Don't switch dev teams until you've checked these boxes.
Thinking of switching development teams? I asked our server, web, and mobile developers at JMG for tips on how to best prepare for the transition, and here’s what they recommend.
Check You Have Access to All Accounts
Best practice calls for client accounts to be made in the client’s name with developers given access but not owning the account.
Unfortunately, this isn’t always practiced by all software development companies or freelance developers, so here’s a list of some of the accounts you want to make sure you have control of:
- Hosting (i.e., AWS, Rackspace, Linode)
- Firebase
- Google Play Developer Console (If you have an Android app, you’ll also want the keystore file and password.)
- App Store Connect
- Website Domain (i.e., Go Daddy, Bluehost, Squarespace)
- Google Analytics
- Code Repositories (i.e., Github, Bitbucket, Gitlab)
- Project Management (i.e., Jira, Trello)
Make Sure You Have Access to All Source Code
If you don’t already have access to your source code, you want to be as prepared as possible before having this conversation with your current development team.
Once a client asks for access to the source code or asks if the source code is up to date, a dev team is going to know something is up. While most companies are cool about handing off the development of a project to another team, we have unfortunately heard of companies sometimes holding the source code hostage, so it’s good to have your next resource ready to go.
Have Copies of All Documentation
Good code documentation includes things like code comments, test cases, and user manuals. Think of it like an instruction manual for your next development team that will make it easier for them to understand the code and quickly take over supporting it.
Good documentation also helps developers learn from previous mistakes so they aren’t repeated.
Which leads into our final tip…
Figure Out Where Things Went Wrong
To avoid falling into the same trap, make a list of reasons why you want to switch development teams to help you come up with questions to ask new firms.
You can also reference this list of questions our team created to help you choose the team that best aligns with your project’s goals.
