Offshore Development and the Culture Change
Cultural change is one of the hardest parts of introducing agile methods into an organization. Many organizations face problem to adopting agile methods due to cultural change. Many companies operate with a command and control model which assumes that seniors make decisions and lower level people carry them out. To make agile methods work you need much more autonomy and decision making by the doers. It is risky, but effective when it is done properly.
In this environment people are often discouraged from asking questions, talking about problems, warning about unfeasible deadlines, or proposing alternatives to perceived instructions from superiors. We find this to be a big problem in western companies, but the problem is amplified in Asia since Asian cultures reinforce deference to superiors. Western teams need to be wary of this tendency and should push back when they sense an eastern team is passively agreeing. Beware that polite acceptance is often a sign of an important issue not getting discussed. In addition western teams need be wary of sounding authoritative - which reinforces this kind of situation.
Bad effect
You can never assume that problems will be raised, even when they are spotted. The bad news for this is that getting teams to be more pro-active is an uphill battle, and one that inevitably takes a lot of time. Getting people used to a distributed control style of management takes longer than you think. But there is good news. Once people realize they have the freedom, and the responsibility, of making decisions - they seem to really relish it. Several of our Indian team told me how their friends in other companies cannot believe how much autonomy they are given. Offshore team members gain the trust the understanding to make decisions instead of waiting for the onshore team, which lead to a lot of delays. For me one of the most interesting things we will discover is what the longer term effects are of this cultural impact, both in Asia and in the West. This autonomy is a great motivator, allowing people to be both more productive and able to grow into greater responsibility.
Buildup relationship
Frequent visits are important here. People are much more likely to raise issues if they have a good personal relationship. Even talking about these cultural issues can cause problems. One of our developers in Bangalore said I'm being far too mild. Another commented that it's an issue, but questioned as to whether it was worse that it is in many western companies. We decided from the beginning that we would retain that same culture in India. I'm glad to say that we certainly seem to be succeeding. But there seems to be some consensus that there are cultural forces in Asia that reinforce command and control, and that this is changing. This is a particularly sharp issue for Thought Works. We have a pronounced anti-authority attitude that's striking even in the US.
We can conclude that cultural variations are everywhere, but by making a firm relationship with frequent visits we can gain that country and make a better business.
All the best!
