[consulting] Lessons learned from consulting

[Ivan Soto]

Even though I agree with most of your lessons, I don't think they reflect
the "Drupal industry".

What happens to me once in a while is that I get people who "heard" that
Drupal is the best thing ever and it's "free". Then they try to setup a
site, which works fine. Then they try to setup a complex site (friends list,
tagging, digg clones, video sites, etc.) and they realize that even when
modules exists, it's hard to make everything work fine. That's when they try
to hire a "Drupal expert" having a non-existent initial budget and a broken
site.

They usually come to the paid services forum and make a pathetic bounty for
$15 in order to get something fixed. Those people some times email me
talking about a project and after a couple emails I realize they have no
budget to do so. It's frustrating that they make you waste so much time.

Ivan Soto Fernandez
Web Developer
http://ivansotof.com



On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 12:01 PM, Sami Khan <sami at etopian.net> wrote:

> I have had my own bad experiences in the Drupal industry. The worst
> probably being sub-contracted by a company on the West Coast of the US.
> Involved attacking me personally in front of a non-profit client and
> threats of law suits both from me and them. Frivolous claims such as
> such as taking me to court for bad code, bug fixing, and hurting their
> business, (this despite the standard GPL clause), it was all a ruse in
> order to keep from paying me which was mainly due to the client running
> out of funds, and them deciding that I should be the one who should bear
> the weight for that. I settled with the for 1/5 of what I owed as at the
> time I was not inclined to go to court and the facts were not very clear
> on paper, i.e. lack of a solid contract, and it would make quite a bit
> more of a mess then I particularly wanted to at the time.
>
> Lesson learned from all of my experiences thus far to help the
> community:
>
> 1) Never work without a contract, have a nice detailed disclaimer on
> your contract to make clear what you will or will not do.
> 2) Refuse to do any work if there is no contract (and do not feel any
> obligation to do anything), even if continuing a relationship.
> 3) Ask for a good portion of the contract up front.
> 4) If the company (SMEs only) is loaded with managers or people who are
> the owners of the company and can't code worth shit, GTFO, as they are
> simply adding cost for their dead weight... Further they are getting in
> the way of communication with the client. In the end, this means that
> they may get the specs wrong and blame you for the results, both
> personally and in the eyes of the client. Unless you feel particularly
> that they are adding something that you cannot add.
> 5) If the people involved are particularly good at debate, don't expect
> to get anything done, and simply take them to small claims court with
> the contract in hand. Do not attempt to argue with them any further, as
> its a waste of time. They will make up all sorts of assertions and lies
> and confound progress and might even try to get you in trouble with the
> law, etc. Further, in court do not attempt to debate them, simply
> present the facts, call attention to the fact that they are good at
> debate, and that they are good at distorting the fact because of it.
> 6) If you wish to expose someone, simply do it, threatening to do it can
> get you in more trouble.
> 7) If the company is filled with incompetent people who like to bill
> hours for arbitrary things, sooner or later you are going to get
> screwed. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.
> 8) Work directly with clients, never be sub-contracted (unless perhaps
> by IBM or another big brand), as that's a way to add costs to your
> clients, and potentially puts you at significantly greater risk than
> working with clients. Considering how expensive IT projects can get with
> even a single person, adding more dead weight to the mix is asking for
> trouble.
> 9) If you give a solid estimate, then make a contract that says
> explicitly what that involves, and then refuse to do any more work.
> Needless to say this is going to lead to frustration both from you and
> the client, and so either don't go down this path or explain to the
> client that this is the case and that they are likely to be frustrated
> in the future -- do this diplomatically.
> 10) Bill on time, and if you don't get paid refuse to do any more work.
> 11) There are plenty of douche bags everywhere, and people who think
> they are managers are particularly good douche bags.
> 12) Look out for yourself, and never expect anyone is looking out for
> you. This goes for any and all employees, and people participating in
> our economic system.
>
> If you have any lessons, please be free to share them too.
>
> Sami
>
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