When XP Met Outsourcing

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We used two interpretative in-depth case studies

We obtained multiple perspectives, both from the customer and the developers

We used semi-structured one-on-one interviews to collect the data

We validated our raw data and our interpreted findings with each interviewee

We use a number of quotes from the interview to illustrate our findings

Method

When XP Met Outsourcing Martin, Biddle & Noble Slide 2

We explored one successful outsourced XP project

Intranet content management (CMS) system, tried previously and failed

Three organisations were involved: KiwiCorp - client DevCorp - development vendor BureauCorp - infrastructure vendor

An enthusiastic development team, of the recommended size, with no prior XP experience

Non-standard XP implementation, an up-front requirements phase occurred prior to the decision to use XP

ProjectEndeavour

When XP Met Outsourcing Martin, Biddle & Noble Slide 3

The impact of the contract structure

Changes the working relationship between the organisations:

“If we were working on a FP per iteration … I would have had to have been a lot harder on the client”Project Manager, DevCorp

The vendor needs to add an overhead in fixed price contracts to ensure they do not make a loss

The impact of multiple organisations

Organisational inter-relationships are complex

Vendor management consumes a significant portion of the XP Customer’s role:

“All of these issues were taking about half of my time”Customer, KiwiCorp

Project Endeavour

When XP Met Outsourcing Martin, Biddle & Noble Slide 4

ProjectPinta

We explored one ‘failed’ outsourced XP project

Three organisations were involved: FalconCorp - product development company RCCorp – client company ManageCorp – RCCorp’s outsourced IS function

The product was to meet RCCorp’s specific needs + be resold as part of FalconCorp’s product suite

An aggressive fixed price project:“Everyone … said it was doomed for failure … [but] … we were going to make it work anyway” Customer Proxy, FalconCorp

Delivered software and entered “bug-fixing” mode … six months later decided to re-start the project

When XP Met Outsourcing Martin, Biddle & Noble Slide 5

The importance of a defined scope

Up-front requirements addresses scope creep issues in Fixed Price type contracts:

“… with a contract … you have very little wiggle room … to shift that and change that and so XP finds itself significantly hampered and you have to start shifting it towards waterfall”Development Coach, FalconCorp

The impact of the Winner’s Curse

Winning vendor over-estimates value of project and then needs to introduce cost-cutting measures

The end-result is a loss situation for all parties:“We didn’t want to raise questions that would lead to gaps in the requirements we would be responsible for … and so we built [it] without asking questions”Customer Proxy, FalconCorp

ProjectPinta

When XP Met Outsourcing Martin, Biddle & Noble Slide 6

We need to ensure that agile methods work in outsourcing environments

Agile does not protect from all project issues, developers who encounter the Winner’s Curse should consider what they want from an agile process

Involvement of multiple organisations requires the accommodation of multiple cultures and processes

Outsourcing, even in successful projects, presents a challenge in interpreting the XP Customer Role

For XP to “embrace change” an organisational and contractual context is needed that allows change to be embraced without penaltyConclusions

When XP Met Outsourcing Martin, Biddle & Noble Slide 7

When XP Met Outsourcing

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AngelaMartin

RobertBiddle

JamesNoble