From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([208.92.234.80] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1SYkxe-0004GT-Nr for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Sun, 27 May 2012 21:25:15 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id C4BCEE081B; Sun, 27 May 2012 21:24:51 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-we0-f181.google.com (mail-we0-f181.google.com [74.125.82.181]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B102EE0828 for ; Sun, 27 May 2012 21:22:15 +0000 (UTC) Received: by werj55 with SMTP id j55so1883480wer.40 for ; Sun, 27 May 2012 14:22:15 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=date:from:to:subject:message-id:in-reply-to:references:organization :x-mailer:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=mlQwn4VthtBMwogQeTg2LnlevcmjJ49FWHeAge3p/zU=; b=ClicyLX1ZGp07QO33eKI67DSLDWZikrjD3H0zk1N0COCgEy+5P6NVtvKV0/jlGqiB6 2n/N0DJdGmO7a6ZReLtTThnrDpI4nAYJXXpr0pv2cvulLnbY4fIzdEDdIw86qJIU0Jga kykLbMOZkJ/JMWMHlnqQICjlUMYkrlJP/xVnZ7oZwZXyyiLKiJ4kWuBw/F4rh5N6fr9B GL6MwZnxW4KZsS/rn5889d7fXQ540+lmUGKotyr94lVnSS8F2ZycCNTD/KVkSQKNbij/ Irl0ITxuoT4EG/r12ndAqULo/FBs8iQcvF3JOZhfr2apur4eYOneakpd00/d9dxOUw61 PNsw== Received: by 10.180.78.9 with SMTP id x9mr10724692wiw.18.1338153734976; Sun, 27 May 2012 14:22:14 -0700 (PDT) Received: from khamul.example.com ([196.215.209.80]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id eb8sm16503973wib.11.2012.05.27.14.22.12 (version=SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Sun, 27 May 2012 14:22:14 -0700 (PDT) Date: Sun, 27 May 2012 23:18:52 +0200 From: Alan McKinnon To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] {OT} hire a programmer or company? Message-ID: <20120527231852.186a968f@khamul.example.com> In-Reply-To: References: <4FC0C217.6050302@binarywings.net> <4FC1EAFD.6010504@binarywings.net> Organization: Internet Solutions X-Mailer: Claws Mail 3.8.0 (GTK+ 2.24.10; x86_64-pc-linux-gnu) Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Archives-Salt: 3e10e83d-7709-4fd3-b6a8-86b13d8343cd X-Archives-Hash: 9afb096027a0a3e5df54019bbc3e47c5 On Sun, 27 May 2012 09:09:26 -0700 Grant wrote: > >>>> I'm debating whether I should hire an expert programmer for > >>>> $X/hour, or a company of expert programmers for $2X/hour. =A0It > >>>> makes sense from a financial perspective to hire programmers > >>>> directly, but I wonder if there are benefits to hiring a really > >>>> good company. > [snip] >=20 > Thank you Florian and Alan. This subject has proven difficult to > research and how cool to get in touch with lucid and experienced > individuals like yourselves. >=20 > I think I need to hire one or more programmers and manage them myself > precisely because I don't know how to do it. For many years I handled > all business duties myself, and I've slowly been handing off duties, > and I think that has been working because I know first-hand exactly > how each of those duties should be done. So many times my business > has required something I don't know how to do and I've been faced with > the choice of learning how to do it myself or hiring someone who does. > I've chosen to learn how to do it myself every single time and it's > served me well, although it is very much the long and hard way. >=20 > I'll be getting my feet wet with this shortly. Any other tips > regarding the management of one or more programmers working on various > small web projects? Maybe workflow or any key procedures a newbie > manager should follow? You can get away with almost anything except these two things: Do not micro-manage Do not tell them how to do what they do For everything else, good old communication (that thing you do lots of in business) will see you through. --=20 Alan McKinnnon alan.mckinnon@gmail.com