Last updated: 9 Jan 2021
Many software service providers serve only one dish – outsourced product development. Isn’t that boring? At Acism, we serve a buffet and allow the customers to choose from various options to suit their appetite.
Process Flow Diagram
At the core of this flexibility stands the Process Flow Diagram (PFD) that was recently published by 10Xofy. The PFD describes the software development process enhanced with the application of Xsemble. It is reproduced below.
A detailed explanation of each of the activities can be found in a whitepaper here.
The clean separation of various activities enables us to present a choice to our prospects on which activities they want us to do and which they want to keep to themselves. Some activities may be outsourced to other vendors as well. In other words, we have a buffet of these activities, and customers may pick from that as per their appetite.
Suggested Courses
We suggest below some delicious courses that are expected to be liked by various audiences:
Complete Outsourcing Meal
Customer relies on Acism for carrying out all steps, so that Acism is responsible for taking the idea to completion. Conventionally, software development outsourcing means this by default.
This choice works best for customers who want to outsource the complete development and free up themselves for other work. This is the most hassle-free choice, where the customers rely on Acism for everything.
Preferred Vendor Special
When the customer wants to take advantage of the efficiency improvements of the new process but work with some other vendor, this is the choice they need to pick. Acism steps in only for training and process consulting. The project responsibility is shared between the customer and the vendor.
This choice is best when the customer has pre-existing good relationship with a vendor, and they want to keep the equations same.
DIY Extravaganza
Customer engages with Acism for training and process consulting, but owns the execution of each step. (Apparently, DIY stands for “Do It Yourself”.) By being creative, it is possible to save a good deal of money in execution of the steps — for instance, by utilizing college students and low cost junior resources. Refer to our Budget Flexibility page for further ideas.
This menu choice would be attractive to cash-strapped startups due to its low cost. It also works very well with companies who are into software development and so have their own team in place for doing all the activities. They only need guidance and possibly some hand-holding as they do it.
Functionality Controller’s Delight
With this option, customers keep a good control on the functionality, without having to deal with any programming. The essentials are the “Requirement Analysis”, “Wireframe design” and “Xsemble design” steps. (Ask us about our standard crash course that trains one on these skills.) Optionally, the customer may add “Test design” and “Testing” activities too to this menu. Other steps are outsourced.
This option is best for customers who want to make sure that all the nitty-gritties of functional implementation are taken care of, by doing the design themselves. Typically, if the functionality understanding is cumbersome, or requires deep domain knowledge , then this is a very good idea. The people from the customer end who have that deep understanding can themselves carry out the design and do not need to worry about domain knowledge transfer.
Add-ons
Customers who have strengths in particular areas may keep those areas to themselves. For example, customers going for the Testing Add-on would retain the ownership of the “Test Design” and “Testing” activities, thereby owning the quality control side. The customers who are very particular on the UI side could go for the UI Add-on and retain ownership of “UI/UX design” and “UI development” activities. Lastly, the customers who have strong programmers onboard may want to go for Programming Add-on and retain ownership of “UI component development” and “Business component development” activities.
These add-ons are best for customers who already have strength in those respective areas, and/or need better control over those.
Of course, beyond these suggestion, the customer may decide to make their own dish by picking the individual activities, and asking for Acism’s help where needed. In case of UI component development and business component development activities, further customization is possible by distributing these components across delivery teams or companies. This possibility gets created because of the independent nature of components.
[Credits: Featured image (buffet) by ally j from Pixabay]