How to Build Culturally Aligned Nearshore Teams That Actually Work 

How to Build Culturally Aligned Nearshore Teams That Actually Work 

Written by: Denisse Morelos

Diverse nearshore team collaborating and smiling around a shared task, symbolizing cultural alignment.

Introduction

For U.S.-based tech companies, building distributed software teams has become a strategic move. Nearshoring to Latin America—especially Mexico—offers not only proximity and time zone overlap, but access to strong engineering talent. However, a nearshore team’s success goes far beyond logistics. What really makes the difference is cultural alignment.

This article walks you through what cultural alignment looks like in practice, how it impacts your ROI, and how Scio’s nearshore engineering framework—shaped through years of collaboration—can help build teams that truly deliver. For a deeper dive, see The Long-Term Benefits of Cultural Alignment in Team Augmentation.

Why Cultural Alignment Matters in Nearshore Software Teams

It’s More Than Just Time Zone Compatibility

Sure, time zone overlap makes real-time collaboration easier. But shared hours mean little if the team isn’t aligned on communication norms, expectations, or decision-making styles. Misalignment in these areas can lead to friction, slowed delivery, and repeated work.

Imagine this: your U.S.-based team gives fast, blunt feedback. Your nearshore team interprets it as negative or disrespectful. Now you have a cultural issue—one that no project management tool can fix.

The Hidden Costs of Cultural Misalignment

When cultural alignment is missing, we’ve seen it show up in:

  • Slower onboarding and unclear expectations
  • Repeated corrections due to misunderstandings
  • Low morale and high turnover from feeling out of sync
  • Project delays and declining trust between teams

These hidden costs can quietly erode productivity, delivery quality, and team engagement—three areas that matter deeply to any CTO.

For more insight, explore Overcoming Challenges in Nearshore Development: Tips for Seamless Collaboration and Harvard Business Review’s guide on Harvard Business Review’s guide on Managing Multicultural Teams.

Infographic representing shared work values and cultural alignment in nearshore teams.

Key Elements of Cultural Alignment

Shared Work Values and Expectations

In our experience, high-performing nearshore teams don’t just follow tasks—they share core values like ownership, curiosity, adaptability, and proactive problem-solving. When engineers are aligned with your company’s mindset, we’ve seen productivity and retention improve dramatically.

That’s why we prioritize both technical expertise and cultural compatibility during our recruitment process—drawing from what’s worked in building distributed teams across industries. If you’re looking for guidance, check out How to Evaluate Cultural Compatibility When Hiring Nearshore Teams.

Communication Norms and Language Nuance

Even fluent English speakers interpret tone, formality, and feedback differently. A U.S. team might say “this needs to be better,” expecting iteration. A Latin American engineer might hear that as a sign of failure.

Rather than expecting teams to adjust on their own, we’ve developed intercultural coaching practices to help both sides bridge these differences effectively—resulting in clearer, more respectful communication.

Team Rituals That Build Trust

Culture isn’t something you download—it’s built day by day. In our work with nearshore teams, we’ve seen that stand-ups, demos, retrospectives, informal chats, and celebrating wins together (even virtually) all contribute to creating a sense of unity.

These shared rituals help establish psychological safety, allowing distributed teams to operate as one.

Best Practices to Build Culturally Aligned Teams

Hiring for Soft Skills and Cultural Fit

At Scio, our mission goes beyond simply outsourcing developers—we partner with you to build cohesive, committed teams.

With our ScioElevate system, we’ve refined a process to identify candidates who bring not only strong technical skills, but also the emotional intelligence, openness to feedback, and cultural curiosity that distributed collaboration demands. These soft skills are often what make or break success in global teams.

If you’re building remote teams, we recommend reading Remote Work: Soft Skills for a Successful Team.

Onboarding That Goes Beyond the Tech Stack

We’ve learned that great onboarding isn’t just about access to Jira or Slack—it’s about creating alignment from day one.

That’s why we’ve co-designed a structured onboarding experience, shaped by years of client collaboration, that includes:

  • Tools and workflow orientation
  • Communication expectations and feedback norms

This human-centered approach accelerates integration and builds trust early on.

Continuous Feedback Loops and Retrospectives

Over time, we’ve found that strong distributed teams develop shared rhythms for feedback. Weekly 1:1s, retros, and informal check-ins create space for continuous improvement and early issue detection.

Together with our partners, we’ve fostered a feedback culture that emphasizes growth over criticism—something that’s proven essential in maintaining engagement and reducing turnover.

For more on agile practices in remote teams, read Best Practices for Distributed Agile – Part 4 of 5.

Hands stacking communication icons on blocks to represent async and sync collaboration strategies.

How Scio Builds Teams That Actually Work

We believe that scaling a software team should never come at the cost of communication, continuity, or quality.

That belief led us to create ScioElevate—our internal talent development and performance framework—shaped from years of working closely with nearshore engineers and global product teams.

To learn how our internal culture supports this, read “Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do here”.

Additional Benefits of Nearshoring to Mexico

Beyond cultural alignment, Mexico offers compelling advantages for U.S. companies looking to scale:

  • Large tech talent pool: Over 700,000 professionals in IT and engineering roles.
  • Time zone overlap: Real-time collaboration across U.S. time zones.
  • Business-friendly regulations: Favorable IP laws and trade agreements under USMCA.
  • Cost-effectiveness: High-quality talent at competitive rates compared to U.S. or Eastern Europe.

These advantages make Mexico a strategic choice for building high-impact software teams.

Puzzle piece with a question mark symbolizing frequently asked questions about nearshore cultural alignment.

Frequently Asked Questions About Nearshore Cultural Alignment

What is cultural alignment in nearshore teams?

Cultural alignment refers to shared expectations around communication, decision-making, feedback, and work styles. It helps remote teams function as a unified group, rather than just outsourced contributors.

How do I evaluate cultural compatibility when hiring?

Go beyond the résumé. Use behavioral interviews to assess curiosity, adaptability, and communication style. Present candidates with real scenarios to see how they handle feedback or collaborate across teams.

Why is nearshoring to Mexico so effective?

Mexico offers a strong pool of engineering talent, works in overlapping time zones with the U.S., and shares many cultural traits that allow faster and smoother integration compared to other outsourcing regions.

Can I build a high-performance team remotely?

Absolutely. Success depends more on people, mindset, and alignment than on tools alone. With the right framework, distributed teams can equal—or even outperform—co-located ones.

Final Thoughts: Cultural Fit Is a Strategic Advantage

When your team is aligned, work flows. Onboarding speeds up. Communication improves. Engagement grows. You build not just software—but momentum.

If you’re ready to stop outsourcing and start building a real team, we’re here to support you. Together, we can tap into Mexico’s top engineering talent and co-create the cultural bridge that makes nearshoring actually work.

From Global to Regional: How De-Globalization is Reshaping Software Development 

From Global to Regional: How De-Globalization is Reshaping Software Development 

Written by Luis Aburto- 

Hands interacting with a digital world map representing the shift from global to regional software development.

For decades, global software development followed a simple logic: find the best talent at the lowest cost, no matter where in the world it lives. Time zones were managed, cultural gaps were bridged, and the software kept shipping. But as the global order shifts, that formula is being challenged, and so is the assumption that software delivery is immune to geopolitics.

In 2022, many companies with teams in Ukraine saw their operations halted overnight. U.S. export controls are increasingly restricting access to critical cloud and AI infrastructure in China. Attacks on undersea cables have exposed vulnerabilities in global internet connectivity. And more countries are tightening control over data, digital talent, and software supply chains.

In 2025, the conversation around globalization has intensified. Recent point to a growing consensus among economists and business leaders: the era of hyper-globalized trade and supply chains is being restructured. Rising tariffs, geopolitical realignment, and regional trade blocs are accelerating a shift toward localization and strategic decoupling.

What do these events have in common? They signal the arrival of a new era, one where global integration is no longer a given, and where resilience in software development must be earned, not assumed.

The Shift: From Globalization to Fragmentation 

We are not witnessing the end of globalization, but rather its transformation. The model of deep, frictionless global integration that defined much of the past three decades is giving way to a more fragmented, controlled, and regional system. Instead of chasing the lowest cost globally, many companies are prioritizing stability, alignment, and resilience within trusted regions. 

This shift is reflected in the rhetoric and actions of governments and business leaders alike. As international institutions weaken and trade tensions rise, companies are being pushed to reevaluate the vulnerabilities built into their global operations. Strategic decoupling, whether intentional or reactive, is now part of mainstream decision-making for many organizations. 

Key drivers of this shift include:

  • Geopolitical tensions and the formation of new regional blocs, as countries seek to reduce dependence on politically unstable or adversarial trading partners
    Economic nationalism and policies favoring domestic or allied suppliers, including tariffs, reshoring incentives, and export restrictions.
  • Cybersecurity risks heightened by nation-state actors, infrastructure sabotage, and the weaponization of digital supply chains
    Regulatory pressure around data localization, intellectual property protections, and labor compliance, which can vary widely across jurisdictions 

In this environment, global operations are being restructured not simply for efficiency or cost savings, but for strategic resilience, a foundational requirement for long-term continuity and competitiveness.

Scio focuses on secure, resilient software development in response to global fragmentation and cybersecurity challenges.

Why Software Development Is Affected 

While physical supply chains have received much of the attention in discussions about de-globalization, distributed software development is also highly susceptible to geopolitical disruptions, often in ways that are less visible but equally consequential.

  • A conflict, regulatory crackdown, or even targeted sabotage, such as damage to undersea fiber optic cables or critical digital infrastructure, can cut off access to talent or tooling, particularly if a development hub becomes inaccessible or politically unstable overnight. These infrastructure vulnerabilities add an additional layer of risk, as companies often depend on a handful of chokepoints for their global communications and cloud-based tools.
  • Sanctions can interrupt payment channels or cloud service agreements, stranding teams mid-project or forcing abrupt transitions to alternative infrastructure.
  • Engineering teams working across conflicting legal frameworks may face compliance or IP protection risks, as differing data residency laws or intellectual property rights create exposure.
  • Developers may lose access to global platforms like GitHub, Docker Hub, or AWS services, or be forced to rely on unstable VPNs or workarounds that slow productivity and introduce security risks.
  • Political unrest or changes in labor law may create sudden hiring or retention challenges, undermining team continuity and morale.
    Increased scrutiny from investors and enterprise clients means companies must now prove the operational resilience of their distributed teams as part of vendor risk evaluations. 

These risks may not be visible on a Jira board or in a sprint retrospective, but they are real, and they can derail product timelines, introduce hidden costs, compromise data integrity, or weaken overall software quality if not proactively identified and managed.

Rethinking Sourcing Strategy: Risk-Aware Engineering 

To adapt, technology leaders are shifting their sourcing mindset from cost-driven to risk-aware. That doesn’t mean abandoning global talent, but it does mean being far more intentional about where, how, and with whom your engineering work is delivered. 

This shift involves a more holistic view of software talent sourcing, one that accounts for not just operational capabilities, but geopolitical alignment, digital infrastructure stability, and long-term viability. It also recognizes that sourcing strategies are no longer static. In a volatile world, resilience demands agility and the ability to reconfigure delivery models when needed.

Here’s what that shift looks like:

  • Evaluating not just the capabilities of a vendor and their people, but their geographic and geopolitical profile, including political stability, trade relations, and cybersecurity maturity.
    Avoiding overconcentration of critical functions in one region or firm by building geographic diversity into your engineering footprint.
  • Prioritizing alignment with stable, accessible, and politically compatible locations that reduce legal, regulatory, and operational friction.
  • Building optionality into team structures, with flexible paths to rebalance, scale, or transition work depending on emerging risks or strategic shifts.
  • Partnering with vendors that demonstrate transparency, robust identity verification practices, and ethical hiring standards to avoid risks such as misrepresentation or fraud.
  • Incorporating resilience metrics into vendor evaluations, ensuring your outsourcing partners have contingency plans and recovery protocols in place.

The goal is not to eliminate risk altogether, an impossible task, but to anticipate, distribute, and manage risk in a way that protects both continuity and innovation.

Scio evaluates strategic software sourcing through a geopolitical lens, emphasizing risk-aware engineering decisions.

Nearshoring: A Strategic Middle Path

In this context of economic and geopolitical uncertainty, nearshore outsourcing becomes even more strategic. Nearshoring offers a hedge against geopolitical disruption by keeping operations closer to home and within more stable economic zones. At the same time, it enables companies to achieve cost efficiencies and tap into scalable talent pools, without incurring the long-term liabilities and rigidity of direct, in-house hiring. This combination is particularly valuable in uncertain times, offering companies the ability to stay agile, control labor costs, and accelerate execution while minimizing exposure. 

For U.S.-based companies, nearshoring, particularly to Mexico and Latin America, is a compelling alternative. In addition to cost and productivity efficiencies, it offers a blend of: 

  • Political Stability and Predictability: Mexico and key Latin American countries offer relatively stable political environments, reducing the risk of disruptive events compared to more volatile outsourcing regions.
    Robust Regulatory and Legal
  • Frameworks: The USMCA agreement ensures clear and consistent regulatory frameworks between the US and Mexico, offering predictable rules for data protection, intellectual property rights, labor laws, and cross-border commerce.
  • Aligned Economic Interests and Strong Diplomatic Relations: Mexico and the United States share tightly integrated economies. These economic ties minimize the risks of disruptive trade sanctions, tariffs, or restrictive economic policies that have impacted other regions.
  • Robust Bilateral Security Cooperation: Mexico coordinates closely with the U.S. on security, intelligence, and regional stability, helping reduce geopolitical risks in the region.
  • Reduced Infrastructure Vulnerabilities: Proximity reduces reliance on vulnerable undersea cables. Mexico has robust, direct connections to U.S. networks, lowering the risk of major connectivity disruptions.
  • Lower Cybersecurity Threat Exposure: Politically aligned countries tend to pose fewer cybersecurity risks. Nearshoring within North America under USMCA offers greater transparency and lowers the chance of state-backed cyber threats.
  • Talent Integrity and Verification: Mexico and most major countries in Latin America have mature educational systems, established professional standards, and extensive verification infrastructures. This helps minimize risks related to talent fraud, misrepresentation, and credential falsification common in less regulated outsourcing markets.
  • Ease of Geographical Diversification and Redundancy: Many nearshore vendors maintain multiple operational centers across Mexico and other countries in Latin America. This geographical diversity enables seamless continuity and rapid failover in case of localized disruptions, further enhancing resilience.
  • Ease of travel and face-to-face collaboration, enabling in-person visits with minimal logistical risk compared to long-haul or politically sensitive destinations, especially valuable for relationship building, onboarding, and team alignment.
  • Closer proximity to key stakeholders and decision-makers, which enables more responsive collaboration and deeper alignment between technical execution and business priorities. 

This model doesn’t just mitigate risk, it often accelerates productivity and integration, thanks to smoother communication, greater cultural fit, improved responsiveness, and a more resilient and adaptable operational setup.

Scio team collaborating over a digital world map, representing strategic nearshoring opportunities in Mexico and Latin America

The Bottom Line: Global Isn’t Dead, It’s Evolving 

Global software development isn’t going away, but the rules are changing. The companies that thrive in this new era will be those that treat resilience as a priority, not an afterthought. In this environment, companies must evolve from reactive adaptation to proactive strategy, embedding resilience into their sourcing, operations, and partnerships. 

That means regularly auditing your current engineering footprint not just for efficiency, but for exposure and fragility. It means rethinking where your teams are located, how easily they can collaborate, and what contingencies exist for business continuity if disruption occurs. 

And perhaps most importantly, it means partnering with organizations that understand how to build reliable, distributed capabilities in an increasingly unpredictable world, partners who offer not only talent, but infrastructure, cultural alignment, transparency, and adaptability. 

In this next chapter of global software development, success will go to those who treat resilience as a strategic asset, not an operational afterthought.

Luis Aburto_ CEO_Scio

Luis Aburto

CEO
The Hidden Cost of Technical Debt

The Hidden Cost of Technical Debt

By Denisse Morelos

Why “If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It” Can Be a Costly Mistake in 2025

What Is Technical Debt—and Why It’s a Growing Risk for U.S. Tech Companies

Technical debt refers to the hidden cost of choosing a faster, easier software solution today instead of a better long-term one. This trade-off accumulates quietly—until it slows everything down.

Common causes include:

  • Rushed releases due to pressure from stakeholders
  • Lack of documentation
  • Legacy code no one wants to touch
  • Poor architectural choices made years ago

What is technical debt? → «It’s the engineering equivalent of cutting corners now and paying more later—through bugs, delays, and developer frustration.»

Engineer analyzing technical warnings on screen

The Fallacy of “If It Ain’t Broke” in Software Development

That old saying doesn’t apply to modern codebases.
Code that “ain’t broke” might still be a liability:

  • Onboarding takes weeks
  • Small bugs cause big outages
  • Releases get delayed by last-minute surprises
  • Devs hesitate to touch “certain” parts of the code
  • Your team is stuck fixing, not building

According to McKinsey, technical debt can increase software maintenance costs by up to 60% and stall digital transformation.

What Technical Debt Actually Costs Your Business

Even if it doesn’t show up in a financial statement, technical debt has a measurable impact:

Impact Area Hidden Cost
Developer Efficiency 30–40% of time spent on unblocking legacy code
QA Stability Bugs, regressions, and missed release cycles
Innovation Inability to adopt new tools or frameworks
Talent Retention Developer frustration, burnout, and churn

Stripe’s Developer Coefficient (2023): Developers spend up to 33% of their time handling tech debt.

5 Signs You’re Already Paying for Technical Debt

Not sure if technical debt is hurting you? Watch for these:

  • Onboarding takes weeks
  • Small bugs cause big outages
  • Releases get delayed by last-minute surprises
  • Devs hesitate to touch “certain” parts of the code
  • Your team is stuck fixing, not building

If this sounds familiar, you’re already paying the price.

Types of Technical Debt

Not all technical debt is created equal. Understanding the different types helps in prioritizing what to address and when.

Intentional vs. Unintentional Debt

  • Intentional debt happens when teams knowingly delay a better solution due to time or resource constraints, with plans to fix it later.
  • Unintentional debt arises when developers make decisions without realizing the long-term consequences, often due to inexperience or lack of information.

Short-Term vs. Long-Term Debt

  • Short-term debt can be acceptable if managed (e.g., quick fixes before a major release).
  • Long-term or architectural debt is more dangerous—affecting scalability, integration, and system evolution.

Real-World Examples of Technical Debt Types

Intentional Debt Example:

A product team skips writing unit tests to meet a feature deadline. The team documents this decision and schedules a follow-up sprint to add coverage.

Unintentional Debt Example:

An engineer unfamiliar with a legacy system adds a new feature without understanding existing dependencies, introducing regression risks.

Architectural Debt Example:

An application built as a monolith five years ago struggles to scale with new microservices, delaying time-to-market for new modules.

 

Business Impact: Real or Simulated Cases

Let’s consider two hypothetical but common scenarios:

Scenario A – Fast-Growing Startup:

A SaaS startup rushes to market. Developers hardcode configurations, skip documentation, and reuse outdated libraries.
Result: Two years later, onboarding new hires takes weeks, bugs are frequent, and scaling requires a costly rebuild.

Scenario B – Enterprise Legacy Platform:

An established company keeps patching an old monolith system to avoid investment in modernization.
Result: Innovation stalls. Integrating with new tools becomes impossible, and top engineers leave for more modern stacks.

Whether you’re a startup or an enterprise, technical debt limits agility—and with it, your competitive edge.

How to Measure Technical Debt

You can’t improve what you can’t measure. Here are ways to identify and quantify technical debt:

Code Quality Tools: Platforms like SonarQube, CodeClimate, and Maintainability Index offer objective scores.

Development KPIs: Track metrics such as:

  • Average time to resolve bugs
  • Time spent maintaining legacy code vs. building new features
  • Frequency of hotfixes or regressions

Technical Debt Ratio (TDR):
This KPI estimates the effort needed to fix the codebase relative to building it from scratch. A ratio above 5% signals urgent action.

Why CTOs Don’t Prioritize It (and Why They Should)

Despite the risks, many CTOs underinvest in tech debt reduction. Why?

  • Misaligned incentives: Engineering is rewarded for shipping fast, not refactoring.
  • Lack of visibility: Business leaders don’t “see” the debt—until outages happen.
  • Fear of disruption: Teams avoid touching fragile codebases, fearing ripple effects.

But here’s the reality: companies that ignore tech debt are playing defense.
Those who address it proactively get:

  • Faster release cycles
  • Easier onboarding and team scaling
  • Freedom to innovate with new tech

Why U.S. Tech Leaders Are Choosing Nearshore Teams to Handle Technical Debt

Technical debt is not just a technical problem—it’s a growth problem.

Companies in tech hubs like Austin, San Francisco, and Miami are turning to nearshore software development partners in Mexico for help.

Why?

  • Nearshore teams in Mexico offer real-time collaboration
  • Developers are culturally aligned with U.S. work styles
  • Reduced time-to-onboard compared to offshore vendors
  • Higher retention and engagement on long-term projects

At Scio, our software developers partner directly with your team to audit, refactor, and document debt-heavy systems—so you can innovate again.

Developer overwhelmed by legacy system complexity

FAQs About Technical Debt and Nearshore Teams

Q: How do I know if technical debt is hurting my business?A: If your team spends more time fixing than building, onboarding takes weeks, or small changes cause unexpected bugs—you’re already feeling the impact.

Q: Can nearshore teams really help with legacy systems?
A: Yes. Scio’s developers are experienced in working with outdated codebases and gradually refactoring while ensuring ongoing delivery.

Q: How long does it take to reduce technical debt?
A: It depends on the size and type of debt. We typically start with a 2–4 week audit phase and outline a roadmap with clear priorities.

Q: What’s the first step to get started with Scio?
A: Contact us through sciodev.com. We’ll schedule a short consultation to understand your systems and challenges.

Why Scio Is a Strategic Nearshore Partner for Managing Technical Debt

Not all nearshore vendors are created equal. At Scio, we focus on more than just filling seats—we integrate into your product culture.

Here’s what makes us different:

  • Strategic Onboarding: We don’t drop devs into your stack. We learn your business, your codebase, and your goals.
  • Agile Fluency: All our engineers are trained in Scrum and Agile practices. We adapt to your rituals and sprints.
  • High Retention, Low Overhead: Our developers stay with you long-term—reducing ramp-up costs and tribal knowledge loss.
  • Real-Time Collaboration: Operating from Mexico, our teams work in your timezone, attend your standups, and resolve blockers in real time.

Working with Scio means choosing a partner who helps you build, clean up, and scale—without sacrificing velocity.

Supporting Insights and Industry Data

Summary: Don’t Let Technical Debt Stall Your Growth

  • Technical debt slows down innovation, frustrates devs, and costs more than it seems.
  • It’s more than a tech issue—it’s a business issue.
  • Measuring it, prioritizing it, and acting with a strategy is key to modernizing.
  • Scio’s nearshore teams offer a unique advantage: trust, alignment, and experience with legacy systems.

💡 Ready to address your technical debt?
Let’s talk about how Scio can help you clean it up without disrupting your roadmap.

👉 Visit sciodev.com or message us to book a consultation.

The show must go on: Developing a venue booking app with UPick

The show must go on: Developing a venue booking app with UPick

The show must go on: Developing a venue booking app with UPick

As the year winds down, it’s time to look back and celebrate all of our achievements of 2021, the challenges and the goals we conquered, and the clients whose projects we helped to become reality. 

This time, let’s take a look at the story behind the development of the UPick app, which had the goal of creating a useful and reliable booking tool for both venues and artists, and how we helped them bring that dream from concept to a product you can use today. Enjoy!

What goes into making a good idea into reality? For the creators of UPick, it meant finding a reliable team that could build upon their idea, understand the concept completely, and offers the best technical know-how to bring it from paper into every smart device you can imagine. The beginning was simple enough; back in 2020, a couple of friends were looking into an area of opportunity no one else seemed to be exploring yet: what if you could simplify the process to book a show for a venue through an app?

The show must go on Developing a venue booking app with UPick_2

The pandemic gave them a wide-open window to implement a solution for an industry that felt the consequences of this crisis deeply. Live shows account for nearly 50% of the music industry’s revenue, so six months into the pandemic, according to the World Economic Forum, shutdowns had already cost venues around the world 10 billion dollars in sponsorships and ticket sales, with no end in sight. 

But with vaccination rates increasing, it was probably a good time to try and bring shows back, and UPick’s creators thought that an app that offered a quick way to reconnect performers with venues had some fertile ground to grow.

So, in February 2021 they started considering Scio as a partner, looking for developers who could create this app from scratch, decide the full scope of the final product, and make important decisions about the direction of the platform.

This was the first time our clients worked with Nearshore developers, and the advantages of having a fully experienced team equipped and ready to roll inside your own time zone became invaluable, keeping the costs of development down without sacrificing quality. 

Since our clients had never been involved in a project of this size, constant communication to decide the specifics of UPick was critical, going from things like how to monetize the service, to the best hosting platforms to use.

Typically, development at Scio consists of a 5-step plan designed to arrive at a solution in the most productive way possible. Understanding users and their needs, as well as the objectives and constraints of the app itself, was Step 1. Step 2 involved analyzing the requirements of the app in order to trace a plan for the UX/UI and architecture of the platform. Then, Step 3 is pure Agile Development, up to the official launch, which was Step 4. And after the kick-off, is a matter of support to ensure the quality of the app, giving ongoing maintenance and adding features as a Step 5.

The Scioneers chosen were a Programming Lead who developed the architecture of the app, a UI designer tasked with creating a comfortable and stylish interface, another one assigned to create a search bar and review functions within the app, and a QA lead who would make sure everything worked perfectly.

Communication was key. Thanks to daily scrums, a core pillar of our process, we walked our client through the progress of the project, needing nothing more than 15 minutes every day to discuss the changes and challenges that surfaced, as well as what we accomplished, every week.

The show must go on Developing a venue booking app with UPick_2

Here, we solved tons of questions born during development, like “how will a band schedule a show?”, “how will refunds work?”, and “how will the venues and bands make deals?” to more technical matters, like choosing a cost-effective hosting solution (AWS in our case), implementing login credentials from Apple, Spotify, and social media (including some necessary workarounds), to selecting the best payment processor. 

Also, as we briefly mentioned, the business plan of the app had to be revised entirely once the booking process was decided, as Upick could easily be cut out from the deal between venue and performer, and our team took care of that.

The biggest breakthrough was deciding to make UPick a “progressive application”, where a web portal could function as an app with consistency across devices, like desktops and smartphones, making it as convenient as possible.

Then features were added, like the ability to share photos, videos, setlists, and even playlists from Spotify, and we had to rethink the way bands could contact venues as our understanding of these deals grew.

Progress went smoothly until finally reaching our Minimum Viable Product, where one of UPick’s users, whom the client showed a preview, managed to run all of their bands through the platform before it was 100% finished, which not only showcases the talent of our team but also made the customer base excited about the final product.

All in all, by September the app was ready to be launched, a whole project contained within the chaotic year of 2021, where Scio was able to offer the exact solutions UPick was looking for. A learning experience for both our team and our clients, we celebrate the effectiveness of Nearshore development, which can deliver no matter the circumstances.

The Key Takeaways:

  • Since communication is crucial to make a product succeed, choose a development option that can communicate with you at the best time possible.
  • It doesn’t matter if the details of your idea haven’t been ironed out yet, a good team will help you with those decisions.
  • Development time of an app, depending on scope, doesn’t have to be too long. It took us around nine months to bring UPick from concept to reality.
  • Some APIs are not very friendly, but there are always workarounds to any obstacle.
  • If better ideas surge during development, it’s good to always voice them. The schedule might need to be reworked, but the final product is always going to be better.
Doing Nearshore in LatAm: Differences between countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, others)

Doing Nearshore in LatAm: Differences between countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, others)

Latin America’s influence as a major provider of nearshore software development and IT outsourcing has the world taking notice. Especially considering they offer tax incentives, a growing population of English speaking workers, and a rapidly improving telecommunications infrastructure. 

How do you decide which country best suits your needs? What are the costs, cultural differences, and challenges to consider before making a final decision?

We wrote this article to help you on your quest to find the perfect nearshore partner:

Cultural Differences

You’d be forgiven for thinking most Latin American countries have similar cultures based solely on proximity and shared languages. The truth is that each of the 20 countries and 14 dependent territories that stretch from Mexico to Tierra del Fuego on the southern tip of South America have their own unique ways of living and doing business.

 For example, the Spanish language dominates in many countries, but the vocabulary and dialect shift widely based on region. Some words more closely resemble Castilian (European) Spanish versus others that are inherent to the local populace. Countries like Brazil speak primarily Portuguese, while some countries still speak Dutch or French. Argentia boasts the highest population of English speaking citizens, followed closely by the Dominican Republic, Peru, Ecuador, and Mexico.

 Many countries have more of a relaxed attitude about space and time as well. One such survey found that 83% of Chileans believed it was acceptable to be late to a social gathering, whereas 43% of Argentinians concurred. Being late to work is less acceptable. Generally, people in Latin America dislike rushed meetings or back-to-back appointments because they’re seen as detrimental to trust and relationship and building.

Direct and Indirect Costs

Outsourcing software development, as an example, will run you between $20 and $50 per hour in India. Latin American developers cost around $40 to $70 per hour. When comparing costs on absolute figures, Asia is the better route, but you should also consider indirect costs such as expertise and how many hours it takes to complete your project. Or the cost of waiting since contrasting timezones across Latin America and the world can really set a project on strict deadlines back.

If you’re weighing options in several Latin American countries ask about project timelines, possible delays, direct costs, and any unforeseen indirect costs that may arise.

Timezone Challenges

Countries like Mexico and Costa Rica have a clear advantage when it comes to nearshore software development and outsourcing since they share a central US timezone. That means they can easily do business with companies on the West and East coast. Countries like Argentina and Brazil are at a disadvantage because they’re 5 hours ahead of the West coast. That 5 hours may not seem like much, but when you’re on a tight deadline or want to include your development partners in meetings, your options become limited.

Productivity

Colombia and Chile lead the world rankings in Latin America for ease of doing business. Not to mention, they offer incentives for any companies outsourcing operations there. Brazil’s large workforce is a major plus, but regulatory obstacles and slow bureaucracy limit them. 

 Argentinians have a knack for finding innovative solutions that stem from a common saying in their culture, “Lo atamos con alambre.” which means “tying it with wire” but idiomatically translates to “make it work!” It comes from their desire to make things work with the tools and materials at their disposal.

 Mexico is a no-brainer if you’re looking to save money and boost productivity. Despite industrial wages going down in the 25 years since joining NAFTA (Now USMCA), productivity has shot up 80 percent.

Travel Duration and Costs

When it comes to reducing travel costs and shortening trips, countries like Argentina or Chile struggle in South America. Here are some flight times and major airline cost averages from Chile’s principal airport in Santiago to corresponding US airports:

  • SCL to DFW is 14 hours and $1,046
  • SCL to JFK is 16 hours and $356
  • SCL to LAX is 13 ½ hours and is $380

North and Central American Latin countries, on the other hand, such as Mexico or Costa Rica, provide considerably cheaper and shorter airfare options. For example, if you hired a nearshore software development team in Guadalajara, Mexico, you’d see the following flight times and average flight costs:

  • GDL to DFW is 2 ½ hours and $223
  • GDL to JFK is 5 hours and $259
  • GDL to LAX is 3 ½ hours and $164

As you can see, visiting your new development team in Latin America can vary widely in cost, travel duration, and you’ll experience significant cultural shifts when traveling thanks to varying languages, dialects, and customs. Ultimately, doing your due diligence and thoroughly vetting a team before hiring is the best-case scenario for getting your project complete on time, within budget, and to satisfaction.

Which country are you considering for your nearshore development needs? Tell us in the comments below: