People don’t want free beer…

The Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) community defines two types of freedom:

  1. free as in speech
  2. free as in beer

When consulting, keep in mind that your customer doesn’t want free beer and probably doesn’t care about free speech. Your job is to downplay the free beer aspect and educate about the free speech aspect.

Why not free beer? Free beer is fine, but giving away anything else of value, like software, plays to our “you get what you pay for” mentality. That’s a dichotomy that’s not easily broken, especially in the business world.

When undertaking a new project, smart business people will set out a budget and work diligently to keep the project within that budget. If I come in and bid a FOSS-based solution, I don’t start by heralding the fact that the software is free. Software, even free-as-in-beer software, is never free. Even if the code itself is free, there’s still the need for building an infrastructure to run the code, installing and configuring the code, and ongoing maintenance of the code. It would be irresponsible to even hint that there’s no associated cost with the software. Breaking the software out from all the other pieces and attaching a $0 price tag to it is disingenuous.

So what to do?

For starters, calculate the cost of the software. Separate the parts of building out the infrastructure, installation and configuration, etc. as the software cost. Add the ongoing maintenance costs as just that—ongoing maintenance. Make your consulting fees about consulting: requirements analysis, recommendations, project management, usability and acceptance testing.

Second, highlight the free-as-in-speech element of FOSS-based solutions:

  1. no vendor lock in
  2. support for open standards
  3. community development
  4. availability of source code

Each of these elements is important, but they can mean nothing to the client without your explanations. Educating your client is part of your job. Don’t teach them to expect something for nothing, or nothing is what they’ll offer you.

By highlighting free-as-in-beer, you run the risk of having the client think: “Hmmm… I could have my bosses nephew install that. The software’s free. What could go wrong?” Down that road lies madness for the client, but they often don’t know that. They only see the chance to save the money they had budgeted for the project.

When performing the job, you have to differentiate yourself. Illustrate why simply having the nephew do it doesn’t make sense. Show that you will complete all localizations, including branding. Don’t show screen shots of the raw software—show screenshots after the localization and branding is complete. Even if you have to mock these screenshots up, there impact will be much greater. Demonstrate the ways in which you’ll document the setup and use of the software. Have a stock acceptance test plan that you can show the client. Keep your toolbox full of little things like this. These are the things that separate the highreasonably priced consultant from the bosses nephew.

Well. These things and years of experience…

18 May, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Could we get a little perspective, please?

Last week, we enjoyed a very nice dinner at one of the nicer hotels in Ho Chi Minh City. One of the people in the dinner party had previously worked at this hotel and told us that when he was there, he made 750,000VND/month. That’s 6 days a week, 10 hours a day. He quit because the money simply wasn’t enough. He has a young baby and, as is often the case, momma can’t produce enough milk. Supplemental milk costs 350,000VND/month—almost half his take home pay.

Keep in mind that this is a “fancy” hotel and at the higher end of the pay scale for service workers. Nowadays, a waiter typically makes 1,200,000VND/month. Speak English and your salary can go as high as 2,000,000VND/month.

As I write this, XE.com tells me that 1,000,000VND is USD $56.23. So, at the high end of the pay scale, people working 6×10 could be taking home as much as $112 a month.

Perspective? A new scooter, the ultimate status symbol, is $1,800. As a western family in HCMC, we pay $350/month in rent. A meal out for a family of four at a “typical” restaurant may only cost $12, but if you’re only making $112, that’s more than 10% of your monthly gross.

Is it any wonder that Vietnamese people are so industrious, often working as many as 3 jobs? They have to be to make ends meet. And with an inflation rate in the double digits, it’s going to get worse. This may be one of the fastest growing economies in the world, but the benefits of that haven’t really trickled down yet.

We went by a shopping center near the heart of Ho Chi Minh City. It looked as if it had been transplanted from any city in the US. High end shops, KFC, Pizza Hut. Big, expensive hotel on one end, anchoring the mall. Prices were ridiculous, relatively speaking. Many prices were equivalent to their US counterparts or higher. Estee Lauder makeup, for example, was more expensive than in San Diego. How do you justify spending 800,000VND on face powder when you make 1,200,000VND? You can’t. Clearly, this mall was for tourists, ex-pats and the very wealthy.

Back to our dinner at the nice hotel. The bill? 750,000VND, with tip.

6 May, 2009 | Tags: | 1 Comment »