7 councils for work with offshore development teams

The offshore is not flexible

It was the main postulate in corporate IT since the iterative approach to developments was accepted more than a decade ago. Distances, appear, can strongly complicate flexible, close joint work, self-government and rapid development.

According to the September report of Forrester on the "correct" outsourcing of agile developments, "the geographical distribution can add difficulties in interaction of a command between her members, in support of a backlog of the status, versions and problems".

But for the last few years many niche offshore developers slowly developed the exclusive offers on iterative developments. And some Chief information officers are ready to accept such offshore model.

"I know several successful developments on flexible methodology with offshore commands, - Cindi Carpenter, the vice president on researches in outsourcing analytical company HfS Research says. – One very experienced manager of offshore projects told me, traditionally it is considered that for agile development the water room needs to be. But if you not in one room, it is the best of all to develop software on flexible methodology".

It is lower than seven hints how to force it to work:

1. Be prepared

Daily management of developments (scrums) via Skype or other system of video conference – the only way to work flexibly at is distributed - the remote system of work, Carpenter considers. But nobody wants to spend 15 minutes for search of the suitable room and the equipment for the 15th minute check of the status. It confirms the September report of Forrester: "time lost on search of the premises and the equipment for communication establishment seriously slows down work". An exit – in creation of standards not only for communication, but also software tools and methods for discussion and exchange of objects.

2. Begin with small

Roman Kaplun, the director of engineering service for the website of cheap travel Hotwire, decided to stop on offshore development because it had to compete with such giants as Apple, Facebook, and Google for search of programmers. He decided to work with the Russian IT Luxoft provider, but began with small test work which lasted one and a half years.

Then Luxoft began to provide services of development from Kiev (Ukraine) and Omsk (Russia) in little groups. "It was important to build up our relationship and to find out how to work together most effectively", - the Capon says.

Carpenter advises to limit development teams to three-seven people to estimate their skills and to find the most effective encoders. The chief information officer should be ready that the command the developer client will not work well-coordinated so at first, will not get used to each other yet. Try to break work into the purposes, shorter on time, – for two weeks, it is no more – it will be the correct solution.

3. Consider the possibility of the mixed work model

Joe Snayado, CIO of Standard & Poor company initially had problems with offshore developments. Therefore he preferred to pay more that partners provided a part of personnel for work at office and a part in nearby regions – within two hours clockwise to a zone. He created half offshore model of development 50/50.

4. Manage actively

In the theory agile developments should be organic and not have hierarchy. But if you use outsourcing, especially offshore, you need to interfere with process actively. "You need to take the destiny in own hand", - the report of Forrester warns.

The capon tried not to interfere in Kiev and received not really good result. "We understood that process and a development team need management", - he says. But it was difficult to find the necessary manager – the person capable to manage without dictatorship was necessary and to work equally successfully both with engineers and with business.

5. Invest in training

The business model of Hotwire assumed that clients rent the room in hotel, without knowing what – they receive a discount for it. But this system was unknown to most of developers of Eastern Europe. Therefore the Capon brought them on the enterprise to acquaint them with a business model, and to explain with products the point of view of the customer.

6. Select the correct partner

Many Indian IT of the company constructed the business on methodology of falls and could not be scaled or perform work on methodology of agile development, Stephanie Moore, the vice president and the top analyst on outsourcing in Forrester Research considers.

For example, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services companies apply flexible methodology of development in less than 20% of the work. Big international providers with the offshore centers, such as HP and IBM have approximately the same percent of similar developments. But there are also such companies which constructed the business only around flexible methodology of developments, for example ThoughtWorks and Matrix Global. Try not to contact developers if they have no experience in offshore projects on flexible methodology.

7. Consider temporary zones

For daily scrums, it is better if temporary zones are crossed at least partially in the working day. "The lack of contextual communication means that development will be delayed because of waiting of a feedback and instructions and also – waiting for approval of changes" - Moore says.

But for Hotwire whose office lives for 10-14 hours after a zone of an offshore command, communication in real time was strongly complicated. The capon found a way out, having entered a new role – the owner the practician of a product – which it placed in Kiev. This employee was trained in San Francisco and understands business, its processes and can instruct development team if those have questions not to wait for the next day.

NP SODEYSTVIYE is prepared