Ewan Byte Team
Software Development Experts
Pick the engagement model before you pick the vendor
When companies in the US, UK, Australia or Europe outsource software development, the engagement model often matters more than the hourly rate. The wrong model turns a good team into a frustrating one. Here is how the three common models work and when to use each.
Fixed price
You agree a scope, a price and a deadline. The vendor carries the risk of overruns; you carry the risk of an unclear scope.
- Best for: MVPs, websites and well-defined features.
- Watch out for: vague requirements. Every change after sign-off is a change request, so invest in the specification first.
Dedicated team
A team works only on your product for a monthly fee. You set priorities sprint by sprint, and the scope can change freely.
- Best for: products that keep evolving after launch, and companies without in-house developers.
- Watch out for: drifting priorities. Someone on your side must own the roadmap and review work every week.
Staff augmentation
Individual developers join your existing team, use your tools and follow your process. You manage them day to day.
- Best for: teams that already have technical leadership and need more hands or a specific skill.
- Watch out for: onboarding. Remote developers need the same documentation, access and code review as your local hires.
Which model should you choose?
- You know exactly what you want built: fixed price.
- You have a product and a backlog but no engineering team: dedicated team.
- You have an engineering team that is short of capacity: staff augmentation.
Many clients start with a small fixed-price project to test communication and quality, then move to a dedicated team.
What to put in the contract, whichever model you choose
- Ownership of source code and intellectual property.
- Confidentiality.
- Where the code lives: ideally your own repository from day one.
- Payment milestones or a monthly rate, and the notice period.
- Acceptance criteria for each delivery.
Working with a team in Nepal
Nepal is at UTC+5:45, which gives a daily overlap with the UK, Europe, the Gulf and Australia, and an evening overlap with US mornings. We offer all three models at Ewan Byte; international work is quoted per project or per month in USD. Read more for companies in the United States, the UK, Australia, the UAE and Europe, or see our guide to hiring a software team in Nepal.
