Gotta keep reminding myself
- Thread starter wezcountry
- Start date
I'll link what I always link when this comes up:
How to manage outsourced projects
My own article.
I've worked as manager in international projects for over 6 years now, so... yeah.
::emp::
The key is to find good managers. Entrepreneurial folks like yourselves who
are managing their own teams. These people will do your work for you.
Need some data entry work done? Find a guy who manages a team of data
entry workers. Dev? Design? Same. Find a guy who runs a team for each (I
never like to have one guy who tries to do it all - too many eggs in one
basket and they usually suck at each).
This way he handles all the messes. He has to deal with a worker going
MIA, with recruitment etc. etc.
You also don't have to worry about constantly finding new guys as one ups
and leaves (as many don't make it long term online). He finds the new guys.
Sure, you'll pay a a little bit more because he will be working in his own
margins -- but if you're working with guys who have big teams, their
margins are nothing after being paced out over the size of their team. Also,
if you're working with overseas teams, they often never pay themselves
much as it is anyway.
Some things, like very talented programmers, you might want to search for
alone. Even then though, just let your guy know you need someone really
talented. Let him do the scouting.
I usually however manage my own writing team. In my experience the
margins taken by managers for writing is too high (this is typical for any
type of team that has to be managed in the US). They also just don't do a
great job and I usually have some special training for my writers.
When I have to manage my own team I always try and setup tasks to allow
people to manage themselves. For example, I love Google spreadsheets.
They are live all the time, online, great privilege management system with
full history. I feel like it's a $200 a month management product I get for
free.
Instead of delegating certain writing tasks to certain writers, I just have
open folders on the spreadsheet and certain writers are able to see each
project. I then go by a claiming system. One task can be claimed at a time
and can only be claimed while you are online and ready to work on it then.
This allows me to just drop tasks on my spreadsheets and it's all hands off
from there. The writers will claim the tasks and drop Google docs with their
articles on the spreadsheet after they are done.
I can have a whole system like this working hands off. For example.
Task A. Writer Alexa claims. Places google doc and marks it green. Design
team sees it's done, and claims it to turn into design. They place finished
design on the doc once done and turn green. Submission team sees design
and gets to work on submitting.
This claiming system has been pretty key in freeing up all the time I would
take with delegating and worrying about people being gone etc. It just lets
the people who are online and ready to work claim and put in as much work
as they like. My freelancers like this much better too as I am not constantly
hassling them for turnarounds and they can live the work their own hours
freelance life they are looking for. I could never manage big teams or as
many running parts as I do without it.
I spend over a couple grand a week on Odesk. It does taking a lot of shuffling through, but there are a lot of solid people there.
are managing their own teams. These people will do your work for you.
Need some data entry work done? Find a guy who manages a team of data
entry workers. Dev? Design? Same. Find a guy who runs a team for each (I
never like to have one guy who tries to do it all - too many eggs in one
basket and they usually suck at each).
This way he handles all the messes. He has to deal with a worker going
MIA, with recruitment etc. etc.
You also don't have to worry about constantly finding new guys as one ups
and leaves (as many don't make it long term online). He finds the new guys.
Sure, you'll pay a a little bit more because he will be working in his own
margins -- but if you're working with guys who have big teams, their
margins are nothing after being paced out over the size of their team. Also,
if you're working with overseas teams, they often never pay themselves
much as it is anyway.
Some things, like very talented programmers, you might want to search for
alone. Even then though, just let your guy know you need someone really
talented. Let him do the scouting.
I usually however manage my own writing team. In my experience the
margins taken by managers for writing is too high (this is typical for any
type of team that has to be managed in the US). They also just don't do a
great job and I usually have some special training for my writers.
When I have to manage my own team I always try and setup tasks to allow
people to manage themselves. For example, I love Google spreadsheets.
They are live all the time, online, great privilege management system with
full history. I feel like it's a $200 a month management product I get for
free.
Instead of delegating certain writing tasks to certain writers, I just have
open folders on the spreadsheet and certain writers are able to see each
project. I then go by a claiming system. One task can be claimed at a time
and can only be claimed while you are online and ready to work on it then.
This allows me to just drop tasks on my spreadsheets and it's all hands off
from there. The writers will claim the tasks and drop Google docs with their
articles on the spreadsheet after they are done.
I can have a whole system like this working hands off. For example.
Task A. Writer Alexa claims. Places google doc and marks it green. Design
team sees it's done, and claims it to turn into design. They place finished
design on the doc once done and turn green. Submission team sees design
and gets to work on submitting.
This claiming system has been pretty key in freeing up all the time I would
take with delegating and worrying about people being gone etc. It just lets
the people who are online and ready to work claim and put in as much work
as they like. My freelancers like this much better too as I am not constantly
hassling them for turnarounds and they can live the work their own hours
freelance life they are looking for. I could never manage big teams or as
many running parts as I do without it.
I spend over a couple grand a week on Odesk. It does taking a lot of shuffling through, but there are a lot of solid people there.
sounds a lot like a pull system instead of a push system.
Look into Kanban, its all pull based as well