This is a small writeup to share my experience in managing an offshore team. It should be of help to those IT professionals who try to manage an offshore team in their projects.
Tip 1: Know your team
Your team is your strength. Ensuring that you have the right set of resources to execute the tasks is important. Your men in offshore are generally less experienced but a right combination of skilled and motivated individuals needs to be present.
Tip 2: Reporting Structure
Once your team is established, a reporting structure needs to be established and practised. The bigger the team the more difficult the task. While doing this, care should be taken to see that key members of the team (Onsite and Offshore leads) have complete visibility of all individuals and their tasks.
Tip 3: Protect the force
Priorities of your superiors will always over rule yours. Hence the team you put to-gether might not always be yours. Ensure that you embrace them and see that the force is always with you. Diplomacy and rapport with your superiors in Offshore is important at the same time do not hesitate to leverage the power of your Onsite Relationship Managers.
Tip 4: Motivate and Innovate
Its important to motivate your team. It could start with small words of encouragement to compensated vacations. Moving good resources to onsite positions is a way to motivate the individual as well as the team. Sincere recommendation and appraisals despite Organizational constraints will help increase loyalty.
Tip 5: Filter work pressures
Every onsite co-ordinator/lead is forced to deliver more than what he is usualy told. And the success lies in doing it without complaints. Pressures from clients, superiors, relationship managers all needs to be absorbed by the onsite leads. None of these should perculate to your team. The same attitude is essential with your counterpart in offshore (lead). In short, convey the need to your team not the pressure.
Tip 6: Timely feedbacks and reporting
Feedbacks to your team is as important as the daily or weekly status reports you send to the client and your managers. Ensure all your team members are aware of the project status at all times and the same time are able to communicate it when asked to. Its your responsibilty to maintain consistency in daily reports and weekly meetings. Convince client to attend the weekly meeting so the team feels the important.
Tip 7: Absolute Control
Absolute control is never given, its to be taken. Its difficult, but with experience one learns the way to grab the reigns of the project and lead it to successful completion. Stop at nothing to get to this position. It starts with team loyalty, trust of superiors, client's support and confidence. You get these, you are resonable OK. But if you leverage these properly to build them to a greater level, with time, you will be in ABSOLUTE CONTROL.
Tip 8: Consult and be decisive
Always have trusted partners, your friends, co-workers, role-model, etc... Consult them at crucial points. Experienced people add value to the work we do. Talk to people and explain in such a manner so as to gain their interest. Never fly high, for you got to seek help and knowledge from their experiences. And when it comes to decision making always make the right one.
Tip 9: Fallback strategy
Your team is your muscle. Ensure that you do not lose it. People must be replaceable at short notices. You might hit deadends quite unexpectedly, For example: Mumabi rains of July 26th, 2005, people quiting the company for better opportunities, etc. Be prepared, have a fallback strategy and get your engines back on track.
Tip 10: Do it with style
A successful end is one where new opportunities are won. Or a mark is made that would lead to many more being taken in. Maintain great rapport with your clients, do not complain about your organization or your superiors. Go out for lunches with the team, talk NFL, Soccer, Ice Hockey. All these helps ease various other issues you might face at work. Improve your conversation ability and never hesitate to add good punch lines.
Many of these tips are difficult to adopt and some might not be applicable especially in smaller teams and where you are called to assume a role as an onsite lead while a team is already in place. The challenges are never-ending. And I do not have answers to all these situations but the essence is
Team Loyalty
Trust of your Superiors
Client's confidence and trust
Tip 1: Know your team
Your team is your strength. Ensuring that you have the right set of resources to execute the tasks is important. Your men in offshore are generally less experienced but a right combination of skilled and motivated individuals needs to be present.
Tip 2: Reporting Structure
Once your team is established, a reporting structure needs to be established and practised. The bigger the team the more difficult the task. While doing this, care should be taken to see that key members of the team (Onsite and Offshore leads) have complete visibility of all individuals and their tasks.
Tip 3: Protect the force
Priorities of your superiors will always over rule yours. Hence the team you put to-gether might not always be yours. Ensure that you embrace them and see that the force is always with you. Diplomacy and rapport with your superiors in Offshore is important at the same time do not hesitate to leverage the power of your Onsite Relationship Managers.
Tip 4: Motivate and Innovate
Its important to motivate your team. It could start with small words of encouragement to compensated vacations. Moving good resources to onsite positions is a way to motivate the individual as well as the team. Sincere recommendation and appraisals despite Organizational constraints will help increase loyalty.
Tip 5: Filter work pressures
Every onsite co-ordinator/lead is forced to deliver more than what he is usualy told. And the success lies in doing it without complaints. Pressures from clients, superiors, relationship managers all needs to be absorbed by the onsite leads. None of these should perculate to your team. The same attitude is essential with your counterpart in offshore (lead). In short, convey the need to your team not the pressure.
Tip 6: Timely feedbacks and reporting
Feedbacks to your team is as important as the daily or weekly status reports you send to the client and your managers. Ensure all your team members are aware of the project status at all times and the same time are able to communicate it when asked to. Its your responsibilty to maintain consistency in daily reports and weekly meetings. Convince client to attend the weekly meeting so the team feels the important.
Tip 7: Absolute Control
Absolute control is never given, its to be taken. Its difficult, but with experience one learns the way to grab the reigns of the project and lead it to successful completion. Stop at nothing to get to this position. It starts with team loyalty, trust of superiors, client's support and confidence. You get these, you are resonable OK. But if you leverage these properly to build them to a greater level, with time, you will be in ABSOLUTE CONTROL.
Tip 8: Consult and be decisive
Always have trusted partners, your friends, co-workers, role-model, etc... Consult them at crucial points. Experienced people add value to the work we do. Talk to people and explain in such a manner so as to gain their interest. Never fly high, for you got to seek help and knowledge from their experiences. And when it comes to decision making always make the right one.
Tip 9: Fallback strategy
Your team is your muscle. Ensure that you do not lose it. People must be replaceable at short notices. You might hit deadends quite unexpectedly, For example: Mumabi rains of July 26th, 2005, people quiting the company for better opportunities, etc. Be prepared, have a fallback strategy and get your engines back on track.
Tip 10: Do it with style
A successful end is one where new opportunities are won. Or a mark is made that would lead to many more being taken in. Maintain great rapport with your clients, do not complain about your organization or your superiors. Go out for lunches with the team, talk NFL, Soccer, Ice Hockey. All these helps ease various other issues you might face at work. Improve your conversation ability and never hesitate to add good punch lines.
Many of these tips are difficult to adopt and some might not be applicable especially in smaller teams and where you are called to assume a role as an onsite lead while a team is already in place. The challenges are never-ending. And I do not have answers to all these situations but the essence is
Team Loyalty
Trust of your Superiors
Client's confidence and trust
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