Like every other buyer, I’ve had my success as well as some misses (especially when I hired for the first time). I made this presentation from my experience to help fellow buyers.

Reading below will help you understand 3 things:1. The psychology of Upwork sellers who would take your project and turn it into a mess.2. Why you should not take hiring decision in a hurry.3. The early signs that things may not work out.

...

“WE just wanna get started”

A COMMON HIRING SCENARIO FOR NON TECH FOUNDERSTo make sure that every reader can associate himself with the situation, lets consider you are looking to get a sedan car built.

I want to get a Red Sedan Car built

You post a description that you seem to cover this:-> Need a Sedan car.-> Red color.-> Flag on the door.

(As Upwork says, hire in less than 5 minutes)

Your post is out there & sellers start submitting their bids based on their understanding. Since there are 100s who want the job, there is a mad rush to submit a low cost against the post.

Remember: Ambiguous job description will ALWAYS return a wide range of proposals and estimates

Trivia: I once posted just my name and still got 30+ quotes :)

The conversation will often lead to estimates that vary from hundreds to thousands of dollars. The results leave you confused as to why there

is such a difference in the price and whom to choose?

$10000

$8000

$12000

$6000

Yay! I think I willgo with the lowest price

As no team took the pains to understand what you really wanted, the end product often partly matches what you wanted and

partly what could be created for the quoted budget.

There is a 90% chance your product will end up like this

Oops!What I wanted

is not this :(

Deciding the development team

based on few details and settling

for lower cost will ALWAYS result

in a low quality product that does

not match your expectations.

THE RIGHT WAY TO DO THINGS

Speak to a team aboutyour idea.

The details of any idea will not be easy to explain in oneconversation. Expect to have multiple discussions with prospective

development partners and use as many visual aids as possible.

Iteration #1

This looks good,but I want to

change:1. Lets have moreground clearance.

2. Increase thelength of car.

Iteration #2

This looks better.How about changing:

1. Mirror styles.2. I want mag

wheels.

Iteration #3

This looks perfect!:)

The right team will always

insist on discussing details

before giving a quote.

The first mission of any good team will be to get the ideaclearly formed BEFORE any real work starts.

A good team should be able to deciper and match 3 things:#1. What you want and have described.

#2. What you want but didn’t KNOW you wanted.#3. What has not been stated but required for a

successful project (The Magic beans).

Wireframes come to the rescue in all such discussions. They insurethat you and the developer are referencing and visualizing the same objective.

Also it is an essential method to see how each feature could be created,in terms of functionality and specifics. It becomes easier to modify

details accordingly and get the combination right.

Only once the wireframes agree with the buyer’s visionshould the scope of project be discussed.

If you don't run experiments

before you start designing

a new system, your entire

system will be an experiment.

After the wireframes are finalized the idea is run through a similarset of design iterations.

Final Wireframes Design Iteration Final Design

Final designs are then worked upon and developed intoa fully fledged product.

THE FINAL RESULT

Delivered Product

The Idea

Yay!This is exactly what I had thought of! :)

KEY TAKEAWAYS

So to make sure that you are getting what you wanted:1. Make sure that your description is detailed.

2. Dont rush in to getting quotes.3. Compare teams against value and not against cost.

4. Spend enough time on analysis before starting development.and remember

ALWAYS WIREFRAME!

A look at descriptions that don’t work

Made with

Famous last words from many Upwork clients...AMEN!