Archive for May 20th, 2011

I love tools.  I love automation.   Oh, and I love shortcuts.    

When I am working on a project, if I perform a task which I need to do over again and again, I find nothing more rewarding than working out a better way of doing it. Be it a tool, a system or an automated way of carrying out the task, if I can save time by re-use or simplification, it gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

But, this also causes a problem.  A problem you also have.  A problem that you may not even know you have.  

You see, as you work, you gain experience (and tools and snippets and shortcuts and a million other ways of saving time).   But, when you quote customers for work, what are you quoting for?

Take the version of you that existed 5 years ago.   If you did some work on a project, I am sure that it would take much longer to complete than it does today.   5 years ago you were groping in the dark, feeling your way.  Today, you can wiz through projects thanks to your accumulated knowledge, skills and shortcuts.

But what are you charging your customers for.   Are you charging them for the time that it would take a reasonable person to complete the task, or the more experienced super-you??  What happens in another 5 years with even more efficiencies – do you charge them even less

Are you, essentially, cutting your own throat?!?  Are you turning yourself into a busy cheap fool?   Or are you factoring the old you into your proposal figures so in fact, you are generating more money through efficiency?