This clip kind of reminds me of what could have happened if the office pranks that I used to play on <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=334&amp;entry_id=213″ title=”http://www.christopher-chan.com/blog” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.christopher-chan.com/blog’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>Chris</a> ever spiralled out of control. Luckily he has a great sense of humour and/or was easily distracted into tormenting other co-workers <img src=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/templates/default/img/emoticons/smile.png” alt=”:-)” style=”display: inline; vertical-align: bottom;” class=”emoticon” /><p><br />
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Martin Fowler has a great <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=333&amp;entry_id=211″ title=”http://www.martinfowler.com/articles/agileOffshore.html” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.martinfowler.com/articles/agileOffshore.html’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>article</a> on his experience in using Agile development methodologies in offshore teams - in particular Indian offshoring.<br />
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In particular he mentions the use of wikis to facilitate communication and to retain common knowledge, use of site visits, regular builds for feedback, test scripts for developing requirements, short iterations, expect more documents (rather than the less documentation the better mantra that XP fosters) and to get multiple modes of communication up and running early.<br />
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I personally haven’t tried agile development using offshore teams but all of these points just smack of common sense. When I had to work with an offshoring team the communication aspect was extremely important - and not just one single form of communication it had to be in multiple streams and with the aim to be providing constant feedback. We did have many layers of management in our relationship with the offshore team but they seemed to add little to no value to the development effort. It was much more important to go directly to the source, in my case the lead developer. I quickly found that the best way to get in contact was through instant message - it just seemed to break down a lot of the communication barriers and enabled us to carry on two-way conversations without the annoyances of half-duplex crappy phone lines to India.<br />
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Site visits are likewise very important - they have to know who you are besides just a voice coming down the phone and providing directives. You need to build on that relationship and relate to them before you can understand how to best work with them on the project. In my case, I never did get to go to India, but we did have the developer come over and stay with us for a couple of weeks on a knowledge sharing visit.<br />
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Requiring more documentation is interesting - I think that you will need more of it initially to build up the relationship, but once you get going and you can send requirements to your offshore team and test their work in an automated fashion you will probably find that you will need less. I always find that you need much documentation at the start of the project to kick it off but as soon as you are underway then you only need enough to keep it ticking over - sort of like discussion points rather than retention of absolutely everything. Having said that, you will still need all the handover documentation once you take it from development and put it into operation but during development these documents evolve and change and may not need constant updating.<br />
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Anyway, I found it an interesting article.

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After three and half years of doing my Masters I finally got my results in last night - I’ve passed! Now I can think about some R&R time and what do with myself now that I will have three extra letters after my name! I’m sure my wife will have something to say about what to do with my spare time - seems to be a never ending list of chores to do in the house!<br />
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If any of you are interested in a management masters with a leaning towards technology then I would recommend the degree that I have just done - <a href=”https://dave.shakenmartini.net/serendipity/exit.php?url_id=332&amp;entry_id=209″ title=”http://www.mbt.unsw.edu.au/” onmouseover=”window.status=’http://www.mbt.unsw.edu.au/’;return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”;return true;”>Masters of Business and Technology</a>. I would say that the structure of the course favours people who do not have a lot of time to go into the actual university itself to attend lectures or those who trying to learn remotely. Because I can work such random hours it made scheduling university trips (with the associated 45minute+ commutes each way) very unattractive. The MBT promotes distance education as an alternative to the normal face-to-face classrooms and I would have to say that it works quite effectively through their teaching website.<br />
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Anyway, off to basketball now.. celebration drinks tonight!