Nightmares of an unpredictable onsite career - Not a myth of being part of an onshore-offshore project

What happens when you are tempted next time to take up a lucrative onsite assignment in a most happening city in the world?   Think again before you do on things that matter to you and your family first.     Corporates and Managers need not be considerate to your priorities and less will they be worried about what is killing you on all sides if you make wrong decisions. 

You can call this my experience or my anguish and pain...what so ever.....when there are so many external areas of control, for heavens sake I should have thought about the things that are well within my internal areas of control.   I am perplexed when people treat people like just any other resource in the organization, a broken table, crashed laptop, virus infected software or a unvending coffee machine....

Trust me you are just replaceable...no matter how much you made the work your life, how much you tried to be loyal to the company you work for, how much you are commited to your client's and project commitments.  We are living in an emotion-free corporate world, where people are no more the most important reason for growth in the companies.   

Next time, when you pack your bags for an onsite career,try to do some internal introspection?  Dont fall for the pursuing words of a manager who is desperate to fill up the Project Org Chart with people...dont think that you are chosen because of your talent and skill set, but because he/she  has a desperate project need to fill you in......dont think that she/he is doing you a favour by chosing for the best of the moves, it is only because a client needs your profile and for that moment you are the best fit and makes this for your fascination. 

When the urgency is gone, when the project is going smooth, and when there is no escalation because of your good work,  trust me, you are no more important to the project and easy replaceable!    You are just given a great incentive and a big piece of the cake which lots of other people are only dreaming off!!!!  

YOU are not the you who was so important at the beginning!    When your goals are achieved, you have done your job,,,,you just did what is expected!  When your goals and project deadlines are missed  and you show sudden surge of improvement,  and turn project from RED to Green then you are the best, you are the great member, you are an acheiver.   Thats why people who consistently perform struggle to grow in the organizations...People who sometimes fix things become god sent!

Today Corporate IT industry is always struggling to get the right people, good people who understand client expectations is short just because of this indifferent attitude of people who manage these organizations.  Their perception and training that no one is important is what is draining organizations of good innovation and loyal employees..... Every time, projects suffer from iterations, lack of good talent and consistent performance and inbuilt employee motivation because Managers speak the parrokeeted words that they are trained to speak to..... I also underwent this training from NIS on how to handle people during performance appriasal discussion and can imagine how strong we are supposed to be not getting succumbed to employees emotional outburst...But please people, think again, you are also reporting to some one else and will hear the same Music!  

After frequent travels on project needs, I decided to focus on my highschooler and asked for an offshore project and just because I had valid visa,  I was pushed to 'Bench'  waiting for that the dream change....When the dream change came,  I was given just a month to sell of my car, bike, my husbands job to quit, tc from school for my kid, put my mom under lonliness, vacate the house, sell of the electronics that would not sustain 2 years of storage and spent so much on the packing...moving to the most costliest city with family was another challenge....trust me, to give the same life to the family on what you had in hometown with the earnings that come, is a challenge but still you showcase a brave front and pretent to be happy!  

Finally the day comes when your visa is at someone's mercy or the project is at stake, or just that your manager is not happy with you because you also talk like him or her  and you end up again in a situaton of relocation with an emotion-free corporate giving a slightest consideration to what would happen to you!   Managers think that we had the INCENTIVE of being onsite...but ask any NRI who lives with the second hand goods, manages to look happy always looking for deals, and alway under the uncertainity of 'What Next?' 

The INCENTIVE is paid by the uncertainity of

 'Which school would take a highschooler in the mid of the year in India?????? Years away from home with No Hindi or Tamil,  World history replacing the Social Studies,... Physics in detail replacing Science ....American English replacing the British Indian English,,......Algebra replacing General Maths...I jus dont know if an admission is by any means possible!  Did I put my child's education and future at jeapardy!   Expecting my company to understand my predicment is way too much.It was my mistake!!!!!

'Will my husband get back a job?  A decent one that he was doing before??'''  May take time though not a big deal

The rest are minor and self-made issues that I know I can manage.....but still the nerve of uncertainty is so killing!

Friends,   Onsite careers are real lessons both on the technical, project perspective and also from a personal front.    You make decisions that are important for you in life and not by your companies..... ultimately you may not be with the same company, or with the same project, for long, but surely the families are gonna be with you for life.

Dont damage the life of your dear one 's in the name of your profession, for career is only a part of your life for your living.   Unless you are able to strike this balance, be 100% sure that the changes you take in life do not impact the consistency and happiness of your people, trust me, dont take chances.  I have seen so many co-onsite workers  who pretend happiness back to families in India,  but look for deals of 5 or 10 $ savings.,  who makes families spend time with the TV and cable, and who struggle with second hand cars that are not happy to ride!  Every thing of you gets compramized because of the 'Onsite Incentive'  and the day the realization happens, you will sit and fret like me on a Saturday morning!  Happy Onsiting!

The uncertainty of life is the New Normal and this is the exact reason why lot of Indians are travelling back to India in search of more peaceful, consistent life closer to family and friends.   I am gonna be one very soon!

Disclaimer:  This has got nothing to do with my company, my project or my manager..  This is the frustration of a mother with a teenage daugther worried about the 'What next?' factor in life at this point!

Consulting Engagement- An Overview

Today the world has become a one global market; both for goods and services.   This involves exchanges of contractual obligations and organized commitments to one another involved in business.   Consulting Engagement has been the most predominant in the IT world and delivery services with the onset of offshore-onshore model or the best shore services taking the world as one platform for global delivery.  In such a context, there is large necessity to understanding how this consulting engagement works.

1. It is very important to understand the value of the Consulting Engagement for all the parties involved.  For example a IT MNC acquires to perform services for a Automobile Giant in Germany, which has a delivery unit in India, it is important to know lot more things than the usual business deal.

• Government Regulations
• Understanding the Client needs
• Cultural dimension
• Technological awareness

There is also a need to analyze the business goals, competencies available, budgets involved, business and strategic plans on delivery,  value of IT for the business, expected customer service levels and agreements if any,  and customer satisfaction assessment methods.

2.  It is predominant to know the elements of the consulting engagement life cycle and understand some underlying questions on the capabilities, providing satisfying technical solutions and effective project management

• Engaging the right people, who in the IT world are called as Technology Consultants
• Ensure the people hired have the right skills in terms of both technical and non-technical required to run a smooth business
• Design a proper contract or a statement of work and set the expectations out of the fresh engagement
• The scope of the work is detailed and work products are defined as deliverables
• Does all the parties involved have all the required information, that includes any implicit and undefined requirements have to be analyzed
• Schedules and time frames have to be decided with milestones and tollgates well defined depending on the business need
• Metrics to measure the productivity have to be laid out so that the engagement manages to gather this information from the beginning to assess the process oriented IT delivery
• Continuous monitoring and control to ensure that any variance in the terms of scope, cost or time are having mitigation plans in advance and can be duly aligned in the golden triangle to meet the engagement objectives
• Though it is always painful not to discuss, the last step, it is always advisable to keep a note on what should happen in case the engagement fails, or have to be shifted from the scope or focus.   And on what circumstances the contract gets void and the engagement gets cancelled have to be put on paper.

3. The major steps in the Consulting Engagement would always involved the following

• Creating the customer- engagement - vendor relationship.    Example, creating customer accounts within a large corporate house
• Defining the customer need-   It is important to understand why the client needs this engagement and what value addition it is going to bring
• Skill Matrix designed-   This includes creating a capability model involving both infrastructure availability and also the software technical capabilities and level of expertize of the resources planned to be involved in the engagement
• Create a Program or Project plan -  This framework initiates the initial set up that is necessary to carry on with the engagement
• Proposal or bid for the engagement-  Create a ball point estimates on what it takes to do this engagement with success and profits to either parties involved.    Create outstanding yellow board presentations on what makes us the best vendor for the engagement
• Information is the key-  Having detailed information on the clients need, market competitions, capabilities and competencies will help us keep the engagement alive till the successful closure
• Creating the proposal and finalizing it-  This involves both the actual experts in the field to review if the proposal would work and senior management involvement to ensure that the proposal materializes as a strengthful engagement  giving wider scope of work and opportunities
• Commitment and honoring the engagement-  It is vital to provide our commitment to clients and do every bit of possibility to ensure that the commitments are met on time, within budget and as needed by the clients in the specification
• Execution of the engagement-  Well planned and adequately managed engagement would ensure success to the vendors and effective solutions to the clients
• Communication and feedback-  As the engagement progresses, it is important to keep a strong client- delivery teams relationship by constant feedback and active communications
• Improving the scope of future engagement-  A well performed service is always a opening door for new business.   Especially if the clients are happy with the deliverables of the engagement consulting involved, they would definitely come back to the same vendor for their future business needs.  This established a continuous and most progressing business relationship.

4.  Focus of the clients and consultants involved in the engagement

• Clients should focus on the business need, budget allocated and approved and obstacles involved and how to mitigate those obstacles with the consultants help and the process of escalation in case of need
• Consultants to focus on the management of the engagement by effective project management and upkeep of timing and quality deliverables,  provide improvement opportunities and expertise that would strengthen client's business  and aim at customer satisfaction

5.  The Consulting Engagements are successful and boon to clients when

• Clients see a value addition to their core business due to this engagement and consultants find a meaningful and productive work that is profitable to their business
• Expectations are clear, concrete and complete so that all stakeholders are aware on what need to be done to make this a pain free process
• There is a business need to ensure that the deliverables are made on time, as per the specifications set by the clients, reusable components and providing adequate reliability on the products for the best of business use and on time
• Communication is in place to ensure that everything goes smooth for the client- consultant relationship to be ending to a successful engagement.

Made in .............. The Reality of the US Consumer Market

After reading N.S.Ramanathan's article in IBNlive from Forbes India, one 'Indian techies working abroad on choppy waters'..... I found a new topic for my post.

Disclaimer: This post has no correlation to me being in US now or at on site on a Project....but the writer's thoughts on the realities I have witnessed over the years...   This also have no reference to my organization or its employees....

Now towards the reality....

The fact is that the grass is always greener on the other side.    Lot of the comments to the original post, says that the ultimate loser in the game of globalization, outsourcing and new visa reforms, is the common  IT worker..this includes both Indians and Americans..

One side countries try to take cost advantage, use shared services, improved data centres and focus on cloud and other computing technologies that enhance the utility services... there by creating innovation, technology and new platforms for emerging markets.....

The other side, creeps in the economic imbalances, financial downfalls,  manufacturing industries struggling to make domicile decisions and countries suffering from self-reliance.     What every American today feels is what every Indian  felt in 1940's.....Swadesh!.... We have read in our history, how the Nation boycotted foreign goods and called in for Indigenous products and industries to relive its original glory....Today, forget about the IT industry... at least 7 out of the 10 products that people buy in United States today is not manufactured here....Which means that it has become a buyer's market where close to 70-80% of consumer spending is driven towards a different country manufacturing the product.  So it is not just the IT industry but the overall, consumer market have to be re looked just in case they do really want to bring jobs back and bring in more of consumer spending go back to the American grassroots....to rebuild economy, and go back to globalization than going towards centralization in States....

Marshmallows, Red Peppers and Toothpaste - An International Potluck

On the way to Office, this morning, had an interesting topic on the air, on the International Potluck in school. 

Just last night had my plans for my kid's school potluck on Friday, being the last day of the school.   Surprisingly she wanted an traditional Indian Receipe which should not be really Indian...I didnt understand what she meant...may be a traditional receipe in a continental way...I have few more hours to figure that out and send something....unlike a child who took "Marshmallows, Red peppers and Toothpaste" to a potluck in school in Washington D.C to celebrate July 4 Independence Day! Oh Yeah!  The theme for potluck was "American Flag"  and hence translated into Blue Marshmallows, Red Peppers and White Toothpaste.

To me "Outsourcing" Projects almost look like an International Potluck... But believe me, we dont have the option to celebrate with any of the real requirements fulfilled in the real sense.  Infact, I appreciate the child who took MRT for Potluck....for Marshmallows are Blue, Red peppers add color Red and Toothpaste helps kids at the end with White Finish.... and it surely satisfies the potluck need.  But again...Do you think so?

In a true outsourcing project., one classical example.... A project to be used in America, where the requirements are given by business in United States,  the Servers are built in Korea and Japan, the money is funded by China, the technology is supplied by India,  the support is done by Thailand... we expect the project to provide 100% results.  Beyond boundaries of Nations, Cultures, languages, technologies, infrastructure, the whole world of virtual projects deliver an amazingly transforming results.  That is the strength of global projects today.

With an extensive experience in a banking project, where the Global Project was build in India, with requirements coming from close to 25 countries local offices,  and the COTS product supplied by a company in United States,  senior management funding the project sitting in Europe...and finally we tested the swift message printouts in Korea and Australia sitting in office at 4 am in India.... what else can you ask for in a global project. 

It is not only important how you deliver and match requirements, it is also important to provide cost-effective solutions.  It is also important to consider the global stage, people involved, technical challenges, and interfaces that connect beyond country specific regulations and laws.   The challenge is to address the needs of the business taking into control all the factors within the line of control and also planning adequately to manage things beyond control.

If not, we still end up fulfilling the requirements with "Marshmallows, Red peppers and Toothpaste".... at no man's cost!

Can all Managers be good Leaders and viceversa?

It is my perception that leaders are born where as managers are made!.   Managers are guided by the organizational policies and procedures, structured way of management, guided by the goals and vision, and mostly go by the rule book on assigning tasks, reviewing and measuring performance.  The responsibility ends there strictly speaking.  But modern day managers also try to be good leaders.  

Leaders lead by example.  They try to set a way of working,  maintain their own pattern of dealing with issues, problem solving, team motivation and going out of the box to bring in a bonding, culture, or a phenomenon at the work place.     Leaders can become good managers because of the fact, that they command respect to get the work done without using much of authority or power to get things done.   Leader's exhibition of integrity and self-discipline, guides the team to follow.   Sometimes its because, that the leader himself is hardworking, commitment, punctual and well-organized, the team tends to follow a process in which the leader is working. This is Management by Leadership and not the Management by Objectives like in most cases how it happens with the managers and  the team.

Managers are made because of their experience, education and achievements in the corporate ladder.   Most managers would have been great leaders at times.   Managers necessarily need not have that friendship, bonding, team building,  adoration which leaders usually get from the peers and subordinates.   Leaders can be good managers for their skills of managing people, maintaining equilibrium and ability to get the work done.  Ultimately, it is the relationship of a good manager being a good leader that succeeds.   In the long run, leaders would have draw a line between personal and professional understanding to make good managers.  Assertiveness, proactive control, abiding by corporate requirements make a good leader a successful manager.   

Leaders cannot achieve business success unless they try to be good managers as well, for the passion of a leader has to be combined with the goals of management to bring in a vital factor that can define success.   Bias, discrimination, fan following, friendship, family relationships and such factors cannot come into consideration to both leaders or managers in any business environment.   This does not mean that such bonding should not exist in teams or between managers and subordinates.  But none of these factors should come in between the performance purely in the best interests of the Organizational objectives. 

From my experience, the best of managers are the best of leaders who showed empathy, consideration, motivation and team building.  The best of leaders in the long run became best of managers for they know to handle business priorities coupled with emotional quotient...after all what you deal with are People-  the biggest assets of any Organization.   The Human Potential of an Organization stay motivated, committed and dedicated only when the Senior Management not only acts as good managers but also prove to be good leaders!!

Outsourcing - Pros and Cons! The true dimensions

Outsourcing is not the product of IT revolution in the world.  It is an ancient way of handling the exchange of goods and services.  From the times, the barter system existed, replaced with currency transaction, to today's knowledge era that heads with shared services, shared resources, shared domains, shared cultures, and shared boundaries,...the picture only has just enlarged beyond human comprehension.

With this saga continuing only to grow, it is time to realize the realities beyond this most discussed term.

Outsourcing has its own set of positive things, negative impacts, myths and realities.  If you by any chance, a part of this process, somewhere in your personal or professional life, read further. 

For it makes sense only for people who are bitten by this  bug at some point in their lives,...both for good and bad.

Every parameter will have two dimensions...be it a pro or a con.  Someones pro may be other's con in this cult.  So I don't want to call out any specific parameter as a pro or con.  As a reader, you can decide which is a pro to you or a con... view this from a general perspective.

1.  Economies of scale :  Every organization aims at cost savings to the maximum extent possible.  When recessions hit, and revenues are limited, the only way to show growing profits or maintaining standards is cutting costs.  We all do it in our personal lives too right... same way Corporates look at cheap labour,  more long working employees,  easy infrastructure, shared facilities and anything and everything that would save them another penny.

Example:  A box of chocolates cost me Rs.100 in shop A, the same chocolates cost me just Rs 40 but a mile away, as a consumer, I would prefer driving down a mile for saving Rs 60.  This will be a permanent option if my need is frequent.

2.  Uncompromising Quality:  In this world of competition and growing service providers, quality is no more a concern.  All you need to do is identify where is it available and grab it.   You don't need to live with a substandard goods or services any longer for a better product or a better service is available with many a time lesser price, customized to your needs and on time.

Example:  Chocolate box costing me Rs 100 is now available with free shipping and gift packing for Rs 60, that too delivered ahead of time to the address I prefer.   Any freebie or a discount is always a customer's delight.   Now the distance of one mile doesn't seem to be far at all!

3.  Matching Skills and Technical ability:   Again, in this knowledge era, every day is a learning experience.  There is dying need for keeping the skill sets up to date and technical ability to handle unexpected challenges. 

Example : A corporate used Oracle Forms and Reports for close to 10 years.  One day, management decided to move on to a SAP database.  Instead of the client retraining all of its IT folks to SAP at a huge cost and challenges in terms of adoption to change,  learning and certification, the ideal decision was to outsource it to SAP experts in the field, all packaged for a far better price.  Catering to immediate need, with expertize and low cost. 

4.  No longer commitment:  The outsourcing contracts range anywhere between 3 months to 7 years or even shorter or longer depending upon the type of business and services needed.   But there is no permanent liability like an employment for lifetime in government institutions towards most of the outsourcing deals and hence the question of retaining the employees for longer duration doesn't arise.  Need based management has become a norm today

Example:  My chocolate shop needs to supply chocolate cakes during Christmas season.  If I hire cake making experts, am sure they are of great utility during the season, but what am I do with them after the season is over.   Better is to hire a contractor or outsource to a cake shop to supply for my business on the customer orders.  This way, both of us have our profits shared.

5. Risk and Resource handling:  The risk of non-availability of any given infrastructure needed for a project at a given time, or the biggest challenge of modern day organizations in hiring, retaining and managing resources can be handled effectively in the outsourcing world. 

Example:  My chocolate shop decided to come up with the new moulds for the design of my chocolates.  Instead of me concentrating on making my own moulds, I can prefer buying the common moulds from the market or hire a company designing the moulds to do my customized shapes and designs.  I am not only saving my time and effort on it, probably it is cost-effective many a time, and also to the fact that I am not an expert in that field saves me from screwing up the whole thing.

6.  Accent Neutralization:  World with over 160 countries, thousands of dialects, hundreds of  languages, different ways of business communication throws up a bigger challenge in terms of language and understanding.  Demographic diversity and cultural differences play a major role when all the world's a stage.   There is a need for accent neutralization and common business communication standards, but it is many a time only a nice to have feature and cannot be truly made mandatory.

Example:  For 30 long years, I have spoken English in an accent that my British ancestors left back after ruling India for 200 years.  For a 3 month project in west,  with one week notice, you cannot expect me to change my accent overnight.  That's a reality.   Today, most of the population in the world come across such situations and this instead of a challenge should be a way to respect and regard the fact that I can still speak and write English which is neither my mother tongue nor my country's main language, tolerance to different cultures and ways of living in the world for a common benefit is a need today.   

Facebook has almost 9% of the world's population using the social media, but not sure, if there is any one language that is predominant across the globe.  English treads the world and binds the business communication, but no surprising that it is not the only language that is capturing the world's communication.

7.  Responsibility towards all:  There is an immense social responsibility when it comes to outsourcing world.   Any country that only tries to take cost advantage will lead its Nation towards a negative self-reliance.   The goal of any outsourcing can be cost effectiveness, at the same time, it has a social responsibility to ensure that they do not trigger massive unemployment to local people,  closure of opportunities to grow, and neglect its own corporate responsibility and participation in the economic well being of the Nation.

Example:  I am a farmer, and to help me in cultivation, my labor charged me Rs 1000.   My neighbour's labor promised me to do the same work for Rs 200 and slowly, I started giving all my work to him   He slowly raised his cost, and started to share his services to others as well.  Now I cannot get back my own labor for I already lost his trust and loyalty and the other neighbour's labor is also become costly and shared service.   Finally I end up doing my work, resulting is less productivity,  and borrowing money to run my farming business.   The neighbour comes to my rescue in terms of loan.  I end up in huge debt slowly.  There is no win-win situation..  Does it remind you something????

8. Expertise, knowledge and commitment-   It takes many years to build an expertise in any field, any domain.  Especially in the sectors of manufacturing, chemical engineering, bio-medical, paramedics, civil science and scientific studies, it takes years of experience and continuous learning to build a knowledge level.  The outsourcing will trigger a transition process and with a limited timeline. Can the entire knowledge be shared and digested?

Example:  I built a system for over 5 years, investigating in to many aspects of the business, doing loads of research and collecting valuable data.  After 5 years, my company is sold of to an outsourced corporate. And I am axed.  In the transition period of 3-6 months, how much will I be able to truly transit to the new people handling it in future.   Is there a good enough?   Am I satisfied that my baby will be taken care properly, or is the other person comfortable doing it with the knowledge he had to digest all at a time. I don't know.

9. Relocation and Collaboration:  People travelling to the other side of the world has become common in outsourcing parlance.   The myths of cultural shocks is no more predominant with the world become smaller and smaller day by day.   Yet, it is not totally non-existence as well.  Right from the way your dress, food you eat, places where you live, time zone difference, catering to multiple teams spread across the globe on a single team, virtual world has become a reality.   A stronger collaboration and organizational support on relocation would provide relief to people involved in this process.   Professional challenges would become manageable when personal needs are taken care of.

10.  Where do I belong?   The feeling of employee restlessness coupled with new environment challenges grows when there are communication bottlenecks in a team spread across the globe.   Assurances from the home office that you still belong there, makes employees work with more dedication and focus at client locations.   Regular business updates, weekly status calls,  personal motivations, recognition beyond borders,  participation in technical forums, contributing to organizational updates, continuous learning, equal opportunities in terms of recognition, promotion and growth in the corporate ladder  motivate the employees who take that extra mile to work under stressful circumstances.   Corporate responsibility includes accountability to all people in the organization irrespective of their place of work.  This will erase the day to day challenges in the lives of managers who are managing outsourcing project world over!

Good Luck!   Outsourcing should be a strength to the world economy and not a threat!

Disclaimer:  Please note that this do not have any indication to the way my organization works, or the experience from my clients.  The examples and view points are all my own out of years of experience in multiple business environments with multiple traditional and cross cultural teams.