Transition of Project Work Offshore

As a tech exec, it’s important to efficiently and cost-effectively manage projects. For offshore operations, integrate them into your overall technology operational model rather than aiming to replace onsite staff. This approach ensures smoother acceptance and allows the offshore team to seamlessly become part of your organization, facilitating addition of offshore resources as needed.

India, Mexico, South America, and the Philippines have emerged as popular destinations for project staffing. Managing projects across multiple locations is already challenging, but entrusting the work to a third-party offshore team introduces an additional layer of complexity.

Many organizations initially explore outsourcing by partnering with a third-party provider that assists onsite teams in developing and testing applications.

Offshoring Issues

For those unfamiliar with the offshore model, there can be several early issues during project execution. These issues usually stem from unclear expectations, scope, and roles within the entire project team. Onsite believed they had clearly defined offshore’s responsibilities, while offshore believed they were meeting the expected requirements.

The problems typically boil down to being communication related.

Third Parties

When collaborating with a third party, it’s crucial to embrace their established processes. You chose this organization for their expertise, not just cost savings. Offshore development organizations exhibit remarkable efficiency by refining their processes. Unpleasant encounters often arise from misunderstandings or resistance. Successful collaboration with a third party requires understanding their methods and reaching agreements to integrate work harmoniously. Remember, no two organizations are identical.

It is crucial to have a proficient project manager working onsite in collaboration with an equally adept manager offsite who comprehends the dynamics of both realms. This synergy ensures a seamless workflow and maximizes efficiency.

To foster collaboration and streamline issue resolution, it’s crucial for external individuals to grasp the organizational structure of the hiring company. In a typical setup, an on-site Program Manager interfaces with the Business Unit. For larger programs, the Program Manager’s team includes multiple product managers leading project teams. These teams consist of a project manager, as well as professionals responsible for business analysis, development, testing, and deployment.

The Program Manager works with the project managers to delineate the work to be sent offshore.

Offshore Success

To make the move to an offshore team happen successfully there are a number of activities that need to be completed for the smooth transition of project work:

1. Establish a PMO offshore to manage building the new operation.  If you are leveraging an offshore provider, they will provide the project infrastructure to support the transition. Leverage the PMO to help coordinate on-boarding activities to fill in leadership gaps until all leaders are in place.
   
   
2. Perform a one-to-one mapping of skills to those being hired offshore in order to understand the level of skills transfer/ shadowing required.  Keep in mind that just replacing staff, one to one based on a schedule, is not a transition plan.
   
   
3. Assign onsite leadership to work with PMO and take ownership of transition.
   
   
4. Identify and/ or hire the management team offshore who will replace or supplement and interface with the management team onsite.  Keep in mind that the offshore team will now “own” the resources.   
   
   
5. Identify the project ordering (what projects are going) for transition, starting with less complex efforts in order to demonstrate success, hone the transition process, and allow the base team offshore to become established.
   
   
6. Build the transition plan to include BU and Program leadership who will assist in the training of new staff.  This will help smooth the transition as leadership will become comfortable that domain and business knowledge is being retained.

Because the new offshore team members have not previously collaborated (unless a third party is involved), there will be no inherent sense of cohesion when they first start working together.

Without bonding and unfamiliarity between offshore, onsite, and new recruits, achieving project continuity during site transitions can be challenging. This is particularly true if the onsite team is unaware of the cultural working norms in the offshore location.

Add to the concern that these recruits are unfamiliar with your company’s processes and tools. This puts pressure on the offshore leadership team to establish expectations, scope, and roles for the new hires. The onshore leadership team must also actively assist in training and orienting the new offshore team.