Ecuador’s Open Source Techies Find Common Ground at ‘Agile Cafe’
March 7th, 2013
By Patrick Haller
Ecuador’s affinity for Open Source Software (OSS) and collaborative development is getting the attention of influential software leaders in the region. One of those people is Sid Pinney, who head up Latin American expansion efforts at the software design company ThoughtWorks. The firm recently brought its “Café Agile” event to Quito, where some of the near 150 attendees traveled as many as seven hours to participate. According to Pinney, events like this, which can be resource-intensive to host, allow ThoughtWorks “to get a better feel for the local tech scene and the people that fill that environment and understand what processes they are embracing.”
Speed and Alignment Beat Cost In the World Application Development
February 13th, 2013By Ann All
Application development is one of the most outsourced activities, according to recent surveys from Harvey Nash, Bluewolf and Computer Economics.
Shulman: Nearshoring has ‘real value”
By Clayton Browne
Chief Information Officer Ken Shulman of data services provider Broadview Networks doesn’t pull any punches in his analysis of outsourcing. He argues that outsourcing is overrated and that hidden costs are far too often overlooked. Nearshore Americas sat with Shulman recently to get a better grip on how he’s arrived at this conclusion.
Why Would Disney Interactive Prefer to Work with Latin America Partners?
October 8th, 2012
Pohontu drove EA’s mobile strategy before Disney.
STAFF REPORT
When customers like Disney Interactive speak, it’s a good idea to listen. Disney’s digital strategies stand on the vanguard of the explosive gaming industry – placing richly developed characters into increasingly elaborate digital platforms. In the words of Mihai Pohontu, vice president of game operations at Disney Interactive, his business is a combination of “engineering and artistry”, which immediately gives Nearshore software services players a unique opening. What exactly is that opening, and when does Pohontu prefer to work with Latin America partners?
Find out in our Q/A interview with Pohontu.
Study: IT Infrastructure Outsourcing About to Catch Fire Globally
September 27th, 2012STAFF REPORT
Over the next five years, nearly 40 percent of organizations around the globe are likely to outsource their IT infrastructure as part of their efforts to cut down cost and increase efficiency, predicts a survey conducted by research firm Vanson Bourne.
Interestingly, three in five IT and business decision makers contacted by the research firm agreed that owning and operating in-house IT infrastructure drives costs higher and wastes resources.
In a similar survey conducted by Vanson in 2010, nearly 38 percent of IT decision makers had disliked the idea of owning in-house IT infrastructure. Now, 60 percent of them are saying so.
The report shows growing interest in outsourced infrastructure and cloud computing as means for freeing up budgets, fostering collaboration and operational efficiencies, and building competitive advantage.
Does Your Team have the Soft Skills Required to Run Agile Correctly?
September 4th, 2012By Nancy Y. Nee
The Agile Manifesto places customer collaboration over contract negotiation with a keen focus on a highly skilled, motivated team in constant interaction with the product and the customer at every phase of the software development project. As a result of this collaborative, customer-centric view, Agile requires more than the technical expertise needed to gather requirements, and develop and test new product lines.
Agile’s Spontaneous and Collaborative Qualities Continue to Help Nearshore Outperform Offshore
June 20th, 2012
Estep: Moving mainstream
By Jon Tonti
Agile is well on its way to becoming the new norm in software development management. Although Agile is a broad term used to describe a software development ideology, it is a practice area that enables Nearshore IT firms to compete at a higher level versus their offshore peers.
By Steve Mezak
Are you interested in exploring the agile methodology for developing software at your company, but you’re worried that it feels like writing a blank check to the developer? It’s a commonly held belief among companies looking for outsourced software development that agile could potentially cost more than traditional methodologies.
By Leonardo Mattiazzi
Agile has been largely regarded as an ideal fit for today’s business challenges (for a reference, check the Forrester Research Feb. 2012 report, “Determine The Business And IT Impact Of Agile Development”).
And, from our experience, the business benefit of using Agile is magnified when it is coupled with the application of Lean principles, such as establishing a continuous flow of constant throughput. This principle, known as heijunka in the Lean vernacular, when applied to software development means creating a continuous delivery model, with a fixed-size team that undertakes several different projects one after another (of course, using Agile methods in each one of them). By doing so, we are able to eliminate several different sources of waste, and significantly decrease the actual cost of these projects (in our estimates, by at least 25% in the long run), as well …
Why HTML5 Projects Are a Great Fit for Latin America IT
May 11th, 2012By Steve Mezak
The emerging HTML5 standard will make it a lot easier to deliver more graphical and attractive Web pages to more and more devices (especially mobile devices). That makes it a big boon for Web developers, and also a great fit for Nearshore developers with an eye for good design and local tastes.
