Tactical Tips for Managing Your Subcontractors

First off, congratulations on taking the step to hire a subcontractor and grow your business! This can be very exciting for yourself and for the long term growth of your company - and I want to give you some tips to maximize your efforts.

It can be difficult to work with your subs. First of all they are people, and people are always a little bit unpredictable. They say they will get you something on time, but something comes up. They forget to meet with you. They deliver work to you that’s lower quality than you would expect. Well, the trick is to expect these things coming and put some practices in place to balance things out.

There are many ways to approach this problem, but I would like to offer you a very simple tactic to smooth out your communications with your sub and to help you ensure that you’ll get what you need. Very simple. Just remember to always clarify with them before ending every meeting (1) What you will have, (2) When you will have it, and (3) When you will meet next.

• What will you have. As you are discussing your project with your sub, you may go over various scenarios and possibilities. It is very easy to skim over details and in the end for the sub to not be totally clear on what it is that they need to do next. Always make sure to summarize the steps they need to take, the pages they need to design, the sections of the code they need to work on, or whatever the task at hand may be. Summarize, summarize, summarize!
• When will you have it. Again, you may discuss various scenarios at any given time, and each scenario usually involves a different timeline. You said you wanted 5 pages done, but they said it would take a week, so then you discussed some ways to trim it down, take out a few sections, simplify a feature or two, and bring it down to 3 pages.Be sure to clarify at the end of the conversation - when am I going to have this? Many times they will try to worm around the question a little, and for good reason! As a contractor (whether a sub or working directly with the client) you want to be hesitant about giving exact timelines, because then you are bound to them. So you want to be able to use this technique but also recognize when it is being use on you, so you can disarm them and get your hard date! That will allow you to deliver your project on time.

• When will we meet next. Your subs schedule may vary quite a bit from day to day. Unless you are paying them a substantial amount or they are working solely on your project, you cannot expect them to be available whenever you need them. They should do their best to be available, but you are the project manager - you need to plan for worst case.Be sure to always ask them when you are meeting next. It is a quick way to sync up your schedules, and identify any rough patches in their schedule that will need to be accounted for.

So, remember - before closing off every conversation - whether by phone or I - what am I going to have, when will I have it, and when will we meet next?

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