I’m sure we’ve all seen some variation of this meme/T-shirt/coffee mug/[magnetic novelty sign(https://amzn.to/3GtPbRJ)]/side of a truck…

Hourly rates

$100/hour - Standard
$150/hour - If you watch
$200/hour - If you help
$250/hour - If you worked on it first
$500/hour - If you tell me how to do my job

As funny as this joke is (or at least was, the first time any one of us saw it), does it apply to software development?

Many would say yes, of course! The customer or end user telling a dev how to do his job is just ridiculous!

But is it?

In a way, probably so. If the end user knew how to write code, they would probably be doing it on their own.

But on the other hand, the best software is built out of a strong collaboration between the developers and the users. With that in mind, the “Standard” rate on the card, where the customer isn’t involved at all, is a recipe for disaster. At minimum, it will result in many failed attempts, and a ton of rework.

I think the sweet spot, therefore, should probably be at the “You help” level of involvement. And at times, “you worked on it first” can be very valuable. Afterall, which dev doesn’t love working with a user who has enough knowledge to understand the concerns of the dev?