You automatically are thinking "What you have a staff of individuals who don't speak English? "
Believe me, the team probably speaks better English than I do. What they don't do is work as loosely as most in the US. Because they know there are communication issues, most off shore teams look for VERY CLEAR specifications. We tend to make assumptions in our requirements documentation such as "Well the user will choose the provider as the selection criteria". If I read this, I would immediately assume that the user would choose either by Last Name, or some identifier such as the provider number. But, myoffshore counterparts don't make that assumption. They will put together a web page that has a spot for provider last Name and the rest of the identifying information and choose the records based on the exact criteria. The user has to put in ALL the information. After noticing this problem on almost every report front end, I finally asked why? I was told "You didn't say you wanted a combo box listing the Provider name or provider number in the specification documents." So, we gave you a simple screen. Well, my first thoughts were "Well, who in the world would NOT want the screen like that". But there point is, "If we make up what we think is correct, and it is not, then we are the ones that are wrong". "But, if we give you what you ask for, then we have provided our service".
Let me tell you, initially I was quite upset. "Of COURSE I wanted you to provide a list to select from!, that is just common sense!" was my reaction. But then as we got deeper into specification I began to see the wisdom of their approach. We cannot walk over to each other's desk and ask questions. Email takes 1-2 days to answer due to time zone issues. Phone calls require one or the other party take there personal time.
So, how do you resolve issues? By CLEAR and CONCISE directions. No guesswork, no assumptions, no "You should have KNOWN what I meant". Once I started approaching all requests from that standpoint, we at least stopped
Believe me, the team probably speaks better English than I do. What they don't do is work as loosely as most in the US. Because they know there are communication issues, most off shore teams look for VERY CLEAR specifications. We tend to make assumptions in our requirements documentation such as "Well the user will choose the provider as the selection criteria". If I read this, I would immediately assume that the user would choose either by Last Name, or some identifier such as the provider number. But, myoffshore counterparts don't make that assumption. They will put together a web page that has a spot for provider last Name and the rest of the identifying information and choose the records based on the exact criteria. The user has to put in ALL the information. After noticing this problem on almost every report front end, I finally asked why? I was told "You didn't say you wanted a combo box listing the Provider name or provider number in the specification documents." So, we gave you a simple screen. Well, my first thoughts were "Well, who in the world would NOT want the screen like that". But there point is, "If we make up what we think is correct, and it is not, then we are the ones that are wrong". "But, if we give you what you ask for, then we have provided our service".
Let me tell you, initially I was quite upset. "Of COURSE I wanted you to provide a list to select from!, that is just common sense!" was my reaction. But then as we got deeper into specification I began to see the wisdom of their approach. We cannot walk over to each other's desk and ask questions. Email takes 1-2 days to answer due to time zone issues. Phone calls require one or the other party take there personal time.
So, how do you resolve issues? By CLEAR and CONCISE directions. No guesswork, no assumptions, no "You should have KNOWN what I meant". Once I started approaching all requests from that standpoint, we at least stopped