I have been contemplating as to which media I should be using to share my views and thoughts on evangelizing Outsourced Software Product Engineering! The reason I use the word evangelizing is having spent a lot of time learning, practicing, and educating people around me (peers, superiors, prospects, customers, and team members). In some cases where people came from IT services background, it was difficult in guiding their view point. Overall, with set of experiences (both positive and negative) it has been a pleasant ride so far.
The most common phrase 'Outsourced Product Development' (OPD) is widely used across the industry; having said that, I plan to focus on Software Products only. A synonym phrase which covers more phases across software product life cycle is "Outsourced Software Product Engineering". Adding another dimension, Offshore Software Product Engineering, makes it more dynamic. This has led me to start gathering more data points on numbers and types of books and blogs written on Outsourced Software Product Engineering.
Like in any scenario (new or old), following set of questions come to mind for a Product company: Why to outsource, What to outsource, When to outsource, How to outsource, What's in it for me, Would the vendor understand our processes and culture.
Similarly, for an OPD services company approaching a product company, set of questions would be: Why would they outsource to us, What can they outsource, Are they ready to outsource, Will they need to be educated, Have they outsourced before, etc.
I plan to address all these questions in subsequent posts. To set the tone, Outsourced Software Product Engineering has been around for decades. However, it is still not matured for product companies (especially small to mid-size) who plan to outsource. OPD vendors have found innovative ways to partner with customers, right from writing a Market Requirement Document (MRD), to developing and releasing GA, till End of Life (EoL) of a product. Mark the word ‘Partner’, because that is the key to a successful relationship between the vendor and the customer. Tie in this with the phrase "you can't clap with one hand".
During my journey, which continues, the biggest eye opener for me was through Geoff Moore's - Dealing with Darwin. While selling OPD services, I have used a similar version of Product life cycle (image below) before, during, and after engaging with a prospect / customer. In between the year 2005-08, a discussion around this product life-cycle would get a prospect into her/his comfort zone. Most of the times, next steps were a cake walk.
When an OPD services company tries to woo a prospect, they should understand which phase a particular product is going through. How should I engage with the customer, understand what are their challenges, and how can I solve these challenges should be some of the top priority questions that they need to ask themselves.