Again expert Bob Galen, Principle Agile Coach and consultant, recently posted a blog on our website that is extremely helpful to the community. He discusses a pattern of collaborative partnering over embedded UX in the teams or independent UX outside of the teams. Bob illustrates the point with a story that involved helping a client to understand and practice release-level planning across Scrum teams. He discusses some of the changes that were a result of his advice such as incorporating UX design work and cross-team dependencies in their projects.
In his example, the firm had hired a talented designer who was given the job of redesigning a few of their legacy applications as well as designing some new components. The problem was that the designer reported directly to the Chief Product Owner and developed an entire view toward a redesign of a specific area in their product line. Furthermore, it was done without any input from the development Scrum teams. On top of that, the Chief Product Owner began to push the teams toward the new design ideas. Bob initially was brought in to fix another problem, but as an Agile expert he soon found people looking to him for a solution. His first efforts involved engaging the designer in a release planning exercise that included allowing the designer to present her ideas to the team. In addition the team was allowed to brainstorm design ideas and story reactions of their own. The next step was to allow the whole group to create a merged or shared view of the work via user stories. The goal was to allow the Scrum team as well as the designer to develop a shared view for what would become a feasible plan. We encourage you to take a look at the rest of Bob’s posts along with his many other very informative blogs. For 15 years, he has been a pragmatic and passionate Agile trainer, coach and practitioner and has successfully leveraged Agile methods as the best way to deliver software value. He states that, “While not being a silver bullet, they simply work better than anything I've tried.” Velocity Partners is an offshore software development company which uses a distributed Agile model that offers outstanding planning, accurate delivery and optimal business value. Our team is comprised of top Agile experts, consultants, and engineers who believe in not only meeting but exceeding our customers’ expectations. Contact us to learn more about how a distributed Agile model provides high-quality software development.
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Velocity Partners is seeking a qualified Practice Specialist, Agile Coach for our Caracas Office. The job requirements include having seven or more years of experience working in software development as well as experience in leading software development teams using Agile methodologies. Applicants should be proficient in Agile coaching and training techniques including Scrum Master and/or Product Owner roles experiences. In addition candidates must have advanced English skills.
Another job offering is at our Venezuela location where we are looking for Mobile (iOS- Android) Developers. Applicants must have three or more years of experience in iOS (Objective C and Swift 3), Java 7, and Android Studio. The job requires applicants to possess at least intermediate skills in both written and spoken English. While Velocity Partners leadership team is based in the U.S., our nearshore delivery centers are located in several Latin America countries including Medellín, Colombia; Caracas, Venezuela; several centers in Argentina; and two centers in Montevideo, Uruguay. Additionally our team consists of some of the most talented software developers, project managers and Scrum masters in the field. We also offer employees ongoing, cutting-edge training and career development in technical practices as well as in using Agile/Scrum software development processes. As a VP employee, you will have the opportunity to work on interesting, exciting projects. You will also get a comprehensive benefits package including emergency and travel insurance, gym membership, a book allowance and assistance with child care costs. If you enjoy working in a challenging Agile environment, Velocity Partners is your place. Please see our website for all of our many other job openings as well as information on where to send your resume. Velocity Partners is an offshore software development company which uses a distributed Agile model that offers outstanding planning, accurate delivery and optimal business value. Our team is comprised of top Agile experts, consultants, and engineers who believe in not only meeting but exceeding our customers’ expectations. Please see our website to learn more about our cost-effective software development services. Founded in 2004, Velocity Partners has built a reputation for providing innovative, world-class nearshore software development services that offer excellent planning, accurate delivery and optimal business value. We are proud to have worked with some of the country’s most respected names in business including Microsoft, Disney, Expedia, Getty Images, WebMD and MTV and still maintain relationships with many of them.
Velocity Partners’ software development services provide exceptional value to our customers through Lean principles and Agile practices. Agile methodologies include total transparency and visibility in each phase of the project. Work is done in incremental steps in order to facilitate a quick, flexible response to the inherent unpredictability of software development. Our collective years of software development experience have shown us that by engaging in a two-way dialogue and taking the time to get to know our customers’ challenges, we can save them time and money by proposing the best solutions. We firmly believe that Velocity Partners’ success is based on operating as a true extension of our clients’ teams, and working in close collaboration with them throughout the life of a project. Our professional team is comprised of leaders from the software development community and brings to our firm a diversity of expertise including architectural design, crafting software as developers, testing, and mastery of information technology. Our team also has lots of experience working with large, multi-cultural teams and understands the value of building relationships. Members of VP’s executive team are centered in Seattle WA, Portland OR and Atlanta GA. Our nearshore delivery centers are located in Buenos Aires, Paraná, and Rosario, Argentina; two centers in Montevideo (Uruguay); Medellín (Colombia); and Caracas (Venezuela). Please visit our website or contact us to learn more our services. Velocity Partners is an offshore software development company that expertly delivers services using a distributed Agile model that offers outstanding planning, accurate delivery and optimal business value. Our team is comprised of top Agile experts, consultants, and engineers who believe in not only meeting but exceeding our customers’ expectations. Velocity Partners is pleased to offer the community a number of resources regarding Agile/Scrum practices and methodologies including informative blogs by Bob Galen. For 15 years, Bob’s focus has been leveraging agile methods as the best way to deliver software value. He is an experienced, pragmatic, and passionate agile trainer, coach, and practitioner.
One recent blog from Bob (posted on our website) deals with the problem of agile team members taking on more than they can handle, and negatively affecting both their productivity and quality of work. Bob identifies factors that may contribute to the problem including the project leadership setting unrealistic goals in terms of their teams’ capacity. Overwhelming the teams’ capacity hinders their ability to produce quality work and meet goals. This may also be a result of management not wanting to disappoint their clients and passing the pressure along to their teams. Or it may be a result of technical teams succumbing to the pressure and trying to deliver on unmanageable goals. Bob points out that more times than not the problem stems from having too many things “in play.” If this is the case, the solution is to reduce the number of parallel projects and really focus on fewer projects, which should increase quality and productivity. He reminds us that multi-tasking doesn’t save time but actually negatively impacts productivity when switching from one task to another. Galen also reminds Agile practitioners “that busyness or sheer effort is not necessarily correlated with results.” Rather work on small sets of things until you get them done. Furthermore, to be the most productive, align your work and commitments to a doable capacity. Please visit to our website to see more of Bob’s blog as well as to learn about our offshore software development company. Velocity Partners expertly delivers nearshore (Western hemisphere) software development services using a distributed Agile model that offers outstanding planning, accurate delivery and optimal business value. Our team is comprised of top Agile experts, consultants, and engineers who believe in not only meeting but exceeding our customers’ expectations. For more information about our cost-effective software development services, please see our website. After much thought and research, Velocity Partners chose Latin America as the location of our software delivery centers because of its advanced technology centers, large talent pool, convenient timezone and cost-effectiveness. Since opening our doors in 2004, we have continued to grow and now have delivery centers in several Latin American countries including two centers in the beautiful and vibrant capital city of Montevideo, Uruguay.
Montevideo is also the largest city in Uruguay with over 1.8 million people, and is home to almost half of country’s population. The settlement was established in 1726 as a strategic move by the Spanish during a Spanish-Portuguese dispute. In addition the city is the country’s center for higher education and the site of Montevideo’s first university, the Universidad de la República, which was founded in 1849. The university remains Uruguay’s largest and most important school, with a student body of 80,000. Located along the Montevideo Bay, the city revolves around the Plaza de la Independencia, which was once home to a Spanish citadel. The Plaza is situated in the historic area known as Ciudad Vieja (old city) and is filled with art deco buildings and colonial homes and landmarks. Prominent buildings include the Cabildo, built between 1804 and 1812, and the 330-foot-high, Palacio Salvo built in 1928. It is also where you will find Uruguay’s most renowned theater and the second-largest theatre in South America. Built in 1856, The Solis Theatre’s main hall seats 1,500 people and is used for operas and other concerts and theater events. Today Ciudad Vieja is the location of many of Montevideo’s nightclubs, bars and restaurants. However if you wish to get away from the bustle of the city, you can walk along a stretch of the 10-mile-long, Al Rambla, which separates the city from the sea. Furthermore, Montevideo also offers several beautiful beaches. Velocity Partners expertly delivers nearshore (Western hemisphere) software development services using a distributed Agile model that offers outstanding planning, accurate delivery and optimal business value. Our team is comprised of top Agile experts, consultants, and engineers who believe in not only meeting but exceeding our customers’ expectations. For more information about our exciting career opportunities, please see our website. Source: lonelyplanet.com/uruguay/montevideo/introduction#ixzz4UG0KgY5H In 2016 Velocity Partners celebrated several long-standing relationships with clients and hope to continue that tradition in the coming year. We think that speaks volumes about the kind of service we deliver and the quality of our work. By using a distributed Agile model for our software development services, we provide customers with excellent planning, accurate delivery and an optimal business value. A few examples of the long-term partnerships we celebrated this year were MTV (6 years), Kern Health Systems (5 years) and with ClearStar (4 years).
We are pleased to have so many clients count on our services as expressed by Lydia W. She writes, “While our organization has been working with Velocity Partners for many years, I have personally been working with Velocity Partners for nearly 5 years in the capacity of Product Owner for two teams covering 3-5 products at any given time. We are very pleased with the continued results we see in working with and entrusting a company that is so "dialed in" with the agile methodologies, which results in high performing teams.” She mentions that one of the greatest benefits of working with VP is that her company has been able to retain the same team members even after a project is complete to use as a resource. This has allowed them to produce high quality products at a much faster pace. Another client, Stacie B. notes that her company’s experience with VP has been very positive and they appreciate the good job we do in vetting candidates and finding the right resources for their development and QA needs. She also mentions that our nearshore delivery options make it easy to work and collaborate with the team. She states, “We've been successful at extending our existing teams with Velocity Partner resources. Since the resources are dedicated to us, long term, we find they engage and contribute at a higher level than most contract situations.” These are just a couple of examples of satisfied clients. Velocity Partners has been in business since 2004 and we have grown steadily ever since. Our team consists of some of the most talented software developers and consultants in the field and we are proud of our reputation as the “go-to company” when you need to outsource software development. Our entire team looks forward to more long-term anniversaries, successes and achievement with our clients. Visit our website for more information. Velocity Partners expertly delivers nearshore (Western hemisphere) software development services using a distributed Agile model that offers outstanding planning, accurate delivery and optimal business value. Our team is comprised of top Agile experts, consultants, and engineers who believe in not only meeting but exceeding our customers’ expectations. For more information about our cost-effective software development services, please see our website. To continue to meet the professional needs of our employees, Velocity Partners provides a range of training and development opportunities including workshops and conferences that focus around technical practices and Agile/Scrum software development processes. We are an active member of the Agile Alliance, and our leadership team conducts not only our own Agile seminar series but are regular contributors at the organization’s conferences.
This year’s annual Agile Alliance conference, Agile2017, will be held on August 7 - 11 at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, FL. The focus of the conference is dedicated to furthering Agile principles and providing a venue for people and ideas to flourish. Agile2017 expects to have people from over 40 countries, and attendees will have their choice of 250 Agile Sessions as well as insightful Keynotes from the world’s top experts and thought leaders. The conference will also provide an opportunity for social interaction and networking events. Another conference of note from the organization is the Agile Alliance Technical Conference that takes place on April 19 - 21 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel in Boston, MA. This conference focuses on exploring the emerging and growing set of Agile Engineering practices. Agile Alliance states the conference will highlight Agile’s move from strictly developer-focused toward a more “multi-disciplinary field that now includes practices from operations, testing, data science, and infrastructure/cloud engineering.” The conference will offer practitioners in all of the involved fields to share and discuss new advances, hear from the experts and explore a wide range of topics. As you see, while we are firm believers in the power of distributed Agile, it does not mean we apply pressure to our customers to adopt the model in the same way. Instead we work with each client to integrate Agile into their existing processes in whatever way is most comfortable. Contact us to learn more. Velocity Partners expertly delivers nearshore (Western hemisphere) software development services using a distributed Agile model that offers outstanding planning, accurate delivery and optimal business value. Our team is comprised of top Agile experts, consultants, and engineers who believe in not only meeting but exceeding our customers’ expectations. Please see our website to learn more about our cost-effective software development services. Since we use a distributed Agile model for our software development, it means we are able to minimize the impact of distribution and offer clients exceptional planning and accurate distribution as well as an exceptional value. To effectively achieve this goal, our team communicates by a variety of methods including daily standups as well as process and code reviews.
As the name suggests, the “daily standup” is a meeting that takes place every day at a designated time with the purpose of bringing each team member up-to-date. The timeframe is 15 minutes, although larger teams may need more time. As defined by the Agile Alliance organization, each team member stands up and briefly describes their completed contributions as well as any obstacles that stand in the way of their continued success. Agile Alliance states that, “Usually, Scrum's Three Questions are used to structure discussion.” Questions include: what have you completed since the last meeting; what do you plan to complete by the next meeting; and what is getting in your way? To visualize the progress and obstacles of a project, daily standups are typically held in front of a task board. A white board (or even a wall) is usually divided into three columns, titled, "To Do", "In Progress" and "Done". This allows the team to easily reference the progress of the project with notations regarding the status of each task the team is working on or already completed. Agile experts say that using sticky notes, sticky dots etc. ensure that there is an easy system to actively change and update the status of a task. Daily standups can prevent problems from getting overlooked and make it easier to catch and address an issue before it becomes a much bigger one. The meetings also help to support continued team bonding. Another benefit of the daily meeting is that it is not only much shorter than typical sit-down meetings, but given the short timeframe, it must stay on track to keep within the allotted time. Velocity Partners expertly delivers nearshore (Western hemisphere) software development services using a distributed Agile model that offers outstanding planning, accurate delivery and optimal business value. Our team is comprised of top Agile experts, consultants, and engineers who believe in not only meeting but exceeding our customers’ expectations. Contact us to learn more about how a distributed Agile model provides high-quality software development. Source: agilealliance.org/glossary/daily-meeting/ As a leading Agile software development firm, Velocity Partners offers your company total transparency and unparalleled collaboration and communication. When you hire our experienced team, you can be confident we will make your project a priority and deliver on efficiency and output. For us, software development begins with asking lots of questions and encouraging feedback throughout the process to ensure you get the best business solution to meet your specific challenges and goals.
Each of our delivery centers is equipped with state-of-the-art voice/video virtual team rooms that allow us to effectively communicate with you and your team as well as VP’s entire team. On occasions we have even had our team members visit our other centers to lay the groundwork for effectively working with a particular client. However regardless of the location of our team, it will be built around the technical expertise you require and your business domain. For example earlier this year, we had members of our Argentina-based development team travel to Caracas, Venezuela to meet face-to-face with their Velocity coworkers. The trip was an exceptionally fruitful visit as developers attended training sessions, shared tips and engaged in team-building exercises designed to provide optimal service for a new client. By working toward their mutual goal, the team established a heightened sense of collaboration that proved to be both highly productive and empowering. The shared information and technical concepts and processes they developed, which would be used on a daily basis, prepared them for the task that lay before them. As we use a distributed Agile model for our software development, it means we work closely with each client in order to present optimal solutions that are designed to reduce the potential for risk. In addition we recognize that you are our boss, and our job is not done until you are completely satisfied. Contact us for more information. At Velocity Partners, we expertly deliver nearshore (Western hemisphere) software development services using a distributed Agile model that offers outstanding planning, accurate delivery and optimal business value. Our team is comprised of top Agile experts, consultants, and engineers who believe in not only meeting but exceeding our customers’ expectations. Visit our website to learn more about our cost-effective software development services. Velocity Partners has been a member of Agile Alliance since we opened our doors in 2004. The non-profit organization’s mission is to “supports people who explore and apply Agile values, principles, and practices to make building software solutions more effective, humane, and sustainable.” It has served the Agile software community since 2001.
For those new to Agile, the website offer lots of resources including a short history on the origin of Agile. According to the organization, the late 1990’s brought several different methodologies to the public arenas that were a blend of old and new ideas. The methods all had a common theme, which was a close collaboration between “development teams and business stakeholders; frequent delivery of business value; tight, self-organizing teams; and smart ways to craft, confirm, and deliver code.” Sometime in early 2001, 17 software developers met in Snowbird, Utah to discuss the best methodologies and practices to use to provide the most effective software development. “Agile” was the term that came out of the meetings and was applied to a joint collection of values and principles that resulted in the Manifesto for Agile Software Development and its twelve principles. The Agile Alliance organization was founded shortly thereafter as a forum for practitioners to share ideas and experiences. Now fifteen years later, it still is a great resource for helping individuals adopt Agile practices and to improve their “ability to develop software with agility.” Our team at Velocity Partners has successfully completed hundreds of projects for some of the biggest names in business using the distributed Agile model. Founded as a spin-off of an Agile training company, we are regular contributors at Agile conferences as well as running our own Agile seminar series. Just remember, that while we strongly believe in distributed Agile methodologies and practices, we work with each client in whatever way they are most comfortable with. Velocity Partners expertly delivers nearshore (Western hemisphere) software development services using a distributed Agile model that offers outstanding planning, accurate delivery and optimal business value. Our team is comprised of top Agile experts, consultants, and engineers who believe in not only meeting but exceeding our customers’ expectations. For more information about our exciting career opportunities, please see our website. Source: agilealliance.org/ |
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