top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

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Top 10 do’s and don’ts when doing Agile offshoring in Sweden Ove Holmberg, OHC Odd Sivertzen, Rumbline Hannes Fries, H&M Hennes & Mauritz Johan Berneskog, Don't Stop Believin' John Cannerborg, Bridge Global IT Staffin

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Our network have done surveys with company's doing Agile off-shoring today in Sweden. We have compiled a list over pitfalls and good habits you must take into consideration when off-shoring software development from Sweden.

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Page 1: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

Top 10 do’s and don’ts when doing Agile offshoring in Sweden

• Ove Holmberg, OHC

• Odd Sivertzen, Rumbline

• Hannes Fries, H&M Hennes & Mauritz

• Johan Berneskog, Don't Stop Believin'

• John Cannerborg, Bridge Global IT Staffin

Page 2: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

The Agile Offshoring network in Stockholm

• Founded during the spring of 2012

• IT professionals with different backgrounds and industries, based in the Stockholm regiono Seven members in the core teamo Total of 25 members accessing our discussions

• Host regular meetings to discuss around the topics of Agile, Offshoring and the combination of them

Page 3: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

The study 10 Do's and Don'ts - Agile Offshoring in Sweden

• Last decade's increased interest in Offshoring and Agile processes in Swedeno Successful, cost effective projects?

• Agile requires tight team worko How can it be combined with offshoring where team members in

different cultures and timezones?

• Study of companies and organizations in Sweden actively working with agile offshoring initiatives

• Aim to define a number of important categories and complete a list of 10 Do's and 10 Don'ts to guide Swedish organizations

Page 4: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

How the study was done

• Based on open discussions - common interest in understanding what makes agile offshoring initiatives successfulo Focus on Sweden

• Started with survey to find companies and organizations with experiences to shareo Survey

• In depth interviews

• The core team's own experiences

• Experiences were given scores in votingo Top 10 Do's and 10 Don'ts

Page 5: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

Offshore Categories

• The following categories have been identified during the work:o Cultureo Geographical distanceo Learning curveo Processeso Organization & Roleso Expectionso Mindseto Tools

• For each of the items on the Top 10 lists, the corresponding category is presented

Page 6: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

• If the offshore team has a manager setting their bonus based upon quantity and a you as a project manager wants other focus, such as good quality - the offshore manager always will out-rule you.

• Make sure that you are synchronized with the offshore manager on the expectations of the team.

#10 - Do - Organization & Roles Clarify team loyalties

Page 7: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

• Do not rely too much on others' experiences - each organization is unique o Delimit the efforts until enough experience is gained to invest

more

• Identify one or a few systems that are most suitable for offshoring to begin witho Get it all to work in a small scale first

#9 - Do - Processes Delimit the scope

Page 8: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

• Use same development tools offshore as you use onshore. o If you use JIRA, GitHub or Leankit internally also let

the offshore team do the same.

• There are a lot of great tools out there, use them!

#8 - Do - Tools Same development tools allover

Page 9: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

#7 - Do - Mindset "Big Picture"

• Make sure the offshore team understands the "big picture" of the project and not only understand the task they have been assigned.o Not fun to execute tasks without purpose and

meaning...o More motivating to be part of something bigo Fair setting to make a good jobo DN.se

Page 10: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

• If you have the vision of working long term with an offshore team - Treat the offshore team in the same way as you treat your onshore teamo Part of intraneto Internal newslettero Let them live by your companies valueso Outcome will be: motivated team members, people

that stay long

#6 - Do - Mindset Long term vision

Page 11: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

• Make sure that you have a infra structure that are on the same level offshore as you have onshore. (Good quality of WIFI.)

• "Reduce the distance" with help of good Internet connections.

• Get rid of all technical barrierso Video conference system

#5 - Do - Tools Working infrastructure

Page 12: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

• Will make the offshore team members feel important and valuable

• Gain better understanding of the business

• Two teams will get to know each other and become friends, which benefit the actual work

• Very good incentive as having onsite experience in CV is valuable and could help for extra motivationo Onsite rotational program with leads as well as team

members

#4 - Do - Processes Let members of the offshore team work onsite

Page 13: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

• Make sure to meet the development team as well as the management team.

• The dialogue with the development team should be made by a technical skilled person (e.g. Solution Architect) in order to really understand the developers situation.

• Involve end client

#3 - Do - Processes Visit the offshore site regularly

Page 14: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

• Establish common valueso Define and exemplify the values that are to be followed

Examples:

• The resources should propose improvements if possible and not just implement according to the specification

• It is ok to deliver later then planned (in dialogue with the project manager) if the quality requires

• Establish a common terminologyo Define the entities within the business domain and make shore the offshore

resources understands them

o Define routines for how projects are implemented in your organization align them with the offshoring part

• Establish a culture of continuous learning in the Agile way of workingo Get the resources used to continuous improvement where they are an important

source for the improvements

#2 - Do - Processes Establish common values & terminology and a learning culture

Page 15: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

• As with all teams, each member is an individual

• Important to get to know the offshore team members to learn who does what and to which qualityo Good for assessing what responsibility to give to

whom

• Best way is to spend time with the team, preferably at the offsite location

#1 - Do - Culture, Geographical distance Get to know the team members

Page 16: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

The final score top 10 Do'sNo Description Category

#1 Get to know the resources Culture, Geographical distance

#2Establish common values & terminology and a learning culture

Processes

#3 Visit the offshore site regularly Processes

#4 Let members of the offshore team work onsite Processes

#5 Working infrastructure Tools

#6 Long term vision Mindset

#7 "Big Picture" Mindset

#8 Same development tools allover Tools

#9 Delimit the scope Processes

#10 Clarify team loyalties Organization & Roles

Page 17: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

#10 - Don´t - Processes Don't start any development without defined criteria's being in place

• Don't allow the development of a Feature to start unless there are:o Proper specifications

The more complex a Feature is, the more important the specification is

o Detailed estimates The bigger a Feature is, the more an estimate needs to be broken

down o A common understanding between the business side

(requirements owner) and the development team Could be secured via:

• a short "handover meeting" between the developer and the requirements owner before the development starts

• a short "handover meeting" between the developer and the tester before the testing starts

Page 18: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

• Present what the problem was and exemplify and discuss how to avoid the problem in the futureo Speak in general terms instead of focusing on the

individual

• Promote asking as problems occuro Could be against their cultureo "Very good you asked! This saved us 20 hours as

we now do not have to rewrite this piece of code!"

#9 - Don´t - Culture When problems occur, don't focus on who was responsible

Page 19: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

• Don't take a management decision to outsource before internal team is "on the boat". Everyone need to understand the motive, the benefits and the reason for doing it.o Risk for internal conflictso Risk that internal team works against the situationo Workshopo Interesting input from operationso Result: motivated staff - successful offshore initiative

#8 - Don´t - Processes Don't outsource before internal team is "on the boat"

Page 20: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

• Team leads will most certain have to spend time in additional status meetings etc. to get the remote team up and runningo Easy to underestimate the actual time needed

• The team lead role can potentially be very different from when only working with local teamso More regularly checking team statuso Control questions to verify progress is according to

plan

#7 - Don´t - Processes Don't underestimate the extra time needed for admin work

Page 21: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

• Don't increase the number of projects until the routines are established and the offshoring team is working wello Start with one or two pilot projects that are limited in

size and complexity The planning should allow the project to be successful

o Train the offshoring team regularly in the routines and the Agile way of working Get them used to continuous improvement where they are an

important source for the improvements

#6 - Don´t - Learning curve, Processes Don't scale up too quickly

Page 22: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

• Don't forget to involve the business side (requirements owner) in the work made by the development team.

• They need to be involved daily and learn to know the people who work offshore

#5 - Don´t - Organization & Roles Don't forget the business side

Page 23: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

• "Internal english" takes time to understand

• Body language

• Hard to understand over the phone

#4 - Don´t - Processes Don't underestimate the importance of physical meetings

Page 24: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

• Don't assume things - instead ask the extra question to build consensuso If you have not meto Different cultureso Please repeat

#3 - Don´t - Culture Don't assume things

Page 25: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

• Organizations that do not have English as their corporate language or (experience of international cooperation) will most likely see resistance from employeeso Linguistic and cultural barrier

Both day-to-day interactions with the remote team Speaking in front of the team in daily stand-up meetings

• Work with the HR department

• Communicate the motives and goals with the offshoring initiative

#2 - Don´t - Culture Don't underestimate employee resistance

Page 26: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

• Don't embrace a mindset of "we and them". It should be us together as a team.

• Teambuild

• Visit a home

• Agree on and communicate the common goal

#1 - Don´t - Mindset We and them

Page 27: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

The final score top 10 Dont'sNo Description Category

#1 We and them Mindset

#2 Don't underestimate employee resistance Culture

#3 Don't assume things Culture

#4 Don't underestimate the importance of physical meetings Processes

#5 Don't forget the business side Organization & Roles

#6 Don't scale up too quickly Learning curve, Processes

#7 Don't underestimate the extra time needed for admin work Processes

#8 Don't outsource before internal team is "on the boat" Processes

#9 When problems occur, don't focus on who was responsible Culture

#10Don't start any development without defined criteria's being in place

Processes

Page 28: Top 10 dos and donts in agile offshoring

Thanks for listening

• Contact us on LinekdIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4404631