Notes from thirteen years of other people's systems.
Mostly about the parts that go wrong: migrations, deadlines, budgets, and the meetings where nobody can decide.
Nobody can decide
The most common reason I turn work down is not the budget. It is that when I ask who signs it off, the answer is a list of names.
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Month one is not metered
The first month after go-live is when everything surfaces. Charging by the hour for it makes the client count hours at the worst possible moment.
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What the first meeting said
I spent nine years employed by a client rather than selling to one. It taught me that the process described in a meeting and the process people actually run are two different things.
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Report what did not move
Every migration report I have received from another supplier states one number: how many records transferred. That number is close to meaningless on its own.
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123 words for the same thing
Four state legislatures. One hundred and twenty-three status labels. What that taught me about modelling anybody's process.
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Under ₱200,000, buy something instead
Turning work away costs me money. Taking work I cannot do properly costs the client more.
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Never go live on a conference date
A launch tied to an event somebody else scheduled is the most reliable way I know to ship something broken.
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