METM24 presentation

Team projects: pleasures and pitfalls

Sandra Lustig, Hamburg, Germany

Have you ever turned down a project because it was too large? Would you like to reel in bigger jobs?

Some projects are best completed by a team because of scheduling, size, and/or the need for two sets of eyes. Typical examples include edited volumes, exhibition catalogs, and urgent reports.

Your clients benefit from team projects because teams can deliver big translations on tight timelines and relieve the client from translation project management. Because no agency is involved, translators and clients/authors can communicate directly to clarify questions, which improves quality, establishes professional relationships, builds trust, and saves time – hallmarks of working with boutique language service providers.

For you as translators and editors, team projects open up new areas for generating income and enhancing our professional standing. We can give and receive feedback among colleagues to hone our skills. Teamwork can provide a welcome change to working alone year in, year out.

But how to pull team projects off?

When I manage a team project, I aim to produce professional results and keep everyone (the client and all the team members) happy. In this session I will share the nuts and bolts of how I do that, based on almost two decades of experience. I will discuss identifying whether or not a project is suitable for a team, assembling the team, preparing a successful bid, structuring the services provided by the team, assigning the work, scheduling, and monitoring progress. Other topics include communication, technologies, money, legal questions, reducing risk, managing terminology, and handling problems.

You will gain an overview of how to manage team projects from start to finish in this session. It will begin with participants mentioning topics and questions of interest and end with everyone sharing tips and tricks.

This session is about one-off projects for freelancers, but much of it is relevant for long-term collaboration as well.

About the presenter

Sandra Lustig is a freelance translator, interpreter, and editor (DE<>EN). Born in the US, she grew up bilingual and has lived in Germany most of her life. Her work focuses on social sciences in the broadest sense, sustainable development, universities, and the arts.