1. Spotlight
Spotlight
An Agile Move
the Netherlands and the other in In-
dia—were put into it.” As a result,
the self-organized team of twenty-one
developed the product within eleven
months in a limited budget.
“Gradually, customers have started
Industry gears up for a new way of asking for it, although the initial hesi-
developing software tation is still there,” informs Hazrati.
Most of the big IT companies in-
cluding—TCS, Cognizant, Wipro,
C
and Infosys—have
hetan Bhagat’s latest book, signing. This was then taken up agile meth-
2 States rightly proves passed over to the imple- odology on a pilot basis
how tough but crucial it menter, and then to the for at least one of their
is to bridge gaps. Though tester. After testing, it projects. Apart from
Bhagat has hit the Indian mindset, the was sent back to the im- being an altogether
idea holds true for the IT industry as plementer, from where new methodology, it
well. In an age when software develop- the final product directly is the IT professionals’
ment is mostly done by offshore teams, went to the client. This mindset that is acting
companies are increasingly realizing left little scope for the as a major hindrance
the significance of bridging gaps and client to interact.
“Although for agile. As Deemer
adopting agile methodology. Considering this, ag- Agile practices explains, “Although
Simply put, agile methodology is ile seems as an obvious are simple, the agile practices are
a software development process that choice for CEOs. How- simple, but the chal-
aligns cross-functional teams in dif- ever, the industry has
challenge lies lenge lies in changing
ferent locations, hence, enabling fre- been slow in its adop- in changing the the attitude. Project
quent interaction among them, higher tion. This could be part- attitude” managers are tuned
transparency in the work process, and ly because agile is a very to assign tasks to their
constant feedback from the client. new methodology. The —Pete Deemer, teams, while agile ena-
founder, GoodAgile
“This brings value to the customer idea was first taken up bles teams to be self-
and improves the quality of products,” in the US during the mid 90s when a organized.” While this instills a sense
points out Pete Deemer, founder, couple of companies started adopting of ownership among team members, it
GoodAgile, a leading agile methodology for may not be welcomed by project man-
scrum training institute their internal IT devel- agers.”
in Asia. Also, frequent opment. Later, around “Adopting agile is like re-writing
interaction among all 2002-06, it propagated how we build software,” says Deem-
entities ensures that is- to the European coun- er. However, considering the global
sues get resolved quickly tries, and only recently popularity it has attained in the last
without putting devel- has it come to India. few years, he is looking forward to its
opment at stake. This Xebia has been one adoption in India. “Apart from Ben-
enables timely delivery of its early adopters in galuru and the metros, Chandigarh,
of the final product and India. Vikas Hazrati, Bhubaneswar, and Triavandrum ap-
cost-savings as well. “Gradually, director, technol- pear to be the upcoming hubs for
This is unlike the customers have ogy, Xebia India re- its adoption,” he points out. Hazrati
traditional waterfall ap- calls, “Back in 2007, adds that companies from telecom,
proach, whereby work started asking for we were assigned to BFSI, retail, hospitality, and travel
happened in a linear Agile, although the develop an informa- sectors have started adopting agile.
format, mostly with one- tion management “Basically, agile is for any company,
way communications. initial hesitation is system for ProRail in belonging to any industry or region
Usually the client dealt still there” the Netherlands. We that intends to develop IT in the
with the analyst, who decided to go for agile right way,” he sums up.
passed the requirements —Vikas Hazrati, methodology, whereby
—Monalisa Das
director, technology, Xebia India
to the architect for de- two teams—one in monalisad@cybermedia.co.in
34 | January 15, 2010 For more on India’s IT industry, visit www.dqindia.com| DATAQUEST | A CyberMedia Publication