Comments on: Random Things On A Random Day

By: John Loch

John Loch — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:08:46 +0000

Hi Donna,

Outsourcing. It can be a good or bad practice. The one thing that has saved me many problems has been *escrow*. It’s definately worth the effort, and keeps everyone happy.

I’ve found that you can never provide too much information as well, although in doing so you need to be careful not to overdo it or you can drive costs up.

Experience is also a biggie. No matter where you source your talent, you need to be sure they have experience – either by way of a local ratings system, or by way of direct references. ALWAYS check references. I’ve made the mistake for expedience, and paid for it more than once.. it can drive your timelines down the toilet.

Pricing – India sounds good. At first. But you’ll quickly find that (qualified) bargains are hard to find. Indians can be opportunists too.

And finally, communication. Watch the time zones. Nothing like jumping on messenger at three in the morning.

A complimentary scoop of randomness for you. 🙂

By: DazzlinDonna

DazzlinDonna — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:45:04 +0000

If the ROI is right, that works for me, Vicky.

By: Vicky

Vicky — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:39:52 +0000

Outsourcing is a wonderful idea but why not try right here in our country. I run a virtual office and find it really hard to compete with India and my prices are very reasonable, especially when the client keeps me on retainer. I also offer Free hours to new clients.

By: Ken Teegardin

Ken Teegardin — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 21:50:12 +0000

Before becoming a web developer, I was in the manufacturing sector. This sector has been devastated by outsourcing. I remember thinking when I was younger, that I wanted to be in a business that made something concrete and had a stable future. Oh well.
I have now gone full circle and think that outsourcing is good IF the country will eventually become an open market that will start to buy our goods and services. Outsourcing to India is cool but I wish everyone would stop buy from communist countries (China) that may never be a reciprocating partner.

By: Barry Welford

Barry Welford — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:07:26 +0000

Add me to the group finding problems with Firefox and Gmail. I run with FireBug disabled so that’s not a problem. Gmail just is always incredibly slow in loading. I’m not sure I want to open yet another instance of FF just because Gmail is the one causing the problem.

By: DazzlinDonna

DazzlinDonna — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 22:54:18 +0000

Good idea, John. Hadn’t really thought FF would run as two separate instances, but I’ll check that out.

By: JohnMu

JohnMu — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 22:16:44 +0000

Hi Donna, here’s something else you can try with web-apps that you use regularly: run them in a separate, “no-addons” instance of Firefox. That way you don’t have to miss out on the neat plugins and add-ons available for Firefox but can still make sure that these apps run with as few interruptions as possible.

By: DazzlinDonna

DazzlinDonna — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:27:50 +0000

John, I already had FireBug disabled for Gmail, but I went ahead and got rid of it completely. That *might* have done the trick. So far, no crashes, but it’s early yet. We’ll see.

By: JohnMu

JohnMu — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 08:01:48 +0000

Donna, check if you have FireBug installed — you need to disable that for Gmail (you can still use it for other sites). With it disabled, my Firefox is pretty stable for me, I often have several Gmail windows / tabs open.

By: Chris Dohman

Chris Dohman — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 05:57:18 +0000

weird, i am running gmail (g apps for domains version though) in ff and am not having any problems. runs round the clock. also have 15 add-ons.

nice note on bob’s service, thanks.

good luck to all those in the fight fat for charity, nice idea!