Founded in 2006, Learning Pool creates educational content and technology solutions for public and private sector customers and learners around the world. The solutions include traditional Learning Management Systems (LMS), next-generation Learning Experience Platforms (LXP), the world's most installed Learning Record Store (LRS), agile learning content development tools, nearly 600 off-the-shelf e-learning modules, and award-winning custom content development. Initial contact and onboarding Learning Pool's CTO Mark Lynch and Onix's Business development team began communication on an IT job platform where Learning Pool was looking for contractors. The company was experiencing rapid growth and a large influx of customers, and therefore had a growing need for software developers. It wasn't practical to open new offices and recruit the right staff quickly in the UK, so they decided to outsource a part of the software development tasks. Onix's ‘scouting group' included three full-stack web developers and a project manager who acted as Learning Pool's eyes and ears in Ukraine. The team's primary goal was to build a relationship with the existing UK team, understand the project details, and proceed to the proper development as soon as possible. The PM had to facilitate the process and ensure a high level of quality. Before the first team of developers were able to start, Onix specialists went through a testing period that lasted six months. Learning Pool was looking for a long-term outsourcing partner, so they were keenly interested in all Onix's processes. Our managers walked them through every aspect, from the hiring procedure to the criteria for employee promotion, and from time management to learning process monitoring. Start of the collaboration and initial challenges Office people From the start, it was not a client-contractor relationship. Instead, Onix developers were expected to become members of the existing team with its own processes, rules, and management that had been formalized over fifteen years. It took a while, but the genuine efforts of the developers and management on both sides, friendly communication, and a sense of humor helped Onix’s developers integrate into the wider team. The same thing happened with subsequent teams and became easier each time.