Make This in China

You got to define, explain, and evolve a product - all with a team in China.

Good software products are hard to make. Its even harder to produce good software with a distributed team in China.

Here are some key factors that can position you to greater chance of success.

Most important word when describing the product: WHY?

Assumption: The team will not know unless someone tells them. You can tell them the program needs to add 2 + 2. Don’t stop there: tell them what good will this addition do? Spark their curiosity, bring their heads in the game

Expected Result: A better “WHAT?”

It should result in a better WHAT. why? Because going from Reqts-> Design will result in a Requirement explosion of up to 50 times of original requirements. Who is filling these requirements gaps?

Global Vision but

Localized Decision Making

Two Way Decisions

Derived requirements need localized decision making or else time will be lost. Architecture and Design issues will come up - these need resolution earlier in the game. Unidirectional flow of decisions will remove sense of collective ownership. Allow for course correction and mistake forgiveness but dont prevent local decision making.

Um, looks almost done.....

Clear and present definition of done

Expectation setting for DONE. Corollary is that if its NOT DONE - dont call it DONE.Extra points for pointing out things that still remain. Early issue identification is rewarded. DONT HIDE THE REALITY. Are Unit Tests doneAre Integration Tests done. Any non-functional testing done?Any cross browser type testing done?Less functionality but done functionality.

Impact of Chinese culture on success factors

Knowledge sharingCommunicationMutual supportStakeholder commitment

Factors which contribute to Inter-group success. 1. is there knowledge sharing between the groups?2. is there open communication between the groups?3. do groups try to outdo each other or help each other succeed?4. each group committed to objectives and success?

Power Distance:The perceived

freedom to question superiors

Chinese cultural factors:1. centralization of authority2. Directed style of management3. Asking subordinates for opinion is uncommon---> impact1. learning from superiors is common2. questioning superiors is uncommon

how will you overcome this ? in software industry its less of a problem but still a problemdirect impact on artifact reviews.

The path to clarityUncertainty Avoidance:

Tolerance for ambiguity - high degrees of this factor may kill your product. 1. how will you make sure ambiguity is minimized 2. free flow of information to remove ambiguity3. specifications that have recurring ambiguity will tend to be ignored

how will you overcome this?

Individualism/Collectivism:Level of outgroup trust

- treating ingroup/outgroup members differently. - knowledge sharing in outgroup less than ingroup- real issue of trusting outgroup stakeholder commitments- how will you break the us versus them mentality? - blurring the boundaries of ingroup and outgroup helps

Concern for face:ReviewsClarifications

Questions = Sign that you are stupid- Need to reverse this mentality by example. ( i used to ask a lot of questions to outgroups. gradually team got comfortable following my example).

- Asking for help is a sign of weakness.

- Substitute this fear/anxiety with Reciprocity principle: i will help you if you will help me.

- If you improve my product, I will help you improve yours

- Pronounced when dealing with Outgroup members

Reference

Cultural Impact on Intergroup Coordination in Software Development in China: A Qualitative Analysis

by

Minghui Yuan & Doug VogelCity University of Hong Kong

2006