| It is always a mistake to ask: "how long will this take you?" I've spent my career as a lawyer dealing with this problem. The solution is to choose a price that represents the value proposition of the output (whether it's code or contracts). As part of that price, you will bring a comprehensive process to the table – one that is very clear about what the client is expected to provide. I have gathered a huge amount of timekeeping data from lawyers, and crunched it up, down, left, right and center over the years. Here is what I learned: 1. If a task can be defined, it has a predictable price. 2. Tasks should not be measured by how long they take start to finish, but rather by how much time is actually required to complete them. 3. A clearly defined task always takes just about the same amount of time. The start to finish time is variable because: (a) the client is faster or slower at providing resources or information; and (b) your other client work is causing bottlenecks in your own availability. 4. You can solve for (a) and (b) above. I'll leave it to your imagination how. That's my secret. ;) |