In the two previous articles, we have discussed questions that should be asked by your future partner and why the type of information the software development agency should collect. Based on that, you should be able to make some preselection of possible matches. But still, the final decision is ahead of you. Score job here is to help you assess which partner will fit your project.

Assess software development companies

At Score, we forged the concept of "health check", which is a necessary step that will help you assess if the prerequisites for a successful workshop will be in place. During the "health check" you need to be focusing on these three areas:

1. Evaluate participants' selection for the workshop on the side of the potential partner,

2. Assess the questions that have been asked so far, during the discovery phase,

3. Assess the information gathering process by the potential partner.

Based on that three areas, you can legitimately evaluate all potential partners and choose your future vendor.  

Evaluate participants for the workshop on the side of the software developer

Why is it even important who is going to participate in the workshop? From your perspective, the more professionals from the side of your partner are in, the more you get. Of course, the starting point here should be the business case and deliverables that should be done as a result of the workshop.

From our experience, usually, the expected outcome is application development. That means that all your business plans and requirements need to be translated into technical language. That's a must so the team can give you a specific reply on what can be done, and what idea needs still some improvement.

If your partner plans to engage a various number of professionals skilled in business analysis, product design, software product management, software engineering, you can be sure that you are dealing with a professional software development company, that is determined to understand your vision and gather all the relevant information. As a result of that, it is more likely that you will end up with the project you envisioned from the beginning.  

Assess questions asked by custom software development companies

At this point, you have probably discussed quite a lot with your potential partners. But have you assessed questions that they were asking you during the discovery phase? As we have mentioned in our previous article, questions posed by the partner show their commitment to the project. And a natural consequence of this will be your decision on who you are going to invite to the workshop phase.

If you have gathered questions from your potential web or mobile app development partners, now it is time to assess which of them is the most engaged and the most likely to understand your vision. Take your time to go through your notes. Check, if 4 detected question areas were covered by each company. Now ask yourself which company challenged you the most? Did they pose questions that change your way of perspective?

The other aspect of questions assessment is the way you felt during the whole process. Did the company take the proper care to explain to you technical complexities, so you could fully understand them? Did they treat you evenly as a partner or undermine you? During your assessment, you should cover all that aspects.

Assess the way the company gather information

Observing the information-gathering process should give you a better perspective of the motivation of your potential partner. But not only that. It is a great opportunity for you to see how the potential partner operates and how they proceeded with the gathered information.

At this point, you should inquire the software product development agency to present to you the information they have gathered so far and what conclusions they have drawn. You can do it by scheduling a meeting with your partner to discuss milestones. Ask them how do they feel about your project and what is their perspective. Answers will give you a comprehensive view of how solid is your partners' understanding of your vision and the way they can present it to you. And we just couldn't imagine a better indicator to envision how they will operate during the workshop phase and the whole process of your project development.  

In the next article, we will provide you with all the necessary tips, so you can increase your chance to have a productive workshop.

‍