I had a conversation today where I realised that y’all are running around out there taking what your software partner says to you at face value.
This is a mistake, and I’ll tell you for why.
I’ll also spend some time carefully explaining that I’m not being negative. Generally speaking, any partner you find will be competent and trustworthy, but there is a sizable set of problems that go away if you solve miscommunication.
Miscommunication, early doors in a relationship like this, can largely be solved by gently applied pessimism. For example, if a software partner or agency tells you they can achieve a certain integration with a business partners systems and this will be “no problem” – a pessimist will assume there will be at least one problem and find it, before the whole thing blows up in your face.
This is simply an issue of “good fences make good neighbours”, and you need to be very careful not to become difficult or overbearing. But, over time as you and the partner get to know each other, you can modify things to find a suitable nuanced communication mode.