You wouldn’t marry someone after one promising Hinge message and a shared love of oat milk lattes.
So why do so many product and tech leaders sign long-term retainers with contract teams they’ve never actually built with?
We get it. You’re under pressure. You’ve got a roadmap that’s gone from “ambitious” to “somebody help me” real quick. You found a promising dev agency, they talk a good game, and you need to get moving. So you lock in a 6-month retainer and cross your fingers that they won’t ghost you halfway through your platform rebuild.
But here’s the thing:
Rushing into retainers is the contract-team equivalent of impulse-buying a used car because the radio works.
You need more than a shiny deck and a smooth sales call to know if this team’s actually a fit.
The better approach?
Date before you marry.
A flat-rate micro project is your first date. Low commitment, high clarity.
Let’s talk about why.
The First Project Is Never About Velocity
It’s about vibes.
You can’t assess a team’s long-term value based on how fast they finish something. What you can assess is how they:
- Communicate when things change
- Ask (or don’t ask) smart questions
- Handle ambiguity without going full deer-in-headlights
- Push back when your requirements don’t make sense (a good thing!)
- Ship something that works and makes sense in context
A well-scoped micro project gives you the chance to see all that in action. Think of it like a real-world simulation: What happens when this team hits your codebase, your meetings, your processes? Do they adapt or resist? Do they chase clarity or cut corners?
No pitch deck or portfolio will give you that info.
But one tightly scoped week-long project? That’ll tell you plenty.
You Get to Kick the Tires Without the Burnout
Let’s say you’re evaluating three dev partners. Each one is telling you they’ve worked with unicorns, that their code is pristine, and that their founders personally review every commit (spoiler: they don’t).
Wouldn’t it be great if you could just hand them all the same mini project and compare apples to apples?
You can.
That’s the beauty of micro projects: you get real work, not promises. You see how each team interprets your requirements, manages their time, and collaborates with your team.
You learn more in a 5-day build than in 5 rounds of interviews and 50 pages of proposals.
And if someone turns in a dumpster fire? You shake hands, pay them, and move on. No hard feelings. No contracts to unwind. No awkward “it’s not you, it’s… actually it is you” emails.
You Avoid the Retainer Trap
There’s a certain kind of regret that only shows up 3 weeks into a retainer. You’re knee-deep in reviews, nothing’s quite right, and you realize the team you hired on paper is not the team showing up on GitHub.
Now you’re stuck. You've pre-paid for hours that are evaporating into vague updates and questionable commits. You’re rewriting specs just to get traction. Your internal team is doing damage control. And you're wondering if breaking the contract will cost more than finishing it.
This happens all the time.
And it’s completely avoidable.
A flat-rate micro project gives you the equivalent of a trial period. No strings. No hourly drama. Just one problem, one price, one week. You walk away with working code and a whole lot more data on whether this team’s worth your roadmap.
You Set the Tone Early
A micro project isn’t just a test for the vendor. It’s also a signal to them: this is how we work. You’re showing that you value structure, clarity, and outcomes. You’re making it clear that you’re not the kind of org that wings it and hopes for magic. (Or worse, scope creep.)
In our experience, the best long-term relationships start with mutual respect and clear expectations. A micro project helps establish both.
You get a clean brief.
They get a real deliverable.
And if it goes well? You’ve just laid the foundation for a productive, low-drama partnership.
So What Should a Good First Project Look Like?
Glad you asked.
Here’s a cheat sheet:
- Small but meaningful. Something that touches production logic but isn’t mission-critical.
- Standalone. Don’t assign a task buried in 17 interdependencies. Pick something self-contained.
- Visible impact. The kind of thing where you can see the result—either in the UI or as part of a workflow.
- Clear constraints. Scope, timeline, and definition of done should be unmistakable.
At Roro, we often start with 1-2 week micro builds that deliver a real feature, integration, or design system. Something tangible. Something testable. Something that makes our clients go “okay, now we’re talking.”
The Bottom Line
A retainer is a commitment.
You’re not just buying hours - you’re betting on a working rhythm, mutual trust, and shared expectations.
So treat it like you would any major decision:
Start small. Watch closely. Build confidence.
And if a vendor ever pushes you to commit before showing any work?
Run.
Or better - suggest a micro project instead. If they say no, you just saved yourself six months of frustration.
Because at the end of the day, product leaders don’t need more dev hours.
They need dev partners who get it.
And the best way to find them?
Date first. Then decide if you want to build a future together.
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