One of the most emphasised allegations against the Time & Material model is that this kind of cooperation is based solely on trust and thus only the customer takes the risk. Therefore, it raises the question of how to earn trust.
3 steps of earning trust
Start small
Start with small steps or even minor features and gradually, with increasing confidence, entrust bigger projects. In other words, it is worth paying attention to whether the contractor is open to start cooperation, even from a two-week sprint.
Control tools and transparency
Use clear and precise control tools introduced to account for the costs of assigned work (even to the minute).
Guarantee
Some companies are also ready to provide a guarantee for a period of time. That means, for example, that you can opt out of the service after the first sprint without paying.
Forewarned is forearmed
Short-time iterations allow the client to monitor ongoing progress and check that everything is heading in the right direction. As a result, you can always follow a different path, redefine the design, shorten it or just change the contractor.
Enough time to react is a valuable compensation for your trust. Isn’t it?
Want to know more about Time&Material? Stay tuned. We’ll post the second part soon!
author: Tomasz Liberski
