Frustration 2: Your programmers are not in your control
This happens on large projects. The vendors usually provide you with layers upon layers of project managers and engagement managers. The end result of such “heavy” engagement is that projects get out of control. You request something from your vendor and by the time it gets to the actual people working on your project, it has been translated and mutated twice. Your vendor keeps running the billing clock but your project grinds down to crawling speed.
Frustration 3: Forced Budget Overruns
This happens all the time. You get a fixed fee bid from someone, and halfway through the project, they come back to you for more money. They cite “changes and modifications” as the reason for budget increase.
Here is why it happens: Fixed fee bidders bid extremely low to hook you in. They know that you will eventually make some changes to the specification. And when that happens, they make up for the initial low bid.
Frustration 4: Finding the right people
A google search for offshore outsourcing results in millions of results. If you go to elance or Guru.com, their systems are cluttered with thousands of vendors. And the funny thing is that all providers are the leading providers and all companies are number one – according to them.
The 64,000 Dollar question is: How do you find the right people?
Frustration 5: Getting the right price
Offshore vendors are not in the business of giving you the right price, but in getting the most out of their sales effort. Whatever someone can get away with, is the right price for them. In other words, you don’t know how much you are paying for the programming and how much to “flourish” their business.
Frustration 6: Nonstop Haggling
Once you are on board with a vendor and the “honey-moon” phase is over, the nonstop haggling phase begins. You have to haggle for everything: Schedules, Changes, Technology, Costs, and Contracts.
Here is why it happens: Once your initial payments are cleared and the project is in progress, you are just a “passenger” to your vendor. Their aim (for the most part) is to get you off their bandwagon quickly and cheaply.
