Offshore Coders and Communication All offshore coders should be fluent speakers of the domestic language. Language barrier is the least of the communication problems associated with offshore outsourcing. Offshore coders must be as much involved with a product as the designers, stakeholders, end users, and testers, it becomes clear that offshore coding does not mean requirements can be gathered, e-mailed across the globe, and expected to come back as a polished product. And so, communication is crucial. The same communication and feedback loops used by domestic development teams must extend to the offshore coders. This is complicated by the distance, time difference, a lack of understanding of domain-specific factors, and the usual problems of wasteful, unproductive meetings, conflicting goals, poorly-defined objectives and stakeholders, shifting requirements, etc. One of XP's principles is that the design forms from the code, and that frequent deliverables yield iterative user feedback which leads to an ad-hoc discovery of requirements, and management of requirements changes. Therefore, "real time" communication between all participants in the development process is critical; when communication breaks down, risk increases and the probability of success plummets. Offshore coding guys must realize the following cautions in communication: 1. The only cost savings will be the cost of the programmers, testers, etc. that are moved offshore. Project managers, internal QA staff, support and maintenance personnel, and project stakeholders stay in-country, and stay involved. 2. The shared limitations increase management overhead, likely adding to the time required by stakeholders, end users, and often highly-paid internal architects and designers. This must be subtracted from the cost savings. And it is legal. 3. Offshore coding does not eliminate the most intractable elements of software development, including the project management principles that are routinely ignored in domestic development projects. When it comes to shifting requirements, the collaborative barriers and de-coupling of developers from the rest of the lifecycle associated with offshore coding actually increases cost and related difficulties. Maintenance and preservation When the programmers do their jobs properly, users' requirements were absolute and competitive pressures didn't exist, changes to software are not required. In addition to the development-time agility problems described above, support, maintenance, and agility after initial development is concluded, are equally important to the long term success (and therefore justification) of any development project. When software is developed in-house by domestic programmers, even if little documentation is developed, it is reasonable to expect the original developers or their successors will be available to support and maintain the product, and modify it in more significant ways as business requirements change. The client is much more insulated from the original developers in outsourced development. However, ongoing maintenance and support will require an ongoing contract with the offshore coders, with enhancements likely requiring additional funds. Even in the face of such contracts, the original developers may or may not be available, and if not, their replacements must consume valuable time ramping up to make the changes. Conclusion The communication problems described above are associated with this effort as well, particularly with major enhancement efforts. | 
