Starting Out

Here are some pointers for launching your outsourcing operation.

1. First, define your core: Don’t hand over the core functions of your business. Consider outsourcing other operations that are not as strategic.

2. Evaluate a service provider like you would a full-time employee: Ask questions, check references and ask for feedback from other clients who have used the provider’s services.

3. Clearly define the scope and schedule for your project: Be up front about your project requirements so that service providers know about schedules and deliverables.

4. Don’t choose a vendor based solely on price: Discard the highest-priced and lowest-priced bid. You want a balance of good value and quality results.

5. Review portfolios and samples: Consider asking the provider to do a quick mock-up or provide a basic outline of a work plan.

6. Look for specific experience fit: You want a company with specific experience with the type of project that your company is undertaking. This is important when outsourcing complex technical projects such as software development.

7. Tie compensation to clearly defined project milestones: Define a work plan for your outsourced project, with clearly defined milestones.

8. Negotiate ownership of the work up front: Make sure that you are clear about who owns the resulting work product and any important components of that product. Make sure that the service provider understands how you intend to use the deliverables that they are agreeing to provide.

9. Don’t forget about support after the project is complete: Draft a support clause that ensures you’ll get continuing support from the vendor after the project is complete.

10. Get it in writing: Keep a written record of project goals, pay schedules and any changes.

11. Start small: Start with a project that is relatively small and simple in scope to give you a better idea of the provider’s style and capabilities.

12. Move slowly and commit incrementally: Don’t sign a five-year contract before testing performance and the relationship. Move slowly and commit gradually.

13. Get specialized and expert help: Browse a site that provides access to professionals around the world in your business’s field.

Skills to Consider Outsourcing

You may be able to outsource these job functions to make your small business run more smoothly.

14. Public-relations services: Most small businesses cannot afford a full-time public-relations pro.

15. Virtual assistants: Virtual assistants, or independent entrepreneurs, provide administrative, creative or technical support by handling tasks like scheduling and filing.

16. Outsource brokers: These brokers, exchanges and networks can recruit, interview and manage the services your company needs.

17. E-commerce solutions: Hire a provider that can turn your business’s Web site into a cash cow.

18. E-mail marketing: Your contractor can be thousands of miles and seven time zones away, but they’ll market your business like they’re in the same room.

19. Writers: Writing can be done from anywhere.

20. IT Professionals:Consultants are cheaper than hiring someone in-house.

Outsourcing Dos and Don’ts

Keep these tips in mind as your orientate yourself to outsourcing.

21. Carefully evaluate what can really be outsourced: Self-contained tasks or projects are more suited to outsourcing, while team tasks are not.

22. Consider management costs: Don’t end up squandering the savings in training and oversight costs.

23. Be prepared for challenges: Even from across an ocean, personalities can clash, and schedules can take a while to sync.

24. Don’t walk in blind: Get guidance in choosing a vendor and keep knowledgeable tabs on performance.

25. Consider having a staff employee(s) act as a liaison: Consider entrusting an in-house manager to oversee the outsourced help.

26. Watch out for hidden costs: Consider everything from layoff-related expenses and telecommunications costs for remote workers.

27. Know the outsourcing ABCs: Alignment: Is outsourcing the right move for your business? Business case: Have you taken all costs into consideration? Culture: Can you bridge the cultural difference between your company and the outsourcer?

Where to Find Outsourcing Candidates

Here are some sites that include professionals who can fill your small business’s needs.

28. Elance Inc.: You’ll find tons of freelance writers and designers on this site.

29. FreelancerNow.com: You’ll get services quickly on this site.

30. Guru.com: Post individual projects on this site and have professional bid on them.

31. SHARPSourcing.com: SHARPSourcing.com is an Indian HR outsourcing service that provides Web-development and Web-design outsourcing services to companies across the globe.

32. RentACoder: You can literally rent a Web coder from this site.

33. my pajamanation: Powered by an India-based blogger, this site offers insight into outsourcing, from events to related news from around the world.

34. ScriptLance: You can post a project on this site, which lists bids in a neatly organized list.

35. Integra Global Solutions:Outsource to this firm to expand your business.

36. GetAFreelancer.com: This site can help you find freelance programmers, Web designers and copywriters in India or any other country.

37. Kasamba: Find experts in a number of different fields on this site.

38. GoforFreelance.com: This site works for both freelancers and employees.

39. osLance.com: Post open-source projects here.

40. Sunday LLC: According to the company, “Sunday gives busy people the resources of a 24/7 personal assistant, travel agent, project assistant and tech-support pro, available via both telephone and Internet.”

41. oDesk Corp.: Outsource and manage programmers, Web designers and more.

42.Get Friday: A virtual-assistant resource that undertakes any task or business that does not require a physical presence.

43. DoMyStuff.com: This site is as simple as posting a task, selecting an assistant and getting stuff done.

44. Amazon Mechanical Turk: This Amazon.com-powered site offers companies ‘artificial’ artificial intelligence.

45. craigslist inc.: Post a job under “gigs” or any of the industry sections, and you can outsource work anywhere.

46. Workaholics4Hire.com: Find people 24/7 on this site people by “a team of workaholics who have a compulsive need to work at odd hours, drink too much coffee, and love meeting impossible deadlines.”

47. BrickworkINDIA: Get a remote executive assistant operating from an India to do your work through email.

48. iFreelance.com: Post your project for free to receive bids from hundreds of professional service providers.

49. Agents of Value: This Webmaster staffing company specializes in finding full-time programmers, graphic designers, journalists, researchers and link builders to help your business grow.

50. Netgear Solutions: Netgear Solutions is an IT-based solution organization with a strong crew of software professionals and Web professionals.

Tips for Outsourcing to a Personal Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants can do your grunt work without taking up office space.

51. Minimize the kickoff effort: Set up a single inbox where your tasks will be dropped for quick assigninment.

52. There’s no such thing as too small: Even five-minute tasks can become cumbersome when they add up. Your assistant can get them done by “batching” them in meaningful ways.

53. Set up recurring tasks: You can have your virtual assistant perform tasks like keeping tabs on the blogs and newsletters of your business’s fans and competitors.

54. Empower the assistant to take further action: Clearly lay out the next steps of tasks and projects.
55. Revisit the to-do list: Basically, hold on to important tasks that you should do and give the support and research tasks to the virtual assistant.

Tools for Tasks and Projects

If you want to keep track of exactly what work an employee needs to do and when they must do it, check out these task organizers.

56. Backpack: Backpack is an information-management and to-do list organizer that can help your outsourced talent get the job done.

57. Wiki.com: Wiki.com features project tracking; searchable discussions; shared calendars; Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF file support; and 256-Bit SSL encryption.

58. Ta-da Lists: Ta-da Lists is the “Web’s simplest and fastest to-do list maker,” and even works on the iPhone.

59. CellTell: Send voiceNotes from your outsourced help from any of your phones straight to your Backpack page

60. Jott: Jott will act like your own personal assistant by supplying free voice-to-text service.

61. Campfire: Especially great for remote teams, Campfire is like instant messaging optimized for groups.

62. VIP Task Manager: VIP Task Manager lets multiple users manage tasks and access the common database.

63. Task Manager: Track personal and shared tasks, jobs and projects with Task Manager, which lets you quickly view all of the duties so you can prevent missing deadlines.

64. Excel: The Multiple Daily Tasks Excel spreadsheet assigns up to 50 tasks, shifts or clients to up to 20 employees.

65. Employee Task Chaser: Develop the execution abilities of your work team and get things done with this tool.

66. Shift Schedules: This tool lets you assign your people to daily shifts, tasks or locations in 30 minute increments.

67. Employee Project Clock: Employee Project Clock is ideal for companies that are involved in control engineering, manufacturing and automation, as well as tool-and-die shops.

68. OfficeView: This Web application includes a messaging system and software to track consultant information.

69. Personnel Organizer Deluxe: Personnel Organizer Deluxe provides an easy way to gather, organize and manage information about all consultants in your company.

70. VIP Simple To Do List: Tell your consultants what they need to get done when with VIP Simple To Do List.

71. Project Tracker: This extensive database program contains suppliers and purchase and estimation modules.

72. Employee Planner: Plan consultant work, schedules, travel, events, vacations, projects or meetings with this easy-to-use tool.

Web Sites

Check out these Web sites, which feature time sheets and scheduling software for overseas employees.

73. Atlas Business Solutions Inc.: This site features inexpensive downloads for consultant scheduling, HR needs and business plans.

74. InTime Solutions Inc.: InTime Solutions provides software downloads, as well as information and news about the automation sphere.

75. i-Staff: This site provides Web-based employee scheduling software.

76. TimeFox: Web-based time- and project-tracking tools make this site a smart place to go.

77. WorkPlace Systems: This treasure trove of business solutions and services features free downloads for workplace management.

78. Kronos Inc.: Choose from a host of time and scheduling software on this site.

79. Celayix Inc.: Scheduling and attendance solutions are available on this site.

80. WorkBuddy Solutions Pyt. Ltd.: WorkBuddy Solutions is your pal for automated workforce-management solutions.

81. Valiant Solutions Inc.: According to the company’s Web site, “Valiant brings Web-enabled, real-time automation through a centralized database to every phase of your workforce management lifecycle.”

82. AceProject: This site provides project-management tools, Web-based time sheets and free time-sheet software.

83. Personnel Scheduling Software: You can choose from a plethora of scheduling software on this site.

84. Michael Greer’s Project Management Links: Michael has taken it upon himself to post dozens of project- management tools on his site.

85. Advanced Time Reports: This whole Web site devoted to time report software is a must-see.

86. Microsoft Office Project 2007: This site gives you the lowdown on Microsoft Office Project 2007 software.

87. Basecamp: Set up headquarters at Basecamp, which lets you log hours and keep track of projects.

88. activeCollab: This site’s motto is “Eliminate Stress. Manage Success.”

Information

These sites offer information about the Indian market and can help you navigate the outsourcing realm.

89. U.S. Department of State Background Note: The Bureau of South Asian Affairs provides information on India’s geography, people, economy and relations with the U.S.

90. The Outsourcing Weblog: Stay on the up-and-up on outsourcing news from around the globe.

91. Doing Business in India: Find information here on investing in India, the country’s economic policy, government and more.

92. Doing Business in India: A Cultural Perspective: Read up on cultural differences between the U.S. and India.

93. Outsourcing to India: Get your legal, logistical and practical questions about doing business in India answered.

94. Country Information About India: Read through reports, surveys, papers, publications, news and more information about India.

95. A Buyer’s Guide to Offshore Outsourcing: Browse a worldwide comparison of prices, risks and other factors you should consider before outsourcing overseas.

96. Center for Global Outsourcing: For $85 per year, you’ll get resources that underscore the benefits of global outsourcing to businesses.

97. Current Realities in Global IT initiatives: This research, conducted by Zinnov Management Consulting, looks at the issues associated with offshore IT initiatives.

98. Outsourcing FAQ: Get all of your outsourcing questions at this Everest Partners LP-sponsored site.

99. Outsourcing Center: Read white papers, articles and research about outsourcing.

100. Offshore Outsourcing: Making It Work: InformIT, a Pearson Education Informant subsidiary, provides you with eight points to consider before moving business operations offshore.

By keeping costs low and intensely evaluating the potential and the plan, you can outsource to help your small business thrive. In no time, your company will be competing with the delivery capabilities of larger organizations, but you’ll still be your own boss.

Source: HR World

I’ve met alot of designers in my limited experience that complain about the “sketchers”. Sometimes designers with an aptitude for sketching get labeled as being shallow or non-creative. However, I see sketching as a means to and end rather than the end all. When all is said and done, regardless of how flashy the sketch may be or how killer it may look, the essence of why we sketch ideas as designers is seeded in effectively communicating those ideas to our clients. Sketching is our language of communication.

Sometimes we sketch for fun, but most of the time when working, we sketch for clients or other designers. The sketches that go into your sketchbook are of a different quality than those you would show to your fellow designers in a review or to a client in a meeting, but both sketches have their uses nonetheless. Take this for example, you’re in a restaurant on a lunch break and something comes to mind. You quickly jot it down on a scraggly napkin so that you don’t forget the idea. That sketch too has its purpose. Although it could be the killer idea of a lifetime, the communication may be lacking from you to the client and may be more of a self communication tool.

So then what are the different types of sketches you ask? Well fortunately you are in the right place, at the right time, reading the right blog.

1. Personal Communication Sketches aka the Doodle:

These are the scraggliest of the scraggers. The dirtiest of the dirty. They sketches that tend to live in the sketchbook or on discarded pieces of paper. The purpose of doodling and sketching so roughly is for you the designer to work out the issues with form or function, but in a looser more empathic way. These sketches tend to be most present at the genesis of the product concept. For me, these are the doodles I do when preoccupied in thought on the bus or train as I try to fiddle around with new ideas or sketch techniques.

2. The Thinking Sketch:

Al little more focused and refined, these sketches are usually alot cleaner than the scraggly doodles you find in a sketchbook. You may find yourself showing these to other designers, so you can make certain assumptions as you sketch and use cues that your colleagues would pick up on suck as hatching and contour lines. Simple gestural sketches could also fall into this category. . .

3. The Technical Sketch

Designers bridge the gap between art and engineering. (you can decide for yourself what your role or mantra is) As such, sometimes it’s necessary when sitting and working with an engineer or clay modeler to then speak on their terms. That means pulling out the ol’ exploded views, cutaway views, and cross sections to help communicate your vision for the product your designing.

4. The Presentation Sketch:

This is where you bring out the big guns. These sketches tend to be a little more refined and thought out. you can think of them as being a little technical yet a little emotive. They serve to captivate the viewers interest while then explaining the concept visually. For a client that does not have the visual thinking skills of you fellow designers, it may be necessary to be a bit more explicit in how you explain things in your sketches (hence the technical aspect). Notes, callouts, different views – this is where you’ll want to be overt in how you express the idea.

5. The Emotive Sketch:

The gushy, over the top, killer sketch whose soul purpose is to make your viewer stare in awe at the killer sketch/render in front of them. Yes this is what tends to be the automotive sketch. Descriptive yet very emotional. I rarely do these much as I tend to work in 3-d once I get past the presentation sketch phase, but don’t get me wrong, I totally dig these and love a good emotionally and visually captivating sketch.

Source: ID Sketching

There are many reasons that companies outsource various jobs, but the most prominent advantage seems to be the fact that it often saves money. Many of the companies that provide outsourcing services are able to do the work for considerably less money, as they don’t have to provide benefits to their workers and have fewer overhead expenses to worry about.

Outsourcing also allows companies to focus on other business issues while having the details taken care of by outside experts. This means that a large amount of resources and attention, which might fall on the shoulders of management professionals, can be used for more important, broader issues within the company. The specialized company that handles the outsourced work is often streamlined, and often has world-class capabilities and access to new technology that a company couldn’t afford to buy on their own. Plus, if a company is looking to expand, outsourcing is a cost-effective way to start building foundations in other countries.

There are some disadvantages to outsourcing as well. One of these is that outsourcing often eliminates direct communication between a company and its clients. This prevents a company from building solid relationships with their customers, and often leads to dissatisfaction on one or both sides. There is also the danger of not being able to control some aspects of the company, as outsourcing may lead to delayed communications and project implementation. Any sensitive information is more vulnerable, and a company may become very dependent upon its outsource providers, which could lead to problems should the outsource provider back out on their contract suddenly.

While outsourcing may prove highly beneficial for many companies, it also has many drawbacks. It is important that each individual company accurately assess their needs to determine if outsourcing is a viable option.

Source: wisegeek

Click here for the PDF.

Source: www.infosys.com

From Wikipedia:

Product designers are equipped with the skills needed to bring products from conception to market. They should have the ability to manage design projects, and subcontract areas to other sectors of the design industry. Aesthetics is considered important in Product Design but designers also deal with important aspects including technology, ergonomics, usability, stress analysis and materials engineering.

As with most of the design fields the idea for the design of a product arises from a need and has a use. It follows a certain method and can sometimes be attributed to more complex factors such as association and telesis. Also used to describe a technically competent product designer or industrial designer is the term Industrial Design Engineer. The Cyclone vacuum cleaner inventor James Dyson for example could be considered to be in this category (see his autobiography Against The Odds, Pub Thomson 2002).

10 Tips on landing you an Industrial Design Job.

But in this economy, job security is almost non-existent.  In case you get laid-off, what will you do with your time?  You can of course become a fully-pledged freelance designer, wherein you can sub-contract work from other people and companies.  But this kind of outsourcing-business model is not as easy as it seems.  It takes a lot of determination.

Some talented folks that I know have become less productive when they had more time due to the unfortunate company downsizing.  Previously, they were juggling between a day job and their own design practice, trying to find time for their own studio work after office hours.  They were pretty productive.  They were on a roll.

But now that there’s no day job, even their own studio work suffered.  Not as productive as before.  I guess, for most it’s the side effect of freedom.  There’s a lot more time to sleep in, not having to worry about work.  For some, it’s the stress of not having a regular, and to others it’s the lack of routine that gets them down.

Once we are in constant motion, we tend to be more productive.  When we start to stagnate, it is more difficult to focus on the task at hand, even though we might have more time on our hands.

One underlying problem is the lack of motivation, the drive to move forward and succeed.  It is very difficult to be motivated in times of (economic) trouble.  Yet we must struggle to get our focus back on track.  Keeping a positive outlook is essential.

In the end, it’s our determination that will lead to success.  A little bit of talent might be useful though.

1.   Freelance Switch -  FreelanceSwitch is a community of expert freelancers from around the world.   They have a website chock-full of relevant resources to suit every freelancer’s needs.  There is a forum, and a job board and free listings/directory.   A must for every freelancer!

2.  Freelance Folder -  FreelanceFolder is a blog for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and web-workers.  It contains freelance tools, advice, resources, and more.  They have an interesting “how-to” section, articles on productivity, as well as marketing and inspiration tips.

3. Fuel Your Creativity - Graphic design blog providing the latest news, articles and resources for all types of design.  Tons of information, from software tips, designer interviews, freelance tips, and even freebies!

4. All Freelance Directory – Directory of freelance job boards, resources and articles.  Everything you need to know about freelancing you can find here – from getting started to self-promotion, to customer relations to taxation, all covered here.

5.  Freelancers Union – Freelancers Union is a non-profit organization in the United States that represents the needs and concerns of the independent workforce through advocacy, information, and service.  Freelancers Union is a national membership organization that’s free to join.  They offer products like insurance and retirement to members and provide political advocacy for all independent workers.

1.  Coroflot – An employment community for designers: Make an online portfolio to promote your work.  Browse portfolios or post design jobs.

Coroflot is the hands-down king of free online portfolios.  It started out mainly as a venue for Industrial Designers (check out core77), and later on became expanded to include other disciplines such as graphic design, packaging, and architecture.

2.  Behance Network - “A free platform for the worlds leading creative professionals”.

You can build a dynamic, multimedia portfolio of your latest projects, open to all or shared selectively ; Form groups (”circles”) gathered around interests, share content and get feedback ; Behance’s Tip Exchange provides insights for creative professionals, and throughout Behance one can access knowledge, services and products for the creative community ; Behance’s JobList features great work opportunities. Creative industry leaders use the Network to find, track and hire top talent.

3.  Carbonmade – With Carbonmade, you can manage and showcase your online portfolio with a variety of tools that will allow you to change how you display your work.

4.  Flickr - Flickr is an image and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community platform. In addition to being a popular website for users to share personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers as a photo repository.

5.  Free Blogs - You can start-up a portfolio site by signing-up for a free Blogger or Wordpress account.  If you’d like to tell stories while sharing your creative work, a blog portfolio is for you.

6.  deviantART – is an American online community with worldwide appeal showcasing various forms of user-made artwork.  DeviantArt aims to provide a place for any artist to exhibit and discuss works. Works are organized in a comprehensive category structure, including photography, digital art, traditional art, literature, Flash, filmmaking, skins for applications and others, along with extensive downloadable resources such as tutorials and stock photography.

7.  Cafe Press – Not only you are uploading your works for free – they will also sell and produce it for you!  Another potential source of residual income.  Create and sell your own designs, photos and images on a wide variety of customizable products with zero upfront costs and zero inventory investment.

8.  SHOWN’D – “Whether you’re a photographer, graphic or web designer , illustrator, writer, videographer , or ‘that guy’, you’re going to need a portfolio. That’s where SHOWN’D come in.  Get your free online portfolio and connect with employers.”

9.  Professional on The Web -  Professional On The Web is a directory of web professional profile, projects and portfolio; tagged by their Know-How.

10.  Etsy - A website that provides the general public with a way to buy and sell handmade items as well as vintage items and craft supplies. Handmade items cover a wide range including art, photography, clothing, jewelry, edibles, bath & beauty products, and toys. The site follows in the tradition of open craft fairs, giving sellers personal storefronts where they list their goods for a fee^. It has been compared to “a crafty cross between Amazon and eBay”, and to “your grandma’s basement”^.