Reasons for Offshore Failure

It is often the case that Indian resources are accused of failing to deliver what was requested. In my experience, whilst they are not faultless, more often than not the root cause of the problem is that what is required has been poorly specified. In all walks of life, when purchasing we expect the contents of the tin to be that which is described on the label. Why should testing be any different?

The reality is that people have been greedy for the savings that can be achieved from global economies. Regardless of a project’s suitability for offshore work, the project is forced down this path and may fail. The resources employed do their level best to deliver, but the reality is that with poor specifications and requirements, the chance of delivering to a high standard is significantly lowered.

Another area, in which mistakes are made, is the desire of the client to specify how the offshore operation will work. This may be flying in the face of years of experience, but the desire to control and make sure it works is so high that these factors are ignored, having the opposite effect. The offshore capabilities may also be culpable for not being stronger or refusing to engage in certain situations, but someone once said “the customer is always right”.

Whatever the culture that you are dealing with, be respectful of it. Accept it for it’s strengths and weaknesses and learn how to work with, through or around them. Recognize that as a nation you are likely to have your own idiosyncrasies and that these will be magnified to other nationalities.

The English reserve, the stiff upper lip, the desire to queue, being over polite, being rude, thugs, hooligans, the english have been accused of them all and no doubt there are those amongst us to whom elements remain true in part or whole. We expect others to deal with our traits, so why should we not be able to deal with others?

Beware of getting what you ask for. If you ask someone to take the shortest route to the other side of the mountain, it is technically accurate that this will involve tunnelling through the middle. This will take infinitely longer but is what was ordered. The expectation may have been that someone would either go around or over the top, but that was not what was requested. If your instructions to an offshore capability are specified precisely, the likelihood is that these instructions will be followed. Making sure that they are what you want takes some self-questioning before commencing.