Cost Articles

General Info | 2 min read

Changing the Cost Discussion

Discussions with client representatives about hourly rates can be frustrating at times. The belief that an hour of any person’s (or supplier’s) time is exactly the same as any other is like comparing software engineering services to purchasing a case of creamed corn. We could be relatively happy if the focus could just be changed […]

General Info | 4 min read

Extending Discovery into Business Value

Our industry often sets its context too small to address the question of why software is so expensive. While addressing costs, we missed optimizing the other side of the equation – VALUE. To move to a new level of optimization, we need to expand the context of our development process to engage more of the […]

General Info | 3 min read

Is Developing Software REALLY expensive? Another thought…

The Lean Software and Systems Consortium conference in Atlanta left me with a lot to think about. My main reason to go was to learn more about becoming a more agile enterprise but that is a topic for another day. To summarize my previous post, software projects are often categorized as “too expensive”.  However, it […]

General Info | 3 min read

Is Developing Software Really EXPENSIVE?

There have been many papers, studies, books, etc. on the high cost of developing software. What does this even mean? When we say software we typically mean a software product to sell to a market or a system to increase productivity. In both cases doesn’t the customer have some idea of the cost and potential […]