Onboarding freelancers
Onboarding freelancers
Maari Casey over at uncompany had a recent LinkedIn post about planning for freelancers.
She made some good points, but I think skipped one, and it’s not just relevant for freelancers. Even well before an organization might need extra work – be it freelance or employee – companies need to have a plan for onboarding.
As an independent developer, more than half of the projects I’ve come in to have many initial delays because of basic stuff – network access (or physical premises access years ago!), services access (wherever your data files are you want folks to work on/with).
I’ve worked (both freelance and w2) with orgs where it’s a breeze – I’m up and functioning and able to “get to work” in less than a day – sometimes just a couple hours. And I’ve worked with some where it takes *days* of waiting, coordinating with various groups (none of whom know who you are). If you’re paying for my time during that period, it’s a waste of your money. If I’m not allowed to bill you while waiting, it’s a waste of my time (and… money or time I could be spending elsewhere).
This doesn’t just apply to software developers. Having a process to bring people in to your organization to get work done is vital to getting the best from all parties.
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