Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How much do you typically charge per hour?
A: Typically we avoid Time and Materials work. We usually work on a per delivery basis. There are parts of some projects, like those requiring complex specifications or special
research efforts, where we do bill on a per hour basis. These rates vary depending on the task, timeframe, delivery requirements and the level of resources needed to complete the
project. We’ll be very clear about how we will bill your project before we begin.
Q: Isn’t fixed price work more expensive than an hourly effort?
A: Not necessarily. If you take everything into account, paying for a solution by the hour is often like a credit card bill. It’s a small
sum every month, but it takes 42 years to pay off entirely. It’s also a process that is completely adverse to getting things done quickly or efficiently. Take a look at the project comparison. If you take into account the revenue or productivity lost due to schedule slips, fixed price work,
delivered on time, will result in a major savings.
Q: I had a company that specialized in the development of text annotation systems do one for me. It took no longer than it would have in-house, and at a lower rate.
Would Wolf Rock have done it for less?
A: Probably not. For the same reason we have invested in tools to automate the development process, some companies stick to a single area of expertise.
Typically they have an existing system that they edit to fit the needs of each company that wants a similar system. The pricing model they might apply is to bill
for some percentage of the time it took to develop the original model. If people insist on hourly rates, you tend to fit within that structure.
Q: What about overruns? Who pays for those?
We offer a price, a delivery and a schedule. We tend to stick to all three. Of course changes do occur. If they are client changes, we do our best to fit them within the
existing schedule where we can. If we can’t, we will discuss a price adjustment for the extra work before we proceed. However, if a problem arises in the
development, and there is a schedule slip or additional work is needed, we do not change for it. In fact, we will typically adjust staff schedules and implementation
resources to avoid delays in the final delivery (people still work nights and weekends here).
Q: How often do those schedule slips occur?
A: It seems that almost everywhere we go there is an expectation that at it is impossible to have a project without at least one or two schedule slips. We have
had over 95% of the projects and products we’ve done ship on time (remember those nights and weekends?). We also don’t believe that memory
leaks are a fact of life, manufacturing costs always go up, and the first version always ships with a lot of bugs.
Q: Where do you get your engineering staff?
A: We genetically engineer them.
Q: Do you believe that outsourcing is a good idea?
A: Yes and No. Taken in the proper context, there are many Outsourcing solutions that make excellent business sense. The big issues are picking the
activities, setting up the procedures, and managing the process. There are a lot of things that firms overlook (see The Outsourcing Top Ten). We offer services to
help you make those decisions and manage the effort.
Q: I’m trying to integrate and network all of the technology in our school district to link students, teachers and parents. Yet I’m operating on a school budget. Is there any
way we can afford you?
A: Yes. There are many ways that we can get you up and running. A number of our principals have backgrounds in education technology, and we do an amazing
amount of work to help where we can. Depending on our current workload, your location, and how flexible you are, we can often structure something very creatively
to get what you need within your budget.
Q: What about helping to secure funds for schools or non-profits?
We can help with grants and proposals, help structure an effort to utilize community resources, help with local community sources of good will (banks and the chamber
of commerce) and even develop plans for corporate sponsors.
Q: You mentioned developing wireless hardware that can determine locations. Do you license the technology or do joint development projects?
A: Yes. We license a number of component technologies, and have already begun joint development efforts to utilize the wireless technology in a number of areas.
Q: You specialize in automation and collaborative systems. What if I want to build a database application?
A: Chances are that the database application involves some degree of automation and analysis. That is where we do our best work, and you’ll probably find that for
the same price we can make something very well suited for your organization that will really make a positive impact. If you are looking to do a
standard entry, edit and reporting system, we can make something from automated components very quickly that will surpass expectations.
Q: I’m pretty sure that our organization could be better integrated and much more efficient. Is there some way to get a scope of how much work and what it will cost, before we start out?
A: We find that it often takes just a few days to go through an organization, process or project and get a good idea of where we might be able to make improvements.
It’s a small investment that pays back immediately in peace of mind. And if you do hire us to do a technology evaluation, you own the report -- you can have us
implement it, do it yourself, or hire another firm.
|
