One of the interesting challenges of running a company internationally is International Project Management. We need guys on both sides of the the Panama Canal. How do you best divide responsibility and authority?

It makes sense to me to follow a few principles:

Principle #1: Keep responsibility as close to the person actually doing the work as possible. The practical implication of this, for me, is that as much responsibility should be with the software developers and graphic designers as possible. The challenge is that the work is multifaceted, with client face-time being fundamental as well.

Principle #2: Keep the lines of responsibility clear. Working internationally (cross-language; cross time-zone; cross-culture; unable to read non-verbal signals like body language) is tricky and it has to be clear who is doing what and whom they are reporting to, else confusion and ensue

Principle #3: Actively solicit interactive communication. It is not enough to say, "talk to me if you need help"; pro-activity is important because, human nature tells us, we don't volunteer as quickly as we should.

Principle #4: Context, context, context: Add in additional context for each request, even when not obviously necessary. This can easily become a time-drain (watch out!) but, when communicating with those far away, the reasoning behind requests may not be clear, and everyone understanding the objectives of each little thing makes the implementation much easier.