ACT AS A TEAM WITH CUSTOMER HOW TO BUILD THE CUSTOMER TRUST & LESSONS LEARNED

2 CONFIDENTIAL ExperienceAnalysisResult

3 CONFIDENTIAL WHO WE ARE Eugene Bobovik | Software Testing Team Leader Siarhei Kizer | Lead Software Engineer Dzmitry Shyshko | Senior Software Testing Engineer

4 CONFIDENTIAL UNCLEAR / INVISIBLE WORK AND PROCESSES OF MAKING DECISIONS Hard to organize effective process project-wide Huge informational lack Hard to ensure appropriate quality Hard to do planning and manage risks

5 CONFIDENTIAL UNCLEAR / INVISIBLE WORK AND PROCESSES OF MAKING DECISIONS Ways to deal with this: Collaborate with other teams Learn client’s business by yourself, suggest ideas Try brainstorming together Create knowledge base, suggest or improve processes Keep entire team informed about everything*

6 CONFIDENTIAL PRACTICE: INTENSIVE DEVELOPMENT APPROACH

7 CONFIDENTIAL TOO FORMAL OR COLD RELATIONS WITH CUSTOMER Hard to propose anything Even small mistake can grow into huge problem Team is under pressure

8 CONFIDENTIAL TOO FORMAL OR COLD RELATIONS WITH CUSTOMER What can we do? Be interested in client’s product Never try to hide or justify your mistake Accent on achievements and positive stuff Make every team member closer to client Do Demos

9 CONFIDENTIAL INITIATIVE Do not wait – ACT! Become an expert Insist, but keep the distance. Do not walk the line Solve customer problems, but do not create new

10 CONFIDENTIAL QA vs DEV EPAM vs CUSTOMER

11 CONFIDENTIAL COMPETITION WITH NON-EPAM TEAMS What makes us different: Rank and positioning Countries/Companies and contracts Social Goals Distance and timezones

12 CONFIDENTIAL COMPETITION WITH NON-EPAM TEAMS Focus on competition, not on product No knowledge sharing Pressure and rush Much time on issues resolving

13 CONFIDENTIAL COMPETITION WITH NON-EPAM TEAMS Let’s be mature: Make process that is clear and comfortable for everyone Share information and discuss things with non-EPAM teams Discuss improvements and issues Be positive!

14 CONFIDENTIAL UNCLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF CUSTOMER’S BUSINESS Team doesn’t know what they are working on: the idea that can turn motivation and proactivity is out there. Too many obvious / annoying questions to client Bad / No exploratory testing Difficult or impossible to suggest improvements or new ideas

15 CONFIDENTIAL UNCLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF CUSTOMER’S BUSINESS How to behave: Gather info. Ask questions! Never stop digging. Explain to client why you need this information. Represent examples of how it can make result better. Show achievements Be persistent. Never give up!

16 CONFIDENTIAL PRODUCTION ISSUES How it happens: We missed it Customer team missed it Customer has cancelled bug which reproduced on the production Another part of distributed team has missed it Maintenance issues

17 CONFIDENTIAL PRODUCTION ISSUES Rules: Do not blame anyone Do not lie Try to help Find evidences React quick

18 CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTATION CHAOS Hard to track Hard for newcomers Customer dependent on EPAM High risks

19 CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTATION CHAOS How to resolve: Centralize information storage Document environments and credentials Document Installation steps Have comments in code

20 CONFIDENTIAL TRUST CUSTOMER BUT DOUBLE-CHECK…

21 CONFIDENTIAL THE HUMAN FACTOR Rules: Be polite Don’t blame anyone Try not to hurt anyone Use interrogative position

22 CONFIDENTIAL CUSTOMER SHOULD KNOW HEROES! Team is motivated Easy to propose new ideas and add members Customer treats you as a partner

23 CONFIDENTIAL LET’S SUM-UP MAIN POINTS Let customer know that we are interested in their success Show that we can react really fast and effective Show why it is important to have us involved in their business: do something yourself and show something extraordinary Propose effective process or improvements targeted to make work more collaborated and transparent Explain the necessity of proposals

24 CONFIDENTIAL AS A RESULT YOU WILL GET Great collaboration of distributed teams Deep involvement and confidence of every member Full picture of the project value, internal or external limitations Satisfied team and customer Product development service instead of coding and testing

25 CONFIDENTIAL Keep the customer safe Make customer feel confident Keep customer involved