Long before that, I was working at another firm where we did fixed cost software development work for a client. They paid us $300,000 and we delivered a ported hunk of code. We had underbid quite a bit, which was partly due to inaccurate specifications of the work since issues arose that no one could have predicted in advance. The scope crept ever higher as we went through the project, which is not a rare experience in software development projects.
We tracked our time very carefully per issue that we came across. Eventually we went back to the customer and essentially said, “We in good faith performed these services without arguing about it, even though these things were not specified in the original contract. This is how long it took for each problem that came up and here’s how much money we would like you to pay us for all of that. Or you can choose not to pay us and this will be the last project we ever help you with. It’s your choice.” They tipped us exactly the amount we’d asked for - about $58,000 as I recall.
The next time we worked on a project, we bid much more accurately thanks to the timekeeping data from the first project.
When the heat is on, you live and learn.
- Curt Finch, Journyx CEO