Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree and finding great developers is a big part of the challenge. However, there's more to arranging a project then finding the right talent, especially for clients who have expectations for security, domain expertise, and quality assurance. Most platforms simply solve the matchmaking component (eharmony style). The solution is a platform which supports engineers' workflows (git, hg, etc) -- or at least this conti…
once i get someone on the phone, i can tell if they know what they are talking about, i can also assess their social skills - which is extremely important to me. depending on how big the project is, i typically use trello to project management and i've built my own invoicing system. i usually use git labs for private repos. but again, my main concern is whether they can get the project done. for me that comes down to…
I find trello pretty effective for daily goals. In terms of a mature bug tracking system, I'm a fan of phabricator. For invoicing, we use envois (https://github.com/lambdal/envois).
Agreed, communication and expectation alignment are critical components of avoiding "never-ending contract syndrome"