Let’s face it: Outsourced work can easily slip to the back of the mind and onto “the back burner” when there are many other things going on, internally as well as other external work. While it’s difficult to juggle everything and keep all of the balls in the air, so to speak, it’s easier to develop better habits to reduce confusion, frustration, and apathy and to stay on top of as many things as needed. Let’s go over four great habits to get there and to keep those projects moving.
1. Keep communication channels flowing and check in when needed.
This point is number one for a reason. The reality is: your contracted agency, or team, is not physically in your office, and maybe not even local, so it can get tough to keep an outsourced project at the forefront of your mind. You can’t simply “pass by, knock on the door and have a quick word” like with most of your in-house operations. Utilize the communication channels established at the beginning of the project to check in if you haven’t seen a status update in a while. Chances are the team is well into working on things as you think of it and will update you asap, or are patiently waiting on you for a response to schedule further progress. However, it’s never a bad thing to leave a quick email simply touch base. After all, communication is a two-way street.
An effective agency or outsourced team tries to “keep the ball in the client’s court” as often as possible and reaches out when warranted, though it’s also a good habit to double check where the conversation was last left off. Your update may well be sitting in that section at the bottom of your inbox that you told yourself “I’ll get to later” one morning and they’re patiently waiting on you. Hey, it happens to everyone. While you’re at it, double check that spam/junk folder before you clean it out and check our earlier blog post on utilizing productive time wisely.
Final note here: On the other hand, overdoing communication usually isn’t effective and healthy either. You can’t bake a cake faster by simply turning up the heat.
2. Ask as many questions as you need to.
It goes along with keeping up with communication. While the kickoff conference may have been thorough and detailed with everyone seeming to be on the same page at the very beginning, it’s easy on all fronts to lose track of what was said and expected about the finer details that aren’t in the scope. The project has the potential to deviate based on shifting expectations, compromises, and alternative solutions to reduce snags and risks. Therefore it’s imperative to ask relevant questions when you have them to stay as on goal as possible. Preferably they are asked in bulk during meetings that warrant review, but it’s ok to leave collected emails too.
3. Be clear and concise with feedback and revisions.
As substantial progress is made and milestones are close to completion, it’s imperative that they get as much feedback as possible in the review process. Quantity certainly drives quality. However, clear, concise, and well thought out and internally discussed feedback and revisions is the key to the team to reaching your agreed upon expectations successfully. In the review process: be careful when requesting revisions, as over-saturated internal discussion or research done post-kickoff can lead to out-of-scope work, which increases project turnover time and cost and can be frustrating for both parties to handle new or modified expectations. Always be in sync with the Scope of Work, and refer to the second point above: Ask first!
4. Keep the positive energy going!
There’s no denying that at the beginning of any project the energy is at a very high point for many reasons. While your outsourced team probably has a group attitude of keeping things positive, it’s great to reciprocate this excitement throughout the project, as it’s easy for attitudes to slope down as road bumps and snags come up. A positive professional relationship is a happy and satisfying one, which can potentially lead to higher quality work, more business for both parties, and a continuing and reliable business relationship.
