Communicating With Offshore Programmers

If you are visiting this page because you are looking for a place to find offshore programmers – I use and recommend oDesk.

Well I am sure you will be glad to know that I did find a fantastic ebook cover designer on oDesk for exactly $10. There were a lot of applications that were cheaper than $10, but I made the decision as usual based on portfolio and feedback – and the designer I chose had 4.98 (out of 5) feedback after 34 jobs and a portfolio that included some fantastic ebook covers.

My new employee is based in Pakistan, so I can take a guess that English is not his first language. So the key to working with oDesk offshore programmers is the way that you communicate with them.

Tips for Communicating With Offshore Programmers

In my communications with my designer I was reminded of a couple of tips when dealing with people who do not speak English as a first language. I will use this experience as an example and you will also get a sneak preview of the design process of the GEO Arbitrage ebook cover.

Don’t Complicate Things

Offshore programmers do not care about fancy language and big words – in fact it could most possibly just leave them confused and completing your job wrong. Your main goal in communication is to keep your message short and simple.

• Use Bullet Points
  This is a great way to break up each point that you want to make. It allows them to see where a thought starts and finishes.
• Don’t Use Unnecessary Amounts Out Words
  Don’t say with 10 words something that you could say with 3. The less words you use, the less likely you will be to confuse your worker.

Here is the exact message that I send to one of my designer (with links changed):

Hi {Name}

I have just hired you to design my ebook cover.

You have a fantastic feedback record and your portfolio looks great!

The Details Of The Ebook Are As Follows:

Title: GEO Artbitrage
Subtitle: Work Smarter. Not Harder.
Author: Thomas Sinfield

DESIGN:

I would the like the design of the ebook cover to fit with the colour and feel of my website:
http://secretmarketingsuccess.com/ (this link goes outside odesk.com)

With the focus on blues and yellow/orange found in the design.

BOOK LAYOUT
I would like a standing book design, like: http://www.insertexamplehere.com

I like the following of your designs and would like something similar:

http://www.ebookcoverilike.com/ebook_cover_5.jpg

http://www.ebookcoverilike.com/ebook_cover_4.jpg

http://www.ebookcoverilike.com/ebook_cover_6.jpg

If you have any questions, just send me a message. Let me know if there is something that you do not understand.

Thankyou.

Tom

As you can see, I go straight to the point. Divide my job description up into sections and don’t use excess words. This started off a great flow of communication between myself and of ebook cover designer and I think that you will agree that the end result looks fantastic.

Reference Examples

One thing you will notice in communication with my designer  is that I reference other things a lot.

Which of the following statements would provide a better result?

I would like a standing book design

I would like a standing book design, like: http://www.insertexamplehere.com

Think about it. How many different styles of ebook covers do you think there are? From the first statement the offshore programmer would not know if I was looking for a square book, a tall book, a fat book or a magazine style layout. However, with the second statement I am showing him the exact style of ebook and format I am looking for – therefore, leaving no room for interpretation.

I like to give my designers a lot of creative license, so I do not usually give them a large criteria to follow. They are the experts and I am paying them to be creative – so I usually just give them a guide to what colours I would like and a few examples of products that I find attractive (so they know the style that I like).

Images Cross Language Barriers

When you are sent work from your offshore programmers for critiquing the easiest way to communicate changes is to use screen shots and Microsoft Paint (or Photoshop if you own it).

Take my GEO Arbitrage ebook cover design job for example:

Now this doesn’t take any special graphic design skills. I simply used the ‘fill’ tool and text. But isn’t this so much easier than trying to explain the changes you want?

That being said, even though I send an image with my changes to my offshore programmers, I still make sure they understand by including the changes in text format also.

The email that went with the image for these changes was as follows:

Looking great! Good point with the colour of the spine, I didn’t realise that.

I made a few changes in paint and attached it to give you the final changes.

I am sure you will work them all out, but here they are:

TEXT:

GEO <— Dark Grey Colour
Arbitrate <—Lighter Grey Colour

Work Smarter > Not Harder <— Two tones of blue as shown in file

Thomas Sinfield —> Dark Grey (Same as GEO)

A Beginners Guide To Outsourcing Your Jobs Overseas <– Dark Grey (Sorry, for the addition of this)

SPINE: Revert to blue background on spine

Arbitrage <– Make lower case on spine

GLOBE <– Can you reduce the opacity to about 30%? I like it but I think it stands out too much.

Let me know if you don’t understand anything. And these should be the last of the changes.

Thanks!

Tom

Notice that once again, I use plain English and keep things as simple as possible. This double team approach (image + text) makes sure that communication errors are at a minimum.

These three points are the best advice I can give you when it comes to communicating with offshore programmers.

Just Remember To:

• Keep It Simple
• Reference Examples
• And To Use Images

And you shouldn’t have a problem communicating with programmers who speak English as a second language.