Emerging from Hibernation

I can't let a month go by with no posts without some explanation. Some of the silence was semi-intentional: Stanford had a couple of weeks of down time for the program (winter quarter final exams and spring break). Then the first few sessions of our classes and seminar upon the start of the spring quarter were more internally focused: looking at what we hoped the program would accomplish in our final quarter. As such, it was more for the fellows, and less of interest to outsiders who might be reading the blog. I may sprinkle a few comments in some of the related posts, but for the most part, I'll skip this.

A quick project update as well: after a gruelling RFP (Request for Proposals) process to evaluate different potential partners to build version 1.0 of Mifos, we're very close to reaching an agreement. We benefitted from recommendations from a number of contacts, and evaluated the different candidates based upon their responses: the technical merit, how well they understood what we were asking, how well we felt they would work with us, the quality of product they would produce, the timeliness of their efforts, references of people who had worked with them, and, of course, the cost. It was a great opportunity to hear from outsourcing companies as well as US-based companies that had chosen to outsource work. My assessment is that running a project with a remote team adds a number of challenges around communication, expectations, skills, schedules, and people. There is a potential cost advantage over US-based development teams, but finding the right group and making the project a success is no less challenging than hiring a local team--and probably riskier.

It is, I believe, the right decision for Mifos: by engaging a team, we'll likely have a more coherent view of the global system than we would if it were pieced together by many volunteers working part time. It will probably be faster. We will probably have more dedicated QA resources. And given our expected partner is in India, they will probably have greater access to MFI's than a US-based team.