The offshore development agency market is large, varied, and difficult to evaluate from the outside. A well-presented proposal does not distinguish a competent partner from a disappointing one. Neither do client logo grids, curated ratings, or discovery call performance.
These seven questions are designed to surface information that is harder to fabricate and more predictive of actual delivery quality.
1. Who writes the code — developers or AI?
This is not a trick question. AI-assisted development is legitimate when done properly. The problem is agencies generating code with AI agents without appropriate human review and representing it as senior developer output. Ask: what is the ratio of AI-generated to human-written code on a typical project? Who reviews AI-generated code before it reaches the repository? What is the SOP for production deployments? Vague answers (“we use the latest AI tools”) are less useful than specific ones.
2. Who is the named technical lead on my project?
Agencies often sell with their most senior people and deliver with more junior ones. Ask: who specifically will be the technical lead on our engagement? Can I speak with them before signing? What other projects will they be leading simultaneously? A technical lead managing more than two active engagements will not give yours the attention it requires.
3. Can I access the code repository and deployment pipeline directly?
The correct answer is yes. If an agency maintains repositories in their own accounts rather than yours, you do not own your code in any practical sense during the engagement. Your infrastructure should be yours from day one.
4. What does your QA process look like?
Ask for specifics: Do you have dedicated QA engineers? How is testing structured — manual, automated, or both? What is the process when a bug is found in production? The agencies with mature QA processes describe them specifically. Agencies without them give broad answers about commitment to quality.
5. What happens if the project manager leaves mid-project?
Staff turnover is the most common cause of offshore project disruption. Ask: what is your developer and PM turnover rate? What is your handover process when team members change? Have you experienced a mid-project team change, and how did you manage it? The response will be more revealing than the answer.
6. Who owns the IP and what are the exit terms?
Read this part of the contract carefully. You want to own all code, repositories, and assets from day one, and be able to exit the engagement without a lock-in period or IP transfer fee. Any agency confident in their relationship quality does not need contractual lock-in to retain clients.
7. Can you provide a reference who experienced a difficult moment?
Asking for references from satisfied clients is nearly useless — every agency curates these. Ask instead for a reference from a client who experienced a significant challenge during the engagement. How the agency navigated a difficult moment is far more predictive of your experience than how a smooth engagement went.
At WizQuest, we answer all seven of these questions specifically, including connecting you with references who experienced difficult moments. Start a conversation here.