Agile Localization - Outplay the competition, enter new markets and grow Internationally

Posted by Luis Goncalves on December 17, 2012
Posted in: Agile, Localization, Product Development, Software Development, Testing. 37 comments

Hi guys! This will be my last post this year due to Christmas season. I would like to take this opportunity to present my new personal project. Together with my two colleagues, Vasco and Wim, we are going to write a book about Agile and localization. The general overview of the book can be found here.

The people who know me understand that I am very passionate about Agile. So, we would like to take an Agile approach in writing our book. It will remain to see if this experiment would be successful, but since I have this idea, I would like to try it out. Put simply, writing a book is a creative process much like developing software - at the end of the process there are potential customers that would buy the final product. Therefore, why shouldn’t we write a book applying the methodology we use to develop a software product?

Our idea is simple. Like in Agile software development, we are planning to write the book in iterations, which means that we would not follow the traditional pattern: first write the whole book, then publish it and only then get the feedback. Instead, by the end of each such writing iteration we want to release the increment of the book we wrote and get the feedback from the public. Like in Agile software development, the feedback will be integrated into the book to improve it. Every time before starting a new chapter, we will communicate its topic to our audience and invite our followers to a discussion about what they think is important to include in the book. Naturally, the book will have the main story, but the idea is to adapt the book to our “readers´ needs”.

The localization of the book will also be part of this incremental process. To have the book localized for a particular market, we would not need to wait for weeks until the product would be released in English first. Instead, as soon as the iteration is finished, the released increment of the book will see the light in English and in some other languages, too. If we really believe in this concept, there isn’t a better way to prove it than to apply it in our own book.

We are starting this project in January, and we would highly appreciate all the feedback from you, guys. If you are interested in our project, let us know! Let’s use this blog for communicating and collecting your thoughts about the book. Another thing, we would highly appreciate if you could tell us how much you are prepared to pay for the final product – the finished book. This would give us an idea about the price range for price-tagging the book, please, leave your comments here. Another way to leave your comments will be using our NPS system. Some weeks ago I wrote about NPS, you can find the post here. Before we start releasing the first chapters we will have in place a system where you can leave your NPS score.

There are a number of other issues that we still have to solve, but being truly Agile means that we will be adapting along the way and tackling issues as they arise.

Now, the only thing missing is your initial feedback. What do you think about all this, guys? Do you think this could be a cool project to be part of? Would you like to take part of this project?

Look forward to your comments ;)

Thanks,
Luis

37 comments on “Agile Localization - Outplay the competition, enter new markets and grow Internationally”

  1. one more thing… If you are interested in working with us on this project (illustration, cover design, translation, localization, etc…) let us know. Leave us a comment here and we will involve you as the project goes on.

    Reply

    • I would like to be involved with the reviewing of the book please - it is good to use the Agile methodology to write - as you say adapting as you go along with lots of feedback

      Reply

      • Hi Martin,

        Would you be interesting to review or as well to help with translation/localization?

        Thanks,
        Luis

      • Hehe i am doing this on my free time so I don’t have many resources. People that actually offered their services will do it because they like the project . But still i want to give credits to people who want to help so i was thinking in giving royalties to the ones who are eager to help .

        Cheers,
        Luis

    • Thank you so much Omar . We did create a Gmail account and we will contact everyone that showed interest OK?

      Thanks,
      Luis

      Reply

    • Thank you so much . We did create a Gmail account and we will contact everyone that showed interest OK?

      Thanks,
      Luis

      Reply

    • Hi . We are using trello . And we are creating tasks every day. We did create a Gmail account. We will contact you soon, we will involve everyone that showed interest ;)

      Thanks,
      Luis

      Reply

    • Thank you so much Achim . We did create a Gmail account and we will contact everyone that showed interest OK?

      Thanks,
      Luis

      Reply

    • Thank you so much Shubhesh . We did create a Gmail account and we will contact everyone that showed interest OK?

      Thanks,
      Luis

      Reply

  8. Hi, very good idea! I would like to contribute by commenting and also translating into Finnish. How have you planned to handle the localization (technically)? (Our Get Localization platform might also be used for that part.)

    Reply

    • Kiitos paljon ;) .

      We do not know the details yet… But for sure we will come up with something ;) . We did create an account in Gmail. We will contact you soon ok?

      Thanks,
      Luis

      Reply

  10. Hi, I really like the idea of using Agile to write a book: I thinks it’s a good fit. I can help on localization in French and Spanish (from Spain, that may be a bit different from the one from Argentina )
    Thanks,
    Fabrice

    Reply

  12. Hi, Please let me know if i can contribute sometime every weekend to work on your project. I have been working on agile and scrum for 6 years now and have successfully delivered the projects in fortune big companies in the USA. Currently, I’m based in west coast here and would love to be part of the project you plan to execute. Until then Dave!

    Reply

  14. Great idea. I have never written, nor even helped to write a book, but I am passionate about agile and this sounds like a great idea. I don’t know how many people you already have lined up to help with the English version, but if you still need some I’d be extremely excited to be a part of it.

    Reply

  15. Great idea! I would like to participate in your project. I also could help with the localization in Brazil (portuguese).

    Reply

  16. Hi Luis, When I read this post I’d totally love it. I can help with the localization in Venezuela(Spanish). Also, I could be part of the book reviewers team. Great idea !!

    Reply

  17. I am also would like to part of this project and can help u in translating your project in Hindi and Punjabi.

    Reply

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