[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.