Best practice for building web application w/ developers via Upwork?

[2aec6b7f]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to Upwork and would like to see if anyone has an inside scoop on what is best practice for hiring, working with, and paying remote developers here on projects with complex specifications, such as web applications (not your ordinary kind of websites).  It's very much a from-scratch project with a decent number of features for a small/medium-sized web app. 

What I am most concerned about is quality of work, communication, timely turnarounds, team work, issuing reasonable payments, and having my expectations met.  Do you break the work up into parts or multiple projects?  Is it too demanding to request daily updates from developers if using milestone payment schedule?  Do you hire multiple developers here to collaborate on the same project or utilize code review?  Are you able to use Agile/Scrum methodology with remote developers?  And does Agile mix well with milestone payments for your developers?

I'd love to know what has worked for you.

Thanks,

Richard

[prestonhunter]

Hire an independent project manager.

Of course hire multiple developers.

For a project as complex as yours, you should probably hire about 8.

Then after your project manager has reviewed their initial work, close their contracts, except for the two or three best, who you continue working with.

[prestonhunter]

If I am serious about quality, then I am only using hourly contracts for the project.

Coupled with functional testing and code review.

[2aec6b7f]

@Preston, thanks for your answer.  Would you hire an independent project manager on Upwork or locally?  

And if working with a fixed budget, how would you protect yourself from exceeding your budget in an hourly contract, granted the developers underestimated?

[prestonhunter]

Local or remote/Upwork?

I don't know that it matters. What counts is how good she is. She will be working with remote developers, so I don't see hiring local as particularly advantageous.

If you want to be cautious about your budget, then make sure you hire enough people to give you an opportunity to pick those who will provide the best value.

If quality doesn't matter, then use fixed-price contracts and don't worry about the quality of the source code. Or it's speed or maintainability.

[bobafett999]

And ultimately remember you will get what you pay for.

If I were you and do not want to go the route Preston suggested is do the following:

1. Start with a small test project - do not tell this could lead to a bigger project.

2. Define it well.  You will get lots of applicants.

3. There are many fake and scamming freelancers.  And that is the tricky part.  Look at their portfolio carefully.  If they have done %5-$10-$20 projects throw them away.

4. TALK to them.  If they cliam to be from US talk at a time when it is wee hours in Asia Pacific, China or Easter Europe.

5. Talking will given you an idea about if the guy/gal understands the issue and can coherently explain the possible solutions.

6. It will also give you an idea on the personality and see if you like their communication style.

And finally, good luck.  Examine your own risk-reward equation.  You will get high quality work at a decent cost, but there is always the risk of hiring people sight unseen.

[2aec6b7f]

@Prashant, thanks for your advice.  

I'm wondering about your first point about starting with a small test project.  Why do you recommend not to tell the candidates that this test project could lead to a bigger project, as opposed to telling them?

Richard

[prestonhunter]

re: "Why do you recommend not to tell the candidates that this test project could lead to a bigger project, as opposed to telling them?"

I think is fine to discuss the initial task or tasks in terms of a larger project. You really DO have a larger project, and there's no reason to hide that. The fact that you ask them to do Task #1 doesn't mean you will ask them to do Task #2. And every freelancer knows that if a client values her work, the client is likely to ask her to do more work, even if he initially never mentioned anything about other work.

Regarding a "small test project":

I don't recommend calling anything a "test project."

For one thing, you're not asking freelancers to do some random thing just to see their skills. You're asking them to work an actual tasks that you need for your project. Even though you are aware not all of them will produce work of sufficient quality to be used in your project... It is still intended to be real work.

Also, if you call something a "test project," you might not be getting a look at how they truly work. Will they just focus on doing this piece really well so that they can "win" the job?

Any sensible freelancer on Upwork knows that EVERY CONTRACT is a "test project."

Clients should evaluate my work, even if I'm the only person they hired to work on something. If they don't like the results I'm providing them, then they should hire somebody else.