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A Recipe For Outsourcing Your Software Development

Outsourcing your software development candesign, and development of the client's
save you time and money if you know what yousoftware.
need. Too often US companies attempt to
outsource without a good understanding ofThe client is essentially saying, "Design the
what their software should do, and this issoftware for me, and I'll tell you if it
the biggest cause of outsourcing failure. Itmatches what I am thinking." This can work
is unreasonable to expect your outsourcingbecause the cost of outsourcing is so low
team to have a menu of software,that rework and multiple design iterations
pre-prepared, so you can just select theare  affordable.
items  you  want.
This type of arrangement only works when
Ever go to a restaurant with a picky eater?paying on a Time and Materials basis. There
They tell the waiter in excruciating detailis no way to offer fixed pricing because the
how they want their food prepared. And heavenend  product  is  not  defined.
forbid that the food arrives different from
what was requested! Back to the kitchen itOf course, not having a specification may not
goes to be "fixed" to make the picky eaterstop you from asking for a fixed price bid!
happy.In this case, you can outsource the creation
of a specification that defines your software
Sometimes US companies hire an outsourcedfor a fixed price. Then the resulting
partner as if they were going to acomplete design specification is used to
restaurant. They select the cuisine based oncreate a second fixed price bid for writing
the flavor of the technology they require.your  software.
Chinese .NET or Indian Java? How about some
Russian C++? Unfortunately there is rarely aAnother factor comes into play when you pay a
menu for the exact items you might like tofixed price amount for a software design
order  from  an  outsourced  team.specification. You usually have to pay at
least half up front. This is to protect the
Are you approaching outsourcing your softwareoutsourcing company from delivering a
like you are walking into a restaurant? Arespecification for creating the software and
you expecting the outsourcing team to advisethen  not  getting  paid.
you, like an attentive waiter, on the way
your software should look, be prepared andBecause software design often occurs at the
presented  to  your  customers?beginning of a relationship, both parties
seek to minimize their risk. You minimize
Instead, bring your own recipe when you startyour risk by selecting an outsourcing team
work with an outsourcing team. Unlike yourwith a proven track record and great
dining experiences, you cannot ask for thereferences. The outsourcing team reduces
daily special. You have to provide a specifictheir risk by getting partial (sometimes
description of what you would like to have,full)  payment  before  starting.
and how it should be prepared. Without such a
recipe, your outsourced software developmentThere are multiple deliverables that should
efforts  can  be  starved  for  success.be produced during the design phase of
creating your software, whether you do it
Poorly specified software is often the resultyourself,  or  outsource  the  design:
when "subject matter experts" are involved.
Subject matter experts, or SMEs, know a lot-  Marketing  Requirements
about a particular subject, like IC design,
business process workflow, inventory-  Storyboard  Demo
management, etc., but very little about
designing software. SMEs can struggle to get-  Functional  Specification
their ideas encoded in the software. They
need to work with someone that knows the best-  Multiple  Release  Milestone  Schedule
way  to  design  and  develop  software.
-  Detailed  Task  Schedule for First Release
Sometimes, there is a fear of getting bogged
down in the details. Since some software-  Detailed  Design  Specification (optional)
executives are great with people, they feel
much more comfortable hiring a person toUnfortunately, software development has not
handle the details. They know how to manage aprogressed to the point where ready-made
person here, better than they can manage anmodules are available to order and combined
offshore team of programmers in a remoteto create your software. There is not yet a
offshore  location.menu of choices available to anyone that is
hungry for new software. Instead, you must
One Accelerance client is in this situation.provide your own recipe for what you need.
The CEO wants to outsource the development ofThe good news is low cost outsourced software
a new software product. But there is nodesign and development resources are now
specification. In this case Accelerance isavailable to create your custom software to
acting as a virtual CTO, responsible for themeet your exact specifications.



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