| dc.description.abstract | A strict project management approach for product development is costing ABC Telecom time and money. The approach, known as the waterfall model enforces completing one phase (e.g. planning) before moving to the next phase (e.g. development) and it is very rare to revisit the phase once it is completed. This approach has limited ABC Telecom’s ability to realize the value of the project until the end. A waterfall model restricts the company’s ability to identify the issues at an earlier stage because testing is done in the later stages of the product development. Customer feedback is not known until the product goes into production and any changes suggested by the customer at that time means the work will need to be redone, which results increase in project time, cost, and low customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the project manager is the one making all the decisions without any input from the development team, which makes the project more risk prone. Based on research, ABC Telecom decided to adopt an alternative approach called “Scrum” in which the product is delivered as a series of functional features. The scrum framework focuses on the quality of deliverables. The tasks identified at the beginning of each iteration are expected to be fully tested and working at the end of the iteration according to customer expectations. This approach helps to accommodate changes more easily as the customer feedback is received earlier, helps provide better estimates, and encourages team members to take the tasks and provide their input.
The challenge in using scrum is applying scrum methodology to projects with distributed teams. In distributed teams, team members are located across the continents and have different cultures, time zones, and ethnic backgrounds. The distance between team members presents the challenge of building an environment of trust, ensuring open communication, managing artifacts, and scheduling meetings, which if not managed properly, can jeopardize the project. ABC Telecom’s product development team is a distributed team, with members in the US and India. The author, through research and experience as a software developer with ABC Telecom, lays out an approach that shows how scrum methodology can be used effectively with distributed teams and achieve the goals of bringing new products first to market and meeting customers’ satisfaction. | |
