Whatever hurdle the Terra team faces will eventually become another milestone along the way. This is exactly what happened in the middle of summer 2020, when the team led by Operations Lead Julieta Trovant had to tackle a very large and complex project. The challenge began with the request of a special client. The IT startup needed its entire mobile application translated, including user interface, content, videos and voice tracks. First, the team analyzed the required actions and guided the client in deciding what was the best localization solution for their needs.
However, translating a mobile app implies linguistic and technological challenges, such as establishing stylistic guidelines, setting file processing protocols or managing videos and subtitling formats. All these factors immediately put the whole team in motion.
Articulating
In order to manage the project successfully, Julieta believes that teamwork played a crucial part. “We worked alongside vendor managers, business development managers, the human resources department, project managers and a large team of vendors,” she explained. This articulation helped them choose the right profile of professionals. “We were in the need of highly skilled translators and subtitlers. Vendors had to be open to changes, suggestions and catch immediately the desired tone for the app,” she said. With this assistance, Julieta’s team found the translators who perfectly fit the project and were enthusiastic about it.
Additionally, given that the client was developing the app, the Terra team was always open to the changes they introduced, and flexible enough to adapt their workflows accordingly. This is where the business development managers played their part. Julieta explained that they worked side by side, because “they built the perfect relationship with the client, based on smooth and clear communication.” This really made a difference in the project as she puts it, since it allowed them to match the client’s expectations with the production capability of the team.
Managing and value
Sometimes the value that the operations team adds in the final deliverable is overlooked. For Julieta, this project was very insightful for both the client and the team, as they all realized how much worth comes from efficient management. Initially, they built a risk management approach, which helped them analyze potential problems and anticipate solutions. Also, the IT expertise was decisive in establishing the correct processing method of the translatable files. With all these actions on the table, the team delivered high-quality outputs on the agreed dates.
“We also had the chance to use our creativity to come up with innovative solutions tailored to the client’s needs,” Julieta said. For example, they developed a specific channel of communication with the client, in order to have an expert language lead answering linguistic queries. Furthermore, they needed to come up with a method to work between two different translation tools, while keeping format and compatibility. Thus, they assembled a unique workflow to properly manage the translatable files and run exhaustive quality checks.
Look beyond
It is known that facing challenges and coming through them successfully unites any team. But as Julieta shared with us, it is also a step in continuous learning, because all the lessons learned are an asset that helps in future projects. “We are confident in our abilities and the integral solutions we can offer to our clients,” she explained. From planning to file processing, from risk management to vendor selection, we really look forward to putting them to work for the future projects that are to come.
