Were you wrong with the development timeline? How did you get out of the situation?

codecity2012-01-29 10:53:42

Law in IT

codecity, 2012-01-29 10:53:42

Do you know the situation when you made a very big mistake with the deadlines (well, say, every 10-20 times) with a fixed budget? That is, they planned to do it in a month (and asked for money as for a month's work without an insurance stock), and since. with many previously encountered, it turned out that the work for a year. And now, having realized the entire scope of work, you begin to understand that the announced budget is clearly not enough for you even to survive.

An example from life (absolutely real).

Freelancer (student) signed up to do the project for $150. I signed a contract, the sum insured was paid to weblancer. I planned to do it in a week or two part-time. But in practice, after 2 months only 30% of the work was done. Is it worth it for this student to step on his throat and say to complete everything for 150, otherwise he will not receive money + spoil the portfolio? I will make a reservation that the work was not done badly, and the assessment of the same work by an office with a name was > $ 15 thousand (with a reserve of $ 50 thousand, because an experienced company, unlike a student, admitted that it was not able to predict all possible difficulties ).

That is, they are interested in real life examples: how did you get out of a situation when you made a big mistake with the deadlines?

Answer the question

In order to leave comments, you need to log in

16 answer(s)

0xE0, 2012-01-29
@0xE0

Add another $900 to the student, split the amount into parts, pay out upon reaching the predetermined and agreed project milestones.

bald2b, 2012-01-29
@bald2b

In this case, the obvious mistake of the one who gave the project to the student with a period of 2 weeks. The student is to blame, but he can be understood. What to do:
1. Let the student go in peace, do not give money, if he failed, do not spoil the portfolio, it is not his fault.
2. Togo who gave the project to a student with such a deadline and budget to punish.

Renat Ibragimov, 2012-01-29
@MpaK999

It's your fault, when you were told $15,000 you were given to do it for $150, you yourself should understand that miracles do not happen.
Reward the student for what they have done.
Look for a new artist, don't screw around.

sajgak, 2012-01-29
@sajgak

So you answer your own question yourself =) Let the student think again, impose penalties for inadequate deadlines and continue working, renewing the contract, for more realistic terms. You won’t find it cheaper than a student’s anyway, and if he’s also good at it, then it’s a sin to leave him)

Alex42rus, 2012-01-29
@Alex42rus

If a student reported a delay only after the 2-week deadline, it is worth making an entry in his portfolio about it.

Denis Ogurtsov, 2012-01-29
@DenisOgr

I was in the shoes of a student in a similar situation. Only plus to everything, I had another row. And so:
— the term was stretched in 2 times. I explained this to the customer, he “was not satisfied”, but he paid.
- I punished the contractors with a fine, although it was a mutual consent of such an act.
- in the end, when in a row he announced for the next time that he was not getting on with the deadlines and the budget, the customer stopped paying. I was fired...
Moral for myself from this situation:
- the fault in such a situation falls on two, I + in a row, I should not have given clear deadlines and not given a clear budget. there is a minimum, there is a maximum.
- the customer must understand that in development - there is no concept of clear deadlines and budget - never. They say they'll do it in a month. add two more in your head. and this, I read normally.
- I worked for a percentage of the profits ... laughter ... never do that. when you don’t receive a salary after half a year of development, you will lose the desire to work for a non-existent profit. money motivates, like one may say!
- contractors, students - must constantly show what they are doing. maintain a task list. only he alone shows how the project is progressing. and the customer (manager) must constantly monitor it.
and advice to the student: as soon as you realize that you don’t have time, inform the customer right away! There is a big difference when you say a month or a day before the date that you have a problem! At least they won't tell you " What the fuck were you silent before! "
And it’s also very disappointing when you get fired, especially from a favorite project ...

Stdit, 2012-01-29
@Stdit

If the quality of work is satisfactory, and you understand that it costs a hundred times more, most likely the student made a mistake (did not calculate his strength) and the customer/manager made a mistake (believed in miracles and freebies). Perhaps you should think about additional payment so that the student does not give up and does not empty his pockets.
I myself got into such a situation (there was a two-month project that stretched for six months), I didn’t have to get out of the situation - the customer was adequate, the project was completed for the agreed amount, valuable experience was gained as a bonus.

werdender, 2012-01-29
@werdender

No, well, at 10-20 it's certainly too much.
You can make a mistake by 20-25 percent of the estimated period, I usually put them on right away and announce the estimated period already taking them into account. But the term is supposed, not guaranteed, and the circumstances may be different, so anything can happen, within reasonable limits. The main thing here is to warn the customer in advance, so they say, and so that he, for his part, does not suddenly get into an unpleasant situation.
About the student. I think part of the blame lies with him who entrusted him with this task without first listening to different opinions about the budget and timing.
Forcing him to do everything for 150 is probably pointless, both for you and for him, especially if the quality of his work suits you - well, you will ruin his reputation, and which of you will benefit from this?
I would discuss the situation with him, review the budget and timelines. I broke the project into smaller subtasks with approximate deadlines for each of them - in the same redmine. At the same time, you will receive a performer with a quality that is already known and suits you, and, as a result, a completed project. He, feeling guilty for himself, and grateful for the understanding shown, will certainly not drop the bar of this very quality, and will not ask for money like an office. All good in the end.
Otherwise, even if you take him as a slave for a year, he will simply ruin the project for you, because he doesn’t need it, and in any case you will look for other performers. And how it will turn out there is also written with a pitchfork on the water.

deeankin, 2012-01-29
@deeankin

Just as soon as I realized that I was not in time, I told the customer about it. The most important thing is to be honest and be human.

@icoder, 2012-01-29
_

That is, they are interested in real life examples: how did you get out of a situation when you made a big mistake with the deadlines?

I didn’t get into such a situation, but if I did, I would make a top-level sketch of the architecture, on the basis of which it would be possible to make an adequate project plan (taking into account, among other things, testing, bug fix, stabilization, etc.), with labor inputs (real, and not ideal), deadlines, mailstones, etc., then came to the customer with this plan, explained the reason for the fakup, and would offer to continue cooperation on this plan. I'm just afraid that the cost will turn out to be around the same 15k.

edogs, 2012-01-29
@edogs

Considering all aspects of the situation - IMHO, offer the student a choice
1) What would be ideally within a month and 1500 bucks
2) Refund of the prepayment and you are looking for another artist
In the portfolio, make an entry only if he does not match any of your options agree.
Why?
Obviously, 150 bucks for the work is not enough, so leaving it on the same budget is useless, nothing good will happen, you need to increase it by at least the monthly salary of a professional, so 1500 if you continue to work.
The deadlines have been broken, so that the student has not fulfilled the agreement, therefore, he has no right to count on payment for the fact that he “did something”, the deadlines are no less important than everything else, so if you do not continue work, then demand a return of the advance payment.
There is no point in making an entry in the portfolio, because. a situation in which both are really to blame, the customer had to provide for fines, the freelancer had to provide for delays.
We would really like to see the TK, which one estimates at 150 bucks and a maximum of 2 weeks, and the other at 15,000 and at least a couple of months ... There is a feeling that, to put it mildly, it can be interpreted ambiguously.

istinspring, 2012-01-30
@istinspring

what is the project for 150 dollars that is being done for a month? in my opinion, everything is simple - whoever pays orders the music, blackmailing a student by forcing him to work for nothing - not at all human. There is only one acceptable option here - to pay for further development. those. motivate the student with money.
everything in this world costs money and I don’t think the threat of negative feedback in the portfolio will serve as a good motivation for the employee. not to mention the moral side of the issue.
fast, high-quality, inexpensive: hastily done is never high-quality, high-quality is never cheap, and you always have to pay extra for urgency.

Dmitry Shvalyov, 2012-01-30
@dshster

And the rockets were built exactly according to the technical specifications - there entire scientific institutes worked for years to draw up technical documentation and estimates to the last screw!

masterx, 2012-01-30
@masterx

Deadlines broken . In this case, I compensated the moral damage to the customer either with a discount on work (5-30% for medium or large amounts, and up to 100% for small works), or additional work (make one more module within the agreed budget, etc.) . Recently, I began to practice the introduction of penalties for failure to meet deadlines both for myself and for the client (acceptance of work, provision of material). Clients willingly agree to this, now both I and the customer have an incentive to work on time.
Misjudgment of timing. In this case, you can not hide this problem from the client. This also happens in development, but not often. In such cases, I explained to the client that such and such difficult moments were identified, the development time increased significantly. Either we cut the functionality, or we increase the budget. Thank God, I work with adequate people, so they either revised the budget or peacefully dispersed (if the customer was not ready to increase the budget). And since the problem was mine (I misestimated the deadlines), I offered to give the work done either free of charge, or receive a partial reward - at the discretion of the customer.
In general, in any case, you need to communicate with the client like a human being, put yourself in their place, and then they will respond to you in the same way.

Dmitry Shvalyov, 2012-01-30
@dshster

Deadlines can be calculated if the TOR is compiled correctly and completely - to the last screw. But few people make such technical specifications, because these are the same terms and 20 percent of the development, otherwise all the terms will be very floating up to several times, especially if the customer makes adjustments during work.
In this situation, both are to blame - the freelancer for taking up the job, most likely without having a complete TOR, the customer - for trusting the freelancer who does not have complete information about the project. The way out is to stop the work, sit down to write the TOR for the freelancer and the customer together, according to the TOR, already break the work into small parts and evaluate them in terms of time and cost. Naturally written TK is also paid by the customer as part of the project.

Puma Thailand, 2012-01-31
@opium

Always immediately after exceeding the expected deadlines, I tell the customer that there are problems here and there, the expected release will then cost about the same, if you don’t want the money, I won’t take it and leave the project. The rest is decided by the customer.