Outsourcing Woes

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beejeebers

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Anybody have any luck with outsourcing remedial tasks?

I've had zero luck so far. EVERYONE starts off all gung ho and ready to defeat the world, then when the deadline arrives for the work to be done, I get a million stupid excuses but no results.

I wonder if I'm going to have to open an office somewhere because I think some people just cannot complete work without supervision.

Anyone have any good sources they dont' mind sharing for outsourcing, (must speak english).
 


beejeebers said:
Anybody have any luck with outsourcing remedial tasks?

I've had zero luck so far. EVERYONE starts off all gung ho and ready to defeat the world, then when the deadline arrives for the work to be done, I get a million stupid excuses but no results.

I wonder if I'm going to have to open an office somewhere because I think some people just cannot complete work without supervision.

Anyone have any good sources they dont' mind sharing for outsourcing, (must speak english).
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What kind of tasks did you outsource? =)
 
I use a lot of inexpensive outsourced labor.

However there's a BIG catch to using cheap outsourced people.

You have to tie them into an EXACT system that it's impossible to do the wrong thing. Basically if I want content scraped and rewritten I have an interface that queries google in the top frame based on my searches, then they cut, paste and rewrite in a textarea on the lower frame. Then they hit submit and on submit it checks the page against copyscape to make sure they rewrote it well enough. If not it won't let them advance and highlights the dupe sections copyscape found.

If you want them to code projects for you, prototype the functions you want created and then build the logic of the system yourself. This way you don't lose you secrets of how the system actually works. So for example if I was going to build a yahoo answers spammer; I know I'd need a:

function AccountCreate();
function SetupProfile();
function ScrapeQuestions($type);
function PostAnswer($question_id);

Then I make a nice readme and document the functions with comments that go along with them and detail exactly what each function should

1. take for input
2. do inside the function
3. return from the function

Then I code the rest of the system that handles the logistics on my end so they never know strategy you're using because they don't have access to the logic. You'll find your ideas don't get resold if you go about things this way.

Hope this is was a good example of what I mean by pinning them down so they can only do one thing and not mess up.

Also I pay-per-action. So I'm not paying people to sit around and do nothing. My foreigners work hard cause if they don't they won't get paid :)
 
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I think that's where my problem is Smaxor. I'm going to write up a simple little script that won't allow them to do it wrong. I have been breaking up the tasks by sending them to different people so no one knows exactly what I'm doing, but I've just sent written instructions. I never looked at it from an "outsourcing with some tools to help" angle.

Oh and Lord Brar, I'm outsourcing very remedial, mind numbing work that takes up too much of my time... :)
 
smaxor said:
You have to tie them into an EXACT system that it's impossible to do the wrong thing.
Click to expand...

I agree. Very good specs and reasonable, but tight, deadlines for delivery are essential for offshored projects. Some of my better paying part-time contracting gigs have been cleaning up offshored messes and almost every time poor, vague, specs were the source of the problem.
 
I know the feeling... my main content writer that I was working with just fucking disappeared off the face of the earth.

Uhhh... where the fuck did he go, and where are the 38 articles he's past due one?

Dammit, now I look like a dick and have to cover for his ass, and I'm out $70!
 
When it comes to reliable outsourced help it's like anything else in the world. 9/10 times your gonna get shitty people. It's a matter of going through them slowly and looking when it isn't mission critcal. I usually have a bunch of menial things that I want them to do and I'll give them little jobs at a time. Slowly growing their workload. Baiting them and always paying on time and developing a relationship. Hey sounds like having employees!
 
I keep hiring people to find content, paraphrase and submit to some of my blogs. They agree to do 100-200 (extremely simple and quick) submissions, but always stop after 2-3 of them. It's fucking annoying. I give them links to where they can find content, a template to go by, and instructions on how to make posts, but they get bored after 5 minutes.
 
The thing is that I do now and have learn't is to never give them the money first. Make them do the work first and then pay them. It is only when you give them the money first that they start giving the excuses and sometimes they even never do the work and that was their intention to never do it in the first place, which is then fraud in a way.
 
I have been experiencing some static lately with a programmer i hired. He just missed the deadline on a project, now I don't know when it will be done because the bastard won't answer my fucking IMs and I am getting pissed. I only payed a small percentage in earnest money to get the project going. I am in the United States and his dumb fucking ass is in Britain, don't know if that has something to do with it..heh. I have been frustrated with my experiences with outsourcing. An outsourced programmer's goal is to make a buck and their passion is not necessarily in your million dollar making project. The dumb shits are not very good at times in client relationship management. They wonder why they have to keep looking for new clients to pay them a buck here and there. Now I don't want to rag on all programmers, my experience has been shitty though.
 
Just curious -- How many of you will be willing to be a premium (obviously, lower than local costs but higher than if you deal directly with freelancers themselves) for higher quality and reliable services?
 
Lord Brar said:
Just curious -- How many of you will be willing to be a premium (obviously, lower than local costs but higher than if you deal directly with freelancers themselves) for higher quality and reliable services?
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I think it depends. It seems ideal to pay more to ensure quality service, but the trouble is knowing who fits this criteria. I have paid a premium and got shitty service and I have paid a reduced discount and with the same results. The trouble for me has been developing a long lasting working relationship with someone reliable and i am sure i would pay a premium if I found this person.
 
I can't comment on Western freelance workers, only on Asia and I'm sure Lord will back me up on this. The workers need to be focused and they need a manager who keeps them focused on the task at hand. If the manager can't or won't, then you get exactly what has been happening.
 
I used a way John Reese had mentioned on his income.com blog..always do more than what is expected from you..i contacted some people who "dont" lurch around GAF and sites like that..people who like what they do..and i must say all the people who i have hired be it designers or coders..i am happy with them.
 
I've been doing outsourced work for years now.
We actually work for a few high profile IT Solutions companies based in the US and have never had problems with them.
As far as outsourced labour goes out, you need to hire qualified organizations to do your work and not some idiotic freelancers who just want to make money online.
 
che1959 said:
I can't comment on Western freelance workers, only on Asia and I'm sure Lord will back me up on this. The workers need to be focused and they need a manager who keeps them focused on the task at hand. If the manager can't or won't, then you get exactly what has been happening.
Click to expand...
Sure I agree with you and very publicly. I have just written a post on my blog ( Why Outsourcing Sucks. Almost Always. ) with my opinion on why things go wrong when people outsource.

Sidewindr said:
The trouble for me has been developing a long lasting working relationship with someone reliable and i am sure i would pay a premium if I found this person.
Click to expand...

I pointed out the reason why it is so difficult to find such people in the above mentioned blog post. And probably I may have a solution to it soon. =)
 
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