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Case study · SaaS

More engineering capacity, same way of working

Growing SaaS companies often have a longer roadmap than their engineering team can deliver, and hiring locally takes months. This is how we added .NET developers who join the client's team, work in the client's tools and process, and deliver in the client's sprints within weeks.

Project overview

Developers embedded in the client's engineering team.

Industry
SaaS
Client
Confidential
Model
Staff augmentation
Stack
.NET, Azure, SQL Server
Ramp-up
2–4 weeks
Team size
2–6 developers
Working hours
Overlap with the client's core hours
Management
The client's engineering lead
Terms
Monthly, scalable

Expected business outcomes

What the client set out to achieve

Ramp-up speed and delivery in the client's own sprint metrics are what count.

  • 2–4 weeks From agreement to first sprint

    Candidates shortlisted, interviewed by the client and onboarded.

    Depends on the client's interview process

  • Sprint 2–3 Contributing at full pace

    Developers ramp up on the client's codebase with a buddy from the client's team.

    On a well-documented codebase

  • The client's metrics Delivery measured the client's way

    Velocity, cycle time and quality tracked in the client's tools.

    No separate reporting system

Business challenges

Where the client started

The roadmap is clear; the capacity isn't.

Roadmap

Features promised to customers slip quarter after quarter.

Hiring

Local .NET hiring takes three to six months per role.

Team

Senior engineers stretched between features and support.

Agencies

Previous outsourcing produced code the team had to rewrite.

Concern

Leaders want extra capacity without losing control of quality.

Proposed solution

How the engagement works

Our developers, the client's team, the client's process.

  • Selection

    Candidates matched to the client's stack and seniority; the client interviewed and chose.

  • Onboarding

    Access, environment setup and a buddy from the client's team for the first sprints.

  • The client's process

    The client's repos, branching, code review and definition of done.

  • Time zone overlap

    Working hours overlapping the client's core hours for stand-ups and pairing.

  • Quality

    Code review on every change and automated tests as the client's team requires.

  • Flexible scaling

    Add or reduce developers monthly as the client's roadmap changes.

Project requirements

What the client asked us for

The request was capacity. The condition is that it feels like hiring, not outsourcing: developers who join stand-ups, follow the client's standards and stay long enough to know the product.

We encourage one of the client's senior engineers to own onboarding for the first weeks, because that decides how quickly new developers become productive.

What the project had to deliver

  • 01Developers the client interviews and chooses
  • 02Working in the client's tools and process
  • 03Time zone overlap for collaboration
  • 04Scale up or down monthly

Key challenges & considerations

What made it harder, and what we did

  1. Thin documentation of the codebase

    What we did

    New developers paired with a buddy and wrote down what they learned as they went.

  2. Security and access approvals

    What we did

    Access requests were raised before the start date, so day one was productive.

  3. Different time zones

    What we did

    Working hours were set to overlap with the client's core hours.

  4. Knowledge held by one or two people

    What we did

    Knowledge was spread through pairing and code review, so it no longer sat with one or two people.

What we watched for

  • Assign a buddy from the client's team
  • Start with well-defined tickets
  • Keep developers on the product long term
  • Review fit monthly

Development process

From request to first sprint

A structured start makes the difference.

  1. Stage 1

    Role definition

    Skills, seniority and responsibilities agreed with the client's engineering lead.

  2. Stage 2

    Shortlist and interviews

    Candidates shortlisted; the client interviewed and selected.

  3. Stage 3

    Onboarding

    Access, environments and a buddy arranged before day one.

  4. Stage 4

    First sprints

    Small, well-defined tickets first, then normal sprint work.

  5. Stage 5

    Regular reviews

    Monthly reviews of fit, delivery and team size.

Technology stack

Your stack, your tools

Developers adapt to the client's way of working, not the other way round.

Collaboration

  • The client's Slack or Teams
  • The client's Jira or Azure Boards
  • Daily stand-ups in the client's time zone overlap

Engineering

  • The client's repositories and branching
  • The client's code review rules
  • The client's CI/CD

Quality

  • The client's definition of done
  • Automated tests
  • Code review on every change

Management

  • Weekly check-ins
  • Monthly reviews
  • Replacement guarantee

Quality assurance & deployment

Held to the client's own standards

Our engineers worked inside the client's team, so quality was measured the client's way: their definition of done, their reviews and their pipelines.

  • The client's definition of done on every ticket
  • Code review on every change, by the client's team and ours
  • Automated tests written with the work, not after it
  • The client's security and access policies followed
  • Delivery reviewed every sprint with the client's lead

Deployment

  • 01First sprintsSmall, well-defined tickets first, then normal sprint work.
  • 02Regular reviewsMonthly reviews of fit, delivery and team size.
  • 03Releases through the client's pipelineWork shipped through the client's own CI/CD and release process.
  • 04ContinuityThe same engineers kept on the product, with a monthly review of fit and performance.

Final deliverables

A bigger team, still yours

The roadmap moves faster with developers who work in the client's process, attend the client's ceremonies and are held to the client's standards.

Capacity flexes with the roadmap, without long hiring cycles.

  • Faster roadmap delivery
  • Same process and standards
  • Developers the client chose
  • Flexible team size

Handed over to the client

  • 01Delivered workIn the client's repositories and boards
  • 02DocumentationWritten as the work was done
  • 03Knowledge transferThrough pairing and review
  • 04Monthly reviewsOf delivery and fit
  • 05Flexible termsScale up or down monthly

Success metrics

How success is measured

MeasureOutcomeHow it is measured
From agreement to first sprint 2–4 weeks Depends on the client's interview process
Contributing at full pace Sprint 2–3 On a well-documented codebase
Delivery measured the client's way The client's metrics No separate reporting system

Verified reviews

What clients say about our staff augmentation work

Verified reviews from our clients on the same kind of work, published on Clutch.

5.0 27 verified reviews

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