Uh…The words are upside-down and sideways…
I appreciate the entheusiasm for foreign cultures, but this guy in Austin has these Kanji characters plastered upside down and sideways on his shiny truck. …
Work Culture Archive
I’m On The Phone (and NO, I don’t see you.)
Working with Japanese engineers, one thing that was hard to get used to is how the phone is handled. I have noticed that for Japanese, …
Don’t Point that Thing At Me!
Sometimes body language can be a problem. It always counts, and in international teams it can sometimes fail to carry the intended result. When working …
When a name works in one country, it may not work in another . . .
My friend Sterling aptly pointed out that this product from China may have some unintended connotations in the United States. In case you don’t see …
Its Springtime: You’re fired.
Japan is funny sometimes. We watch Japanese TV at home (more than American shows) and I noticed that a number of TV personalities all disappeared …
The Gossip Machine – Fear it. Respect it.
Information flow in the Japanese community is down-right scary. One person hears something, then the grapvine kicks in, and before you know it, everybody knows …
Who is in charge?
Here is a funny story about ‘being in charge’ that came about on a multinational project’s ski trip a few years ago. A group of …
Culture is not always the problem
I have observed that there can be difficulties when working with people from other cultures. Occasionally though ‘culture’ gets blamed for things that it shouldn’t. …
When in Rome
In the context of international engineering projects… A coworker of mine who has worked with people from many different cultures was recently observing how impressed …
Quickly scaling a software development organization
I recently responded to a question on LinkedIn that I wanted to share on my blog — this is a tough nut to crack, and …
