[HN Gopher] Ask HN: What tool for negotiating/discussing scope i...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Ask HN: What tool for negotiating/discussing scope items for fixed
       quote?
        
       I'm a solo freelance web developer. One pain point I haven't really
       been able to solve looks like this:  Client wants a fixed quote for
       some features. Typically this is a "phase 2" after we have already
       done a fixed quote with delivery, and trust has been built.  They
       sent an email with a paragraph on each feature/change they want. I
       send some follow up questions. They send some answers and add a
       couple more features. Their tech person chimes in with a few more
       comments. I send a quote itemising the features. They ask how much
       if we change one of the features in a certain way. They say not to
       worry about the first feature we talked about. They start adding
       screenshots to the email threads to describe specific features.
       This is perhaps the only part of the business that I find tiresome
       in terms of admin. It's quite hard work getting all the email
       threads together, keeping track of the comments, making sure I have
       enough details to quote, etc.  What's a better way?  Obviously the
       idea of Github Issues occurs, but it would be a tough sell getting
       a client to write a separate issue for every possible scope item,
       and having "business" discussions in the Github Issues feels icky
       somehow. (I don't think my client contacts nor I would particularly
       like my fees to be visible to other developers who might be
       involved.)  I have tried using a spreadsheet, where each row is a
       feature, and each column is a round of discussion on the feature.
       Which sort of works, but lacks formatting, and it's hard to
       incorporate screencaps.  These quotes are generally in the $5-15k
       range. Usually it's a codebase I built from scratch but will be
       handing over to their team to manage/maintain.  Would love to hear
       any tools/techniques that have worked for you.
        
       Author : stevage
       Score  : 5 points
       Date   : 2024-04-11 06:59 UTC (1 days ago)
        
       | keikobadthebad wrote:
       | It's enough money it's worth making a short document summarizing
       | the current ask from them as you understand it, and sending that
       | back as the basis for agreeing what they want, pasting stuff from
       | emails and changing the quote as it evolves.
        
       | chiefalchemist wrote:
       | The better way? Time & materials..
       | 
       | Fixed quotes work for well defined scope and mitigated unknowns.
       | When things aren't static, when there are too many unknowns, risk
       | (in giving a fixed price) increase, often significantly. I've
       | seen plenty of solo-ists and agencies give the client the price
       | they wanted and then go well into to red trying to deliver.
       | 
       | An alternative is to be heavy-handed in your estimate. Eye it up
       | and 2x it, or 3x it.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2024-04-12 23:00 UTC)