Being agile on offshoring projects

Title: Being agile on offshoring projects
Type: Process
Status: final
Version: 2008-05-13
Gist: How to implement agile across distributed teams.
Note: Keeping productivity in mind it is really not advisable to distribute teams. Expect half the productivity you could otherwise expect from a team.
See Agile Advice for tips on proper room design.

S1: produce a feature list
S2: Give the offshore team a tiny (2-3% of total size) bit of features
- prioritized based on business value

S3: write the test cases, give them to the offshore team

S4: use focus groups

S5: if the features are delivered, go back to the feature list and ask the focus group: do we have enough business value?

Principles of Clear Thinking

Type: Rules
Status: Draft
Version: 2007-12-20
Quelle: Principles of Clear Thinking. <- Blog on http://www.blogger.com/www.gilb.com 2007-03-27 (R1 to R10); rest: own thoughts
R1. You have to have a clear set of objectives and constraints, to evaluate proposed solutions or strategies against.
R2. You have to have a reasonable set of facts about the benefits and costs of any proposed idea, so that you can relate it to you current outstanding requirements.
R3. You have to have some notion of the risks associated with the idea, so that you can understand and take account of the worst possible case.
R4. You have to have some ideas about how to test the ideas gradually, early and on a small scale before committing to full scale implementation.
R5. If there are more than very few factors involved ( 2 to 4) then you are going to have to use a written model of the objectives, constraints, costs, benefits, and risks.
R6. If you want to check your thinking with anyone else, then you will need a written model to safely and completely share your understanding with anyone else.
R7. You will need to make a clear distinction between necessities (constraints) and desirables (targets).
R8. You will need to state all assumptions clearly, in writing, and to challenge them, or ask ‘what if they are not true?’
R9. You will want to have a backup plan, contingencies, for the worst case scenarios – failure to fund, failure for benefits to materialize, unexpected risk elements, political problems.
R10. Assume that information from other people is unreliable, slanted, incomplete, risky – and needs checking.
R11. Assume that you models are incomplete and wrong, so check the evidence to support, modify or destroy your models.