There is often confusion among our customers regarding how to formulate a contract, a statement of work and an engagement for design services. The confusion often lies in 3 simple question “Why? What? and How?”
Making these three questions clear to your consulting firm can greatly streamline the engagement process, will reduce costs, and alleviate miscommunication and frustration.
One secret to lower pricing is being on top of these principles. A company that comes across as experienced with product development, communication, and requirements planning will always convey to the customer lower risk and smother development, meaning a decrease in both cost and frustration.
WHY?
Sometimes customers are reluctant to get into the details of the WHY. The WHY includes the market, the customer, and the business reasons for developing the product in the first place. If you are concerned about leaking the secrets of your business model and customer, don’t be. Your consultants have their own business to run and industry to deal with. They don’t want to steal your ideas. Additionally, imagine how many customers a consultant will have if they are not acting in good faith.. Furthermore, NDAs are likely in place at this stage, offering reasonable protection for sensitive information.
Frequently, customers don’t convey the WHY of a project. If you simply want a circuit board made, a widget machined or a software module written, you may think that your consultants do not need to know the WHY. I’d advise against that approach. The value of a consulting firm like Marcus Engineering is decades of expertise in product development, due diligence, and product market fit, in addition to the raw design effort. The more we understand about WHY you are developing the product, the better we will be able to advise the design process, make the right tradeoffs, and point out needs, features, or challenges that you might not have thought of. You can never have too much information to build decisions around!
WHAT?
The WHAT conveys to your consulting firm exactly what your product needs to do. Where most customers trip themselves up is by not prefacing the WHAT with the WHY for the product. The product context may seem obvious to you, as the customer, who has been working in your industry and on your product for many months or years, but it is new to your consulting firm. Make sure you give context to the WHAT with the WHY.
The WHAT includes basic, but important contexts for the product development, estimating, schedule, and deliverables. System, Functionality, User experience and Environmental requirements are just some of the basics that need to be considered. Marcus Engineering has several guides on requirements that we are happy to share with potential customers. JUST ASK US.
HOW?
This is where customers may sometimes go overboard. The HOW is the specific implementation executed for meeting the requirements. The how is often referred to as the “Specification”. Examples would be the “Hardware Specification” or “Software Specification”. Customers often get overzealous with the HOW, telling the consultants what microprocessors to use, what technologies are needed and which protocols they desire.
Making suggestions can be productive, and often the customer has a good idea, BUT it is also advisable to give the consulting firm the opportunity to present multiple options for meeting requirements. Remember, the consultants are often experienced experts in the technology space. You will get the most value by letting them propose solutions rather than dictating a specific path.
Another pro tip is to leave the HOW open ended; by doing so, you can learn a LOT about your prospective consultants. Pick their brains about technology options, complexities, risks, why one approach is better than another. You will learn a lot about their capabilities as well as picking up details about the technology space you might not have been aware of.
Remember: WHY? WHAT? HOW? Share the WHY, don’t be shy. WHAT is the most important and formulates the understanding between you and the consulting firm. Finally, keep the HOW open ended and use it as your opportunity to learn and vet your consultants!
About Patrick Marcus
Dr. Patrick Marcus is the President of Marcus Engineering, LLC and a principal of Apparently Connected, LLC. Dr. Marcus has extensive background in electronics design, industrial automation, design for manufacturing. Dr. Marcus has founded and run several successful companies in technology and high reliability industrial manufacturing.
