Are You Afraid to Outsource Your Mission-Critical Product Development?How to Do it Right
2
Featured Speakers
Sharon LeeDirector of Marketing
Lisbi AbrahamVP, Outsourced Product Development
3
Agenda
• Alliance Background• Drivers for outsourcing• Staffing your project• Setting expectations• The value of a prototype• Transitioning to Development
4
Alliance Background
• Alliance has a strong background in helping clients take mission critical products with very dynamic requirements, to market in a compressed time frame– From a small SEO company who needed to take their new product from
wireframes to Beta in < 3 months, in order to beat their competitors– To a Fortune 1000 company who wanted to launch a new product
leveraging existing legacy infrastructure and coordinating the work of 10 different teams
5
Reasons why companies typically Outsource the Development of their Mission Critical Products?
• Cost Savings • Faster Time to Market
– Time to Ramp up a Team• Expertise
– Product Development– Technology
6
Staffing your project for Success
• Need to get the right mix of onshore vs. offshore– The Right Ratio depends on the project and the customer’s outsourced
maturity level• Onshore Resources
– More expensive– Closer to the stakeholders
• Offshore Resources– Less Expensive– Teams that have worked together
7
Staffing your project (Skillsets required)
• Onshore Resources– Experts at communication– Product development experience
• Offshore Resources– Experienced resources– Previous US Experience
8
Setting Expectations
• Loss of trust if this isn’t done early on• At the start of the project
– Share the vision for the product– Set the goals of the project– Set priorities
• Ambiguity causes problems, counter it by:– Spending time fleshing out the key product concepts– Develop a prototype
9
Building a Prototype
• Why do a prototype?– Validate design is based on user centered design
• Validate look and feel, workflow, and complex user interactions– Understand the complexity of the features
• Performance considerations• Implementation considerations
– Side benefits: Sales tool / Training tool– Quick Win
10
Transitioning to Development
• Inception team included PMs, Architects, & Test Leads so that they can do knowledge handoff to full team
• Setup offshore environment during Inception phase– VPN Access– Servers / Desktops– Version Control logins
• Establish the metrics by which the project will be tracked and the SLA (ie. Quality metrics, Development metrics)
• Establish a continuous build process• Create a formal test plan
11
Transitioning: Communications
• Establish a Sharepoint or Wiki portal• Have a formal communications plan• Conduct video conferencing sessions• Bring offshore people onshore and vice-versa
12
Communication is Key
13
QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION
www.allianceglobalservices.com
