---
title: "Discussion on \"What Two Years of Hiring Dev Agencies Taught Me About Reading Between the Lines\n\" | Hashnode"
description: "Discussion on \"What Two Years of Hiring Dev Agencies Taught Me About Reading Between the Lines\n\". I've contracted out development work four times now across two companies. Some went well. One was a disaster. The pattern in why is clearer to me now than it was when I started.\nThe disaster wasn't a"
url: "https://hashnode.com/posts/what-two-years-of-hiring-dev-agencies-taught-me-about-reading-between-the-lines/6a200c6c54e8a60fa0e82720"
---

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Discussion

# [What Two Years of Hiring Dev Agencies Taught Me About Reading Between the Lines](https://softwareblogg.hashnode.dev/what-two-years-of-hiring-dev-agencies-taught-me-about-reading-between-the-lines?utm_source=hashnode&utm_medium=feed)

I've contracted out development work four times now across two companies. Some went well. One was a disaster. The pattern in why is clearer to me now than it was when I started. The disaster wasn't a

Jun 3 · 2 min read · softwareblogg.hashnode.dev  
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## Written by

[Mark Rikhter](https://hashnode.com/@markrikhter)

@markrikhter

  
[View profile](https://hashnode.com/@markrikhter)

## Responses 1

Markdown supported · ⌘↵ to post

[Ascendra Ventures](https://hashnode.com/@ascendra-ventures)

[Oct 5](https://hashnode.com/posts/what-two-years-of-hiring-dev-agencies-taught-me-about-reading-between-the-lines/6a200c6c54e8a60fa0e82720/comment/6ac311dbff215293792af482)

Four engagements is enough to see a pattern, and the disaster usually shows up in the proposal before any code is written. The tells I would add from the agency side: no written exclusions, no named person who will actually build it, the repo living under the vendor's account, and a "fixed" price wrapped around a feature list instead of a tested outcome.

A good proposal reads almost boring. One problem, the acceptance checks for it, what is out of scope, who owns what on day one, and what happens when you want to change something. If an agency cannot write that page, the price is not really fixed.

That one page is also the best filter we know for founders comparing vendors.