Interesting AP article out that looks at offshoring from an unexpected angle, that of people in North America who hand off programming work to their offshore counterparts as they go home. Those folks, of course, tag it back early the following morning. The result is non-stop effort on technology projects as code is worked on around the clock, but that introduces a new kind of stress for employees -- perma-work.
On the one hand, communication and collaboration technologies enable offshore outsourcing. The value of doing so is shifting from cost-cutting to tapping specialized capabilities -- which will increase the diversity of partners and time zones. On the other hand, maintaining work-life balance will be further threatened by these global connections. In some countries, work-life balance is a regulated necessity, a consideration for any global company.
This case study of Stata Labs' approach (before they were acquired by Yahoo) for offshore collaboration using Socialtext demonstrates one technique to keep time zones in balance. Wikis are essentially more asynchronous than email.
I stopped thinking about geography by borders a while ago, and nowadays frame places by time zone. Vancouver is closer to the Silicon Valley than Colorado.
Perma-work sets in when organizations are designed without taking into account the opportunities to coordinate asynchronously and consider latitudinal windows.
