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My customer wants me to record a video of how I develop his software product

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Re: My customer wants me to record a video of how I develop his software product

#51

Post by Swizec »

chops wrote: post #44

This is something I actually offer to my clients, and I do it for fun. I guess I was inspired by watching some of Notch's screencaps over a few days. So I capture it with RecordMyDesktop (I run xubuntu), and run through an ffmpeg script ( https://github.com/choptastic/watchmecode ) that resizes the video to be the same length as an MP3, and makes an X minute screencap montage for the client. Then it produces somethin…

Man, I usually just send a detailed report of what I've been up to[1], but this just takes the cake. Really cool idea!

[1] puts the client at ease and ensures they don't bug me while I'm working and also reminds me that I did get things done even when it feels like the whole day just vanished somewhere in a sea of tiny obstacles

Re: My customer wants me to record a video of how I develop his software product

#52

Post by ww520 »

The customer clearly doesn't understand how creative work is done and approaches it with a factory mindset where workers are busy with their hands. A large amount of software development work are done in thinking, which appears to be inactivity to the outsiders. A lot of problems are solved while taking showers or driving. Does he want to video record those?

Two approaches for this client:

- Simple say no, and don't waste time trying to reason it with him.

- Just say no to the project and move on.

Re: My customer wants me to record a video of how I develop his software product

#53

Post by ExpiredLink »

downandout wrote: post #23
Devilboy wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the client is 'not worth it' you're just not charging enough. Just work out what your price is and send them a new quote. Don't ever fire a client, that's just silly. Make the client say no.

According to the article: "...The customer considers that if I don't want to record the video, it's because I have something to hide and want to lie about the real time spent on his project" . Dealing with a client that tells you from the outset that they believe you are going to lie to them isn't merely an annoyance. It presents a risk to your career. This client will never be satisfied, or trust a word you say. He…

> it's because I have something to hide and want to lie about the real time spent on his project

You don't sell time, you sell a product, even if it's part of a 'project'.

Re: My customer wants me to record a video of how I develop his software product

#54

Post by smackfu »

ZoFreX wrote: post #32

Something I dealt with a lot in oil & gas engineering, and have never personally witnessed in software engineering, is a "change order". The contract is signed. At this point, if you deliver on your end of the deal, they have to deliver on theirs†. If they want anything other than what is in that contract - additions, changes, removals - you send them a change order. This is a new document for both parties to sign, c…

This is extremely common in corporate software engineering, where a contract specifies exactly what will be delivered.

In practice, those change requests are usually rejected, because the people with control of the money aren't the people using the product, and the customer ends up paying for something they aren't happy with.

A lot of Agile methodologies are a response to this extremely strict change control.

Re: My customer wants me to record a video of how I develop his software product

#55

Post by ams6110 »

ryen wrote: post #46
berntb wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a boss who was a bit too ... stressed ... for a while. You just couldn't reason with him about it. In the end I solved it. I wrote in an email that he was just too stressed and really needed some time off, so he started to attack me personally. I wrote to him then that he should take what he just wrote and show it to his parents or some other persons he had trust in, and ask them how he was doing. He finally re…

Why were you playing therapist when you could have told HR?

Why be a tattletale when you can solve a problem yourself?

Re: My customer wants me to record a video of how I develop his software product

#56

Post by passerinelabs »

chops wrote: post #44

This is something I actually offer to my clients, and I do it for fun. I guess I was inspired by watching some of Notch's screencaps over a few days. So I capture it with RecordMyDesktop (I run xubuntu), and run through an ffmpeg script ( https://github.com/choptastic/watchmecode ) that resizes the video to be the same length as an MP3, and makes an X minute screencap montage for the client. Then it produces somethin…

Watching Notch's Ludum Dare videos inspired me to create my first OS X app store app. It takes screenshots at a configurable interval and than creates H.264 encoded video of the resultant timelapse.

Here it is: http://appstore.com/mac/ScreenshotTimelapse

Here are 25 promo codes if anyone wants to try it out: http://pastebin.com/K6Xx59jY

Re: My customer wants me to record a video of how I develop his software product

#57

Post by ams6110 »

ameen wrote: post #47

To play the devils advocate here, What if the customer wants to have a blog series on how that product was built? Key software design decisions, features, etc. What if he wanted to run this video by another software developer who only agreed to do software reviews, etc. How different would this from recording a bunch of screencasts on building a product. The customer gets knowledge of the entire build process, from t…

Seems pretty clear this was not the case, since they told him they didn't believe he was working. I think this is just another point in favor of NOT billing by the hour for contract work. If you are billing for the product delivered, rather than your time, it takes your work habits completely off the table.

Re: My customer wants me to record a video of how I develop his software product

#58

Post by urza »

Switch from being paid by hour to being paid by task. Client describes a project, together you split it into a list of small tasks, you assign value to each task, client agrees to it, and you get paid by task. Then it is up to you how productive you are..

Re: My customer wants me to record a video of how I develop his software product

#60

Post by ryanmacg »

passerinelabs wrote: post #56
chops wrote: post #44

This is something I actually offer to my clients, and I do it for fun. I guess I was inspired by watching some of Notch's screencaps over a few days. So I capture it with RecordMyDesktop (I run xubuntu), and run through an ffmpeg script ( https://github.com/choptastic/watchmecode ) that resizes the video to be the same length as an MP3, and makes an X minute screencap montage for the client. Then it produces somethin…

Watching Notch's Ludum Dare videos inspired me to create my first OS X app store app. It takes screenshots at a configurable interval and than creates H.264 encoded video of the resultant timelapse. Here it is: http://appstore.com/mac/ScreenshotTimelapse Here are 25 promo codes if anyone wants to try it out: http://pastebin.com/K6Xx59jY

Looks cool, I grabbed AKMYPYNNRPP9

Thanks!

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