Ask HN: Question on situation • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Question on situation

#21

Post by tptacek » Wed, Dec 02, 2009, 9:23 PM UTC

brk wrote: post #2

I don't really think they are obligated to describe to you how they make the sausage. As long as the end result is what you paid for, does it really matter if they employ trained professionals, or monkeys with notepad.exe?

Even if you don't have the "no unapproved subs" clause in your contract --- which, put it there --- it's still a marketplace, and not knowing who's going to staff your project, or even that they're FT employees, is a major misfeature of a consulting firm.

Nobody owes "working on crappy terms" to any consulting firm. Pick one you trust.

Re: Ask HN: Question on situation

#22

Post by tptacek » Wed, Dec 02, 2009, 9:25 PM UTC

brk wrote: post #8

teej wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely important to know what kind of talent is behind your design project. If I'm paying $30/hr for a small project, I would expect it to be handled by a junior person. But if I'm shelling out $175/hr to the same firm for a larger project, I sure as hell better have their best creative minds on it. Setting explicitly clear expectations is an important part of client work.

Depends on which talent you're REALLY hiring and concerned with. Are you hiring the director/producer, or the staff. Provided that the project got proper oversight and herding by the creative director, it does not really matter, IMO, who writes the HTML and diddles the Photoshop buttons.

I've worked with 1-person shops and with large, well known firms, and this notion that creative directors are calling the shots on projects doesn't square with my experience. The person who's performance you care about is the one giving you comps and taking your feedback on them; in firms with "directors", that person is almost never the director.

Re: Ask HN: Question on situation

#23

Post by tptacek » Wed, Dec 02, 2009, 9:29 PM UTC

gte910h wrote: post #13

mechanical_fish wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, you're within your rights to panic and flee. And, yep, you may have overreacted. Companies subcontract work. That's what they do. Among other things, this is how firms train and audition new people -- by hiring them as subcontractors. If you pay Company X for the work, you get work with Company X's name on it. If something goes wrong, you get to blame the whole company -- they don't get to dodge the blame by pas…

I cannot upvote this hard enough. It is purely a tax decision on how this person is hired. If they worked there as a w-2 employee, would the OP be similarly hand wringing? Contract to Hire is a very normal way to hire. Subcontracting at least SOME of the work is actually a sign of specialization, and can create much better work then just doing everything in house. The OP has no idea how the style he likes so much was…

It's not purely a tax decision. Staff gets fired when they screw up. Contractors just don't get re-upped. Staff have a 1:1 relationship with the company. Contractors have a 1:N relationship. When they don't get re-upped, they take more hours elsewhere.

Re: Ask HN: Question on situation

#24

Post by tptacek » Wed, Dec 02, 2009, 9:54 PM UTC

gte910h wrote: post #19

roedog88 wrote: post #12

I don't think you overreacted. I would find it difficult to trust a consultant who pulled a bait-and-switch on me. An alternative to firing them might have been to re-negotiate their fees based on the less known designer, or to defer payment until the job was finished to your satisfaction. But given the breach of trust, I don't think canceling the contract was out of line. Especially if staying with them would requir…

He didn't hire a consultant. He hired a consulting company. BIG difference.

It shouldn't be. Plenty of up-and-up companies subcontract, but they tell you that sooner than the day the project kicks off.

Re: Ask HN: Question on situation

#25

Post by tboxer854 » Thu, Dec 03, 2009, 5:38 AM UTC

In addition - this design firm put out a ad the day before my project started looking for a new designer. If this person was so good, why didn't they just fill that job?