7 mortal fears of product owners when choosing a design studio (GIF)

‘Hmmm, can I trust them?’ — thought an average product owner at least once in one’s career when scanning potential remote team for design services. The position of the project manager and product owner is one of the most stressful in IT industry. The recent survey only proves this.

No wonder, as these people bear the burden of responsibility. They have to find a cost-effective solution and ensure outstanding results, overcome the challenges of surprises and, finally, put their John Hancock on the financial documentation.

Huh, who’d have thought, but they have lots of fears. Here are the most common fears of a PM and our ideas of how to overcome them.

1. Goddamn, these guys are so far from me. How will we work and rock?

It’s a little scary to choose someone from another country. I don’t understand what risks and problems I will face with. And the only devil knows where I can find them in the case of emergency. Hyperloop isn’t launched yet, right?

The way out:

Remote work is a new ordinary in a modern world, in the world of digital nomads.

To get the first impression from studio check its social media profile. Ask Google about these guys, at last. If you like them, conduct a meeting. Distance isn’t a problem anymore. Use Hangout or Skype for face to face communication; it will show whether you are speaking with the team the same language (in all senses) or not.

2. This team hasn’t projects similar to mine in their portfolio.

I have a baaad-bad feeling about this…

My project is unique and has defined requirements. So I’m looking for the team that has implemented smth similar in terms of complexity, functionality or at least for the same industry as mine. If guys haven’t such works in their portfolio, most likely we won’t have any relations.

It is like you won’t go to auto mechanic to treat your teeth.

The way out:

You won’t believe, but the solution is quite easy. Just ask the guys about it.

Have they developed similar projects, what is their experience in the field and so on? It turns out very often that some developed projects are under NDA protection, another part of projects can be just not ready for showcasing in the portfolio. Ask the studio for client testimonials. Also, you can ask them to do some itsy-bitsy test task.

3. What if they just agree with me in everything like robots? It can get pretty frustrating.

I need assistance, human touch, and rapport. And I don’t need the team that simply executes the commands. I have a dog for that.

The way out:

It is very easy to reveal this. Send them a brief and look how the team will act. Have they additional questions? Do they agree with every statement in your brief? Whether you hire professionals, you’ll see it on this initial stage. The professional team has an opinion about each point and give the advices.

4. Okay, experts, but how can I recognise the team is trying to sell me a bullsh*t?

Being not very deeply on the subject, I can’t tell good things from mediocre, excellent from ‘so-so’ one. I’m afraid that remote studio can use it trying to sell me whatever stuff. When should I roar like a lion: ‘redesign it immediately or give my money back!’ Should I?

The way out:

Ask for the design deliverables checklist and project roadmap to understand where your involvement is necessary.

Ask the team to immerse you to their custom design process.

In Artkai we create the user stories at the beginning of the UX stage. It is a list of actions or event steps defining the interactions between the user and the system, to achieve a goal. The user stories act as acceptance criteria and show if the goal is achieved.

Learning more about design process help you define the main requirements on each design stage.

5. How do they ensure my sound sleep and healthy appetite?

How can I be in the same flow with the remote team? I have to keep my finger on the pulse. But how it’s possible if the studio is far from me? We are not meeting at the coffee point every day.

The way out:

Ask the studio to provide you with regular updates and inform you about the progress.

Ask for the demo days to present the results team has achieved.

Also, ask the team about communication environment, what tools they use to provide you with updates and communication for any reason. For instance, in Artkai we use the following tools: Slack, Basecamp, Jira. We are always online.

6. My budget is not made of rubber, and it can’t stretch. How to understand what the money is paid for?

How to be sure that I won’t pay extra money for anything? Also, it is paramount for me to control the budget allocation and the product development progress. I’m afraid these guys can spend all my money, like kids in Disneyland.

The way out:

Ask the guys how they estimate the cost of the projects. In general, there are two common schemes (and in Artkai we work with both of them):

• Fixed price
• Time and material

In the first case, you won’t pay more than it was agreed at the beginning and nobody can force you (unless to change the scope).

The ‘fixed price’ model includes inherent risks and strict assumptions like number of design rounds.

With ‘time and material’ you have control on the scope of work and the financial aspect of the project. Also, you can monitor the progress and get reports on each completed task. So you can stop the team at the certain moment.

7. But… but… If my bosses will not be happy with the result… The Apocalypse starts today.

I communicate with design studio. Their fail — my pain. If smth goes wrong, somebody (actually me) should prepare killer arguments why it so. Moreover, the fail of the studio will ruin my reputation. And, yes, I don’t want to disappoint my boss.

The way out:

The proficient studio can look at it from stakeholder’s perspective and find the right arguments to persuade them. As a rule, designers have to present the work they have done, explaining any component of the digital product, or element of the system. Thus, everyone can understand why they made certain decisions.

Don’t be afraid to trust.

Consider the studio as your team on this project, you’re in the same boat so don’t hesitate to ask them for any rapport.

Takeaway

Nowadays it is of paramount importance to hire the right guys. Because you are hiring not just executors but the fully-fledged partners for your project that will share all risks with you. For sure, finding a trustworthy partner is not easy, but it worth all the efforts. Together you can make outstanding, mind boggling, unbelievable and just perfect enough projects.

Trust is a key here. It takes time, but once found it will help to build and do amazing things together.

The right studio secures you from the fears and can even provide you with a promotion (who knows).

Have something to add? Leave your fears below in comments!

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