Sad statistics or never rely on freelancers

For the last five years I have been actively engaged in freelancing (this is the only place of work), for three years I have been also conducting my projects and, at times, acting as a manager in customer projects. One way or another, you constantly have to hire people “from outside” to perform current tasks. I do not write this post as a freelancer, but as an employatal.

A tip

I was forced to write a post yesterday by the realization that the flasher hired by me turned out to be the same idiot as the previous two. The task was to write an application for VKontakte on the basis of the recently announced ChatVdvoem . It would seem a simple matter, since there is a very strict TK, describing in detail all the nuances of the protocol. However, the first hired flasher, after four (!) Weeks, said:

Need a real reason? Now I dropped all the projects, because experiencing some period

Second flasher, three weeks later:

I'm leaving for another city tomorrow. I'm sorry, I did not finish a bit. what I did (sent to your box) is just for the advance so I will not return. hire someone else, let him finish

With a third “wonderful person” after some part of the work, we agreed that after paying the remainder, I get the final minor edits and, accordingly, the source code. Approximately since then I already got tired of sending unanswered letters and shouting “ay” deep into the ICQ protocol.

Now a fairy tale

After the events described, I suddenly remembered that three years ago in the development team of several projects we hired a rather sensible flasher, which for some reason was not among the developers I recommended , but clearly deserved it. I had to go to the archive and literally sort through all the projects made in that time period. It was then that I objectively looked at the number of employed workers, with whom in the process of work there were some or other disagreements. Having caught fire with the idea of ​​collecting some statistics, I spent a few hours sorting through all the projects I took part in. The statistics came out very sad.

As it turned out, during development I collaborated with 52 freelancers or their small groups (2-3 people) working together (I think for one). These were php-, js-, bash-, flash-, delphi-, C-programmers, artists, designers, 3d-modelers, web designers, system administrators and copywriters.
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18 of them (35%) abandoned the project at an early or late stage. Those. someone suddenly had a business, someone gets married, falls ill, becomes uninteresting to someone ... Well, kindergarten, really. Of these, 12 people (67%) returned an advance, while the remaining 6 disappeared, someone immediately after receiving the money, someone pre-powdered their brains.

10 people (19%) performed their work in such a way that it had to be partially or completely redone. Sometimes, there was a dialogue like this:

- (Stas / Ivan / Nikolai / Masha), here in this place (application / layout / layout) behaves very differently than described in the TK.
- Yes, but this place in the TK can be understood in two ways. If it is higher (actions / news / reds), then this part should logically (fall / go / be green).
- Got it, i.e. Is this omission of TK? And why such a basic thing in question at the time of delivery of the project?
- If I had clarified earlier, I would have to redo it, but now it will be paid for as “support”.

From such blatant arrogance, a person either immediately ran into the neck, or had to pay for his “support”, because terms were burning.

Without taking into account the previous 10 heroes, for five (10%) a symptom was noticed called “from TK not an inch”. Those. for the most simple things that are not included in the TZ, a surcharge was required. Usually, I myself am against drastic changes, but I will give an example that it would become clear what kind of corrections in question. For example, the flasher flatly refused to put a simple link inside the movie to the button already there, because it was not described in the statement of work. Or the copywriter refused to break in half a paragraph of a huge text, because “he knows better, but does not write in the TOR”. I am glad that the percentage of such a clinic is not very large.

But the biggest trouble in the world of freelancing is timing. For me, the behavior of the workers of my “fraternity” was wildness after I became a consumer of freelancing services. One gets the feeling that the date on the calendar, indicated by the average freelancer as the deadline for the project is such an arbitrary number, calling which one can finally proceed to the project, bypassing the customer's bureaucratic inclinations. The freelancer who sits at home does not understand at all that he is not the only link in the project, and the other team does not have such luxury as time to wait for it. Of the 34 people (52 minus 18 abandoned), who somehow completed their work, three did it in time. Those. The work was handed over exactly on the appointed day, debugged and working, possibly with minimal deficiencies, but generally completed. 3 out of 34 is 8% of those who even in some form passed the project or 5% of those who took it! The average overdue time is half the resource allocated to the project. Those. agreeing on a month, be ready to get the result in a half.

I would also like to draw attention to the fact that all the freelancers with whom the interaction was built were not shkolota, ready to repeat Google for 1000 rubles. These have always been people with a decent portfolio and some positive reviews. Contracts were concluded with some of them (which were successfully requested **), and an oral agreement was made with others. Almost always a prepayment was made (~ 30% of the total cost) and a clear, unsigned TK was written.

Morality

And since in every fairy tale there is morality, I will let it down in today’s.

If you work with new freelancers who have not yet been checked in (you, and not 2 people who have left positive feedback on “exchange”), then build a more pessimistic forecast. Calculate the deadlines in such a way as to hire two more people, following the first to fail. Divide your task into several parts (strictly writing communication between the parts) and give it to several performers.

And you,%% username, are sure that the freelancer who is now working for you will pass the job on time?

PS In response to many comments. Personally, I have long solved the problem with freelancers, there are almost no broken projects (no exceptions are possible). It is necessary to constantly monitor the process of work (up to daily monitoring) and think over the terms well, taking into account the fact that each performer can be replaced 1.5 times. 1.5 - because after two people usually have a lot of work done, and if they are not so lucky, two have fallen off, then half of the time is exactly enough to bring to mind the third forces. If you do the calculation for a larger number of hours, then the project risks becoming infinite.

PPS Here is an addition to the history of the flasher , if we are talking about low price.