Re: Estimating a Project - A real lulu

["Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM>]

Tara Barber wrote:
>
> Long ago, when I was a newbie tech writer, I was sent out by the senior
> partners of the three-person writing firm I was working for to spec out a
> project for a prospective new client.

<horror story snipped>

> "Good, cheap, fast; pick two" is a good maxim to remember, as others have
> mentioned.  But even if you get paid a bundle, the stress and strain of
> rushed (and usually therefore poor) work done under unreasonable client
> expectations is rarely worth it.

These are good points, however, there is another side of the
coin. _IF_ you as a writer can manage expectations, handle
the pressure, and really deliver something (perhaps not what
the customer really wants, but more than they're resigned
to settling for), you get to be a hero. Being a hero in these
circumstances--if you have the political wherewithal to make
it work and make it stick--can be incredibly lucrative and great
for career development. (The rest of this assumes you're a
contractor--trying to be a hero is better as a contractor, as
you're less likely to be haunted by failure, not to mention
that contractors often get better response from insiders in
cases like this, as ironic as it sounds.)

In this case, for example, it's entirely possible that Tara's
potential clients were really that far out in left field.
(Sounds like the project was sunk in a bad way.) However, no
matter how much it sounds like the project leaders haven't a
clue, they're most likely quite aware of how much the project
is floundering and just exactly how bad their situation is.
Thus, they're saying "We need full documentation written from
scratch in 3 weeks without source material," but they'd be
happy to accept a sketchy help file and README.txt before
the software ships.

You're got to know your limitations and be negotating from a
walk-away position, but if you shake your head and sigh
"Darn, you're really hosed here. I don't know anyone who could
do what you're asking for, given the constraints. However,
for (your base rate x 2-4, depending on how much you can
afford to walk away from) per hour, I could deliver Blah by
your deadline. Assuming I've got complete access to the developers,
that is. Otherwise, call (some tech writer you don't like too
much), who will try anything once."

You have a reasonable chance that they'll bite, and you'll
(of course) get clearly and conservatively in writing what
you're committing to. If you deliver what they need or more,
you're a hero, you just set a new base rate for emergency
gigs, and have great references etc. (And, if they've paid
an obscene rate once in an emergency, they'll do it on routine
jobs too thereafter.)

Of course, this assumes that you really can deliver something
worthwhile, and that you've got the moxie and interpersonal
skills to do it.

Eric

--
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Eric J. Ray                  ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com
UNIX Visual QuickStart Guide is "a superb book!"
Don't believe it? Check for yourself!
Find out more at http://www.raycomm.com/

==============================================

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=