Working time log

First of all, we keep detailed records of each and every working minute of our software developers. We have in place an internal system we have developed ourselves for our needs. At the end of every month, the system generates a detailed worklog which we send to our clients.

The system reports working time by projects, each project being broken down into single tasks. On that account, our client gets a direct insight into our overall and detailed working time and our managers always have an up-to-date comparison of the estimates v. the actual working time.

Now, I am going to tell you about our task system.

Task system

In our process, tasks are well-defined technical jobs of 40-80 work hours. We decide on their size so that software developer should be able to evaluate their time requirements. We group minor tasks and divide the large ones and thus our managers always have a clear idea of work progress. Whenever asked about the progress, they can provide a precise answer and control the actual working time devoted to a specific task.

Thus their work and overall project management are facilitated and our clients receive specific information about what tasks our team is currently handling, as every work hour HAS TO be assigned to a task.

So the manager has an effective system to track the completion of all the tasks of his or her team. We have included another procedure though to help the manager manage the budget even better.

In line with the procedure, our software developer should have the first prototype and know any and all challenges and unknowns halfway through the estimated working time required for the task. On that account, the manager gets an insight into the developer’s work and if the manager determines that the task will exceed the original estimates, he or she will consult the client immediately.

Such a consultation may result in the cost revaluation, scope change, task abandonment or another optimal solution. Every such change is confirmed with an e-mail at least.

This is another way to ensure both our managers and clients have a clear insight into the project.

Upon completion of each task, we also monitor the stabilisation costs. Every time we assume that we will allocate 20% of the estimated completion cost of the task to its optimisation. A higher cost means the code quality was lower than expected or there was an issue in the task analysis.

In such a case we always look for the cause and based on that we optimise the estimation process for future tasks.

So now you know how we manage the time and monitor the performance of the smallest tasks. Every project however must consist of major portions which group the minor ones and are responsible for the completion of specific system sections or modules. We call them initiatives.

Initiatives

An initiative is a major task defined with business targets. It represents a specific system function or module which needs to be included in the system due to the client’s requirements. The initiative consists of several up to a dozen or so tasks which combine to provide a functionality.

An example of initiatives is a module for communication with an external date base provided by a third-part company or body. The module needs to be included in the system since it is required for its proper operation – hence it is a business target.

As we already know what the initiative is, we may plan the tasks required thereunder to implement the communication module. The manager divides it into tasks and assigns them to individual employees in his or her team.

As compared to tasks, the performance of every initiative has a more formal nature. Every initiative is represented by a document describing its goal, work scope, working time estimates and schedule. The document shall be accepted by the client and the management board of our company.

At the end of every initiative, the manager draws a client acceptance protocol once the production version is launched.

The main objective of the project manager on our side is to carry out such task planning and client communication so as to obtain an optimum implementation of the project business targets within the working time set. Initiatives and the subsequent division into tasks are effective tools helping him or help achieve the goal.

Now you know our project allotment and time management fully. Are there any other contributors to the effective completion of our projects? Most certainly. It is a crucial process which ensures our clients have a full insight into our work progress.

Reporting

This is reporting of course. We provide our clients on a monthly basis with:

• A detailed worklog of working hours
• Progress degree of the tasks started and plans for the next month
• Initiative performance status

Task and initiative reports also provide information on changed working time estimates as compared to the previous-month plans. The information may include: increased estimated for a more difficult task, a scope change made by the client, modified priorities etc.

That’s basically all; one last puzzle piece remains … The one which will determine our cooperation in the long run.

Continuous improvement of the process

Managers hold regular meetings with our CEO responsible for the production and review projects, initiatives and tasks together. The objective of such meetings is to confirm that projects advance and to detect potential issues before the client reports them.

We also meet with our clients to sum up the objectives achieved in the last period, plan further objectives and receive the feedback on our cooperation and methodology. We analyse all the problems and failures and look for their causes. We implement our findings from the analyses and talks with the clients in our methodology to eliminate any similar problems in the future. Then we deploy all the enhancements in all our projects and thus improve our development process on a continuous basis.

Excellent management is our priority

Working on extensive IT projects does not only require technical mastery but also excellent management. I hope I have explained in this article how we manage a project and how we carry out the code development process. To sum it all up, we always focus on the precise control of the process, provide our client with a full insight into our work and refine our cooperation base on the lessons learned from problems or understatements.

Our development process is a perfect complement to the high skills of our software developers and enables them to use their abilities in the implementation of projects for our clients.

Artykuł What does our code development process involve? pochodzi z serwisu Atinea.

Body-leasing and its drawbacks

Someone needs more software developers for his or her company but does not want to waste any time or energy on recruitment. What do they do? They contact a body-leasing company. They set the requirements and project specifics and sign a contract. Then the body-leasing company delegates the software developers who are free or recruits such developers, if none are free.

As a rule, the time is the top priority here so the recruitment level is… poor. Companies scan CV’s, select those with better content and required technologies and… employ software developers. They do not spend much time analysing their skills or professional attitude. If the do not prove themselves, others will replace them – and the problem no longer exists.

Those software developers will either do their job well or fail totally. Other factors include a high turnover rate and waste of time devoted to the on-boarding of new staff. I am not saying this happens every time, but you will never get a guarantee that the software developers allocated to your project will bring any value to your company. Is real business a lottery?

This was the first issue we observed in body-leasing. There are more though:

• You, the client, need to provide the on-boarding and control of the software developers assigns
• You never really know who the outsourcing company is going to send to you
• Software developers will often find working for you unsatisfactory – get ready for the poor quality of their work and on-boarding of new staff delegated as substitutes
• You or your employees will need to spend a lot of time making work arrangements for new software developers and control their work.

As you can see, such services are far from perfect. There are many factors to improve. Now we step in.

We develop our own methodologies.

We never blindly believe in the rut. We always analyse to see if we can improve what we do now. Over the years we have developed our own procedures and methodologies so that we do not need to look to other companies.  We have set a standard and keep on holding firmly to the standard to provide polished services and support our clients in many ways. The same applies to our Software Development Outsourcing.

We employ software developers on a permanent basis

At Atinea, we do not employ software developers for specific projects. We take them on to work in our company on a permanent basis. If we have no orders for them at the moment, we delegate them to work on in-house projects. They are full-time employees. Hence the simple conclusion – we know perfectly well who we employ.

Thus our outsourcing provides you with our full-time software developers. They are proven, highly-skilled developers. This is the first unique feature we boast. And there are more of them.

We delegate managers

We delegate a whole team every time. What does it mean? Whether you need one or ten software developers, they will always be supervised by a Project Manager on our side. What is the purpose of delegating the manager?

The manager will be in charge of talks with your company. He or she will learn your business. He or she will prepare the work environment for our software developers. He or she will divide the project into phases, prepare an analysis and estimate, together with his or her team, how much time will be required for implementation. Then the team will commence their work and the manager will monitor its progress consistently, submit reports to you, deploy new software developers and respond whenever something goes wrong.

It is an excellent solution, is it not? The Project Manager will relieve you of any duties concerning the monitoring and deployment of our staff and will also cooperate with you to ensure the best implementation of the project possible.

We provide an unusual flexibility

Another advantage of our outsourcing is the high flexibility we offer to our clients. The client may increase our involvement in their project at any time. The client may increase the hour range or add more software developers. Should it be necessary to handle other technologies than covered by the initial scope, we will simply assign another software developer to the task, replacing one of the current team members. The Project Manager will be responsible for the on-boarding of the new software developer; this will not affect the costs of our cooperation at all. We assign every software developer to the team dynamically, which means that the client may modify the technology scope during the contract validity and we will smoothly adapt to the client’s requirements.

Our Software Development Outsourcing in a nutshell

I have written at some length, so now let me recap all the above-mentioned information in brief:

• We only delegate our full-time employees employed with Atinea on a permanent basis
• We employ the best software developers available in the market (with our meticulous recruitment methods using algorithm tasks)
• The software developers delegated are assigned to the project manager who ensures their deployment and plan implementation
• The client may increase our involvement or use the knowledge of another software developer employed with Atinea at any time during the contract validity
• The Project Manager monitors the cooperation, saves the time of our clients and, at their request, may prepare an analysis and conducts talks e.g. with the business department in their companies

If you find this issue interesting and would like to learn more, we would love to answer your questions. Are you perhaps looking for a reliable outsourcing company and would you like to discuss it? Either way, please use the following contact form. Our consultations are free of charge and impose no commitments. Call us or send us a message and we will contact you to discuss relevant issues.

Use the form in the footer and contact us.

Artykuł Software Development Outsourcing at Atinea. How does our service differ from typical body-leasing? pochodzi z serwisu Atinea.