Once digital products are built, CTOs need to decide whether to keep a tech partner or build their own product team. Here are some things to keep into account if you go for the latter.

1. 5 things to consider
when building an in-
house product team
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2. After building and
launching a digital
product...
the person responsible for the technical
implementation and future development
(most likely, the CTO) will have to make a
crucial decision to define the future of the
company.
Put simply, the CTO has to choose between
building an in-house team or keeping an
external team as a product partner.
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3. 1 - Plan an efficient transition.
The transition from working with an external
partner to building your own product team can be
hard. To minimise any risks, you should look for a
collaborative-minded studio during the partnering
process. They should help you hire your new
team, mentor your in-house professionals,
transfer all their product know-how, and support
you until everything is set up.
2 - Have a clear product roadmap.
A working plan should contain all the information about how
the product will evolve in the future, and it should include a
new features backlog. The leaving company should thoroughly
update everything that has been done and specify the degree
to which all tasks have been completed, so the new team can
easily understand their priorities, and what actions they will
need to take. However, you should take into account that a
roadmap works wonderfully as a guide, but it is not set in stone
and should be adapted accordingly.
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If you want to set up your own team of
dedicated engineers and designers, then there
are a few aspects to carefully take into account:

4. 4
3 - Require detailed documentation of every
process.
Gather as much info as possible, including access to the source
code, the database setup, and any tools that were employed,
so the new team can easily pick up where the old team left
off. All documents should be written by a developer who
participated in the project and had access to the source code. If
they are not good at writing, then a good alternative is to record
screencasts instead, so they can show the main stages of the
process (e.g., environment setup, environment deployment, etc.).
It will also be advantageous to specify working routines that
the allocated team members had during the project, such as
daily meetings or regular checkpoints. You do not have to
maintain those routines after the switch, but making a list will
give you the opportunity to analyse them and decide what to
keep and what to discard.
4 - Get access to any third-party
providers involved in the project.
Building a digital product usually involves many
third-parties’ services and products, such as
servers, GIT repositories, payment gateways,
analytics, and tracking tools. Even digital
marketing solutions such as email marketing
platforms or behavioural analytics trackers might
have been used to test the product. Make sure
you take ownership of all these services before
switching teams and do not leave sensitive
information unattended.
Although it will greatly depend on your relationship
with the digital product studio, you might want to
downgrade or even revoke access to these services.
It is also vital that the leaving company teaches your
employees how all these tools work.

5. 5
5 - Wrap up things properly with the
leaving team.
Always thank your old team for their work.
Even though you have decided to replace them,
they may not have necessarily done a bad job;
perhaps you just outgrew their capacities, or
they’re no longer an adequate fit. Thanking them
for their efforts will help you stay on good terms
with the developers in case you need their help at
some point.
If the relationship and project outcome was
satisfactory, then leave them a review or put in
a good word for them. Try to maintain a good
relationship, as the studio will be of great help
during hectic times or in case you decide to go
back to a partner model. After all, they have the
most knowledge about it!

6. Now that all concepts are clear, it is time to start thinking
about how to turn your business idea into a marketable MVP.
Would you like to know more?
Let’s have a chat!
hello@acidtango.com