Contractors: how to work with them

A few tips for those who outsource tasks, work with contractors, freelancers and other performers.

Hey. I am Sasha and I lead the Flyphant studio, which develops mobile applications, websites and video editing and animation (in English it would sound like Motion graphics).

I often have to interact with contractors in the field of design, copyright, work with sound, layout, programming and other related disciplines. In this regard, I have already gained a little experience that allows you to achieve the expected result in time.

Below are a few rules that I try (not always successful, but I try) to adhere to when working with contractors, with the result that everyone is happy with the work (and the process and the result).

Once, even without working, I received a review like this :
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Olga: I did not have a chance to work in this company, but I communicated with its representatives. I can not say anything about how the company works, but the representatives are very pleasant and polite. Even those with whom they probably will not work for various reasons will answer in great detail. It seems to me that the company is very loyal and with a pleasant atmosphere.

So:

1. Never delay payment

Strange as it may seem (although what’s strange here, we live in such a country, with such people), there are still cases when contractors are being delayed in paying. And often, the reason for that is put "Still waiting for payment from the client" (or from the investor, or some other regular payment).

You (yes, you) set the task for the contractor, agreed on a price, on payment methods. Do not blame your inability to pay for work on time (or pay at all) for someone else. This does not bother anyone and does not solve the problem. Agreed with you.

Do not assume payment obligations if you cannot fulfill them regardless of what financial difficulties you have. Book this money in advance and do not touch it.

If both prepayment and payment at the end of work will always be on time, they will be more willing to work with you because they will be confident in you.

And do not expect that the poor illustrator (designer, copywriter, etc.) is sitting and waiting only for you. Someone else will turn to him and pay immediately. Everything. We'll have to look for a new artist.

2. Be sure to submit all comments in advance.

The sooner you give all the comments to the artist, the less you may have problems in further work.

Suppose you are a project manager on the client side. On Friday evening, your CEO finally spoke about the video clip scenario (gave his comments). Now they need to digest, translate into an understandable language and pass on to the copywriter. But it seems to be Friday and evening, and make them not for long (an hour or two). You can leave until Monday morning - you think. Tell the director that it will be ready on Monday and leave for the night break.

Morning. Monday. It's time to send comments. A copywriter is not responding. He is simply unavailable, he has his own affairs and in general he is not up to you at the moment.

But if you sent all the comments on Friday night, the copywriter would have asked you all the questions (freelancers are free people, when they want, then they can work, they can also on weekends) and you would explain everything to them. And on Monday (although it may be at the weekend), the result that can be shown to the director would already be ready.

Do not delay on Monday what can be done on Friday.

3. Timeline and budget specify, but do not ask

Often the time and cost are asked from the contractor. What if he makes faster? And suddenly cheaper? Here you can save time and money. I also practiced this approach before.

This led to a long choice of the performer, fitting the timing of the entire project to the terms convenient for him (which eventually shift anyway), often just to overpay, because the performer would agree to a smaller amount, but once asked, why not request more. In general, all this leads to a lack of control.

But, as practice has shown, they agree to work more willingly when both cost and time are known. Often it happens and more profitable.

Probably, they agree to such work more, because they know that this project will not drag on for a long time and the money will correspond to the time spent on the work.

Again, this is a feeling of control over the situation, only on both sides: on the part of the customer (yours) and on the part of the performer.

4. Lay more time than agreed

No one can predict that everything will go smoothly in the project. There are cases when it turns out that the video file sent from the source is not the source, but is sequenced from the frames of this video clip. This is the time to re-request the source in a different format. Or when they send the source of application layouts, and it turns out that they are all in Illustrator format, and the developers understand only Photoshop. This is the time to adapt the source. Or someone will get sick, the grandmother will die, the passport will be lost ... The horror that is happening in the world.

Put in more time to work with a contractor than agreed with him. The more time negotiated, the greater should be the backup.

For example, if the performer promised to send work the next day, then consider that the work will be in 2 days. If you have discussed with the designer that all the work should be done in 7 days, it means that you need to add 3 more days in internal timing. There is no exact formula, but I usually add 1 to 10 days.

On the other hand, if you have specified 10 days for working with a contractor in internal timing, you should agree with the contractor for 5–7 days already.

5. Trust

If you turned to someone for work, then you turned to this person, team, company, precisely because you yourself do not know how. This fact will have to be accepted, otherwise dissatisfied with work on both sides will be enough, and this will necessarily affect the result.

Take as an example the development of the site. You, the owner of an online store, are applying for its design. Appeal to a professional team that knows their stuff. And you have a primary goal - to increase sales. Everything, absolutely everything further in this project should obey precisely this goal: the structure of the site, the location of elements on the page, and the colors of the buttons.

But then you, as a client, tell the performer that the gradient on that button should be done like on a glass button. You have the right to this, you can well assume that it will increase sales. But in this case, why did you apply to this company? This is her job, her knowledge, her responsibility. The guys from this company know how to make the design so that sales increase. You after all turned to them for this knowledge?

Why should you trust? First of all, these guys have been doing online shopping for the first year and are doing it successfully (did you come to them for this reason?). Secondly, however you would like, your view of your site is far from unbiased. And these guys look fresh. It is much easier for them to put themselves in the place of new customers of your online store than you.

A trivial example: you know how your teeth should look, but you don’t tell a dentist how to work?

Trust in. Direct, doubt, express your opinion, but do not demand. So the work will go much softer, it will be easier for both parties, the result will be better and faster.