22 November 2022
Ensuring agile localization via efficient workflows
As with most multi-stage tasks, localization projects typically rely on an optimal sequence of processes to ensure efficiency. While there are many stages to end-to-end localization, translation often forms the core of the process. Translation generally benefits from an approach based on traditional waterfall processes, with an approval stage acting as a freeze on content.
The translation process typically progresses as follows:
These stages naturally flow from one to the next: it is impossible to proofread a text that has yet to be translated, and work-in-progress glossaries cannot be used as tools for review. There can be potential overlap however, through which the first content to be translated can be proofread before the full text has been completed. In light of this relatively rigid workflow, what can language service providers (LSPs) do to ensure agile localization management?
There are many ways to make a company more agile, including the ability to adjust one’s processes as and when needed, quickly. For localization processes, agility can be enhanced in a number of key ways.
An agile team should be self-organizing, maintain the ability to make its own decisions and analyze its performance. Perhaps the most crucial factor of an agile team is the ability to prioritize the tasks it receives and specify the order it will tackle projects.
An agile localization process then focuses on embedding the localization team in the heart of the client’s processes in order to identify upcoming projects and plan for potential issues that could interfere with the smooth operation of translation processes.
Through the use of technology-driven localization solutions in collaboration with experienced, industry-expert linguists, lean teams are able to respond quickly to potential changes in client demands. This means that teams are able to adjust the number of members in order to respond to fluctuations in the amount of translation work that is required. Experienced LSPs will maintain a robust in-house network of native linguists that can be assigned to tasks when needed, as well as a bank of trusted vendors to ensure that it can scale to meet increased demands quickly.
Enterprise Localization company Alpha CRC maintains an extensive network of localization teams comprising expert linguists, project managers, technology specialists and copywriters to ensure that client projects are delivered to the highest possible standards, in the shortest possible turnaround times.
