Category Archives: Offshoring

How to hire a nerd?How to hire a nerd?Hire a Nerd?

13 November 2013 Tips and tricks on Offshore Outsourcing

Last week, I wrote an article about lean distributed startups. The past months, one of the startups within our company that has taken most of my attention is ‘hire a nerd’. The main goal of this project is making a product out of our current core service (building offshore and nearshore dedicated teams for software firms and departments). Yes the name is provoking, we’re also contemplating launching a second version under our Bridge brand. We try to achieve two things for our customers:

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Lean distributed startups: How to launch your product with an offshore team?

31 October 2013 Offshoring

The past months, I have been experimenting with the lean startup method in a distributed setting. Let me explain this, because if you are not an offshoring insider, this could sound like gobbledygook.

The lean startup method you probably have heard about. The essence of the method is: if you have a (software/internet/app) product idea, develop a minimum viable product as fast as possible. This could be an ‘alpha’ version of your software, but even better is a ‘simulation of your idea’.

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Mature or capable: What really works? Volwassen of Capabel: Wat werkt nu echt?Mogna eller kapabla: Vad är det som verkligen fungerar?Reif oder kompetent: Was wirklich funktioniert?

9 October 2013 Agile outsourcing

Organizations want to mature their IT or R&D software development and do that by using CMMI for example. They set a goal: we have to get at CMMI level 3! And expect that their employees do whatever they can to achieve that goal. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always go like that. Why do you want to mature, “what’s in it for me” is the question an employee will ask himself. What does work is the improvement of skills, by helping employees to become more capable. The CMMI continuous with CMMI Roadmaps makes this possible.

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How to not screw up when managing a remote teamManagen van een team op afstand zonder het te verprutsenHow to not screw up when managing a remote teamWie vermasselt man das Managen von einem entfernten Team nicht?

30 September 2013 Offshoring

This week, I launched my first ever book. The book is written together with some experts from all over the world. It is part of a series of ebook on managing remote teams. Our aim is to help people who plan to manage or already manage a remote team. I have found in the past years, that many people struggle when part of their team is working offshore or nearshore. The challenges in managing remote teams are a.o. managing the distance, cultural differences and different time zones. Many offshore or nearshore providers today use methods like scrum to bridge the challenges. But Scrum tells you only a small part of the story, it helps a lot to manage a remote team, but there is more to it.

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The Evolving World of Outsourcing De evoluerende wereld van outsourcing Den ständigt utvecklande världen inom OutsourcingDie sich wandelnde Welt des Outsourcing

26 September 2013 Offshoring

Once considered a controversial topic, outsourcing is now embraced, not just by technology organizations but with information technology (IT) departments of companies in various industries. I can confidently say that the volume of technology offshore outsourcing – where small and large organizations in economically developed nations send work to companies in developing countries – has risen since this approach became common during the mid 90’s economic boom. During that period, the standard of the practice remained pretty much the same.

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