Evaluating a Consultant

1. Evaluating a Consultant Texas farmer: “Is there a fox dressed like a roster in the chicken coop??”

2. Interview: Before you Contract TRADITIONAL • How many projects in the last 3-5 years? (make list) • Have you ever been referred clients by other consultants? How many? (make list) MaxQual Software Engineering

3. Call Past Clients TRADITIONAL • Ask about performance • Ask about endurance (bug fixing) • Quality of Product/Code? Documentation & Maintainability MaxQual Software Engineering

4. Consultant Community • Never rely on a competing consultant’s assessment of another consultant. Only past clients & past referring consultants • Check with non-competing consultants Ask around at user’s groups about reputation MaxQual Software Engineering

5. What’s Hidden? • *** What about disasters? No consultant would put a “disaster” in their list of references. • Not about the single events We all have encounters with the client from hell. Feature creep & reluctance to detail UIF or Function • Look for a Series or Trends! • Also very large failed projects. With the traditional approach, you look for gaps in the resume. MaxQual Software Engineering

6. Why Go Deeper % of Effort Multi- Tiered Mission Critical Log(Project Size or Complexity) MaxQual Software Engineering

7. Software Engineering Process • Do I need documented requirements or a functional spec? Who? • UIF spec? Who? Prototype? • Test or acceptance criteria? Who? • The larger the project, the more you need to invest in the documentation of the project engineering process/road-map & specs! MaxQual Software Engineering

8. Past Clients (Going Deeper) Questions to ask the consultant • Have you done business with any clients who would refuse to do business with you again? • Are there any past clients you would not allow us to speak with? • Have you every been threatened with litigation or sued by a client? MaxQual Software Engineering

9. Past Clients (Going Deeper) • Have you ever tried to coerce an unwilling client into releasing you from non-compete? • Have you ever knowingly misrepresented a completion date? • Have you ever missed an estimate by more than 100%? • If true, did you ask the client to pay for your error? MaxQual Software Engineering

10. Past Clients (Going Deeper) • In the last 3 years, how many projects started were never finished? • Have you ever signed a release and then later claimed ownership of software listed in the release? MaxQual Software Engineering

11. Referring Consultants (Going Deeper) • Are there any referring consultants you would not allow us to speak with? • Would any referring consultant avoid doing or refuse to do business with you again? MaxQual Software Engineering

12. Foreign Labor (Going Deeper) • Do you use foreign labor? • If true, how do you enforce nondisclosure & non-compete? • If true, who QA’s the “finished” product? • If you do QA, do you have QA credentials (resume)? MaxQual Software Engineering

13. Summary • Be careful & don’t rush into anything DON’T RUSH INTO ANYTHING • Look for & explore gaps in resume • Use the network to check reputation-- user groups MaxQual Software Engineering