In the most common case, the client prepares a detailed Statement of Work, and we respond with a fixed-price quote, which will enable us to accomplish the tasks specified therein, in the stated timeframe. A proper Statement of Work must identify tasks, timeline, and priorities. Our quote is only as accurate as the identification of required tasks, features, and constraints. Therefore, we ask our clients to give careful thought to exactly what they wish us to do, so we can provide the most realistic quote possible.
Alternatively, if the client's requirements are budget-driven (as is often the case), he or she specifies a fixed fee, and Microcomm then bids what, in our professional judgment, can best be accomplished within the given monetary constraints. This is the best way to ensure that the total project costs will not exceed a predetermined limit. Note that the client needs to specify either the Statement of Work or the budget, and then Microcomm develops a proposal addressing the other.
When neither the SOW nor the budget can be clearly defined in advance, it is possible to hire Microcomm's professionals to develop a business plan articulating both, in consideration of a fixed retainer fee to be agreed upon in advance. This way, both the client and the consultant go into a project with their eyes open. This scenario requires the client to invest a modest sum in having the consultant do some basic planning, before a more complete contract is negotiated.
There is a fourth model, although it requires both considerable resources, and a modicum of trust on the part of the client. In this final scenario, the client retains the consultant on an open-ended hourly, daily, or weekly basis, to apply his or her best professional skills and practices to the problem at hand, working to industry standards. This is rather the way one might hire an attorney, accountant, or physician, and is appropriate when an individual's professional qualifications are unassailable (as we immodestly suggest are ours). As it is assumed you know in advance an attorney's, accountant's, physician's, or engineer's hourly rate, you pay as you go, and are free to terminate the professional relationship any time you are not completely satisfied with the services being delivered.
