[thelist] process / fair estimate / assumed knowledge

[Matt Warden]

On 12/4/07, Joel D Canfield <joel at streamliine.com> wrote:
> > How do some of the rest of you deal
> > with these
> > unknowns and billing appropriately for getting up to speed?
>
> When it comes to getting up to speed, I assume that's my cost, not the
> client's. I may not be paying for classes or anything, but investing
> time in learning is part of what I do, and I don't feel fair charging
> the client for it.

Just to add to this, Joel is talking about a "general skills" project,
if you will. If you're looking at a systems integration project of
sorts, then this may not apply. If the client says: I want an
application that does x, y, and z, and you need to interact with my
mainframe, my 3 databases on 2 different dbms, my custom java applet
written in-house, and my old but powerful printing press that only
supports data transfer by morse code, then you can legitimately ask
for some requirements phase funding for technology research.

On a related note, I think it says a lot about how far this stuff has
come that we can take skills from one project and use those same
skills on another project on a different company's system with little
or no additional knowledge needed.

-- 
Matt Warden
Cincinnati, OH, USA
http://mattwarden.com


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