Contractors is a very interesting topic from a leaders perspective. They can very quickly support one of your initiatives when utilized correctly, but they can also be the downfall of a project when utilized incorrectly.
The biggest mistake companies make is over inflate the impact contractors can make. They will hand them highly specialized, full projects or make them the key resources on those projects that have “support” from other people in the department, but aren’t dedicated to the project.
Contractors should be used to augment your current staff in most scenarios, if you are going to farm out an entire team, make sure the work is as generic as it can be. If you have a highly specialized product, giving contractors with zero experience on your product a project on that product, can lead to misguided or flat out incorrect implementations…that can ultimately hurt your bottom line.
The key is to pair up your contractors with your best talent, give them time to acclimate and have reasonable expectations for them from a throughput perspective. They may be paid as much or more than your top talent, but that doesn’t mean they will be as fast…especially out of the gate. If your product has any kind of specialization…expect that someone off the street will have a slow ramp up.
I hope this was helpful! Thanks for being here! Take care!
