[consulting] Costs of forking

[Ken Collins]

On Feb 9, 2006, at 7:49 AM, Bèr Kessels wrote:
> In my client environment, they really don't give a **** about forking,
> maintaining patches, or being part of the club. they Just Want A Site.
> Finished by tomorrow, but preferably yesterday.

> Most of the times when you start about "community development" or the
> "benefits of OSS development" the eyes of your client or CEO will  
> glaze

This is so true. I've managed and sold CMS and OSS projects going  
back to 1999 using ZOPE. I have specifically been asked by a few  
clients to NOT mention any of this technical stuff in proposals and  
such. It's more professional that you handle this on your personal  
business end. My term for it is the "IBM Shovel" but I digress...

Clients want to stay focused on the objectives, end results, etc. and  
if you are a geek (ie, you know what forking is) but yet, you act as  
business development, AE, or other manager you too should be focused  
on the clients end result and communicate along those lines.  
Technicalities like forking, get in the way of that line of  
communication.

Remember too, that many clients have their clients where your  
services are a part of the bigger plan. If "your" client even  
understands these concepts, they will never make their way to your  
client's client.


  - Ken