Building a partnership to deliver
In those first few weeks at CUA, I also learned that even though we were in the early requirement phase, CUA had already sent three legal letters to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) regarding their concerns about them not fulfilling their obligations.
This was the first time that CUA had worked with an offshore team. Indeed, it was their very first instance of working with an Indian vendor. I asked the CEO to allow me to reset the relationship. I noted that India is a very complex place, with class, religion, and caste differences that are remarkable. One example I quoted was that there were more than 1,000 castes in India and that society is built very differently, making it hard for Western managers to truly understand the complexities.
However, I noted that the legal letters had to stop immediately, and instead, we should have a respectful dialogue. While CUA was the customer, TCS was a giant in the tech world, and the shadow it cast was much...
