Just before I left Buenos Aires, I had a meeting with the publisher of a major Latin American printpublication. Various interesting points came out of that conversation that I'd like to share with you, including:

* We discussed the various notions of 'professionality' in the United States and Argentina. I made the point that, in my experience, it is typical of good Argentine workers, when it becomes clear a project will miss a deadline or it has already missed it, to work exceedingly hard to try to make it (which never happens) and then to finish it as soon as possible after the original deadline--often in silence. The American, on the other hand, as soon as he realizes that the deadline will be missed, lets all the relevant people know so that everyone else can plan accordingly and/or let the client or other, more-relevant, people know. The publisher thought it was a great distinction and enthusiastically told me he would use it--I think it's great that he agreed with the analysis. He added that one way is not clearly better or worse than the other and I pointed out that, at the very least, each side needs to understand and interpret the other side's style of professionality. I still think the American way makes more sense for everyone--but that analysis is for another day.

* Since this paper has a very strong English-language & international presence, the publisher kept on referring to the paper as being "multicutural." The usage of the word shocked me at first: I have such a strong association between that word and the ridiculous usage for pseudo-cultures in the United States, that I forgot the obvious: that other countries have other cultures and therefore, institutions and people that exist on this boundary are truly the multicultural ones. I am, then, after all, a multiculturalist!

* We decided to talk about possibly embarking on a project together. Stay tuned!

Yesterday I had a meeting with a local Buenos Aires outsourcing firm that a client in the US is considering hiring. The meeting reminded me, once again, of all the tiny differences between the ways of doing business in the US & South America (on average, of course), including the following:

- I asked them how they respond to the American work ethic, and they made the point that, for all of their clients in Mexico and around Latin America, they are often late and if they are a few weeks late, it doesn't matter--that's expected. But for their clients in the US, they do everything they can to make sure they're on-schedule. Yes, that is reasonable--but I still find it shocking that they freely admit to me that, if it were not for the pressure of their clients, they would be, and are, late!

- The meeting started one-hour late. I was on time but their VP wasn't. Enough said.

- The programmers all seemed to be college age. Plus, they have programming offices in Entre Rios & Pilar--effectively, Kansas and Nebraska. They said they do this to avoid the competition from stealing programmers. But wouldn't a better way to do that to be to pay programmers more and treat them better (rather than hiring far-away college students?)

- The company is 20+ years old but they don't have any forma processes on how they do things--they're not in the process of creating them.

These points might suggest that I felt negatively about them. I didn't and in fact recommended them to my client in NY if certain conditions hold true for the project in question. I would go so far as to say that, by local Argentine standards, they were quite professional (the meeting was only an hour late!). But these small details are just things that are much less common in the USA but you see very day here, and are a constant reminder of the fact that I really am in a different business culture.

Also, I still feel good every time I conduct a serious business meeting in Spanish, too.

Ivana busy at work:

This last week I've been working with everyone on the DP team in person, in Argentina. The effect has made me remember--clearly--how much more efficient it is to work with people by your side than using even the most sophisticated communication and collaboration technologies.

This, then, suggests the question: can outsourcing still be efficient in order to make it worth it?

The answer: I think so, and my company is really a test of this proposition.

A more detailed version of the answer is that there are various other benefits & efficiencies that come from outsourcing (the high quality & low cost, for example)--and it is my challenge to see if the efficiencies gained outweigh the efficiencies lost.

Andres sitting in front of a couple of computers:

My graphic designer made a great point to me: she argues that the quality of design in Argentina is quite high--higher than in the USA, on average, but probably not absolutely given the different scales.

Therefore, as a unintended consequence, and added benefit of outsourcing design (in particular) to Argentina (in particular), is that you get higher quality work than you would using the comparable North American counterpart.

Funny how different countries specialize in different things: we always hear about, say, the engineers in India. So it makes sense that some group, somewhere, would have to specialize in design. And it makes sense that it's Argentina: looks matter there.

Tuesday I'm leaving to go to my office in Buenos Aires. I'll get to meet in person all these new guys working for me now--and I'll be able to report on what's happening there--how is outsourcing looking--from the other side!