How to evaluate an offshore team without falling back on geography.
Prevouched runs this methodology on every agency we admit. We publish it here in full because a buyer who knows the questions to ask gets a better engagement, whether or not the team they pick is on our directory.
Define the work before you define the team
The single biggest predictor of a bad offshore engagement is a buyer who skipped this step. Write the scope, the acceptance criteria, and the budget envelope before you talk to anyone. Including us.
- 1.What is the smallest valuable thing this team could ship in 90 days?
- 2.Who on your side owns acceptance? Name one person.
- 3.What is the budget envelope you will not exceed without a board conversation?
Disqualify on basics first, evaluate depth second
Most offshore evaluations spend the first hour on technical depth and never get to the boring things that actually predict outcome. Reverse it. Disqualify on the boring things; spend depth time only on teams that survive.
- 1.Is the agency a real legal entity with a real address you could mail a letter to?
- 2.Can they produce a signed reference call within five business days?
- 3.Do they have a written security policy newer than 18 months?
Trade three case studies for one reference call
Case studies are marketing. Reference calls are evidence. If an agency cannot produce two clients willing to spend twenty minutes on the phone with you, the engagement risk is not technical.
- 1.Are the references current or former clients in the last 24 months?
- 2.Are at least two of them in your industry or adjacent?
- 3.Did anyone on the reference call hedge on the question 'would you hire them again'?
Insist on milestone gates before kickoff, not during the first crisis
Gates are a structure that decides in advance how disagreement gets resolved. Adding them mid-engagement reads as distrust. Adding them at kickoff reads as professionalism. By both sides.
- 1.Are gates on the calendar before contract signature, not after?
- 2.Are acceptance criteria written for the first gate before the work starts?
- 3.Is there a named third party on the To line of every gate email?
Decide what 'in trouble' looks like, before you are in it
Every offshore engagement crosses a moment where the buyer wonders if it is in trouble. Pre-deciding what triggers escalation. And who you call. Converts that moment from panic into procedure.
- 1.What is the named, written response SLA for your escalation contact?
- 2.What are the three triggers that move an engagement from green to yellow on your side?
- 3.What does graceful exit look like and what does it cost?
Six signals that have to be deal-breakers.
- RF-01
A reference call that gets rescheduled twice without a name change on the calendar invite.
- RF-02
Security policy that is a Google Doc dated more than two years ago.
- RF-03
Subcontractor relationships disclosed only after a direct question.
- RF-04
Pricing that drops materially when you push back, with no scope change.
- RF-05
Slack-first culture with no proposal of written gates or acceptance criteria.
- RF-06
An accountability contact who is also the lead engineer on your project.