As we are now fully entrenched in the holiday season, I’ve been thinking about how we as a company need to modify our schedules to ensure we keep things rolling for our clients and for our internal projects. The fact is, a distributed company like Flatsourcing is actually better equipped to handle this time of year than any other company I have ever been a part of.

Having an organizational structure and client base that straddles multiple countries and cultures, the pressure points that cause slow downs in most organizations are more spread out and thus easier to schedule around. For our US based staff and clients, the end of November brought Thanksgiving and its’ corresponding personal responsibilities. For our non-US staff and clients, it was a non-factor and allowed things to continue moving forward as always.

With broader, more international holidays such as Christmas, we are again in a position that is beneficial because traditionally Russian Christmas is celebrated on the 7th of January. Because of this flexibility we can schedule our holidays in a way that melds best with our clients’ needs and stagger our own scheduling so that we never have to lower the level of performance our clients expect.

This is just one of the benefits of building your team with Flatsourcing, so if you haven’t already, drop us a line and see how we can help your business.

Hi everybody,

Don’t forget to change the clock, it should be around Sunday in US!

BTW have you noticed that clock already had changed a week earlier in Europe and Asia for example? I personally got confused with some meeting early this week

So don’t forget to adjust the clock and watch carefully the differences between timezones if you’re a global company like US, especially because it’s getting a bit confusing since different continents are adjusting their clock in different time.

Take care,

Oleg

I came across an article this morning called the 12 Characteristics of Successful Internet Entrepreneurs and it got me thinking about what aspects of the list Flatsourcing brings to the table for our clients. While several of our clients aren’t developing their own products, but rather are doing client work, those that are certainly fit the mold of the entrepreneurs in the article.

Some of the things that Flatsourcing offers to these clients are; Experimentation, Simplicity, Focus, Flexibility, and Frugality. We probably also bring a touch of eccentricity, but tackling that subject is for another day.

Experimentation and Flexibility - Both of these are part and parcel of working using the Agile methodology. We are constantly developing and refining based on the real world feedback we get from our clients’ customers. Being able to try different things and then having the flexibility to react to feedback and adjust on the fly is critical to the success of our clients and a core tenant of how Flatsourcing approaches each project.

Simplicity and Focus - Whether it is using a standard set of tools or scheduling regular standup meetings we try to maintain the focus of our team and our clients on the work. Part of the reason we have come to work solely on a retainer basis is so that we can remain focused on the task at hand rather than the ever changing scope of a given project. Simplicity of design, clean and concise code, and a process that is both simple and focused allows us to produce the best work for our clients and give them the best possible chances for success in their ventures.

Frugality - Cost is important, but not as important as value. We strive to provide value to our clients at a cost that is competitive. Flatsourcing isn’t Elance or Rent a Coder, but rather an option for the sophisticated business with development needs that can’t be filled by other options. We’re not the budget option, but the best option within a reasonable budget. To us the end goal is to provide the best value within the financial realities our clients face every day.

To find out more about how Flatsourcing can help you grow your business, drop us a line and set up a time to learn what we do and how we do it.

One of my primary roles with Flatsourcing is to look at how we can grow our business in a way that builds on the things we already have. While growing the business could be translated into “sales”, that term isn’t the most accurate reflection of how we develop our business.

Our sales process is more about identifying those potential clients that are a good fit than it is about producing a high volume of new clients. The foundation of our growth is about helping our current clients expand by improving their bottom line, identifying new clients who compliment our current roster of clients and work well within the basic framework of processes we have developed over time. With that in mind, what we do on the sales front isn’t so much about selling ourselves as it is about the discovery process and determining whether we are the right fit for a client and they are the right fit for us.

We focus our efforts on transparently communicating who we are, what we do, how we do it, and what we have found it takes to successfully work in a distributed way. It’s not about convincing people how we never make a mistake or how we do anything and everything under the sun. We do sometimes make mistakes, and we don’t do anything and everything. We focus on what we do best and how we can continue to improve our level of service to our clients.

To get an idea of whether or not Flatsourcing might be the right option for your development needs, check out our Top 5 Reasons that Flatsourcing Works and our Top 5 Reasons that Flatsourcing May Not be Right for You.

If you think Flatsourcing might be right for your needs, give us a shout. We’re offering a special right now that allows you to “try before you buy”, making the opportunity to grow your team easier than ever.