This makes sense. When I used elance, I set up milestones and even added payouts to early milestones in the hopes of enticing early and often deliverables. Alas, everything slipped.

One thing I've noticed about my own management philosophy is that I am hesitant to step in and dictate terms forcefully when things start to slide. There surely isn't a one size-fits-all solution, but it's clear I need to work on identifying and resolving issues earlier on.