Short extract of some of my experiences building software and outsourcing in Ukraine.

1. OUTSOURCING
Lessons learned outsourcing software development in Ukraine
Nicolai Kollner - kollner@gmail.com
http://twitter.com/kollner
http://dk.linkedin.com/in/nicolaikollner

2. WHY OUTSOURCING?
• Access to the right talent and competencies.
• Improve competitiveness.
• Flexibility when scaling up and down.
• Have presence in the region.

3. ORGANIZATION
• Integrated organization covering on and offshore.
• Cross functional teams.
• Daily meetings: Scrum, planning, retrospectives...
• Team members can be cross location, but prefer same location.
• Typically the Product Owner is off site.
• Functional team leads can help scale.

4. RECRUITMENT
• Recruiting and retaining top talent is a critical component for success.
• In a body-shop setup the vendor handles the screening process of individual candidates.
• Evaluating technical skills is done with the vendor and technical leads. Can include
interview with whiteboard coding, assignments and other forms of testing.
• Personal skills are just as important. Looking for people that can communicate, work in a
team and have passion for what they do.
• Recruiting for top 5%? Be present locally. Network and be a part of the local community.

5. INFRASTRUCTURE
• Video conferencing everywhere.
• Wiki’s for knowledge sharing.
• Lifecycle management system (TFS, Jira).
• Source control.
• Dedicated setup for daily scrum.

6. CULTURE
Denmark Russia Poland
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75
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Power Distance Individualism Masculinity Uncertainty Avoidance
Source: http://geert-hofstede.com

7. DO’S AND DON’TS
• Open and honest communication. • Don’t let anyone become bystanders.
• Avoid the “them and us” mentality • Clear vision and goal set the direction.
• Go and see for yourself. • Work toward self-organizing teams.
• Recruiting is hard. Get it right. • Prefer discussions over handovers and
formal documentation.
• Have a global process and organization.
• Have the tools in place.
• Communicate in one language.

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