

Software Delivery and Billing: The Butcher Model - jasim
http://www.accelerateddeliveryplatform.com/PatternButcherModel.ashx

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vectorbunny
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.

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ckdarby
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.

