The vital role of SPOC in IT project management

Ever watched a behind-the-scenes documentary about making a certain movie? A lot goes on on the set, but there is one person who is responsible for things moving forward: the director.

The director ensures everything runs smoothly. They control all the artistic and dramatic elements of the movie, they make immediate decisions when necessary in order to overcome roadblocks, and more importantly – they provide guidance to both actors and the technical crew; all of this in order to make the screenplay come to life.

So, what does a movie director have to do with IT project management?

If you take a closer look, you’ll see that there are a lot of similarities between the role of a director and the role of the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) in IT. Both roles imply being light on your feet, having the ability to efficiently lead people and support them when needed.

At InterVenture, SPOC is an irreplaceable team member in our Managed Freelancing service, who’s primarily focused on reducing communication friction between the external partner and their remote freelance team. Here’s why.

IT project management comes with a fair amount of challenges

Interestingly enough, project management goes way back in history. As Scott Berkun, the author of “Making Things Happen” noticed, there is a connection between today’s software developers and the great builders of the Egyptian pyramids or Roman aqueducts.

Just like ancient engineering projects, contemporary IT projects rely on communication, organization, and resource management in order to build something from nothing. There are surprisingly many shared challenges between the two, despite the obvious fact that the first type uses rocks and occupies physical space while the second uses lines of code and inhabits digital space.

Where there are people, there are opportunities. But there could also be quarrels and misunderstandings. If we put aside the implied challenge of different people collaborating together, IT project management has very specific challenges (see the table below for key examples):

Of course, this is just a small fragment of challenges in IT project management, but it paints a picture of the value of SPOC in this context.

IT project management requires mastering the art of balance

We strongly believe that the traditional IT outsourcing practices are outdated because they hinder the potential that exists between companies who are in need of software engineers and companies that have an amazing and talented engineering community. When these business relationships are perceived only through transactional lenses, the company misses out on the opportunity to bring people together and induce excitement about the project – even when the external freelance team is hired on a short-term base.

Nevertheless, where there are two parties that collaborate remotely and work toward the same goal, SPOC is the one that ensures collective effort leads to satisfactory results. Being a single point of contact means centralizing all communications, prioritizing, and being proactive about potential issues so that the collaboration is truly streamlined.

From our point of view, SPOC should be the one who simultaneously advocates your interest as a partner who hired a freelance team, and ensures the team members have everything they need to do their best work. You could say SPOC acts as a facilitator given the fact that in software engineering, a lot of things are very time-sensitive and therefore require top-notch organization.

Another reason why IT project management is an art of balance reflects in a word that gives software engineers the creeps: micromanagement. Inexperienced project managers tend to keep their eyes on the prize so much that they become blind to everything going on around them. This can lead to them to become overly involved in the project and overstep their job responsibilities, whether they’re aware of it or not.

It’s one thing to orchestrate the team and intervene when it comes to resolving misunderstandings, but it’s a whole other thing to actually mingle in the technical work or hover over team members in the attempt to control their productivity and output.

Who ya gonna call? (Not ghostbusters)

Centralizing all communications is extremely important when it comes to project success. It provides the necessary clarity and reduces the back and forth while optimizing costs and resource usage. Without a single point of contact, whenever a question or dilemma is imposed from either side, it creates an unpleasant bottleneck.

When roles aren’t clearly defined, some team member taking initiative might be wrongly interpreted as trying to establish a spontaneous vertical hierarchy and impose leadership. Nobody wants that.

The truth is, even though shared responsibility sounds very progressive and is certainly welcomed to some extent, it also leads to shared irresponsibility when you end up being not quite sure who accounts for what.

In IT project management, SPOC is the one that has a wider perspective of the project. Naturally, as they move around and communicate with both external and internal stakeholders, they have the ability to stay objective and work in everyone’s best interests.

Even though teams working together are not co-located, SPOC provides the much-needed proximity and enables direct communication. In other cases, communication might begin to look like a game of Chinese whispers and the results can be dreadful. Chaos is almost inevitable.

For us at InterVenture, SPOC acts as a filter that enables our partners to 1) stay on track with their projects and 2) remain rest assured that everyone will do their job properly. Transparency, clarity, and standardization in terms of reporting, meetings, and check-in calls – are all something that our partners appreciate when working with us.

Learn more about our Managed Freelancing service and the value of SPOC  

Recruiting talented software engineers has become very difficult in today’s day and age. On the one hand, there is an undeniable disbalance between supply and demand; on the other hand, tech recruiters are struggling to engage and attract the scarce talent. Software development job ads are still important for letting people know about vacancies and communicating benefits, but talent hunting and talent pools remain the go-to recruiting techniques.

Finding and hiring talent for sudden peaks in engineering workloads is even more challenging. Given the fact the time-to-hire for software development job positions can last between 35 and 45 days (depending on the location and requirements), it’s no exaggeration to say it’s a struggle.

At InterVenture, we recognized this problem and designed a solution called Managed Freelancing. It is a service that specifically addresses the above-mentioned pain point, allowing you to connect with well-played teams from our trusted network in a very short period of time. Thanks to our rich talent pool, finding a good match doesn’t last more than two weeks. 

Instead of panicking or manually sourcing and screening candidates, InterVenture can help you find the right people that can make your vision come to life. Whether your in-house team is pushed over the limit and needs some extra help or you need specific expertise, we’re here for you. On top of that, our SPOC streamlines the management so you can focus on other segments of your business.

We believe that globalization has brought so many positive benefits to those who are wise enough to recognize them. Talent sourcing around the world is definitely one of them.

If you’re curious to find out more about Managed Freelancing, feel free to call or email us to book a non-binding consultation so that we can discuss your project needs.

Make sure to check out The Own Team Model™ as well, in case you’re looking to build a remote team for the long-term. We’re excited to hear from you!