Working with agencies… grr!
I have wanted to write a short post for some time now on the joys of working with agencies.
In pebble {code}, we have been lucky in that the majority of our client work has come from direct clients - i.e. they want software, we deliver. We are also now starting to concentrate on our own product development (more in another post).
However, some work has also come to us through agencies. Great you might think, a job where you do not have to talk to the end client, you just get told what to do.
No, bad.
Firstly, talking to the end client should be a joy, not a chore. It is the only time that you actually get a true feeling for what is required.
Secondly, you are now on agency time, i.e. deliver by yesterday, stop everything else you are doing, bow down.
The way agencies work, in my relatively limited experience, is that they take on too much work, over promise to each client, over work their own staff, who in turn then shout at those actually delivering the work, us.
Conclusion: working with agencies leads to stressed timelines, stressed relationships and in pebble {code}’s case, another distraction away from strategy.
Yes, in some cases the money has been good, but if it takes you away from what you and your team are ultimately striving for, then in the long run, it is bad.
My advice if you are looking for work and not just concentrating on product development, stick to nice clients with juicy requirements - leave the bitty agency stuff to the next sucker!
The best? Stick to your own products! ;-)
