Fernald Business Association

The ongoing development of a software project is a logistics nightmare. Anyone that has been part of a management team dedicated to a software development project will know that the human resources are not consistent throughout the process. From an accountants point of view the payroll that has on it seven software engineers that apparently only work sporadically is a waste of finance resources. The middle ground that is generally occupied is one of just enough staff to run the project at its mid-level resource requirements. This means that at the peak times there are not enough staff causing overworked people to be working on very intricate parts of the project leading to possible mistakes and at the lowest resource requirement times still too many people on the payroll doing too little work.

The way out of this conundrum is to use a software outsourcing company and let them have these headaches leaving you and your staff to get on with the tasks that you excel at and are contracted to do. The project needs an overseer and monitoring but this is a fairly consistent requirement for most of the whole project period. This means it can be allowed for and budgeted correctly.

This idea, while not new is not widely taken up. The reduction in waste, both financial and human, is in line with lean management principles. The idea that at the start of any project one should engage a lean consulting firm to advise on this process of waste reduction and process streamlining is a very sound one and one that even the accounting department can show is financially viable. This then moves the whole process from standard software production to a more efficient and flowing lean software process. Without waste and redundant processes there are tangible cost saving benefits to be had.

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