5 ms·

I can't believe he skipped over the real elephant in the offshoring room - the time difference. All of those countries have almost no overlap with any part of

I can't believe he skipped over the real elephant in the offshoring room - the time difference. All of those countries have almost no overlap with any part of the United States. If we schedule an 8 AM CST meeting with India (which is super early for some of the people here), it's already 7 PM at night there, and they're completely exhausted and ready to go home. And that's _if_ you can schedule a meeting far enough in advance that somebody else hasn't already taken up that precious 8 AM spot... usually you'll have to go out later in their day, sometimes as late as 10 PM there. Which really hurts when you consider how many of them rely on public transportation... which stops running before 10 PM. I've been told that some people have ended up sleeping in the office rather than push back on a very late meeting request.

gumby 10y ago
Well the author is in Australia so the differences are less significant.
digi_owl 10y ago
He skipped it because his experience was from being based in Australia or some such. Thus the time zone was roughly the same (or near enough).
- taneq 10y ago
  My wife once worked for an Australian company which was having enterprise software customized by an Indian company. The time zone was definitely an issue, compounded by the fact that (due to rush hour and other factors) the Indian company kept relatively late office hours (~10am to 7pm local time). The net effect was that if she sent an email during the day, the earliest she could expect a response from the Indian office was about 3pm Perth time, which realistically (giving an hour turnaround time) meant one round of communication in per day unless she stayed back past 5pm.
jakozaur 10y ago
A lot of organization ignore time zone, though are crucial. They can be double edge sword. If you run 24/7 SaaS they can help you deliver better reliability and avoid waking up at night, but they also created all sort of challenges. 12h time difference is the worst one, but in fact any cause some changes to your organization and you may need to learn to rely on async/writting skills. I recommend a book: https://www.amazon.com/Working-While-Theyre-Sleeping-Separation/dp/0983992509/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478820002&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=I%27m+working+while+you+sleeping https://www.amazon.com/Working-While-Theyre-Sleeping-Separat...
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
gopalv 10y ago
> I can't believe he skipped over the real elephant in the offshoring room - the time difference. That was the reason off-shoring of BPO/call-centers happened in the first place - follow-the-sun.
CountSessine 10y ago
Here's a question. You're in the US and your employer has decided to out source some work. Why are you, the American worker, tolerating your employer's request to stay late to talk to their outsourced lackeys? Whenever I've been asked to stay late for a time zone crossing meeting with outsourced employees, I've refused. WE are THEIR customers, not the other way around. They can damn well get up at 3am and WebEx-in if we're going to have a meeting. No way am I going to stay late in the evening and miss my family so I can chat with our offshore labour.
- dmoy 10y ago
  Well, in some cases people will do it because otherwise their employer may fire them. Living in the US most of us are at will, and don't have that much luxury to give employers the finger.
  - CountSessine 10y ago
    What's your value to your employer? If you're not willing to stay late to do a cross time zone meeting then I agree that you're worth a bit less to your boss than you otherwise would be. Personally I would rather accept a bit less pay to be rid of a nuisance like a boss who thinks I'll inconvenience myself and my family for stupid shit like adjusting myself to his outsourced labour's schedule. I do stay late when shipping a release or working on an urgent bug. But stay late so some delicate flower off in India can work 9-5? Fuck that.
    - satwikhebbar 10y ago
      Is it just me or does anyone else find these comments borderline feudal in their line of thinking? Clients, not masters. Services, not servitude.
    - quanticle 10y ago
      But, reflexively, why are you putting yourself above the "delicate flower" in India, who, by the way, probably has a hell of a lot worse working conditions than you do? I'm entirely okay with staying late for an overseas call because I recognize that the price I'm paying for staying late is probably less than the price they'd pay for staying late, and I'm more able to pay it. It's a simple matter of not being a wanton asshole towards people I'm supposed to be cooperating with.

gumby 10y ago

Well the author is in Australia so the differences are less significant.

digi_owl 10y ago

He skipped it because his experience was from being based in Australia or some such. Thus the time zone was roughly the same (or near enough).

taneq 10y ago
My wife once worked for an Australian company which was having enterprise software customized by an Indian company. The time zone was definitely an issue, compounded by the fact that (due to rush hour and other factors) the Indian company kept relatively late office hours (~10am to 7pm local time). The net effect was that if she sent an email during the day, the earliest she could expect a response from the Indian office was about 3pm Perth time, which realistically (giving an hour turnaround time) meant one round of communication in per day unless she stayed back past 5pm.

jakozaur 10y ago

A lot of organization ignore time zone, though are crucial. They can be double edge sword. If you run 24/7 SaaS they can help you deliver better reliability and avoid waking up at night, but they also created all sort of challenges. 12h time difference is the worst one, but in fact any cause some changes to your organization and you may need to learn to rely on async/writting skills. I recommend a book: https://www.amazon.com/Working-While-Theyre-Sleeping-Separation/dp/0983992509/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478820002&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=I%27m+working+while+you+sleeping https://www.amazon.com/Working-While-Theyre-Sleeping-Separat...

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

gopalv 10y ago

> I can't believe he skipped over the real elephant in the offshoring room - the time difference. That was the reason off-shoring of BPO/call-centers happened in the first place - follow-the-sun.

CountSessine 10y ago

Here's a question. You're in the US and your employer has decided to out source some work. Why are you, the American worker, tolerating your employer's request to stay late to talk to their outsourced lackeys? Whenever I've been asked to stay late for a time zone crossing meeting with outsourced employees, I've refused. WE are THEIR customers, not the other way around. They can damn well get up at 3am and WebEx-in if we're going to have a meeting. No way am I going to stay late in the evening and miss my family so I can chat with our offshore labour.

dmoy 10y ago
Well, in some cases people will do it because otherwise their employer may fire them. Living in the US most of us are at will, and don't have that much luxury to give employers the finger.
- CountSessine 10y ago
  What's your value to your employer? If you're not willing to stay late to do a cross time zone meeting then I agree that you're worth a bit less to your boss than you otherwise would be. Personally I would rather accept a bit less pay to be rid of a nuisance like a boss who thinks I'll inconvenience myself and my family for stupid shit like adjusting myself to his outsourced labour's schedule. I do stay late when shipping a release or working on an urgent bug. But stay late so some delicate flower off in India can work 9-5? Fuck that.
  - satwikhebbar 10y ago
    Is it just me or does anyone else find these comments borderline feudal in their line of thinking? Clients, not masters. Services, not servitude.
  - quanticle 10y ago
    But, reflexively, why are you putting yourself above the "delicate flower" in India, who, by the way, probably has a hell of a lot worse working conditions than you do? I'm entirely okay with staying late for an overseas call because I recognize that the price I'm paying for staying late is probably less than the price they'd pay for staying late, and I'm more able to pay it. It's a simple matter of not being a wanton asshole towards people I'm supposed to be cooperating with.