Offshoring
Many firms use a practice called offshoring. Offshore resources on a project are team members who are located in a different country overseas or in a different continent. Offshoring is often used as a method to get work done for a client at a significantly lower cost. Usually, resources who work in another country outside North America have lower salary requirements due to the lower cost of living. Another big benefit of offshore resources is that it allows projects in North America to keep running after-hours since the team overseas is usually in a different time zone. Because of this, offshore resourcing works great in roles that require after-hours technical support, monitoring or development that does not require too much interaction with the core local team.
Dealing with offshore resources does come with its challenges, however. There are many cultural and language barriers that must be overcome when dealing with resources in another country. Most are often English speaking but did not learn English as a primary language. There are many things that can get lost in translation. Expectation for average daily work hours and general ethics vary from region to region. Some cultures proudly work for 12 hours a day while others have afternoon naps and many holidays and celebrations that need to be planned around.
When dealing with passing off requirements and direction to an offshore team, be sure to be clear and concise. Many development teams will follow your direction to a “T” and not make the same logical assumptions you would. Setting expectations early on both sides and having management oversee the work from onshore is critical to being able to use offshore successfully.
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