21
votes
Managing R&D projects that don't have a 100% chance of success
No project has a 100% chance of success. So there's that.
For R&D, the project itself is not the product. It is research and development. It's a service-oriented project. Therefore, you would be ...
- 37k
10
votes
How do I convice clients that we should use Agile and how should we charge for it
This question has two levels:
actual problem of contracting the work for agile team
does it really matter how the work is contracted?
It actually doesn't matter how the contract looks
Even if you ...
- 1,107
9
votes
Delays in getting project sign off
In a similar instance when we were facing delays-
We have clarified client about our organization internal structure. In our organization, resources are taken out from one project and given to ...
- 507
9
votes
Failed to finish project in time, now threatened with UK court
Your first course of action should be to secure some legal counsel and get their opinion. Asking a message board for legal advice is only marginally better than doing the same for medical advice... at ...
- 8,899
7
votes
Are Agile Project Deliverables Generally Tied To Stage Payments?
Agile Projects Generally Work Best When Billed as Time-and-Materials
Do software developers operating under some sort of agile development cycle and presenting a series of 'deliverables' to their ...
- 49.5k
7
votes
Managing R&D projects that don't have a 100% chance of success
Good answers; I thought I might provide a different view.
I'd write my project as to test one (or more) hypothesis.
At the end of this project, we will verify or refute the hypothesis that it is ...
- 8,738
5
votes
Accepted
How a software development contract is concluded?
Customers prefer a FFP at times because of they believe it helps to control costs. In some ways it does; however, in many cases they end up paying more, either because of the contingency built in the ...
- 37k
5
votes
Managing R&D projects that don't have a 100% chance of success
In addition to the good answers already given (T&M is the way to go) you should also put emphasis on customer expectation management. From the beginning, make it clear that you promise knowledge ...
- 1,202
4
votes
How should a project manager handle a request for contracted software to produce twice as many reports as specified in the project's requirements?
One of the four values of agile is "Customer Collaboration over Contract Negotiation."
The first thing to ask is "what is best for the customer?". Once you've done that, then you ask "is it covered ...
- 12.4k
4
votes
Business requirements and a fixed price contract
A FFP is not appropriate for your customer or you. If you pursue that you have to load it with a ton of contingency in both money and time that it would make it unfeasible for a normal customer. And ...
- 37k
4
votes
Accepted
Effect of front-loading tasks on project schedule
Normally, if you reprioritize or reschedule tasks to be started immediately, you need to interrupt and postpone current activities. This inevitably incurs overhead. Your client needs to understand ...
- 1,202
4
votes
Do project managers negotiate contracts with clients?
Contracts are Legal Documents, and Project Managers Aren't Usually Officers of the Company
This question is likely to be closed as too subjective, but a lot depends on the size of the company. In most ...
- 49.5k
3
votes
Accepted
How to manage consulting resources to deliver ahead of delivery dates?
Lets assume that the consultants are working in good faith and their estimates are correct.
Now delays must be caused by the usual things:
external task needs to be completed by someone else.
extra ...
- 926
3
votes
In Scrum, should we be billed for defects and unplanned activities?
TL;DR
Yes. Under your current contract and within your current process, you should pay the vendor for all work completed. Unless you have a fixed-price, fixed-scope contract, all the problems you've ...
- 49.5k
3
votes
Are Agile Project Deliverables Generally Tied To Stage Payments?
Most non-trivial software development work tends to be billed as T&M. The agile approach with a T&M contract is attractive to both the customer and the vendor and generally has important ...
- 6,101
3
votes
Committing the Product Owner to a sprint backlog with a contract
Sprint contracts, such as you describe, should not be used, as it defeats the purpose of Scrum/Agile. Instead, do the work up front to ensure the project can be run properly. To do so, the following (...
- 31
3
votes
Accepted
How to finish FP project when change requests are not finishing
You are a party to the contract. This means you have to protect your party's interests in the agreement, which you are NOT doing now. You say your customer does not want to pay for a fully loaded ...
- 37k
3
votes
Business requirements and a fixed price contract
Without detailed and fully agreed requirements, you have a load of assumptions. I suggest you document the assumptions as fully as possible, then structure a contract on a time and materials basis ...
- 6,783
3
votes
Accepted
Is Scrum applicable to projects with outcome-based pricing?
"Outcomes" Aren't Synonymous with Fully-Fixed Constraints
In Scrum, the burn rate of each iteration is (relatively) fixed. The flexible sliders are scope and schedule. So, "outcome-based pricing" is ...
- 49.5k
3
votes
How a PM can manage the contract aspects for Scrum projects with outcome-based pricing?
The best software solutions are built when the software vendor and the customer that ordered that software collaborate to make it happen. "Customer collaboration over contract negotiation" says the ...
- 14.5k
3
votes
When we offer a price to client, do we need to explain it?
You don't have to explain your price if you can write a watertight contract
You don't have to explain your price to the client if you can write a watertight contract. A watertight contract is one ...
3
votes
When we offer a price to client, do we need to explain it?
Contracting with the US government, especially for CAS-compliant contract requirements, you have a requirement to exhibit your basis of estimates--labor cats, labor rates, cost build-up, justification,...
- 37k
3
votes
Managing R&D projects that don't have a 100% chance of success
I would expect any research project to be done on a daily or hourly rate. It's implicitly the nature of R&D that the work is what matters and the outcome is uncertain, so the work is what you ...
- 6,101
2
votes
Failed to finish project in time, now threatened with UK court
I was in the small claims court last month and I can tell you the Judge expects compensation for work completed. So the other party is not in a position to claim it all back. As for contracts, my ...
- 21
2
votes
How to plan for fixed bid during contract time?
Tl;dr;
Do relative sizing on features.
To Elaborate:
When you’re looking at a fixed-bid contract, you’re saying “It will take me no more than this much money to do deliver the full scope.”
This is ...
- 16.8k
2
votes
Delays in getting project sign off
You don't need to be aggressive, you need to be realist. Your contract wasn't prepared for the current situation, so you guys need to sit together and review the situation. As Dimple mentioned (+1!) ...
- 8,549
2
votes
Delays in getting project sign off
If you have a good relationship, you may agree with your customer to pay some portion of the work now - about 70% - to cover you expenses. In the mean time, you save and plane with some resources to ...
- 11.9k
2
votes
How should a project manager handle a request for contracted software to produce twice as many reports as specified in the project's requirements?
TL;DR
At this stage, the project manager's job is to provide a framework for the companies to address scope, and to estimate the budget and resources needed to deliver that scope. That's it! In ...
- 49.5k
2
votes
How do I convice clients that we should use Agile and how should we charge for it
Discuss it with them and get their buy-in first.
Agile won't work very well if not everyone involved is on-board. Worst-case, you can still try to use Agile internally while working with external ...
- 14.8k
2
votes
How to manage consulting resources to deliver ahead of delivery dates?
Sounds like working in a more Agile-structured way would be beneficial. If you require being able to see incremental versions of the software every so often (say, every two weeks), then you will not ...
- 14.8k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible