The Hindu Business Line : From mind to matter

Indian vendors have mostly been ‘handed over’ specifications by customers telling them what features to develop, often down to the layout of the page,” says Niranjan Nelamangalam, Vice-President, Engineering, Aditi Technologies. Adi ti, however, has made a strategic play in building a ‘product functional design’ (or program management) department, which helps customers define what to develop, he says.

Over to Nelamangalam for more on the idea.

Who decides what features go into a software product?

The client takes the final call on the features of the product. Initially, the Program Manager, in partnership with the client, comes up with the high-level features and the functionalities of the product. Once that is thoroughly reviewed, the Program Manager looks to improve the product by suggesting value additions that differentiate the product from its competition and ultimately provide a richer user experience.

From Aditi’s perspective, the development and test teams get an idea of what they should build and test. Estimation and cost matrices are identified. Impact analysis, especially when changes are made during the product life cycle, and other related matters make the scoping stage important.

Could you tell us more about your program management?

The Program Manager is responsible for creating the ‘functional blueprint.’ This blueprint is what we call a functional specification document that defines in detail how the product will function and the user interface prototype, which defines the user experience. The functional specification document is composed through a series of interactive sessions with the client as well as the development and test teams at Aditi.

Once the actual product coding and development starts, the Project Manager brings the team up to date with the functional specifications document, and consequently, the objective of the product.

When you explain the concept to your customers, what are the initial reactions like?

From customers who have not outsourced product development earlier, the initial reaction is one of apprehension since the idea of someone without specific domain expertise owning the specifications is unimaginable from their perspective. Added to this, the client assumes that there will be lesser ‘control’ from their side on the direction of the specifications.

From customers who have gone through the outsource experience, the reaction is better. Our current customers are comfortable with Aditi owning the product specifications, which allows them to strategise and concentrate on long-term business objectives and company/product growth.

Do you have a dedicated team for program management?

The Program Managers at Aditi are exposed to new technologies and trained periodically. We have introductory sessions for freshers and new hires. Additionally, we have a special interest group for the Program Management team that meets twice every week. These meetings are open to anyone interested in program management.

At present, we have 17 dedicated Program Managers and many more interested in moving into this role.

Companies that can specialise and capitalise on this are the ones who will see the most success in the outsourced product development space.

paromita@thehindu.co.in

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