Steve Blank: SuperMac War Story 9: Sales, Not Awards

"We had been outsourcing an important part of our demand creation strategy – packaging – to an outside agency without having the expertise to judge or manage the results."

That quote rings so true for me and not just on a marketing/creative side. I've seen so many poorly developed/designed applications and websites simply because the client couldn't properly assess the work being done by the vendor. In addition, in many cases, it is only exacerbated by the insecurities of the client who feel they need to make critiques to maintain an air of authority.

I'm actually in the middle of that scenario right now... any tips on gently telling management to back off, they don't know what they are doing.