Outsourcing is SLOW and FRUSTRATING… Why bother?
This article discusses one of the major problems encountered by inexperienced entrepreneurs in using international freelancers- project turn around time.
Many entrepreneur’s first and only freelance experience ends with them feeling deeply disappointed by either the speed or the quality of the work. They hear about guys you can hire for $4/hr, and rush off and splash some cash on the next big thing. Like many of the internet pot-o-gold stories, it turns out to be less successful then the flier suggested so they return to lurk in forums with their stories of woe.
Sometimes projects are so slow!
I am all for hiring freelancers in developing nations… but…
It can be very, very, time consuming. What you save in $$$ you need to invest in time. There is no way around it… at least not that I’ve found. Be prepared to invest a lot of time on the first few projects. You can’t leave them on autopilot, they will crash. With practice you’ll get faster, better results, but it will never be the same as buying services from your shop down the street.
Do you enjoy repeating yourself? I hope so…
Often, it’s like doing the work two or three times. You need to provide a detailed specification to your freelancer. This takes time because you need to be much more explicit then you would with your local provider. Then you need to explain it and get them to regurgitate it back. Then you’ll have to explain it again. After you receive the work, you’ll correct the mistakes and then explain it again. If you’re lucky, you’ll only repeat this loop once or twice.
Surviving this requires a great deal of patience. Communication is difficult; most tasks that you are likely to outsource are ‘abstract’. You’re asking someone to create something based on a combination of your requirements (which may only consist of a series of a few dot points) and your mental image (tough to share :)).
For example if I told you to draw me a bowl of fruit, with apples and bananas. What would it look like? Would you make the apples red or green, bananas on top or below? As soon as I’ve told you what I want, you start forming your own mental image based on your experience.
It’s the Vibe Man…
If we have similar cultural backgrounds, similar life experiences, our mental images (expectations) will start out pretty close. However, when you work with someone from a very different cultural background, you tend to have much less in common. Chit-chat is fine, you can talk about the weather, the cricket, whatever. You’ll find casual conversation no big deal. But, when it comes time to define the details of your work, establish mutual expectations, and other intangibles like ‘quality’; you’ll start to notice just how different you are.
You know that they say about assuming
Particularly when you’re new to outsourcing, expect to make a lot of poor assumptions. You’ll naturally assume things should be done in particular way, but without direct instruction you’ll find that there are many possible interpretations available :).
Some projects will feel like a game of whack-a-mole, as your freelancer challenges your mental powers (and blood pressure) by coming up with a seemingly endless stream of deviations from the obvious. As my partner can certify, it can be very frustrating to manage. On more then one evening she’s had to pick up tufts of my hair and listen to me vent “WTF? WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?”. Seemingly obvious tasks misunderstood, because I wasn’t explicit enough. Obvious to you is not necessarily obvious to everyone else, especially if ‘everyone else’ includes people from different cultural backgrounds. These mistakes happen even with a perfectly competent provider. It’s part of the adventure, and a skill you’ll learn… but it’s so very time consuming!
It’s the tools too…
The way you’ll typically communicate with your guy(s) is a combination of email, forum/message board, chat, or to a much lesser extent voice/telephone. Because of time zone differences and convenience, most of the communication will occur via email or forums. This adds another delay. For example:
- Me: “Can you move that border to the right”
- 6-10 hours later…
- Freelancer: “Urm… no because of XYZ”
- 6-10 hours later…
- Me: “Oh… ok. Well adjust XYZ to the right.”
- 6-10 hours later…
- Freelancer: “OK done”.
- 6-10 hours later…
- Me: “Now that border is broken, please adjust…”
There are methods of limiting this lag (discussed in future), but as you can see even a simple request can easily drag out for days, and develop maddening loops. The best way to limit this is to accept that it will happen, and plan to prevent it. Always be specific, never assume even the smallest detail.
For all the trouble you still save a lot of money…
Despite this somewhat problematic process, it’s still very cheap compared to local providers (70-90% cheaper). The main reason I outsource internationally is because I want to save money. For me to achieve my business goals, right now I need to be able to buy more with less.
If like me, your cash is at a premium then outsourcing offers some tremendous opportunities. Just be prepared to invest a lot of time in each of your projects.
As always, I’d appreciate your comments or feedback!