Typical mistakes "experienced customer" in freelance

I, as a person who worked for more than 7 years as a freelancer, and grew out of a freelancer into a small IT company of 10 people. Could not pass by very informative article: 10 tips for the customer in freelancing .

And with permission, wrote his answer, so to speak, to Chamberlain. In terms of freelancer.


The author is a classic example of a heavy customer. When there is no work, we take such ones, but most often the ideological differences start from the very beginning and the cooperation ends without starting. I would be glad to mark them (discrepancies):
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1. Always fix the "rules of the game" in the contract.

Very true to say about the contract. As a rule, there are either openly stupid or frankly indentical conditions. Typical problems of contracts from the customer:

1a Fines for delay are paid only by the contractor, while, believe me, at least half of the deadline is the customer’s fault: a slow response to the provision of data, fear and inability to make decisions, limited authority of the contact person. All this terribly slows down the work. I think fines should be symmetrical.

2a The terms in the contracts are stipulated in one piece: 50 days. No more no less. And the fact that we have two sketches in the middle, in which the reserve will be thinking for at least a week, and playing with font sizes is not taken into account. As a result, consent to such a contract may result in the fact that the customer deliberately delays the feedback, and fines are dropped by the contractor.

3a no agreement termination mechanisms are specified. But the customer may simply refuse to provide, for example, access to the services involved in the project, and the project will hang in the air until the very Judgment Day.

Conclusion, I will never sign the contract of the customer, if it contains potentially dangerous moments. If for the customer to insist on his most important thing - we will never work together.

2. Write a clear statement of work.

Yes, the item is described perfectly. Everything would be so!

In practice, I have never met in 7 years, not a single TK from a customer written in such a way that it would not allow the appearance of additional “hotelok”, which we did not evaluate. Always a lot of water, little concrete. A pile of unlit areas. Moreover, expressions like “user's personal account, like on the site www.mail.ru ”. What is it like? And with personal mail too? If you don’t like that, shake your hand three times.

Ps Usually, we ourselves are completely from scratch, even before starting work we write a detailed TZ, based on the scribbling that the customer sent. This is the only way out agile to avoid unnecessary work. Of course, we are talking about projects up to 100 person-days. From above - only agile.

3. Always speak TK

Absolutely empty item. Even harmful. Any communication by voice is always half empty bazaar "niochem". The same applies to asek and skype. Only email.

Right in the TK, controversial points are marked by comments and questions and are discussed in thoughtful correspondence.

UPDATE: Under the pressure of criticism in the comments, I have to admit that the initial oral discussion of the project is REQUIRED. And then we write TZ and by correspondence we agree on all inaccuracies. And here I will stand to the end: discussing each question that arises orally, or chatting is a crime, killing your and your client’s precious time.

4. Be sure to keep a joint list of current tasks.

Yes! Shake your hand.

5. Pay in fact

I always understand the customer's concerns, but believe me, the risk is at least two. Contractor no less than the customer runs the risk to work for free. And believe me, inadequate among the customers is not less.

Therefore, the ideal scheme of work, for example on the site: 30% advance payment, 30% after the adoption of the sketch and 40% at the very end.
Maximum 30% advance, 70% at the end. The rest, sorry, it smells like outright disrespect or even a scam.

6. Do not neglect reviews from previous customers.

7. Examine the profile for inconsistencies.

8. Do not stop at the first "good" option - consider a few

Three times yes. I always like to say: “hire for a long time, fire quickly”.

9. Arrange a "test drive"!

But on this, the relationship usually ends.

At the tender stage, doing something is 99% empty. It has never justified itself. Never. Even if you win such a tender, the customer initially starts to treat your work without respect, because you worked for free. Such a relationship will never be mutually beneficial. A classic game with only one goal, in which you should never take part, only if you do not die of hunger.

A test drive is a small task, but ideally good, but, as a rule, a small task in practice boils down to finishing someone else's spaghetti code, which is simply impossible to accompany. As a result, we refuse the task, we lose the customer.

But the idea itself, with proper implementation, may not be bad.

10. Bargain with candidates!

The author writes very correctly: “ If a person cannot substantiate the clearly requested amount, then, most likely, he does not understand what he has to do and how much time he can spend on it .” But why not ask a person to write an estimate for expenditure, for modules, for work, to check the adequacy of perception?

Of course, it is possible to bargain, but from practice, this greatly influences motivation. Win 20%, get a bunch of little things made on the principle: "strike in Italian." Having become a customer, on the contrary, I practice small awards for the “on time and high quality” project. Works good.

Summary.

The summary is simple. By following the rules strictly stated, you will find an executive fool. A good specialist who respects his work, with a number of voiced conditions will not agree.