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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
by 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 agoThis 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 agoI 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 agoYou are right. I will try this approach next time for a small project, just to see if it results in something more constructive.