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I have experienced working with two different Indian development teams and both of my experiences were characterized the same: 1) Over-communication to a fault

I have experienced working with two different Indian development teams and both of my experiences were characterized the same: 1) Over-communication to a fault 2) Low code quality I don't know how can you change my perspective, but I would suggest not trying to change the perspective of Indian agencies as a whole - but rather why you are different than the stereotypical Indian agency.

voltooid 9y ago
What do you mean by over communication? Do you mean that essential communication is repeated without additional effect? Or that unnecessary details are relayed?
- jasonlfunk 9y ago
  Yeah, it's a little hard to explain. Unnecessary details are relayed, very detailed descriptions of even minor things that were accomplished, etc.
  - Chris2048 9y ago
    To expand on this: detailed descriptions of even minor things; to distract from the fact of very little being achieved. Unnecessary details are relayed; implying little comprehension of task meaning and/or importance.
- lithos 9y ago
  That moment when you realize that that question was asked to buy 8 to 20 hours of time delay due to timezone differences. Or to make enough volume of text that no one knows all the promises, or so that someone somewhere cancels enough orders accidentally that anything can be delivered.
drrob 9y ago
I'm afraid I have to agree; the ones I've worked with have all been characterised by terrible code quality. Perhaps the key thing is a tighter attitude to specialisation: most Indian (and, for that matter, far east Asian) development teams tend to have a "we can do everything across a billion platforms and techs" approach, where it might be better off concentrating your offering down to a few key techs, and really doubling down on the quality of those.
- balladeer 9y ago
  IMHO it's more like - "let's not lose this contract".
  - drrob 9y ago
    Or "We're developing a website for them, maybe we can upsell them an associated Android/iOS app as well".
desaiguddu 9y ago
Thanks, Jason. 1) To address the over-communication we have stopped working on fixed price projects, and rather worked with customers as their extended team 2) We as a group of individuals are trying hard to change this perspective. Our Computer Science education needs to be blamed as well 3)I have created a very interesting slide on our deck https://goo.gl/5jvN6R https://goo.gl/5jvN6R Cheers
- balladeer 9y ago
  2. As a someone who is from the land and had the same CS education I would beg to differ. Once you are a developer you must not blame the education you received till now. It all depends upon how you work and learn after college/uni. Also, the quality of CS education depends a lot on what college/uni a particular person went to. Some places impart really good fundamentals and I am not talking about just the IITs. But it's always the student (while in college) or developer (after college) who chooses and works towards the standard they set for themselves for how good they want to be. 3. As an engineer (who has worked in India almost all these 6-7 yrs after college and some outside exposure) I would advise adding one thing to your internal deck - work-life balance. I have seen many such startups/groups that begin with much enthusiasm and aplomb but often compromise on one very important thing - work culture and work-life balance. Hell, a lot of them actually celebrate a bad work-life balance and I find that really depressing. Attended an interview recently with such a firm and when I turned down the offer citing work culture, after they pestered me for a reason, their retort was "Oh, we are anyway looking for 'highly motivated' engineers only". So maybe add that. Because a bad culture does two things: - You might never get best or even better talent to work for you or with you. - It's affects your output and productivity. It's never more hour, more/better work.
  - desaiguddu 9y ago
    Thank you for your comments. 2. I still believe the CS Education needs to be improved like anything. Some Unis are picking up good practices but at large the fundamentals of programming needs to be taught in a better way. 3. 100% agree with you on work-life balance. We are doing our best to keep the workplace healthy, interactive & fun. As a small team, our emphasis is never about more work but better work. We have always encouraged team members to speak at developer events, contribute to open source etc.

voltooid 9y ago

What do you mean by over communication? Do you mean that essential communication is repeated without additional effect? Or that unnecessary details are relayed?

jasonlfunk 9y ago
Yeah, it's a little hard to explain. Unnecessary details are relayed, very detailed descriptions of even minor things that were accomplished, etc.
- Chris2048 9y ago
  To expand on this: detailed descriptions of even minor things; to distract from the fact of very little being achieved. Unnecessary details are relayed; implying little comprehension of task meaning and/or importance.
lithos 9y ago
That moment when you realize that that question was asked to buy 8 to 20 hours of time delay due to timezone differences. Or to make enough volume of text that no one knows all the promises, or so that someone somewhere cancels enough orders accidentally that anything can be delivered.

drrob 9y ago

I'm afraid I have to agree; the ones I've worked with have all been characterised by terrible code quality. Perhaps the key thing is a tighter attitude to specialisation: most Indian (and, for that matter, far east Asian) development teams tend to have a "we can do everything across a billion platforms and techs" approach, where it might be better off concentrating your offering down to a few key techs, and really doubling down on the quality of those.

balladeer 9y ago
IMHO it's more like - "let's not lose this contract".
- drrob 9y ago
  Or "We're developing a website for them, maybe we can upsell them an associated Android/iOS app as well".

desaiguddu 9y ago

Thanks, Jason. 1) To address the over-communication we have stopped working on fixed price projects, and rather worked with customers as their extended team 2) We as a group of individuals are trying hard to change this perspective. Our Computer Science education needs to be blamed as well 3)I have created a very interesting slide on our deck https://goo.gl/5jvN6R https://goo.gl/5jvN6R Cheers

balladeer 9y ago
2. As a someone who is from the land and had the same CS education I would beg to differ. Once you are a developer you must not blame the education you received till now. It all depends upon how you work and learn after college/uni. Also, the quality of CS education depends a lot on what college/uni a particular person went to. Some places impart really good fundamentals and I am not talking about just the IITs. But it's always the student (while in college) or developer (after college) who chooses and works towards the standard they set for themselves for how good they want to be. 3. As an engineer (who has worked in India almost all these 6-7 yrs after college and some outside exposure) I would advise adding one thing to your internal deck - work-life balance. I have seen many such startups/groups that begin with much enthusiasm and aplomb but often compromise on one very important thing - work culture and work-life balance. Hell, a lot of them actually celebrate a bad work-life balance and I find that really depressing. Attended an interview recently with such a firm and when I turned down the offer citing work culture, after they pestered me for a reason, their retort was "Oh, we are anyway looking for 'highly motivated' engineers only". So maybe add that. Because a bad culture does two things: - You might never get best or even better talent to work for you or with you. - It's affects your output and productivity. It's never more hour, more/better work.
- desaiguddu 9y ago
  Thank you for your comments. 2. I still believe the CS Education needs to be improved like anything. Some Unis are picking up good practices but at large the fundamentals of programming needs to be taught in a better way. 3. 100% agree with you on work-life balance. We are doing our best to keep the workplace healthy, interactive & fun. As a small team, our emphasis is never about more work but better work. We have always encouraged team members to speak at developer events, contribute to open source etc.