7 key nearshore software development best practices you need to know

Building software with a nearshore team can feel like a cheat code.

You get top-tier talent, little-to-no timezone delays, and faster turnaround without the overhead of hiring locally. What’s not to like?

But the reality isn’t always that easy. Communication can slip and priorities can get lost. And before you know it, you’re fighting fires.

The good news? Most of those issues are preventable. 

With the right setup, a nearshore team can feel like an extension of your own. One that asks the right questions and actually gets what you’re building.

Here, we’ll discuss the 7 best practices that’ll help you get there.

Let’s dive in!

Clearly define your goals and requirements first

Before you hire a nearshore team, you need to know what you want to build and why.

Too many projects start with vague intentions: “We need an app.” or, “It just needs to work like [insert competitor].” 

That’s not a plan – and your nearshore team can’t read your mind.

If your goals are unclear, your requirements will be too. And that means delays, missed expectations, and a final product that doesn’t match your needs.

So start by defining the core goals of your project:

• What problem are you solving?
• Who are you solving it for?
• What does success look like in 6 months?

If you’re having trouble coming up with these goals, the SMART goals framework is a handy tool.

If you’re building a new product from scratch, here’s what your SMART goals might look like:

• Deliver a clickable prototype for usability testing within 4 weeks
• Launch an MVP with 3 core features by the end of month 3
• Maintain >90% uptime and <1s load time within the first 60 days post-launch

Write them down and communicate them to the team.

Also, don’t forget to get their take on these goals. If your devs think the timeline is unrealistic but don’t say it, you’ll find out the hard way in week 5.

Then move on to defining your requirements. 

Here’s what you should include in your software requirements specification (SRS) document:

The key here is defining your functional and non-functional requirements – everything else is less important.

We like to put it like this: functional requirements cover what your software does and non-functional requirements cover how it does it.

You don’t have to list every edge case and write a 200-page document. Keep it sharp, concise, and focused.

Remember, clear goals and requirements also shape your development timelines. 

They help your team estimate effort, assign the right specialists, and spot risks early.

In short, the better your brief, the better your build. 

And that starts with knowing exactly what you’re building and why it matters.

Set clear success metrics and KPIs

Clear goals tell your nearshore team what matters. Clear metrics tell them if they’re getting there.

Without them, you’re just guessing.

Too many projects fall into the same trap: the scope gets defined, the features get built, and no one stops to ask – is any of this working?

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That’s why setting key performance indicators (KPIs) and success metrics is essential. They turn high-level goals into real, trackable results.

Start with your business goals. What outcome do you actually want?

Is it faster user onboarding? Higher feature adoption? Lower churn? Increased conversion rates?

Now translate those into metrics. For example:

• Time to first key action
• Activation rate within 7 days
• Monthly active users
• Customer retention after 30/60/90 days

Then come the delivery and quality metrics. 

Here are some of the most popular ones you can use:

• Sprint velocity – The total amount of work completed in a sprint, typically measured in story points.
• Cycle time – The time it takes to complete a task from the moment work begins.
• Deployment frequency – How often code is deployed to production.
• Mean time to resolution (MTTR) – The average time it takes to fix a production issue.
• Defect density – The number of bugs found per unit of code, often per 1,000 lines.
• Bug resolution time – The average time it takes to resolve reported bugs.

But remember, you don’t need to track a dozen different metrics. You just need the right ones.

A few high-impact metrics and KPIs, agreed on early, will keep your team focused and help you course-correct if (and when) you have to.

They will reduce misunderstandings and make performance reviews simpler. Because it’s no longer about opinions, it’s about numbers.

But, don’t go overboard. 

Metrics aren’t the be-all and end-all in software development. No single metric can tell you if a project is successful or not at a glance – you need the context, too.

So, keep it simple. Set a baseline, track weekly, and discuss the results with the team. 

The goal isn’t to obsess over the numbers, it’s to use them to drive better decisions.

And when everyone’s working toward the same targets, the process becomes clearer, faster, and a lot less painful.

Demand full transparency and access

You should know exactly what your nearshore team is doing, every day.

Who’s working on what? What’s blocking progress? How many hours went into that sprint? If you can’t answer these questions at a glance, you don’t have transparency. 

Don’t settle for filtered updates from a project manager. 

Real access means you get:

• Full access to everyone on the team
• Full visibility into task boards
• Unfiltered time tracking
• Clear sprint summaries and retrospectives

If you can’t talk to the developers you’ve hired, you’re in trouble.

One of the biggest advantages of a great nearshore setup is that it feels like your team. But that only works if you’re allowed into the room.

You need to know exactly who’s working on what, when, and why. You should be able to look at the code, review the sprint board and time logs, and participate in daily standups.

Transparency isn’t a nice-to-have. 

It’s how you keep your budget under control, your roadmap on track, and everyone focused on the same goals.

And when you have that kind of setup, you don’t need to micromanage. You just need to stay in touch.

Avoid teams split across multiple clients

You’re not getting a real team if they’re also working on someone else’s project.

Context switching kills focus. It slows delivery, creates bugs, and it leads to shallow understanding of your product because no one’s truly invested.

A developer jumping between three codebases a week won’t go deep on yours. They’re just shipping tickets. 

And that’s not what you want when you’re building something that matters. 

If your developers are assigned to 3 other clients, that’s not a partnership – it’s a rotation.

For a deep dive on the consequences of context switching, you can check out our interview with Munawar Ahmed, Chief Product Officer at Veep, on The Roadmap podcast:

Now compare that to a team focused 100% on one project. 

They understand the business logic, think long-term, and challenge wrong decisions. You don’t have to explain things twice. This can only happen when a team has the space to care.

It’s not just about productivity, it’s about accountability.

A team with divided focus can always shift the blame elsewhere, while a fully dedicated team owns their results.

And yes, this applies to staff augmentation too. Even if you’re only bringing in two developers, they should be fully assigned to your project and not bouncing between clients.

So ask the hard question upfront, before you sign anything: “Will my team work on anything else?”

If the answer’s yes, think twice. Because your project deserves undivided attention.

Treat your nearshore team like in-house developers

The closer your nearshore team feels to your in-house team, the better your product will be.

If you treat them like outsiders, they’ll act like outsiders. 

They’ll just wait for instructions, won’t challenge your thinking, and won’t spot blockers that slow everything down.

When you treat them like your own and loop them into planning, share your business goals, and give them the full picture they start thinking beyond just the next Jira ticket.

And that’s when the work gets better, which is exactly the point.

You don’t get that by accident. You get it by being intentional, and that means:

• Open communication
• Shared Slack/Teams channels
• Weekly demos
• Full team retros
• No communication silos

And here’s the key: proximity doesn’t build trust, but participation does.

So include your nearshore team in the decisions, not just development:

• Walk them through customer feedback.
• Let them hear how your sales team talks about the product.
• Invite them to internal demos.

They’ll start to care. And when they care, they will build better software.

And that’s how you get the in-house feeling without the hiring overhead. 

Regularly visit your team onsite

Video calls are great. But face-to-face communication is still better.

Visiting your nearshore team in person will build trust you can’t get through a screen. 

It’s about reading the room, picking up on what’s not said, and seeing how the team actually works.

You might fly in early on for a one-day workshop. But once you’re in the room, it turns into something bigger. 

You start bouncing around new ideas, getting into conversations you wouldn’t have over video, and spotting things no doc can cover.

And that can mean the difference between success and failure for some projects.

You don’t need to camp out onsite, but make visits part of your plan, especially at key moments like:

• Project kickoff
• MVP planning
• Major release prep
• Big roadmap changes

This will change the dynamic. It’s easier to talk things through, spot blockers early, and build real trust in person. 

The team will stop feeling like names on a board and start feeling like real teammates.

Plus, you don’t need to do all the traveling. 

Invite your nearshore team to visit you, show them your office, and let them meet other departments. 

This will help them understand the real impact of what they’re building.

And when everyone’s had a chance to meet face to face, the work gets easier.

Choose a partner with relevant industry experience

Not every nearshore partner is the right fit. 

Even the best engineers can miss the mark if they don’t understand your industry. It’s not about raw talent, it’s about context.

A team that knows your industry will move faster, ask better questions, and suggest smarter solutions. 

And they won’t need weeks of onboarding to grasp what your project is really about.

If you’re a fintech company that has to follow strict regulations, they’ll understand them from the start.

Good intentions aren’t enough when mistakes cost time, money, and trust. And that’s where relevant experience changes the game.

It means they:

• Understand your users
• Know your competitors
• Can navigate domain-specific risks
• Speak the same language as your product team

Here’s another example. If you’re a telecom software vendor, you won’t need to walk them through call routing logic line by line.

They’ll be able to challenge your assumptions early and build a cleaner, faster architecture.

And that’s the edge you’re looking for in a nearshore partner.

So when evaluating different nearshore software development companies, ask them:

• Have you worked in my industry before?
• What types of projects have you delivered?
• What were the results?
• How did you approach key technical decisions?

If your potential partner has already solved problems like yours, they’ll solve yours better.

And in software development, better means faster and smarter.

Best practices in nearshore software development: FAQs

Looking for a reliable nearshore partner?

Are you on the lookout for a nearshore development partner you can trust but can’t seem to find one that’s the right fit?

Well, you’re in the right place.

We’re a high-caliber software development company with 12+ years of experience building complex custom software solutions for a wide range of industries.

And we’re confident we can take on anything you throw at us.

If you want to learn more about our services, feel free to reach out and our team will be happy to discuss your needs in more detail.