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How to choose a software development team (the questions to ask)
Before signing a contract, ask the right questions: work process, code ownership, maintenance and references. A guide to choosing a partner.
Choosing a software development team is a long-term, not a one-off decision — you will work with them for months or years, and a wrong choice is paid for dearly through delays, bad, hard-to-maintain code, or complete dependence on one contractor who alone understands their own code. Here are the concrete questions worth asking before you sign anything.
Questions about the work process
What does the analysis before development even starts concretely look like — is the problem first understood and documented in detail, or does coding start immediately based on a superficial conversation?
Do they work in clear phases, with demo versions and the ability to see and test progress during development, or do they ask you to wait until the very end to see anything concrete?
Who inside the team makes the technical decisions, based on what, and are they willing to explain those decisions in understandable language, not just jargon?
Questions about code ownership and maintenance
Do you get full, unrestricted ownership of the source code after delivery, or do you remain dependent on that same contractor forever for every small change?
Who concretely maintains the system after it goes into production, under what terms and price, and what happens if the cooperation ends — can someone else take over maintenance without completely rewriting the system from scratch?
Are there verifiable references, real clients you can talk to about the experience of working together, not just a list of logos on the website without context?
Red flags to watch for
A completely unclear, lump-sum price without a single itemised, detailed offer explaining what exactly that amount covers and why.
Unwillingness or avoidance to show previous work, a portfolio, or to connect you with actual existing clients for verification.
Pressure to sign the contract immediately, without a serious analysis of your problem — a serious partner first wants to understand what exactly they're building before asking for a signature.
Each of these flags individually is a reason to slow down, ask additional questions, and possibly consider other options before committing to a long-term cooperation.
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Nikola Cerić
Founder & CEO, Manage IT
More than 10 years of software development experience — in his own company and in major IT companies across the Balkans.