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The "subscription" model seems unlikely, as today companies do their work mostly "Just In Time" or in the industry lingo - Agile style. To a contractor this mea

The "subscription" model seems unlikely, as today companies do their work mostly "Just In Time" or in the industry lingo - Agile style. To a contractor this means the requirements when he goes into a project are not clean, so he can't reasonably price the project. The hourly rate is in place so that in this relationship, work means more time for the consultant and more resources for the company wanting said work, this is the way it should be and keeps everyone on the same side. If you mean, like others mentioned here, a model where a company pre-pays for some amount of hours this contractor promises to allocate for this company (at minimum) - this is called the "retainer model", this is fine and is a good idea for small tasks and not a big ongoing project

tptacek 5y ago
Time and materials billing does the opposite of keeping everyone on the same side --- most especially hourly, which is just about the worst way you can structure a contracting relationship. My on this topic, ad nauseam, for over a decade on this forum: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=hourly%20author%3Atptacek&sort=byPopularity&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... Particularly this fella right here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4103417 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4103417
- leroman 5y ago
  Coming from more than 5 years consulting, my conclusion is that hourly rate (a high rate) helped our motivations aligned. Context is important here, the work I was doing is helping companies with big complex software projects. Did you try something else? do you have different experience?
  - tptacek 5y ago
    Our projects ranged from 2-person 2-week web app assessments to multi-quarter assessments of entire operating systems, from individual projects to long-term staff augmentation, and everything in between. I'm confident that hourly rates do not in fact align your motivations with your clients.
    - datavirtue 5y ago
      I agree. The vast majority of contractors are burning through days like an FTE (I know of a guy who used to sleep, a lot...I just left him alone) for double FTE pay. My understanding is that this works because investors (walstreet and VC) cringe at employee headcount. Contractors do not fall under that count. There are other aspects such that GE can say they only laid off 50 employees in a press release...forgetting to mention the 4000 contractors they just sent packing.
      - tptacek 5y ago
        I'm a broken record on this as well: a huge part of the value of a contractor is that you can retain them for the duration of your project, sever them, and bring them back whenever you need them. You don't get anything resembling that kind of flexibility from an FTE, and that flexibility has value, enormous value; high-end consultants charge dearly for it, and you should too. It's part of the expected value of the transaction.

tptacek 5y ago

Time and materials billing does the opposite of keeping everyone on the same side --- most especially hourly, which is just about the worst way you can structure a contracting relationship. My on this topic, ad nauseam, for over a decade on this forum: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=hourly%20author%3Atptacek&sort=byPopularity&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... Particularly this fella right here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4103417 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4103417

leroman 5y ago
Coming from more than 5 years consulting, my conclusion is that hourly rate (a high rate) helped our motivations aligned. Context is important here, the work I was doing is helping companies with big complex software projects. Did you try something else? do you have different experience?
- tptacek 5y ago
  Our projects ranged from 2-person 2-week web app assessments to multi-quarter assessments of entire operating systems, from individual projects to long-term staff augmentation, and everything in between. I'm confident that hourly rates do not in fact align your motivations with your clients.
  - datavirtue 5y ago
    I agree. The vast majority of contractors are burning through days like an FTE (I know of a guy who used to sleep, a lot...I just left him alone) for double FTE pay. My understanding is that this works because investors (walstreet and VC) cringe at employee headcount. Contractors do not fall under that count. There are other aspects such that GE can say they only laid off 50 employees in a press release...forgetting to mention the 4000 contractors they just sent packing.
    - tptacek 5y ago
      I'm a broken record on this as well: a huge part of the value of a contractor is that you can retain them for the duration of your project, sever them, and bring them back whenever you need them. You don't get anything resembling that kind of flexibility from an FTE, and that flexibility has value, enormous value; high-end consultants charge dearly for it, and you should too. It's part of the expected value of the transaction.