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Discussion with Alex Robbio and Silvana Gaia of Belatrix Software about what they do, and what the company does, why they focus on software product development and qa; outsourcing vs offshoring, nearshoring; choosing an outsourcing partner, location, type of project, technology, collaboration; skills of devs in outsourced team; contract termination; size of team; scrum in an outsourced project, personal contact with client; cultural differences; team turnover, project governance, customer control over devs on project, better to be a big customer of an outsourcer; advantages of having multiple teams on a project; costs and benefits of visits; managing projects, planning; handling client complaints, catch early, provide training, improve communications, retrospective; customer buy in; customers who just want a job done; setting customer expectations, culture; customers moving away from far away outsourcing; global shortage of IT talent, training; breaking rocks vs building cathedrals.

Book recommendations

Alex’s choices
Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art

Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement

HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Strategy

The puzzle of motivation, Dan Pink.

Silvana’s choices
Agile Project Management with Scrum (Developer Best Practices)

The Servant: A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership