Outsourcing and Agile Methodologies

In the CIO magazine (Feb. 1, 2009 issue) article, "Agile at the wheel", Jackie Barretta, the CIO of Con-way talks about going agile. Similarly in the PM Network magazine (Jan. 2009 issue) article, "A closer look: Nationwide mutual insurance co." talks about the company adopting Agile methodologies.

Two major trends in the IT arena definitely encourage the acceptance of Agile methodologies, outsourcing and the current economic malaise. In fact I would argue that the most of the agile methodologies when applied correctly and patiently would yield the most ROI in an outsourced relationship, especially when the developer, support and maintenance, and QA teams are geographically disbursed. One of the primary reason is the business teams such as marketing, finance, customer service, distribution center, supply chain etc. need quick solutions to IT problems they face every day. They cannot afford wait another three months or worse six months for a solution to come around. The current economic conditions are creating additional
stress on the business teams. The environment is filled with uncertainty about sales forecasts, cash flow projections, budget decisions etc. If IT does not raise up to the occasion and really help business teams in a dynamic way, in a matter of few months it could be too late.

The quick "feedback loop" between business teams, business analysts, IT teams needs to happen in a twenty four hour cycle and in a constant manner. If mistakes are not caught up front and quickly great losses can be incurred. The prototyping and iterative methods give business teams to understand what they want and to change course quickly.

The outsourcing vendors should be quick to offer these value added services to the customers. Most often we find that corporations have to bring in external Agile consultants to train their staff and even outsources sometimes on Agile methodologies. I think if the outsourcing vendors offered these services in an integrated fashion, it could be a win-win for both the company purchasing outsourced services and the vendor.

We are witnessing the acceleration of change in the last couple of quarters and only the IT departments that adapt quickly using at least some Agile methodologies stand a chance in the long run. The only thing constant is CHANGE!