Developing Software by the 15% Rule

"Before undertaking a development project we create a statement of work (which acts as a contract and a specification) that outlines what we’ll do, how many hours it will require, and how much it will cost the client. As part of the contract we commit to invest up to the amount of time outlined in the document plus 15%. That is, if the statement of work says that the project will take us 100 hours to complete, we’ll spend up to 115 hours (but no more). As to where-fores and why-tos on how this works, read on."

Software by Rob : Developing Software by the 15% Rule

Recently saw this quote, and couldn't agree more with it. Software development is something that is extremely hard to accurately schedule due to the nature of it. Obviosuly going past the stated time will cause increase in cost of the project (thinking of labour costs etc.) and this will mean less profit, and past a certain point would become a waste of time.

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