My fault... I wasn't clear

by Scott Ames

Posted: 14 years ago 10 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

Did you ever give someone a task, expect a result, and not get it because they didn't see the same vision that you did?

I'm very guilty of assuming the other person has the same goal in mind as me when getting something done.

For example... (not real but close) writing an article and submitting it to x article directories. My goal was to get "something" out there in the directories. The person doing it assumed the article was the goal and wrote a masterpiece but ignored the submissions. Now I have a beautiful article that I must submit myself when the whole idea was getting someone to do the submission. (Again not a real example )

Even when I think I'm being clear many times I am not. Once I had an outsourced task and the person doing it asked a question. I replied.. If I were you, I would do this, I would do that.

Later I got an email asking "Did you get those things done?" WHAT?? That was your job, why would you think I would do it? That's what I'm paying YOU for.

It turns out that my message didn't translate well. They assumed when I said "If I were you, I would do this, and I would do that" that I was telling them I would take care of it. I had to rewrite the reply to the question as:

"You should do this, and you should do that"

Once I was clear, they did the task without question.

#clear #fault

Emily Meeks 14 years ago

Yup. That's why whenever I write for clients, I ask for as many details as possible. I had someone just ask me to write about X - no other details given - then didn't even give me the courtesy to say what they liked or didn't. What did they expect - mind-reading?

Just some perspective from the other side of the fence
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Midas3 Consulting 14 years ago

Having taken on 2 VA's lately, I've realized the importance of crystal clear, irrefutable clarity in instructions.

I'm still undecided whether it's "cheaper" to hire "foreign" VA's on the cheap and spend time molly coddling them or to simply pay US/UK wages and spend less time in the process myself.

Quite hard to determine but yeah, I've found myself apologizing for not being clearer a few times now.
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Sue McDonald 14 years ago

I write articles and blogs for people and I make sure they give me a break down of what they want. It is difficult for another person to have your vision therefore you have to supply as much detail as possible so they can complete the task. I agree with Simon - which is easier - I have encountered problems getting graphics done. I have one idea and they have another. Even giving details sometimes the end product does not reflect my ideas.
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- zerofill 14 years ago
  
  Being someone that has done PHP for years but now trying to step away from it...Then explain to someone on oDesk what I need... makes me want to shoot myself lately.
  
  Funny thing is I am not so much looking for the person that is a god like coder...I am looking for someone that has good PHP skills but has the ability to visualize a problem and the solution in their head...
  
  Even I didn't always code something exactly the perfect way...but I have a knack for visualizing the stuff first in a way that corresponds with coding it... it is something I can't even explain lol. But finding someone that visualizes it in the same way is friggin impossible.
  
  I get people quoting 180 hours for something that would take me 10-20 tops...
  
  Told the last one I interviewed I didn't have time for him to go learn PHP first.
  
  So either the crazy quoted hours I am getting back lately are from people who think they are scamming someone with extra hours or...they frankly have no clue what the hell I was trying to get them to envision.
  
  Rewind about 5 years it wasn't like this on places like scriptlance, rent a coder, etc...
  
  Now all of a sudden I think what it is is a lot of people that know how to write code in PHP but have no problem solving skills at all...so they can't do anything unless it is exactly like step: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
  
  And if you have to write out what to do at each exact step you might as well do it yourself....
  
  Getting the message across of what you need something to do...versus writing Pseudocode is a lot different...
  
  Now I am really starting to understand more about why non coders with no background in coding want to jump off a bridge trying to outsource an application...Because I have a coding background and want to do it.
  
  Thanks
  
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  CDarklock 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by zerofill
  
  I get people quoting 180 hours for something that would take me 10-20 tops...
  
  Is that an estimate that it will be done in a month, or that you can expect to be billed for that many hours?
  
  Because those are very different things. The former is perfectly sensible for a 10-20 hour job, because it's not the only thing your developer is doing. Even the latter isn't unreasonable, if the hourly rate is low.
  
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Lloyd Buchinski 14 years ago

'More communication' is a watchword for me lately. I consider that I am still learning to talk. You need a little back and forth to make sure the other person's understanding is in line with what you are trying to convey.

The human brain is so intricate and most people (me included) have a ton of built in assumptions. A couple of words can set off an assumption that doesn't fit. There might be a million different ways an idea can be misunderstood.

At least when the intentions are good, more communication has some surprising benefits. When intentions aren't good, more communication usually makes that clear.

I was working on a construction project and we were facing a difficult problem. One of the guys in the office was curious about it and came down and asked a few questions. He mentioned that aside from the office he had no experience in construction.

While I was thinking of the simplest way to describe it to him, I thought of something that became the solution. Even talking to someone who knew almost nothing about the whole field had solved the problem.
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jennypitts 14 years ago

Oh, believe me that there are people whom, not matter how explicit you are with them, they just DO NOT GET IT. I swear I have hired people and given them very detailed information, with step by step of what needs to be done, yet when I ask why certain thing was not done I get the "Oh that wasn't part of the project. Oh I was not supposed to do that." Then I have to go back through the emails and reiterate what I KNOW I originally requested...

Then there are those that take FOREVER to respond an email... Oh... I guess that is all part of OUTSOURCING!!!
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Tonio Smith 14 years ago

It is my assumption that you're dealing with foreign speaking individuals.

All I can say is You get what you pay for.

ClinTonio
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ContentArticleWriter 14 years ago

I try to be as detailed and annoying as possible when asking my clients questions. And I am not trying to be facetious when I say annoying. In order to avoid misunderstandings, I always email my clients a set of questions that they need to answer before I begin writing for them.

If more people were to do the same we could avoid misunderstandings, complications and even bad endings to projects.
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Profit-smart 14 years ago

Lists people.

I give my VA's *explicit* lists every week. Things that can not be misinterpreted.

For example:

Project X:

Due date: Day X, Month X

Goal:Research X numbers of sites, In X niche, which Recieve X amount of traffic

1: Compile this list in order, from highest to lowest amount of traffic

2: Note the demographics of these sites under the URL and Traffic amount

3: Save in excel format

4: Email to me, John, Dave

5: Relax.
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