The short answer
Five questions separate suppliers quickly: who specifically will do the work, how were they assessed, what happens if they are not right, what notice applies, and when did you last tell a client not to proceed. The last one is the most revealing.
You are buying a relationship as much as a person. How a supplier handles an awkward question before the contract predicts how they handle a problem during it.
Who exactly do we get
The answer should be a named person you can meet, not a profile that may be substituted later. Ask directly whether the person you are shown is the person who will do the work.
- Can we meet or interview them before committing?
- Are they employed by you or subcontracted?
- Are they working on anything else at the same time?
- What happens if they leave your company mid-engagement?
The third question matters more than it seems. Someone split across three clients is not giving you the days you are paying for, and the effect shows up as slow responses rather than as an obvious problem.
How do you assess people
| Answer | Reading |
|---|---|
| Technical assessment plus a real exercise | Reasonable |
| Structured interview by an engineer | Reasonable |
| CV screening and a chat | Thin |
| We have worked with them before | Fine if true, ask how long |
| Certification-based | Weak signal on its own |
There is no single right answer. What you want is a considered process they can describe, rather than a reassurance.
What if it is not working
Ask what happens in week three if the fit is wrong. A reasonable supplier offers replacement within an initial period, expects concerns raised early, and does not make ending an engagement adversarial.
A supplier who has never had an engagement go wrong either has a very short history or is not telling you the truth. Both are worth knowing.
The question that tells you most
When did you last advise a client not to go ahead, and why?
A supplier with a real answer is thinking about whether the work makes sense, which is what you want from someone advising you. A supplier who cannot think of an example is selling capacity, and will keep selling it whether or not it helps.
Answers that should give you pause
- Guaranteed productivity from day one
- Reluctance to let you meet the developer
- A minimum term with a short notice period in their favour
- No clear position on who owns the code
- Pressure to decide quickly
None of these is proof of a bad supplier. Each is worth pressing on, and how they respond to being pressed is itself informative.