Here is a section from an e-mail that I received yesterday
from Ginny in Australia

I have similar messages on a daily basis so
I know this is not an isolated problem.

This is what she had to say …

—————————————–

So far, I have been a bit frustrated with
the VA and outsourcers I have hired
- I spend as much time emailing back and forth
asking them to correct little, obvious
inconsistencies and trying to suggest ways to
get the site looking good as I used to spend
trying to work out how to do it myself!

—————————————-
and my response

Anybody who has used an outsourcer  or VA will
have had this problem at some point

OK the truth is this is less about the VA and more
about you.

I came to this realisation  myself when working
with the English web designers that a client had
already started with. Up until that point I had thought
that it was just one of the drawbacks of dealing with
outsourcers form a different culture.  DUH how wrong I was.

The tasks that I thought were obvious and needed
little explanation were not obvious to the
English designers and they either did not
do them or to the level of  that I required.

It is frustration at this point that leads people to
fall into the trap of.

** learning how to do it themselves
** doing it themselves if they are capable
** moan about outsourcers from different countries.

As I was having the same problem with Indian Outsourcers
and experienced English web designers the common problem
factor had to be me.

It was my failure to accurately

·  describe what I needed doing and

·  what my expectations were

that led to the break down in communication
and my subsequent frustration.

If your truthful the same reasons cause the same
frustrations in all relationships not just
those with your outsourcers.

I’ll share next time how I manage these
situations to get better results now.

Gavin Allinson

P.S. I’d be interested to know what else
causes you frustration with Outsourcers