By Avonelle Lovhaug
Publication Date: 6/21/2021 5:23:55 AM
This piece on charging hourly for programming services really nails it, I think. Programmers often get bogged down in fears that they will not be paid fairly unless they get to charge by the hour for everything. But there isn’t any financial incentive to minimize bugs when you are charging extra for them. And you are communicating something to a customer when you use this approach, and it isn’t that you are a seasoned professional who has confidence in their work. You are telling them: I intend to squeeze every last dollar out of you.
When I build software for ...
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Publication Date: 1/26/2021 6:34:51 AM
Publication Date: 1/25/2021 10:00:00 AM
Publication Date: 3/15/2012 6:40:24 AM
One of my customers LOVES to ask for configuration options. Often when I ask “do you want that implemented as “a” or “b” he will reply “can you make it something we can change later?” It isn’t that he wants to make my job harder (although sometimes it feels that way.) The problem is that he understands their environment, and he knows change is likely.
But making everything “flexible” adds cost, not only in initial development, but also in testing and maintenance. It can even be dangerous. When options are infrequently used, it is easy to forget how they work. This ...
Publication Date: 7/31/2009 11:18:03 AM
It is true: custom software can be expensive. The problem isn’t overpriced programmers (usually). The problem is that custom software takes time to build. And effort, lots of effort. (And no one knows what they want, and keep changing their mind, but that’s a separate story.)
Still, it is possible to get custom software for less money than you were quoted. The answer is simple: cut features.
My smartest customers know this. If I provide a bid that is outside their budget, they’ll ask this brilliant question:
“Here’s what we are trying to achieve. Is there a way we ...
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Avonelle is an incredibly talented software developer. She works fast, is economical, and offers great insights into the project at hand. She is also not afraid to speak up when she has concerns about a decision or approach. We’ve utilized her talents on many of our software development projects over the years.
Carrie Rocha, Chief Operating Officer @ HousingLink
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