Transcript Slide 1

Supervising Remote
Development Projects
John Molinaro Partner Rolta / TUSC
Fusion Middleware & DW/BI Practices.
[email protected]
July 15 / Slide 1 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Agenda:
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Drivers of Remote Development
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Why Software Development Projects Fail
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Best Practices for supervising remote development projects.
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Conclusion
July 15 / Slide 2 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Drivers for Remote Development Projects
Travel COST$ Rise
 Companies Embrace Virtual Office and remote worker
programs. Number of Tele-commuters grow…
 Outsource Market Place Growth
 Offshore companies expect double digit growth
 Complexity of the enterprise goes beyond time zones.
 Corporate M&A activity create complex diverse teams
 Globalization is more than delivery
 Multi-Sourcing trends show growth for complex
applications
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July 15 / Slide 3 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Headlines
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The ROI of Tele-presence Soars on Skyrocketing Airfare,
Hotel, and Fuel Prices .
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Work from home seen as a key benefit for top talent
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Offshore now for more than legacy
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Strategic applications now moving offshore
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Software Vendors improve time to market with major
innovations with offshore development.
July 15 / Slide 4 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Travel Costs are very real and only moving higher…
July 15 / Slide 5 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Resource Shifts…
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Talent Stateside and cheap labor in India is becoming
Talent can be anywhere.
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Offshore commodity work is becoming offshore
strategic work.
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Outsourcing is not just for maintenance
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Offshore is now normal
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Organizational distribution is evolving
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Distributed enterprises see keys in enterprise
applications having involvement by distributed teams.
July 15 / Slide 6 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Bottom Line on Remote Development
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It’s here for good reasons!
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Most of you have or will be accountable for the
productivity, quality, and delivery of projects leveraging
resources remotely.
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You might never see these people
You might only communicate with them via (email or
conference call) (Little to no one to one communication)
Forrester estimates that nearly three fourths of
application development projects for fortune 500
companies will have a remote component by 2009
July 15 / Slide 7 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Why Software Development Projects Fail?
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Skills
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Understanding of
requirements
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Understanding of business
drivers
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Understanding of Vision
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Communication breakdown
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Short Term thinking
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Manual Processes
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Failure to integration
infrastructure side of IT
Lack of attention to:
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Requirements
User involvement, feedback
Following PM practices
Testing
Usability
Business Processes
Investment alignment
Investment in Reuse
 Investment in process
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July 15 / Slide 8 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Best Practices for Remote Development Management
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You are accountable for the success, productivity, and
results for the team.
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Remote or local every team member is an:
asset,
 investment,
 and potential risk!
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Guidance, Motivation, Communication, start with you!
And all the other normal things
Budget
 Schedule
 Delivery of results
 Quality
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July 15 / Slide 9 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervision Tip #30
 TEAM:
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This includes the entire team!!
It is a downfall is segregate on-site and off-site, remote or
offshore members.
If you participate in sub-team meetings locally, give the effort to
participate in remote team meetings.
July 15 / Slide 10 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervision Tip #29
 Project sponsor on board:
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Typical PM success item is key in the development projects local
or remote. But ensure sponsor’s are on-board with offshore,
and other remote models.
July 15 / Slide 11 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #28
 Praise is a spoken word that works in all
languages and over the phone, or in
email.
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Simple enough to offer praise.
Same mechanisms for all team members.
As the leader you are in the middle of team,
and positive re-enforcement works for distributed
models as well as local models.
July 15 / Slide 12 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #27
 Celebrate landmarks:
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Make sure celebrations are felt across the distributed model.
Simple Motivation
 Builds team
 Communication
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July 15 / Slide 13 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #26
 Look for results versus words
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Every phase should have deliverables. Each task/role needs to
have a deliverable.
July 15 / Slide 14 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #25
 Ensure everyone is following same
methodology:
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Development approach and methodology
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Consistency
Removes Doubt
Publish
Sometimes train
Examples
July 15 / Slide 15 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #24
 Use of standard tools:
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Spreadsheets, tools, collaboration environment, queries or to
ask for clarifications. Repositories, collaborative on-line
environments.
Standards for the tools,
When to use what
 Consider identification of version specs
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July 15 / Slide 16 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #23
 Relationship with remote workers
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Offshore, Near-shore, Team Leader
Outsource Team Leader
Internal remote team leaders
Key contributors Remote
Critical Path Remote Contributors
July 15 / Slide 17 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #22
 Monitor Progress in detail
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Everything is fine is not enough!
Interim reports, milestone induction
Create metrics if required
July 15 / Slide 18 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #21
 Schedules:
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Schedule Status reports,
Schedules of Conference Calls
Schedules of work hours
Schedules of available communication / check points.
July 15 / Slide 19 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #20
 Time Expectation:
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Time of work hours for each individual/Team
Expectation on when they can/will receive phone calls or IM’s
You will need direct interactive communication windows
Schedule, publish, window of overlap
Email response
July 15 / Slide 20 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #19
 No Dumb Questions
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Never ignore a question
Never belittle a question
Direct verses implied answers
July 15 / Slide 21 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #18
 Understanding the Culture
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Words
Traditions
Holidays
…….
July 15 / Slide 22 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #17
 Increase the Q&A:
 Q&A sessions pay dividends to entire project team.
 Technical,
 Vision,
 Scope,
 Approach,
 Development Infrastructure
 Lessons learned
July 15 / Slide 23 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #16
 Assume Nothing
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Communication
Understanding
Iterate, Remind, Process, Reward, …
July 15 / Slide 24 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #15
 Collaborate between on-site and others
 It’s a Mentality- ON SITE = HQ / remote = ??
 Get their input in interactive communication
 Tools
July 15 / Slide 25 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #14
 Clarity in
evaluation
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Private criticize, Public
Praise
Frequency of feedback
Intuitionalism of process
within project
July 15 / Slide 26 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #13
 Project profile
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Remote is not one size fits all.
Overhead does not go away
July 15 / Slide 27 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #12
 Consider Language Barriers
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Work at this
Avoid the blah .. Blah listening pitfall
July 15 / Slide 28 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #11
 Be supportive of verbal communication
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Patience is key
Understanding and time allowance
Taking the time in a meeting for this will carry over to others
taking the time in their direct non-public communication.
July 15 / Slide 29 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #10
 Communication of the verbal into written
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Require written communication
Document the verbal communication
 Require examples
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July 15 / Slide 30 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #9
 Lay out communication lines
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Identify policy for use
Identify how to, leverage
Provide alternative sources
July 15 / Slide 31 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #8
 Communicate of Scope, SRS, and Budget
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Spot on for sound Project Management
Detail written communication
Re-iterate Verbal communication
Budget/Timeline
Granularity
Examples Communicated
July 15 / Slide 32 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #7
 Identify leaders
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Off-site examples (Setting the bar)
Off-site Team Communication Champion
July 15 / Slide 33 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #6
 Value of direct and visual communication:
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Direct face to face time
Visits
Video Conferencing
Webinar walkthrough
July 15 / Slide 34 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip # 5
 Test & Validate at every milestone
July 15 / Slide 35 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #4
 Team Respect
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Getting respect often depends on giving respect
Acknowledge your short falls
Motivation & giving approval
Belief in leadership
July 15 / Slide 36 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #3
 Work Culture / Project Culture
July 15 / Slide 37 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #2
 The Plan includes required overhead
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Build in the time for extra meetings
Build in the time for testing at every milestone
Build in the time for additional documentation per task
Allow for iterations of documentation and feedback for both
verbal and written communication
July 15 / Slide 38 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Supervisor Tip #1
 Vision, goals, mission shared and
understood.
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Vision is Key, Everyone knows the end result
Pride and ownership
Confirm Goals, Milestones are understood
July 15 / Slide 39 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Conclusion
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The reality and demands are unavoidable
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Didn’t cover legal issues
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Overhead
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Sound PM practices amplified
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Communication
Documentation
Sharing of vision
Granular SRS, Budget, Schedules
Consistency, Motivation, Understanding, Effort
July 15 / Slide 40 / Supervising Remote Development Projects
Thank you
John Molinaro
Partner – TUSC
[email protected]
www.tusc.com
July 15 / Slide 41 / Supervising Remote Development Projects