Acism's Offshore Outsourcing Guide > Right Trust/ Control

Too little trust on your offshore partner is bad. It makes you feel insecure and you naturally start micromanaging the project. The communication needs go up in that case because you insist that you understand every little thing that goes on offshore. It becomes a drag on the productivity.

Too much trust too quickly is also bad. Do not get into a situation where you can be taken for a ride by your offshore vendor, especially when you do not have prior experience with them. Keep the communication hygiene – at least read all mails you receive from offshore carefully instead of blindly believing that everything is going alright.

Too little control is dangerous. Do not give away complete control to the offshore team. It's okay that you may not want to get into the technical aspects, but at least control the requirements. Through communications, iteration deliveries, make sure that the offshore team is developing something that you need.

Too much control – micromanagement – is bad. It makes it too tight for the offshore team to operate freely. It prevents them from making decisions that would benefit you. It raises the communication needs to a unnecessarily high level. Finally, it also has an adverse impact on the team moral.

A case in point is not very uncommon – because of a stupid mistake on behalf of a developer, the developer ends up losing half a day. The offshore team –or sometimes the developer herself-- decides to work extra hours instead of having the news leak out and come in the open. Now, it does not affect you and it's okay if you do not know about it. Allow for such flexibility. Micromanaging will take it away from them.

Finally, try to involve your offshore team in decision making as much as you can. They will, at times, come up with good suggestions. In the right atmosphere, they will come back and offer creative suggestions which could be pretty useful to you. Some of the things you imagined may not be technically feasible, or would take a high effort when a simpler alternative is available. Get your offshore team to work as your partners in satisfying the needs of your customer.