Pentalog began its Vietnamese adventure in 2009. For 2 and a half years, the office was managed by Tuan Nguyen Quoc. A great team of 60 people is in charge of several customer projects (Altadis Imperial Tobacco, Sierra Wireless, Active System, Lexware, People Centric, Anevia etc.) or internal projects. Moreover, a team of 8-10 people will start a project for another important client in September.
This growing trend is only just starting. Our Asian strategy requires that we take steps forward, as part of a company development process which will have a special focus on the Asian market.
All multinational companies made this choice a long while ago, as the economic dynamism of the region cannot be ignored.

In the scope of this new organization, Marc Charbit has taken over the management of the Hanoi office. He joined the company at the beginning of June and spent his first weeks at Pentalog in the Romanian and Moldovan offices and at the Orléans headquarters. He is a young French manager with international experience in one of the top 5 French IT companies. He moved to Vietnam 5 years ago and has developed a strong relationship with this country, considering that he even learned the language. Like all valuable Pentalog employees, he is multilingual. He speaks Vietnamese, English, German, Slovak and, of course, French. He will play a major role in implementing the quality policy and preparing the Hanoi office for the ISO certification.

Welcome Marc! A great challenge lies ahead of you!

Here we are, only 10 days away from Pentalog Romania’s 10-year anniversary and Pentalog Moldova’s 5-year anniversary. A project that began in the first days of January 2000… has turned into a beautiful human adventure.

Below you will find the PENTASTOCK programme!

A few days ago, we have been interwied by Wall-Street in Romania. The article is about the main figures we released at the beginning of the year, the results of 2009 and the main thrusts of the 2010 Pentalog strategy:

http://www.wall-street.ro/articol/IT-C-Tehnologie/80236/Outsourcing-ul-si-criza-Cum-abordeaza-Pentalog-anul-2010.html

For non-Romanian speakers, in short, the main point we tried to emphasize is the attractiveness of Romania as an offshore/nearshore destination, that we need to maintain. Now the domestic market is still not big enough to create new business. The local IT services market significantly dropped in 2009 and for this year forecasts are directed at the same trend. The public sector used to be a good customer some time ago but now the budgetary deficit has turned the state into a question mark in the new business equation. And when I think of sectors such as embedded systems, I cannot imagine how a market without any strong production (I don’t even dare thinking of R&D) can provide work to thousands of engineers. Therefore let us keep our assets and continue to grow in the framework of international projects, where Pentalog is really successful, with over 50% growth rates our competitors are jealous of.

A few weeks ago, Pierre, head of the IS Business Line, published an article on the topic of the metric system. Here is a 2nd post concerning this subject:

As a follow-up of an earlier post on metrics, I would like to come back to the advantages of this system.

While participating in a steering committee this week as part of improving our common practices, the subject of estimates was raised by our client. Without going into details, they asked us to assure them that we had taken into account a margin of risk in our assessments. The client had indeed noted that we had often exceeded our estimates concerning a precise aspect of the project.

We approached the subject by explaining that it would be appropriate, based on the statistics between the estimated workload and actual workload, to establish a breakdown of the project into work units and assign to each one of them a development load based on these statistics.

The concept was discussed. Naturally we then discussed the gradual establishment of a metrics system for the project and reminded the client of the benefits that this would incur. Those advantages that did not fail to catch his attention.

We therefore explained, that by properly defining the work units, the metric system would allow for more reliable estimates and a further increase in the transparency of the method we would use to assign workloads to the functionalities of his product. This added to the fact that he would know in advance the number of days for the realization of a new feature, our client did not hesitate a moment before approving the concept.

Furthermore, we also stressed that after the establishment of the metric system, time spent on a subject would be exclusively devoted to the contents of a batch rather than justifying the expenses. Indeed, this is a significant advantage for the introduction of the metric system: focusing on the contents in order to optimize them.

Of course, the maturity of this system will naturally lead to the optimization of the estimates by better controlling the performance of team members. And from this point of view, everyone wins.

In conclusion, I would like to note an observation I made while attending the steering committee: the subject of the metric system is now part of the Pentalog team vocabulary.

As Tuan mentioned in his last post, we had a very busy week in Hanoi. We participated in several events which were divided between Frederic, Tuan, Guy and I.

I will dwell mainly on the Vietnam Comm Exhibition and the Vietnam Electronics 2009, the largest Vietnamese ICT exhibition and our first participation in an Asian trade show. I assure you it was an interesting experience, first of all from a point of view of the animation and atmosphere.

The day before the opening, I participated with Tuan in a group meeting with the VNPT (Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group), organized by Ubifrance. It was an opportunity to present Pentalog, our dynamic growth, and especially our presence in Vietnam. Our Vietnamese counterparts showed a strong interest and possibly this will be an opening towards future partnerships. At the end, the traditional exchange of gifts, a local custom can not be overlooked.

The opening of the exhibition took place in a festive atmosphere. Simply awesome! Here is a video related to this event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4SRxjQO8HM.

Not to deny our French roots, the Pentalog stand found its place in the French Pavilion, hosted for the first time by Ubifrance.
The presence at the Pentalog stand was assured by Tuan, our Branch Director in Hanoi, Frederic, Kim-Anh, Mai and I. The visit of French officials and Mr. Ambassador Herve Bolot (former Ambassador of France in Romania), gave me opportunity to exchange a few phrases in Romanian.

Even if we had a very good location, we had to deal with a few organizational problems, mainly due to the incredible noise made by the Telecom operators. Being accustomed to a more sober and reserved style, the games, contests and entertainment, with its background noise certainly not taking into account the other exhibitors, surprised us in a negative manner.

In terms of meetings, we meet very few qualified visitors. The most interesting discussions we had were with the contacts we already knew before the show. Most appointments made at the stand did not come through. But I will not forget the interesting meetings organized by Ubifrance with Canal Overseas and Calyon.

On the other hand, meetings with other exhibitors opened a few doors for business opportunities. I am reminded here of Orange (a very interesting presentation on their tele-conference solution), Sagem Com HTTV, Infoterra Hit Value, SAP, and the last but not the least interesting, Noema.

I must not forget to say a few words about the evening Gala. It was a moment that reminded me of memories “deja vue” of a past regime.

In conclusion, we were able to make our presence felt and our involvement in French events (I speak here of Ubifrance) and prove that French investments and French interests in this area are very strong and supported by all the officials.

Next year the exhibition will be held in the city of HCM. And who knows, maybe our presence will mark the opening of another Branch office.

Here is an article written by Pierre Peutin, Head of IS Business Line.

As Sophie mentioned in her post of October 19, Pentalog was nominated for The Innovation Awards 2009 with MONA a virtual assistant solution. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aAbboKgdwE – in French). Here is a summary of the evening that was placed under the sign of the cinema, where the star that evening was innovation!

The ceremony for the Trophies took place in the Cinémathèque Française de Paris. After a lengthy introduction by Barbara Dalibard, Executive Director of Orange Business Services, and Jean Mounet, President of Syntec Informatique, we attended a screening of 6 short films, each illustrating the use of one of the 6 winners of the solutions evening. Each winner was awarded a trophy and had the opportunity to present their solution.

There were 6 categories for the 2009 session of the competition which brought together the final solutions adopted. These categories related to new uses, business solutions, mobility solutions / solutions technology, performance and operational excellence, applications and APIs inside the Grand Jury Prize. Emphasis was placed on rapid mobility solutions, solutions that are eco-responsible and of course, solutions for which an initial feedback was measurable, otherwise, innovation has no interest.

Pentalog competed with MONA in category “Performance and operational excellence.” Our solution was still in testing phase at the time of the nominations last June and was not selected but it was still distinguished amongst the 40 finalists (16 were selected for the award ceremony).

Let’s make a rendezvous for next year, presuming that this time Pentalog will be a winner!

While introducing the new Pentalog organizational structure, we announced also the establishment of Business Liners (BL).
One of their responsibilities consists of demonstrating in the field the in depth improvement of work methods, conducted under the responsibility of the Technical Director of and Quality Director.

Regularly, each BL will speak on the progress of these implementations in the field.
One of the first articles prepared by Pierre Peutin the IS BL (Information Systems), presents the metric system as applied on one of our projects.

Other topics of interest will follow.
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After several months of in depth work on improving the process of estimating costs, and to respond to Fred’s post on establishing the metric system in Pentalog, I would like to mention now the widespread use of this system in most of the Pentalog projects.

Before giving an example, I would like briefly to explain the philosophy of the metric system. A metric is a progress or quality indicator of the software development. More precisely I would define it as the use of metrics to measure and to compare the development times. For this, the first step is the breakdown of the project requirements into subcategory requirements and then into work units for each subcategory requirement. Each work unit belongs to a certain type (simple, medium complex, for example) and is defined by assigning a certain number of characteristics. By classifying these work units, then it is possible to assign a worload which translates into the number of man days for development (or number of hours, depending on the structure chosen).
Taking for example a data entry form, the characteristics could be the number of input fields, the number of drop-down list, of images, the complexity of the actions related to the different buttons, etc…
This first stage gives a point of reference to the project.

After defining the reference, which is generally used in the first step to accelerate and standardize the estimates, we must confirm the costs attached to each work unit by correlating it with the actual time spent in developing each requirement. I would like to note that the reference allows for complete transparency in regards to the development time and for the customer.

When the reference has reached a certain maturity (equivalence established between the workload and the time spent during development), it is possible to measure the productivity and thus to establish goals for improving the performance of the development team. The idea here is to gradually reduce the worklaod for each work unit in regards to the reference in order to increase the development speed.

It is precisely this process that I would like to present now.

The project given here, as an example, is the development of a management solution for sales outlets for one of our French customers. The development is carried out by 5 teams spread over 3 Pentalog Offshore sites (Romania, Moldova and Vietnam) with 40 members.

For this project with more than 6000 man days in 2009 based on the SCRUM method (AGILE method), using the metrics system is intended primarily to improve the development productivity by increasing the number of detailed requirements contained in each Sprint; the reference points have been provided for at the beginning of the project by the client.

The work of the project manager is to analyze at the end of each Sprint, the work units in order to adjust the development workloads (by increasing them at the beginning in respect to the content of the Sprints and then decreasing them when the team has reached its cruising speed to improve it’s productivity). Having these common references also allows to more accurately measure the performance of each team and adjust the continuity of the management.

In the diagram below, which uses the data from this project, the project leader is able to compare the results obtained in the development of the interfaces for each of the 5 teams to see who are his top performers and those who are less so. The idea here is to first smooth the performance of all the teams using as a point of reference the faster team and then in regards to the reference development times.

By analyzing this graph, there is a visible disparity in development time between the teams. The project manager then got down to the task of making the necessary changes to smooth the time of all the teams.

After bringing all the teams to the same development level, the project leader can tackle the job to improve the productivity by gradually reducing the workloads of each type.

Here I am trying to show the first example of the industrialization of the Pentalog metric system, notably by explaining how it is possible to increase the productivity of a project. In a future post I will explain, by using another example, the establishment of a reference repository.

I would like to re-submit a comment in regards to the post Fred wrote concerning the Requirements of Democracy.

Romanians thought it would take 50 years to get rid of Communists. 20 years after the events of December 1989, we are not yet finished with them. But we are moving in the right direction. We were able to have the necessary patience and at the same time, we continued to believe.

This is exactly what the Moldovan must do! Leaving the country is an immediate personal response, but not an act of trust in Moldova. We must not forget that there are people who will remain, who will continue to believe, to keep the faith and, when the time is right will take their rightful places.

I look at the current situation in Romania. I am not hearing about people who want to leave the country. In our profession, people are always looking to go on interesting international missions, but they leave only for a limited time. Another fact, many people who have left Romania in the past are now returning home! People, who work for dynamic companies, are once again looking towards their country of origin. Maybe the crisis has become a critical factor but never forget that there is no place like home!

Frederic mentioned, in his past article he was going to modify the organizational chart, and the need for one or two more office managers in Romania. In the immediate, this means there is a need is to find a branch manager for the office in Bucharest.

I will briefly explain the specificity of this post.

Bucharest has a local business that employs more than 90% of the team. The rest of the team works on offshore projects, usually in the “niche” technologies or at very high technical levels. In the case of Bucharest, the office manager has two hats: one is related to the classical function of management and the other focused on developing business in the Romanian market.

This means, in large terms, the office manager is responsible for achieving the development objectives set out by management. This person is furthermore responsible for recruitment and management of resources, the monitoring of his or her branch (expense structures, gross margin and net margin, the average cost of a producer etc…), and therefore the profitability of his agency. An important point: the office manager is the sponsor of all the projects taking place within his branch and client contact.

The commercial element will be a very important challenge. We need to increase of our presence with our Romanian accounts. The current period is not favorable, but this is another subject that deserves another article. The local customers today are working with more than 25 people who are involved in various projects such as Datawarehouse telecom, banking applications migration, facilities etc… The objective in terms of new clients is to open, before the end of 2009 at least 3 new local accounts. The sales generated in 2008 from the Bucharest branch were approximately € 1.5 mil. Our goal for this year is € 2 million and sufficient enough projects to create 10 new posts in Bucharest.

The position is open and there are already people who have declared their intention to support this position. The final decision will be made around September. So if you are interested, the challenge is open to everyone.

One month after the article on Pentalog in the Romanian press, the journalists of wall-street.ro interview me.

The article presents the development plans of Pentalog in times of economic crisis: the organic growth rate superior to that of our competitors, the increase of the productivity level and of in-house quality and the creation of partnerships (joint ventures).

You will find the full article here.

The first magical moments, the first steps in Asia, the first tropical impressions. I can feel it from the beginning: this trip will resemble no other. My feelings are so strong and I have the strange impression that here I am going to find something I never looked for and that I am never going to let go of it.

The minutes pass and so are my fingers over my keyboard. I enjoy all these surprising images that struck my retina and also my lungs. I feel the warm humidity deep in my throat even if it is only 6 a.m. Still, Fred tells me that this time it’s cooler than the last time. I feel the tropical scents, the smell of all these mopeds I have heard about, that pass by like some mechanical river. The locals never stop, always on their small mopeds; the traffic is always acceptable. They infiltrate everywhere, but without any aggressiveness. Practically, no vehicle runs over 50k/h.

Afterwards, we had a series of meetings: companies, universities, students and our first intern! Fred will tell you more about him in another post.

In other words, I haven’t felt the shock in a negative way.

I was very impressed by the VNU (Vietnam National University), by the quality of its technical platform, the tidiness, the condition and the design of its buildings. All this is far different from the decay I am used to in the Eastern European Universities, where I have studied, taught and that I currently work with. What about the meeting with the students? I have been told they will be practically mute. The truth is that they have asked dozens of questions about our internships and our projects in Vietnam.

See, I expected a shock but it did not happen. Perhaps it will, but later. For now, all I can say is that life in Saigon has a very special flavour. Those who know Fred, may imagine that it won’t take long for him to find the best places to experience the local lifestyle. Well, believe me, there are many possibilities. We ate Nems with foie gras, lobster ravioli, scrambled eggs with truffles, sautéed tournedos garnished with foie gras and tuna, sublime wines from Burgundy and Rhone, raspberry millefeuille, a 5-dish variation of beef. In one of the three excellent restaurants we ate at, we have paid less than for a pizza and a beer in a restaurant in Colentina, Bucharest! For a two-star restaurant, according to Michelin guide, that is to say something that does not event exist in Bucharest! But in Saigon there are plenty. In my next post, I will tell you about the local cuisine and about my new friends, the spices. Those who know me know that I would leave the table if someone plays with a pepper.

What can I say about the Caravelle bar situated at the 9th floor of a building as old as the French colony, which overlooks a little bit the dome of the building occupied by Louis Vuitton. A real cocktail of France, saffron, warm rain and city lights …

We are now in Hanoi, where I am going to spend many months next year. I’d like to thank Frédéric for reviewing this post.

Our second day in Odessa…

I took the liberty to resume Fred’s first impressions about Odessa and also to state my own ideas about this second day of our trip.

The second day at the Odessa University gives us a more optimistic picture. Anyway, I wasn’t 100% agreeing with Fred. As an ex-professor at a Romanian University I profoundly disagree with any discourse so unconnected to the students’ interests. Being a teacher, as any other job, implies sticking to the rules. In those labs we visited yesterday, we saw that the professors were involved and they were putting the students’ interest on top. Furthermore they express a highly international openness. Still, as I have already seen in some other Ukrainian cities, the linguistic skills are not sufficient. I mean the students’ skills, who don’t sufficiently manage international languages, which restricts international university inter-connection. Anyway, I admit that Ukraine has big potential.

While I was writing these lines, Serghei informed me that the Ukrainian financial system is about to go bankrupt (Petru is attending a mission in Kiev for an important bank). In theory, the banks stopped refunding deposits and no money leaves the country. This is one more reason to re-think our future strategy.

ZF (Ziarul Financiar), the Romanian peer of Financial Times or les Echos, asked me a couple of days ago about the strategy of the Pentalog branches in Romania and Moldavia See the article (in Romanian): http://www.zf.ro/articol_137705/in_outsourcing_e_riscant_sa_pariezi_100__pe_bucuresti.html
I had already tackled this topic in a previous article, explaining why our strategy for Bucharest has such a powerful local approach. Bucharest cannot be an offshore development centre anymore. That is understood if my peers started two years ago to shift to the province, in order to preserve their competitiveness.
It is true that nowadays the two main activities for Bucharest are:

• local market services that are provided in a traditional manner, of technical assistance, just like in Paris, London or other European capital,
• international consultancy activities.

One must not overlook the fact that the Romanian province does not have enough local companies, able to generate an enough IT services demand and that they must fully take advantage of offshore/nearshore IT. And that Bucharest, because of the way too high costs, still is of interest for the local needs.