Help with decision making outsourced developer

I prefer hiring some overseas companies for such purposes. They offer much better services, from my point of view. I would also like to recommend you to read about software companies in Ukraine here, and you will surely find some intereting and helpful info for you there. Good luck with it!

if you have the access to developed software (coding) then you can hire other agency.

Crendon2854,


How confident are you that the software will work as desired? Do you plan to sell the software to others?


The way I see it, you should be very sure that you will eventually get your money back (the additional $2K) if you're going to invest further in this project. What you've already spent is a sunk cost - and you should avoid throwing money down a rat hole (good money chasing bad) with nothing more than the dream that this project is going to pay for itself.


Your situation reminds me of the gambler's plight: wagering more money in hopes of recouping your loss. Sometimes it's best to cut your losses, chalk it up to experience, and move on.


Be sure to do your online market research so you know and understand what kind of demand there is for your software. Don't guess about this. Only you can decide how you will invest your money . . . but I think it would be foolish to sink any more funds into this project until you have validated that there is sufficient demand for the product and your software will be able to fulfill that demand.


Good luck to you,


Steve

I'd add; get clearer and clear on your vision. Easy for the agency to get the job done right when you give them a clear vision of what you want. With your clarity you'll have no issues deciding to go with the current folks or to outsource to someone else.

Ryan

When developing software and outsourcing development, the documentation that you provide is critical. You need to give them a functional requirements document, a technical requirements document, a user interface wireframe and testing scripts. All this is referenced in the SOW with specific deliverables.

The functional requirements document describes the products functionality down to a keystroke level. When the user is on screen 2 and taps/clicks the menu button and menu with the following options drops down: option 1 / option 2... It also needs to describe any APIs you are calling to retrieve data.

The technical requirements document details the cloud platform, the development stack, the security protocols etc... You should also define user exit definitions and open source code to simplify future enhancements and support.

The wireframe is self explanatory - sketches of what the UI looks like. The testing scripts need to be very detailed so that the user experience can be tested after each change - you know to ensure that if you adjust the left bolt the right tire doesn't fall off.

Finally and most importantly, whenever I get software developed by a third party, I create an SOW (statement of work) that details all deliverables (functional, technology stack and user acceptance testing criteria). That way, there is no uncertainty in the deliverable.

I know this sounds like a lot of work and perhaps a little corporate in nature. But it ensures you are getting what you are seeking. Of course if you don't know exactly what functionality you require, then perhaps you need to run a little design thinking sessions with your colleagues.

The first few times I provided my development team with a napkin sketch of my idea - the first time I got more than I asked for - the second time it was a disaster. That is when I realized that the work upfront saves a lot of pain at the back of the project.