I have observed the way the same product developed in these two regions are way too different possibly due to the cultural difference at work. Once can say East mostly does software services and products are churned in the west mostly but I have worked on product companies (on the same product) in both side of the world and saw some of these difference

- Punctuality - In the east people are late most of the time, be it about reaching at work or showing up in the meeting. Usually, there is nothing to be ashamed if its 30 mins late. - Hard Stop - In the east, I don't see people hard-stopping any meeting and spilling the items to the next meeting. Usually, it goes on until the conclusion is reached. Its ok to ask "10 more minutes please" when the time is up but usually goes on and on. - Start time - people in the east start too early I think. First meeting at 8 AM is not acceptable in India, similarly, the end time is early for US/Canada

- Coffee time - I see people in east take a lot of break and long ones either for coffee/tea or meals or just hanging out with colleagues the sense of urgency to finish work comes later in the afternoon but yet people compensate for sure by working extra hours.

- Flexible meeting hours - I have seen in India people are ready to take calls at 10 PM at night to accommodate USA counterparts but not vice-versa. In some companies in India working in the weekends is a common think without comp off.

All these are my honest observations, no wat to judge engineers of any part of the world. People in India/China are as brilliant hard working as US/UK/Canada(if not more) but I am wondering how the work culture in software development is different, maybe there are some interesting things about Nordic countries as well where a lot of good software like Linux and Nokia were written. Ultimately the output and productivity are the same. Thoughts?