Summer localization slowdown

Things are quiet on our localization front at the moment.

The nature of managing localization projects as a consultant is that, if there's work to do, I do it. If there isn't, I go into down-time mode and focus on interim activities like these:

• Analyzing return-on-investment. This is, in part, how I eventually grew into the role of international product manager. My quest for data on the language-by-language profitability of our localized products takes me to more far-flung corners of the company than I'd anticipated, and it isn't always embraced by everybody in the organization, but I learn a lot. The Accounting department has some vague numbers on revenue from localized products - the overseas sales offices have more accurate data - but it's hard to allocate costs accurately because a localized product costs more than just the amount paid for translation, and companies treat this differently.
  
• Evangelizing. I spend some time getting my ducks in a row with Engineering, Marketing and Production, "educating" them on what goes into a localization project and how much more internationalization we can afford for the next version. I work at keeping people's eyes on the goal of simultaneous shipment ("sim-ship").
• Working things out with the vendors. Some projects merit a post-mortem - which I have always preferred to label "post-partum" - meeting to review what went well and what needs to go differently in the future. It's common for some action items to come out of such a meeting, and so I often spend time with the vendor putting process improvements in place for the next round.
  
• Tinkering with the machine. Every project brings up several internationalization issues (embedded strings, rogue controls, bits of unruly not-invented-here software), so I take advantage of down-time to find out how to deal with them, then pleasantly surprise the engineers with the research I've done.
• Finding beta testers. It's helpful to spend time in between projects mining our registration lists for new beta testers for the localized versions. I find new prospects, weed out the people who haven't helped on the previous round of testing and - very important - handily reward those testers that have stepped up and done a good job for me.
• Talking to the Sales teams. The salespeople in the overseas offices know best what sells and what local customers think of the products, and down-time is an opportune moment to collect formal and informal data and requirements from them.

What about you? Do you ever have down-time between localization projects? How do you spend it? Post a comment and let us know.