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Adaptive
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We'll change how we work, depending
on your needs. Sometimes we'll drive the process, other
times we'll work inside your existing process. Of course
there are differences between how we work for the various
sorts of services we offer. We describe some typical
ways of working below so that if you are a newcomer,
you have some idea of what to expect, but actually we
vary to fit in with you individually.
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Initial |
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If you approach us
with a problem, we'll set up an initial interview to
find out more. In fact it may span several meetings.
We won't be charging, so you don't need to worry about
fees.
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Outline |
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When we think we understand
your needs well enough, we'll talk to you about the
possible solutions. We may produce a brief written report,
depending on the situation. We may tell you that we
think that we aren't suitable to deal with your problem
and if that happens then we'll point you towards a person
or a company who we think will be able to do better
than we can. (We are especially proud of the praise
from customers who we have steered towards other companies,
and if you ask then we'll put you in touch with some
of them.) Of course there is no fee
At this stage we'll tell you the terms that we think
will be best for you. Typically we'd recommend either:
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A staged project
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A fixed fee project, or
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An hourly rate
- Some combination
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Staged project |
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Together we would define the stages
of a project. At the end of each stage we would deliver
something tangible - for instance, perhaps a report, perhaps
a prototype - you would have the continuing or stopping
the project. If you decide to continue then we would again
work together to define the next stage, and our fee for
the stage. Our fee might be hourly or fixed, depending
on the type of work we are undertaking. It may have limits,
or we may agree to limit the time we will spend. Depending
on the nature of the project we may ask for part payment
in advance.
The advantage of this sort of development is that you
are in control of the risk. You can cancel the project.
You can use the deliverables from previous stages in other
projects or to work with other people. |
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Fixed fee |
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If together, we can define the tasks
to be completed for the project to a fine degree, then
we may suggest that a fixed fee for the deliverables is
the best option for you. We would normally proceed in
two stages - defining the deliverables and then developing
them. Depending on the nature of the project we might
think that a fixed fee for defining the deliverables was
sensible.
When working on the deliverables, we would ask for part
payment up front. We would agree to staged deliverables,
which helps you by showing you what is happening and help
to build your trust. If you needed to vary the details
of the deliverables from the agreement, then it is very
likely that we would charge an additional fee to complete
the work associated with the change.
The advantage of this model is that your financial plans
can be firmer. |
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Hourly rate |
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Some work and projects are not amenable
to strict specification. In these cases we'd suggest
an hourly rate. We would keep you informed on an agreed
basis of our the number of hours we had spent on your
tasks.
We believe in transparency. Normally you wouldn't see
software consultants publicing their rates, but we don't
think that is right.
Our hourly rate depends on the work we are doing and
how we agree to work. Some guides:
Software development is unlikely to cost less than £35/hour.
Web development would cost between £25 and £35/hour,
depending on the nature of the work. Web applications
would attract the higher end.
If we develop together with off-shore developers then
the
Project management fees are between £35 to £45/hour
Management consultancy is not likely to be less than
£50/hr and can range to £150/hr, depending
on the tasks.
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Variations |
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We discount for longer projects. We
may discount depending on the size of your company. We
may come to unusual agreements - for instance for startups,
we may agree to work at a large discount, in exchange
for equity, profit participation or licensing variations. |
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Software
Licencing and variations |
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When we develop software we use a
variety of licencing methods. Normally the software
would be licenced to you for a single exclusive use.
That means that you would not be able to sublicence
it. Nor would we. You would have access to the source
code, so that you can ask other people to work on it.
We might be able to reduce development costs by using
components, in which case we would arrange for the licences
for this part of the code to pass to you. Whether we
are using our components or someone elses, these parts
would be covered by a non-exclusive licence.
We are prepared to work on sofware where we assign all
rights to you. You would be able to re-use the software
how you wanted, including reselling it. Our fee would
reflect this.
In some cases we will work for reduced fees in return
for non-exclusive licencing. In these cases we would
be able to sell the software to others too, in much
the same way as a company like Microsoft does.
We are also pleased to work on freely licenced software
under the GNU or Mozilla licences or something similar,
where it would be sensible to make the software easily
available to a wider audience.
We'll be pleased to discuss the options with you.
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Disclosure |
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We are happy to sign non-disclosure
agreements. There are many things that we've worked on
that we would love to be able to tell you about but can't.
Ask again in 5 years. |
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Working
together |
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On most projects we will need to work
together closely. We may need to interview you or your
staff. We may be producing written documents and verbal
reports. Perhaps we will be showing you software examples.
Maybe we'll be discussing the challenges in a project
plan. We will probably be in touch a great deal using
email. We like using Instant Messaging to keep in touch.
The more that you can be involved, the happier we are.
We may even ask if we can have a desk in your office so
that we can work even more closely with you or your staff.
We'll try to teach you about what we are doing; the more
you understand, the easier it will be for you to make
good decisions whenever a chance to influence what we
are doing comes along. |
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Project
lifecycle |
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Your project is individual and we
will cater to your project specifically, but your project
may involve phases for setup, planning, definition,
delivery definition, repeated cycles of development
or investigation, and feedback.
How we fit together a plan depends on the project. If
we were working on a software strategy for your company,
then we'd expect a simpler project structure, with planning,
delivery definition, cycles of investigation and finally
delivery and discussion.
If we were managing a project for you, then we'd expect
to be involved in the project planning. For most software
projects we would expect to see a much more complex
lifecycle.
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Delivery |
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At some stage the project will near
completion. For custom software you may need training.
You may need support and you may want an agreed amount
of our time on an ongoing basis to deal with changes.
For management consultancy of course you will have a report,
but you can expect us to sit with you and discuss the
report. |
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And we don't
charge for... |
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As software developers, we don't believe
you should pay us to learn. But learning new software
skills is central to maintaining our competitiveness,
so if through being involved in a particular project,
we are learning new software skills then we discount.
We may even discount delivered portions of the work to
£0. We do this on a case by case basis. |
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