emagine’s smart team setup gave rapid results and long-term gains for a global company

Managed Teams & Managed Services

A notable company in the ship supply industry faced a critical challenge in scaling its development team for a vital online solution.

emagine’s scalable nearshore setup with a Service Delivery Manager and an efficient development team settled the issue and strengthened the project for further expansion.

14. October 2024

Helping a development team’s efficiency for better productivity

The company, a major global player in the ship supply industry, offers an online solution that connects buyers with suppliers for procurement and supply through customized product catalogues.

In the autumn of 2021, six nearshore consultants (specializing in BE/Java and FE/React) joined the global Company, transitioning from another international consultancy.

Due to this team’s limited in-house capacity, the company faced a critical challenge in scaling its development team. Additionally, the company aimed to improve its engineering practices and overall working methods.

They sought to enhance the team’s efficiency and effectiveness by implementing better processes such as guilds, backlog management, continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD), quality assurance and release management.

A team working together sitting at a table

What emagine proposed

emagine proposed a comprehensive solution by replacing the existing contractors and later expanding the team. We recommended assembling a managed team of eight individuals, including React, Java, and data engineers for Azure.

A service delivery manager from emagine would lead and nurture the team, collaborating closely with the company’s product managers to optimize flow and throughput.

An agile scalable nearshore setup with an efficient development team

The approach yielded the following outcomes:

Managed team implementation: We successfully added a managed team, led by an emagine service delivery manager. Over time, this team was split and reorganized into several smaller teams.

Gradual growth: We focused on forming cohesive teams and gradually developing individual skills, team dynamics, and processes.

Guild establishment: We facilitated the creation of backend and frontend guilds, allowing for architecture, design, and principle discussions.

Continuous improvement: Regular retrospectives drove relentless improvement across practices and processes.

Outcome and benefits

emagine’s strategy of dividing into small, efficient teams significantly enhanced the company’s agility and efficiency.

By improving working methods, the “fail fast, learn fast” approach accelerated innovation by fostering a culture of experimentation and rapid learning.

Our focus on team management through regular one-on-one interactions ensured strong team formation and cohesion. Decisions driven by guilds and retrospectives promoted effective collaboration and continuous improvement.

Expanded project productivity and retention

The collaboration started in 2021 and is still ongoing. More than 13 consultants from emagine are currently working within the scope of four teams.

The flexible nearshore setup also provided the global company with a large talent pool and maintained high retention and engagement, ultimately boosting productivity and the quality of deliverables.

As the latest development in the partnership, emagine has returned part of the team management responsibility to the company after training them on best practices and how to run the software delivery lifecycle.