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Over the last few years, software development outsourcing has become a common trend in the tech industry, attracting many companies around the globe. Outsourcing can bring many benefits to companies like cost-saving, access to specialized talent and a more productive team. However, there are also challenges that come along with software development outsourcing. One of them is intercultural communication (Read more about Why Intercultural communication is important for outsourcing software development) since it needs to be optimized for successful partnerships. Here are ten recommendations for optimizing intercultural communication for your software development outsourcing process:
Intercultural communication´s importance in software development
The importance of intercultural communication in software development outsourcing
Intercultural communication is an integral part of any project, no matter how big or small. It has a direct impact on the quality of work that gets done, as well as how long it takes. In order to ensure that your outsourcing partners understand exactly what you need from them, it’s important for both parties to be able to communicate effectively with each other. Here are some recommendations for how you can improve your relationship with your partner through intercultural communication:
Learn about the culture of the country where you are outsourcing
A common mistake companies make when outsourcing is assuming that the region or country where they are outsourcing to has a single culture. This isn’t true. Each nation and even cities within each country have its own distinctive culture, and these differences can impact how people communicate with each other.
You need to take this into consideration when communicating with your outsourced teams in another country. You need to learn about their specific cultural norms and practices so that you don’t offend them by saying something inappropriate or offensive.
There are many ways to approach this task:
- Read about cultures in your target countries; for example, Google “cultural differences between Colombia and the US” or “Cultural Differences between Canada and Argentina.”
- Ask an expert on cross-cultural issues on how to fix certain issues or concerns around intercultural communication.
Encourage diversity and tolerance
Diversity on software development teams is a strength.
It’s important to note that diversity means more than just race, gender, and ethnicity. It also includes age, life experiences, religion and even sexual orientation. These personal factors contribute to how people communicate and interact with one another. When we consider how different these characteristics can be from person-to-person and how they can be leveraged to improve communication across countries it becomes clear why it’s important for software development teams to embrace diversity.
When people are from different backgrounds, they may use words or phrases differently than others do. This can create a barrier in communication when working with multicultural teams because some members don’t understand what is being said or used as slang by other team members who are not familiar with their particular cultural references. Encouraging tolerance amongst all team members will help improve communication around multicultural teams by allowing everyone equal access regardless of background differences so that there aren’t any misunderstandings between teammates who speak different languages or have unique ways of communicating ideas based on their diverse experiences throughout life.
Use a communication strategy that works for both parties
A good communication strategy will help you optimize your software development outsourcing efforts by making it easier for US-based developers and those in other countries to work together. This is because communication styles are different between the two cultures, so it’s important to be aware of them and work around them as much as possible.
To do this, you need to have open discussions about how each person wants their contributions to be handled and how they want feedback given out. You should also come up with some common goals so that everyone knows what they’re working towards at all times. Once these things are determined, document them so everyone on the team has access to them—it can make a big difference!
Set expectations with your software development partner
When you work with a software development partner, you’ll need to establish clear expectations. This is especially true when working with a remote team, as it can be difficult to gauge progress without regular meetings or in-person visits. We recommend that you clearly explain what your expectations are and understand the expectations of your partner. The following are some examples:
- Your expectation: You expect that your software development partner will be available by phone 24/7 through a rotation mechanism for any production issues.
- Their expectation: They expect that they have the weekend and national holidays in their country off when they are not part of that rotation.
Experience the culture from your software development partner
If you can, try to get to know the culture of the country where you are outsourcing. You might be surprised at how different their values and beliefs are from yours. If you can’t go there yourself, do some research and find out what kind of work habits they expect in their culture.
Try asking your software development partner what they think is important in their country or culture and how they would respond if someone behaved differently than expected. This will help them feel like a partner rather than just an unknown collaborator, which makes it easier for everyone involved to communicate effectively with one another during the project
Build trust and learn about each other
Trust is the foundation of all relationships, including ones between people who speak different languages and come from different cultures. Trust is built through experience, communication, transparency and shared vision. It’s not easy to build trust with someone you’ve never met in person or who lives halfway across the world, but it can be done if you’re willing to put in some effort.
Here are some specific recommendations:
- Build strong relationships with your team members by talking with them frequently via phone, Slack, Teams or video, sharing information about your project as it progresses and discussing how things are going during daily check-in sessions. The more personal connections you make with other people on your team—especially remote ones—the easier it will become for them to trust each other over time because they’ll know that they have a real relationship behind them instead of just an “online” one where they’re just getting information from each other without ever having any face-to-face interaction at all
Make sure the communication strategy is documented and shared with all the team
- Documenting and sharing the communication strategy with all team members is important for several reasons. The most obvious is that it ensures that everyone on your team has access to essential information. (It also makes it possible to keep track of which strategies have been tried and which ones are still in use.) When you’re working with a company based abroad, this kind of documentation is especially important because time zones mean that many people will be working at night or early in the morning; therefore, they may not be able to attend meetings during regular business hours if they’re part of another time zone. This concern is mitigated when you leverage nearshore and are on the same time zone.
- To make sure that everyone on your team has access to essential information about your project’s communication strategy, document it in one place where everyone can see it easily. For example: create a document called “Communication Strategy” and share it through Google Drive so that people can get updates whenever needed. This way there’s no confusion about what needs done next because no one can forget how things work around here!
- If possible, try recording some video tutorials showing how each tool works so anyone who needs help using them won’t feel as intimidated by them anymore (especially if they’ve never used them before). This will save precious time both now – when getting started – but also later down the road when someone else needs help getting started themselves since this isn’t something too often taught outside
Have clear and explicit processes and work dynamics
You need to understand the maturity of your software development processes and frameworks. For example, if your team has Agile processes in place and is aplying DevOps principles and tools, then it’s likely that you can start by aligning those concepts with your partner’s process. However, if neither side has formalized approaches for managing workflows, then it may be necessary to formalize some aspects of how work gets done before moving onto more delicate cultural issues.
Once both sides agree on how they want to manage their workflow (and hopefully they have similar processes), it’s important that each team clearly understands what behaviors are expected from them when working with one another. To do this effectively requires detailed communication about the types of meetings and handoffs involved in each phase of the project lifecycle
Overcommunicate
One of the most important ways to improve intercultural communication is to overcommunicate. When it comes to software development outsourcing, transparency and trust are critical for success. Leverage all communication methods available from face-to-face meetings all the way through Slack chats and email. Technology has made it easier than ever before for remote teams to communicate with each other effectively; however, there are still some best practices you should follow in order to optimize this process:
- Communicate frequently rather than waiting until a problem arises
- Use both written and verbal modes of communication
- Encourage people on your team who speak different languages to use that skill when communicating with their counterparts
In the end, you should remember that all of your outsourcing relationships are built upon a foundation of collaboration and trust. The more you invest in that relationship, the more successful your venture will be. Reach out if you want to discuss in more depth how we can help you in this exploration.
