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You have gone through the extensive conversations and organizational changes that have allowed your company to work with a vendor partner and have an otherwise-located team outside the US territories.
These are some pointers on making that first contact with “offshoring” a rewarding experience for your stakeholders.
1) Get to know your Offshore Team
Face-to-Face contact is a must to do proper introductions and ensure everyone understands the structure of your team, the overall project brief, and who is who and who is where.
Enable open conversations where everyone learns their areas of expertise and strengths; you could find opportunities to advance your project work if you leverage everyone's skills to their full potential.
2) Be prepared to On-Board new members
Ensure your new team can access your project information and invite them to your scheduled production-related sessions and SCRUM ceremonies.
Sometimes, documentation will not be available, but make sure that one or two people know the details of your clients' work to debrief those new team members into the project formally.
3) Create a Peer-to-Peer Support System
Whether you have formal documentation to share, having a to-go person for your new Offshore team member to clarify questions about the work at hand will enable them to be more productive.
It may mean significant time investment from your team in the early integration stages, but setting them up for success will be critical.
4) Adjust your process to accommodate some improvement
More often than not, these professionals have worked for similar types of clients and technologies before joining your team, and they could offer insight on how to implement some best practices.
If your client and project allow it, consider implementing suggested efficiencies, making both teams work together. Shared implementations have higher acceptance when everyone is part of the decision.
5) Provide timely and relevant feedback
Let your Offshore team know what is working and what could be done better. Your Local team will interact daily with their Offshore peers and will let them know.
However, having your Project or Client Management team talk to their peers Offshore to review that feedback, identify opportunities, and make course corrections as they become evident is best.
Regardless of whether your team is Near or Far off Shore, you can work with your Local team to leverage the power of having technology experts with a fresh view, working alongside your client-savvy experts, to your client's advantage. Make it happen!
