Managed Development Teams that we staff, run, and stay accountable for.
We deliver software through a managed development team for companies delegating a workstream. We staff and coordinate the cross-functional software team under a named delivery lead; your product owner sets priorities and accepts outcomes.
- 120+Projects delivered across 12 countries since 2012
- 100+Senior in-house engineers, six countries
- 5.0Unified rating across 61 client reviews on Clutch
- PMPCertified project managers
- ISO 27001Certified security practice, audited by Quay Audit UK
01Overview
What a managed development team is
A managed engagement combines the skills needed for a workstream with unicrew delivery coordination. Discovery establishes acceptance criteria, dependencies and planned roles. A dedicated development team gives you day-to-day direction of the team.
- What you hand overThe delivery lead coordinates the execution plan and escalates decisions. Your product owner sets priorities and accepts work against the criteria you establish.
- Roles for the workstreamWe select analysis, design, engineering, QA and DevOps roles around the workstream and phase. The proposal identifies the functions we provide and dependencies on your team.
- Visible work and decisionsThe reporting setup gives you visibility of the backlog, acceptance criteria, progress and decisions. Access to the work and team is defined for the engagement.
- One chain of communicationThe delivery lead coordinates specialists and communicates status, risks and decisions to your product owner and technical contacts.
02Proof
Engineering quality and project coordination
Delegating a workstream takes confidence in the engineering and visibility of progress. Our client reviews describe both.
- Pilgrim Consulting kept its own scorePilgrim Consulting used our staff augmentation for client projects, including mobile apps for a Fortune 500 logistics company and .NET/Angular work. Its CEO, in a verified Clutch review in 2016: "We have had six out of seven on time and on budget project executions. Each engagement was a minimum of six months of effort." He described our team as "one of three that I never have to worry about the quality of their deliverables."6 out of 7project executions on time and on budget, on engagements of at least six months each
- Project management and visibilityA design-studio director, in a verified Clutch review in 2016: "We have reports and I fully understand where the hours are going, where the risks could be, and if the milestones are on track or not." In his 2018 update: "Artelogic’s brilliant project managers take a lot of work off my shoulders, but it’s critical to stay in touch and be kept up to date."Since 2004how long this buyer had been outsourcing software when he called us the best he had ever worked with
- Platform transition with named contactsFor a US B2B SaaS company, we supplied staff augmentation for its programming function on a PHP platform live for over a decade. Its founder described three contacts, a developer, business manager and project manager, and a smooth transition. On the cost, on Clutch in 2024: "When I first spoke to the team, the pricing was higher than I had hoped, but it turned out that Artelogic could work much faster than our previous service provider. Ultimately, the team wound up costing us less or at least the same."Less, or the samewhat the engagement wound up costing against the previous provider, once rollouts came significantly faster
03Compare
Managed team, dedicated team, or staff augmentation?
Choose the model around the delivery responsibility you want to delegate. An internal team or independent contributors can also fit when their roles and coordination match the work. Our managed delivery vs team extension guide explores that decision.
| A managed teamunicrew | A dedicated teamSteer | Staff augmentationAugment |
|---|---|---|
| Best forA software workstream whose delivery coordination you want unicrew to lead. | Best forProduct work you intend to keep steering, with a lead of your own deciding what matters this sprint. | Best forIndividual contributors working within your own delivery process and management. |
| Works best withA product owner who sets priorities and accepts work, with our lead coordinating the agreed plan, reporting and escalation. | Works best withYour lead directing the cadence and backlog, with decision dependencies and dates established in the plan. | Works best withYour team assigning work, coordinating dependencies and directing each contributor. |
| You end up owningProduct priorities and acceptance, with delivery records and ownership and transfer terms defined in the agreement. | You end up owningDay-to-day delivery direction and system knowledge, with code ownership and handover terms agreed. | You end up owningCoordination and context within your team, with each contributor's output covered by the agreement. |
Quick self-check
Tick what is true for you. The read-out updates as you go.
0 of 4 true
Start with a dedicated team
For day-to-day direction from your engineering lead, consider a dedicated team. A managed team fits when you want unicrew to coordinate the agreed delivery plan.
Talk it throughClarify the workstream and responsibilities
Identify the work to deliver, the decisions your team retains and the coordination you want to delegate. Discovery establishes the scope and acceptance criteria.
Talk it throughCompare the delivery models
Review the product owner's responsibilities and the lead role the work needs. That split helps you choose managed delivery, a dedicated team or individual contributors.
Book a discovery callScope a managed delivery arrangement
Define the workstream, outcome measures, change process and acceptance owner. We can then propose the lead role, team composition and delivery plan.
Book a discovery callA managed team, and name the lead early
Name your product and acceptance owners, then agree the scope, dependencies and measures with our delivery lead. The proposal identifies responsibility for the plan, progress, quality and escalation.
Start with discoveryA managed team gives you one person to call. Our delivery lead owns the plan, the cadence and the result, and brings you status and decisions before you ask. Your time goes to the product, and running the team is our job.
Ihor PrudyvusDelivery Director, unicrew04Capabilities
What a managed team covers
We combine the functions needed for the workstream. The proposal defines the role mix, responsibilities and dependencies for each phase.
Delivery leadership
The delivery lead coordinates the plan and cadence, tracks progress against quality requirements and escalates risks, dependencies and decisions to your product owner.
Our analysts turn stakeholder needs into requirements and acceptance criteria, then refine the work for implementation. Business analysts hold certifications including CBAP, AAC and PMP.
Designers develop product flows and interfaces alongside engineering, and review them with your product owner before implementation.
We build front-end, back-end and platform software in React, Next.js, Node.js, .NET and Java. Our owned AI products include Snaplore and Talkmetry.
We build iOS and Android apps in React Native or Flutter and connect them to the platform's backend and business rules.
We develop and execute tests and automation against acceptance requirements. unicrew has ISTQB-certified QA engineers. Independent QA can be commissioned as a separate engagement.
We implement build, test and deployment pipelines (CI/CD), change infrastructure and review cloud usage and costs. One AWS/Heroku engagement helped bring the client's AWS costs down by 30% or more.
We implement tagging, embeddings and retrieval over your data, with evaluations and guardrails defined for the feature.
05Trust
What a managed team hands over
You can follow the work during delivery. The contract sets what you receive when the engagement ends.
- A named leadOne person accountable, not a committeeNamed in the proposal, reachable in the week, and the person who answers when a date is at risk
- Nothing hiddenThe backlog, the criteria and the engineersYou can read the work in progress and talk to whoever is doing it, rather than only to a status report
- In the agreementOwnership and transfer, settled at signatureThe contract and the NDAs set out what you own and what happens if you stop, and both are signed before anyone gets access
06Stack
What our managed teams build with
We assess an inherited platform before choosing changes. For new components, technology follows product requirements, existing interfaces and team skills.
React
Next.js
Flutter
Node.js
.NET
Java
AWS
Azure
Kubernetes07Engagement
How you engage us, and how you pay
For continuing work, the team models bill as team extension, monthly per team member. A defined scope can use project pricing. There is no minimum engagement period.
A managed team
We own deliveryOur delivery lead coordinates the agreed plan, progress, quality and escalation. You retain product priorities and acceptance. Nothing separate is charged for sourcing, vetting or placing an engineer.
- Best when
- There is an outcome to hand over and nobody free to run it
- You pay
- Billed monthly, per team member
- Typical start
- Two to four weeks
A dedicated team
You steerEngineers work under your day-to-day direction, refining stories, implementing, testing and sharing knowledge inside your own engineering teams.
- Best when
- Someone on your side wants to keep the roadmap and run the cadence
- You pay
- Billed monthly, per team member
- Typical start
- Two to four weeks
A scoped build
Fixed finishA defined deliverable priced after discovery establishes the scope and acceptance criteria. Post-launch support and further development are agreed separately.
- Best when
- The scope and acceptance criteria are settled, with post-launch support agreed separately
- You pay
- Outcome based, quoted per project
- Typical start
- Two to four weeks
A read of the delivery, not only the code, before anyone agrees a team
The assessment maps the codebase, pipeline, dependencies and delivery decisions before recommending a team. On a B2B CRM we later moved onto Azure, we assessed dependencies, critical services and bottlenecks before migration. A stalled build can also be assessed as a project rescue.
08Industries
Industries our managed teams work in
Domain experience helps us scope platform workflows, integrations and acceptance criteria.
Logistics and transportation
.NET/Angular and mobile-app work for logistics, plus a paperless vehicle inspection platform. That client had managed inventory and inspections on well over 9 million vehicles.
Hospitality and leisure
Adjustable booking platform development for administrators, venues and customers, including a first version followed by a client-approved migration onto AWS we planned and carried out.
EdTech and learning
Search and discovery over teaching material. Our embedded engineering work on a search and discovery team included AI tagging and embeddings.
Real estate
QA workflows, tailored test-case systems and automation for property software, including work that delivered documentation and a testing roadmap.
Healthcare
Home health monitoring platform development and maintenance in .NET and TypeScript, including stabilization, UI/UX redesign, data integrations and AWS cost work.
E-commerce
We develop middleware for B2B and B2C storefront, PIM and ERP integration during replatforming, including work within the IT team of a European manufacturer that manufactured more than 10,000 products and sold across seven EU countries.
Scope your workstream and delivery responsibilities
Tell us the workstream, current system, priorities and decision owner. We assess the scope and delivery dependencies, then propose a responsibility split and team model.
09Delivery
How a managed team gets built and run
Plan your team's decision time alongside the workstream you delegate.
- Discovery and scopingWe translate the goal and constraints into scope, acceptance criteria and dependencies. Our seven common mistakes guide covers requirements gaps to check.You getA written scope with acceptance criteria, the team shape it needs, and a delivery plan with dates in itFrom youThe business goal, the constraints, and whoever knows the current system best
- Team design and staffingWe propose the roles needed for the phase and name the delivery lead. You can meet and interview proposed team members before deciding on the composition.You getA named team, a named delivery lead, and the contracts and NDAs signed before anyone startsFrom youTime to meet the people we propose, and a decision on each
- OnboardingWe brief the team on your product, tools and workflow and configure the environment and access. The onboarding plan identifies knowledge needed, open questions and initial tasks.You getA working environment, initial tasks, and a written map of decision ownershipFrom youAgreed access and available contacts for onboarding questions
- DeliveryThe delivery lead coordinates iterations, progress reporting, the testing defined for the workstream and escalation of dependencies and decisions.You getWorking software, test results and written status against the iteration planFrom youProduct priorities, acceptance decisions and contacts for dependencies, with decision dates agreed in the plan
- Scaling, review and handoverWe review the role mix, progress and results with you. Team changes and knowledge handovers are agreed as the work and priorities evolve.You getA review against your measures, and agreed changes to the team, plan and handover responsibilitiesFrom youCurrent priorities, outcome measures and decisions on the next phase
10Client voices
Client reviews of engineering and project coordination
Up until a year and a half ago, I handled all the development and support of our application myself and I needed help. I brought in Artelogic, and it was one of the best business decisions I’ve ever made.
Single point of contact. Very clear in communications and finding solutions as a team. Flexible when requirements changed. They deliver in a highly professional way while being in a volatile and insecure situation.
Artelogic actually launched the site a week early, so we would have enough time to go over it, and make some minor tweaks. All we can ask for from a development team is to do exactly what we want, on time and on budget. This is what Artelogic did, for every little feature we wanted. The cost remained the same, so there was no extra charge for my pickiness.
With the newly programmed function, we were finally able to calculate the correct price within the form. Results were delivered quickly and to our complete satisfaction. Their service was always professional, and they always checked to make sure everything was okay.
11Case studies
Platform development and continuing engineering
Explore inherited SaaS work, booking-product development and waiver-platform evolution. Some client reviews were given under our former Artelogic brand and retain their original wording.
See all case studies- SaaSAWS costs down 30%+ for a US B2B SaaS platformunicrew became the programming team for a B2B SaaS platform that had run for over a decade, streamlined how it used AWS and Heroku, and sped up rollouts.30%+Lower AWS costs
- HospitalityA salon platform handling 200-300 bookings per vendor a month (Lookgood)unicrew built Lookgood's salon booking platform from start to finish, with real-time availability, SMS reminders, and scheduling that respects shared equipment.200-300Bookings per vendor each month
SaaSWaiverKing: Software Development for a Waiver Form CreatorWaiverKing is a document management business serving primarily the health and fitness industries. The platform integrates with Mindbody Online, one of the largest business-systems providers for gyms and yoga studios.Weeks to hoursTime to release an update to production
12Questions
More about managed teams with unicrew
Before you commission managed software delivery, agree how you pay and what happens to the work when the engagement ends.
We staff a managed software development team and coordinate its agreed plan through a named delivery lead. Your product owner sets priorities and accepts work; the lead tracks progress, quality and dependencies and escalates decisions.
The cross-functional role mix follows the workstream and phase. Discovery establishes scope, acceptance criteria and the responsibilities your team retains.
The difference is who directs day-to-day work and coordinates the delivery plan:
- Managed team: our delivery lead coordinates the agreed plan, progress, quality and escalation; you retain priorities and acceptance.
- Dedicated development team: your lead directs the team and its daily work.
- Staff augmentation: individual contributors work under your management within your delivery process.
The models can be combined where each workstream has clear responsibilities.
A managed team is billed as team extension, monthly per team member. We quote from the roles and work planned for the engagement. Cost depends on:
- Skills and roles needed for each phase.
- Workstream scope and delivery dependencies.
- Duration and expected changes to the team.
Nothing separate is charged for sourcing, vetting or placing an engineer. The proposal sets the team composition and billing terms before you commit.
Most engagements start within two to four weeks. We agree the start around scope, team selection, access and contracting. Starting the engagement is separate from completing onboarding or a first release.
Duration follows the workstream and agreement. There is no minimum engagement period; notice, exit and handover obligations are settled in the contract. We review progress and role needs as priorities evolve.
Yes. We assess existing code, infrastructure and workflows before agreeing a managed delivery scope.
Our work on an existing B2B SaaS platform involved staff augmentation through a provider transition. On a B2B CRM serving manufacturers and wholesale distributors, assessment identified dependencies, critical services and bottlenecks before migration onto Azure.
A managed engineering team has a named delivery lead and a skill mix selected for the workstream and phase. Possible functions include:
- Business analysis and product design.
- Web, platform and mobile engineering.
- QA, test automation and DevOps.
- AI features and data engineering where the work needs them.
The proposal names the roles, responsibilities and dependencies on your team. Team changes and knowledge handovers follow the agreement.
Your contract defines code and intellectual property ownership, licences and transfer terms. Access to repositories and environments is a separate decision.
We settle ownership, handover and exit obligations before work starts, including terms for third-party components and materials. The agreement specifies what you receive and when; ownership and transfer follow those terms.
We agree access, confidentiality and security requirements for the workstream before team access is granted. Decisions include:
- Code and data location and authorized access.
- Credentials and secrets handling.
- Incident responsibilities and escalation.
- Permitted AI tools and usage rules.
unicrew is ISO 27001:2022 and ISO 9001:2015 certified, renewed through a multi-stage audit with Quay Audit UK, and has ISTQB-certified QA engineers. Application controls follow the requirements defined for the work.
Require named responsibility, visible work and agreed handover terms. Confirm the proposal covers:
- A shared backlog and acceptance criteria.
- Architecture and trade-off decision records.
- Measures for delivery progress and acceptance.
- An AI usage policy and human-review requirements.
- A handover plan covering documentation, runbooks and responsibility.
Our managed delivery vs team extension guide explores the model choice. These are purchasing requirements to agree with the partner for your workstream.
A managed team fits when you want unicrew to coordinate delivery while your product owner controls priorities and acceptance. Discovery establishes the workstream and responsibility split.
If you want your engineering lead to direct day-to-day work, a dedicated team fits that arrangement. Changing priorities or working on core intellectual property can fit either model; the change process, desired direction and contract determine the choice.