By Leonardo Mattiazzi

Agile has been largely regarded as an ideal fit for today’s business challenges (for a reference, check the Forrester Research Feb. 2012 report, “Determine The Business And IT Impact Of Agile Development”).

And, from our experience, the business benefit of using Agile is magnified when it is coupled with the application of Lean principles, such as establishing a continuous flow of constant throughput. This principle, known as heijunka in the Lean vernacular, when applied to software development means creating a continuous delivery model, with a fixed-size team that undertakes several different projects one after another (of course, using Agile methods in each one of them). By doing so, we are able to eliminate several different sources of waste, and significantly decrease the actual cost of these projects (in our estimates, by at least 25% in the long run), as well …

 By Leonardo Mattiazzi

In the first part of this post, I explained how the mass production of software, while initially seemed to improve efficiency, ultimately value to the industry, also laid the foundation for the “software factory” trend. To move away from this model, organizations should seek out Nearshore providers with their own high-performance teams that possess the aforementioned qualities of talent and skills mastery. In this post I will share the final three traits of the high-performance team, and how Nearshore teams can encourage these traits within their organization.

Autonomy

Giving professionals the room to work autonomously can bolster the team’s commitment to each other and to a project’s overall success. It instills a sense of reliance and trust in each team member, helping each person to identify their own unique strengths and understand their role within the team. This will ultimately give each person a sense of responsibility and ownership over …

 By Leonardo Mattiazzi, Vice President, International Business for Ci&T

At the advent of the industry, writing software was an individual’s task. This was clear as the developer’s touch was all over the final product. But over time, that personal touch seemingly disappeared. As the industry evolved, software was called upon to solve increasingly larger problems, computers got smaller and the task of development became too large for a single individual. It fast became a team sport and processes were put in place to make the development more efficient.

The growth of the industry was of course a good thing, resulting in flourishing project management, new collaboration tools and the creation of processes to ensure adherence to standards. As a result, today Nearshore teams can work with clients to deliver cost-effective projects quickly and efficiently.

But during the process of standardization, which followed in the footsteps of mass production in manufacturing, something was lost. …

In my last post, I discussed how the user experience of a mobile app is critical to ensure that the app will actually be downloaded and used. We discussed how Agile software development practices are excellent in fostering communication between team members, but that while constant communication takes place, the overall view of the wider project can be lost.

So, how can we change this status quo? How can we incentivize software engineers and other team members to remember that we are building a product with specific goals for an end-user audience and also the business behind the project? How can we make sure all the people involved on the client side, not only the Product Owner (PO), can quickly validate if the view of the product is right? While there might be many answers to these questions, we decided to look for the simplest visual solution, like the …

Who owns the software that you develop? By the definition of the word “own,” it would be you, right? You create it, you distribute it, you own it.

Seems logical, but this simple question is turned on its side when it comes to software that has been developed for the web or as a mobile application. When developing for the web, even though you retain ownership of the intellectual property, the page or service is available publicly – so it becomes an asset of the web. This, however, is not the case for mobile apps. When someone actively makes the very personal decision to download an app – to give it precious space on his or her mobile device – that user most definitely is the owner of that app. Of course you will keep the intellectual property of the app’s code, but the app itself doesn’t belong to you anymore …

In my previous post, I discussed how IT consumerization – the introduction of consumer devices into the workplace – is already having a significant impact on Nearshore software development as CIOs rush to capitalize on the trend. But adapting to new devices alone isn’t enough. To truly get the most out of their consumerization efforts, companies have begun to incorporate Mobile Device Management (MDM) and Mobile Application Management (MAM) into their enterprise mobility strategies.

Mobile Device Management and Mobile Application Management have emerged as real solutions for companies seeking to harness IT consumerization while keeping control over the consumer devices used in the workplace and the applications that reside on them. These solutions, which include offerings from companies like AirWatch and Sybase (Afaria), enable IT to secure employee-owned iOS or Android devices, while ensuring adherence to corporate policies and approved use of …

In my last blog post, I looked at some of the reasons why mobile apps have emerged as the next frontier in Nearshore, and are only likely to grow as a dominant market driver in the years to come. One of the reasons I point to is IT consumerization, the trend of information technology gaining adoption with consumers, who in turn bring these devices or software to the business.

In this post, I’d like to delve deeper into this trend, and talk through some of the reasons why I believe it will continue to reshape the IT landscape – and, by extension, the Nearshore market – for the foreseeable future.

At its heart, the concept of IT consumerization means just what it sounds like: consumer devices making their way into IT environments. But the reasons for this – and their implications for Nearshore – bear further exploration.

Certainly one of the …

As we’ve discussed previously on this blog, the trend of companies turning to Nearshore providers to develop enterprise software and web applications has given way to more and more organizations looking to Nearshore partners to develop mobile apps. And it’s not just development – Nearshore providers are being sought as partners to aid in the creation of companies’ entire mobile strategies, from ideation and UX (user experience) design to post-production (including support, metrics and governance).

There are a number of reasons for this, and as we head into the fourth quarter of 2011 and start looking ahead to 2012, I think it’s safe to assume that mobile development will continue to be a core driver in the growth of Nearshore IT outsourcing in the years to come. Here’s why:

• Growth of Mobile Apps as a Business and Marketing Engine: Rather than being viewed as simple time-wasters, mobile apps are now being …

In the first part of this post, I discussed the benefits of combining Agile methodologies and Lean principles in Nearshore application development. The second half will take this idea a step further, examining additional ways that this combination of Agile and Lean in Nearshore can deliver business value.

Any successful Lean application development project aims to avoid waste. Many offshore engagements generate waste in the form of extensive documentation, while time difference can also be a significant hurdle to the efficient completion of projects. The lack of overlap in working hours creates significant lag in the ability of the provider to interact with the client, thereby hampering the goal of using Agile development to deliver better software at a faster pace.

Because of the overlap in working hours between the client and the provider, Nearshore reduces waiting time for answers to questions or access to deliverables to the bare minimum, …

Companies in today’s economy need to ensure that investments in Nearshore development projects result in high returns. As such, companies have often looked to providers to deliver applications at the lowest possible cost, and the quality and speed at which they’re delivered is a secondary concern.

With the economic situation as it is, it’s hard to fault them for this. Many Nearshore application development providers consistently trumpet their ability to deliver custom applications at a significant cost-savings to the client. But the reality is that any savings that may be gained in these engagements ultimately are achieved at the expense of productivity and delivery of true value to the business.

In development projects, agility and business contribution are critical. This is why I have long been a proponent of Nearshoring application development using a combination of Agile methodologies and Lean principles. In many ways, Nearshoring has proven to be a crucial enabler …