Take time to get it right

After you’ve selected a consulting partner and communicated your basic expectations and deflined who has responsiblity for keeping everyone in the loop, the following tips can help ensure overall project success:

• On the front end, clearly define what’s in and what’s out of the project.
• When additions to the software occur, expect give-and-take. If features get added, you’ll need to expect more time added to the deadline along with more dollars or get ready to pick what you exchange for the new feature you’re adding.
• Expect to take time on the front end of the project to define the requirements because an outside provider doesn’t know your business—you do.
  

Also, use milestones. In the same way a bank pays a custom homebuilder only as each step of the building process is completed, you should pay only for products, services or software actually delivered ("deliverables"). For each milestone, list five to seven tests to verify it has been reached. If you already have a contract, amend it to include the items discussed above.

Frequent milestones are linked to good software regardless of the business. When payments are tied to discrete milestones, the vendor is forced to finish one step before moving on to the next. If your service provider goes under, leaving finished pieces behind -- rather than an incomplete whole -- will make the transition to another vendor much simpler. The ideal frequency for your milestones can vary. In general, each milestone should be six weeks to three months apart. When in doubt, err on the side of more.

Tom's Takeaway: Milestones help keep projects moving forward smoothly. Even small projects should have several milestones. Whatever the case, define these milestones in the contract.