OneShore™ Software Project Delivery

Alignment in Agile means more than just having everyone understand the project goals, various ceremonies, and a set of principles. It's about a shared vision across all levels – from developers on the ground to stakeholders and executives. Everyone needs to understand how their individual work and team efforts map back to the overarching business objectives. Why are we building this? What customer pain points are we solving? What gains do we want to obtain? This clarity allows teams to make smarter, well-informed decisions in those inevitable moments of change.

Alignment is also what helps Agile teams stay flexible. Instead of being tied to a rigid plan, everyone is aligned on the "why" behind the plan. That makes it infinitely easier to adjust the course when needed without derailing the whole project. Misalignment leads to wasted time, resources, and frustration, ultimately chipping away at the benefits Agile promises.

Within OneShore Project Delivery services, Agile alignment helps Accelerance drive and deliver measurable results in line with your: 

• Context, situation, operating model, and culture
• Mission, objectives, expected benefits, requirements, contracts
• Guiding principles, collaborative roles, and responsibilities

A good Agile strategy is the North Star, that fixed point on which a development team can always focus. It defines why you're building this software and who it's for. Priorities might shift, features might change, but that core goal stays clear.  Without it, you risk a Frankenstein product – bits and pieces cobbled together without a cohesive purpose.

Strategy also keeps any Agile team focused. Agile's flexibility can be a double-edged sword. It's great to adapt, but without a guiding light in the form of a solid strategy, it's easy to get lost in a sea of "nice to haves," losing sight of the essentials. 

Agile sprints are short bursts of work. A strong strategy makes sure those bursts are always taking you closer to your end goal, keeping your eye on that North Star sprint after sprint. It keeps the feedback loops relevant and helps everyone – from developers to stakeholders – understand what success looks like and when done is truly done.

Agile isn't about ditching planning; it's about smarter planning. A well-defined strategy lets a development team embrace change without sacrificing direction – and that's what leads to Agile projects that actually deliver value.

The Project Delivery team at Accelerance will craft on an Agile strategy that will help drive your project forward at every stage and every sprint. 

Count on our teams to factor in: 

• PDLC, SDLC, governance, required project and solution artifacts
• Technical solution, architecture, deployment, integration and delivery
• Delivery priorities and roadmap

Planning plays a pivotal role in ensuring success in offshore Agile software development projects. While Agile methodologies embrace flexibility and adaptability, a well-structured planning process remains a cornerstone for several reasons:

• Establishing Alignment: Offshore development introduces inherent complexities due to geographical separation, cultural differences, and time zone variances. Meticulous Agile planning fosters that alignment on a project's vision, goals, and milestones. It bridges gaps between onshore and offshore teams, preventing misunderstandings and keeping everyone focused.
• Managing Risk: Offshore projects come with potential risks like communication breakdowns, hidden costs, or quality issues. Detailed Agile planning helps anticipate these risks, enabling the development of mitigation strategies. Proactive Agile planning significantly reduces the chance of unforeseen delays or budget overruns.
• Prioritizing Value Delivery: Agile emphasizes delivering value incrementally. Planning facilitates the prioritization of features and the alignment of sprints with the overall product roadmap. This ensures that each iteration delivers tangible value to stakeholders, maintains project momentum, and justifies continued investment.
• Facilitating Adaptability: Iterative Agile planning within sprints allows teams to make informed adjustments based on feedback, market changes, or evolving requirements. That planning provides a framework for adaptability, rather than hindering it.
• Maintaining Transparency: Effective Agile planning promotes accountability among team members and fosters transparency with stakeholders. Regular progress reports and retrospectives help identify issues early, leading to timely corrective actions and improved project outcomes.

Agile planning sets clear expectations, minimizes uncertainty, and allows teams to navigate the dynamic nature of software development, ultimately leading to projects that deliver exceptional value. Accelerance’s expertise in Agile planning helps ensure your offshore success by determining risks, effort, and cost estimates. That includes resourcing, communication and creating a plan for continuous improvement, as well as setting - and sticking to - a delivery schedule for solution project artifacts. 

The Agile methodology provides structure and flexibility at the same time. This approach, when combined with exceptional communication, helps drive collaboration, continuous improvement, and ultimately, success in offshore development projects. It bridges the physical distance between teams to ensure everyone is working in unison to meet the project’s goals. 

• Enhanced Communication: Agile emphasizes frequent, transparent communication. Daily standups, regular reviews, and open channels ensure both onsite and offshore teams stay in sync. This breaks down silos and reduces the likelihood of misunderstandings caused by geographical distance.
• Focus on Value: Agile helps teams prioritize features that deliver the most value to the end user. This focus keeps everyone aligned, prevents wasted effort on less important tasks, and ensures that the project always delivers something useful, even in its early stages.
• Adaptability: Things rarely go exactly to plan in software development, especially with teams in different locations. Agile embraces change. Its iterative approach and short development cycles allow teams to quickly adjust to shifting requirements, feedback, or even unexpected challenges that come with offshore collaboration.
• Continuous Improvement: Agile encourages regular retrospectives— moments where teams reflect on what worked, what didn't, and how to improve, and things the team should continue, stop and start doing moving forward. These sessions are especially valuable in an offshore setting, helping identify communication bottlenecks or areas where processes can be streamlined.

Using Agile for execution ensures that the Accelerance Project Delivery team stays on track and delivers the solutions you expect, on time and within the needed specifications, to keep your costs under control. 

Dive into the Agile Factory Framework and learn how systematic practices, business-driven solutions, and continuous improvement can transform your approach to software development. Whether you're a seasoned professional or new to Agile, our white paper provides valuable strategies to align technical solutions with business objectives, improve effort estimation accuracy, and deliver high-quality software iteratively.