Poll: For projects that last longer than a day or two, do you send your client regular updates?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Nov 8, 2018

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "For projects that last longer than a day or two, do you send your client regular updates?".

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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:49
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Other Nov 8, 2018

My long-standing customers know that I always stick to deadlines, so in general there’s no need, but I’ve done it occasionally for projects lasting longer than one month…

 
Philippe Etienne
Philippe Etienne  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 10:49
Member
English to French
Only at the client's request Nov 8, 2018

But I always ask whether I will be able to come back to the bits delivered before the final delivery.
Otherwise, never.
Unless parts are clearly unrelated, I like to keep control over it all until I'm satisfied. On a manual/brochure, I may find out in appendices/outros/conclusions that I have misunderstood a concept or made a poor choice as early as the intro/exec sum/table of contents.
And I like to reread the lot at the end, as I usually don't remember what the beginning was
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But I always ask whether I will be able to come back to the bits delivered before the final delivery.
Otherwise, never.
Unless parts are clearly unrelated, I like to keep control over it all until I'm satisfied. On a manual/brochure, I may find out in appendices/outros/conclusions that I have misunderstood a concept or made a poor choice as early as the intro/exec sum/table of contents.
And I like to reread the lot at the end, as I usually don't remember what the beginning was about after a few weeks!

Philippe

EDIT: agencies like staggered deliveries so that they can shorten lead times by planning editing/reviewing before the whole project is actually translated.

[Edited at 2018-11-08 10:15 GMT]
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Yaotl Altan
Muriel Vasconcellos
 
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 10:49
Member (2012)
English to Danish
+ ...
No Nov 8, 2018

I never ever did that

- unless there was some specific reason

[Edited at 2018-11-08 15:04 GMT]


 
Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 04:49
German to English
+ ...
no reason to, and updates may not make sense to the client Nov 9, 2018

Ok, so I told a client that the translation will be ready on or before Jan. 10 and today is Jan. 1. If he knows he will have it on Jan. 10, why does he need to know that I'm working on it on Jan. 5? His only concern is to receive it on Jan. 10.

In regard to updates. The client won't know my working procedure. If there are 20 pages, it's not like p. 1-4 Mon; p. 5-8 Tues. etc. I may be doing research or preparation on day 1. I may create a draft relatively quickly so that effec
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Ok, so I told a client that the translation will be ready on or before Jan. 10 and today is Jan. 1. If he knows he will have it on Jan. 10, why does he need to know that I'm working on it on Jan. 5? His only concern is to receive it on Jan. 10.

In regard to updates. The client won't know my working procedure. If there are 20 pages, it's not like p. 1-4 Mon; p. 5-8 Tues. etc. I may be doing research or preparation on day 1. I may create a draft relatively quickly so that effectively on Jan. 5 "everything is almost done", but proofreading and polishing may take two more days. Maybe I have two tricky terms with a colleague who may have an answer for me, and I'm waiting for those terms. It would be impossible for my client to make sense of my "progress", and that client might come to wrong conclusions.

That's if you only have one project. Take again: request on Jan. 1 - you say you will deliver on Jan. 10. You know that you have another project to do within that period, you are finishing another one. One of your regulars tends to send small projects during the week that take less than an hour. When you have given that Jan. 10 deadline, you have factored in all of those things. The "progress report" will look odd. Jan. 1 - I finished off another client's project. Jan. 2 - I'm doing the one-day project I promised another client. Jan. 3 - half a day on your project etc. There is no reason for it. If I promised delivery on Jan. 10, then the only concern of the client is that he receives the project on Jan. 10.
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Rachel Shaw
 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 06:49
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Only if the client asks, of course! Nov 9, 2018

You'll obviously send updates if the client asks for them.
You'll obviously not send updates if the client doesn't ask for them.


Muriel Vasconcellos
 


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Poll: For projects that last longer than a day or two, do you send your client regular updates?






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