Alexey Krivitsky SCRUMguides
metaphors, advices and ideas on developing offshore software teams.
@alexeykri [email protected]
www.scrumoffshore.net agileee edition
I am from Ukraine. “Ukraine is a developing country”.
Ukraine is a software developing country.
Few weeks back I visited Berlin - A SYMBOLIC PLACE OF FREEDOM.
When we’re talking about offshoring - THE WALL IS THERE.
DISCLAIMER
THINGS IN THIS PRESENTATION MAY APPEAR OBVIOUS TO YOU.
EVEN QUITE OBVIOUS.
STILL, I KEEP OBSERVING OFFSHORE TEAMS AND PROJECTS THAT SUFFER
FROM OBVIOUS DISASTERS. WITH OBVIOUS CAUSES.
BUT, ‘OBVIOUS’ DOESN’T NATURALY MEAN ‘CONSIOUS’.
MY GOAL IS TO HELP MAKE OBVIOUS THINGS CONSIOUS.
THE BRICKS IN THE WALL
¡ Cultural differences
¡ Time zone shifts
¡ Cultural differences
¡ Time zone shifts
¡ Invalid assumptions e.g.: you can start with 50 people hired altogether e.g.: offshore team will be implementing designs defined onshore
¡ Wrong expectations e.g.: offshore teams will quickly outperform onshore e.g.: onshore process will not change
THE BRICKS IN THE WALL
outsourcing transfer of work to an external contractor
nearshoring to a neighboring country
team extension employees of another company are integrated into onshore team
TERMINOLOGY
offshoring to another country
distributed development all teams have equal level of authority
subcontracting client-customer rel.
Offshoring involves shifting work to a foreign, distant organization in order to reduce production costs.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Nearshoring
1. Minimize operational expenses – do cheaper
2. Satisfy hiring needs – insource skills
3. Avoid legal issues of lay-offs – less headache
MAIN DRIVERS OF OFFSHORING
COST OPTIMIZATION STRATEGIES SHORT-TERM
¡ cut expenses
¡ do more with less staff
¡ maximize savings
¡ build repeatable process
LONG-TERM
¡ invest in growth
¡ do better with more skilled staff
¡ minimize turnover
¡ teach, delegate and mentor
BUT SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS …
¡ don’t know how to express themselves
¡ don’t know how to take responsibility
¡ are willing to take all the risks
… ARE LIKE KIDS
KIDS AT WORK
DIFFERENT STRATEGIES YOUR FRIENDS’ CHILDREN
¡ you want to make sure they do no harm
¡ turnover not controllable
¡ someone will take care of them
¡ don’t listen to you and don’t care
YOUR CHILDREN
¡ you want to make them grow into good people
¡ zero turnover
¡ you’re responsible for your kids
¡ will support you when you’re retired
RESPONSIBILITY PROCESS (responsibility is a process)
¡ Responsibility
¡ Quit
¡ Obligation
¡ Shame
¡ Justify
¡ Lay blame
¡ Denial
www.christopheravery.com/responsibility-process
MAIN DRIVERS OF OFFSHORING
1. Minimize operational expenses – do cheaper
2. Satisfy hiring needs – insource skills
AS THE MAIN DRIVER MIGHT LEAD TO SUBOPTIMIZATIONS
AS THE MAIN DRIVER SHOULD LEAD TO RESPECT AND GROWTH
TAKE-AWAYS OF PART ONE
“developers are like kids” “not caring about children is irresponsible “cost optimization as the main driver is not good”
DATING MODEL
dating
just married
long married
long long married
moving out
having the first kid
owning a house
planning more kids
divorce or die the same day
EVENTS
STAGES
DATING MODEL
dating
just married
long married
long long married
STAGES
IMAGINE A COUPLE
dating with 3 kids
never lived together
just bough a house moving out
1. STAFF IT UP
2. START IT UP
4. SCALE IT UP
3. SPEED IT UP
THE FOUR STAGES of team development
THE FOUR STAGES
1. STAFF IT UP
2. START IT UP
4. SCALE IT UP
3. SPEED IT UP
build as your team start shoreless
set up flow keep respecting individuals
of team development
TAKE-AWAYS OF PART TWO
“there steps in relationship development” “building offshore teams is like building a family” “going to fast might lead to a collapse”
APPENDIX
(the most valuable part)
1. STAFF IT UP build your
team
1. STAFF IT UP
don’t outsource hiring
first hire a leader
hire as a group disregard the age
hire people you like
advices
build your team
2. START IT UP
start shoreless
2. START IT UP
advices
invest in dev. infrastructure
start shoreless
leverage past experience of newcomers
do first sprints shoreless
consider doing scrum
attend trainings altogether
warm up with weekly setup sprints
embrace new process
make a step back in solution design
engage team in solution design
integrate your architect
3. SPEED IT UP
all you need is
flow
3. SPEED IT UP
all you need is
flow
advices
organize ambassador program separate daily scrums
from status calls
express equality and trust
run regular grooming sessions invest in
communication infrastructure
shift solution design offshore
use skype group chats
distribute product ownership
buy good webcams and use them
4. SCALE IT UP
keep respecting individuals
4. SCALE IT UP
keep respecting individuals
advices
stay with the same offshore vendor – invest
in the team
visualize high-level management with
kanbans
build feature teams
extend PO team to offshore
build team pages and portrait galleries
4. SCALE IT UP
keep respecting individuals
advices
stay with the same offshore vendor – invest
in the team
visualize high-level management with
kanbans
build feature teams
extend PO team to offshore
join www.scrumoffshore.net to help collaborate and elaborate these ideas.
thank you!
this work is not finished. and never will be. by design.
Alexey Krivitsky @alexeykri www.scrumoffshore.net