Comprehensive Report OF THE CASE

The global Software Team: jugaad needed

Letter of Transmittal
21/10/2016

Written Analysis and Communication

Group 3, Section G

Dear Madam,
Enclosed is the report on the case “The global Software Team: jugaad needed”. The report
examines the course of action Mr Nortika has to take to address the immediate and future
issues the company is going to face. The current issues and its immediate impact on the
company have been discussed. Also discussed are various options, recommendations and
action plan.

I hope you find this report satisfactory.

Yours Sincerely
Group 3, Section G
 Table of Contents
1. Relevant Facts
2. Problem Statement
3. Options for the problem
4. Criteria for evaluation
5. Evaluation of options
6. Recommendations
7. Action Plan
8. Executive Summary
 RELEVANT FACTS
The case discusses Global networks company (GNC), headquartered in Boston,
Massachusetts. Its branch is in Mumbai, India. Mr.Notrika is the manager of GNC. Boston
team mainly dealt with all aspects of client engagement from pre sales to sales to
implementation and Mumbai team dealt with design and development of software. Boston
team dealt with all the client meetings and communicated the output to Mumbai technical
team for further development. Clients demanded the work to be completed quickly and
Boston team in turn pushed those quick deadlines on to Mumbai team. After few months
Notrika observed that the work in India is lagging behind. He also noticed that main pool
talent in Mumbai technical team are starting to quit. He started to find reasons and he also got
complaints from Boston team about Mumbai team that they are not meeting deadlines. They
also complained that when they asked for explanation of a problem Mumbai team don’t
answer, take forever to answer or change the subject but does not give proper explanation.
After few days things got even worse, three engineers from Mumbai team left. Notrika now
want to personally take an action. So he immediately reached Mumbai to tackle the situation.
When he opened the suggestion box on the table in Mumbai office he got to know the
problems faced by Mumbai team. Mumbai team is constantly accused of missing deadlines
and Boston team does not understand their situation but keep on accusing them. They also
complained that Boston team does not respect them. In spite of working harder they still
bombard with deadlines and ask to work harder. They are feeling disrespectful. Now Notrika
is in a dilemma to what to do. He does not want valuable people to leave from the company
nor accuse Boston team for everything.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
What should be done by Notrika to make the Boston and Mumbai team cooperate,
coordinate and collaborate so that not only this project but upcoming projects can also be
delivered in time with utmost quality?
 Options for the problem
1) Notrika should consider restructuring the teams. Some members of the Mumbai team
can work from Boston and some members of the Boston team can operate from Boston.

2) Notrika should consider meeting the Mumbai team more frequently and try to
understand the problem at hand. He can spend half of his in Mumbai and the other half in
Boston so that he can coordinate functioning of both teams. Their problems must be
communicated to each other immediately.

3) Notrika can enforce stringent rules both at the Boston unit and in Mumbai to reduce
communication gap. He can restructure the Mumbai unit by hiring, laying off to make the
team more flexible and in a position to keep up with the Boston unit.

4) Notrika can take his own units view in Boston and convey to the Mumbai team that he
expects better results.

Criterion for evaluation

1) Time: The project is already delayed by two weeks. Him flying down to Mumbai and
managing the situation or letting things function as they are equally costly.

2) Cost: Each of the options must have an associated cost. Each of the options has to be
evaluated on this parameter if it is feasible financially.

3) Loss of talent: If the Mumbai team remains unheard, more talent will drain out of the
company. At the same time, not meeting the rigid client deadlines will hurt the company
if he goes by what his team at Mumbai says.

4) Client Servicing: Any decision must be taken with a view to meet customer obligations.
 EVALUATION OF OPTIONS
 Option 1 ( Restructure the teams): Under this option, some members of the Mumbai team
can operate from Boston and vice-versa. Although this would take some time and may be
costly, but it can help to bridge the gap between the two teams. When each team realizes
the problems faced by other teams, they would be more empathetic towards them and
adjust their working style to achieve common goals. This in turn lead to client satisfaction
by timely completion of projects with quality and precision. This would also address the
problem of loss of talent in Mumbai.

 Option 2 ( Notrika should travel frequently to Mumbai): Even though this is a time bound
and cost effective solution, but the success of this idea depends on how well Notrika is
able to understand the problems of the team and make each other aware about the
circumstances engulfing the other team. Even though Notrika realizes the problems, he
might not be able to communicate these in an effective way to the other side.

 Option 3 (Enforce stringent rules): Enforcing stringent rules can only make the situation
more volatile. Each team would feel that they are being forced to adhere to strict rules and
thus their productivity might reduce. This can lead to further loss of talent at both places
and adversely affect slient satisfaction.

 Option 4 (Take Boston team’s view into account): Enforcing this would make the
Mumbai team feel alienated. This would not only lead to many more people quiting in the
Mumbai team, it would also drastically hamper the completion of the ongoing and future
projects.

RECOMMENDATIONS
After carefully evaluating all options, restructuring the teams seams to be the most viable
solution. This would make both teams aware about what the other team is facing and would
facilate better collaboration and coordination between the teams to achieve a common goal.
When people see for themselves what’s happening, they can transfer this knowledge to their
team members and each team would realize that both teams have their constraints and thus
would be more empathetic in their approach.
 ACTION PLAN
 Some senior leaders of the Mumbai team should be rellocated to Boston and vice-versa.
 There should be daily stand up meetings between the two teams to analyze the situation
and if there’s any problem it can be discussed and solved.
 Weekly targets should be set and at the end of every week there can be a review meeting
to analyze the progress.
 There should be a meeting at the start of every sprint called as the sprint planning where
the expectations of the Boston team can be relayed to the Mumbai team in a lucid
manner.
 There should be sprint retrospective meetings at the end of every sprint to analyze what
went wrong and what could have been done better during the course of the sprint.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report is a comprehensive analysis of the global software team case. The two teams
located in Boston and Mumbai had difference of opinion in sevral matters which led to the
project being delayed and resignation of several key members of the Mumbai team. Boston
team accused Mumbai team of not meeting deadlines and Mumbai team accused Boston team
of overloading them with tasks even though there were several pending backlogs. This
communication gap between the teams was a major concern for Jim Notrika, the manager of
the team. He was contemplating what could be done to resolve the differences. After
carefully observing all possible options, it is recommended that Notrika should change the
structure of the team by rellocating some members of the Mumbai team to Boston and vice-
versa. He should also travel frequently to Mumbai to analyze the situation in both teams.
There should be daily stand up meetings, weekly review meetings and sprint planning and
sprint retrospective meetings at the start and end of every sprint respectively to bridge the
communication gap between both teams. These strategies can bridge the communication gap
and lead to better coordination among both teams.