10 Tips for a Freelance Customer
I have been working in IT for over 12 years. I thought that without any problems I was coping with the management of the tasks that we give to freelancing. But the last case literally knocked me out of a rut: I got a very expensive and negative experience. Until now, we are considering with our colleagues what has been done right and what has not. I bring to your attention 10 conclusions, tips that we have made for ourselves. I hope they will be useful to you. If you have something else to advise, then welcome in the comments.
Treat this item with all care! “Rules of the Game” / Agreement is not just a formality. No need to download typical contracts from the Internet.
The contract must be won: this is the quintessence of exactly how you want to work, according to which business processes and according to which rules. It should include all your formal agreements with the contractor: starting from where exactly the list of tasks / comments will be kept and ending with awards / penalties for not completing the task in due time and of due quality.
Do not forget to show this contract to the performer himself: he will definitely want to add and correct something. It is important to do this in the early stages of working with the performer: if something in the contract causes great controversy, then it is better to refuse such a performer. If he argues now, what will happen in a real situation? Changing the contract to the wishes of the contractor, remember: your project, you pay for it too, which means it should be convenient to work, first of all, for you!
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Before the publication of the project, write a clear TK. It is not necessary to choose a performer at the beginning, and then write TK for him. You yourself must understand what exactly and exactly how you want. If this is a site, then write the requirements for the design, for the text, for the structure. If this is a program, then write for whom it is intended, what exactly it does, how it performs this or that action, etc. If the architect of you is “not very”, then write: “you need to develop the structure of the site” or “you need to come up with a user interface”, etc. In general, I think that a TOR for a freelance artist is something between “requirements” and “design”, if you follow the RUP methodology .
I want to note that TK should not change in its main part. During the project, TK can only be clarified. If after communicating with the performer, you change the main part of the TK, then this is a reason to think, take a timeout, and if the performer’s corrections are reasonable, then write another TZ! Do not allow such that you came with the task of writing texts, but in the end you are doing alteration of the entire site.
If you are a genius and you have the perfect syllable, this does not mean that the TK will be understood exactly as you want it. Even if the performer says that “everything is clear” - still spend half an hour and speak (!) All the important points of the TOR. As a rule, it is in the dialogue that all the pitfalls and slippery spots emerge. Your task: to make sure that the performer understands what exactly he takes the money for.
Attention! Be sure to record all your verbal agreements: technical in the TK itself, and on the work process itself in the “agreement”.
Working with a freelancer, you are, in fact, working on a single project. The performer must have a clear idea of ​​what the result should be and what way we will arrive there. To do this, always maintain a joint task list. And keep in mind that the tasks there can be not only for the freelancer, but also for you! For example: “send an opinion on a given design” or “send having content”, etc.
Moreover, if the contractor refuses to maintain such a list: insist on it.
Do not pay in advance to the performer, if you have never worked with him before. Even if you liked the person and you are sure of it, then you have not yet seen whether the person is able to bring the project to the end. As you know, 20% of actions give 80% of the result. And the project is not 20%, not 50%, but all 100% (well ... sometimes all 149%)! So it turns out that the performer makes 80% of the result for 20% of the time: it requires its 80% payment and you pay. As a result, the tail in 20%, which requires 80% of the time, he never wants to do. You must be able to bring the project to the end! Appreciate those who know how.
The tips above relate to the development phase itself. But how to protect yourself in the future? Here are some guidelines for choosing the artist.
Moreover: if there is a possibility, then contact 2-3 in person and talk about this performer. As a rule, in reviews put 10 out of 10 with an excellent review, and to themselves put a tick "I no longer work with him!". And only in the conversation the previous customer can open up and express everything that he has accumulated.
Caesar's - Caesar's, and God - God. Humanitarian in warehouse man can not competently perform technical things. And vice versa: a techie cannot write good texts. And this applies to everything: if a person has been working as a designer for 10 years, it is unlikely that he will suit you as a developer for backend; if a person places emphasis on knowledge of PL / SQL, Hadoop, etc., then he is most likely no designer; if a php coder with 15 years of experience relies on a project on writing promotexts, then don’t take it! There are exceptions, but why do you need risks?
Even if you liked someone from the candidates for your project, you still need to talk with several favorites! Unfortunately, no one can boast that he never made a mistake in people and sees everyone perfectly through. Try to look at several: perhaps someone has a worse portfolio, but the person is more comfortable for you to work in a team; Also behind a nondescript portfolio / resume can really hide the real pros of their own business!
You always want to look at the person in the business before you really start working. You have two options:
I am in favor of labor being always worthily paid. But the point of bargaining is not to bring down the price, but that you both with the candidate understand exactly what and how the payment will be charged. If a person cannot substantiate the clearly requested amount, then, most likely, he does not understand what exactly he has to do and how much time he can spend on it. Believe me, if someone is clearly dumping, then this is either an obvious newcomer or a pro who knows exactly how to optimize the process so that the cost price is minimal for him: and trading will help you understand the structure of the cost of work. And this, you see, will help you and not only for this project.
Dear freelancers and customers: what do you agree with, and what not? What could add and what to fix?
More about our case
There was a need for a copywriter / content manager to bring the text into the proper form and write several new texts. In other words, it was necessary to make “selling” and interesting from dry technical texts. The budget was not severely limited in order to get a really good quality of work. We also planned to continue cooperation with the found copywriter even after this project, since the need for good texts with knowledge and skill appears here quite often.
The application has been posted on Freelance . After some time, one person responded to the project, who very zealously set to work, sent detailed information about himself and a test task. This was very different from the general mass, where the responses looked like “See the portfolio here”, “I will take it!”, “My quotations: ...”, etc. The approach with which he approached the matter bribed us - and we began to work with him. The man seemed very creative, adequate and reliable enough. But…
I will not go into much detail here: after each advice there is a spoiler with details on our case .
The application has been posted on Freelance . After some time, one person responded to the project, who very zealously set to work, sent detailed information about himself and a test task. This was very different from the general mass, where the responses looked like “See the portfolio here”, “I will take it!”, “My quotations: ...”, etc. The approach with which he approached the matter bribed us - and we began to work with him. The man seemed very creative, adequate and reliable enough. But…
I will not go into much detail here: after each advice there is a spoiler with details on our case .
1. Always fix the "rules of the game" in the contract.
Treat this item with all care! “Rules of the Game” / Agreement is not just a formality. No need to download typical contracts from the Internet.
The contract must be won: this is the quintessence of exactly how you want to work, according to which business processes and according to which rules. It should include all your formal agreements with the contractor: starting from where exactly the list of tasks / comments will be kept and ending with awards / penalties for not completing the task in due time and of due quality.
Do not forget to show this contract to the performer himself: he will definitely want to add and correct something. It is important to do this in the early stages of working with the performer: if something in the contract causes great controversy, then it is better to refuse such a performer. If he argues now, what will happen in a real situation? Changing the contract to the wishes of the contractor, remember: your project, you pay for it too, which means it should be convenient to work, first of all, for you!
')
Hidden text
We did not enter into any contracts. There were proposals on my part how to organize the work, but they were rejected and suggested their own options. In the beginning it seemed to me only “the whims of a creative person” and I didn’t pay much attention to it: I agreed with everything - if only it was more convenient for him to work. Even the time and cost of the performer called himself. When the project passed through the equator, the first oddities began: the person began to argue, say that there was no such thing (even if quotes from his own letters were sent), etc. The situation became particularly tense when it came to money: more precisely, there were no problems for the first two tranches (out of four). And then ... more in the fifth council.
2. Write a clear statement of work.
Before the publication of the project, write a clear TK. It is not necessary to choose a performer at the beginning, and then write TK for him. You yourself must understand what exactly and exactly how you want. If this is a site, then write the requirements for the design, for the text, for the structure. If this is a program, then write for whom it is intended, what exactly it does, how it performs this or that action, etc. If the architect of you is “not very”, then write: “you need to develop the structure of the site” or “you need to come up with a user interface”, etc. In general, I think that a TOR for a freelance artist is something between “requirements” and “design”, if you follow the RUP methodology .
I want to note that TK should not change in its main part. During the project, TK can only be clarified. If after communicating with the performer, you change the main part of the TK, then this is a reason to think, take a timeout, and if the performer’s corrections are reasonable, then write another TZ! Do not allow such that you came with the task of writing texts, but in the end you are doing alteration of the entire site.
Hidden text
We had a very short TZ: a list of articles for remaking and a list of articles that still need to write. We had no requirements for the texts, except for the fact that they should be “selling”. But this is not so bad: the performer, having looked at our current site on Wordpress, suggested redoing it to Drupal by all means. We would take a timeout at that moment, but since he argued it is very sensible, as it seemed to me at that moment, we decided to agree with his proposal. From this, of course, the cost of the work jumped, but it was accepted without much discussion. My thoughts were simple: if a person is so motivated by the project, if he is so interested in him, then as a result we should get a real candy.
As a result: the project from a purely content one fell into the eternal and far from professional “games” with Drupal. Why the game? When a person understood “where he got” and that he could not cope with the task assigned to him by himself, he began to demand $ 100-200 for such tasks as “the ability to edit meta tags for pages”, “the ability to set a specific URL” and etc.
As a result: the project from a purely content one fell into the eternal and far from professional “games” with Drupal. Why the game? When a person understood “where he got” and that he could not cope with the task assigned to him by himself, he began to demand $ 100-200 for such tasks as “the ability to edit meta tags for pages”, “the ability to set a specific URL” and etc.
3. Always speak TK
If you are a genius and you have the perfect syllable, this does not mean that the TK will be understood exactly as you want it. Even if the performer says that “everything is clear” - still spend half an hour and speak (!) All the important points of the TOR. As a rule, it is in the dialogue that all the pitfalls and slippery spots emerge. Your task: to make sure that the performer understands what exactly he takes the money for.
Attention! Be sure to record all your verbal agreements: technical in the TK itself, and on the work process itself in the “agreement”.
Hidden text
There was a complete feeling that the person behind the written initial tasks understood the whole problem: the site needs to be refactored. As a result, we trusted, without having spoken the original tasks, but nobody canceled them: the articles will not rewrite themselves and the new ones will not be drawn. Toward the end, the performer began to throw up his hands: “yes, it was in the TK, but I did this,” and so on.
4. Be sure to keep a joint list of current tasks.
Working with a freelancer, you are, in fact, working on a single project. The performer must have a clear idea of ​​what the result should be and what way we will arrive there. To do this, always maintain a joint task list. And keep in mind that the tasks there can be not only for the freelancer, but also for you! For example: “send an opinion on a given design” or “send having content”, etc.
Moreover, if the contractor refuses to maintain such a list: insist on it.
Hidden text
In our case, the performer claimed that he remembers everything and keeps the necessary list himself. As it turned out, the person not only did not keep such a list and did not remember them trivially, and when he tried to start leading him, he showed his inability to work with him. How? Very simple! I started writing huge 3-volume essays / comments in the comments instead of a banal Skype discussion, replacing the composition of tasks, etc.
By the way, this was all done in excel, since neither google docs nor asana.com are convenient for him because of the “abundance of JavaScript”. Imagine how it is to keep a task list in Excel with a person who does not know the basics of document management?
By the way, this was all done in excel, since neither google docs nor asana.com are convenient for him because of the “abundance of JavaScript”. Imagine how it is to keep a task list in Excel with a person who does not know the basics of document management?
5. Pay in fact
Do not pay in advance to the performer, if you have never worked with him before. Even if you liked the person and you are sure of it, then you have not yet seen whether the person is able to bring the project to the end. As you know, 20% of actions give 80% of the result. And the project is not 20%, not 50%, but all 100% (well ... sometimes all 149%)! So it turns out that the performer makes 80% of the result for 20% of the time: it requires its 80% payment and you pay. As a result, the tail in 20%, which requires 80% of the time, he never wants to do. You must be able to bring the project to the end! Appreciate those who know how.
Hidden text
Having made 80% of the visible result for 20% of the time, the person requested the appropriate payment. For the remaining 20% ​​of the functional, it began to slip very much, and it was these “little things” that lead to the final result. By hook or by crook, the performer managed at this stage to lure me 100% of the payment and another 20% bonus from above.
Paying 120% of the amount, which he called at the beginning, adding that "guaranteed no more," I decided to dive into the details. And here my hair stood on end: not only that the main points from the original TK are not made, so also the content in 90% of the text is corny copied from the previous site.
Paying 120% of the amount, which he called at the beginning, adding that "guaranteed no more," I decided to dive into the details. And here my hair stood on end: not only that the main points from the original TK are not made, so also the content in 90% of the text is corny copied from the previous site.
The tips above relate to the development phase itself. But how to protect yourself in the future? Here are some guidelines for choosing the artist.
6. Do not neglect reviews from previous customers.
Moreover: if there is a possibility, then contact 2-3 in person and talk about this performer. As a rule, in reviews put 10 out of 10 with an excellent review, and to themselves put a tick "I no longer work with him!". And only in the conversation the previous customer can open up and express everything that he has accumulated.
Hidden text
Since the search order was left for Freelance (I really liked this system because of its simplicity, unlike freelancer.com and other systems with which we worked), there were no reviews as such. It also did not occur to me to ask the contacts of the candidate himself. But in vain, very vain ... I think with such an approach to business, he has already managed to "inherit".
7. Examine the profile for inconsistencies.
Caesar's - Caesar's, and God - God. Humanitarian in warehouse man can not competently perform technical things. And vice versa: a techie cannot write good texts. And this applies to everything: if a person has been working as a designer for 10 years, it is unlikely that he will suit you as a developer for backend; if a person places emphasis on knowledge of PL / SQL, Hadoop, etc., then he is most likely no designer; if a php coder with 15 years of experience relies on a project on writing promotexts, then don’t take it! There are exceptions, but why do you need risks?
Hidden text
If I realized this in time, I would understand that a copywriter with great doubt can cope with Drupal. And vice versa: the pro in Drupal is hardly a good writer.
8. Do not stop at the first "good" option - consider a few
Even if you liked someone from the candidates for your project, you still need to talk with several favorites! Unfortunately, no one can boast that he never made a mistake in people and sees everyone perfectly through. Try to look at several: perhaps someone has a worse portfolio, but the person is more comfortable for you to work in a team; Also behind a nondescript portfolio / resume can really hide the real pros of their own business!
Hidden text
I almost always adhere to this rule, but this time something worked wrong: the performer was chosen almost immediately after the first communication, although there were a little more than 10 responses.
9. Arrange a "test drive"!
You always want to look at the person in the business before you really start working. You have two options:
- Specify the test task right in the application for freelance site. Plus the fact that you can really see how he thinks and how a person acts in your conditions. But there is also a minus: the pros of their business will most likely not really bother with your task - they will have a client without it. When you come up with a test task, choose a middle ground: it should be difficult enough to set the candidate up and make him think “in your field,” but it should be simple enough so that people can decide to “invest” their time in this project at the stage of selecting the performer .
- No one bothers you to arrange a test drive after you have chosen the artist. Arrange a probation period for him: give a real work task, agree on its separate payment and see how the person works, how he finds out the details, how he interacts with you, etc. If everything suits you, move on!
Hidden text
There was a test task - the performer coped with it with a bang, and there was an episode during the project itself, when it was necessary to urgently make one article: it was done quickly and efficiently. For me, it remains a mystery why to the last in 90% of the texts there was an obvious copy-paste of the original site.
10. Bargain with candidates!
I am in favor of labor being always worthily paid. But the point of bargaining is not to bring down the price, but that you both with the candidate understand exactly what and how the payment will be charged. If a person cannot substantiate the clearly requested amount, then, most likely, he does not understand what exactly he has to do and how much time he can spend on it. Believe me, if someone is clearly dumping, then this is either an obvious newcomer or a pro who knows exactly how to optimize the process so that the cost price is minimal for him: and trading will help you understand the structure of the cost of work. And this, you see, will help you and not only for this project.
Hidden text
As I wrote above: I absolutely did not bargain. The contractor himself provided a high-level breakdown of work and cost.
Dear freelancers and customers: what do you agree with, and what not? What could add and what to fix?
Result and conclusion on our occasion
When a person received 120% of the original budget, he began to behave completely inadequately. From my beloved: "... do you have everything in order in the thinking plan ...?", "You are an absolute layman in web development and web project management," etc. (I described my experience in this matter above.) Naturally, the performer was sent. Thank you freelance for having nevertheless entered the position and blocked a comrade until clarification of the circumstances: for my part, I provided the necessary. I hope that the hero of the occasion will appear in this topic and be able to explain his “position”. I want to believe that people are by definition good and only “circumstances” happen.
Yes - we made a lot of mistakes in this project, we lost a lot of money, but we gained experience! Some advice may seem trivial and obvious: but it does not guarantee that you will not step on the same rake! Be carefull.
Yes - we made a lot of mistakes in this project, we lost a lot of money, but we gained experience! Some advice may seem trivial and obvious: but it does not guarantee that you will not step on the same rake! Be carefull.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/192296/
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