A systematic literature review of best practices and challenges in follow-the-sun software development. 0000067800 00000 n Managing international teams may be a challenge. A follow the sun model can help your organization provide 24/7/365 support to customers across the globe, regardless of time or location. Provide tools: Get your system set up with the right tools so your customer service teams can collaborate and communicate easily. What Is the Follow the Sun Model? | Lucidchart Blog The success cases in the Industry using FTS are rare, in part due to the lack of well-founded knowledge on applying FTS [9]. And that's where the follow the sun customer support model comes in. "Follow the Sun" Service Desk Model - Abhinav PMP This workflow model is specifically designed to help address customers' needs without regard to geolocation or time zone. Follow the Sun: Introduction (1 of 3) - SlideServe Slide 1 of 2. Follow-the-Sun in Action One of our partners, a large mobile advertising and app monetization company that gets 20,000+ tickets each week, leverages the follow-the-sun model with a total team of 85 associates to support their customers around the world. Typical challenges such as coordination, communication and culture differences presents a bigger challenge to FTS than GSD, as FTS involves daily hand-offs. 0000009498 00000 n Every time you learn you have a new customer base, you find someone to support them. Follow the Sun is a support model which works best for service desks that work around the clock, i.e 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Several workflows seem to be using the FTS model, but in reality this is not always the case. Non-stop development can become a serious advantage when you need to reduce time to market or offer your clients better production, development and deployment terms. System Sciences (HICSS), 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on, pages 331339. culture and language). It is a model in which work from one site is handed over to another, which is many time zones away (for example, U.S.A to India), in order for the work to be advanced while one team rests for the night. The three C's of applying a Follow the Sun Model | Appnovation As described by Carmel [1], the agile methodology is best suited for FTS. 42nd Hawaii International Conference on. A research carried out by Yap [7], a globally distributed software project team (UK, USA, and Singapore), followed the FTS approach under the Extreme Programming (XP) model (an Agile methodology Follow the Sun is a customer support method that focuses on providing consistent customer support without regard for geographic location or time restraints. Advances in Software Engineering, 2009:3, 2009. And customers in one location do not get preferential or more support than any other location. However, one slight difference is that Agile stresses on face to face communication, whereas in FTS inter-site communication between production sites is maintained at the bare minimum by using automated tools. Consider these basic steps and questions you need to ask before diving into a follow the sun methodology. In case of any issues with the blog, please contact: guledalprashanth@gmail.com or berd.kreynen@hotmail.com. Inverse schedules on an escalation policy - If you have two or more users that rotate primary and secondary on-call shifts, then you will want to create two on-call schedules and add . %PDF-1.7 % There are numerous advantages if the FTS implementation is successful which are reduced time-to-market, reduced software costs, increased international relationships leading to better diversity among companies, etc. ICGSE 2009. The traditional "follow the sun" model is a type of global workflow in which issues can be handled by and passed between offices in different time zones, increasing responsiveness and reducing delays. Major lessons learned in the study that could improve FTS from their experience include: It was also observed that hand-offs between different sites were especially difficult in the weekends. F9,Y%9Q@o:B"w7Fy||:R_q};gxJ2#'S2"8S$I(y'_`}WHw6(iEM:+9%Wl )ThVXNo"iN U=v f4. December 20, 2021. What could shorter department turnaround times mean for what youre trying to achieve globally? The FTS approach utilizes distributed team members spread across time-zones to achieve a single project outcome with the main objective of gaining speed and reducing the time-to-market of a project [13]. 0000066419 00000 n Calendar efficiency can be increased in a simple way by working overtime (overload mode), but this only improves the efficiency by 6%. Agile methodologies fit well with follow the sun models because all work is completed within set iteration cycles. To say that life during the global pandemic has recentred our focus on health is an understatement. Nurture and grow your business with customer relationship management software. To fulfil this need, most firms try various strategies such as working overtime, skipping steps and setting aggressive deadlines. Its also a great record to have on hand to show various stakeholders just how much your department can accomplish in any given window of time., Visualizing your cloud infrastructure in a centralized location that is accessible to all global team members will create an accurate and consistent picture of your follow the sun model from day one. It was developed so companies can provide round-the-clock customer service, literally following the sun around the globe. Some other day to day tasks enabled by software include logging time spent by developers, issue tracking, real time reporting, code reviews, and documentation. With many sites all working on the same project, the daily handoff can become a bottleneckespecially if the other team doesnt understand the problem or if their work introduces a new problem. By submitting my personal information, I consent to Zendesk collecting, processing, and storing my information in accordance with the, By submitting my personal data, I consent to Zendesk collecting, processing, and storing my information in accordance with the, The value of agent education and training during economic slowdowns, What is employee turnover? If not, determine what you are able to provide customers right now as you work toward your long-term 24-hour service. FTS could provide significant benefit in dealing with these aspects. Proceedings, pages 218{224. But these steps will add to the increase in cost due to burnout and fatigue [2]. You may opt-out by. Free and premium plans, Content management software. The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition, 2/E. 0000013868 00000 n Several reasons such as misinterpretation of specifications, multiple rework cycles, lack of proper coordination and communication between teams, time zone issues and cultural differences were attributed to the projects failure. The most popular online Visio alternative, Lucidchart is utilized in over 180 countries by millions of users, from sales managers mapping out target organizations to IT directors visualizing their network infrastructure. Support Model - Slide Team The follow the sun methodology can be a game changer., Teams working towards the same goals and maintaining the same cloud infrastructure can become extremely fragmented when located in different time zones. The first one involved a software development project consisting of teams in the United States and Australia and met with high degree of success. If the workdays among satellite offices overlap, work can be passed from an office that is shutting down for the day to an office that is still open or just starting its day. The specifics of this model require team managers to have constant control over the workflow because delays may result in the poor coordination of teams. Are you using a tool that makes it easy to scale, and to quickly hand off support tickets? Another culture would not offer their help unless they were asked while the third considered that presenting the problem was a sufficient invitation for willing team members to jump in and help. The iteration period lasts for a short time period (between two to four weeks). 1 gives the relevant facts regarding various working schemes. The. Since hand-offs are such an important aspect of Follow-the-Sun software development, recent research studied hand-offs management. Stars, 16 Agency Leaders Explore The SEO Trends Impacting Their Work In 2023, 15 Smart Ways To Address High Employee Turnover, How Vietnam's Entertainment Industry Can Increase Its Global Reach, 6 Best Practices For CEOs And Professional Leaders Using LinkedIn. What in the world is the "Follow-the-Sun" support model? Lucidscale connects to major cloud sources like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) to pull in data automatically. Essentially, it's 24/7 support, no matter where the sun is up, without needing any customer service department to work late shifts. Multiple teams may be working on the product over a certain amount of time, but one defined team is responsible for overseeing the process from start to finish. Two case studies reported on the application of FTS in software development is elaborated below. Additionally, if you have a site for each area around the sun, in different timezones, you'll be able to acquire more leads in that location because you'll be delighting your customers with consistent service. [12] Miguel Jimnez, Mario Piattini, and Aurora Vizcano. It is also known under different names such as 24 hour development or Round the clock development. Your follow the sun presentation service - YouTube However, the distance between time zones of production can be an issue since the real-time communication between the teams can be very limited. 0000064464 00000 n Although there were very less successful cases, some companies still showed positive intent in applying FTS model. In reality, setting up a Help Center doesnt have to be a monumental task, and by offering community forums, you can give your customers the chance to help each other. Figure 3: Comparing FTS model with other global workflows [1]. And due to these restraints, teams may have a tough time truly collaborating. 0000013504 00000 n Because of the hand-offs, work is owned by and worked on by one site at a time. 0000006358 00000 n PDF How to Provide Global Support A part of this may be attributed to the availability of efficient tools and enabling technologies for implementing the FTS model. What Is Follow-the-Sun and Why Should You Care? Organization Support: Role Communications Manager (CM) Description Coordinates emergency communication strategy across teams: customer success, marketing, legal, etc. Salesforce App Management Services and Support | Rimini Street This project involved five global teams distributed across five different countries. @|Q%q_2.gINPQ1Aq!>(ob@d9I8j3.a(fdb@n@8nZk;aza azv(;@ r endstream endobj 129 0 obj <>>>/Metadata 126 0 R/Outlines 108 0 R/PageLayout/SinglePage/Pages 123 0 R/Type/Catalog/ViewerPreferences<>>> endobj 130 0 obj <>/ExtGState<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text]/Properties<>/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/Tabs/W/Thumb 109 0 R/TrimBox[0.0 0.0 612.0 792.0]/Type/Page>> endobj 131 0 obj [/ICCBased 142 0 R] endobj 132 0 obj <> endobj 133 0 obj <>stream One such analysis is done using the calendar time [1] available for production. A novel approach to distributed concurrent software development using a follow-the-sun technique. If you have an online business or SaaS product, you probably sell your products or services globally. For example, a baseline work week is 30 hours after taking into account non-task activities. Modern day software development is spread more and more across national and international boundaries. The follow the sun model is a service and support method that is designed to address and satisfy customer needs without regard to geographic location or current time. Then, use a calendar to map out how many employees will work each shift in each time zone and how many hours are worked each week all together. Overall it was found that increasing the number of sites in a daily cycle increased the working speed. Increase response time to solve problems more quickly, and reduce development and production times to get products and services to market faster. [2] Murray R Millson, SP Raj, and David Wilemon. Follow the Sun (FTS), a sub-field of globally distributed software engineering (GDSE), is a type of global knowledge workflow designed in order to reduce the time to market, in which the knowledge product is owned and advanced by a production site in one time zone and handed off at the end of their work day to the next production site that is It was developed so companies can provide round-the-clock customer service, literally following the sun around the globe. ppt.gc.ca. For example, in the United States, some of your employees could start the day at 6:00 a.m. to support the Eastern and Central Time Zones. 0000067875 00000 n One of the important concepts evolved in the past decade or so is the Follow the sun (FTS) software development. However, it may be one of the most potent benefits for your business. But as you grow, you begin to standardize, build out streamlined processes, and build teams. See how this model can benefit your IT department. Knowledge transfer and sharing of project critical information with concerned parties is essential for smooth operation of the project. Do you also have self-service options like a knowledge database? The efficiency of the number of hours per day spent on actual development is much higher in the FTS model when compared with traditional software development [1]. There exist several case and field studies over the years, which resulted in challenges and best practices of FTS. Expertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Employee turnover is the number of workers leaving your business at any given timeincluding voluntary and involuntary exits. In Management of Engineering and Technology, Portland International Center for, pages 24582466. This infrastructure must always be available on demand and accessible. Response times are increased, delays in problem-solving are reduced, and customers are satisfied. They also need to train employees on how to use the software and then respond to any service tickets upon deployment. Global business processes such as call centres or help desks are not counted under the FTS umbrella. I have a team that is 12 hours ahead so we're not online at the same time. time zone difference and hand offs management), communication and culture. By checking this box, I agree to Zendesk contacting me with marketing-related communications about Zendesk products, services, and events. In an Agile based methodology, all major development activities (design, code, test and integrate) are carried out in every iteration cycle. 0000002728 00000 n Communication through emails and Slack with 16+ hour gaps between responses can lead to deployment missteps, security breaches staying open longer, and IT engineers completing redundant work., With a follow the sun model, on the other hand, daily handoffs of projects and tasks build better communication lines between global offices and their network engineers. A handoff from one site to the other can be occasionally empty due to public holidays or emergencies. The handoffs can be applied to any software development task. Agile also provides an opportunity for every team to maintain a sustainable pace of development i.e. The FTS approach is based on the principle of handing-off unfinished work to the next location at the end of work day. In this article, based on my personal experience, I will point out some of the tasks the FTS model helps to solve best and what you should know about the FTS model to help your agency reach its goals. Slide 1 of 5. Their teams are based in Honduras, Romania and the Philippines. Follow the sun: distributed extreme programming development. Background, main ideas and principles behind FTS were discussed followed by a brief review on Agile for FTS, advantages and limitations of FTS. Organization Support: Role Incident Liaison (IL) Description For severity 1 incidents only. Positive messages from current users make selling to new customers much easier, and if you can deliver consistent service around the clock and delight your customers, positive feedback is sure to come your companys way. One way to implement a follow the sun approach is to have customer support owned by one site at a time -- wherever the sun is up. In addition, passing the work to a new group lets people see the problem from a new perspective. Hence it is important to select a software development methodology which extends over the entire software development cycle and satisfies the special needs of daily hand-offs. IEEE, 2009. IBM in 1990s was probably one of the first companies to record the implementation of FTS in its software development teams globally [1]. Presentation Mode allows you to show off the specific parts of your design that stakeholders care about most., There you have it. You can update your preferences or unsubscribe at any time. I am talking about the follow-the-sun model, or FTS for short. When you keep everyone on the same page, service ticket times go down, security gets stronger, workflows become more seamless, and customers receive a better technical experience. The main reasons to use this approach are that you'll have faster problem solving, consistent levels of customer service, reasonable work hours, and you'll be able to branch into new markets. Thank you for subscribing to our email communication. Free and premium plans, Customer service software. [19] Treinen, James J., and Susan L. Miller-Frost. One key benefit of a follow the sun model is high uptime. If you dont have international offices, create a plan that uses staggered start times to cover the time zones you are focusing on. HWn1WLKZE This is very important especially for industries whose products become outdated in a very short time (e.g. To do this from a single office theyd have to aggressively staff up. Published: Research in Follow-the-Sun software development has been done since 1990. What is the Follow the Sun Customer Support Model? The method literally follows the sun so work is performed during normal work hours anywhere in the world. Production sites involved in the software development are many time zones apart. In theory, FTS can increase time to market by approximately 60%, which seems attractive. For instance, I could post for the other team to monitor a ticket I have opened. follow the sun workflow in global software development. This is where FTS potential gains a lot, as is evident in the bottom rows of the table. How to use a follow the sun model for your IT and cloud teams - Lucidchart But in reality not many companies are following this methodology due to a few documented successes and a significant lag in FTS research. You can, however, start planning for it. 2013. 0000067044 00000 n Your global customers will appreciate that bugs and other issues can be resolved quickly and that they dont have to wait for a team in a different time zone to fix the problem. This means that one team takes over the task when the first team is over. One of the ways to evaluate the efficiency of FTS is to compare the time taken to execute a project using traditional software development approaches vs FTS. Many factors influence the need to develop the products quickly such as avoiding contract creep, schedule slippages, budget overruns and other managerial reasons. A follow the sun model can help your organization provide 24/7/365 support to customers across the globe, regardless of time or location. If your business proceeds with follow the sun, managers should do their best to schedule meetings when its most convenient for both locations, and IT should adopt video conferencing and cloud-based solutions for everyone to work together. You will want to standardize on the technology and tools you use to support your agile methodologies and implement, monitor, revise, and manage your follow the sun model. Self-service is often the best place to start when building out global support, but some companies overlook self-service because it feels like there arent enough resources to build out a nice-looking repository of help articles. Employees hand off work at the end of each shift to the next site that is beginning a new shift several time zones to the west. endstream endobj 134 0 obj <>stream 0000010855 00000 n Lucidchart is the intelligent diagramming application that empowers teams to clarify complexity, align their insights, and build the futurefaster. For some, it may make more sense to have people in the office rather than working from home to expand and grow without opening an office first. FTS approach has only a handful of documented cases of industrial success because of its nature. IBM Software Group IBM Software Group Rational software Click to edit Track Number on Title Master Reducing Time to Market Using Follow-the-Sun Techniques Alex Cameron EDS Alex.Cameron@eds.com. Bugs and production problems are almost a certainty, this means companies need to organise resources and build capability to . The follow the sun customer support model means that you have customer service representatives available whenever the sun is up -- so as it becomes daytime for different parts of the world as we orbit around the sun, you'll have various customer service sites beginning their day and handing off their issues to another site. Adopting a follow the sun support methodology can help you provide high-quality, on-time service and support when your internal and external customers need you.. For this model to work, all sites must be using the same tools and development methodologies (planning, bug tracking, version control, reporting, and so on). 2008. That means customers requests and communications are coming in quickly and oftenand these businesses must meet that demand. Outline your company's customer journey and experience with these 7 free customer journey map templates. 0000007912 00000 n Presenting support model PPT slide template. Understand and optimize your cloud infrastructure today with Lucidscale. Following the sun: Case studies in global software development. IBM Systems Journal 45.4 (2006): 773-783. Prashanth G.L, Santosh Malagi, Laurens Van Den Bercken, Ade Setyawan Sajim and Bernd Kreynen are the authors of this blog. Three important companies which documented their experience is summarized below. 0000001156 00000 n It is interesting to note that there have been very few documented cases of successful FTS application in the software industry. We've got a true, "follow the sun" model, allowing access to support engineers [.] Believe it or not, the Covid-19 pandemic certainly influenced the decision to bring this powerful idea to life with local client support branches and personnel on every continent. 4KKq#VPd)M(*=X i d`rdadcNaVdnep!!!!|F_f0b 128 0 obj <> endobj xref 128 43 0000000016 00000 n The follow the sun model is based on the following principles: When a follow the sun method is implemented correctly, it will reap the following advantages for you and your business. The follow-the-sun model has proven to be successful for our business as team members were relocating and searching for safety while making sure none of the clients felt what they felt. The sun never sets for businesses that rely on remote support, and global support, for customer service. The University of Dar es Salaam Computing Centre is going to offer you in-class facilitation of all of the openEd 2.0 course modules against a moderate fee.<br /> 28. An optimal FTS configuration could raise the calendar efficiency as high as 71.4%. "Follow the Sun" Support Model for Business Intelligence What about the companies your business aspires to emulate?

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