On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 8:26 AM, MB Software Solutions < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Stephen Russell wrote: > > > > How can you present a cost estimate when you really have no real scope > as to > > what they want? > > > Therein is your mistake. I did know the scope. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How do you know the scope, unless you have had prior experience within the industry? I did an app for Quality Control in the Paper industry. We were taking the outputs of the various tests and combining them to get the proper grade of tissue that was created on the paper machine. Sounds easy but far from in. Started in the engineering department, it grew into many different departments that were no where near the testing lab in about one years time. This was a small plant that made toilet paper. It's now closed for years because of stupid decisions by the plant manager who was running two plants at the same time with the boards of each not knowing about the involvement in the other. > > > I mean I have been presented with a report in Excel and they wanted an > > application to feed in the data to create it. > > > > Do you really know more then 20% of their business? > > > Um, yes! That's the great thing about SMBs---not as complex as > enterprise big dogs most of the time (ymmv). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Doing the job at hand is what is necessary. Size of the company is not part of the request for work is it? In that we need to get bla bal bla done. > > > > Did you do FabMate this way, and if so how many upgrades had to be done > > because your knowledge of the industry was lacking? > > > Well, insight from clients is invaluable...that has really helped shape > it. > > > How do you state in your proposal what the measurable problems that > > currently exist and when your app is delivered how to measure that you > have > > fixed that? > > > > That's usually stated in the proposal letter (courtesy of Whil's > DevGuide template idea). > ----------------------------------------------------------------- I guess that in my experience you never know what those points are until you get into the meat of the discovery section of the project. From your replies it came across as you did little time here, or just enough to crank out some mock ups that would act as a sales tool to get the gig. I have rarely found the true business requirements for the requested work from any of my clients. That is frigin dental surgery from my POV. Just to keep things even here, to me a business requirement is the "what is wrong and why we have to do this." It is the core for the Mission statement for the project. The rest of the proposal defines the observable and deliverable aspects. these are never is mentioned in the "How To" documentation or Use Cases. -- Stephen Russell Sr. Production Systems Programmer Mimeo.com Memphis TN 901.246-0159 --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts --- multipart/alternative text/plain (text body -- kept) text/html --- _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
