Tools to Streamline Work with Freelancers
Hiring freelancers is a great way to quickly get projects done that you don’t have the time or skills for. It can also be cheaper than hiring full-time staff. Without the proper management, however, working with a freelancer could end up draining your time and money -- exactly what you were trying to steer clear of in the first place.
Avoid pitfalls by using these tools to help you manage your freelancers and streamline your freelance projects.
Freelance Monitoring Tools
The problem with freelance work is that you never know exactly what your freelancer is up to. This can be a real dilemma when you’re paying by the hour or if you don’t know the status of a project.
The best way to nip this problem in the bud is to use a screen-shot-taking time tracker like oDesk Team or HiveDesk.
The first freelance marketplace to offer this valuable yet controversial tool was oDesk. Employers who post jobs on oDesk can use the free desktop application to see their remote contractors in action and manage them as if they were in the office. The tool lets you see who’s working and their activity level, as well as chat in real time. It also takes a screen shot every 10 minutes of their Work Diary, so you can see what they’re working on and rest assured that “an hour billed is an hour worked.” The oDesk Team application even comes with an iPhone version that lets you keep track of your freelancers everywhere you go.
If you’re not hiring freelancers through oDesk, ask your freelancers to install HiveDesk, a desktop application that lets them log in when they start a project and takes screen shots every 10 minutes for you to view. HiveDesk is free for single projects with a single freelancer, and can go up to $59 per month depending on how many projects and workers you have. HiveDesk is free for freelancers to register and download.
Privacy advocates don’t like these screen shot-taking tools, but as long as your freelancer knows they’re being monitored, you won’t have an issue.
Freelance Communication Tools
Conveying exactly what you want from a project sometimes requires more than a detailed e-mail or phone conversation. Lots of people, after all, are visual learners.
Jing is a free online tool that lets you add visual elements to your online conversations. It helps you explain ideas, give feedback, collaborate on projects, and share information without constantly being on the phone or e-mailing. The Jing application sits on your desktop and allows you to capture either an image or a video of whatever you’re looking at on your screen and share a link of your capture via Web, e-mail, instant message, or Twitter. Jing lets you enhance your screen shots with text, arrows, and highlights, and you can add clarity to screen casts with text and voice narrations. Jing Pro ($14.95 per year) lets you add webcam video and upload your screen casts to YouTube and other video sites.
Freelance Collaboration Tools
If you have to work closely with a freelancer on a project, a collaboration tool such as Google Wave will help you track and complete projects remotely. Google Wave lets you share and edit documents in real time and drop in videos and pictures to demonstrate what you want accomplished or to see what your freelancer is working on. Note: Google has ceased development of Wave, but users can still access and use it.
