The Joel Test
Archive for the ‘Business’ Category
Bill by the hour
After reading Practices of an Agile Developer, I have begun billing only by the hour since about 1 month ago. It was one of the many golden nuggets I gleaned from that book.
Here’s a nice and concise article that basically summarizes why its better to charge at an hourly rate (and not just better for the developer. It’s better for the client too). I’ve already seen much improvement in my clients’ happiness level.
It’s been my experience previously working at Compaq and later starting up our own business six years ago that in a fixed bid situation, either the client gets taken to the cleaners or the developers do. With fixed bid, the requirements of a project have to be so locked down and fine grained that there is no flexibility. If requirements change, costs for the developer can spin out of control. For a developer to make profit, they have to bid the project up really high to cover any unforeseen scope creep. Business as usual (fixed bid) just didn’t make sense to us.
I am stilling giving my clients a general idea on price, but I am not promising them anything. Fixed bids are broken promises - mainly because of damn scope creep, and the fact that what the client wants and what the client comes to expect over time are two different things. It’s imperative to create for the client what he or she has come to expect.
No!Spec letter
This is a useful letter to send to a client who is trying to get spec work out of you.