The Micro-Agency: The Benefits of Working with Freelance Consortiums

I was recently asked to write an article on the difference between working with freelancers and agencies in UX/HCD research (User Experience/Human-Centered Design). I have worked for both contexts and have my opinions about each. What I miss most about working in an agency is the team work and mentorship. On any project, I could walk up to someone in my office for feedback or support, and offer it myself. What I love most about freelancing is my ability to work on projects that really move and inspire me. While I love either working in an agency or working on my own, I’ve lately been favoring a micro-agency format.

I don’t know if I made this term up, but it came to me early this morning. A micro-agency is a group of freelance professionals who often work together on multi-disciplinary projects. They comprise of specific skill sets a client needs, but these collaborators are not beholden to one another; they are simply obliged to the project. They are made of freelance designers, researchers, project managers, recruiters, and other seasoned resources that selectively choose to work with one another.

Last year, for example, I collaborated with another senior qualitative researcher outside of San Francisco under her company’s name. She assembled our team under her business name. The team consisted of two researchers (to conduct ethnographic research at medical equipment retailers), a business analyst, a visual designer, and a “fixer”/project manager. The entire team was scattered on two coasts, with a client in San Diego. Her efforts in pulling the team together led to an incredibly successful program, with a happy client who reached out for me. While the entire team also works solo, or with other partners, this micro-agency we formed at the time really served the client needs.

Since then, I’ve favored the micro-agency format, particularly because of its benefits to our clients (but I also enjoy doing the work!) I’ve outlined just a few benefits below, specifically as they relate to the human resource power behind a micro-agency.

Micro-Agencies Have Just the Right Team

In the problem-solving industry, having just the right amount of creative and intellectual energy can go a long way. As a solo freelance researcher, working alone can lead to bias or over-interpretation of findings. I always advocate that researchers of human contexts should never work alone because of these reasons, and always have another in-the-know party who can provide a reality check to the process and data. In fact, I work in partnership 99% of the time. Freelance designers that work alone may lack a source of inspiration that a team member may be able to provide.

However, there is an inflection point where too many fingers in the pot can easily derail a program. My experience in an agency is that major changes can happen at the 11th hour, and disagreements can create circular communication. The intellectual churn in an agency can sometimes be productive, but it can sometimes be a big time sink. Whether its ego, dogma, burn out, or whatever, the creative brain power of too many people may not align well with the timelines and budgets of a fixed project.

Micro-Agencies Provide Team Transparency

With a micro-agency, the team you hire is the team you have until the end of the project. The visibility into who is actually contributing to the work can be reassuring for a client, and also can build stronger relationships. Solo freelancers can sometimes have outside help, but a client may not have access to know these outside resources. It is more common however, for a freelancer to simply take the work on entirely themselves (which is fine for people that are good at managing their time).

With an agency, a client might be paying a senior rate but actually be working exclusively with juniors. Every agency is different in how they manage quality control, and I’m not disparaging juniors (I was there too). Some agencies have effective management that keep their finger on the pulse of a project the entire time, leading to unified success. Others have management that may already be thinking about landing the next sale, and can only be intermittently involved. And others may have management that, for whatever reason, only feel compelled to weigh in at the end of a project when most of the work is done. In any of these cases, the client does not necessarily know who is actually doing the work.

In a micro-agency, the client knows exactly who is contributing the work. The consortium is carefully constructed and discussions about who will manage the final output to the client are determined before the project starts. Ancillary tasks that contribute to the success of a program, such as quality control, consistency, and communication streams, are also determined well before the project starts.

Micro-Agencies Assemble the Team for You

When a client hires a solo freelancer it can be for several reasons: contribute to an embedded team, carry out a fixed project from beginning to end, or provide support in one part of a larger project arc. For the last context, a micro-agency is more ideal than a solo freelancer, not only in terms of the effort of selecting additional partners, but also the cost. While solo freelancers in-and-of-themselves may be cheaper, when considered in the broader project arc, the client must spend more time vetting and securing other partners to complete the program (if they aren’t already in place).

Agencies may have the team already in place, but they may not be intended for the specific tasks at hand. I always ask my clients to consider an agency’s roots before collaborating with them: were they a design studio to start, for example. Some agencies include services as a value add, something that supports their core business, and therefore their competencies may be lacking. Other studios may actually sub out their work to other freelancers or contractors if they don’t provide those services in-house. Either way, the team can be hobbled.

Micro-agency collaborators effectively remove the burden of team assembly from the client. They usually possess the networks and know-how to organize others under a single moniker for the sake of a given program. The client can focus on the intellectual part of their ask (what problem are we solving and how) instead of becoming a project manager of external relationships.

For a micro-agency to be successful, the collaborators must be well-connected to each other, trust each other immensely, and have the ability to set aside ego for the greater good of the program. I am lucky enough to know and have worked with several other researchers and designers who are phenomenal micro-agency collaborators. How to build a network for successful micro-agency work is a topic for another time, but the client-facing benefits of working with this style of service is quite clear.