Communication problems in outsourcing

Offshore outsourcing is a very widespread direction in work of development companies (web development, web design, software development).  Mainly development companies work in this direction with companies from all over the world.

Very often companies during the outsourcing work encounter communication problems, especially, when the language of communication is not native for one company (or even for both of them). Communication problems in their turn lead to problems, bugs, and shortcomings in the project (starting from inaccurate fulfillment of some requirements to absolutely misunderstanding of client’s needs and preferences).

Solution of communication problems in outsourcing requires attention from both parties. But as solution of every separate problem demands certain methods and means, we will review some reasons of communication problems arising. So,

1) The terms are not agreed. For example, if customer call navigation menu “Nav bar menu”, it will be difficult for you to understand what is meant, the same for customer it will be difficult to understand you, if the terms were not agreed before the beginning of the work.

2) Both parties wish to save time and money. Very often customer is limited in time and money, so it is highly important for him to spend as less time and money for communication and precise project description as possible. As a result of this, developers try to understand the minimum project description provided by customer and guess what the client's wishes, needs and preferences are. The thing is that too often developers' guesses don't agree with customer's point of view. This leads to additional revisions and changes which in their turn lead to additional time and financial expenditure.

3) One of the most frequent reasons for problems arising is the fact that very often manager of customer doesn't know programming, sets tasks and requirements from the business point of view and doesn't understand that some requirements cannot be fulfilled or their fulfillment can lead to complete redevelopment of the whole project or great changes in it. On the other part, manager of outsourcing company may not be a business specialist, think absolutely like a programmer and suggest customer the solutions which are completely inefficient in business.

Of course, in this article we reviewed not all reasons of communication problems arising in outsourcing work, but even these few require great attention. There is no doubt that communication problems with every certain reason demand specific approach and methods, so we want to give you only the following advice: irrespective of what role you play in outsourcing work (whether you are a customer, or a developer), be very careful and attentive and in case of any communication problems avoid using professional help of specialists.

By Development for the Masses, your Internet business solution company.