I comment that it is interesting that unlike with most other projects there is no technical lead or Project Manager who speaks up, there are no schedules shared or technical issues as they might relate to the information architecture or design or simply poor management practices. There is a grin on my friend's face before I continue to state what is REALLY going on. The absence of leads makes it clear that they do not want to show who worked on the site, and we know why.
My friend Ray points out that CGI is really a Canadian company. They are handling the development and they are known to offshore development work to their India teams especially since they bought another company based in India for cheap offshore work. Ah, I say, well, I guess they could and would not want to disclose that our American government websites are handled outside the U.S. by India developers who as usual are facing major difficulties if not managed properly. In the meanwhile great talent here is not being utilized and no jobs are filled in the U.S to work on government projects. We all have a right to be upset indeed!
My friend Ray points out that CGI is really a Canadian company. They are handling the development and they are known to offshore development work to their India teams especially since they bought another company based in India for cheap offshore work. Ah, I say, well, I guess they could and would not want to disclose that our American government websites are handled outside the U.S. by India developers who as usual are facing major difficulties if not managed properly. In the meanwhile great talent here is not being utilized and no jobs are filled in the U.S to work on government projects. We all have a right to be upset indeed!
I know what I am talking about as I worked for Cognizant. It is a U.S. based consulting company but most of their employes and all development is done in India. All we are asked to do in the U.S. is business development and client management - and not planned but often true RESCUE projects that India teams could not handle. Sad but true, Cognizant is a Fortune 500 consulting firm and I could not and will not work for them ever again after seeing how territorial and outright hostile the majority of India based management teams became towards us in the U.S.
Why you might ask did the government not disclose who the technical teams are behind the health care website? Maybe it is because they feared they would be exposed and called redundant and not as money-saving as they claim they were. Often times the India based teams are only costing one-third but the quality of their work is nowhere nearly as good as what we can produce in the U.S. especially when we do not provide solid project management and user experience design, information architecture, visual design, and pretty much everything else other than just coding. That is because they do not understand the cultural nuances of products and services and in my opinion also often do not care as much as we do. There is a sense of pride that comes from working with U.S. based companies and team members. We all take part in something bigger and feel strongly about succeeding and not just delivering a part of a component and then getting paid without knowing the customer base.
And I am an immigrant and very much in support of outsourcing and limited offshoring where it is not just all about profits but quality and taking care of your people and country. I don't care where you are but as a PM lead I am interested in hiring the best and using the best practices to succeed. That is what made America and American customer service successful. So for those stating I am discriminating against foreign workers stop right here, I do care about immigration and bringing the best and brightest here and like to work with teams in other countries. But it has to make sense and from experience I know that the savings claimed with offshore teams are set off by expensive costs fixing and managing later on often by teams and leaders in the U.S.
Why you might ask did the government not disclose who the technical teams are behind the health care website? Maybe it is because they feared they would be exposed and called redundant and not as money-saving as they claim they were. Often times the India based teams are only costing one-third but the quality of their work is nowhere nearly as good as what we can produce in the U.S. especially when we do not provide solid project management and user experience design, information architecture, visual design, and pretty much everything else other than just coding. That is because they do not understand the cultural nuances of products and services and in my opinion also often do not care as much as we do. There is a sense of pride that comes from working with U.S. based companies and team members. We all take part in something bigger and feel strongly about succeeding and not just delivering a part of a component and then getting paid without knowing the customer base.
And I am an immigrant and very much in support of outsourcing and limited offshoring where it is not just all about profits but quality and taking care of your people and country. I don't care where you are but as a PM lead I am interested in hiring the best and using the best practices to succeed. That is what made America and American customer service successful. So for those stating I am discriminating against foreign workers stop right here, I do care about immigration and bringing the best and brightest here and like to work with teams in other countries. But it has to make sense and from experience I know that the savings claimed with offshore teams are set off by expensive costs fixing and managing later on often by teams and leaders in the U.S.
Now, I actually developed a documentary that talks about excessive offshoring of work to foreign teams in India and other countries where work is cheaper. I placed it on Kickstarter for support and received nasty emails and even threats from both Indians and those in the U.S. who profit from offshoring where profit is placed over people. The name of the documentary is: Americans for Hire!
I stopped the Kickstarter campaign as a result as I felt misunderstood and have secured private funding instead but wanted to wait for and research additional developments that include work being brought back to the U.S. as companies learn that really offshoring does not mean cheaper but often not good and more expensive as projects need to get rescued. This doc is still in development and we would love your support and collaboration. We are here to reveal all sides and be objective while looking at actual projects so nobody can claim we are just one-sided and against offshoring.
This issue is not widely known unless you work in Technology. Many in the U.S. would not even think about asking about listening to technical leads and directors in charge of the healthcare government site. Then there are others who just blame poor project management:
http://www.projectmanagers.net/i/is-poor-project-management-to-blame-for-the-launch-of-the-obamacare-site/
In my opinion this is very short-sighted as they do not even know who developed it. Can you imagine listening to India developers and Project Managers talking in a U.S. congressional hearing about why they could not get the U.S. healthcare website up and running? Rightfully many would ask why we did not hire American developers and an American company to produce this website and related services. Where did our tax dollars just go? I think we all have a right to be upset.
And I am speaking as an Obama supporter as usual but it bothers me that our government is not disclosing to us who is working on the site. President Obama himself even claimed that the best and brightest in our country are working on fixing the site. Really? How come they do not speak up?
I would like to see a solid project management plan and the tech leads explain what exactly is broken and how it can get fixed.
As an Agile methodology coach and consultant with my own company: Agile Media Consulting and a very experienced Technical Project Manager (TPM) and Practice Director I also know that the problem is in the project management methodology. You do not wait to test or what we call QA (Quality Assurance) until the end before launch. You develop in smaller chunks or iterations and test continuously. You have teams communicate daily and work on blockers as they come up and present work that is ready for launch well in advance. You release in smaller releases and then test until the site is ready. Applying Agile methodologies in this project is completely possible even though it is late in the game.
India teams I should point out are hesitant in using Agile as it means that they have to be fully transparent and communicative. That is because 1. their English communication skills are often very limited and 2. they culturally are not as open as we are. Daily meetings with India developers proved to be difficult and many became actually hostile towards us leads at first. Some also did not respect working with female leaders and I personally filed a complaint alleging being discriminated against as a woman while at Cognizant. Nothing happened as usual and I was offered to work in a different division instead which I passed on and rather worked in my own consulting practice where I can pick my teams and clients.
Here is what a client wrote about me as a recommendation which is posted on my Linkedin profile:
Thomas Emmons
Big Data & Machine Learning Guru
May 10, 2012, Thomas was with another company when working with Patricia at Cognizant Technology SolutionsPatricia's leadership skills and mobile expertise were key to the success of our Kindle Fire application development. She drove the offshore development/UX/QA and was a tireless voice for sound mobile principals.
We'd have been lost without her efforts.
Thomas who is American and based in Chicago, IL, worked for the client and was great to work with. I was asked after rescuing two projects for Cognizant to be helping on another important application by VPs at Kaplan but Cognizant would not let me as I would be too expensive as a U.S. based resource plus I was known and obviously still am known to speak up because I like to truly help and succeed.
Just today I spoke up again and posted on both my Linkedin and my Twitter #agilemediacoach:
I am serious, I would like to help fix this website and would like to help as a consultant by applying a solid project management methodology and help assemble teams that can actually help while overseeing the process. I have a lot of experience building and supporting high-performing teams and I would like to work with India-based teams and others but would make it clear that we need to hire whoever can actually help fix this site in time for launch. That would most likely mean that we have a lot more technical talent and help including architects and Project Managers here in the U.S. Non-performers would be replaced. Responsibility needs to be taken by technical leads and not just government officials. I ask all my team members to own what they do and care like it is their family or their own company. Agile methodology helps empower and bring out the best in team members which is why I love coaching the methodology.
It is time for us to speak up. If you are in the technical development industry join me and let's help our country and government fix this site. I am not convinced as we have no insight and no technical leads speaking up right now that they know how to fix this site. I know the best and brightest and they are not working on the site right now, President Obama! Let us help you!
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