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With the pressures of market competition driving a demand for reduced costs and a faster time to market, many companies are exploring the option of developing their products offshore. However, the risks of outsourcing mission-critical, customer facing products are high. Communication barriers, time zone differences, and dynamic requirements are all obstacles to success. Whether you have tried to outsource your product development before or you are just exploring the option for the first time, join us for a webinar where we will present best practices for setting up an offshore product engagement for success. We will share case studies of how companies were able to take full advantage of a global hybrid model, leveraging offshore and onshore resources, in order the reap all of the benefits of outsourcing while mitigating the risks. The following topics will be covered: Project inception: The benefits of onshore vs. offshore Defining goals, objectives and priorities: Avoiding ambiguity The value of prototyping Transitioning from project set up to project development
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Are You Afraid to Outsource Your Mission-Critical Product Development?How to Do it Right
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Featured Speakers
Sharon LeeDirector of Marketing
Lisbi AbrahamVP, Outsourced Product Development
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Agenda
• Alliance Background• Drivers for outsourcing• Staffing your project• Setting expectations• The value of a prototype• Transitioning to Development
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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
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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
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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
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Staffing your project (Skillsets required)
• Onshore Resources– Experts at communication– Product development experience
• Offshore Resources– Experienced resources– Previous US Experience
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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
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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
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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
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Transitioning: Communications
• Establish a Sharepoint or Wiki portal• Have a formal communications plan• Conduct video conferencing sessions• Bring offshore people onshore and vice-versa
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Communication is Key
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QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION
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