The key to successful software engineering delivery engagements

by Balaji Venkatramani, Solution Lead, Engineering Processes

Software engineering is the foundation necessary to building complex bespoke systems and products across domains. It’s important to get this first step right, so clients will often engage IT vendors, leveraging their expertise in building bespoke applications. These clients are looking to achieve five key things from the engineering engagement: Efficiency, agility, quality, return on investment and customer satisfaction for end users.

Nowadays, there’s often a bewildering array of options out there when it comes to choosing an IT vendor. A client’s decision to choose one vendor over another comes down to multiple factors: The vendor’s relevant experience in applicable domains and technologies, coverage in desired delivery locations, engineering expertise, transformation quotient and flexibility of engagement, and pricing models. However, this vendor assessment is just the initial step in the engineering engagement journey.

The continued success of a delivery engagement depends on multiple critical factors that need constant leverage and monitoring through the entire duration of the partnership.

In our experience, there are eight critical factors for success in an engineering engagement with IT vendors.

Contractual agreements and commercial models

Continuous value addition and transformation

Transformation

Contract and commercials Talent generation

Roles, skills, capacity/effort and locations

Critical success factors for engineering engagement

RACI, governance structure, reports and meetings

Delivery performance metrics

Governance

Scope and demand Engineering performance

Knowledge transition (KT) Engagement operating model (EOM)

Knowledge and services takeover from incumbent

Ways of working, interim and end states

Scope of services and demand management approach

Contract and commercials

These define the most basic elements of the engagement — key objectives, engagement model, scope of work, commercial structure, benefits model, service level agreements and key performance indicators.

These are the cornerstone of program execution and will need continuous alignment and monitoring from both parties throughout the duration.

What do both organizations need to do?

1. Ensure key management stakeholders involved during contract sign off continue into the execution for at least the first year of the engagement Helps you understand what to test

2. Conduct joint induction and orientation workshops to raise awareness levels on engagement objectives, contractual obligations and outsourcing fundamentals

3. Identify a champion or lead from each organization to help drive continuous awareness, organizational change and alignment to the engagement objectives

Talent generation

Establishing the right balance of skills on the team is key to its success.

Generating this talent proactively for the engagement requires meticulous focus and deep understanding of the scope of work.

What are the key success factors?

1. Robust process and templates to identify the exact skills required, without any understanding gaps between the client and IT vendor

2. A clearly defined approach, acceptance criteria and duration for client to sign off on the team identified by the vendor. Typically, this is midway through the knowledge transition process, but needs to be Agile and incremental

3. Agree on the skill requirements and change management process to address any changes in skills baseline

Knowledge transition

This is one of the most critical factors when an IT vendor organization is required to capture explicit,

What needs to be done to ensure knowledge transition success?

1. Proactive assessment and risk mitigation for critical incumbent subject matter experts during the transition

2. Leverage transition automation tools such as code reverse engineering and natural language processing

implicit and tacit knowledge from incumbent teams effectively.

3. Establish objective transition success metrics for regular review and course corrections

4. A clearly defined approach, acceptance criteria and duration for the transition

Engagement operating model

This defines the key operating model parameters for the engagement, such as roles and responsibilities, delivery location model, team interfacing guidelines, governance and metrics, and so on.

Alignment to this model by both the client and the IT vendor organization is critical to the success of the engagement.

How do vendors ensure a successful implementation of the desired operating model?

1. Ensure a clear distribution of roles and responsibilities between the client and IT vendor organization, through clear articulation and orientation as well effective socialization

2. Proactive planning, tracking and timely completion of regulatory obligations for the client to outsource their scope of work

3. Ensuring compliance and effectiveness of engagement governance with objective metrics by both parties

4. Clearly defined relationship management and escalation matrix

Scope and demand management

A key challenge encountered in many engagements is volatility of, and a lack of sufficient clarity on, scope

What’s the key to a robust scope and demand management process?

1. A proactive joint assessment on alignment of the client-identified scope of applications to the engagement objectives and operating model. This is best done prior to the contract sign off

2. An objective and clear demand management process with governance

and demand. A robust management process to ensure compliance is critical to success.

3. Creative solutions to manage peaks and valleys of demand in versatile knowledge areas

4. Define, measure, report and track team utilization metrics where required

Engineering performance

Our experience indicates that clients are continuously analyzing and building their perception of the vendor, and this perception is subject to fluctuations. This is particularly volatile in the initial stages of the

How to ensure an objective and effective vendor performance assessment?

1. Upfront agreement on the core minimum key performance metrics and continuous alignment to the life cycle phases of the delivery projects

2. Align these metrics to both business and IT priorities

3. Establish the performance baselines of incumbent teams to enable objective comparison

engagement, when the client often compares the vendor’s performance to incumbent teams and develops strong and quick perceptions.

4. Draw up baseline work estimation models in a joint agreement between parties

5. Minimize governance overheads with automated metric measurement solutions

Governance

Establishing the right governance framework aligned to the engagement requirements is critical for timely

How do you ensure effective and efficient governance?

1. Harmonized and collaborative design of the governance process and metrics

2. Continuous objective monitoring of compliance by both parties and timely mitigation

identification of risks, mitigation, stakeholder satisfaction and meeting of engagement objectives.

Transformation

IT vendors are capable of going beyond contractual obligations and continuously adding value to the client, thereby enabling transformational benefits

How to ensure continuous transformation and value addition by the IT vendor?

1. Contextualize the meaning of transformation to the specific engagement objectives

2. Treat transformation initiatives on par with contractual obligations

3. Establish transformation as the responsibility of every team member

4. Respect and encourage every transformational idea regardless of its likely effect

3. Align the governance effort to the specific needs of the engagement

through a strong relationship of trust and mutual respect.

5. Apply a 360-degree dimension to transformation

6. Value transformation and incentivize it

7. Establish robust governance to prioritize ideas and track the progress of their execution

About the author

Balaji Venkatramani Solution Lead, Engineering Processes

Balaji is a senior director with Luxoft India. He leads engineering process solutions, globally, across lines of business and is responsible for delivery strategy for the APAC region. During his 22 years in the IT industry, Balaji has driven large-scale technology solutions and transformation initiatives in Silicon Valley technology companies, as well as service partnerships with global financial clients. He has extensive experience in knowledge transitions, transformations, Agile, DevOps, big data and analytics, cloud and program management.

Ensuring the success of an engineering engagement requires proactive and holistic focus, collaboration and commitment from both client and IT vendor organizations, objective performance measurements and transparent reporting. The right engagement approach significantly enhances the probability of success and fulfillment of mutual objectives.

Are you ready to begin your transformation journey? Get in touch with Luxoft today.

About Luxoft

Luxoft is the design, data and development arm of DXC Technology, providing bespoke, end-to-end technology solutions for mission-critical systems, products and services. We help create data-fueled organizations, solving complex operational, technological and strategic challenges. Our passion is building resilient businesses, while generating new business channels and revenue streams, exceptional user experiences and modernized operations at scale.

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