Impressing the client?

[WKnight]

What's the best way to make sure you get a renewal?

Is doing a good job enough?

Surely, most project managers - particularly in software dev. - don't really have the time to find out if work is good or not, and many wouldn't understand anyway.

So how does a contractor make sure the client values them when the quality of the work often counts for so little.

William Knight
warning: your answers may be quoted on the CUK front page.

[Ardesco]

Disagree,

there are lots of ways to find out if work is good. If the work written by a contractor flies through testing with no problems it is good and the management know because they finish ahead of schedule.

If it is tulipe it gets bogged down in testing with hundreds of iterations as all the bugs are exposed and will generally be late.

If you deliver good work that flies through testing you know that you are good (or the testers are utter tulipe )

[hyperD]

What's the best way to make sure you get a renewal?

warning: your answers may be quoted on the CUK front page.

Blackmail.

[WKnight]

there are lots of ways to find out if work is good. If the work written by a contractor flies through testing with no problems it is good and the management know because they finish ahead of schedule.

If it is tulipe it gets bogged down in testing with hundreds of iterations as all the bugs are exposed and will generally be late.

This is all true, but is it an ideal vision, not founded in reality?

Of my former clients - probably about 20 - I can count on one finger the number of project managers that actually paid attention to bug/test statistics to measure individual achievement - and that was instigated by myself!

And besides, in enterprise software, it is the design that causes most problems, integration between modules, services, legacy etc, latency, threading and performance issues that can rarely be attached to one particular developer.

[wendigo100]

Doing a good job is obviously top, but talking to people is important too. Especially getting the customer's customers onside. They might be another organisation, or another department in the same place you are working. If they are happy, your customer is happy.

However, some of my jobs are one-off pieces of work, so "renewal" is not always an option. And when it is, I don't always take it. However, if your name gets about it can lead to different work at the same company later.

Edit - I am not a coder

[Ardesco]

In that case I would say that it depends on if you are in a large team, or contracted to develop a particular component yourself.

If you have a specific separate deliverable your worth can be measured on the performance of that particular deliverable. If you are in a large team adding various components then your individual contribution could get lost in the overall program.

Overall the way you react to the testing process probably says a lot. If you get very up tight and are argumentative and obstructive with the testers you obviously have a problem with people finding issues with your code (most likely because it is not that good and you are upset that all of the flaws are being exposed to everybody). However if you work well with tester/integrators and the whole process goes smoothly without the management having to stick thier oar in it will make thier job easy and they will probably have a good opinion of you because thier life was easy.

To sum up if the manager can leave you to it and not have to keep on your back and/or keep coming in to sort things out the will probably have a good opinion of you. Of course buying the management a drink every friday lunchtime in the pub will also probably help

[Zippy]

What's the best way to make sure you get a renewal?

Is doing a good job enough?

Surely, most project managers - particularly in software dev. - don't really have the time to find out if work is good or not, and many wouldn't understand anyway.

So how does a contractor make sure the client values them when the quality of the work often counts for so little.

William Knight
warning: your answers may be quoted on the CUK front page.

I disagree. Assuming a competent PM - OK its a bit of a stretch sometimes - then indicators like hitting deadlines with low defect counts should tell them whether the software is any good or not. Getting the software through UAT should tell them whether its any good or not. They don't actually need to understand too much about the detail - it's not what they are there for. Having said all that, I usually end up with headless chicken control freaks for PMs

IMO, the client will value you if you
a) make an effort to get along with everybody
b) don't show off
c) don't promise them the earth - deliver what you said you would, when you said you would, and do it within the agreed defect limits
d) manage their expectations (see c above)

[dang65]

I always try to get something, anything, successfully launched and in use as quick as possible. It's incredible how many people can work for months on end without ever getting anything live, even if it's because they are the really conscientious ones who are doing the job properly. Comes to budget squeeze time and they usually like to keep the guy that knows how the live application works, even if it's something pathetically small and simple.

[wendigo100]

I always try to get something, anything, successfully launched and in use as quick as possible. It's incredible how many people can work for months on end without ever getting anything live, even if it's because they are the really conscientious ones who are doing the job properly.

Totally agree - get quick wins.

[DodgyAgent]

What's the best way to make sure you get a renewal?

Is doing a good job enough?

Surely, most project managers - particularly in software dev. - don't really have the time to find out if work is good or not, and many wouldn't understand anyway.

So how does a contractor make sure the client values them when the quality of the work often counts for so little.

William Knight
warning: your answers may be quoted on the CUK front page.

Make sure your agent is getting a nice earner from the deal, everything helps!