A blog that looks at all aspects of project and program finances from budgets, estimating and accounting to getting a pay rise and managing contracts.
Written by Elizabeth Harrin from RebelsGuideToPM.com.
I’ve worked on projects where all the resources are in house, but it’s more common (at least in my experience, to have some external supplies needed on a project. Whether that’s external legal advice or buying a software product, many project managers have to work with suppliers.
But what should you ask them before you start work?
This video gives you 3 key questions you should talk to your vendors about before the project starts. They give you a way to have a conversation about working practices and expectations before you start really building one of the most important relationships you’ll have on this project.
Watch the video below and then share what you typically ask suppliers in the comments below.
For more information about working with suppliers, and a bonus 2 extra questions to ask, check out this article.
Alok PriyadarshiProject Manager| Tata Consulting Engineers LimitedJamshedpur, Jharkhand, India
Simple but very powerful questions to be asked to project suppliers. Thanks for sharing!!
Kavitha GunasekaranProject Manager| Aerospace & Defence OrganisationChennai, Tamil Nadu, India
I so agree with you. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Khai Ng.IT PMO | IT Project Manager| TTGROUPHanoi, Viet Nam
Thank you for your sharing! Things are much depended on the type of services your company will receive from supplier. For knowledge work, I will ask "Who will be the leader of your service delivery team? Does your company have any specific requirements for that role?" The quality of service that you will receive from supplier, in most cases, is proportional to the expertise of the leader and service team members. supplier may be already very busy on other projects and assign unexperience employee to lead the service delivery team.
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Very creative the way you used to talk about an important subject
Congratulations and thanks for sharing.
The first question would be: Are you able to provide what I want (cost, time, scope and quality)?
Collins AlugaQuantity Surveyor| MCK Contract Services LtdNairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
Excellent.Thank for sharing
Elizabeth HarrinDirector| RebelsGuideToPM.comLondon, England, United Kingdom
@Nguyen, yes I agree that the type of services makes a difference!
@Luis, yes, if you haven't already got that clear, you need to make sure the supplier can actually meet your project's needs!
Thanks, everyone, for taking the time to comment.
Thanks for this useful video. These are important questions to consider when interviewing a vendor. Other important question I consider is: Would you be open to allow us to inspect your work process?
