Who it's for
For engineering leaders
You have more roadmap than people, and the people who could build it are already committed. Hiring is months away and the work is now. This is the page for deciding whether adding experienced people to your team is the right answer — including when it is not.
What this looks like in practice
People who join your team, not a team beside it
Developers, designers, marketers and analysts placed directly into your existing structure, working to your priorities under your direction. You are buying capacity and specific skills without the overhead around them — no recruitment, benefits or training cost on your side. More on how the service works.
Useful from week one
Because the people are experienced, they contribute from week one rather than after months of onboarding. That is the whole argument for augmenting over hiring when the need is now: a permanent hire is the slowest path to output, measured in advertising, interviews, notice periods and ramp-up.
Scales back without a restructure
Engagements typically run three to twelve months, and flex to as little or as long as you need. Augmentation moves in both directions — scale up for a push, scale back when it passes. Permanent hiring is the least reversible of the options, which is why it should follow certainty rather than precede it.
The knowledge stays in your team
The work happens inside your team, so your people are in the room while decisions get made and absorb the reasoning as it happens. That matters most when the thing being built is core — the platform your operations run on, the system your customers touch daily.
A specific skill, not a whole function
The clearest fit is a named gap: a framework nobody in-house has depth in, a mobile build with no mobile engineer, an integration that keeps slipping down the backlog. If you need an entire capability stood up rather than a gap filled, that is a different shape of engagement and worth saying so early.
Alongside your current team or agency
Adding capacity does not require changing supplier. Some teams need a second opinion on architecture, or one workstream taken off a stretched roadmap. If a build has already stalled, project rescue is the more honest starting point than more hands.
When augmentation is the wrong answer
Three situations where we would tell you to do something else, because taking the engagement anyway is how it goes badly for both sides.
Nobody internal can direct the work day to day
This is the disqualifier. Augmented people work to your priorities, which means someone on your side has to own those priorities. If that person does not exist or has no time, you need to buy a defined outcome with a single point of accountability instead.
The outcome is well defined and you need budget certainty
If you can describe the result precisely enough to fix it, and you need a number to get sign-off, a scoped project is the better instrument. Augmentation buys speed into an evolving effort; it does not buy certainty about a fixed one.
The need is permanent and you can describe it clearly
Then hire. If you can describe the next twelve months of work for a role, you are ready to recruit for it, and the knowledge stays because the person stays. The full comparison is here, including where each model fails.
Most real engagements blend the models
The useful question is rarely "which one" but "which one, for which part". A defined build delivered as a fixed-scope project, followed by an augmented squad to keep improving it, is a common and sensible shape — the certainty where it helps, the flexibility where it helps.
Our longest-running client relationships look like this. They started as a defined piece of work and became ongoing arrangements because the platform kept mattering, not because anyone planned a multi-year engagement at the outset.
Three questions that get most teams to an answer
Can you describe the outcome precisely enough to fix it? Does the knowledge need to stay with you? Can you direct the work day to day? How we engage covers what happens after you have answered them.
The proof
Work we have shipped, not a capability deck.
- SES (formerly Intelsat)Three platforms under active development across six repositories — an engagement that grew from defined work into ongoing delivery.Read the case study
- Western Sydney UniversityA multi-year working relationship on a platform of strategic value to the university.Read the case study
- Sporting Club of SydneyJoined at short notice to build the members app for Venues NSW.Read the case study
Common questions
How quickly does someone actually become useful in our codebase?
Because the people we place are experienced, they contribute from week one rather than after months of onboarding — but that depends as much on you as on them. The teams that get value fastest have a repository someone can clone and run, a named person to ask questions of, and a first task that is real work rather than a warm-up. If getting an environment running takes a fortnight, that is the constraint, not the engineer.
How long do engagements usually run?
Typically three to twelve months, and we flex to as little or as long as you need. Several of our longest relationships were never planned that way — they started as a defined piece of work and continued because the platform kept mattering. You are not committing to a term to get started.
Who directs the work day to day?
You do. That is the defining difference between augmentation and outsourcing: augmented people work to your priorities inside your team, which means someone on your side has to own those priorities. If nobody internal can direct the work, augmentation is the wrong model and you should buy a defined outcome instead.
Does the knowledge stay with us when the engagement ends?
That is the main argument for augmenting rather than outsourcing something core. The work happens inside your team, so your people are in the room while decisions get made and absorb the reasoning as it happens. Outsourcing goes wrong most often when a business outsources something core and only afterwards realises nobody internal can explain how it works.
What roles can you place?
Developers, designers, marketers and analysts, placed directly into your team. The useful framing is usually a specific skill gap rather than a whole function — if you need an entire capability stood up, that is a different conversation and often a different shape of engagement.
When would you tell us not to augment?
When nobody internal can own priorities day to day, when the outcome is well defined enough to fix and you need budget certainty more than flexibility, or when the need is permanent and you can describe it clearly — that last one is a hire, and we will say so. We would rather lose the engagement than take one that is the wrong shape.
Do you work with clients outside Sydney?
Our head office is in Sydney and we work with clients across Australia — Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and regional NSW included — as well as in New Zealand, where the duty free stores across the major airports have run on a platform we build and support since 2021. Delivery has been remote-first for years, so a project runs the same way whether you are ten minutes away or across the Tasman: scheduled calls, a shared board you can see at any time, and one named point of contact. We are happy to meet in person in Sydney.
Trusted by
“Collaborating with Shakewell Agency on the Sporting Club of Sydney members app has been a pleasure. Michael and his team came on board at short notice and very quickly responded to our business needs to deliver an improved solution for members and their guests.
No task has been too big or too small — their proactive approach, clear communication, and passion for the work have meaningfully enhanced the digital experience. Their expertise is driving us forward with more robust and scalable solutions.
It’s rare to find an agency partner so deeply invested in our success. It’s a pleasure working with the Shakewell Agency team, and I’m excited to continue improving our solutions together in the future.”
Ryan Selvage
Digital Experience Manager of Venues NSW
“I’ve worked with Michael and the Team for a number of years now on a web development project of strategic value to the University. Michael and the team work in deep partnership and are genuinely invested in the success of the project and the maximising the impact it can deliver to end users. Always exceeding expectations, you will not find a more amiable, grounded and technically proficient team!”
Kelly Whitney
WSU Associate Director; Careers, Talent & Organisational Success
Engagement models
How we work
Four straightforward ways to engage us. Pick the one that fits, or mix them as your needs change.
Staff Augmentation
Add experienced Shakewell developers, designers or specialists directly to your own team. Engagements typically run three to twelve months, but can be as short or long as you need — you get the skills without the commitment and cost of hiring full-time.
About staff augmentationFixed-Scope Projects
Have a defined outcome in mind? We scope it, price it and deliver it as a project — a clear timeline, agreed milestones and a single point of accountability from kickoff to handover.
Embedded Delivery Teams
For larger or longer-running work, a cross-functional Shakewell team — development, design and delivery management — plugs in as your delivery arm, working to your priorities and your reporting cadence.
Support & Maintenance
Already live? We keep websites, stores and apps secure, updated and performing through ongoing retainers — business-hours support as standard, with 24/7 coverage available for critical issues.
About support & maintenance