소프트웨어를 외부에서 조달하십시오

어떤 소프트웨어 프로젝트든지에서는, 소프트웨어 개발 노동 분대는 단지 30%에서 총경비의 50%를 대표한다. As for the total cost, it is taken away by project management, analysis and design, testing, and ancillary activities, such as, management and environment preparation. This is why the cost savings on offshore projects are not more than 15% to 25% of the total project cost. You will never find a return of 100% to 200% on such projects, unless the project has been well defined and specified, and the design has been prepared with details. You will often find the offshore software development organization claiming such returns on projects outsourced to them. Never-the-less, the 25% saving on your cost of the total project can be quite a significant amount.

To achieve success in offshore software development projects, the most vital part is the requirement of a failsafe communication system. It is very important that the communication is kept alive between you and your offshore partner(s), so that information can be exchanged and related matters are sorted out. If this synchronized effort is not ensured at first, the success of the project will be doubtful. Your communication strategy needs to be well defined, and such strategies should include communication tools, such as conference calls, video conferencing, wikis, bug tracking, and continuous integration build servers and a source control repository. Here we will have a brief look at some of these tools:

Conference calls/Video Conferencing - There should be a routine conference call set up between your team and the team from your offshore company. In here too a schedule needs to be set up, ensuring that conferences start and end at specified time. The issues discussed should be well documented to be referred to later.

If you have an access to a video conferencing system, it would become a highly desired facility in such scenarios. However, true video conferencing equipment would require high bandwidth, unlike the $100 web cams which are increasingly used for such conferencing. Setting up video conferencing and its operation is costly, and this conferencing could perhaps be scheduled once a week.

Wiki/Whiteboard/RSS - You would need collaborative development effort in any project outsourced offshore. Ideally the “white-board” solution is quite effective in solving different kinds of technical issues. This allows both the parties to work on a common document structure, hence following the same method of representing their status regarding the project.

Continuous Integration and Bug Tracking – You need to a way for all team members to immediately, at any time, know the status of the project from the code perspective.   Two ways this can be facilitated is through a continuous integration build server and the implementation and diligent maintenance of bug tracking/automated test results.

Source Control Repository - A document repository is a part of an important tool for providing communication between the onsite and offshore teams. This repository should be accessible by both the teams 24 hours, 7 days a week, remembering that your offshore team will be working when you will have nights. The repository should preferably have a secured access, with each identified members having their own username and password.

You probably noticed the exclusion of email and instant messenger (IM) as tools?  Of course, I do not suggest you remove these applications entirely.  But offshore software development teams tend to quickly rely on them too much.  When information is exchanged across email or IM, the knowledge contained in the communication is buried.  Using these tools appears to be a time saver on the surface.  However, in the longer term, in the exchange of emails/IM becomes a burden and time waster when attempting to reference previous communication dialog.

The turning point for many companies to start outsourcing their work was the current competitive trend of delivering professional world class quality, on time, work at cost effective prices. Many firms prefer to outsource their software projects offshore. There are many ideal benefits to suit your specific process-centric requirements.

True Benefits of outsourcing software development :

B2B & B2C’s growing momentum has quickened the pace for more powerful world class, streamlined comprehensive, off shore software outsourcing. Benefits of out sourcing software development:

• Customer-centric approach of delivery.
• World class professional skills and expertise to suit your process-centric requirements.
• Establishment of both or either a technical or call centre.
• Internet promotion and advertisement with SEO services at cost effective prices.
• Feature-rich one stop process-centric service centre.
• Variety of domains of highly skilled personnel with quicker time to market innovative techniques.
• Flexible websites with free periodical updates using only the latest technology.

Why India?

An annual Asia-Pacific survey of more than 500 companies, according to Hewitt Associates, reported that India had gains of 12.8% & 13.7% last year for positions labeled IT solutions provider & software development. It has also been proved that around 80% of the offshore outsourcing work is done in India.

Why do many of the American & UK companies come to India than its competitors China & Romania?

• India has a larger English speaking population.
• India also has a lot of historical ties to the western countries, which ensures better interactive and prompt technical delivery to suit your customer-centric needs.
• Labor costs are relatively lower.
• Due to the economic vitality, the standard as well as the cost of living was on the increase with the new offshore software outsourcing projects.
• It has also helped in the rapid creation of a technological market.
• The demand for more IT Professionals was meet in a streamlined approach.

India is currently considered the hub when it comes to offshore outsourcing in all the various spheres of a growing as well as a developed economy. Its feature-rich innovative techniques ensure credibility and a definite boost for their company profile in the market.

Agile software development is a framework utilized software development projects. It was born out of frustration within traditional project management activities. According to Wikipedia:

The modern definition of agile software development evolved in the mid 1990s as part of a reaction against “heavyweight” methods, as typified by a heavily regulated, regimented, micro-managed use of the waterfall model of development. The processes originating from this use of the waterfall model were seen as bureaucratic, slow, demeaning, and inconsistent with the ways that software engineers actually perform effective work.

The objective when implementing an agile methodology is to minimize risks in software development. Within all agile software development methodologies, there are common principles. The Agile Alliance lists the following principles in the Agile Manifesto:

* Customer satisfaction by rapid, continuous delivery of useful software
* Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months)
* Working software is the principal measure of progress
* Even late changes in requirements are welcomed
* Close, daily, cooperation between business people and developers
* Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication
* Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be trusted
* Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design
* Simplicity
* Self-organizing teams
* Regular adaptation to changing circumstances

There are many disciplines that fall within the agile software development umbrella. Some well known agile software development methodologies include Scrum, Crystal Clear, Lean, Extreme Programming (XP), Adaptive Software Development, Feature Driven Development, and DSDM.

Agile Software Development Status
Agile Software Development is often contrasted to the most prevalent software development model: Waterfall. According to a study from ACM:

“It is both surprising and disappointing, then, that in a survey of almost 200 practitioners, accounting for several thousands of projects over the past five years, the dominant process model reported was the Waterfall, with more than a third claiming its use.5 This result raises a question: Do practicing professionals know the Waterfall when they see it? Perhaps they are confusing it with other process models. This seems unlikely, but so does its dominance. It’s more likely that in many circumstances, doing the wrong thing is easier than doing the right thing—and this is not a recipe for success”

Where to Learn More

AgileAlliance
Using Agile in Offshore Development
Agile Software Development Articles

Recommended Books

Agile Software Development (Wikipedia)