Episode 349: Team Leadership for Virtual Teams in a Global Delivery Model (Free)
This episode is sponsored by The Agile PrepCast::
Global delivery models have changed the way IT services are delivered and many organizations use them. They are the way of the world. The significant benefits include the ability to provide round the clock services, ensure business continuity, level the playing field through best-in-class consulting, and finally provide key cost advantages for all organizations alike.
But there are also challenges, because we have now have virtual teams with its members around the world and we may never meet them. So what’s a project leader to do?
Shyamsundar Ramanathan (http://maximisepotential.blogspot.com/, https://www.linkedin.com/in/shyamsundarramanathan ) says that first of all, the key to success of this kind of delivery model is communication. And then he has seven specific recommendations that will help. In our interview we will define what the global delivery model is, briefly discuss DevOps and then get going with his recommendations and how they will help improve your effectiveness as a project leader of such a global team.
Shyam would like us to mention that the views he expresses in this interview are his own and not those of his employer.
Episode Transcript
Podcast Introduction
Cornelius Fichtner: Hello and welcome to Episode #349. This is The Project Management Podcast™ at www.pm-podcast.com and I'm Cornelius Fichtner. Thank you for listening in.
Before we start, I wanted to remind everyone that we are listener-supported podcast so if you enjoy the interviews then please visit www.project-management-podcast.com/premium. Your subscription will help to keep us going. Thank you!
Global delivery models have changed the way IT services are delivered and many organizations use them. They are the way of the world, you might say.
The significant benefits include the ability to provide round-the-clock services on sure business continuity, level the playing field through best in class consulting and finally provide key cost advantages for all organizations alike. But there are also challenges because we now have virtual teams with its members around the world and we may never meet them. So what's a project leader to do?
Shayamsundar Ramanathan says that first of all, the key to success of this kind of delivery model is communication and then he has 7 specific recommendations that will help.
In our interview, we will define what the global delivery model is, briefly discuss dev ops and then get going with his recommendations and how they will help improve your effectiveness as a project leader of such a global team.
Before we start the interview, Shyam has asked me to specifically mention that the views he expresses in this interview are his own and not those of his employer.
And now, can you manage another interview? Enjoy!
Podcast Interview
Female voice: The Project Management Podcast’s feature Interview: Today with Shyamsundar Ramanathan, Director of Software Quality Assurance.
Cornelius Fichtner: Hello, Shyam! Welcome to The Project Management Podcast™!
Shyamsundar Ramanathan: Thank you, Cornelius! It's a pleasure to be here.
Cornelius Fichtner: So tell me, what is a global delivery model?
Shyamsundar Ramanathan: Yes, so the global delivery model is a combination of onshore and offshore development and it is also one of the most preferred methods for the delivery of IT services and solutions globally.
It also promises top quality development, onsite delivery and faster project cycles and this is the key selling point - refreshingly affordable rate. So that's very important for a lot of customers and that's why more customers are going towards a global delivery model at this point.
Cornelius Fichtner: Is this a model that is used exclusively to deliver IT services or do other industries use this as well?
Shyamsundar Ramanathan: Yes, so based on my research and mostly my 15 years of experience has been in the IT industry, so I think the global delivery model overall did come due to the IT services. But I also recently read that in manufacturing sector, there are of course a lot of operations being done in China and other Asian countries as well. So some of the manufacturing systems could come into play in this. But I would still say the majority of the global delivery model applies to the IT services.
Cornelius Fichtner: Yeah! You said "refreshingly cost-effective". I've never heard that term, beautiful. What are some more benefits that you can give us on this model?
Shyamsundar Ramanathan: Yes, the first is obviously the speed of the delivery, faster time to market and the key selling point is the round-the-clock services to the customer. So in my case, let's say that I have granted an automation test case, I can have my offshore team run in the night and when we come in the morning, the client sees the results and the development team can take actions if there are defects. And absolutely, it's also a cheaper way without compromising much on the quality, which is very important. So those are some of the benefits of this model.
Cornelius Fichtner: Whenever we have benefits, there are also challenges. What are some of the generic challenges in the model?
Shyamsundar Ramanathan: So one of the key challenges is because of the diverse locations, getting everyone on the same page is not easy and you know sometimes with the noise, some of the things that you said are subjective may not get through to the end team but that is something which is a challenge. The next is cultural challenges because of the various cultures involved, different countries and everything else. Cultures come in to play and certain things have to be done differently depending on the culture.
And another thing, technical thing is in terms of security, right? If you are going to outsource or going to have a large organization or delivery center, do your development or testing, then they need to ensure that their firewalls are protected and ensure a lot of your organization security concerns are addressed. So these are some of the challenges that are part of the global delivery model.
Cornelius Fichtner: Who is using this model today? Do you have some examples for us, maybe some companies we might know or projects we might have heard of?