RIGHT Blogs                                                              

Do you know your Net Promoter Score?

As the IT industry as a whole matures, metrics are becoming increasingly important in order to track performance and determine organizational goals around quality and productivity.We spend a considerable amount of time at Alliance measuring what we’ve defined as the RightMetrics: items such as Schedule Variance, Resource Utilization and Defect Density.

Hybrid Delivery Model – Strategically distributed teams working towards one goal

Once outsourcing emerged as a way of conducting business, the costs involved have been a dominant driving force in the decision making process. Customer requirements challenged the outsourcing service providers as they evolved their service offerings through onshore, nearshore, offshore and onsite delivery models. To address their client’s hesitance to outsource, the service providers evolved their delivery models. A hybrid model emerged that combined the talents of onshore, offshore and onsite delivery.

Transitioning in outsourcing engagements – Don’t fail to see the risks!

A transitioning program lays the stage for the setup and mobilization of an outsourcing engagement. It is during this stage that the outsource service provider is trying to get up to speed on its customers processes, infrastructure, and applications in order to provide the contracted services.The effectiveness of a transitioning program determines the successful delivery of the services engaged for the outsourcing value it generates. It provides significant inputs for shaping up the project plan and solution design.

Collaboration as a tool to build great teams and products

What is cross group collaboration?.When I was first introduced to this concept in my previous organization, I was wondering what it is and why there is so much hype around it. So much so, it was included as a part of a competency that you could measure the effectiveness of yourself while working with teams located across the globe. Now that was a different story as the Organization was so huge that there was an absolute need.

Development, Testing and Communication

When was last time one heard that ‘we do not need testing or testers or automation’. Could have been a while. The importance of formal testing process emerging out of formal QA strategy has picked two to three decades ago after several disasters occurred in the software industry specifically with Y2K and the amount of time, money and effort spent on the same. Ever since then this stream has picked up.

Humor in Project Management

One evening when I was hanging out with a small group of project managers in Boston, we got talking about how PMs seem to get ‘beaten up’ by everyone.Since they are at the center of a project, they often have multiple parties pushing them in conflicting directions and feel pressure from every side.One of the PMs said, “yup, just like a piñata.”

The Softer Side of Global Delivery – Lessons from Conshohocken to Hyderabad and Back

The Alliance Office in Hyderabad is one of my favorite places to visit.Our teams are enthusiastic, customer-centric, and extremely hard working.There is a constant low rumble of technical discussions, test cases being furiously typed, custom application development, application architecture analysis meetings, training sessions, interviews, and other activities at any moment in our office.

My Favorite Project Management Top 10

A few years ago I worked with a client who had the following top 10 list hung up in her office.  We grew a wonderful team of Project Managers together and shared this list with each of them as our 'guideline.'  We have since added this to our Alliance Project Managment Training Program. 

Top Ten Things Heard on Successful Projects By Rick Klemm

You know you have good PMs when you hear these words come out of their mouths.

Is your project on the road to failure?

Lately I've been cogitating on the importance of clear requirements in software development. 

When can we, the product managers and business analysts of the world, handover requirements to begin development?  At what point are they thorough, yet concise enough to give a developer the right level of information to create what has been cooped up in someone's brain? 

Social Media Learnings from the NAACM Customers 1st Conference

This week I attended the North American Conference on Customer Management in Phoenix, Arizona and am taking away a long list of best practices.