Globalisation and Offshoring - unintended consequences

Interesting piece on an unintended - or unexpected - consequence of
globalisation or "offshoring" of business processes - raised via <a href="
http://www.networkworld.com/nloutsource2605">Bill Heldman at
networkworld.com</a>. Time zones and meeting times. As though time zones
were only just invented, I hear you say. Well, yeah. For people who have no
need to dial India or Australia during Indian or Australian working hours I
guess it comes as a surprise. For Indians and Australians (and everyone,
really) it's no surprise. The boot is on the other proverbial foot, at
last.

Offshoring certainly will result in time zone issues - and we must (like
for everything other change in life) plan for it. This is hardly new -
global companies with branch offices and companies with overseas suppliers
have dealt with the exact same thing - day after day - for decades. As have
families calling "home".

I think the best plan is to draw up some guidelines in advance, raise the
topic at both ends and get a discussion happening on the best way to have
the least impact on each end. Agree on availability, basically. It's a
2-way street. Then make that agreement stick, barring overwhelming issues
that must be dealt with instantly.

Apart from that, 'rostering' the on-call guy makes sense, as does increased
work/life flexibility. In my working life I have had to make contact
globally with different countries at different times of the day and apart
from some early hiccups (like when New York failed to understand that here
in Australia we really are 'down under' and set meetings at impossible
times) it actually works into a nice pattern of alternating early morning
and late night instant messaging and voice calls. I work from home more and
have less 'rigidity' in the working day - I take time out and reserve some
times of the day strictly for "life".

Getting reporting right also helps. If you can query a database when you
need to and get the answers you want, the need for meetings declines.

Lastly, it settles down. With experience and trust you end up relying more
and more on emails and reports and less on direct daily contact. That's my
take on it, anyway.


Cheers

Rob.