Agile based methodology in Offshore Software Development Process

It is believed that effective communication plays an important role in the success of any software development process. This belief has given rise to agile software development wherein there is no fixed plan for development. Instead, the developers and clients regularly communicate to decide the next plan of action. As opposed to this, an offshore software development process entails a plan driven approach. It involves much less communication than the agile methodology. The development process is largely based on a plan of action chalked out in the beginning. Software development projects from Europe and North America are now undertaken by development firms based as far as India. While offshore development means significantly reduced development costs, the other benefits of it are less known. It is in the best interest of clients that a certain level of agility exists in any development process. Therefore, integrating some approaches of agile development into an offshore based methodology can help the latter succeed.

• Setup a defined communication protocol: It is usually seen that remote servers are situated in locations where the largest development teams sit. Smaller teams communicate to these servers over the internet. It is essential to set redundant communication channel for back-up when the primary ones fail. A particular communication protocol must be set for the complete development process. This would include documentations structures, strategic location of servers, video conferencing plans and also field visit plans.

• Use of wikis as knowledge repositories: Since face to face communication is not possible on a regular basis, it is essential to bridge this gap by creating effective knowledge repositories. Wikis can be used to share information and also to provide updated on the development process. This is offset the problem resulting from the absence of physical proximity. Most offshore software development centers follow a plan driven approach. As such they require detailed plans and designs for the requirements. Knowledge repositories can help to communicate these plans. Moreover, they can be used by both the client and developers for future reference. The lack of structure of wikis allows the involved parties to create documentation of their own suitable structure. The notification capabilities of wikis can be used to alert all distant parties about any significant changes as well.

• Continuous integration of the completed work: It is a common practice to divide the development process and delegate it to different firms. While this results in faster products with fewer bugs, integration becomes a bottleneck. Having continuous integration is very important for such an offshore software development process. But, multi-site teams may face serious glitches during integration. Therefore, it is important that all the teams use the same code base and interoperable design methodology. It is a must that every development is done keep the future integration in mind so as to avoid future issues.

• Importance of regular bug fixing and code reviews: There might be times when the development output of a team is used as a code base by another. During such times, bug fixing before embarking on the development procedure is important. This makes the developers familiar with the code base, its structure, limitations, capabilities and future scope of enhancement. This in turn results in a better product with no bugs. Having regular code reviews between multi site teams proved to be helpful in building a robust product. Ambassadors from each team can visit their peer teams so that everyone is on the same page. This will bring the aspect of face to face communication used in agile approach into an offshore development process.

In this way, incorporating agility through communication into an offshore software development process helps create a cost effective and successful product.

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