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What is it like to work on an on-site project?

Grape up Expert

January 14, 2019

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5 min read

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Have you ever considered working abroad on an on-site project? Or maybe you have already tried it? Whether it's one of your goals for the upcoming year or you are just curious what the pros and cons are, it's always worth to explore other people's perspectives and scenarios of their episodes abroad. So, based on a recent episode of mine, let me share a few thoughts on the topic myself.

Different kinds of professional life abroad

There are a variety of ways to get a feeling of what it's like to work overseas. The first one is that you can get hired and work in a foreign country for a few years. Another option is to be employed by a company in your country, but work on a project abroad for, let’s say, half a year. Last but not least, you can travel to different places for just a few days on a weekly basis. My own experience below is based on a short-term contract with one of Grape Up’s US-based customers but can apply to any kind of professional experience in a foreign country in general.

Professional benefits of working on-site

While being involved in any type of project abroad you get to experience the global marketplace and have a chance to learn new ways of doing business. Interacting with people born and raised in a different country lets you understand their work culture, ethics and point of view. Failing to understand the culture norms is often a source of conflicts within geographically dispersed teams. For example, it takes time to become aware of different ways an email or conversation could be interpreted, both as a sender and a receiver. And although being on-site is not the only way to gain that experience, it is usually the most efficient and authentic one. Since you are able to meet face-to-face, you get to see the direct perspective of your international customers and peers.

Working on-site comes with all the benefits of a collaborative workspace. It goes without saying that it's easier to explain something face-to-face rather than on the phone or, let alone, via email. Especially when dealing with complex or urgent topics. There are no internet connection issues, there is just one time zone and there is a space for body language, which is quite an underestimated type of communication these days. In fact, social and teamwork-style settings are a perfect way to boost all kinds of interpersonal communication skills. Also, there is probably no better way to learn a foreign language than to be around people who use it every day, especially when those people happen to be native speakers.

Potential challenges of working on-site

Even though most of us prefer to work in a team, there are also those who like to work alone. Actually, there is a very good chance that even the most active and social teammates will need a moment alone every once in a while. Just a moment to zone out, avoid the potential distractions, focus and get their creative juices flowing. And that’s not always possible when you work on-site. If you travel to another office for a relatively short period of time to meet your customer or coworker, you want to make the most out of your visit. So usually you end up spending most of the time actively collaborating with others and there will be little time for individual work. Not only is it more intense but it also takes a lot of discipline and flexibility, which some may find quite challenging, especially at the beginning.

Another thing is that travelling to one office means missing out on events and meetings happening in the other office. You are solving a problem of your absence in one place but at the same time you are creating a similar problem somewhere else. So, it's always a matter of choosing which place is more beneficial to you and your company at a given moment.

Personal pros and cons of living abroad

What does living abroad really come with? Well, this part can vary in as many ways as there are people who have ever lived in a foreign country for a while. Some point out the ability to explore new places, cultures and cuisines. Others are happy to learn or practice their language skills. There are also those who do the exact same things as they would do in their hometowns, with the exception of leveraging the presence of local people and resources. Whether you choose to immerse yourself in a country or not, living abroad always gives you new perspectives and new ways of looking at things. And that's gold.

Of course, there are also the downsides of being away from your home country. Depending on what your current situation is, it very often means that you have to leave your home, family and friends for some period of time. You need to learn how to live without some people and things you got used to having around, or you can find a way to take them with you. For some people it can also be overwhelming to deal with all the cultural differences, local habits and the number of new things in general. It all depends on how open and flexible you are.

Summary

Getting a taste of living and working abroad has become very popular these days - and not without a reason. For one, it is easier than ever before, and it also gives you countless benefits and the kinds of experiences you wouldn't gain in any other way. So, if it has ever crossed your mind and if you ever come across such an opportunity , don't hesitate to take it.

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3 questions to Michał Darkowski, Project Manager at Grape Up

So you’re a new project manager, now what? Michał Darkowski, Project Manager at Grape Up gives some valuable insights that will help you nail it at project management. Since he joined the company in 2013, he has led a variety of projects implemented in multiple technologies, with a team ranging from 1 to more than 15 members in size. In addition to that, Michał has a solid software development background.

1. What are the 3 questions that every project manager should ask their team most often and why?

Michał: The first one would be, "What’s slowing us down?" . You will be surprised how much insight you can get from an answer to this. First of all, you will learn what needs to be changed to make it possible to deliver faster - which is very important in today’s fast-paced IT industry. You will also learn what impacts your team’s productivity and affects their morale. Perhaps something can be automated? Maybe the team is doing something that doesn’t bring any value? Maybe there’s something that you’re doing as the PM, that you shouldn’t do? I think that every project manager should strive to make their team as efficient as possible on a daily basis and this question gives space for that.

The second question is, "What would it look like if it was easy?" . Ever since I read this in a book by Tim Ferriss it became one of my favorite questions. We often think that complicated problems require even more complicated solutions. This question completely changes the perspective and matches perfectly the KISS principle (keep it simple, stupid) which I’m a huge fan of. Whenever someone in your project team is stuck with a challenging problem, asking this can help re-frame their thinking and get the answer they are looking for.

And last but not least, the simple, yet so powerful, "How are you?" . It is important to know the atmosphere in the team and get along well with all members. A little chit-chat in the kitchen can only do good things for your relationship with the team and also have a positive impact on your project.

2. What was the biggest problem you encountered as a PM and how did you overcome it?

Michał: Some time ago my team took over a significant part of an in-development application from an internal team after one of our customers.
The problem was pretty complex. We got a codebase without the documentation and a terribly confusing API. We didn’t know how many of the requirements have already been covered by the existing code. The requirements themselves were poorly defined. In fact, it was more of a bunch of ideas and keywords rather than a list of proper product requirements that developers can follow. To make matters worse - the team which has previously worked on this project was no longer around.
How did I overcome it? Long story short, by problem decomposition and teamwork.
Once we gathered all the questions and unknowns, we were able to clearly understand why our situation is difficult. The next step was to invole the entire team in gathering all the answers.
Which requirements are already covered? Well, let’s try to use the application ourselves and see what happens. Ambiguous acceptance criteria? Let’s properly define it and consult with the customer to ensure that this is indeed what the product should do.
API issues? Let’s successively clean them up, one piece at a time.
Of course, all this was a huge effort for each team member and it took plenty of time, but seeing improvement every single day was very motivating.
Thinking about it today I’m very proud of what we have achieved and how significantly the project changed since day one.

In my opinion, the approach to all problems consists of four simple steps.

Analyze the current situation. What don’t you like about it? Try to break it down into smaller, preferably independent issues.
Define the desired situation. Imagine that a year from now all the issues are solved - what does it look like?
Think of at least one action that will get you closer to the desired situation you have just imagined.
Execute! Repeat the process if needed.

Keep it in mind the next time you feel overwhelmed and believe that you’re facing a dead-end situation.

3. What’s the most useful tool you have discovered in the last 6 months?

Michał: That would be Evernote. We all take notes, don’t we? Doing it efficiently and keeping all your notes organized is a very important, yet downplayed need. With Evernote, which as you already guessed, is a note taking app, it is fun and very simple. I can for sure say that it took my note-taking to a new level. On a side note, this blog post isn’t sponsored! From rich formatting, to attaching files, and inserting images that can be easily annotated, or saving interesting web pages with just two clicks - it’s all there!

To be honest, I tried Evernote for the first time in 2016 and was a little bit disappointed with the tool and at the same time surprised that so many people recommended it. I have given it a second chance recently and I don’t regret it. Going all-in was the crucial part, I moved there all txt and docx files from my Dropbox, all screenshots with some important information from my phone and also imported pictures of my last paper notebook. Finally, I have everything in one place, and with Evernote’s powerful search tool I can find it in no time. This month I even got to convince a few of my colleagues to use it!

How to overcome main challenges when collaborating with teams from different countries?

In one of his latest articles, Filip Ryba describes the specificity of working on on-site projects in the USA . Let's compare his experiences with similar projects run in other parts of the world.

Let's take the US first.

What can we learn from U.S work culture?

Teams in the USA are very customer-oriented and everyone knows their users. Ask your teammate about some functionality in the product. In Poland you will usually get a technical answer, something along the lines "Oh, it is because we need to get additional data from..." and you have to ask some follow-up questions, to get to actual functionality needed by customers and in many cases, you won't get that answer at all. In the USA you will most likely get "Oh, it is because our customers need to know if...", which puts you in the right business context from the start. I find it really positive since instead of just focusing on technical parts you are focusing more on the actual usability of the feature for the customers.

The teams that I worked with always had a flat structure. Sure, there was a PM and a PO, but they were sitting with their team at the same desks. It's another factor that makes communication super easy and effective.

We are actually closer culturally to the United States than you might think. We have Hollywood movies in our cinemas and on TV, we listen to news involving the US, and Netflix becomes popular worldwide. It gives us something to talk about to break the ice.

Obviously, everyone there speaks English, although its level differs from person to person. It is pretty common especially in IT that teams are multi-cultured and you will have teammates from India, China, Mexico to name a few. This might be challenging at first, but you will catch up pretty quick. Being constantly exposed to a foreign language is the best way to learn.

Another aspect of American culture that is especially contrasting with our culture is that when you share something you will always get positive feedback. You will hear "Oh, that's great!" or "Oh, that's so cool!" and it does not matter if they really think that. What matters is that it encourages to share more and it works.

Differences between American and German working culture

How do they compare to our neighbors from Germany? While the teams here also have a flat structure there is also a more rigorous division of responsibilities between teams. There are parts that belong to the architecture team, testing team, CI/CD teams, etc. This inevitably leads to more internal dependencies and generates more meetings. The Germans are very polite and open to discuss everything. Even if they do not have to agree with you, they will at least hear you out. Even when a decision comes from the top, they will still seek consensus within a team.

While collaborating with German companies your PO/PM will be more technical than their US counterpart. Firstly, it helps to translate business goals to engineering tasks. Secondly, the goals that do not bring immediate business value like code refactoring or improvements to the development environment are better understood, and easier accepted. All of that makes projects more technical with teams having less influence on the business side of the product.

Collaborating with Italian teams

The US might be 7000 km from Poland, but we are culturally closer to them than let’s say Italy. If you add to it that not many Italians speak English, the communication may be a bit challenging. The project I worked on was managed in a more freestyle manner. When seeking some information about a project all you have to do is to walk around the office and ask around until you find someone who has that knowledge. Of course, sometimes you also have to find someone who can help you as a translator.

Due to the same reasons communication with an end user is next to impossible. Trying to change the way things are done is even more challenging. Let’s say you finally encouraged your PM to agree to change things a bit. You go back home happy that things are finally moving into the right direction only to discover next day that there was another meeting with some other PM’s and everything is going back to how it was. Sometimes it requires time to work out a way of running projects that suits both sides - when you deal with the early struggles the job becomes more effective.

Collaborating with people from other countries sometimes may be demanding but when you invest some time in better understanding their work culture, a way of communicating, and daily routines it becomes easier. Despite all the differences and challenges at the beginning, on-site projects can be a valuable lesson and helpful experience. There is one more aspect of working abroad that I really like. You can of course visit the same countries by yourself during vacation. However as a tourist you don’t have to figure out what is the best way to commute, where to go shopping, where to eat, what to do on Friday evening etc. This allows you to experience how it is to live there without actually moving there.