3 ms·

Software Delivery and Billing: The Butcher Model

1 points by jasim 14y ago

ckdarby 14y ago
This article made me want to go break my own knees due to the horrible flaws because you're comparing development to a finished product. The butcher gets paid per kilo for the finished product which is exactly how software models do currently work. If at github I want multiple users in my organization I pay PER user. What this article is trying to imply is that the butcher model can be applied to development as in while the development of the product is being made you're paid only if you deliver. The problem with this entire article is that the farm is what is the software development NOT the butcher. The farm has to start from nothing, get the cattle, absorb all costs, raise the cattle and when everything is ready & done THEN go out to sell it but during this time the farmer has to pay everyone involved in the process.
vectorbunny 14y ago
When I go to a butcher, all variables involved in the transaction are known. The butcher knows the wholesale price of meat, the overhead she/he carries, and the expected margins that must be maintained for the business to be profitable. I know what I want, or at least how much I am willing or able to spend. The meat itself is known to the both of us - its properties are in no way mysterious or unknowable. Most notably, my purpose and/or intentions in purchasing this known quantity are entirely irrelevant to the transaction. (I can't speak to butcher shops, but I can tell you for a fact that the margins for a bakery [and the grocery sector in general]are razor thin, and anyone doing it on a less-than-industrial scale is in it for the love more than the money.) I would venture that more comparable model would be that of the general contractor (project manager), with programmers acting as independent subcontractors. In this model, the ability to bid jobs is the difference between financial success and ruin. I have know several highly skilled craftsmen that have lost their ass trying to strike out on their own, as estimating costs, administering a business, juggling workers, legal compliance, etc., are an entirely different skill set than doing the actual work. As an independent contractor, you the project manager/contractor are paying for my time. If you are not ready for me to work, you are paying for my continued availability, or I am seeking work elsewhere. As an independent contractor, it is not my concern if the house is ever finished. I am paid for what I do. If no one was ever paid until the last nail was driven and someone moved in, we would probably all still live in caves.

1 points by jasim 14y ago

This article made me want to go break my own knees due to the horrible flaws because you're comparing development to a finished product. The butcher gets paid per kilo for the finished product which is exactly how software models do currently work. If at github I want multiple users in my organization I pay PER user. What this article is trying to imply is that the butcher model can be applied to development as in while the development of the product is being made you're paid only if you deliver. The problem with this entire article is that the farm is what is the software development NOT the butcher. The farm has to start from nothing, get the cattle, absorb all costs, raise the cattle and when everything is ready & done THEN go out to sell it but during this time the farmer has to pay everyone involved in the process.

vectorbunny 14y ago

When I go to a butcher, all variables involved in the transaction are known. The butcher knows the wholesale price of meat, the overhead she/he carries, and the expected margins that must be maintained for the business to be profitable. I know what I want, or at least how much I am willing or able to spend. The meat itself is known to the both of us - its properties are in no way mysterious or unknowable. Most notably, my purpose and/or intentions in purchasing this known quantity are entirely irrelevant to the transaction. (I can't speak to butcher shops, but I can tell you for a fact that the margins for a bakery [and the grocery sector in general]are razor thin, and anyone doing it on a less-than-industrial scale is in it for the love more than the money.) I would venture that more comparable model would be that of the general contractor (project manager), with programmers acting as independent subcontractors. In this model, the ability to bid jobs is the difference between financial success and ruin. I have know several highly skilled craftsmen that have lost their ass trying to strike out on their own, as estimating costs, administering a business, juggling workers, legal compliance, etc., are an entirely different skill set than doing the actual work. As an independent contractor, you the project manager/contractor are paying for my time. If you are not ready for me to work, you are paying for my continued availability, or I am seeking work elsewhere. As an independent contractor, it is not my concern if the house is ever finished. I am paid for what I do. If no one was ever paid until the last nail was driven and someone moved in, we would probably all still live in caves.