Talk is Cheap. Not Talking is Expensive.

Posted on 8:33 AM by Rafael Minuesa

Work is a relationship — a relationship with your customers and with your employees. Businesses will have whole departments dedicated to communicating with the public, but sometimes forget the art of communicating with their own workers.

Recently oDesk interviewed Nick Krym, the outsourcing guru behind Pragmatic Outsourcing. He's a technology professional with over two decades in the IT industry, and he’s been outsourcing to offshore teams for more than 15 years. And he says it's all about communication

"Just because I say something to you doesn’t mean we have an understanding," Krym said, before giving away some solid advice:
  • Have a single point of contact on each side and be clear, clean and concise in your communication.
  • The buyer must take ownership in the project — including communicating the job requirements. Don’t expect the provider to understand what you need without context.
  • Divide jobs into multiple, tangible milestones, not just status reports.
  • Review the job progress regularly and adjust the plan as soon as you notice potential roadblocks.

Even well-prepared, well-communicated assignments hit bumps in the road sometimes. "That’s life," Krym says. "You correct the mistakes, you communicate in a clearer way, and you get better results at the next milestone."

Read the full chat with Krym in an interview posted to oDesk's blog.

1 Response to "Talk is Cheap. Not Talking is Expensive."

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