When your worker misses a deadline

When Your Worker Misses a Deadline

Note: the links below are generic and don't reflect the links YOU would use for your particular project. Please refer to the email you received for the actual links.

Dear John Employer,

The deadline for your project: "Integration from SQL Server to Oracle database" at 8/13/2003 10:28:46 PM EDT is quickly arriving.

Hopefully Fred Worker has worked hard for you and is close to completing the project to your 100% satisfaction. If this is the case, then I'm glad that your project is progressing well. I hope you take the time soon to fully review their final work so they can be awarded funds for it.

However, if Fred Worker is not able to complete your project 100% by the above deadline, then you have 2 choices. You can either continue working with them or cancel the project (and request a refund of unescrowed funds). However it is VERY IMPORTANT that you read this email to learn how to do this properly. Doing so incorrectly may cost you UNNECESSARY TIME and cause you UNDUE FRUSTRATION.

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A) "Cancel the project"
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As an employer, you are entitled to receive 100% of what was agreed upon by the deadline. If this doesn't happen and Fred Worker was responsible for the missed deadline, then you may wish to cancel the project. You do this through the arbitration process as detailed below.

What to do:

1) FIRST--AS SOON AS THE DEADLINE PASSES, DO NOT ASK Fred Worker TO FIX ANYTHING IN THE DELIVERABLES (EVEN IF THEY ARE BROKEN) OR KEEP WORKING IN ANY WAY. (In fact, you should just cutoff all communication with them). If you ask them to fix items or keep working, you are telling them that the deadline you had previously set no longer applies (see the arbitration rules of "implicit extension"). Then, if you later want to cancel, you'll find you will be forced in arbitration to set a 2nd true deadline. This will cost you unnecessary time and undue aggravation. So if you really want to keep going, instead see the steps for "Keep going" below. Otherwise, continue to step 2.

2) To cancel the project, please click on the dispute resolution link at: http://www.vWorker.com/RentACoder/misc/Feedback.asp?intTypeOfInquiry=7&lngBidRequestId=71883&lngBidId=777546Rent a Worker will verify that the worker was at fault for not delivering 100% by the deadline, via the process of arbitration. When confirmed you will receive a refund of all un-awarded funds from escrow. (Please see rules of arbitration in your contract for more details at http://www.vWorker.com/RentACoder/SoftwareEmployers/SoftwareEmployerLegal.asp#arbitration). If you feel a partial payment to the worker is appropriate, you can choose to award one to them.

Please do be aware that if the worker is found to be at fault, we do have a responsibility to other parties on the site to rate them accordingly. Also, if you receive a refund of 100% of the funds, then you do not own copyright to what was produced and must destroy all deliverables created by the worker. You can of course choose to negotiate a partial payment with them for the copyright of what they created, and we can oversee this in arbitration. Just mention this to your arbitrator and they will make the necessary arrangements.

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B) "Keep going"
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There are many reasons why you may wish to continue working with Fred Worker past the deadline. Perhaps outside factors beyond the Fred Worker's control caused a deadline to slip and you wish to give them an additional chance. Or maybe you can see that they are very close to completing the project and don't want to lose the time you've invested. Or maybe you know that something you did caused them to miss the deadline, and are willing to extend it. Whatever the reason, here is how to do it:

What to do:

If you wish to continue working with Fred Worker...

1) FIRST--AS SOON AS THE DEADLINE PASSES, DO NOT ASK Fred Worker TO FIX ANYTHING IN THE DELIVERABLES (EVEN IF THEY ARE BROKEN) OR KEEP WORKING IN ANY WAY... UNTIL YOU'VE FOLLOWED ALL OF THE STEPS BELOW. If you ignore this advice, you will be effectively telling the worker that the deadline you had previously set no longer applies (see the arbitration rules of "implicit extension"). Then, if you later want to cancel you'll find you will be forced in arbitration to set a 2nd true deadline. This will cost you unnecessary time and undue aggravation.

2) Place an onsite comment to Fred Worker and let them know:
a) That they missed the deadline but that you want to extend it (make sure to specify a date, time and time zone).
b) If Fred Worker was fully or partially responsible for the missed deadline, then give them your "commitment terms" for the extension (an explanation of this important step and examples are below).
c) Ask for Fred Worker to agree to this onsite.

3) If they agree, then officially set the new deadline by clicking on "extend delivery deadline" in your project control panel at http://www.vWorker.com/RentACoder/misc/BidRequests/ShowBidRequest.asp?lngBidRequestId=71883#EmployerBidRequestControlPanel. Hopefully they will now complete the work by the new deadline. But if for some reason they don't, then you can choose to cancel or keep going by repeating the process above.

4) (optional) If they don't agree to the terms, then place the project into arbitration for a cancellation and refund (see #1 above).

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"commitment terms'
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If Fred Worker was negligent in any way, then creating "commitment terms" are vitally important. The worker has already missed one deadline. They need to prove that they are willing to increase their commitment, or else they are likely to simply miss the next deadline in the same way. Some recommended 'commitment terms' are:

i) Firmly restate exactly what needs to be done.

Sometimes a worker's attention can "drift" over the course of the project, causing them to lose focus. Doing this, refocuses them on exactly what is expected and when. It also forces them to verify that they really understand what you expect to receive and aren't just paying you lip service.

Example: 'You've missed the deadline of 1/1. I'm extending it to 1/5 at 5PM EDT because I like what I've seen so far. However I do expect the entire application to be working by then. This includes the 4 bugs I've identified in our last posts which are ... Please verify that you will complete this by then and I will extend it.'

ii) Have the worker commit to greater contact:

If the worker has not been communicating well, you should increase the frequency of required comment postings and the deliverables they've completed at the time, to increase their effort and commitment to your project.

Example: 'You've been absent and not responding for too long to this point and now you have missed the deadline. If we are to continue I will need you to provide twice a week updates to me that includes both a report of what you've done and the code you've completed at that time. If I don't receive those I'll be putting this into arbitration for cancellation, so please don't agree unless you're serious about finishing this up completely.'

iii) Mini milestones

This is a good tactic to use if the worker didn't finish a lot of the work they originally promised, and you are unsure if they can finish it all. You don't wish to invest a huge chunk of time into finding out however. To avoid this, split the remaining work that is to be done into mini-milestones...detailing what needs to be done by what date. This forces the worker to either start finishing things on time, or face an earlier arbitration and termination.

Example: "You have missed the deadline of 1/1 with a number of incomplete features. This project has 3 parts remaining. If you wish me to extend this deadline, you will have to complete part 1 by 1/2 5PM EDT, part 2 by 1/4 5PM EDT, and part 3 by 1/5 5pm EDT. Please verify that you will complete this by then and I will extend this project."

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As usual, if you have any questions, concerns or issues, you can call or email any facilitator at vWorker.com at anytime for clarification (contact information is below).

Sincerely,
Zoe Edgington
vWorker.com Facilitator
Phone: (813) 908-9029
Fax: (813) 960-1495

P.S. If you respond to this email, please do not remove the following information below in your reply so I can more quickly process your email. Thanks.

Screen Name: John Employer
Employer on project: http://www.vWorker.com/RentACoder/misc/BidRequests/ShowBidRequest.asp?lngBidRequestId=71883
Created on: 7/17/2004 5:41:02 PM EDT