[thelist] Avoiding common pitfalls

[Christopher Joseph]

Marc Seyon wrote:
> Chris Joseph wrote:
>> - Hold a workshop/meeting at the outset with all parties who stand to
>> gain from the project e.g.
>>
>> This may take half or even more depending on the scale of the project
>> and it is non-billable - you may not even get the contract BUT it shows
>> commitment, management skills and you increase cutomer buyin and trust
>> right at the outset.
>
>
> I agree this is a key point, Christopher. But I don't think you should be
> giving away something this high value as non-billable.
>
> There is a fine line that only experience will help you to find, where you
> sell just enough to land the contract, without going through the entire
> requirements assessment workshop. To do this you may only need meet to the
> relevant decision-maker within the organization.
>
> There is a very valuable section on this topic, completing the sell, and
> other useful advice for developers looking to market themselves in a book I
> recently read and reviewed. It's called
> 'The Geek's Guide to Internet Business Success', and the review can be read
> on evolt.
>
> http://www.evolt.org/article/Book_Review_The_Geek_s_Guide_to_Internet_Busine
>
> ss/12/46770/index.html
>

I will read with interest :). Although it should be noted that although
the requirements assessment is non-billable this does not mean that you
shouldn't factor the time spent on it into your quote (albeit as an
extra hour or two on each section of the project proper). Of course, you
actually have to get the contract first...

Also, we use a number of rapid business analysis approaches / methods
(e.g. http://www.powerplussystems.com/ ) to cut down the time required
for a full requirements assesment - the result of the process is the
production of the spec document which in effect you can sell on to the
client for use in an RFP (requests for proposals) scenario even if you
do not get the job itself.

--
Christopher Joseph

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