Be Absolutely Clear about the Expected Outcome

This builds on an earlier post about 5 things to look for in a Successful Outsourcing Relationship In my opinion, the most important predictor of success is whether you (the customer) are absolutely clear about the expected outcome. So you were probably expecting me to expound on how to create a clear functional spec, and about how to scope everything out clearly, and not leave anything to imagination.

Nope. That's not your job as a customer. Your job is to know what you want and be decisive.  Your job is to give clear and prompt feedback when presented with options, and provide clear answers to functional questions. Not just when you kick off an effort, but in the course of executing it. And for god's sake, don't invest too much time in writing detailed specifications -- sounds counter-intuitive -- but I promise I'll explain it in a future blog post.

Sometimes I have friends or friends of friends asking me for help or pointers, and one such request came the other day. The gentleman in question (lets call him "G") is a builder of green housing in Bangalore, and wanted a website that was different and stood out. Our back and forth went like so (I've paraphrased and added color, but haven't taken away from the gist) ..

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G> "Need to build a website that stands out from my competitors. Do you know someone who can help me build it?"
Me> "Check out www.templatemonster.com -- any you like there? There are folks that I can point you to that will customize a template anywhere in the range of $200-1000, depending on what you want"
G>"Been through it before, I really need something more unique"
Me>"That could turn expensive -- you're looking at 2-5K"
G>"I know"
Me>"Ok - here's the name and contact info for our partner outfit. They are phenomenal, but just as I told you, expensive"
G>"Thanks! I heard what you told me about expense the first time"
G(a week later)>"These guys are good! I was able to provide them basic directions and they not only got it, but went above and beyond, Thanks!"
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I like working with people like G. They know what they want, and why. They ask questions and ask for clarifications, but don't leave you hanging for decisions, or waffle on decisions already made. And many times during a project, especially when developing a product, you run into opportunities or roadblocks -- some require time to think through and reflect, but most can be disposed off quickly if the stakeholder's objectives are clear.

So, when you kick off an outsourcing effort, make sure that you have (a) written down whats important to you in terms of outcome, briefly and clearly, and shared it with your vendor, and (b) make sure that you evaluate, and require your vendor to demonstrate periodically, that you're on course to achieve the outcome you desire.