Jeff Farris, President and CEO and Louis Martinez, CIO of Fort Worth, Texas-based PDX, Inc., a leading provider of retail pharmacy technology and solutions in the United States, announced their plans to expand their teams hosted with Synerzip in Pune, India.

In addition to its own internal development team, PDX enlisted Synerzip resources to aid in the development of its latest software offerings, including the Enterprise Pharmacy System which is being implemented in pharmacies across the U.S.

Farris expressed his satisfaction with the return on investment. PDX was able to derive by outsourcing their software product development to Synerzip. He announced plans to expand the current team of 30 engineers to 50 in the near future. Martinez added, "Synerzip's agile delivery model and their ability to attract talent has resulted in a team that compares well with their own teams in the U.S."

About PDX

Almost 10,000 pharmacies across the U.S. benefit from technologies provided by PDX® and affiliates Rx.com® and NHIN®. PDX continues to build on its 25+ year commitment to excellence in retail pharmacy and patient care. Its single-source, integrated solution is unmatched by any other single provider or group of technology providers. It features the fast, intuitive, and advanced Enterprise Pharmacy System-already the choice of 17 chains and one major managed care plan; the portable, interoperable Rx.com Electronic Pharmacy Record which contains over 1 billion prescriptions and 78 million patients; industry-leading accounts receivable services from Absolute^AR; store-based mail order and central fill services from Rx.com; pharmaceutical manufacturer performance programs; and more.

About Synerzip

Synerzip, based in Dallas, Texas, serves small/mid-sized companies with dual-shore (US + India based) Agile software product development and QA/testing services. Synerzip was founded in 2004 by a seasoned team of software professionals, who deeply understood the common pitfalls of software development. Synerzip helps its clients leverage the offshore advantage without the upfront risk, hassle factor, and set-up costs. Synerzip's offshore development center is located in Pune, India. As a true partner, Synerzip allows its clients to take over its offshore team and turn it into their own captive operation. Synerzip's clients include leading privately funded technology companies.

Contact:
HR - India
Tel: +91.20.41023477
Email: hr-India@synerzip.com

Inc. magazine today ranked Synerzip at number 2387 on its fifth annual Inc. 500|5000, an exclusive ranking of the America's fastest-growing private companies. The list represents the most comprehensive look at the most important segment of the economy-America's independent entrepreneurs. Online retailer ideeli tops this year's list. Synerzip joins Spirit Airlines, television maker Vizio, Honest Tea, Dunkin Donuts and Metrokane, makers of the Rabbit corkscrew, among other prominent brands featured on this year's list.

In a stagnant economic environment, median growth rate of 2011 Inc. 500|5000 companies remains an impressive 94 percent. The companies on this year's list report having created 350,000 jobs in the past three years, and aggregate revenue among the honorees reached $366 billion, up 14 percent from last year.

"Now, more than ever, we depend on Inc. 500|5000 companies to spur innovation, provide jobs, and drive the economy forward. Growth companies, not large corporations, are where the action is," says Inc. magazine Editor Jane Berentson.

Synerzip, an innovative software company, focuses on serving small/mid-sized, typically venture-backed technology companies. Synerzip's team, with its expertise in Agile practices and software product development, assists its clients in building innovative and leading edge products in a capital efficient manner.

"We work in a collaborative partnership manner with our clients, who consider us as a logical extension of their in-house engineering team," said Hemant Elhence, Founder & CEO of Synerzip. Hemant added, "We bring not only a significant cost advantage to our clients, but also bring in deep expertise in cutting edge areas such as mobile app platforms - e.g. Android and iOS, SharePoint development, and Cloud technologies -e.g. Amazon EC2, Google App Engine, VMWare's Cloud Factory, and Microsoft Azure." Hemant continued, "All this, delivered following Agile software practices - responsive yet highly disciplined to deliver high quality software."

Methodology

The 2011 Inc. 500 is ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2007 to 2010. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2007. Additionally, they had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independent-not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies-as of December 31, 2010. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2007 is $100,000; the minimum for 2010 is $2 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons. Companies on the Inc. 500 are featured in Inc.'s September issue. They represent the top tier of the Inc. 5000, which can be found at www.inc.com/500.

About Inc. Magazine

Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures LLC, Inc. (www.inc.com) is the only major business magazine dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies that delivers real solutions for today's innovative company builders. With a total paid circulation of 710,106, Inc. provides hands-on tools and market-tested strategies for managing people, finances, sales, marketing, and technology. Visit us online at www.inc.com

About Synerzip

Synerzip, based in Dallas, Texas, serves small/mid-sized companies with dual-shore (US + India based) Agile software product development and QA/testing services. Synerzip was founded in 2004 by a seasoned team of software professionals, who deeply understood the common pitfalls of software development. Synerzip helps its clients leverage the offshore advantage without the upfront risk, hassle factor, and set-up costs. Synerzip's offshore development center is located in Pune, India. As a true partner, Synerzip allows its clients to take over its offshore team and turn it into their own captive operation. Synerzip's clients include leading privately funded technology companies, such as 360Commerce, Tangoe, Credant Technologies, Servient, CMS Globalsoft, Skywire Software, Pavilion Technologies, Gimmal Group, PDX/Rx.com, ClearOrbit, UnWired Buyer, MediaCart, BarFly, NeoFirma, iTKO, eGistics, Quickoffice, CoreTrace, FuelQuest, Hart InterCivic, SocialMuse, etc.

Contact:
Jill Frank
Tel: 972-342-4344
Email: jill@synerzip.com

Synerzip, a leading dual-shore Agile software product development partner for small to midsized, typically venture funded technology companies, was voted as one of the top 10 Enterprise Software Companies by Silicon India’s si100 2010.

This is the 13th year that si100 companies were selected and honored. si100 is an annual listing of the top 100 technology companies founded and managed by Indians in the U.S. The si100 not only represents the continuing rise and glory of Indian entrepreneurship in high-tech but also recognizes companies impacting the market place.

A distinguished panel comprising accomplished Indian CEOs & CIOs of public companies, venture capitalists, analysts and founders of other venture backed companies including Siliconindia editorial board decided on the top 100 companies.

Synerzip achieved 70 percent growth in 2010 over the previous year and made a name for itself by creating a software development firm based on agile methodologies and by making a deliberate decision to focus on SMBs, especially venture backed technology companies. "We are honored by si100’s recognition of our hard work. It is great to be recognized among our peers, community of clients and their investors," said Hemant Elhence, Founder & CEO of Synerzip.

Since starting in 2004, Synerzip has served over 50 clients ranging from seed-stage start-ups to public companies. What is unique about Synerzip is its deep expertise in Agile development and its dual-shore delivery model. The company maintains a 200 member team of high caliber software development and testing professionals located in Pune, India, along with a small team of Product/Project Management professionals located in the United States. Using its dual-shore team, Synerzip is able to build trusted partner relationship with its clients.

Because Synerzip works extensively with innovative technology companies, Synerzip is able to rapidly build strong teams in leading edge software sectors such Microsoft SharePoint and mobile application development, including iPhone and Android platforms.

About Synerzip

Synerzip, based in Dallas, Texas, serves small/mid-sized companies with dual-shore (US + India based) Agile software product development and QA/testing services. Synerzip was founded in 2004 by a seasoned team of software professionals, who deeply understood the common pitfalls of software development. Synerzip helps its clients leverage the offshore advantage without the upfront risk, hassle factor, and set-up costs. Synerzip’s offshore development center is located in Pune, India. As a true partner, Synerzip allows its clients to take over its offshore team and turn it into their own captive operation. Synerzip's clients include leading privately funded technology companies, such as 360Commerce, Tangoe, Credant Technologies, Servient, CMS Globalsoft, Skywire Software, Pavilion Technologies, Gimmal Group, PDX/Rx.com, ClearOrbit, UnWired Buyer, MediaCart, BarFly, NeoFirma, iTKO, eGistics, Quickoffice, CoreTrace, FuelQuest, etc.

For more information, please contact:
Jill Frank-Edwards
Press Relations Director/972-342-4344
jill@sterlingcommunicationsinc.com

Dallas, TX, September 27, 2010 - Synerzip, a leading dual-shore Agile software product development partner for small to midsized, typically venture funded technology companies, announced today that it has partnered with Quickoffice to build a portfolio of office productivity applications for the Android platform.

Android, the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance, is the hottest new platform for mobile application development. Unlike Blackberry which largely appeals to corporate users and iPhone which is largely consumer focused, Android promises to appeal to both consumer and corporate users. Android operating systems will be available on a broad range of devices including, mobile phones, netbooks and tablet PCs. This broad applicability of Android OS makes it an attractive platform for building end user applications.

"While Synerzip has been assisting its clients for the last several years in building mobile applications on various mobile platforms including Windows Mobile, Windows CE, Android, iPhone, BlackBerry, Symbian and Palm, we believe the Quickoffice partnership will maximize our focus on mobile application development with particular emphasis on the Android platform," said Hemant Elhence, Founder and CEO of Synerzip.

David Halpin, Quickoffice's VP of Engineering noted, "The Quickoffice team has broad and deep expertise in building productivity applications on all mobile platforms. Given the strong demand for our products, last year we started looking for a software development partner who could help us significantly expand our development capacity in a capital efficient manner, without compromising quality and time to market." David added, "We are very pleased with the caliber and quality of the Synerzip team. We found Synerzip's expertise in Agile software development practices combined with their solid experience in the mobile/Android platform a perfect match for Quickoffice."

Hemant observed, "The Quickoffice partnership will help us accelerate the development pace on the Android platform allowing us, through our Agile practices and offshore team, to develop new and compelling mobile applications for our clients rapidly and cost efficiently."

About Quickoffice

Quickoffice is the world leader in providing mobile office productivity software and solutions for mobile devices. The company's robust product suite includes its flagship smartphone office suite, Quickoffice® Premier, its Content Transformation Solution (CTS) infrastructure and the Bitflash® Rich Media Engine. Quickoffice Premier is an award-winning smartphone application that provides native viewing and editing of Microsoft® Office documents in over 47 languages. The software ships as an on-device solution on tens of millions of smartphone devices annually. The CTS client/server infrastructure offers network optimized, anytime, anywhere access to digital content and high-definition viewing of such content. The Bitflash Rich Media engine is the industry's highest rated SVG-T engine providing rich user experiences on over 300M mobile devices worldwide. Platforms supported by Quickoffice include Symbian®, Palm ®, Blackberry®, iPhone® and Android. Privately held, Quickoffice Inc. is based in Dallas with offices in London, Ottawa, St. Petersburg, Russia, and Kharkiv, Ukraine. More information is available at www.quickoffice.com.

Quickoffice is a trademark of Quickoffice, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective holders.

About Synerzip

Synerzip, based in Dallas, Texas, serves small/mid-sized companies with dual-shore (US + India based) Agile software product development and QA/testing services. Synerzip was founded in 2004 by a seasoned team of software professionals, who deeply understood the common pitfalls of software development. Synerzip helps its clients leverage the offshore advantage without the upfront risk, hassle factor, and set-up costs. Synerzip's offshore development center is located in Pune, India. As a true partner, Synerzip allows its clients to take over its offshore team and turn it into their own captive operation. Synerzip's clients include leading privately funded technology companies, such as 360Commerce, Traq Wireless, Credant Technologies, Servient, CMS Globalsoft, Skywire Software, Pavilion Technologies, Gimmal Group, PDX/Rx.com, ClearOrbit, UnWired Buyer, MediaCart, BarFly, NeoFirma, iTKO, eGistics, Quickoffice, etc.

For more information, please contact:
Jill Frank-Edwards
Press Relations Director/972-342-4344
jill@sterlingcommunicationsinc.com

Dallas, TX, February 9, 2009 Synerzip, a dual-shore Agile software product development partner for small to midsized, typically venture funded technology companies, announced today that it has partnered with Michael Hall of Three Beacons LLC (www.threebeacons.com) to provide Agile Methods training services to Synerzip’s team and client partners.

Founded in 2004, Synerzip has built its reputation on the basis of its in-depth understanding of the real challenges faced by software companies who need to build innovative software products in a capital efficient manner. Synerzip serves these clients effectively, using its dual-shore Agile model.

The Agile approach to software development embraces changing and evolving business requirements while following a highly disciplined engineering approach to building software. Using the Agile approach, working software is delivered to business users in short cycles, often one or two weeks each. These short delivery cycles allow frequent feedback from business users, timely course corrections where needed, and a pattern of repeated testing, which ultimately results in a robust software product which actually meets the true needs of business users.

"Synerzip is a thought leader in the utilization of Agile Methods. Their first-hand experience and successful history of combining Agile Methods with offshore outsourcing provides a definite and significant business advantage to their clients, and that is what attracted me to this alliance," said Mr. Hall. "I am excited to be working as a Synerzip partner, and am looking forward to helping existing and potential Synerzip clients with their software methods training needs," added Hall. While Synerzip has been practicing the Agile approach to software development since its inception, we realize that many of our client teams and new hires need coaching and training to truly adopt the Agile practices correctly. The Agile process is responsive and adaptive, yet it requires a sound discipline of software engineering. Having Mike Hall available as an Agile Coach/Trainer to our teams and our clients, will really help improve proper adoption of Agile practices, said Hemant Elhence, CEO of Synerzip

Michael Hall is the CEO and founder of Three Beacons, LLC, a leading provider of Agile Methods training and consultancy services. Hall is a Certified Scrum Master, trained by the inventor of Scrum, Ken Schwaber. He is considered an expert at integrating transformative practices such as Agile Methods and disciplined quality into existing corporate cultures. Michael has developed and delivered training on Agile Methods through workshops, tutorials, and speaking engagements. As an early adopter, his practical experience with Agile Methods spans over 8 years. Michael has over 20 years of practical experience leading and transforming both small and large teams to successful commercial product delivery at companies such as WorldLink, Samsung, ESI, Nortel Networks, and E-Systems. Ten of these years involved collaborative offshore outsourcing with development teams located in India and Korea. Michael was part of the leadership team that established Nortel India in Borivali, India as a joint partnership with Tata Consulting Services during the seminal days of offshore outsourcing.

About Synerzip

Synerzip, based in Dallas, Texas, serves small/mid-sized companies with dual-shore (US + India based) Agile software product development and QA/testing services. Synerzip was founded in 2004 by a seasoned team of software professionals, who deeply understand the common pitfalls of software development. Synerzip helps its clients leverage the offshore advantage without the upfront risk, hassle factor, and set-up costs.

Synerzip's clients include leading privately funded technology companies, such as 360Commerce, Traq Wireless, Credant Technologies, DataCert, Servient, CMS Globalsoft, Skywire Software, Pavilion Technologies, Gimmal Group, PDX/Rx.com, ClearOrbit, UnWired Buyer, MediaCart and NeoFirma. As a true partner, Synerzip allows its clients to take over their offshore team to turn it into their own captive operation.

For more information, please contact:
Jill Frank-Edwards
Press Relations Director/972-342-4344
jill@sterlingcommunicationsinc.com

Dallas, TX, January 19, 2009 Synerzip, a dual-shore Agile software product development partner for small to midsized, typically venture funded, technology companies, announced today that it has added Dr. Pallab Chatterjee, Former CEO of i2 and former CTO of TI Technology Labs, to its Board of Advisors.

Founded in 2004, Synerzip has built its reputation by possessing a deep understanding of the real challenges faced by start-ups to mid-sized software companies who need to build innovative software products in a capital efficient manner. Synerzip serves these clients effectively using its dual-shore Agile model.

"By utilizing Synerzip's dual-shore Agile development approach, companies can quickly and efficiently scale up their development team and take their software product to the next level. The Synerzip team truly has the DNA of Agile development – something which no other offshore software services vendor can claim. Synerzip actually leads its clients in adopting the Agile development approach and, at the same time, also offers them the economic advantage of offshore (India) model. This is a killer combination," said Dr. Pallab Chatterjee. "I am excited to be working with the Synerzip team which already has an excellent track record of execution and look forward to working closely with the board during the next phase of Synerzip's growth," added Pallab.

"As Synerzip continues to mature as a company we felt a need to surround ourselves with experienced executives and mentors. We greatly value Pallab's deep understanding of software product development function and his experience in running global businesses. We are delighted to welcome him to our Board of Advisors," said Synerzip's Founder and CEO Hemant Elhence.

Dr. Pallab Chatterjee is an internationally recognized high-tech executive with experience in Corporate General Management, Corporate Governance, Strategy, Technology, Operations, and Outsourcing.

Most recently Dr. Chatterjee was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of i2 Technologies, Inc. Under his leadership, i2 launched a new sales execution model coupled with new services lines for the company's Total Supply Chain Management approach that yielded significant bookings growth for i2. Prior to assuming the CEO role, Dr. Chatterjee was President Solutions Operations at i2. As President of i2's Solutions Operations, Dr. Chatterjee was responsible for product development, product marketing, and delivery of i2 Technologies' supply chain management solutions.

Previous to i2, Dr. Chatterjee spent 24 years at Texas Instruments in various executive management positions. Under his leadership as senior vice president of Research and Development and Chief Technology Officer, the Texas Instruments Technology Labs became known as a standard for excellence acknowledged by both academia and industry. A TI senior fellow in 1985, an IEEE fellow in 1986, Dr. Chatterjee received the IEEE J. J. Ebers award in 1986. He has been awarded numerous patents and written several publications on the high technology industry.

Dr. Chatterjee earned a BS in electronics and communication engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India where he was awarded the President of India Gold Medal for curricular excellence and the B.C.Roy Memorial Gold Medal for extracurricular excellence. He received his master's and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering from the place University of Illinois.

About Synerzip

Synerzip, based in Dallas, Texas, serves small/mid-sized companies with dual-shore (US + India based) Agile software product development and QA/testing services. Synerzip was founded in 2004 by a seasoned team of software professionals, who deeply understand the common pitfalls of software development. Synerzip helps it clients leverage the offshore advantage without the upfront risk, hassle factor, and set-up costs.

Synerzip's clients include leading privately funded technology companies, such as 360Commerce, Traq Wireless, Credant Technologies, DataCert, Servient, CMS Globalsoft, Skywire Software, Pavilion Technologies, Gimmal Group, PDX/Rx.com, ClearOrbit, UnWired Buyer, MediaCart and NeoFirma. As a true partner, Synerzip allows its clients to take over their offshore team to turn it into their own captive operation.

For more information, please contact:
Jill Frank-Edwards
Press Relations Director/972-342-4344
jill@sterlingcommunicationsinc.com

Synerzip, a dual-shore Agile software product development partner targeting small to midsized technology companies, announced today that it has added Guillermo (Gil) Marmol, a highly seasoned executive, to its Board of Advisors.

Since its founding in 2004, Synerzip has served over 40 leading privately funded technology companies across the United States. "As Synerzip continues to mature as a company we felt a need to surround ourselves with experienced executives and mentors and feel that we can benefit from Gil's insights and experience and take Synerzip to the next level. We are delighted to welcome Gil to our Board of Advisors," said Synerzip's Founder and CEO Hemant Elhence.

"Synerzip, with its astute business strategy, clearly addresses an underserved market," said Gil Marmol. "I am excited to be working with the Synerzip team which already has an excellent track record of execution and look forward to working closely with the board during the next phase of growth."

Gil Marmol has served in leadership positions in the technology services industries for the past twelve years, most recently as member of the executive committee that led the successful turnaround of EDS where he was responsible for planning and operations improvement. Previously, he was CEO of Luminant, an Internet professional services which he took public in 1999, and chaired the operating committee of Perot Systems Corporation through a period of three-fold growth. In these capacities Mr. Marmol developed and implemented off shoring strategies including the acquisition by EDS of MphasiS in 2006.

Mr. Marmol was also a director (senior partner) of McKinsey and Company, Inc. During an 18 year career he served several high performance organizations in the formulation and execution of growth strategies which resulted in far above peer group performance. His work in organizational design has been recognized in a variety of publications including the Wall Street Journal.

Today Mr. Marmol serves as an investor and advisor to technology companies through his own firm Marmol & Associates. He works in conjunction with leading private equity firms.

Mr. Marmol is on the board of directors of the Center for a Free Cuba in Washington, DC and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Engineering and Applied Physics from Harvard College and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

About Synerzip

Synerzip, based in Dallas, Texas, serves small/mid-sized companies with dual-shore (US + India based) Agile software product development and QA/testing services. Synerzip was founded in 2004 by a seasoned team of software professionals, who deeply understand the common pitfalls of software development. Synerzip helps it clients leverage the offshore advantage without the upfront risk, hassle factor, and set-up costs.

Synerzip's clients include leading privately funded technology companies, such as 360Commerce, Traq Wireless, Credant Technologies, DataCert, Servient, CMS Globalsoft, Skywire Software, Pavilion Technologies, Gimmal Group, PDX/Rx.com, ClearOrbit, UnWired Buyer, MediaCart and NeoFirma. As a true partner, Synerzip allows its clients to take over their offshore team to turn it into their own captive operation.

For more information, please contact:
Jill Frank-Edwards
Press Relations Director/972-342-4344

Synerzip, the offshore software product development partner for technology companies, announced today the successful and complete transfer of software product development team to Servient, a Houston, Texas-based company that gives attorneys an innovative solution to handle paper and electronic discovery. The system allows legal counsel to search, review, organize and manage all of their discovery through a fully automated solution.

Servient was Synerzip's first customer, starting the engagement in Q1 of 2004. At that time, Servient was just starting their software product development and decided to engage with Synerzip to help them build their offshore team and manage the product development process. Over the course of last three years, Synerzip and Servient team worked collaboratively to grow the offshore team build Servient's innovative software application.

Synerzip and Servient teams used Agile software development practices, which are lightweight yet robust for effective dual-shore software product development. The teams work highly collaboratively with open and frequent communication. The product management and architecture design leadership was provided by Servient's team based in Houston, Texas and Glen Allen, Virginia. All of detailed design, development, and testing were handled by Synerzip team which was dedicated to Servient. This dedicated team has now been successfully transitioned to Servient's captive operation in Pune, India.

"Synerzip has been a great partner for us in helping build the offshore team, with minimal upfront cost and hassle. We experienced remarkable stability of team, excellent professional caliber, and outstanding teamwork. With Servient's operation reaching the next level of business growth and maturity, this transition to captive operation was a logical path for Servient. We are very pleased with this overall experience of building the team with Synerzip," said Mr. Ian Wilson, CEO of Servient.

The team stability and smooth transfer was enabled by Servient's astute management team and Synerzip's unique approach known as the Gradual Team Transfer model. With the Gradual Team Transfer approach, Synerzip team is able to ensure a graceful team transfer with minimal risk of upsetting the team morale and rhythm of work.

"Working with Servient team was a great learning experience for us and it was nice to see a small team grow to a sizable and mature operation in a highly collaborative and team oriented work environment. Transitioning this team now over to Servient is a win-win arrangement for all the parties involved -- Servient, Synerzip, and above all, the team members, who are thrilled to be directly working with an exciting company like Servient," said Hemant Elhence, CEO of Synerzip.

About Synerzip

Synerzip, based in Dallas, Texas, serves small/mid-sized companies with dual-shore (US + India based) Agile software product development and QA/testing services. Synerzip was founded in 2004 by a seasoned team of software professionals, who deeply understand the common pitfalls of software development. Synerzip helps it clients leverage the offshore advantage without the upfront risk, hassle factor, and set-up costs.

For more information, please contact:
Jill Frank-Edwards
Press Relations Director/972-342-4344

How software is developed has dramatically changed in last two decades. Now, software development has become a lot more predictable science, than the craft it once used to be. An approach to software development, known as Agile, actually embodies two decades of that learning. Most companies which build software will be well served if they follow the Agile approach to software development.

Less like a Craft, a Lot More like Engineering

Two decades ago, most software was largely written from scratch, with very little dependence on third-party, re-usable, building blocks. Developers had all the flexibility, as well as all the responsibility, for writing good code. For individual developers, the process used to be a lot more fun, but also lot more complex. That's when seasoned managers believed a great software developer is forty times more productive than an average developer!

But now, with the advent of various prefabricated layers of software and available building blocks, such as application servers, databases, etc., developers are relieved of many software housekeeping tasks. A developer's work environment is now significantly more productive with tools such as interactive development environment, automatic code checkers, etc. All of these available tools free developers from tedious, low-value tasks and their focus can be directed to writing code for the business solutions they want to address.

While earlier there was little upfront focus on developing test cases, software testing is now a mature discipline. Building test cases and rigorously testing software is the only way to ensure software quality. Good software teams routinely follow excellent practices like Test Driven Development. Before writing a single line of code they first write the test case to test their code. What a sound idea - development with an end in mind! This practice ensures that developers actually understand the real intent of the software requirements before cranking out code.

The above examples illustrate how the software development process has matured in the last two decades. As a result, building great software has become much less of a craft and lot more of a real engineering project.

The Remaining Challenges

While software development really has become a more manageable engineering discipline, it is not quite like manufacturing. There is inherent uncertainty involved in writing software. Research and design are innate components of "writing" software, and are in-grained in the process. Often a software developer will employ a trial and error approach to write a piece of software that actually performs as specified. Therefore, writing software is not as predictable as the manufacturing process is, and a different approach to managing software projects is required.

Another chronic issue with software development has been that of the "moving target" of requirements specification. The idea of casting requirements in stone and holding them constant, until the development team delivers, is actually a mirage. In fact, it is largely a flawed expectation. As Edward V. Bernard says, "Walking on water and developing software from a specification are easy, if both are frozen."

Agile Software Development

Agile is an umbrella term that encompasses different variations - Extreme, Scrum, Spiral, etc., some of which have been around for a while. But, recent thinking has expanded the definition of Agile further. The Agile approach essentially delivers a sound prescription for the ongoing challenges of software development.

The Agile process recognizes and embraces the reality that software requirements cannot be, and in most cases should not be, cast in stone at the outset. Requirements specifications must be allowed to emerge and evolve organically. Once this flexibility is allowed, the end result is a better product which is more whole heartedly adopted by the intended users.

Yet, as previously mentioned, the software development process requires a high degree of engineering discipline. The Agile development process prescribes a healthy balance between HOW you build software (i.e. the engineering discipline) and flexibility of WHAT you build (i.e. the actual feature/function specification, which always appears to be a moving target). Moreover, the Agile process allows and encourages different development teams to strike a balance that is most appropriate for their particular situation. For example, an early-stage start-up company building a new, innovative product needs lighter discipline and much higher flexibility. A mature software product company with an installed-base of thousands of customers may need much higher discipline and limited flexibility. Yet both teams can effectively implement the Agile process of software development.

Finally, the agile process serves software teams which are dispersed - with developers working from home, or in different office locations throughout the country, and around the world. In fact, the Agile process works very well with offshore teams, allowing companies to achieve the holy grail of software development: lower costs, higher quality, and better products!

- Hemant Elhence is the Founder and CEO of Synerzip, a Dallas based software services company. Synerzip serves small/mid-sized companies with dual-shore (US + India) Agile software development and QA/testing services. As a seasoned team of software professionals, Synerzip assists its clients in effectively leveraging the offshore advantage, without the upfront risk, hassle factor, and set-up costs.
Contact: hemant@synerzip.com