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"they always say yes." OMG this is by FAR the most annoying thing with them. But I think It's a cultural thing.. They say yes, not because they know how to act

• dcminter 9y ago
  Me: Can you blah blah blah? Them: Yes Me: Ok, and would you be able to blah blah blah? Them: Yes Me: Great, and do you think that will be ready by blah blah? Them: Yes Me: Fantastic. What approach do you intend to use? Them: Yes Me: mutes phone, curses, unmutes phone, goes back to start I've occasionally worked with some excellent individuals, but the aggregate has been poor. My most recent experience with a team of this type repeatedly involved requests for documentation at a level of detail where automating the task would be less effort. The biggest problems are cultural, but the perception is going to be hard to overcome.
  • ethbro 9y ago
    This has come up on HN and other places. If you want to avoid this issue, phrase your questions differently (e.g. as non-binary agree/disagree questions). I'll let one of our Indian colleagues suggest the best alternative here, as I'm sure they know more about the relevant Indian cultural points than I. But even something like "Tell me how you will accomplish X?" or "Do you have any worries about doing Y?" tend to produce better India-US communication.
    • dcminter 9y ago
      I completely agree and these days I follow exactly that strategy, to good effect. However I think it's still, in general, damaging to general perception. Another factor is that most of my encounters with such groups has been while working for organisations looking for a cheap option. I strongly suspect that this is common and results in hiring low quality groups with mediocre people - again tainting popular perception.
    • laci27 9y ago
      You are right. I will try this approach next time for a small project, just to see if it results in something more constructive.
• gldstrrbt 9y ago
  If I recall correctly, saying "no" in Indian culture is frowned down upon. So one way to say "no" is by saying "yes", another is by phrasing or implying "no" in a roundabout/indirect way.
• mosselman 9y ago
  As far as I know it has nothing to do with them not understanding the difference between 'yes' and 'I hear you', but rather a cultural avoidance of the word 'no'.
  • sitepodmatt 9y ago
    I think that's where the loose neck comes into play, it's another alternative to avoid saying No. You learn fast when teaching in India, you become almost ruthless, once bitten by the loose neck you do everything to avoid it. It's no fun going through basic regex and onwards then after 4hrs morning of the workshop realizing that everyone was lost after 2 minutes, after that you no longer accept non-verbal communication. You still get a lot of bullshit in verbal though, this was ten years ago, but I recently reminded when contracting someone on upwork and getting a 'i can do' to everything when reality they probably just took a khan academy class the day before, and thus totally useless, we still paid him and wished him well and ended contract another lesson learnt.
• trolliloquy 9y ago
  Being an Indian myself, I'd clarify, that this might be the case with the Chinese (Long ago watched some Not-real Venice creator's experience on NatGeo), but not with Indians. Usually the consultants/people-who-pitch at such dollar-hungry Indian firms won't tell you 'NO' because they fear they might lose you. People in-charge of saying 'YES' aren't often aware of the abilities of their team. And, surprisingly, sometimes, the 'YES' comes out of plain politeness. In some occasions, they don't want to disappoint the clients who've exhibited a lot of trust on these folks. So, when an Indian says 'YES', they correctly understand the liabilities & responsibilities that are implied, but they might not have what it takes to deliver on the commitments they made.