Far Flung: Strong Project Mangement Wins in Offshoring World

  Governance   PM Network  

IT offshoring is big business these days. Yet many companies have tried shipping projects to far-off lands, only to abandon the attempt when faced with the difficult reality of what’s actually involved in running an offshored project.

It does sometimes seem like you’re running an obstacle course when you consider:

Time Zones: Part of the sales pitch for offshoring projects is that the team can work while you sleep, translating to a 24-hour workday. In reality, time differences often result in an offshored team waiting for answers while a local team checks out for the night. That can make for some off-hour meetings. When I reached a critical point on a project I was working on from Canada, for example, we had daily meetings at 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. EST with the team working in India to ensure issues were addressed.

Communication: Team members working halfway around the world may not be speaking in their native tongues. And regardless of the number of language courses they may have taken, misunderstandings and communication difficulties are inevitable.

It sounds basic, but investing in high-quality conference phones with multiple microphones will prevent headaches.

Web conferencing can be another useful tool, especially for demonstrations or seeing progress, but may not be worth the hassles of setup. Recapping and issuing meeting minutes in writing…

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