# Extend your team with accountable development capacity > Choose outsourced development for a defined project, an evolving backlog or agency overflow, with clear responsibilities for review and release. Canonical page: https://webvelopment.co.za/solutions/outsourced-development/ Language: en Connected solutions You may need help clearing a development backlog, completing a project or covering agency overflow. We start by working out which work you want to share and which decisions your team needs to keep. [Let’s talk](https://webvelopment.co.za/contact/) ## Add capacity without creating another coordination problem ![Two colleagues working side by side with laptops and notebooks.](https://webvelopment.co.za/images/lifestyle/pair-programming-1400.webp) Illustrative photography · [Christina @ wocintechchat.com M / Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/two-women-using-macbook-pro-KzU0ezL9tJo) Bringing in development help should give your team room to move. First, look at where work is getting stuck: implementation, unclear requirements, slow reviews or decisions waiting on the business. Extra development capacity helps with some of these; others need attention within your team too. Webvelopment offers a South African route to outsourced website and software development. We can discuss a defined project, agency overflow or an agreed capacity arrangement. The right shape depends on the work you can describe today and how much direction your team can provide as it develops. ## Choose the right engagement shape A project scope suits a clear deliverable with agreed acceptance criteria: you can describe what needs to work and how you will check it. A capacity arrangement can support an evolving backlog when your team can keep priorities current and review changes. An agency partnership may also need rules for client communication, confidentiality and white-label presentation. For example, a backlog of well-described website improvements may suit added capacity. A feature that still needs business rules and design decisions will need those questions resolved or included in the proposed scope. Buying implementation time does not settle them by itself. Before work starts, agree: - Who sets priorities, makes architecture decisions and accepts completed work. - Where tasks, code, design files and documentation will live. - How estimates, reviews and releases fit into your existing workflow. - What meeting overlap is realistic for the named participants. - How access, intellectual property and handover are handled in the contract. Availability, pricing, local-business-hour coverage and specialist skills are confirmed for each engagement. Regional pages do not establish continuous support across timezones. ## Keep engineering visible Your team should be able to open a task and understand what changed, what was checked and what needs a reply. Link code changes to the task they address, and explain decisions that would otherwise be difficult for the next developer to reconstruct. When work is blocked, make the missing input specific: a sample file, a design choice or a decision about who may see a screen. Review smaller pieces as they become ready, while misunderstood requirements are easier to correct. Agree who reviews the work and how questions reach them, so completed changes do not collect in a queue. Our [development services](https://webvelopment.co.za/services/development/) cover the technical work; [agency partnerships](https://webvelopment.co.za/solutions/agency-partnerships/) address a more specific collaboration model. A small discovery exercise or pilot may be a useful starting point before taking on a larger backlog. ## Find your regional starting point Explore our approaches for the [United Kingdom](https://webvelopment.co.za/uk/), [Europe](https://webvelopment.co.za/eu/), [Australia](https://webvelopment.co.za/au/) and [United States](https://webvelopment.co.za/us/). Use the relevant page to consider your working context, then confirm the scope and responsibilities for your engagement. [Discuss the capacity your team needs](https://webvelopment.co.za/contact/). Send the stack, a few representative backlog items, your current review process and desired start window. If requirements are still taking shape, explain what you know and where you need help deciding. ## Make a first workstream representative Choose a first task that shows how you will actually work together. An isolated cosmetic change may reveal little about collaboration on an evolving application. A complete system replacement can leave too many questions open to assess a new working relationship fairly. For example, a proposed pilot might add an export to an existing admin screen. Your team would supply a sample of the required output, explain who should be allowed to export it and identify the person who can answer questions about the data. The development work could then be scoped around that behaviour, with your reviewer checking the result against the sample before an authorised release. This is an illustrative task, not a previous client outcome or an offer of available capacity or savings. Choose a first workstream that resembles the work you expect to repeat. ## Decide which responsibilities you are buying For added capacity, be ready to maintain the backlog and provide technical review. For a managed workstream, describe the result you need and agree how much planning and coordination the external partner will take on. The proposal should explain what your own team still needs to do. Before the first change goes live, confirm repository access, the evidence needed to accept the work and who can approve a production release. Allow time for those reviews within your team. [Explore the delivery disciplines](https://webvelopment.co.za/services/) · [Discuss this business change](https://webvelopment.co.za/contact/). ## Outsourcing model questions A few useful answers before you decide. ### When does a defined project fit better than capacity? A project can fit a deliverable whose boundaries and acceptance are clear. Capacity can suit an evolving backlog when someone on your team can maintain priorities and review work. Resolve outstanding business decisions before assuming tasks are ready for implementation. Compare the responsibility included in each proposal, as well as whether it uses hours or a fixed scope. ### What should the internal team retain? Agree ownership of product priorities, architecture, acceptance and production release. Those responsibilities can be shared differently across engagements, but the developer still needs someone who can answer business questions. For example, access to a task board will not explain whether a cancelled order should remain visible to staff. Your team needs a route for resolving that kind of decision. ### Can external work use our tools and standards? We can assess that during onboarding. Provide the relevant repository, environment guidance and review conventions through approved access. Include examples of changes your team considers ready for review, especially where conventions are not documented. A usable setup and representative task help establish the integration effort before agreeing a larger backlog or delivery rhythm. ### What is needed for asynchronous collaboration? Give each task enough context for someone to continue without an immediate call: the intended behaviour, an example of a correct result and a person who can answer questions. A useful update says what is ready, what is blocked and exactly what input would move it forward. Confirm meeting overlap with the actual participants; a general timezone description cannot fill gaps in a brief. ### How are commercial comparisons made fairly? Compare the same scope and responsibility, including onboarding, management, testing, review and handover. A lower implementation rate may leave more coordination work with your team, so include that effort in your comparison. Confirm currency, payment and change terms for the actual proposal. A rate alone does not establish total cost or quality, and location alone does not establish a price advantage or capability. ### What makes exit and handover manageable? Agree account ownership, source access, documentation and outstanding-item reporting from the start. The receiving team should be able to find the accepted work, understand how to continue it and see which issues remain open. Remove or change access through the approved process when needed. Include the end of the engagement in the original discussion, so continuity does not depend on an indefinite commitment to future requests. Keep exploring ## Keep the right things connected. [Connected solutions ### A development partner behind your agency Create a practical white-label or delivery partnership with clear client boundaries, shared working standards and dependable project handovers.](https://webvelopment.co.za/solutions/agency-partnerships/)[Development ### PHP Development Fix bugs and add useful features to an existing PHP application, with attention to its business rules, database, integrations and release needs.](https://webvelopment.co.za/services/development/php-development/) Let’s move things forward ## Start a conversation Tell us what you are working towards. We’ll help you find a practical next step. [Let’s talk](https://webvelopment.co.za/contact/)