IT executives have a wealth of options to choose from in pursing the dynamic development model to take advantage of just-in-time
assembly of appdev teams and resources.
Low-cost, worldwide software-development talent and Web-based, open-source collaboration models are easing organization of
development teams. "Standards have developed to the point where you can pretty much do software development anywhere," says
Jeff Campbell, CIO of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad.
But new skills among IT staffers are needed, including the social skills, collaborative management practices, and tools that
enable collaboration.
"You need the ability to sit down and figure out what software you're going to work with and what people you're going to work
with. That's sometimes hard because communications doesn't always come naturally to engineers," says Andy Singleton, founder
of Assembla, a Needham, Mass.-based company that manages global software projects. Singleton also points to a need for staff to increase
research skills.
Another skill that leverages such development projects is the ability to manage distributed teams and tools. "You need to
bring these resources together into a coherent effort," Singleton adds. "This is not a new idea, but it's new for a lot of
organizations and IT departments."
Tools that can be added to the mix include Internet-based code archives, discussion groups, and project-management tools,
Singleton says.
"If [enterprise IT executives] don't have the skills internally to manage software development, it's better to use an external
provider with whom they have a trusted relationship because they will know the outsourcer has done it before," says Allie
Young, an outsourcing analyst at Stamford, Conn.-based research and consulting company Gartner.
Chief technologists should be aware that outsourced software development models will continue to evolve, says DebashishSinha, an IT services analyst at Gartner. "The service providers will develop strong global-sourcing relationships that will deliver
business solutions for enterprises for specific situations," he says.
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