One of the classes I have this semester is called "Localization as a Profession." It is taught by Teresa Marshall of Salesforce.com. This has been a great class and a great introduction to the localization industry. One of the main features of this class is learning through case studies. We are given a case in which a company is faced with a problem in its localization process and asked to make decisions aimed at resolving the problem.
A while back, we were asked to draft the makeup of production team for a medium sized project being localized into 15 languages. Given the resources available and the size of the company in the case, I elected to include only L10N engineers and desktop publishing staff in house, with all of the translation and LQA tasks contracted out.
Needless to say, the class discussion and feedback following this assignment were fantastic. Designing processes is fun and challenging, and there's no better way to learn than practice! I love this class because it is about solving problems. It's obvious that each company and even each project is faced with unique challenges.
For you professionals out there, what configurations have you found to be most effective? What resources do you like to keep in house? Does my first attempt at this resemble anything found in the real world?