Acism's Offshore Outsourcing Guide > Right Communication

As we saw earlier, communication can make or break a project. Under-communication is bad, and over-communication is equally bad – imagine having to read hundreds of emails in a day to get to understand where the project is.

The right level of communication depends on the project context. With an offshore partner consider the following alternatives:

1. Weekly Pulse Check: This is an absolute must - minimal level of contact that is necessary with an offshore partner. If it's months since you heard how the offshore team is progressing, chances are that they are not progressing at all. Have a status email or a conference call – whatever works for you. Weekly pulse check suffices the communication needs for most stabilized projects. In practice, in addition to the weekly pulse check, there are specific issues discussed back-and-forth throughout the week via emails/ phone/ IM. That's a sign of healthy communication.
2. Scheduled Daily Conference: A daily conference is held in the overlap time with the offshore team. This offers a tighter control, which is needed on some projects.
3. Onsite Project Coordinator: Have one project coordinator from the offshore team situated with you onsite. Being physically with you, this person understands the requirements and your concerns better. He also has good ties with the offshore team and can better communicate and coordinate with them. This greatly improves the project communication.
4. Complete Team Onsite: When the communication requirements are very high, consider flying the offshore team onsite –some of them if not all. Some times it is done for the entire project duration, but often times it is done only for training them on the business knowledge and tools after which they fly back and do the development from offshore.

As can be imagined, the later options become more and more expensive and some of the cost advantage will be sacrificed. (For someone staying onsite, the compensation is needed to be at par with local equivalent, to cover the higher cost of living.) Yet, most times there are still long term gains to be achieved out of this sacrifice.

Irrespective of the degree of communication, the communication (both ways) needs to be clear, concise and unambiguous. Try assigning single point of contact as much as possible. Onsite people sending conflicting requirements to different offshore team members is a sure recipe for failure of your project.