The World Isn’t Flat

Here are the results of this first foray into outsourcing:

• Elance: I received a single bid at over double the quoted budget.
• Ajay: By way of background, Ajay was the programmer I found myself through Planet Source Code. After sending the proposed job description and requesting a quote, he disappeared for over a week. After a week he communicated that he was on a vacation in his village and would get back to me when he returned to the city. After another week he did get back to me asking for more details on the job and timing (which was, in my opinion, quite clearly indicated in the original job description I sent).

Hardly inspiring! I was looking forward to comparing Ajay’s quote against a myriad of bids on Elance. So this was a bit of a set back. Without at least two competing bids, I had decided beforehand not to outsource this work because, as a rule of thumb, I think you need at least two options before you making any spending decision. What did I learn from this exercise?

1. I think the task, while described quite well and at a great deal of detail (as per best practices), was too complicated. It involved some binary file formats, and while an intermediate to advanced programmer in North America would have easily been able to complete this work, I wonder if most freelance programmers (or the owners of the companies bidding on Elance) are more interested in mundane, brainless work.
2. There is a definite risk depending on a single resource versus a company. As the proposal exercise aptly illustrates, Ajay represents a “single point of failure”. Without a firm or backup team behind Ajay, there is no fallback support. This was only the proposal, one can easily imagine the risk when depending on a sole operator to actually get the work done.
3. Another issue with going to someone directly is that you have to be prepared for the fact that they may not actually be interested in doing certain work. This is what I think happened with Ajay. Since I had worked with him on a project before, I think he was afraid to simply decline the work, and so delayed his response and asked for information already provided to further delay having to respond.

Plan B

Despite the lack of success with outsourcing this particular project, this story does have a happy ending: I was able to find a company that provides a ready made component that does what I was looking for, and in fact, provides even more functionality than I currently require. The cost of a royalty free developers license was within my budget. So for this job, the classic buy versus build was perhaps more relevant than outsourcing in the first place! I was therefore able to eliminate the need to perform this task. As I have mentioned before: favour elimination over automation.

Segue To Product Endorsement

How has this experience helped me? In my day job, I meet a lot of people, and over time I end up with a massive pile of business cards. When the pile reaches a critical height, I start to enter them into my contact manager/database. This, to say the least, is a tedious data entry exercise. I know what you’re thinking - I could outsource this work! However, based on the experience above, I wondered: is there a way to simply eliminate the data entry? Of course there is a way! I purchased a CardScan Personal v8. Within minutes I was able to scan a large pile of cards. The accuracy of the character recognition is excellent. Besides automatically populating my contact database, the contact management software that comes with the unit is pretty good in its own right - with the added bonus of retaining an image of the scanned business card. So in the end I would say, before outsourcing anything, look to see if any technology already exists that can equally get the job done.

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Let’s think about money for a moment. What do you do when you are perpetually in debt, or living dangerously above your means? Usually the very first order of business is to find out where you are spending your money. To manage your money you have to be able to account for it.  The same goes for your time. To drag yourself out of the misery of time poverty, you need to understand where you are spending your time.

Step 1: Track

Here is what I suggest: for a week, make a conscious effort to track everything you do, and I mean everything. Since I am usually at or near a computer, I created a calendar in Google to track all the various things I did during my waking hours. Excel, a notebook or a simple pad of paper would work equally well. Activities you track will most likely include meetings, checking email, processing whatever kind of “widget” you work on (for me it is writing software code), telephone calls, lunch, coffee breaks and water cooler socials. It should also include what you do when you are not at work: taking out the garbage, preparing meals, taking the kids to school, reading, watching television, etc. Call this the Things I Do list.

Step 2: Evaluate

Once that exercise is complete, the next step is to determine which, of all the things you do, add the most value to your life or make you the most happy. What is left are the things that add little, or no value - things that really don’t provide any real satisfaction.

Step 3: Consider Your Options

Now that you have identified these limiting activities, you should consider three options for each:

• Eliminate: Can you simply stop doing it? Usually you cannot, but sometimes this may be the case. If it must be done, can someone else do it without you being accountable for it anymore? This is what I will call abdication. If you can simply abdicate responsibility for something that must be done, that’s great. Maybe there is a report that must be prepared daily for your manager. You know it must be done, but perhaps your manager’s administrative assistant, or a junior peer can take ownership of preparing that report. You may find that people actually want to take ownership of a task.
• Outsource: It has to be done, and you have to be responsible for it (example: feeding your kids!). Can someone else do it for you? This is what I will call delegation. Sometimes you can delegate things at little or no cost (example: your eldest child will help prepare lunch for everyone as part of their chores). Sometimes it may cost you something (example: hiring an assistant to put together sales presentation materials). In the end, it is still your responsibility to get it done, but you do so by getting someone else to do it for you.
• Automate: Is there a better way of doing something? Can a system or technology be used that gets the task done with less time and effort required on your part? A simple example might be using filters or rules in your email client to automatically file or forward certain email messages.

Step 4: Work & Live Smarter

Always prefer elimination. For each thing you do ask: can this be eliminated? There are three possible answers:

• Yes
• Partly (or Maybe)
• No

If the answer for a given task is yes, take whatever steps are required to eliminate that task. If the answer is “partly” (or maybe) you probably need to break down the task into smaller components. After breaking it down, go back and ask your self whether each one can be eliminated and repeat the process. If the answer is no, you have to move on to the next question: can I outsource or automate this task? You will have the same three possible answers for each one. If the answer is yes, you may have to consider several options and you will have to analyze each one to determine which is the best way to outsource or automate it. If the answer is “partly” (or maybe) you need to break the task down a little more. If the answer is no, well, you might have to accept that you are stuck with doing that thing for the time being. At least you know you don’t have a choice at this time, and we all have to do some things we don’t like! My advice: meditate on these tasks and ask yourself, is there any possible way to make doing this a little more fun?

Conclusion

Since starting my quest for the 4-hour workweek, I have followed this procedure in trying to account for, and manage, the things I do. I feel I can improve on my abilities when performing steps 3 and 4, as the idea behind those steps often require a change of mindset. Some things that I initially thought I could not even outsource, I have come to consider as candidates for elimination! As I become more comfortable with the idea of abdicating, delegating and automating the things I do, I find this procedure can be repeated, and the results refined over time.

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Since I had identified a virtual coder (VC) candidate first, I had to go back and create a description of the programming work I wanted to outsource. A best practice is to make such descriptions as specific as possible. Here is what I came up with:

What I need done: Create a simple .NET 2.0 component, preferably written in C#, that can convert html tables to an excel file. This component must have the ability to create Excel 2000 workbooks, and to be able to specify which worksheet will contain the converted table. The component should not require third party components to run (except, of course, the MS Foundation Class Libraries). I expect to get a running version of the component that demonstrates how it can meet these requirements and all source code, including all rights to the source code.

What I already have versus what the provider will build: I can provide a sample VB6 project that converts html tables to Excel files. I am willing to provide the full source code for this component. I retain all rights to this original component and may ask you to sign a NDA.

Other context/requirements that providers will need to know: The component’s interface/API should be simple and intuitive. It should be designed on solid OO principles, the code should be well documented and as a general rule on style, methods/procedures should not exceed 50 lines (i.e. large methods should be refactored).

Specific expertise that I am seeking: You should have intermediate to advanced level .NET programming experience.  Experience with programming Excel and html would be an added plus.

Timeframe for delivery: I need this component within 2 - 3 weeks.

Note: This is not exactly the actual programming task I want to outsource, but by way of illustration, this description is of the same format and level of detail as the actual programming task I outlined.

I then sent this project description to Ajay, the candidate I had identified on Planet Source Code. I also posted it on Elance based on The Four Hour Trial man’s advice. Note that there is a video from none other than Tim Ferriss himself right on the Elance home page extolling the virtues of the service (now I am wondering if the guy has shares in the company!):

If you have never posted on Elance before, it was pretty easy to set up an account and post the project for bids. It does require a $10 deposit which is supposedly refunded to you within ten days. We are told that this refundable deposit process helps them qualify “serious” posters. When posting the project I selected to use the payment escrow service:

Elance Escrow protects both the buyer and the provider. Buyer’s funds are held securely until the services are provided satisfactorily. The provider can begin working on a project knowing that the buyer has provided project funding into the escrow account.

Source: Elance.

I have read that using this service may help you get more bids on the work. I am requesting a fixed price proposal from both Ajay and Elance. I emailed Ajay and posted on Elance yesterday.  So far no bids and no response from Ajay. It has only been a day, so I will wait until Monday. In the mean time I may try posting on Rent A Coder and perhaps GetaFreelancer as well.

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At this point, a reasonable person might start by clearly defining the programming tasks to be performed and post the project on Elance, Rent A Coder, or a similar service. Of course, I had to try something different. I decided to contact a programmer overseas directly. How did I do this? A couple of years ago I had communicated with a developer (let’s call him “Ajay”) who had posted sample code on Planet Source Code, and we had since gone on to work on some open source stuff together. From these experiences I know he is a first rate programmer. To think, I had a potential VC (virtual coder) in front of my eyes the whole time!

My theory is that, in general, this may be an alternative way to find freelancers to do software development work. There are a lot of developers posting on Planet Source Code, Code Source, Code Guru and the like. By searching for programmers directly via these sites you can validate a candidate’s expertise and focus your search on a particular subject matter area before you even start the proposal process. Better yet, get a VA (virtual assistant) and have them do this for you! It’s just a theory and maybe Elance is a much more efficient approach, but it seems like fun to experiment a little!

Anyway, here is the email I sent Ajay:

Happy new year Ajay! I have a proposal for you to consider: I have some development work that I need to do, and I am wondering if you would be interested in helping me out. Compensation would be coming out of my personal funds, so I cannot afford a “corporate” rate if you could keep that in mind! Would you be interested in doing some work for me? If so, what kind of hourly compensation would you consider? If you are too busy, or not interested, or too expensive would you know other good programmers that might be interested?

He responded positively to this proposal. He suggested an hourly rate that is a little high in my opinion, but he indicated a willingness to negotiate on that. It looks like I am ready to move forward on farming out some work, and I am eager to at least give this a try.

I will start with a single, but meaningful programming task to see how it goes. I need to figure out a few things though. Since I did this kind of backwards, I need to go back now and very clearly and specifically describe the task to be done. Not only is this a best practice according to Ferriss and others, lack of clarity can create problems even before you have someone in mind to do the work. Some other issues to figure out:

• How do I budget for this? I would rather know ahead of time the cost for the completed project and not simply pay by the hour. I assume that once the task I have is clearly defined, I should have Ajay quote me on completing that task, not on his hourly rate.
• How do I mitigate potential risks?  For example, I would hate to find out a week later that nothing was accomplished. My guess is that I should define a deadline and perhaps have some kind of checkpoint between the starting and completing of the work.
• How do I deal with a finished product that is unacceptable or of poor quality? I suppose I can state some expectations up front, but I may not be able to judge the end product until I integrate and run the code. Should there be a financial penalty for bugs? Or perhaps part of the agreement should be for Ajay to fix any bugs that I identify?

If anyone has some experience in outsourcing programming work, I would love to hear you thoughts on these issues!

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