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Getting help from a Pro

Page history last edited by rsb 2 months, 3 weeks ago

 

So your team needs help from a pro:

 

Lets say your team is getting help from a professional with specific skills, like, maybe, a lawyer.

 

Their time is going to be valuable (and probably expensive) and they will only offer just so much of it.  You want the minimum use of the pros time and the maximum value from each communication with them.

 

First, can you do it yourself?  Do you really need the pro?  Look for the info online and see if there are repositories of info that fit the bill.  Try it - at least give it enough time to look up the steps and tasks involved - if it's simple, don't engage a pro - that will just cost you more time and money than is needed - if it's complicated, that's still a win - you now have a much clearer understanding of the problem by trying to solve it yourself.

 

O.k. you understand the problem somewhat and the scope and complexity, and have decided that you absolutely need a pro.  How do you prepare?  How do you manage ongoing communications?

 

Keep in mind again, you want to take the minimum of their time.  ANY activity that you can knock out yourself in the time you have, you should try yourself first - so last reminder: you don't use a pro to change the formatting of a document or do some dumb repetitive task - you do use a pro to point out what strategic or tactical things to look out for, or to complete tasks that you have verified are impossible for you to complete in the time you have.

 

Prep work before communicating with the pro:

 

  1. In general, we should write it down - get the logic and the documentation done ourselves first, so that understanding and accuracy are 100% solid on our side about what we need.  Plain english, non-pro language - just speak it out loud and write that down and you have this complete.  Your team now knows exactly what we want and it's clear to everyone that we agree.  You and your team now have buy in on the specific problem you are going to spend money on.  No sense in getting a pros advice on that stuff unless they are a mediator.  This step can just be a simple email to a teammate, or just a note to yourself in a google doc - it's not hard.
  2. Ideally, we should all also be familiar with the names of each thing we are working on.  That way, none of us can be confused in conversation about which agreements/things we are working on or executing.  A glossary-like list is not a bad idea - maybe that email thread or note you were taking in a google doc - keep it live and update it as you move along.  A lot of time can be wasted in confusion over the names of things - and usually it is.
  3. Line up the docs so the pro doesn't have to.  We will want to have a document ready with the chronological history of the things we want help with, and all relevant docs or other reference material linked from that in chronological order.  This can be the email or google doc that you have been working on in the previous steps.  Saves time and money.
  4. Do the design work until you can't any longer - Don't give a designer a wire-frame if you can give them a full design in figma or canva - don't give a video editor a script if you can give them a rough cut - don't give a lawyer a page of notes if you can give them a logical legal document that needs correction - the more you can do - the less back and forth you will have - each back and forth costs you and everyone involved - often the cost is higher than the value of the project - and often the time loss in the back and forth kills the project.

 

During communication with the pro - remember:

 

  1. Skip the trivialities - don't ask for simple things - where very simple things need be done, like a simple version of a loan agreement - you can do it yourself. 

  2. Get clarification.  For any document or concept you don't understand - if you can get clarification from your team before you try to get it from the pro, that's usually better - but get it even if you need it from the pro - collect all the things you don't understand into one communication and then ask once.

  3. Include the minimum number of people required on each communication, but no fewer.  Don't allow two pros to be cc'd where they did not request it - that often costs double and tires folks out.  Likewise, don't add your whole team if only one or two members need to be in the conversation at that time.  But - don't change the recipients on a thread without noting that you did that, and if not obvious, why, at the top of the email in which you changed the recipient list.  

  4. Collate and Summarize.  As in 2, above, where there is any complexity or a reasonable doubt in what we are doing, we should contact the pro, but we should email all directly related issues in one summary email, taking unrelated issues to different email threads.  This stuff should be super obvious, but people skip it all the time and it can be super costly to skip.  I should really find/write an article on email headers and communications.  Have a TL;DR at the top of files or communications that need it. 

 

After communication with the pro - remember:

 

  1. Immediately file all communications, documents, and other work product in a place where the pro and your team can review or modify with a document history enabled.  If you don't do this right away, it probably won't get done and time will be lost.
  2. Immediately schedule with your team when you know a new decision point or working meeting is required.  If scheduling with the pros is required, only do so after you have all of your required team members availability at hand, for as many dates as you need.  A group calendaring thingy (doodle/calendly/etc) may help with this - add your team first, get to some dates - then ask the pros to meet at one of those.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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