Tag Archives: Management

24 tech workers for each manager?

August 15, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Management, Of Interest, Software Development | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Too many Indians and not enough chiefs!
I am always amazed by India. India has mastered the art of spreading valuable assets thinly. The meat is tiny pieces in Chinese fried rice in India. The portions of chicken are minute in biryani (to my dismay.) Managers are also spread thin at Indian software companies.

Managers are expensive in India
The reason why the ratio of managers to workers in India is so bad is because the pay rate for managers is very high since managers are in such short supply. In America, a manager might get paid 20-100% more than a worker. But, in India, a manager might get paid 2x to 8x the amount a worker gets in a high tech company for example. I don’t know the exact number, and the numbers change over time — but, this is the approximation of the reality.

You can’t watch your workers
The problem with having too many workers and not enough managers is that you can’t really watch your workers if you are so spread out. If you have self-managing workers, you don’t need to watch them much, and you don’t need to critique their work.

My way of looking at this problem is as follows.
If you have twenty-four workers who are all completely self-sustaining and know exactly what to do with hardly any intervention, then you might be able to have ten or more to a manager. I’m not sure if twenty-four works even under ideal circumstances. But, many workers play tricks, or don’t know how to get things done. If you have a team of twenty-four, it is likely that many will be trouble in some way, shape or form. New workers who have not been screened should ideally be placed in smaller teams so their work can be evaluated. If they do flawless work and can function without intervention, then perhaps they can be transferred to a larger team. New workers and problem workers need to be in smaller teams where you can keep more of an eye on them. In my opinion, the value of a worker is proportional to their productivity minus the amount of hell you go through trying to manage them. In many cases, many workers might have a sub-zero value (put on your sweater and winter hat.)

My personal story
I have too many things to do and several people to manage. I can’t manage them and do my own work at the same time. I have to put something on the back burner since I’m so busy. Unfortunately, it is common for me to get behind trying to manage my programmers. I just wonder how far behind a manager with twenty-four workers gets? Perhaps they just are not really managing those people at all…

Bathe and meditate before making business decisions

July 23, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Management | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Do you make business decisions at the office? Sure, most of us go to an office to work everyday, but offices are actually not the best place to work, or to make decisions. Hmm! Offices are good places to have meetings and to watch less experienced workers. If we all knew what we were doing and were trustworthy, we could all work at home, couldn’t we! So, when and where do we make our big decisions?

What are meetings good for?
Meetings are good for exchanging ideas, brainstorming, and meeting new people. The ideas bounce between different people and can develop as they go around the table. Some experts say that you shouldn’t have more than seven people at a meeting otherwise it undermines the efficiency of the meeting. Other experts say that meetings are usually an inefficient use of time and should be kept to a minimum. I can’t advise on that, but there are many blog articles on the topic! Meetings are good for what they are good for. After you have attained the benefit of the meeting, adjourn it and go back to work!

Sleep on it
But, for the actual decision, sometimes it is good to sleep on it. For complicated decisions, we need to be in a more spiritually pure frame of mind. Taking a bath and meditating before attempting to tackle a hard decision is a good idea. Late at night when it is hopefully quiet and there are few if any distractions might be the time to make that decision.

Thinking while walking & talking?
But, there’s more! I have made the best decisions of my life while talking on the phone during my daily walk. The best artists, musicians and philosophers often are reclusive people who take long walks — at least historically this is a true fact. I often talk to my psychic while I’m walking. He can sometimes give great answers to my questions. But, sometimes, I answer my own questions just by talking to him. Perhaps I’m subconsciously absorbing his thinking abilities, or perhaps, by talking about the issues even to my cat, the answer would come to me because I’m stimulating my own mind!

A final thought!
This might sound bizarre, and it is. I was in line for some pasta in my neighborhood. There is a place that has been in business since 1963 believe it or not. They are very inexpensive and often have a very long line for their pasta, vegetables, chicken, shrimp, and other specialties. I was upset that I was going to waste so much time in line. But, then I whipped out my i-phone and started writing notes in the notes section. I came up with thirteen really interesting blog ideas in only twenty minutes. Maybe I should have pasta more often!

Only 1% of customers feel they get the service they deserve

June 2, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Management | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Only 1% of customers are completely satisfied
A CEI survey revealed that only 1% of customers feel that vendors are meeting their expectations. Of course, there are different industries, different countries and different individuals involved. But, I have a lot of personal experience working with many companies. It is really only my accountant who meets my expectations for service. She does a great job, and offers a few valuable tips without being asked. Additionally, she answers her phone even when she is busy and doesn’t miss deadlines. Everyone else I have ever dealt with has let me down one way or another. Some companies let me down every single time!

Most people will pay for better service
86% of customers according to the survey would be willing to pay more for better service. Would they pay enough to justify your costs? It is not clear. However, if customers are dissatisfied with 99% of the companies out there, if you are the 1% that doesn’t disappoint them, then imagine how fast your business will grow!

Resolve problems quickly
The best way to resolve problems is to avoid having problems in the first place. But, if you have a problem, try to solve it fast before the resentment grows in a customer. Sometimes the problem is that the client wants something that it is not your policy to deliver. Or they feel they are entitled to special treatment and then get upset if they don’t receive it! Putting unreasonable requests aside, try to resolve all problems as fast as humanly possible. Listen to the client, understand how they feel, and find solutions. Sometimes you can’t solve their problem, but you can find other ways to make their problem better. Or, you can give them something of value for free to show you care, even if you were not able to rectify whatever they were calling about. Being cared about will score you lots of points in the eyes of many clients, especially in this world where nobody else cares!

Customer service as an investment
Training your employees how to be the smoothest at customer service is important. Selecting those who will be naturally inclined to do a good job is also important. It pays to invest in good service. After all, how many clients will you keep if your service is nonexistent or horrible?

Google has its employees devote time to innovation, what about you?

May 20, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Innovation, Management | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A book about Google
Many years ago I read a book about Google. They ask their employees to spend 20% of their time doing innovative projects that are not for profit. Sometimes the projects deliver amazing results, other times not. But, the benefit is that their employees’ minds are always expanding and become more adapted to doing effective creative work.

Most don’t try to mold their employees
Most other companies out there don’t try to mold their employees. What about your company? Do you just hire people who you think are good and fire them when you find out they are bad? Not very creative! Don’t you think that whomever works for you might do better if you molded them a bit? You could give them some type of coaching, or have them do interesting things in addition to whatever their main tasks are. That way, after a few months or years, they might turn into very much more evolved employees capable of handling much more difficult tasks!

Innovative tasks to give your staff
There are many innovative tasks you could give to your staff. You could have them devise creative new ways to schedule company business. They could change the seating arrangement. They could think of new marketing techniques, or technical ways to solve problems. The sky is the limit. Your company might be a little odd if the seating arrangement went haywire, but it would definitely liven things up a tad, don’t you think?

The point is that people will start thinking more if you ask them to think. If their thoughts will have consequences, they will think even harder, so they create positive new realities. Taking time out to innovate takes time and attention though. Your staff might need to take time away from daily tasks to innovate. So, if you really want a more interesting and intelligent company culture, you have to invest in it. But, the results could be something you can’t even dream of in your current state of mind!

I would write more on this topic, but I have to go — I have an innovation session now!

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You might also like:

How to create a culture like Google’s and have fun doing it!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/03/14/how-to-create-a-company-culture-like-googles-have-fun-while-doing-it/

Steve Jobs watched his programmers carefully, so should you!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/10/steve-jobs-watched-his-programmers-carefully-so-should-you/

Want to be good at innovating? Start questioning everything!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/08/30/want-to-be-good-at-innovating-start-questioning-everything/

Steve Jobs Principle: The more you network with people outside of your field, the better you will be at innovating.
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/08/28/outsource-steve-jobs-principle-the-more-people-you-network-w-outside-your-field/

How to develop the Google culture within you
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2015/03/22/how-to-develop-the-google-culture-within-you/

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The right sized company to outsource to

April 22, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Management, Popular on Twitter, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

In my quest to find the right programming companies, I have learned a lot. There are different cultures, different skill levels, and different sizes of companies. Some companies have workers who work remotely, while others have everyone in an office. I learned that I didn’t generally do too well with one-man shows unless they were above average in skills and always answered their phones. I found a writer who fit that description. But, programmers have the “Don’t answer your phone” gene that prevents them from matching my criteria.

I was thinking that bigger = better. But, the bigger companies were often too snobby to work for me, or too uncoordinated to even know what their schedule was like. They also lacked the intimacy of smaller companies.

After a lot of looking around, I found that companies that had 6-12 people total were ideal. Unfortunately, in America there are very few that match this criteria. I hired a company in India with 20 people who was good. But, they grew to 45 members and now it is too crazy to deal with them. They lost their star employees and replaced them with chaos and more chaos. In my case, the closer a company gets to having 9 employees, the better they are. But, if they have less than 6, it never works out. I’m not sure why this math determines a result, but the numbers don’t like.

A company of the right size is important. You can get to know the boss well. If that company grows out of control, the boss will be too busy to talk to you or manage things well. So, I need a lot of backup companies. What if I find someone perfect, and then they grow too much? They might stop being perfect — what a scary thought. Additionally, I might add that in India the companies with 6-20 people generally make it easier to talk to someone really smart. At larger companies in India, you start off talking to someone who is so dumb, they can’t even answer the question, “What city are you located in?” They always need to transfer me the minute I ask them a trick question like that. I can’t figure it out!

Tweets:
(1) In my quest to find the right companies to hire, I have learned a lot.
(2) Companies with 6-20 people generally make it easier to talk to someone really smart.
(3) Large companies are often too snobby to accept smaller clients.

You might also like:

Is bigger always better in business?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/02/11/is-bigger-always-better-in-business/

Good sign bad sign: what to look for in newly hired companies or workers
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/01/13/outsource-blog-good-sign-bad-sign-what-to-look-for-in-newly-hired-workers/

Is it better to hire your own top-notch employee or outsource your task?

April 13, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Management, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Is it better to hire your own top-notch employee or outsource your task?

The answer is not so simple.
If you have repetitive tasks that require exactly 40 hours per week to do, then hire an employee. But, what if you only need a few hours a day of specialized service? You might outsource the task to a company, or a highly skilled freelancer! In the end, it is really about finding someone who can get the job done they way you want it done.

Being in control of your new helper
Sure, you can hire your own employee. If you hire someone, it is easier to watch them if they are sitting next to you than if they are hundreds or thousands of miles away working for someone else. It is also easier to control an employee. You can say, “Do it my way or your’re fired!” Try saying that to someone at an outsourced company. They have to do what THEIR boss says, not what you say. You will be more in control (generally) if you hire your own person.

The outsourced company might be better at hiring
Anyone can hire someone to help them out. But, someone who specializes in hiring within a particular specialty might be better at hiring those types of people. On the other hand, the company might have mediocre taste in those that they hire, while you might be more discriminating. Additionally, it is easier to work with someone who you have a good personality match with. Someone who you hire is more likely to be compatible with you than an outsourced worker. Bad personal relationships almost always lead to substandard work with outsourced workers!

Having enough work?
If you run a small company, you sometimes don’t have enough work for a full-time employee. The other problem is that your full-time employee might not be able to do all of the tasks that you assign them, or might not be that good at half of the tasks. If you outsource a task, they do as many hours as you assign them. Freelancers are in the same boat. If you don’t mind having an employee sitting around twiddling their thumbs, or being paid overtime, you might be able to handle the work fluctuations. Or, if you have more than 40 hours of work per week to give to someone new, hire an employee and give the remainder to an outsourced company!

Letting it pile up?
If you have 25 hours a week of work for someone to do, and you let it pile up for a while, it might become 40 hours a week of work if you include playing catch up ball. On the other hand, if your new employee quits or gets fired quickly, you might quickly find yourself very painfully behind. The pile up strategy is very interesting, but has its pitfalls!

What should you do?
If you need to outsource a task, consider all of the options. Interview lots of outsourced companies, freelancers, and prospective employees. Try your best options after some analysis, and then commit to the best option and see what happens!

Tweets:
(1) If you have repetetive tasks that require exactly 40 hours per week to do, then hire an employee
(2) If you need specialized service, hire an outsourced company or a highly skilled freelancer!
(3) It’s easier to watch your help if if they are right next to you & NOT 5000 miles away in India!
(4) If you hire your own employee rather than outsourcing, you’re more likely to get personality compatibility!
(5) If you run a small company, you sometimes don’t have enough work for a full-time employee. Time to outsource!
(6) Bad personal relationships in the workplace almost always lead to substandard work!
(7) If you have 25 hrs/week of work to do and let it pile up for a few months, it becomes 40 hours playing catchup ball.

You might also like:

Good sign bad sign: what to look for in newly hired workers
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/01/13/outsource-blog-good-sign-bad-sign-what-to-look-for-in-newly-hired-workers/

A 20 minute office visit reveals the character of a company!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/12/12/a-20-minute-office-visit-reveals-the-character-of-a-company/

Does your team function as a team?

January 18, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Management | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Does your team function as a team?

There are many types of company structures, and many ways to play politics in any of these structures. There is always jealousy, resentment, competition, greed, and arguments. The question is, how do you get your team to function as a team?

Sometimes I feel that the people who work for me function as separate individuals and have very little positive interaction with each other. Often times they just don’t like each other. When you combine bad chemistry with territorial types, you end up with a lot of trouble. Should you hire people because you feel they will do a good job or do you hire people who will blend in with your other workers?

Bad interactions between even two workers can ruin your company culture and fill the air with a bad vibe. On the other hand, if people work more remotely, it might not matter as much if people don’t get along. Assessing the damage of bad internal relationships is not easy. What really matters is how the customers feel. If they interact well with your staff, that is yet another set of relationships to consider. In a perfect world, we would all get along with each other, but on planet earth, we need to optimize our relationship structures!

For me, honestly, there are too many variables. Just to find someone who can function at all is a huge challenge. If you pair that with company culture and internal relationship issues, it is more than I can even think about.

If your team doesn’t function as a team, sometimes talking it over just doesn’t help. Certain people just don’t like each other and there is no remedy. Sometimes talking it over just submerges people’s hostility until it blows up in your face at a later date.

Tweets:
(1) Should you hire people because you feel they will do a good job or do you hire people who will blend in with your other workers?
(2) There are many types of company structures, and many ways to play politics in any of these structures.

You might also like:

The magic of collaboration
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/12/29/the-magic-of-collaboration/

Steve Jobs watched his programmers carefully — so should you!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/10/steve-jobs-watched-his-programmers-carefully-so-should-you/

Is it better to have a woman do your phone calls?

January 4, 2014 by 123outsource
Categories: Management, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

I do a lot of my own phone calls.
But, I learned that my female counterparts are more popular with our clients than I am. Hmmm, what am I doing wrong? Is it me, or is it my gender? I just had a lady do some of the calls that I normally do, but, she got a much higher sign up rate for our newsletter list than I get? Part of it is gender, but she is also slower and more patient — clients like that. Interestingly enough, I once hired a guy with a high pitched voice. He was very popular over the phone because people THOUGHT he was a woman.

But, is hiring a woman always good?
Speaking slowly, clearly, listening, and being able to answer questions is very important. I am a boss, and in a huge hurry because I have more tasks than I do time. People like someone who has the time to go a little slower, so hiring someone else who has less on their late is a great idea.

But, when should you hire a man?
People respect men more as authority figures as a general rule. I am a very gentle guy, but I get more respect as an authority as my company than my saleslady. The irony is that she is much tougher than I am, but because of her gender, she is treated as less powerful than I am. The fact that she is not the owner is part of the reason she is treated as less powerful. But, actually, she is very powerful, because she influences me. If she says a particular client is trouble, I will “write them up” in my files, and that client could be in trouble with us in the long run! I would say:

For call lists that involve a person of authority, a gentle man with a manly voice might get a better result than a tough woman!

Boy, the world is such an unfair place!

Tweets:
(1) Proven fact — it is better to have women do many types of customer service phone calls!
(2) Women are more patient with phone customers. They listen better than men. Ironic, considering guys spend so much time listening to them!
(3) Women listen better to phone customers than men. Ironic, considering men spend so much time listening to women!

You might also like:

The 2% rule; Only 2% of companies are worth hiring
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/21/the-2-rule-only-2-of-companies-are-worth-hiring/

Would you pay extra to have a better employee?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/17/would-you-pay-extra-to-have-a-better-employee/

Is finding an outsourcing partner like an arranged marriage?

December 24, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Management | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Finding the perfect outsourcing partner is like finding a mate: you need to find someone who absolutely gels with you in so many ways. Americans dream of finding the perfect mate, and I’ll bet some actually expect to find the perfect outsourcing partner right away, too. Good luck!

A good relationship (although maybe not the perfect one) can be developed if you take the time to get to know each other. Just because the company has a few good references does not mean they will be good for you. Unless you have taken the time to get to know your outsourcing partner and really have common standards and goals, the relationship will be little more than an arranged marriage. Whoever your point of contact is–your project manager?–will be The One.

Here are 5 tips to evaluate and develop your relationship:

1) Since you are thousands of miles away, you need to have communication by phone, skype, and email. Talk about a variety of topics to determine how that person thinks and whether he or she really wants to do business with you at all. Be sure to talk for at least 15-20 minutes because it will take at least that long to find out what that person really thinks. Then, ask that person three to five ‘test questions’ and have the person answer these on the phone or skype— on the spot. These could be situational questions that you feel strongly about—how you handle a difference of opinion, how do you tell if you can trust someone…even how you choose a girlfriend or a mate. Be sure the person can give examples. You should not feel hesitant to ask questions. These questions will help you see if you have values in common or if that person has a point of view you feel comfortable with. Listen to the person’s answers and see if they appeal to you. If you have any doubts at the beginning…proceed with caution!

2) Based on what you have heard so far, do you have similar cultural and personal values? Cultural values can be discussed or referred to in initial conversations (above), but personal values are probably more important. For example, do you believe that you have to lie sometimes in business? What lies are acceptable? If you have to complete an important job and you become ill, how do you handle it? If you are late on a deadline and have a phone conference with the client, how do you deal with this/ what will you say? Are results more important than how the job gets done–and does that gel with your own way of working? Answers to questions like this may actually tell you something revealing about the other person and his or her policies. Listen carefully. Your future depends on it.

3) What is quality? What constitutes a quality product in your industry? Have the person tell you. If it is a call center—how will you know the callers do a great job? What specific things do they do that demonstrate “quality”? If your contact has a vague idea of quality or cannot speak well, this will tell you something about how profitable it will be to work with this company. Does the person just refer you to a link on the company website? The more details and examples the person can give you, the better chance he or she really has a good team and will be a great outsourcing partner. If the person is obviously reading from a script or says “I will need to think about this and call you back,” that is not a good sign.

4) No contract will test out your relationship as well as an actual test assignment. It will answer questions like “Do you follow directions?” and “How much do you get done in a certain amount of time?” If you are in sync with your partner, you will both get through the test assignment and will learn enough about each other to move on to the next stage–or to back off. A small, well-designed, paid test assignment—before you even sign a contract—before the “marriage”—will tell you how this company functions in a relationship. This will also test what they said in the answers to the other questions (above). You will find out whether the person / company knows how to do what they say and how cooperative they are. If they make a mistake, will they offer to correct it for free? If they did not understand the directions and did not ask—will they take responsibility or will they say “The directions weren’t that clear…” Shouldn’t they have asked?

5) Finally, to find a good outsourcing partner (outsourcing company), you may be better off finding a ‘matchmaker’, a friend or family member who can introduce you to qualified candidates and help you screen them—rather than trying to find that perfect match on your own. Talk to people you know who have outsourced or who know you well, and rely on their advice. When marriages are arranged, they are arranged by family or even a professional matchmaker. Ask your matchmaker friend a lot of questions and he or she will help you define what you are looking for. Do not just grab an outsourcing company from the internet—or you may end up in a relationship you do not want, and this may make you hesitant to seek the right outsourcing partner in the future.

You might also like:

How does culture determine what is public or private information?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/05/05/how-does-culture-determine-what-is-private-or-public-information/

India — a culture of begging
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/01/16/india-a-culture-of-begging/

5 Tips for Rewriting Your Outsourcing Contract

November 26, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Management | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

If the workers assigned to your project are not at the level you originally requested both verbally and in writing, or if your Service Level Agreement is not being fulfilled as agreed upon in terms of time and quality, it may be time to renegotiate your contract. Such factors should have been part of an initial verbal agreement and contract, but since only hindsight is perfect — renegotiate your contract now!

1) Are you getting the level of experience you asked for? If you discover, for example, a few weeks or months into an IT project, that you originally asked for a senior programmer (5+ years) and are being billed for such–but that the programmer you have been working with has only 3 years of experience and is extremely slow and inflexible, you want to obtain some kind of credit and better accountability going forward. Write it into the contract in more definitive language, and include what the penalty will be for such an oversight. You as a consumer have the right to get what you originally contracted for and were promised. Is a required training period being adhered to (in a call center campaign, for example)? Ask that a specific level of skill and work experience be documented as part of the contract. Since this request was not adhered to from the very beginning–although it was agreed upon–see if the company is willing to give you a credit or substantial discount, particularly if there have been problems that might not have occurred had you been assigned a more experienced programmer or worker. And–write that penalty or discount into the terms of the new contract.

2) Are you getting your money’s worth per hour? If the company is giving you less effort per hour than you know to be indicative of an hour’s work, find a way to put that in writing: build in an incentive for certain quality delivered on a certain schedule, and for work done in much fewer hours than you think is necessary–with good results, of course. Money (a bonus) is the best incentive, but a few companies have succeeded in creating effective incentives such as trips, restaurant dinners, or shopping sprees (see www.anyperk.com for ideas on how to do this in the U.S.; in a foreign country, ask managers what employees would like). By the way, incentives are better than penalties, but they work hand in hand as we discuss in “Motivating workers with bonuses or shortages”

3) Forgot to include checkpoints and reviews? Add them this time: include periodic virtual (Skype or phone) meetings to let everyone know what is going well and what needs to improve. If you include in your contract this simple review process– and how often such checkpoints or reviews will occur– your needs and intentions will be clearer. Be sure to include wording that lists exactly what you will be looking for–for example, number of hours spent, specific tasks accomplished, concrete suggestions made by the project manager and workers, improvements made since the last checkpoint, and what procedures are yet to be perfected. Put it in writing. Then, the outsourcing company and its employees will know your expectations and respect your standards.

4) Are there liability issues not covered by a contract that is essentially unfavorable to you? For example, if code is broken (IT), or the query system does not work (IT), or certain calls made by a call center on your behalf cause problems and actually cause you to lose business, be sure the rewritten contract states all terms in your favor as well as the outsourcing company’s. The standard contract may limit the company’s liability. Make sure the final contract asks the company to take a good look at what its negligence might cost if your business suffers. If the company is not willing to take responsibility for certain errors…you pretty much know what will happen if the contract-makers do not change their attitude.

5) Last but not least…your contract should include what party will mediate the contract if things do not improve. Again, this should have been part of the original contract. With a professional mediation organization such as mediate.com with mediators in every country, you may do better than with an international law firm such as perkinscoie.com with offices in both the U.S. and the outsourcer’s country. Remember: You do not want to get to the point of litigation…but you do need to consider how the contract will be mediated or brought to suit if needed. Otherwise, your company looks foolish and lacks the power needed to control the level of work you are getting from the company in the first place. If they realize you are savvy about litigation with a company in their country and have laid out all the possibilities, many issues will be solved in a professional manner from the very beginning. By the way: one tip so obvious you are likely to overlook it is to make sure the contract is bilingual. That way, no one can claim that certain points were not clear. Get someone to check the foreign language contract against yours (English) and make sure the agreements are the same in both languages. How did we think of this? We know of a case where the contract was substantially different in Chinese than in English. The company’s written contract, created and signed by them, was actually in several ways a different contract than the English version a U.S. company signed.

Good luck making your contract perfect the second time around. If at first you don’t succeed– do it again–or prepare to find another company to outsource to.

You might also like:

International contracts to watch out for
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/10/14/i-refuse-to-sign-international-contracts-to-watch-out-for/

Precontracts for outsourcing: before the real contract!
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/09/09/pre-contracts-for-outsourcing-before-the-real-contract/

Long Range Effects of Business Decisions – a Mistake That Got Turned Around

November 11, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Management, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A mistake that got turned around
I made a business decision a few months ago which was to reduce my involvement in certain processes of my business. I removed the weakest 20% of listings from one of my directories. We did not lose traffic as a result, but we lost growth. I didn’t know what the long range effect of my decision would be other than I would have less responsibilities. Luckily for me, I track my decisions and the results thereof. I quickly learn when I have made a bad decision and turn it around. But, sometimes it is not so easy.

Gaining and losing personnel
If you hire a new person, there are positive and negative attributes that they bring on board. Someone with a bad attitude can really interrupt the flow of your company. On the other hand, someone who is occasionally difficult might bring a lot to the table that your business might suffer from if lost. I just read an article on Harvard Business Review where a manager lost one of their key team members. A few months after the fact the manager stated how they didn’t realize how critical that member was to the team. It is very important to be able to assess in business. You need to know how important each of your team members is — because one day you might have to live without them, or you might have to decide whether to fire them or not.

Techniques for elastic expansion
Expansion is another popular topic for business owners. Most companies want to grow, but many don’t know how, or how fast. Trying to grow too fast can cause a lot of confusion, especially if you have to change your business model. But, what about changing the way you do business in a way that facilitates flexibility in the size of your company? What if you have seven people at your company, and you create a new team structure that allows you to be able to add or subtract team members without dramatically altering your personal workload. If you change your business model to incorporate more middle level managers, or reliable outsourced help, then they can handle whatever growth there is for you, and you can work as much or little as you like. On the other hand, those who try to grow too fast without a business structure that can accommodate it can fall on their face and suffer huge losses in the long run!

The long range effects of business decisions are fascinating to think about and read about. Make it a habit to think about the karmic effects of your actions. Think before you jump!

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Mistakes & learning from them

July 24, 2013 by 123outsource
Categories: Management, Popular on Google+, Semi-Popular | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Learning from your mistakes

Do you kick yourself when you make mistakes, or do you regard them as a valuable opportunity to learn? Sometimes the value of what you learned from a mistake can be much greater than the financial damage done by the mistake. But, the value of what you can learn from a mistake is directly tied to how much thought you put into thinking about the mistake, and how you can avoid similar mistakes in the future.

A lot of mistakes that I have made were due to a lack of experience in seeing the signs of people’s behavior. I worked with someone who started out being a little bit sloppy. Since my other programmers were also somewhat sloppy, I felt like I had no choice, but to work with people who were sloppy. But, the sloppiness got much worst over time. The types of errors became more and more serious. It got to the point where we had scheduled a server migration when the site still had bugs in it. Then, after a migration of another site, the logout feature was actually broken for a few days which was a huge security risk. So, what should I learn from all of this? It is difficult to interpret if you start looking at the situation from months back. But, it seems very easy to interpret now.

If you hire someone who starts out doing something sloppy, this is really dangerous. Generally, when you start someone out, you are watching them closely and not giving them critical work. But, after you get comfortable with them, then you are in danger. Comfort is dangerous and the worst mistakes I have made in business were when I got comfortable with someone who I shouldn’t have had. The innocent mistakes on things that didn’t matter — down the road translated into dangerous mistakes that risked the integrity of my data on two occasions down the road. My mistake was that I overlooked an obvious sign.

From now on, when I see behavior which is sloppy, angry, questionable, slow, or unacceptable in any other way, I will stop working with that person if the bad behavior is the norm. I can accept 80% good work/attitude and 20% mediocre work/attitude from someone. But, that is as far as I will compromise. When it becomes 60-40 that doesn’t work. Here’s why. If you get to a point in the project where they make more mistakes than good work — and that ratio continues for more than a month, the staff member will not be able to endure your criticism. So remember, that 60% good work doesn’t cut it, because in a bad month it will become 30% good work which means endless unbearable criticism, and the worker will get fired during the bad month. If you start with 80% good work, then in a bad month, the majority of the work will still be good, and on a good month it will be nearly perfect. If you can find 100%, then take it, but if you are offered 80% — that is not bad.

I worked with someone else who avoided me, and was rarely around to answer calls. Since I knew her for years, she was within my comfort zone. She got worse and worse and my project ended up being the endless project from hell. I learned my lesson.

Don’t hire someone mediocre you are comfortable with — hire someone who will get the job done no matter how hard they are to find!

I learned from my mistakes. I hope you learn from your mistakes too! Remember — it is not bad to make mistakes, it is only bad not to learn from your mistakes. If you are really lucky you will learn from OTHER people’s mistakes!

Tweets:
(1) Failure is more important than #success in terms of what you learn from it.
(2) Do you kick yourself when you make mistakes, or do you regard them as a valuable opportunity to learn?
(3) I made many mistakes in business from not being able to read people’s behavior.
(4) People start off w/their best behavior when you 1st meet them.
If their best behavior is sloppiness, you’re in big trouble!
(5) When you start someone out, give them non-critical tasks & watch them closely

(6) Comfort is the most dangerous feeling you can have in business.
If you are too comfortable with someone, you let down your guard.
(7) If I see behavior which is sloppy, angry, questionable, slow or unacceptable in any way, I will cut my losses.
(8) If someone at an #outsourcing company is avoiding you, avoid them back & find a better

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