[consulting] oDesk

[Domenic Santangelo]

On Tue, May 5, 2009 at 2:08 AM, Domenic Santangelo
<domenic at workhabit.com> wrote:
> The point is effective communication. VNC'ing into my box or pinging
> me every 20 minutes asking "How's it coming?" isn't effective, it's
> controlling. Phone calls are effective, scrums are, ticket tracking
> is, email is (usually). Tools like the ones talked about earlier are
> nothing more than a smokescreen to make buyers feel more comfortable
> while providing little true value. The objectives you hand off should
> be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Reasonable, and Timeboxed. What
> is checking up on your developer thru screensharing measuring? Lines
> of code? Time spent in vi? It's ultimately irrelevant to performance.
> Like you said earlier, deliverables are what count. (See my blog post
> about S.M.A.R.T. project management here:
> http://www.workhabit.com/labs/smart-project-management ).
>
> And here's the ironic part -- no matter what you think your level of
> control is, if someone really, truly wants to screw you over they will
> find a way, no matter how many times you look at their desktop.

^ Not getting the attention it deserves, imo... not to be a **** and
quote myself, but srsly u guys. oDesk-style control attempts to be
proactive, but in reality the only thing that counts is what work gets
turned in. This is by nature a reactive thing. You can't guarantee the
developer you hire is doing the work you're paying him for until the
deadline has already passed unless you're monitoring him 24/7... and
if you have time for that, why not just do it yourself?

-D