Many managers are being expected to accept the inevitable of working with fewer US based (aka OnShore) staff and actually hiring and managing staff based in OffShore locations such as India. This is a painful task for many technical managers and really presents a number of tough challenges. Cultural differences, logistical challenges and our own emotions make this an especially challenging endeavor. Fear of loosing one's job and career are first and foremost on many people's minds and many managers may be asking if they are actually training their own replacement - and they might be! Yet these core skills can also make us stronger and more valuable in a tough market. Read on if you'd like to make sure that you have what it takes to be a technical manager in today's OffShore intensive development organizations!
Hiring Practices
Many technology professionals fear being replaced by OffShore software development professionals who earn a much smaller salary in a developing country, such as India. Other professionals, especially technology managers, have the uncomfortable task of interviewing and selecting candidates from India based vendors. Reviewing resumes from OffShore candidates who have attended foreign Universities or who have job experience from outside of the U.S., can be very challenging indeed. I used to give classes to help immigrants from the former Soviet Union learn how to write resumes and interview for American based IT jobs. I learned that everyone in Russia was an Engineer, including the janitor! It can certainly be very hard to compare job experience and education from foreign countries. Managing Staff
Getting the job done is not easy when your staff is located in another country and reports to work while you are still asleep (hopefully!) in bed. I have certainly learned from experience that many cultures have a practice of NEVER saying no to any request. But that does not mean that they will really do what you asked for. Giving direction and communicating is very challenging in the OffShore environment. I have started trying to learn a bit of the Hindi language. Sure I know that everyone speaks English in India. But still I find that it helps to start learning someone else's language too. The linguistics can be very challenging. For example I have noticed that people from India will say that they "have a doubt" when they really mean that they have a "question". The first few times that one of my students said that they had a "doubt" I thought that they were challenging my expertise as an instructor! I was certainly taken aback and had to control my initial reaction to respond to the challenge. Then I calmed down and felt REALLY silly…
Managing the communications barrier
I do speak (with varying levels of fluency) several languages and I admit that sometimes I bluff understanding more than I really do (usually when I am just too tired to keep trying to really translate accurately). Well, I am starting to learn that sometimes, people from India, also do not completely understand the English instructions that I am giving them. I sometimes do not understand what they are saying to me either. I have started to ask enough questions to confirm that they really understand what I have requested and I am not at all embarrassed to tell them that I need them to repeat what they are trying to say - clearly and slowly… Negative feedback
Many people from foreign cultures have a very thin skin when it comes to the New York approach of being upfront and direct. Criticism and strong comments are usually not well received. I have been learning to be extremely polite and more persistent than ever before. The cultural differences are very evident in these exchanges. As with learning a foreign language I am learning to communicate in a manner that can be understood and received by my listener in the best way possible. Cultural differences…
Many of my friends from India are strict vegetarians. I keep a very strict level of kosher observance myself. I realized that even the dairy restaurants that I go to have fish that may not be acceptable to a strict vegetarian. One of the things that I loved about being in India is that everyone understood when I explained that I have religious reasons why I cannot eat certain foods. Talking with someone who dresses and behaves differently than I do can be challenging for many people. I will admit that I enjoy this part of my job the most. Getting what you really want
It is certainly turning out to be a real challenge to get desired results in today's OffShore environment. Logistics, language, time zones and cultural differences are just the tip of the iceberg. The technical manager has some real challenges that will require an amazing degree of flexibility and creativity. We will all have to think about the way that we treat our OffShore colleagues in order to create a working environment that yields desired results. Respect for cultural differences, understanding and good communications are more important than ever. Come to think of it this might just be the environment that each of us would like to work in ourselves as well!!
Bob Aiellois a Senior Editor for Crossroads News and an Associate Director at a major financial services firm in NYC, where he has company wide responsibility for Software Configuration and Release Management best practices. Bob is on the Steering Committee of the NYC Software Process Improvement Network (CitySPIN), where he is also the chair of the CM SIG which meets in Midtown NYC. Mr. Aiello has a Masters in Industrial Psychology from NYU and a BS in Computer Science from Hofstra University.
You can reach Mr. Aiello by email at raiello@acm.org
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