October 27, 2019

I stand corrected…

Sent by Jonathan Stark on October 27th, 2019

Fellow list ember Jason Orme shared a fresh perspective on the message I sent yesterday about DRY software principles decreasing hourly income (shared with permission):

Hey Jonathan, I have been following along with you for a while and greatly benefited from your POV. I have a small brand identity studio and we implement most of what you promote to the best of our ability. I chime in very rarely but appreciate the insights I get from your emails. I’ve also passed your work along to many folks these past couple of years. That said, I agree with your point here entirely. But the thought did cross my mind that someone may be interested in working DRY so that they are able to quote a project lower than the next person who doesn’t. This may enable them to win the project from the outset. That means they have work to do as opposed to not getting projects because they are inefficient and therefore too expensive. Again, I only bring it up as the argument for the specific question you are raising. Not because I think hourly billing the right way to go. Hope you are well, and thank you for your gifts of communication, intuition, and expertise! Cheers, Jason Orme

Yes, Jason makes a good point! He’s right... DRY solutions take less time to deliver so folks who bill by the hour could theoretically undercut their competitors by embracing the efficiency of DRY principles.

But eesh... increasing one’s efficiency in an attempt to win the race to zero? I feel like this almost proves my point better than my original message :-)

(Thanks for the reply, Jason!)

Yours,

—J