Agile Outsourcing in Practice

A very interesting article in Datamation magazine profiles how ABN AMRO is using offshore outsourcing. Interestingly, their techniques are extremely agile.

The traditional approach to software development is very formalized, and attempts to control the development process in a very defined and rigid manner. Many offshore technology companies have turned to ISO and CMM certification as a way to increase confidence in North American companies.

However, a big problem with these systems, is that they are very inflexible. They require a large amount of documentation on an on going basis. Additionally, they are very inflexible to change.

ABN AMRO chose a starkly different system based on 2 week iterations of development. The reason given for this was that daily communications added too much complexity to the system. The additional communication was not adding to the development efforts, and was more likely detracting from it.

ABN AMRO also shows that it practices sound outsourcing practices. In addition to primarily outsourcing non-core projects, they use this process to free up key in-house developers for the most important or sensitive projects.

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