On LinkedIn someone asked this question:

How do you deal with the project requesters that are asking you for a project estimate before you get all your questions answered? Would you just ignore them and loose the project or go ahead and earn a client?

This is indeed a problem all of us in the software development business face. The question is indeed what to do in such a situation and it boils down to following three choices a service provider has:

  • rip the client off – add all the uncertainties, add the industry standard 25% and produce a bid – then do it as fast and cheap as possible and profit – that’s probably what _most_ companies do,
  • risk your money – to win the bid do all the above but not add 25% but rather subtract it, so that you’re cheapest thus winning the bid, then kick the project as fast out of the door as you can compromising on everything your client being ignorant in technology won’t be able to tell – namely quality (do spaghetti code, do it ugly, test only positive paths and forget unit testing etc.),
  • tell the truth. That is – the client he won’t get anything solid with what he has, just lies, assumptions etc. However, for whatever amount he can spend he can get the most important features he needs with solid quality. If his site would be a success he can add nice-haves later on. Ask the client to make a list of them, discuss them, tell him that in one short iteration one or two will be up & running. Be honest and cooperative. It’s not a guarantee of success, but well… this is what this option is all about.

Everyone who is approached by such a client makes this choice. The problem is that typically such clients don’t like the third option, so they fall for the people choosing the other two. The results we all known – poorly designed sites, unmaintainable code or – worst – lost time and money.

What we follow is of course the third option.


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