Steps of experience when working with freelancers. How to choose an artist?
I work as a project manager, and from the beginning of my work I went through all the circles of hell in search of good performers. I think a lot of people are attacking the rake described in this article, because there are few people in our world who can be relied on and who are professionals in their work. The article describes the search and the process of working with freelancers, in the case of searching for employees in the office, there are several different principles and have their own specifics.
So, you decided to conquer the world and make a smart project, it remains to find the right people to fulfill their ambitions. Where do most beginners start?
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The most obvious solution. You are well acquainted with a person, and you know that he knows how to do what you need. What could be simpler: turn to a friend?
Pros are usually the cheapest way. The man is in your sight, and it seems that you can control him.
The cons are not so obvious. It will be more difficult for you to break a moral relationship with a friend. When you have friendships, people start to use it, highlighting their flaws and laziness, in friendly and humorous conversations. Very often, misunderstanding on the working front leads to conflict in personal relationships, and there is a great chance for a friend to lose. To risk good relationships, in the hope of finding a good performer in a friend, is a thankless task. In my experience, and the stories of acquaintances, I can say that this is almost a dead cause, and if you do not want problems, I advise you to skip this step.
Personal experience 1: turned to a good friend. Task - writing engine for the site. Painted TK, the man said ok. I waited for the result to be negotiated for two months. What did you get? A link to the free engine, with the words: "Well, it's almost what you need." Why it was impossible to find the engine at once, and not to spend two months of my time for this — I received no answer. At this stage, cooperation would have to end, but I am a young inexperienced decided that it is better to have a tit in my hand, and it’s troublesome to look for a new programmer. After that, the most terrible stage, when a person feeds promises for a very long time, that here is a little bit more, and the work will show. As a result, it turned out that he did not do anything at all (!), And was unable to do it. For my part, very large financial losses due to the timing.
Personal experience 2: another acquaintance. Asked for a 100% prepayment. After a clumsy initial assignment, the person stopped responding to the phone and email. The project was in limbo, a lot was not completed or done poorly. In those rare moments when it was possible to reach the unfortunate worker, part of the flaws also rudely ruled, and disappeared again. I tried to get him to at least correct critical errors. At one point, I found out through friends that the worker went on vacation for almost a month (!), Without even warning.
Further, after eating “friendly” promises, but not losing hope of finding excellent workers, a person turns to affordable freelancers.
Usually it is a young team, programmers, managers and designers aged 20-25 years. Little experience, little money, so they fight for each client. At the initial stage of work, everything seems fine, they lick you, they offer a good price and conditions. Problems begin at the most difficult stage of polishing the project. When you need to fix all the bugs, clean up all the errors and make a high-quality. The enthusiasm of the young teams is diminishing, delays begin, all sorts of excuses for the work not done.
In such teams, there is usually a very large staff rotation. In place of one programmer who has worked for half a month, comes another. Looking at the code written by the previous one, he curses bad words, says that it is easier to redo everything, and even heroically alters this very code the first two evenings in the new work. Then he is fired, and the situation repeats.
The situation with constant interaction is better than at the first stage, but still leaves much to be desired. The chance to get a good tightly knit and professional team among the stream of mediocrity and irresponsible idlers is minimal, here the price tag usually dictates everything. At this stage, you can find a couple of adequate people in specific specialties, and use their services in the future, but it will be very difficult to assemble an excellent team.
Personal experience 3: I was looking for teams for freelance sites, I chose based on a portfolio. He started working with one of the teams that offered the average price tag for work. After a wonderfully done design and initial tasks, problems started, delaying the deadlines, hanging noodles on the ears. Due to the lack of a clear TK, the constantly emerging disagreements from the series: “we did not subscribe to this”. As a result, a painful break and in fact the floor of the project was completed by another development team.
After the ordeals with young and hot, but irresponsible freelancers, comes the understanding that the miser pays not even twice, but several times more, you start looking for a professional team, soberly understanding what people are asking for that kind of money.
More expensive stage, but also the most reliable. The price tag is usually a half to two times more than the second stage. Signs of a good team - a leading developer or manager who works with you, constantly in touch. Always available by phone, often calls and talks about the process, responds adequately to the comments. There is no “failure” when you sit and wait for the task to be completed for a week or more. You are constantly up to date, you feel the process of moving forward. In the case of a large project, they provide you with a detailed TOR with an assessment of each step of the work. Payment occurs after the adoption of a specific stage. Such discreteness is very profitable, in case of disagreements you disperse, without losing anything.
Personal experience 4: Ask for all available people from the IT field, the client advised to contact a specific person. Appealed, after a small grinding and discussion of TK started to work. The work is carried out neatly, on time, the objections that are often heard in the previous steps (from the series: “It is impossible to do this on the engine,” “It’s real, but it will take two months time”) never heard. Constant contact and good understanding. Pah-pah-pah))
Well, in conclusion, a short list of tips suffered through their own skin:
1) Clearly written terms of reference - a pledge of good relations with the performer. Spend a couple of hours of your time on a detailed description of the project, down to the smallest detail, in the future it will save days and months of work, and a lot of money. More often than not, TK changes dramatically during the development of a project, but you can always refer to it if the contractor refuses to do the work, due to the fact that “they did not agree on this”.
2) If you feel that the person is "sags" - tear up the relationship without hesitation. Yes, you have to spend some amount of time searching for a new artist, and there is no guarantee that he will be better than the previous one. But if you resolutely change programmers, designers, etc., then the process of transferring work will occur most painlessly, and not in agony, when grandparents are long overdue, customers and bosses hit you hard on the head, and you start paying for all this mess out of your pocket.
3) Ask friends, acquaintances, clients, ask for their opinion. If an adequate person responds positively about the performer, after having worked with him for a certain period, this is already a big plus in favor of the performer. And the reason to try it in business. It was on the recommendation of the client that I found people with whom I have been cooperating for a long time and fruitfully.
4) Try to find performers within walking distance, so that you can always arrange a meeting, and discuss the task on your fingers. In many cases, it is much easier and more efficient to parse a project by telephone.
I am sure that eventually you will find people with whom you will be most comfortable working, who will comply with all their obligations, and ask for adequate money for this. Someone this period will take a little longer time, someone will find workers liking faster. In any case, following the rules and guided by the tips described above, the search efficiency will increase significantly.
So, you decided to conquer the world and make a smart project, it remains to find the right people to fulfill their ambitions. Where do most beginners start?
')
First stage. Appeal to friends.
The most obvious solution. You are well acquainted with a person, and you know that he knows how to do what you need. What could be simpler: turn to a friend?
Pros are usually the cheapest way. The man is in your sight, and it seems that you can control him.
The cons are not so obvious. It will be more difficult for you to break a moral relationship with a friend. When you have friendships, people start to use it, highlighting their flaws and laziness, in friendly and humorous conversations. Very often, misunderstanding on the working front leads to conflict in personal relationships, and there is a great chance for a friend to lose. To risk good relationships, in the hope of finding a good performer in a friend, is a thankless task. In my experience, and the stories of acquaintances, I can say that this is almost a dead cause, and if you do not want problems, I advise you to skip this step.
Personal experience 1: turned to a good friend. Task - writing engine for the site. Painted TK, the man said ok. I waited for the result to be negotiated for two months. What did you get? A link to the free engine, with the words: "Well, it's almost what you need." Why it was impossible to find the engine at once, and not to spend two months of my time for this — I received no answer. At this stage, cooperation would have to end, but I am a young inexperienced decided that it is better to have a tit in my hand, and it’s troublesome to look for a new programmer. After that, the most terrible stage, when a person feeds promises for a very long time, that here is a little bit more, and the work will show. As a result, it turned out that he did not do anything at all (!), And was unable to do it. For my part, very large financial losses due to the timing.
Personal experience 2: another acquaintance. Asked for a 100% prepayment. After a clumsy initial assignment, the person stopped responding to the phone and email. The project was in limbo, a lot was not completed or done poorly. In those rare moments when it was possible to reach the unfortunate worker, part of the flaws also rudely ruled, and disappeared again. I tried to get him to at least correct critical errors. At one point, I found out through friends that the worker went on vacation for almost a month (!), Without even warning.
Further, after eating “friendly” promises, but not losing hope of finding excellent workers, a person turns to affordable freelancers.
The second step. A young team of freelancers.
Usually it is a young team, programmers, managers and designers aged 20-25 years. Little experience, little money, so they fight for each client. At the initial stage of work, everything seems fine, they lick you, they offer a good price and conditions. Problems begin at the most difficult stage of polishing the project. When you need to fix all the bugs, clean up all the errors and make a high-quality. The enthusiasm of the young teams is diminishing, delays begin, all sorts of excuses for the work not done.
In such teams, there is usually a very large staff rotation. In place of one programmer who has worked for half a month, comes another. Looking at the code written by the previous one, he curses bad words, says that it is easier to redo everything, and even heroically alters this very code the first two evenings in the new work. Then he is fired, and the situation repeats.
The situation with constant interaction is better than at the first stage, but still leaves much to be desired. The chance to get a good tightly knit and professional team among the stream of mediocrity and irresponsible idlers is minimal, here the price tag usually dictates everything. At this stage, you can find a couple of adequate people in specific specialties, and use their services in the future, but it will be very difficult to assemble an excellent team.
Personal experience 3: I was looking for teams for freelance sites, I chose based on a portfolio. He started working with one of the teams that offered the average price tag for work. After a wonderfully done design and initial tasks, problems started, delaying the deadlines, hanging noodles on the ears. Due to the lack of a clear TK, the constantly emerging disagreements from the series: “we did not subscribe to this”. As a result, a painful break and in fact the floor of the project was completed by another development team.
After the ordeals with young and hot, but irresponsible freelancers, comes the understanding that the miser pays not even twice, but several times more, you start looking for a professional team, soberly understanding what people are asking for that kind of money.
The third step. Professional team.
More expensive stage, but also the most reliable. The price tag is usually a half to two times more than the second stage. Signs of a good team - a leading developer or manager who works with you, constantly in touch. Always available by phone, often calls and talks about the process, responds adequately to the comments. There is no “failure” when you sit and wait for the task to be completed for a week or more. You are constantly up to date, you feel the process of moving forward. In the case of a large project, they provide you with a detailed TOR with an assessment of each step of the work. Payment occurs after the adoption of a specific stage. Such discreteness is very profitable, in case of disagreements you disperse, without losing anything.
Personal experience 4: Ask for all available people from the IT field, the client advised to contact a specific person. Appealed, after a small grinding and discussion of TK started to work. The work is carried out neatly, on time, the objections that are often heard in the previous steps (from the series: “It is impossible to do this on the engine,” “It’s real, but it will take two months time”) never heard. Constant contact and good understanding. Pah-pah-pah))
Mistress note
Well, in conclusion, a short list of tips suffered through their own skin:
1) Clearly written terms of reference - a pledge of good relations with the performer. Spend a couple of hours of your time on a detailed description of the project, down to the smallest detail, in the future it will save days and months of work, and a lot of money. More often than not, TK changes dramatically during the development of a project, but you can always refer to it if the contractor refuses to do the work, due to the fact that “they did not agree on this”.
2) If you feel that the person is "sags" - tear up the relationship without hesitation. Yes, you have to spend some amount of time searching for a new artist, and there is no guarantee that he will be better than the previous one. But if you resolutely change programmers, designers, etc., then the process of transferring work will occur most painlessly, and not in agony, when grandparents are long overdue, customers and bosses hit you hard on the head, and you start paying for all this mess out of your pocket.
3) Ask friends, acquaintances, clients, ask for their opinion. If an adequate person responds positively about the performer, after having worked with him for a certain period, this is already a big plus in favor of the performer. And the reason to try it in business. It was on the recommendation of the client that I found people with whom I have been cooperating for a long time and fruitfully.
4) Try to find performers within walking distance, so that you can always arrange a meeting, and discuss the task on your fingers. In many cases, it is much easier and more efficient to parse a project by telephone.
Epilogue
I am sure that eventually you will find people with whom you will be most comfortable working, who will comply with all their obligations, and ask for adequate money for this. Someone this period will take a little longer time, someone will find workers liking faster. In any case, following the rules and guided by the tips described above, the search efficiency will increase significantly.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/119093/
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