I finally got around to reviewing my project history on both eLance.com and Guru.com and found that over the last few years, I've had over 10 projects completed, from providers in more than 8 countries. So, I figured I must have learned something worth sharing. Essentially, I just spent about 30 minutes dumping ideas, lessons-learned, best-practices, etc., and another 10 looking over what I typed, and then very quickly re-sorting them so as to help create some semblance of organization.
What I hope results is a list of ideas that you can keep in mind should you ever choose to build something while leveraging the many resources available to you online. I am not expert in this, but I do feel as if I've grown as a result of these experiences, and that something in here could be of use to you.
So, for some background on the types of projects I've completed, have a look:
Guru.com:
Project work = Logo design website design; website programming; email marketing message design; voice recording/acting.
Provider locations = Brasov, Romania; Cordoba, Argentina; Santa Fe, Argentina; Downingtown, PA USA.
ELance.com:
Project work = Website Programming; animation; mobile app development; mobile app GUI design; logo and website design.
Provider locations = Ukraine - Kharkiv, Kharkivska; India - West Bengal; Ukraine - Sevastopol, Crimea; Uzbekistan - Tashkent, Tashkent; Pakistan - Lahore, Punjab.
Directly with provider:
Project work = Website platform development; Website design and scripting
- Kyrgyz Republic; England.
Here is a brain dump of what I'd advise given the experiences I've had:
- Try different platforms: ELance, Guru, oDesk, vWorker, etc. They each have different strengths and weakness. Though, I have had the most success with ELance, with Guru being a very strong second.
- Write a very clear, thorough project description.
- Start with a project that is as scaled-down and simple as possible.
- Give same small/simple project to two providers, and continue with the best one of the two, nipping the other one in the bud.
- Be prepared with all project preparatory materials and information in advance or be ready to produce them quickly so as to not hold up the provider from getting started, thus causing frustration and undesirable delays.
- Make plenty of time in your schedule to review proposals. It takes time. Leverage your gut, and trust your instincts. But don't be hasty. Do your due diligence.
- Know what you need, and be prepared to answer questions from your provider.
- Beware of providers who only tell you about themselves, and don't ask you anything. Lean towards providers who ask relevant, meaningful questions.
- Get signed NDA (non-disclosure agreement) confidentiality agreement signed before divulging proprietary details (for your peace of mind, whether or not the security this provides is real or perceived; it feels good to have at least tried.)
- Be mindful that the providers are usually submitting many proposals a day/month. At the same time, lean towards those whose proposals clearly reflect a familiarity with your project, and lean away from those who've obviously copy and pasted a canned proposal response.
- Be aware that there is usually a sales/marketing person you'll be dealing with first, and then handed off to a project manager.
- Ask specific questions about the nature of their team, how many, what their skillsets are.
- Get all contact information, email, Skype, physical address, im, etc.
- Google them, find their website, look at messages they've posted on discussion boards, carefully review their work samples, the websites they've referenced in their work history and as much of their work portfolio and client history as is feasible. Bottom line, really try to get to know them, their expertise, and their quality of work.
- Don't be afraid to try out a new provider, but be ready to let them go to if it is clearly not working out. Often, to build a work history, and positive feedback, new providers will go to great lengths, and provide aggressive pricing in order to have an opportunity to get a foot in the door in what is a highly competitive, global marketplace.
- Ask for a future hourly billing rate up front for any follow-on work so as to not be surprised with a loss-leader situation.
- Always strive to find the providers with the highest feedback ratings, and a work history that is in alignment with your project work.
- Beware the largest providers, in terms of billing totals and number of projects, as you'll be less important to them in the grand scheme of their business, and you might not get the attention you desire. On the other hand, if they have great reviews and ratings and are communicating well with you, don't shy away from them for no good reason.
- Check to see if there is a team behind the person. There are many free-lance individuals out there who do great work. But, just be aware, if there is a single point of failure, and no other resources on staff, you'll be out looking for someone new should your independent person disappear.
- Ask for single point of contact for project management and accountability. Bouncing around from person to person can lead to communication failures, and dropped balls. Try to nail one person down as the "owner" of your project.
- Use escrow normally, but for small projects with providers having good review and a long work history, its fine to use direct payment without escrow.
- Break project into at least 2-3 milestones with payments associated with each successful completion.
- Make plenty of time in your schedule to spend the necessary time supporting the person you've hired.
- Get agreement on a regular meeting time to discuss progress, and STICK TO IT!!!
- Use Skype, Google Talk, or other IM client and log on all day/night.
- Agree on a central location for all communications and document sharing (ie, workspace, unfuddle, email, skype, etc.)
- Be prepared for holidays/vacations that you are not familiar with or accustomed to.
- Be empathetic to language differences, but don't lower your standards; demand great communication skills.
- It's rare to over-communicate. Communicate early, often, and clearly.
- Be open to providers from anywhere in the world, and be open to cultural differences.
- Kill projects early if they are not going well. Often though, the provider will bend over backwards to remedy a bad situation (don't wan't negative feedback) so don't be too quick with the axe; give them a limited, clear chance to get things back on track.
- Be prepared for either very early mornings and/or very late nights, due to differences in time zones.
- Be personable, but don't be offended if your provider does not seem very personable towards you. Again, the providers are from all over the world, and they often deal with many clients, and their workloads may be quite taxing. Additionally, their emotional freedoms and customs may not be like yours.
- Be prepared for mis-communications, and be willing to work through it. Blaming does not help. Clarification and persistence does.
- Don't be afraid to ask them if they understand you, and don't be afraid to ask them to demonstrate their understanding by re-stating back to you anything you've just explained to them.
- Leave feedback that is true; be generous, as the good karma pays returns.
Most of all, have fun, yet be professional; be firm, yet flexible.
Good luck. Reach out anytime if you'd like me to expand on anything more.
Cheers,
Cliff
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This may go against blogging best practices, but I am, and will continue to edit this particular blog post, by creating a section here so that I can add good tips I receive from other folks. So, here goes:
- Contract with a developer first whose sole task is to help you nail down the "Statement of Work" before posting the actual development project itself. This way, you can invest an affordable $5/hour to have an expert help nail down the technical language first, so that the Statement of Work in your project is clear before you start getting bids. It shaves a lot of time off of development, because the communication is nailed down (for the most part) in the beginning and it's in a language that a developer will understand which is probably above and beyond what we could write on our own. - Michael Rosciolo
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