[Sigia-l] Pricing the Design Process

Arthur Fink arthur at arthurfink.com
Wed Feb 14 13:30:15 EST 2007


At 01:05 PM 2/14/2007, Will Parker wrote:

>Forgive me if I'm wrong, but it appears you're viewing the business
>contract primarily as a functional spec, delineating responsibilities
>in a shared set of tasks. I think Ziya may have been viewing it as "
>a legally binding exchange of promises or agreement between parties
>that the law will enforce". (Wikipedia)
>
>The difference between an understanding and a contract, as with so
>many other things, is in the implied use of force when things go wrong.

In fact, it's both ... not a real "functional spec", but a statement 
of goals, deliverables, perhaps some comments on process ... along 
with the legal boilerplate specifying what state's laws apply, 
etc.  Often it will reference a real functional spec, or other user 
sensible documents.

And I want it for both reasons.  I tend to be looser about the legal 
part (thus often a letter of understanding), but I want to be 
extremely clear about what I'm expected to do, what the client is to 
do, on what basis I will bill, and under what conditions client will pay.



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