[chinchilla2020]

> I’m not trying to bash the agency here, so I’ll just call them DesignAgency. They’re based in the US, and I found them through a Hacker News monthly freelancer thread.

First mistake is hiring people off hackernews. The amount of psuedoprofound pontification on this site is mindblowing.

> In my first meeting with DesignAgency’s team, I asked how long they expected my project to take. “How long is a piece of string?” their lead designer asked.

Same point as above.

Developers who focus on philosophical stuff tend to be a pain in the ass to work with on concrete, real-life projects.

[disruptiveink]

I've never worked with someone who ever stated "How long is a piece of string?" and wasn't a total pain to work with. Doesn't even matter which side I was on, it's painful to hear it even if you're part of the team that made that statement.

It's always a bad faith response. If the requirements are hazy, state that. If the task requires investigation and there's a high degree of exploratory work, state that (and state how long you'd be willing to explore before pivoting). If there's multiple outcomes or options that can lead to wildly different time estimates, disclose that.

Every time I've seen it uttered it meant "you're too dumb to understand what I'm doing and you should just shut up, give me money/time and leave me alone". And it's usually also people who overvalue their own abilities that say it too.

[paulcole]

If you don't mind me paraphrasing a bit, I think we can easily win the 2024 Accidental HN Slogan Contest with, "Mindblowing Amounts of Psuedoprofound Pontification.

[jjgreen]

Not enough alliteration: "A profusion of psuedoprofound pontification"?

[paulcole]

Exhibit A

[jjgreen]

It's a fair cop.

[iancmceachern]

The string comment shows they have contempt for the client right from the git.

You need to work with people that respect you, your business, your work.

[hpeter]

“How long is a piece of string?” their lead designer asked."

The longest I can do is char[tree fiddy]