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The billable hour is a trap into which more and more of us are falling

timharford.com

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Re: The billable hour is a trap into which more and more of us are falling

#181

Post by rtkwe »

DANK_YACHT wrote: post #77
rtkwe wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an opaque field how's a client supposed to know this particular law firm is billing less hours than another would because they're using this software? Can't run the suit twice with two different firms blind to see which bills less hours.

You look at the firms track records, testimonials, results; etc., the same way you evaluate most purchases. If two firms have similar results and one is cheaper, then you choose the cheaper option.

Again you'll know very little about the details of how much discovery and how complex that was in any particular case.

Re: The billable hour is a trap into which more and more of us are falling

#182

Post by mensetmanusman »

InefficientRed wrote: post #98
mensetmanusman wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Christianity hasn’t lost the sabbath, the idea of the sabbath got steamrolled by a consumerist culture.

That's either a silly tautology or false. Jews live in the exact same "consumerist society", but did not lose the sabbath. Even the most progressive Jews I know rest on the sabbath in some form or another.

Most Jews in the US do not practice the Sabbath, many orthodox Christians in the US do practice the Sabbath…

Re: The billable hour is a trap into which more and more of us are falling

#183

Post by shkkmo »

tptacek wrote: post #159
shkkmo wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently switched to billing by the half day and it has been a big improvement in my quality of life. I don't think I wanna bill by the full day because some days I wanna be able to take off after lunch, even if I have more work to do, without feeling guilty. On days where I go into and stay in a deep focus and work from early till late, I can bill for a day and a half and feel both productive and uncheated. Perhap…

You shouldn't feel guilty about this even a little bit. Consultants are a steal for clients. The alternative is to hire someone full-time, committing to their salary and benefits for years at a time. That you're willing to bill them a single day , and then get out of their hair? Unreal. Your bill rate should be an integer multiple of (your salary / 250).

These are recurring clients and it is less about what is fair for them or how much work they have for me (which is usually more than I want) and more what is good for me mentally and helps me manage the unreasonable expectations bI place of myself.

With half day billing, if I work the first part of the day and have more work to do (that isn't time sensitive), it is easier for me to stop working and go do something fun. When I do work a full day or put extra time for a day and a half, then I don't feel like I gave away my time and it helps me feel fully satisfied with my productivity.

Re: The billable hour is a trap into which more and more of us are falling

#184

Post by tptacek »

shkkmo wrote: post #183
tptacek wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You shouldn't feel guilty about this even a little bit. Consultants are a steal for clients. The alternative is to hire someone full-time, committing to their salary and benefits for years at a time. That you're willing to bill them a single day , and then get out of their hair? Unreal. Your bill rate should be an integer multiple of (your salary / 250).

These are recurring clients and it is less about what is fair for them or how much work they have for me (which is usually more than I want) and more what is good for me mentally and helps me manage the unreasonable expectations bI place of myself. With half day billing, if I work the first part of the day and have more work to do (that isn't time sensitive), it is easier for me to stop working and go do something fu…

You can still do that with day-rate billing! Your client cares about (a) the calendar date your project is completed on and (b) the total price tag. They don't want to care about anything else. Asking them to care about whether you worked a full or half Tuesday is counterproductive.

Re: The billable hour is a trap into which more and more of us are falling

#185

Post by tyingq »

willcipriano wrote: post #142
tyingq wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mechanics aren't shy about charging "hours" from a reference book that have little to do with how long the task actually took.

That's really just a guide for mechanics to figure out what to charge, it's a fixed fee deal with the estimated man hours on the invoice for reference purposes. You could call them work units or story points and arrive at the same number.

The invoice, though, almost always says "hours x rate/hour = total labor".

Re: The billable hour is a trap into which more and more of us are falling

#186

Post by DANK_YACHT »

rtkwe wrote: post #181
DANK_YACHT wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You look at the firms track records, testimonials, results; etc., the same way you evaluate most purchases. If two firms have similar results and one is cheaper, then you choose the cheaper option.

Again you'll know very little about the details of how much discovery and how complex that was in any particular case.

What do you mean you know very little? You would interview the firm and ask them what the discovery process was like. You likely wouldn’t care about the gritty details of how they sorted the documents. More important would be the scale of the discovery, the outcome of the case, and the cost. Unless there was literally only one firm handling this specific type of issue, then it will always be possible to compete on cost.

Re: The billable hour is a trap into which more and more of us are falling

#187

Post by cascom »

tptacek wrote: post #136
cascom wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you double bill client days? Many client tasks may just be a phone call or emails?

No, I think double billing crosses an ethical line.

I guess what I’m trying to get at is, as a practical matter, there are many tasks that are <1day of work, how do you bill for those tasks? Hyperbolic example: have a 1hr client call, charge for day’s worth of work, pursue non-work interests the rest of the day?

Re: The billable hour is a trap into which more and more of us are falling

#188

Post by pvillano »

If you make $XX/hr, playing with your kids is worth greater than $XX/hr. Once you have enough money* to meet the basic needs of food, shelter, and security, the marginal utility of making more money drops considerably.

Life can be simplified to a conversion between time, money, and happiness. Time can be converted to money by work. Time and money can be converted to happiness by hobbies. College converts time and money into the possibility of making more money. Saving for retirement gives you time and money to be happy later in exchange for less money today.

Making more money is a net loss if your job makes you unhappy, you don't have time to relax, the stress shortens your life and so on.

Unexpectedly, the more money you make, the less time you should spend working. Someone with less money might take a second job to support their family, because more money makes a huge difference in their family's quality of life. Someone making more money takes extra time off every holiday, because the money "lost" is worth less than the family experiences gained.

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