The State of the Practice Lero Industry Event 11 May 2009 Smart Outsourcing – Small and Agile Teams Vikas Sahni Softedge Systems

Softedge Overview 2 Dublin based, own 100% subsidiary in India First European Microsoft IP Venture Partner Significant R&D capabilities/experience Full product life cycle capabilities A product developed by us is Certified for Windows Vista Client base includes a host of very prestigious and globally renowned companies – Microsoft / Intel / Foinse

3 Why Us? Retention of IPR and Business Control Local Dublin High level design, architecture and management Quick and flexible scaling of resources Availability of highly skilled and experienced developers Significant cost reduction, limited start up costs De-risk the outsource software development option Delhi – the best location for software development

Misconceptions about Outsourcing Small software projects are not suitable Agile methodologies do not work Product development cannot be outsourced Overheads are too high Management Communication Culture 4

The Domestic Software Industry Small indigenous companies – focussed on product development Small to medium local service providers – provide infrastructure, installation, admin Large multinationals – based here due to R&D skills, historical links, low corporate tax rate 5

In-sourcing v Outsourcing In-sourcing: Contractors sitting in your office, you manage them Basic advantage is flexibility to terminate Is it worth it??? Outsourcing: Specialist providers, with staff NOT in your office No non-technical issues to be managed De-risk the software development effort 6

Near Shore v Far Shore Near shore Same / similar time zone Proximity for meetings at short notice Same culture Far shore Different time zone (up to 13.5 hours!) Difficult to meet in person Different culture 7

History The Pioneers in early 90s USA to Ireland UK to India Large teams Application / Implementation focus The Early Failures Lack of Vision Cultural issues 8

Challenges for small teams Communication Project management Time difference Dependence on individuals Process / methodology overheads Work Packet preparation overheads 9

Waterfall Milestone based planning Difficult to modify Medium to long term deployment Large teams Big bang release 10

Spiral Rapid application development Frequent releases Little planning within a release Easy to modify Small teams – Agile / Extreme 11

Why not Agile? Needs regular brainstorming sessions Prescribes at least daily meetings Unstructured within an iteration Requires constant communication 12

Modified Agile Long term Vision / Scope Milestone based releases Agile between releases Develop version n, keep n+1 in mind Review Vision / Scope after each release Adaptation of Microsoft Solution Framework 13

Some success stories 4 weeks from initial meeting to completion 1 end-client, 1 Microsoft Dublin, 2 Softedge Dublin, 5 Softedge India IE8 evangelism Number of micro projects, 2 days to 2 months Typically 1/2 end-client, 1 Microsoft Dublin, 1/3 Softedge Dublin, 2/4 Softedge India 14

What works for us Blend, Blend, Blend Communicate continuously Voice Chat Leverage Time Zone differences Explain the cultural differences and similarities 15

An extreme example Microsoft Internal tool Three Geographies Dublin – 2 Microsoft, 2 Softedge Singapore – 2 Microsoft Delhi – 2 Softedge Very short Timeline V 1 – 2 weeks V2 – 1 week V3 – 1 week 16

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