Time is one of the most important variables when it comes to running a successful business. It is often directly referred to as profit, where the organization’s revenue can be summed up via its hourly income.
However, when it comes to outsourcing development projects across national boundaries, geographical borders often prove a significant hindrance. Majorly because most organizations have little to no experience around outsource web development projects with major time differences.
Find yourself with the same confusion? Or nervous about an upcoming outsource project that is being managed via an opposite time zone?
Whatever the situation be, we’re here to help. So read along to understand the concept of the time difference and get along some tips to effectively manage the time difference in different outsourced projects.
Time Difference: The Real Challenge
Countries spread across the globe refer to different time zones to keep track of their lifestyle. For instance, India maintains its work policies according to the Indian Standard time. The IST is different from the other time zones, followed by other countries throughout the globe. All of these countries are either ahead or behind the time of others. Here’s a comparison of the major time zones:
EST (United States): India leads by around 10.5 Hours from EST.
MT: India leads by 5.5 hours.
East Africa /Middle East– India stays around 2.5 hours ahead.
Australia – The IST is behind by about 4 Hours.
Europe – India leads by 5.5 hours.
Considering the differences in time zones, it is only practical that there are going o be hurdles in the management of an outsourced team.
Now, to help you better, here are some tips to consider while managing outsource web development projects overseas. Let’s get started!
Also read: Best 5 Project Management Software in 2021
Tips to Efficiently Manage Outsource Web Development Projects in Different Time Zones
Keep track of the overlap hours:
When working with outsource partners from different time zones, the thumb rule should extract the best mutual time. It would help if you began accessing the timezone and finding out their hourly difference, holidays, business hours, and other such lists of information that might affect your work.
However, in a situation where you need to operate with individual teams from two different timezones, try conducting meetings by mid-day; it gives you a headstart over your outsource partners.
Schedule events in a common calendar:
One of the best ways to effectively tackle the difference in hours is to maintain transparency in operations. Here, all you need to do is create a schedule with transparency at arranging timely meetings to simplify the development process.
To sort it out, you can use tools like a simple planner or the Google calendar to ensure seamless coordination between teams.
Stay in touch while restricting your meetings:
While it is a thumb rule to maintain seamless communication with your outsource team, keeping regular meetings is a strict ‘NO.’ While it might sound like a good idea, keeping excessive meetings might have its drawbacks result in reduced efficiency.
Therefore, you should only focus on attending very important meetings and keeping track of the development.
Don’t micromanage your projects:
Outsourcing and trust go hand in hand! You cannot expect to gather detail or control every tiny aspect of the project. When working with outsourcing partners across different time zones, you need to trust the vision and experience of the selected offshore team.
Practice flexibility at operations:
Inconveniences or hurdles during the development are a common scene across distributed teams. While the reasons can be many, there’s always a solution to it.
For instance, if your team had to stay late for a meeting, try balancing the same with a revised working hour. Or, when the communication remains less proactive, try matching with the working hours of your offshore team.
The Perks of Managing Outsourced Web Development Projects:
While the management aspect can be challenging, a few perks come along with outsourcing web development projects. They are:
- Services that are 24*7*365
- On-site and off-site team coordination
- Working with teams of high-skill
- Affordable operations
While managing outsourced projects is no easy feat, organizations can easily avoid operational hurdles if they are precise about their demands, requirements, goals, and expectations.
Organizations should adapt to such effective measures, with outsourcing becoming a convenient and more celebrated aspect of running a successful practice. The time you follow the steps and ace outsourcing management!
Leave a comment