By Dennis Barker

MAYBE IT’S THE WATER, OR THE TEAM DNA, but a few Brazilian software companies have taken to agile development with a passion. One we’ve featured already is Ci&T, not too long out of startup status but already delivering for global clients. Then there’s ThoughtWorks, one of the original agile pioneers and a company that counts Brazil as one of its development locations. Besides building software, the company runs “Agile Cafes” and other events around the country to promote the Agile Manifesto.

Classic time-zone alignment is what originally drove ThoughtWorks to set up business in Brazil. But one of the things that keeps the software developer there is “an opportunity to move agile development to the enterprise,” says Gary DeGregorio, who is the company’s market principal for South America. “There is a strong movement towards agile in Brazil.”

ThoughtWorks, which has about 20 offices around the world, including the U.S., India, and China, initially came to Latin America to serve nearshore clients. “In 2011, we started to sell to the domestic Brazilian marketplace,” says DeGregorio, who has been with the firm since 1995. But the company also delivers for international clients from its offices in Porto Alegre. ThoughtWorks customers include large retailers, like The Gap, and media companies such as the Guardian and Simon & Schuster.

The company has also carved out a niche as a consultancy on agile development. There is “an unusually high interest in Brazil in agile,” DeGregorio says. “There are now a lot of organizations there that are either adapting agile techniques or are planning to, at least on an individual project level.”

“Brazilians are highly communicative. Relationships, negotiation, and trade-off management are a part of the culture,” he says. “Agile development provides rigor and process around these natural tendencies.”

We talked with DeGregorio about the benefits of agile development, its uptake in Brazil, and some things people should know if they’re thinking of working with IT partners in Brazil.

Brazil is leaning into agile development.

“Leading organizations in media, energy, telecom, and products have experimented with or implemented agile at the project level,” DeGregorio says. ”They are now looking for enterprise adoption as well as supply-chain extension. You meet a lot of IT managers who are trying to figure out how to incorporate agile into their approach.”

“Many IT people in this country are interested in agile development. They know the philosophy and what it means in terms of benefits for clients. These are not neophytes.”

“We saw that the professional talent we need was available in Brazil, particularly in southern Brazil,” he says. “So far we’ve been able to find the people we need who know agile or are able to adapt to that way of thinking.”

What agile means for clients.

“Agile facilitates continuous delivery of software and highly aligned feature set

prioritization,” DeGregorio says. “The results of following an agile process enable a focus on up-front testing, automation, and short feedback cycles. Business needs can govern how often software is deployed into production.  The shorter the cycle, the greater the impact on ROI through accruing business benefits. Some of the leading market research firms in the United States have estimated that doing a software development project using the agile methodology can bring about cost savings of up to 40% when compared with other traditional development methodologies.”

“Principles of agile and lean programming can be applied to a variety of projects, including maintenance of legacy applications and ERP applications,” DeGregorio says. ”The use of specific tools and implementation of practices will vary according to situation.  This extends to groups outside of IT.  I know of law firms that subscribe to the use of agile practices for collaboration, work management, and internal communication.

What should people know about sourcing from Brazil?

“Brazil has a pool of extremely talented developers engaged in agile, a diverse culture,

and a growing economy. Brazil is about quality and customer intimacy. However, it is not a low-cost option. If you are looking to leverage the benefits of application development outsourcing and also get a lot of time-zone alignment with your teams in North America, then Brazil offers a great alternative. Projects that require complex and hard-to-source skill sets along with a high degree of customer collaboration during day-time work hours are the best candidates. For non-IT services and commoditized technology needs, there are other lower-cost and high-quality options available.”

“There are complexities surrounding accounting, taxation and incorporation that need to be anticipated when doing business in Brazil,” DeGregorio says. ”Tax rates are substantial especially as related to payroll and benefits. Local expertise, either using outside firms or hiring internally, is a prerequisite for starting a business entity successfully.”

“The benefit of doing business in Brazil is both access to highly motivated and ingenious talent as well as the opportunity to participate in the economy. Business is booming and reliable, high-quality services are in demand.”

“Business is relationship-based,” DeGregorio says, “so time and effort is required to build the trust required for success.”

Another call for time sharing.

“Organizations want to be engaged with their clients, and collaboration requires that teams are engaged during normal working hours. This engagement is even more important if you’re doing agile development,” DeGregorio says.

Parting advice:

“Outsourcing is not as simple as sending documentation across the pond and expecting results,” DeGregorio says. “You have to have the right mindset, use the right processes and cutting-edge tools to really make it work and for the business to really see value. It is also wise to take the time to invest in relationships with the distributed team.”