Ask HN: How do you manage your contractors?

[jsarch]

For those of you hiring contractors to perform work for your startup, what are some tips you have for managing them?

In trying to not micro-manage their progress, I've recently ended up with one contract extending from 2 weeks to 4 weeks, and another that needed to be canceled after 2 weeks of no progress.

From their resumes, these contractors were qualified, but what recommendations do you have to help me make sure that the job is completed and delivered on schedule?

[curt]

Be VERY specific, I primarily used contracted and outsourced work and found that communications was the main problem. I wrote and communicated one thing and they thought I meant another. So what I learned to do was be very specific and breakdown each deliverable into small chunks so if there is a miss communication, the time lost is minimized.

Also I always contacted 1 or 2 previous customers (depending on the project size) to see how the operated. Specifically finding out whether they were able to deliver what they said. During the interview phase I would often quiz them about how they would design/accomplish a task to understand their thought process, treat it just like a job interview.

Another tip was to use IM, while I found they didn't want to bug you with a phone call. A quick IM from them when they have a question can avoid a lot of hassles.

Never make assumptions, especially when dealing with another culture. After making this mistake twice while outsourcing development to India, I never did again. Even simple terminology such as drag-and-drop can mean completely different things between cultures.

[willheim]

Don't be ashamed or afraid to nag. Fire fast and early. Understand that the project you're working on is only one of likely many they are working on. Give early deadlines but plan them to be weeks/months before you need it. Contractors saying 2-4weeks likely mean 2-4months. You want to see dedication and accomplishments. If you see none of that then fire them. Have someone local to check the code. Get code updates often (should be uploading to a trac). Know your contractors. Are they managers farming out the work or are they doing the work themselves? Does the team keep changing or are they stable? Do they badger you for payouts when their performance has been poor or are they delivering quality work?

Beware of contractors: Many (not all) of them are scam artists who can easily take advantage of those new to the system. They will not be solely focused on your project and by bouncing between projects it means it takes time for them to laser in and be sharp when they do sit down to do your task. Don't hire anyone who doesn't have stellar reviews. Their resumes mean little (ie, they stretch the truth a lot). If your reasonable concerns are not addressed promptly and to your satisfaction: fire them.

[gaustin]

I tend to set frequent checkpoints. For these really short contracts, I'd setup a chat every 2-4 days, always with one two days before the contract ends.

During these chats I'm just looking for progress and questions. Some people will only have questions as they try to explain what they've accomplished. Also, I know a contractor's hours spent on my project aren't going to be uniformly distributed during the period, so I don't make the judgement that they should have X done by a certain day in the contract.

[jsarch]

This makes sense. When I used elance, I set up milestones and even added payouts to early milestones in the hopes of enticing early and often deliverables. Alas, everything slipped.

One thing I've noticed about my own management philosophy is that I am hesitant to step in and dictate terms forcefully when things start to slide. There surely isn't a one size-fits-all solution, but it's clear I need to work on identifying and resolving issues earlier on.

[antonioe]

Stop hiring contractors till you are a big enough company needing sudden growth or can't afford the hiring process.

Hire your intellectual property co-creators. The quality they will create is 10x on a contractor.