Autumn Marathon

How We Work Now: Input Requested!

Globalization has garnered particular attention in the high-tech fields for a number of valid reasons.  First of all, the high-tech workforce in the US is particularly diverse in its  international origins and has been since the 1960s.  Second, the nature of the work, particularly in software development, lends itself more easily to remote or distributed work, than many other kinds of work ranging from manufacturing to provision of services which require an “on-site” presence.   These two factors helped lead the information technology industry to become a kind of standard bearer for “outsourced” and or “offshore” business models.

My long-time employer, Sun Microsystems, was not unlike many companies in its adoption of an offshore product development model.  Founded in the early 1980s by a quartet that included an Indian and a German, it employed a cosmopolitan engineering force in California for its first 10 years before initiating product localization in Japan.  During the talent shortages occasioned by the dot-com boom in the late ’90s, the emphasis moved to accessing hidden talent in places like India and China.  After the subsequent “dot-bomb crash,”  cost savings that could be realized by employing engineers at roughly 1/4 the Silicon Valley rate became a major motivation.  Recently, the idea has been that by developing products in emerging economies, particularly in the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China), the company would enjoy greater success accessing those markets.

Since leaving Sun, I have been surprised at the degree to which the smaller businesses, non-profit organizations and political movements with which I have worked are also globalized.  Ever wider availability of free software tools have made it easier for entrepreneurs and small businesses to give a professional and very “big” impression.  In just a couple of years, we have moved from free email to telephone and video conferences, project management and CRM tools, custom web domains, blogs and wikis.  Small organizations  are now just as able to access remote talent and work with specialized vendors (outsourcers) as large companies.

These technologies have enabled very positive trends.  They allow (even require) a degree of agility greater than any before - companies and movements are able to get off the ground in a matter of days.  The technology also enables collaboration among individuals and groups in different countries which, in the long run, makes nations themselves more amenable to collaboration and diplomacy than to more hostile interaction.  That’s a bit of a political aside in this article, but I strongly believe it to be true and worth noting.

Yet, as widespread as these technologies and work practices are becoming,  my observation is also that organizations do not think through the reasons for deploying them.  They almost always exaggerate the cost savings as lower wages are offset by communications, travel and other expenses.  They almost always overlook the need for implementing a different (and usually more heavy-duty) form of project management.  They tend to overlook the human dynamics of working in a distributed fashion i.e., are people in one disadvantaged in terms of effectiveness, visibility, enjoyment of work, career advancement, etc.?

For these among other reasons, globalized projects often fail to achieve their business objectives: I am writing a book chapter about global teams working on software projects.  There are plenty of examples from my own experience that I will draw on, but would really appreciate some input from my friends and colleagues.  Do any of you  have stories that illustrate the points made above?  Or do you disagree with my ideas and have others points to make?  If so, would really appreciate your leaving them in the comments to the blog or writing to me directly.