Contract going sour

[Toastiness]

This has been my motto as a Contractor:

http://despair.com/consulting.html

Sums it up really.

[suityou01]

Giving your advice or remaining silent depends on your role on the project.

If you are a consultant then you are paid to give advice on how to do things or make improvements.
If you are on the help desk then your job is to fix the problem as many time as the problem arises.
If you are a programmer you program according to the functional/technical specification.

Before you start the contract you should have a clear understanding of
what they expect from you.

The first one. Absolutely nailed on, the first one.

[zara_backdog]

Get this a lot - I am paid to voice an opinion. It is then up to the client to take said option(s).

If the don't does not mean you were wrong - you maybe benched but at least you will not be there to get them out of a the mess they have created. If the then ask you to put it right - grin and think of the invoice! the more mess they are in the longer it will take you to sort = more invoices!

[suityou01]

Get this a lot - I am paid to voice an opinion. It is then up to the client to take said option(s).

If the don't does not mean you were wrong - you maybe benched but at least you will not be there to get them out of a the mess they have created. If the then ask you to put it right - grin and think of the invoice! the more mess they are in the longer it will take you to sort = more invoices!

[BlasterBates]

Somebody has to be in charge of the project and my experience is that there are plenty of people who think the entire system is rubbish. If you listened to everyone's recommendations you'd never mover forward. Some contractor experts (and I've experienced this) then go ahead and start making sweeping changes and end up f***ing everything up. So I can understand when a PM is hesitant at listening to someone who is new to a project. However it is difficult to judge from a distance.

My recommendation is listen to the requirement and just implement it in best way you can having agreed with the PM. He's in charge and he carries the can. He might be wrong, and you can voice your concerns but in the end he's in charge.