are compatible to the team preferences.

We're customer service fanatics who would love to help you make the most of our Infinite Tasksourcing service. Please don't hesitate to reach out to get your tasks done!

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