29 ms·

I believe it is similar in Vietnamese culture. When we work with them they often say yes only for us to find out later that they had no clue what to do.

CapricornNoble 8y ago
I can personally attest to this, having hired a small team of Vietnamese engineers to do some freelance hardware and firmware/OS-level work for me.
rurban 8y ago
Even in China, and that's the biggest market there. You have to adjust your questions. Always start the question with a W, and never with a Has or Is.
coconut_crab 8y ago
It's because asking for clarification is considered bad here, either you are an idiot or you are bothering others. So their best choice is to say 'yes' and try to figure things out later. That's why I always ask my colleagues how would they complete some tasks instead of "Can you do this?".
boubiyeah 8y ago
Seems common in Asia. I had the same experience in cambodia. One example: - I was very, very sick (Traveler's diarrhea) and we were about to embark for a 5 hours minivan trip with a guy without a driving license. - 5 minutes before departure, I ask the organizer "do you have a vomit bag?" - "Yes" - I wait around a bit, but he carries on with his work and just ignore me - "Sorry, did you have a bag, any bag? maybe a plastic bag, as I'm sick" - "Yes" - Now it's 30s before departure and I get pretty stressed as I have nothing should I need to throw up. So I ask him again, and he actually get pretty mad (with that asian "must not lose face" style though) and ignore me because I insisted and didn't just drop the issue (I didn't know what was going on at the time ...)
- est 8y ago
  Sounds like "yes" means "I heard ya" or "ACK"
otakucode 8y ago
I wonder if a service like UpWork could take this cultural knowledge into consideration and change their design? I often see jobs posted that are straight up impossible... and they get bids. Someone will post "I want everyone who sees my AdWords ad to automatically Like my Facebook page" and they'll get bids from offshore IT shops claiming they will deliver exactly that. Those posting the jobs are completely unaware that what they're asking for is impossible and borders on the nonsensical. I've always figured somehow educating those people might be the solution, but perhaps instead just presenting potential work situations differently to cultures who say 'yes' to everything including the ludicrous might help?

CapricornNoble 8y ago

I can personally attest to this, having hired a small team of Vietnamese engineers to do some freelance hardware and firmware/OS-level work for me.

rurban 8y ago

Even in China, and that's the biggest market there. You have to adjust your questions. Always start the question with a W, and never with a Has or Is.

coconut_crab 8y ago

It's because asking for clarification is considered bad here, either you are an idiot or you are bothering others. So their best choice is to say 'yes' and try to figure things out later. That's why I always ask my colleagues how would they complete some tasks instead of "Can you do this?".

boubiyeah 8y ago

Seems common in Asia. I had the same experience in cambodia. One example: - I was very, very sick (Traveler's diarrhea) and we were about to embark for a 5 hours minivan trip with a guy without a driving license. - 5 minutes before departure, I ask the organizer "do you have a vomit bag?" - "Yes" - I wait around a bit, but he carries on with his work and just ignore me - "Sorry, did you have a bag, any bag? maybe a plastic bag, as I'm sick" - "Yes" - Now it's 30s before departure and I get pretty stressed as I have nothing should I need to throw up. So I ask him again, and he actually get pretty mad (with that asian "must not lose face" style though) and ignore me because I insisted and didn't just drop the issue (I didn't know what was going on at the time ...)

est 8y ago
Sounds like "yes" means "I heard ya" or "ACK"

otakucode 8y ago

I wonder if a service like UpWork could take this cultural knowledge into consideration and change their design? I often see jobs posted that are straight up impossible... and they get bids. Someone will post "I want everyone who sees my AdWords ad to automatically Like my Facebook page" and they'll get bids from offshore IT shops claiming they will deliver exactly that. Those posting the jobs are completely unaware that what they're asking for is impossible and borders on the nonsensical. I've always figured somehow educating those people might be the solution, but perhaps instead just presenting potential work situations differently to cultures who say 'yes' to everything including the ludicrous might help?