How to Rebuild Your Web Development Team after Downsizing

Everyone is feeling the pressure to downsize internally, and you made the tough decision to do so. Now that you’ve made the cut, how do you rebuild your Sitecore, AEM, or Optimizely team to maintain and optimize your business? Here’s how we would rebuild.

You’ve just let your internal web team go. Now, how do you rebuild your digital experience (DX) development team and move forward?

The reality is that 71 percent of CMOs are preparing for budget cuts in the months ahead, according to Gartner. So whether you just finished your third round of layoffs or you’re preparing for the first, everyone is feeling it right now.

The pressure to cut costs is high these days and will remain so for the foreseeable future. But once you cut deep, how do you rebuild and continue delivering the results your C-Suite expects?

In times like these, we’ve found that the most effective approach is to rebuild your team in phases. By leveraging a mix of internal and external resources, you can rebuild your DX development team to maintain things now, and position them for growth later.

Here’s a process you should consider:

Phase One: Sign a support contract with an external vendor while you can still get a deal

Hire a Development Partner now before demand bounces back to pre-crisis levels.

Now is a great time to negotiate a new contract with a Managed Services provider, and get a great deal for the next 12 months. Maybe you’ll get a 5% discount on a 12 month contract, but that’s something and it should make your bosses happy.

At Oshyn, we offer you a complete team of Sitecore experts who use an agile approach, and support you on an ongoing basis, whether it’s for new builds or ongoing improvements. Choose your required level of service, and we’ll adjust resources to meet your constantly changing needs. Learn more about our Sitecore, AEM, or Optimizely services.

Phase Two: Work with your vendor to rebuild “tiger teams”

As you start hiring and rebuilding your internal team, work with your partner to figure out what roles and skill sets you need to form “tiger teams.”

Originating from the military, the term “tiger team” was made famous by NASA, who deployed a tiger team to get astronauts back to earth safely during the Apollo 13 mission. Tiger teams are typically a team of technical specialists, selected for their tactical experience, energy, and ingenuity to solve problems under pressure, particularly during a crisis.

To solve a crisis for your marketing organization, a tiger team could be deployed to re-design and re-build your website on the latest version of your chosen CMS or DXP. You could deploy another to diagnose and remediate all of the technical debt you’ve acquired over months (or years) of neglect. To ensure continuity and diversity of skill sets, we recommend you consider composing tiger teams of a mix of internal and external resources.

At Oshyn, we can help you analyze the health of your Sitecore implementation (our process is very similar for Adobe and Optimizely), determine what the mission is, design your tiger team and make sure they’re well-equipped to succeed with properly personalized training.

That brings us to phase three.

Phase Three: Move forward by re-building your internal team – or hire experts to handle it for you

Once your tiger teams have accomplished their missions, it’s time to shift gears and start thinking about how to build a more sustainable model.

Your DXP Development Tiger Team ensured your redesign implementation went off without a hitch, when you were forced to let go of your internal team. You can then start rebuilding your internal team to focus more on maintenance or have your external partner handle maintenance and improvements for you (e.g. see Oshyn’s services for Sitecore and Adobe).

If you decide to rebuild your internal team, make sure to get the proper training for your team.

Or, if you want to avoid the overhead of rebuilding your internal team, trust Oshyn to handle your ongoing development and maintenance. This approach provides flexibility that can more easily be adjusted as conditions change.

Ready to Rebuild?

Whatever phase you’re at right now, Oshyn can help. Our mission is to enable our clients to get the most out of their chosen DXP platform.

Let’s work together to support your website, build your tiger team, and set your organization up for the future. Schedule a time to talk now.