[consulting] Why fixed rate "budgets" are a waste of time for everyone (was REVISED RFP FOR DRUPAL DEVELOPER)

[Steve Power]

amen brother.

On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 9:25 PM, Sam Tresler <sam at treslerdesigns.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Fri, 12 Nov 2010, John Saward wrote:
>
> "they all want to know in advance how much their project will cost them,
> and that is a reasonable expectation, I guess)"
>
> Actually, no it isn't.  It would be if we in turn had a fixed labor and/or
> resources investment, but that is not the case in custom software
> development.
>
> You go to the mechanic, he says you need a new alternator - $450.  He knows
> how much the alternator costs him, and having done the exact same job before
> he knows how long it will take him. If he gets in there, and it turns out
> you need a new wiring harness too, you'll never hear a mechanic say, "Well,
> I gave you a fixed rate of $450, so the wiring harness is included."....
> ever.
>
> You go to a restaurant and order the steak - $45.  They know what the cost
> of the beef is and how much effort goes into cooking it.  If you in turn
> order the wine after the initial order of steak, is it included in the $45?
>
> You go to the website developer and request the Website Deluxe, $22,000.
>  The website developer doesn't know what is involved in your custom theme,
> and there's some 'zipcode search functionality' that is a little vague. How
> does that translate?
>
> In short, I only agree to fixed rate packages when my hours are also fixed.
>  i.e. if I were to take a $22000 fixed rate, I would likely say, that I will
> accomplish everything I can on their feature list, in the priority that the
> client dictates up to 160ish hrs, reserving 40hrs for QA, cleanup, and
> polishing of what was accomplished in that time.  We'd just get as far down
> on that list of features as we could while delivering a good product.
>  Incidentally, the client would be much better off just paying my hourly,
> because they could get the same deal anyway, except paying the hourly, I
> might finish early.
>
> -Sam
>
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > John
> >
> >
> > On 12/11/2010, at 7:45 AM, Victor Kane wrote:
> >
> >> Both Joel and Christopher were dialoging and what's more, they were
> right. And what's more, they were helpful, on both sides. Went from 12 to 18
> in ten minutes. And with the acknowledgement that custom dev would be more,
> and with the acknowledgement that it depends also on the real requirements
> (word conversion? yes? no?).
> >>
> >> Now that's a consultants forum!
> >>
> >> I've been tiredly explaining to people all week why fixed rate "budgets"
> are a waste of time for everyone, this really brought it home.
> >>
> >> Victor Kane
> >> http://awebfactory.com.ar
> >
>
> Sam Tresler
> 646-246-8403
>
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Steve Power
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