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A comment on The billable hour is a trap into which more and more of us are falling. Parent comment

Re:The billable hour is a trap into which more and more of u... by simmons on Thursday May 26, 2022 @07:09PM (#31524385)
I've thought about this before. Some people will be likely to try to "milk the contract" by taking more time to deliver than is needed. Besides being necessary to deal honestly with one's clients, I strongly think it's in my self-interest to avoid such milking. Instead, I try to provide as much value as possible per hour, and if I can increase efficiency I'll be better able to negotiate higher rates at some point down the road.

(Besides the fact that there's no shortage of software work, so it would be really hard to run out of things to do no matter how efficient you are.)

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Re:The billable hour is a trap into which more and more of u... by thomasahle on Thursday May 26, 2022 @07:13PM (#31524425)
> if I can increase efficiency I'll be better able to negotiate higher rates at some point down the road.

How does a client know whether a provider that charges double is also twice as efficient? I suppose it might work if you have a long relationship with said client, but if you are talking to a new client, it seems they'd just go with the lowest price per hour that seems reasonable.

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Re:The billable hour is a trap into which more and more of u... by simmons on Thursday May 26, 2022 @07:20PM (#31524463)
> How does a client know whether a provider that charges double is also twice as efficient? I suppose it might work if you have a long relationship with said client, but if you are talking to a new client, it seems they'd just go with the lowest price per hour that seems reasonable.

The same way that a client (or potential client) would know whether the existing rate is proper -- I (or my network references, word of mouth, etc.) must be able to sell them on the notion. If I can't sell it, then I might need to question whether that efficiency was really providing value to clients after all. I don't think people hire me because they're looking for the lowest bidder, so I'm not too concerned about that.

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