In the software industry this is taken as the example of being critical and having true input. Using the word “no”. It’s also often used as an argument against talent abroad, with reason. However we believe this is a solvable problem and we’re going to describe how today.
The challenge
Let’s start at the core of this problem. It’s a mix of culture and the fact that these countries have quite recently entered the domain of creative and knowledge industries. These are constants that can’t be changed but can be managed. Another constant is that developers, designers, creatives – if left alone – want to make the best possible “things” they can. Having these constants we’ve identified a couple things that we’ve changed in the way we worked that we believed to give us the best results.Western management
We’ve simply changed the management in the sense that we’ve created our own company with our own people and values. The cultural values we’ve not changed but the value for quality over quantity or direct monetary gain have changed.Creative freedom
When you have experts working on something they’ll want to create the best they can. And we let them free to do so and think for themselves. The most important part is ownership of the project and problems, then this responsibility automatically gets taken by the right people. This we learned not through coding projects, but through a design project. A client requested a design to be made and described the red-line of what he wanted. Sensible right? It’s culturally often that it’s expected to then make exactly what the client has requested. That is however not what the client hired a designer for.The solution
In our eyes and what has worked for us is
- Own company in Pakistan with own management practices
- Give creative freedom
- Give ownership over the problem/project (do less!)
