A talk by Alexey Krivitsky done at AGILEEE 2011 based on http://www.scrumoffshore.net

1. Alexey Krivitsky @alexeykri
SCRUMguides krivitsky@scrumguides.com
metaphors, advices and ideas on
developing offshore software teams.
agileee edition www.scrumoffshore.net

2. I am from Ukraine.
“Ukraine is a developing country”.

3. Ukraine
is a software developing country.

4. Few weeks back I visited Berlin
- A SYMBOLIC PLACE OF FREEDOM.

5. When we’re talking about offshoring
- THE WALL IS THERE.

6. DISCLAIMER
THINGS IN THIS PRESENTATION MAY
APPEAR OBVIOUS TO YOU.
EVEN QUITE OBVIOUS.
STILL, I KEEP OBSERVING OFFSHORE
TEAMS AND PROJECTS THAT SUFFER
FROM OBVIOUS DISASTERS.
WITH OBVIOUS CAUSES.
BUT, ‘OBVIOUS’ DOESN’T NATURALY
MEAN ‘CONSIOUS’.
MY GOAL IS TO HELP MAKE OBVIOUS
THINGS CONSIOUS.

7. THE BRICKS IN THE WALL
¡ Cultural differences
¡ T ime zone shifts

8. THE BRICKS IN THE WALL
¡ Cultural differences
¡ T ime zone shifts
¡ Invalid assumptions
e.g.: you can start with 50 people hired altogether
e.g.: offshore team will be implementing designs defined onshore
¡ Wrong expectations
e.g.: offshore teams will quickly outperform onshore
e.g.: onshore process will not change

9. subcontracting TERMINOLOGY
client-customer rel.
distributed development
outsourcing all teams have
transfer of work equal level of
to an external contractor authority
offshoring
to another country team extension
employees of another
company are integrated
nearshoring into onshore team
to a neighboring country

10. Offshoring involves shifting work
to a foreign, distant organization in
order to reduce production costs.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Nearshoring

11. MAIN DRIVERS OF OFFSHORING
1. Minimize operational expenses
– do cheaper
2. Satisfy hiring needs
– insource skills
3. Avoid legal issues of lay-offs
– less headache

12. COST OPTIMIZATION STRATEGIES
SHORT-TERM LONG-TERM
¡ cut expenses ¡ invest in growth
¡ do more ¡ do better
with less staff with more skilled staff
¡ maximize savings ¡ minimize turnover
¡ build repeatable ¡ teach, delegate
process and mentor

13. BUT SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS …
¡ don’t know how to express themselves
¡ don’t know how to take responsibility
¡ are willing to take all the risks
… ARE LIKE KIDS

14. KIDS AT WORK

15. DIFFERENT STRATEGIES
YOUR FRIENDS’ CHILDREN YOUR CHILDREN
¡ you want to make sure ¡ you want to make them
they do no harm grow into good people
¡ turnover not controllable ¡ zero turnover
¡ someone will take care of them ¡ you’re responsible for your kids
¡ don’t listen to you ¡ will support you
and don’t care when you’re retired

16. RESPONSIBILITY PROCESS
(responsibility is a process)
¡ Responsibility
¡ Quit
¡ Obligation
¡ Shame
¡ Justify
¡ Lay blame
¡ Denial
www.christopheravery.com/responsibility-process

17. MAIN DRIVERS OF OFFSHORING
1. Minimize operational expenses
– do cheaper AS THE MAIN DRIVER
MIGHT LEAD TO
SUBOPTIMIZATIONS
2. Satisfy hiring needs
– insource skills
AS THE MAIN DRIVER
SHOULD LEAD TO
RESPECT AND GROWTH

18. TAKE-AWAYS OF PART ONE
“developers are like kids”
“not caring about children is irresponsible
“cost optimization as the main driver is not good”

19. DATING MODEL divorce
or die the same day
EVENTS
planning more kids
long long
owning a house
married
having the first kid
long
moving out married
just
married
STAGES
dating

20. DATING MODEL
long long
married
long
married
just
married
STAGES
dating

21. IMAGINE A COUPLE
dating
with 3 kids
just bough a house
never lived moving out
together

22. THE FOUR STAGES
of team development
1. 2.
STAFF IT UP START IT UP
4. 3.
SCALE IT UP SPEED IT UP

23. THE FOUR STAGES
of team development
build as your team start shoreless
1. 2.
STAFF IT UP START IT UP
4. 3.
SCALE IT UP SPEED IT UP
keep respecting individuals set up flow

24. TAKE-AWAYS OF PART TWO
“there steps in relationship development”
“building offshore teams is like building a family”
“going to fast might lead to a collapse”

25. APPENDIX
(the most valuable part)

26. 1.
build your
team STAFF IT UP

27. 1.
build your
team STAFF IT UP
advices
don’t outsource hiring
hire people you like
first hire a leader
disregard the age
hire as a group

28. start
shoreless
2.
START IT UP

29. start
shoreless
2.
START IT UP
leverage past experience advices
of newcomers
consider doing scrum
engage team in
solution design
do first sprints shoreless
embrace new process
warm up with weekly make a step back in
setup sprints attend trainings solution design
altogether
invest in dev. integrate your architect
infrastructure

30. all you
need is
3.
flow
SPEED IT UP

31. all you
need is
3.
flow
SPEED IT UP
distribute product
advices
ownership
run regular grooming
sessions invest in
communication
express equality and infrastructure
trust
organize ambassador
separate daily scrums program
from status calls
use skype group chats
buy good webcams
shift solution design and use them
offshore

32. keep
4.
respecting
individuals
SCALE IT UP

33. keep
4.
respecting
individuals
SCALE IT UP
advices
build feature teams
stay with the same
offshore vendor – invest
in the team
extend PO team to
offshore
build team pages and
visualize high-level portrait galleries
management with
kanbans

34. keep
4.
respecting
individuals
SCALE IT UP
advices
build feature teams
stay with the same
offshore vendor – invest
in the team
extend PO team to
offshore
visualize high-level
management with
kanbans

35. this work is not finished.
and never will be. by design.
join www.scrumoffshore.net to help
collaborate and elaborate these ideas.
thank you!

36. Alexey Krivitsky @alexeykri
www.scrumoffshore.net