Agile development has become the methodology of choice for most companies seeking to accelerate their speed of delivery of software with flexibility. However, good planning and coordination are required when bringing agile software outsourcing into this process. Outsourcing in an agile environment adds the challenge of working with distributed teams, but it can particularly do well in terms of productivity and ignite innovation, and reduce time-to-market if done perfectly.
We’re going to discuss in this article how organizations can efficiently optimize the outsourcing of agile development and promote the smooth collaboration of in-house with outsourced agile software teams.
First of all, one should know why agile software outsourcing is so popular. Agile development focuses on iterative progress, continuous feedback, and collaboration, making it ideal for projects where requirements change over time.
Agile projects allow firms access to global talent, increase the scale of teams quickly, and remain responsive, avoiding the commitment of being bound by long-term hiring. The ability to integrate flexibility in outsourced relationships with an agile product release plan that is iterative and changeable allows companies to respond quickly to market changes while maintaining the highest standards.
The key to agile outsourcing development is the correct outsourcing partner. Not all software outsourcing companies have the means to manage processes inside an agile framework that’s why it becomes crucial to get a partner that has experience working inside of an agile framework such as Scrum or Kanban.
When it comes to evaluating good outsourcing partners, consider a company that:
– Has experience with delivery on agile projects.
– Is well-familiarized with iterative development and cycles of frequent feedback.
Collaborative tools that easily apply to your workflows.
Best Practice Tip: Interview or use trial projects to determine the ease with which an outsourced team will fit your agile values, communication style, and project management tools.
Agile methodology lives on the fact of constant and collaborative communication among the members. Agile software teams must be outsourced as they are likely to be located in different time zones and locations.
To maximize agile software outsourcing, implement clear communication protocols right from the start. In this case, the following would help in agile software outsourcing:
Hold a daily stand-up meeting that could be virtual to ensure everyone on board aligns on the set goals and the progress of such elements.
– Video conferencing using Zoom or Microsoft Teams for in-person meetings.
– Team collaboration using tools such as Slack, Jira, or Trello to share a board for real-time tracking, updates on each respective task assigned to members, and the progress of each assigned task to the members.
Best Practice Tip: Use asynchronous communication tools when real-time video conferencing is difficult to conduct due to time differences. That way, your team keeps updated and contributes to the process without needing to be online at the same time.
Treat your outsourced team as an actual branch of your in-house team when you outsource for agile development. Agile software teams should be able to collaborate seamlessly, whether they work in-house or outsourced, to achieve project goals.
Make them feel fully integrated through incentives. Implement these:
Shared project goals and objectives with the outsourced team
Outsourced team members should be involved in sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and retrospectives.
Provide an open collaborative culture, free to give suggestions and feedback to the outsourced team.
Best Practice Tip: Implement “buddy systems,” pairing outsourced developers with in-house team members, which will enhance collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Agile methodologies may not fit as suitably as in traditional outsourcing contracts. Agile development is inherently a project wherein the requirements change over time; hence, fixed-price contracts may not be so practical for this type of project. Agile outsourcing development best streamlines agile contracts that consider elements of flexibility in scope, timelines, and deliverables.
Agile contracts include:
Delivery of features iteratively rather than a finished product.
Agile contracts allow for a shorter contract period extendable on progress and feedback.
– Time and materials pricing models which are flexible as the project unfolds.
Recommendation Best Practice Tip: Specify in the contract clearly how changes to requirements or project scope will be managed and both parties will practice open-ended and accountable measures.
Agile development thrives on the premise of continuous improvement – feedback on producing quality and high alignment with continuously changing customer needs. The same is necessary in outsourcing as well – maintaining the same focus on feedback from the external team.
Regular feedback from the in-house and outsourced team members should be encouraged:
– In sprint review, discussing completed work, and aspects that need to be improved.
– In Sprint Retrospective, factors that have worked well and what needs to be done differently in the future iteration.
Feedback from the outsourced team in the light of client or stakeholder feedback to ensure that the end-user needs are captured.
Best Practice Tip: Create an open and transparent environment for feedback: prompt the outsourced team members to share freely their ideas and concerns. This has a positive impact on improving collaboration and problem-solving activities.
Testing and QA is not a separate, isolated task in an agile project that only happens at the end of development. In the agile process, QA happens across multiple sprints; all features are thoroughly tested before moving on to the next iteration. That is especially relevant in agile software outsourcing, where misalignment on quality may result in delays and rework.
Work closely with your outsourced team in
– Determine quality objectives along with testing standards for every sprint
Automate testing: It is possible to facilitate most of the testing process by automation without compromising the quality of iterations
Make the outsource team well-equipped with any possible test environment and resources so that they may ensure completing their tasks.
Best Practice Tip: Schedule regular QA reviews with the outsourcing team to catch possible quality issues at their earliest stage, so they do not impact the final timeline of the project.
Time zone is one of the most common problems that emerge when outsourcing agile development, but time zone can be an advantage if it is managed well. You can develop a “follow-the-sun” model in which work goes on day and night.
To manage overlapping hours regarding real-time collaboration and meetings:.
– Utilize asynchronous resources for activities that don’t demand real-time interaction, such as code reviews or updates to documentation.
– Ensure project timelines are not in conflict with each other; critical tasks should be undertaken in overlapping hours.
Best Practice Tip: Be very clear about the working hours of the team member and the response time expected, especially when dealing with different time zones of other team members so not to hold up the development process.
While agile software outsourcing brings along many advantages, it’s not without its share of challenges:
There are different cultures with their respective styles of communication, ethics of work, and approaches to solving problems. Encouraging cultural awareness and mutual respect among in-house and outsourced team members is essential.
When teams get big, agility is difficult to maintain. Larger, dispersed teams can be burdened with slow decision-making and coordination headaches. Keep the teams small, cross-functional, and independent, doing their work on independent features or components, to stay agile.
As soon as you are outsourcing, especially when it is to offshore teams, you need to ensure your contract contains confidentiality and IP protection. This way, you can be assured that all your software and ideas are safe.
We ensure that your business development efforts scale in both efficiency and effectiveness. Our agile software teams mesh with your staff, providing the flexibility and expertise needed to complete quality software on time. From supplementing an existing team with a missing skillset to outsourcing responsibility for an entire project, Virstack has the knowledge and skills required for success.
Strong communication, collaboration, and the right outsourcing partner are always must-haves in agile software outsourcing. With the right approach to integrating outsourced teams into your agile processes; embracing continuous feedback, effective management of a distributed workforce, and well-exploited agile management will help businesses realize the benefits in terms of speedier development cycles, higher quality of software, and greater flexibility. Companies that follow these best practices will be the ones driving innovation for this increasingly demanding demand for outsourcing agile development in this highly competitive tech landscape.