lunch and learn, pitfalls and best practic, preses around outsourcing software development,...

The Dos and Don'ts of Outsourcing the Design and Development of Software Products

Many companies have traditionally outsourced software development (with mixed results) largely because of the financial benefits that are available through the use of off-shore labor. More and more, it makes sense to consider outsourcing for additional reasons, including:

The need to tap into the increasingly global talent pool The difficulty associated with building a full team and the associated

infrastructure The need to access high-level talent such as design for usability experts,

architects, and program managers

At this Lunch and Learn, Neubloc will cover when (and when not) to consider outsourcing software design and development. We will look at common pitfalls of outsourcing as well as covering best practices. While the emphasis will be on software development, the discussion should be useful with respect to outsourcing in other areas, including hardware development and business practice outsourcing.

© Copyright 2009 by Neubloc, LLC. All rights reserved. Phone: (619) 578-2873 | www.neubloc.com

November 18, 2005

The Dos and Don'ts of Outsourcing the Design and Development of Software Products

Armando ViteriCEO

Bruce HunterDirector of Business Development

Agenda Introductions--Tell us who you are and what you’d like to get out

of todayOverview of NeublocWhy consider outsourcing software design and developmentWhat to look for in a outsourced partnershipWhat to outsource for established companiesAdditional outsourcing pitfallsSummary of best practicesQ&A If Time and Interest: Some Neubloc Portfolio Examples


About NeublocWe are a San Diego-based firm that helps other

companies build software products such as Enterprise Applications, Social Media Applications, Mobile Apps, and Embedded Applications

We act as a virtual design and engineering department for a range of software companies (startups to Fortune 500)



Neubloc ServicesProduct Strategy and Design

What is your market? Who are your users? How do increase adoption and reduce training/support? How do you craft the roadmap?

Application Product Development

Architecture Program Management Development Test

Embedded Product Development

Why Outsource Software Product Design?

Leverage specialized expertise during key periods of product development

Usability Experts Graphic and Creative Designers Architects—application level, database level, etc.

Outsourcing product design encourages innovation by allowing for fresh perspectives

3rd party validation of

scope and cost

© Copyrigh 2009 by Neubloc, LLC. All rights reserved. Phone: (619) 578-2873 | www.neubloc.com

Why Outsource Software Development? Focus on core business versus engineering management Fast time-to-market by leveraging existing infrastructure

RecruitmentDevelopment infrastructure

Project Management Build System Test System Bug Tracking

Engineering Management

More predictable outcome Talent pool

Access to a global talent pool when local talent is hard to find Ability to leverage global talent pool Labor arbitrage

Companies can flexibly expand their development bandwidth when internal teams are maxed out


But offshore projects do go fatally wrong

Outsourced vendors can stumble horribly: Company failure “Double dipping” on resources assigned IP theft

When they are offshore there is little recourse Are you going to chase them through their local court system?

Most of the time the problems are less obvious but still serious

Offshore project management leads to poor implementation or long, costly delays

Offshore companies may not have the ability to get the visas required to get personnel onsite fast.

Using 3rd party firm as staff augmentation versus part of the team


What to look for in an outsourced relationship?

Single reliable established vendorUS based headquarters, key management and

project managementPreferably full services

Design Development Maintenance

Critical IP development within the confines of countries with have IP agreements with the US


What to outsource for established companies?


Rapid prototyping of unknown/unproven technologies. This frees resources internally to evaluate results and determine their usability in the Enterprise

Reverse engineering of legacy and/or undocumented applications. Every company has those skeletons in the closet…sooner or later they need to come out.

Code Migrations. This requires an enormous amount of time to analyze cryptic data, set up the transfer process, test and perform the migration. In addition, offshore works great for setting up and cleaning up data to prepare the migration.

Your classic software development projects. Here it is strongly recommended that your offshore partner is part of the team as close as possible to inception. This helps to clearly define the scope of the offshore responsibilities.

Testing and maintenance. These are major areas for effective use of offshore resources.

Source: Erich Kreidler, USC

Additional Pitfalls to Avoid

Hiring a single developer Dependent on him or her to finish the project, and to finish the

documentation before they leave Single person has to fill many roles, including user interface,

application design, database design, and test.Going too long between iterations

Prevents you from having the opportunity to monitor progress and to course correct

Leads to surprisesCreating a rigid relationship by insisting on fixed costs

Stifles innovation Focuses time on contractual issues


Summary of Best Practices Single reliable established partner Make sure there are stateside project champions

With product development, priorities and features change Global resources not always attuned to U.S. management

style Treat the team like your internal team

Regular project reviews with updates on costs and schedules as well as opportunity to review interim deliverables

Make sure you consider intellectual property Best to deal with U.S. company Make sure they back end development is done in safe

places



Questions?


Mobile Check Deposit

Customer: Mitek

End Customers: Banks


Corporate Learning Management Customer: GeoLearning

End Customers: Corporate Training Departments


Patent Research and ManagementApplication

Customer: Ibex

End Customers:IP Attorneys


RFID Shipping System

Customer: Eggs Overnight

End Customers:Corporate shipping departments


Storage Device DevelopmentNeubloc is now integral to all aspects of software

development at a Fortune 500 company providing disk

storage devices. Services provided are firmware

development, quality assurance, development of

testing tools and development of core software.

Technologies used are C/C++.

lunch and learn, pitfalls and best practic, preses around outsourcing software development,...

Technology