Globesoft

Managing Dynamic Teams in Multiple Locations

When Globesoft started up a software development team at Ciklum in Kiev we chose to do the long term development in Ukraine for one product area. We had a set of existing tools and processes that we tried to use for the teams both in Ukraine and Sweden. Eventually we instead started to use the technical infrastructure (CTI) and development processes offered by Ciklum. Today we are using this setup throughout the whole organization for all product areas.

After having run the development team for a while we found that with distributed teams we were facing new challenges. The new situation was forcing us to synchronize and define handover checkpoints between the business side and technical teams in a more controlled way. The infrastructure just wasn’t good enough. We decided to start using the Scrum methodology through the CCO training coaches and the CTI platform. 

After introducing this infrastructure we quickly improved both speed and quality in the operations. We have been working with coaches from Ciklum to continuously fine-tune and improve the processes. We are now adding components to our operation such as Continuous Integration to be able to release our software more often big better control.

Today at Globesoft everything we do in Ukraine together with Ciklum is replicated to the rest of the organization as “best practice”. The experience of working with our Kiev team has transformed the company into a stronger organization with a better ability to adopt to change.

Reference date: October 2011

Implementing Scrum and Agile Methods

Challenge

The main challenges initially identified by GlobeSoft were centered on the collaboration between their onshore and offshore teams. The Client was not completely satisfied with the overall integration and performance of their offshore team in Ukraine and felt that there was room for improving the productivity. Predictability and transparency of the work performed by the two teams seemed to be the main barrier for a better development output.

Solution

Ciklum Services and Consulting (CSC) were engaged to assist GlobeSoft in identifying the real drivers for the underperformance and manage the implementation of the associated changes into the project. The project audit performed by CSC resulted in the following assessment:

Productivity improvement

• The teamwork and communication between the offshore and onshore team needed to be improved. There were no clear project organization or distribution of responsibilities
• Transparency and predictability of the project would be improved by adopting a more structured way in preparing project delivery plans and making time estimates of each specific task
• Taking a more structured approach to testing would decrease the overall release cycle and improve quality of work
• At the conclusion of the project audit, CSC suggested GlobeSoft to adopt an agile project methodology using SCRUM principles at its core.

Implementation process

The implementation of the changes needed was initiated by a 1-day SRUM training session. The training session was conducted by a CSC Scrum coach and involved all the team members ensuring a broad understanding of the methodology - both the theoretical and practical elements. The outcome of the session was a joint team understanding - the offshore team and onshore development leads - of the way forward as well as the structure of the project team that would support it.

The first month during which GlobeSoft team followed the agile methodology the CSCs SCRUM coach monitored and coached the team in their planning, retrospective, demo and daily meetings ensuring a smooth transition into using the agile development approach and thus reaching the objectives determined before initiating the program.

Results

The primary objective for Globesoft when deciding to adopt SCRUM was to improve communication with our Ukraine team. Immediately after having started the implementation of the methodology the team sprit improved. Piece by piece the team formed itself and the individuals all sense a higher level of accomplishment in their daily work which is a great motivation factor going forward. The approach when estimating tasks with little information and iteratively moving forward in short sprints is now essential for our business. After convincing our management by earning their trust through continuously delivering results every second week it is now a natural part of our business planning process. The assistance from the CSC team has been very professional and valuable. We can certainly recommend others to do the same.

Reference date: June 2009