A completely virtual development team

What is a virtual team?

A few years ago, most software companies consisted of staff found in the local area. If you hired a software company in the UK, all developers were hired from a 30-mile radius.

Now, with communications software dropping in price and increasing in proficiency, along with the rise of talented developers Asia and South America, it is more efficent to split up a team and hire the most talented developers--no matter where they are based.

The result is a type of development methodology which is more efficient and cost-effective than ever before.

The open-source community has been using virtual teams for years, but with the right security in place, anyone can use a similar model.

If you want to know more about virtual teams, Wikipedia has a great entry on it.

The Overpass Structure

Overpass is a very small company. At times, there are only one or two full-time employees in the company. We hire developers for a given project. We seek out the specific talents of certain individuals. Some are strong designers. Some are strong in complex coding. We have relationships with over 70 software companies in countries around the world, but will also work with individuals from time to time.

Our biggest asset is our rolodex.

Our clients can deal directly with us. We handle project management, hiring developers, and billing for the work with the client. Our clients only have to deal with us.

However, even though our clients deal exclusively with us, they can still communicate with developers via our project management systems. They have full visibility into all communications between developers throughout the lifecycle of the project. All communications, whether it be via email, instant messaging, or VOIP, are recorded and stored in our project management system.

In effect, our clients can follow a development project more closely than they could with a team in their own office!

Collaboration Tools

With our collaboration systems, you have full (yet anonymous) input into the project at every step.

• Skype

Skype is used for VOIP conversations, instant messaging, and general telephony. Skype is preferred because it is easy to record conversations.

• Adobe Connect Pro

Adobe Connect is a flash-based product which allows easy screen sharing securely over the web. This is an ideal product for team meetings, code reviews, and demos. All team meetings are recorded for later review.

• Project Portal

Our customised project portal is a project management platform to management project milestones and tasks and store and archive all communications, project files, and code modifications.

• Subversion

Subversion is a secure open-source source code repository used by developers world-wide. We find it to be more efficient than Microsoft's Visual SourceSafe.

What about security?

Obviously, the big problem with using a virtual or distributed team is that you don't want a coder on the other side of the world to take your idea or intellectual property and reproduce it somewhere else. This is one of the concerns we hear most about. In additional to having all of our developers sign strong Non-Disclosure Agreements, we can provide extra layers of security in the following ways:

• We can divide projects into secure areas of responsibility.

Depending on the nature of the project, we may be able to divide it into several components so that no individual has access to the entire code-base. The project will only be compiled by Overpass.

For example, you have a financial application which applies special calculations to stock prices based on their trade type. We can send algorithms to one developer, while other developers work on other parts of the application.

• We never use real data in development.

We NEVER send sensitive data (ie. a live customer database) to our developers. We always use dummy data or obfuscate data before working on a project.

• We can keep you anonymous

This is one of our strong points. Our developers never have to know who you are. We can handle all re-branding of a site or project within Overpass. This way, you can be assured that no one outside our small company in the UK knows the inner workings or your system.

As an example, you have a CRM system you want built. You ask us to code it for you anonymously. We will draw up a project plan and bring on developers just as we would in any other project. Then, within Overpass, you will be known as Company X. A CompanyX logo and stylesheets will be used on your project. All references to your company will be removed from project specs, mock-ups, and pre-existing code. All of our developers (who have already signed NDAs), will have no idea of your company's true identity. You can still contribute to all conversations in our project portal with the name Mr. X (or Ms. X). At the end of the project, we can rebrand the application to your true identity before delivery in the UK.

Of course, we will not hand anything over to outside companies or individuals until it has your approval.

The Overpass Network

Overpass keeps its competitive advantage by maintaining a list of solution providers all over the world. We call this list the Overpass Network. We are constantly on the look out for top-quality developers, BPO specialists, and call centre organisations. Our clients are looking for the best solutions that the world can offer. Our job is to make sure they get it.

When a client, or potential client, approaches us with a required skill set or project plan, we will send this request to the most suitable providers in our network (withholding the client's name). We then examine the responses from our network for availability, suitability, and price so we can return the best quote to our client.

We routinely review the organisations in our network.

Join the Overpass Network

Are you an IT developer or do you belong to an IT services company with a passion for quality?

Do you deliver skills that are difficult to find in the IT market?

We are always on the lookout for more solution providers and talented developers. By joining the network, you will be notified when we have a new client and asked to assist us.

As a member of the Overpass Network, we may call on you and check your availability for upcoming projects.

There is no cost to join the network. We will need to have a chat to assess you abilities as a developer and we may ask you to take a proficiency test in your technology area.

If you are interested in becoming an Overpass partner, send us an email at info@Overpass.co.uk. We would just need a contact name, phone number, a rough list of rates (based on experience, skills, etc for hourly, weekly, or monthly basis), and a list of services you provide.