Companies quite consciously abstract people from the realities of the business (for whatever stupid reasons). They also create structures that create strong role definitions and discourage movement (continuity is easier). Most importantly though, these abstractions HIDE fiscal inefficiencies. People learn ways to lazy around all day long without the timesheets catching them, they mooch up their manager to get a better promotion in annual evals. The funny thing is, its not good for the manager, and its not good for the employee. Yet both are forced into a system that makes it believe it is.

My basic premis (and I’ve seen it work over the 8 years I have worked here) is that most companies fail to provide a CAUSAL work environment. i.e. people don’t know or understand what their salary has to do with what they do.
- what does a manager take from “your” salary because you can’t understand the customer?
- if the project is a few weeks late ‘because of the client’, how does that impact your salary?
- i am a .net developer but I have no clue what that is worth for the customer. why does the open source guy make more (or less)?

Our model is simple: The company keeps nothing. you keep what you earn. You build a safety buffer for yourself first and then whatever you make, is yours. http://www.alliedc.com/careers/HowDoesItWork.aspx shows a scenario. This, very direct and causal relationship gives you constant feedback on what financial implications of “what you do” are. This takes care of the motivation to change. Pretty soon, people are fairly clear about what they need to do to improve their salaries.
A parallel training portal (still work in progress) will help people learn these skills (like basic managerial skills, communication skills, sales etc.).Feedback is always welcome since we are doing it to change the way industry works here, not to make money.

At a mutually agreed juncture in any important/widely participated thread there may be a concluding post jotting down the main few conclusions drawn from the discussion.

This should greatly enhance the value of a thread. Will especially be meaningful for lesser experienced/industry outsiders.

An interesting fact finding discussion

I have a question:

What is the “Optimal Design Template” for a software company in Pakistan to survive and compete?

Ofcourse anyone may comment on any aspect but I would especially like to hear as requested under:

1. On “Financial Model” from Ali
2. On “HR Model” from Qazi
3. On “Product Design/R&D” from Osama

So the point is, as a startup it’s not easy for you to attract people from established firms. Firstly you have to attract them with higher salaries because they won’t know your name and won’t know how stable you are so you have to give them financial incentives.
Secondly, for a startup it’s always more expensive to get good people. A lot of big companies like techlogix, they also play on their name and the stability attached with it.. and ofcourse the brand name. Lots of people choose from employers for the brand name rather than the salary (e.g., IBM would offer starting 25k or something, but then you’d be working at IBM!).

Yes things like this do disrupt your budget if you start in a salary-war with your competitor. However, if your processes are right (as per my earlier post) you simply won’t care if one of your engineers leave. You’ll replace him as quickly as he leaves.