Ethical consulting and freelancing

Introductions

• Purpose is to learn about tools and shares of a 22 year old consultancy.
• UX consultant, here to learn & share.
• New consultancy, cultural sensitivity. Culture bearer charge vs non-charge for ceremonies which aren't normally to be charged for but people need to eat. A range is given, what can be afforded should be paid.
• Graphic user design/web experience, interested in talking about intricacies surrounding that.
• Organizer transitioning to a consultant.
• Open flows, worker owned coop, long term non-profits that rely on tech for day to day operations.
• Evaluation, capacity planning consulting transition.
• Programmer/attorney, deals mostly with open source.
• Recommended book: Heart of Consulting.
  • How you address people's needs.
  • From capitalist to the heart of the issue.
  • Has been a guiding light for many years.
• First need to figure out what your ethics are.
• What is important to you? Wanted the world to be a better place. Had to also make other decisions.
  • Pricing: Depends upon personal economics.
  • Software: Ideas/opinions on software used. Depend/not depend on corps. Data privacy. Open source.
• Figuring out the most important things, decides where you go from there.
• We have various backgrounds, passions. To have a steady income, only 1 focus couldn't be worked upon.
• Institute of non-profit consulting: No longer exists but learned quite a lot there.
• Contract determines relationship from the get go. Protects consultant and client.
• One person trying to develop partnership agreement with clients.
  • Tried to put values into agreement but there have been difficulties.
    • e.g. respect is one item there has been difficulty with.
    • Someone wouldn't sign because respect could have different meanings to people.
  • The theory is that non-profits are not used to being held accountable outside of their own environment.
  • Maybe initial convo can involve consultant providing "core value" sheet without a sign line.
  • If you have to agree on finer points of philosophy you'll end up working with very few people.
• Consultant horror story: Had client for many years, their first client back in 1996. They had a close relationship with client. The organization evolved and became larger. The consultant was fired. It was a nightmare because the consultant was vague in the beginning.
• Learning how to lean into the awkwardness in the beginning to better understand relationship.
• Discovery period is like a first date (about 10 hours) but it's part of the "get to know" process to understand if it's going to work.
  • This occurs in the beginning before finalized contract is signed.
• Communication and code of conduct within are key and mutual respect and understanding.
• Conversation with organization should be about the values relating to them.
• It's important to send messages. Publish a value statement.
• Full transparency would be healthier for work outcomes.
• Good to determine in the beginning whether or not the client if the right is a good thing.
• It's important to let the client know that you are doing pro bono work for them, when, how much, etc.
• Boundaries are important.
• Native people who are trying to reengage the traditional lifestyle don't charge.
• Pricing: Have a scale. If the organization budget is above a certain number then rate is A but is B if below said number.
• Good to determine what you need, how many hours you can work, etc.
• By asking what their budget is, you can determine and inform them what can be done for them.
• Suggestion that the Request For Proposal process should be burned.
  • It should be a collaborative matter.
  • The RFP is created by people that aren't doing the job.
  • The work is being done by someone that doesn't know the organization.
• How to estimate time.
  • The Discovery phase, sometimes multiple discovery phases, addresses/helps with that.
  • Communicate, even over communicate. It's OK to be early but not late. Communicate as soon as the realization occurs that it will be late.
• Time estimation is difficult. Sometimes you just have to wing it. Work that's done over and over provides a better sense of time estimation.
• How much to charge for learning: e.g. Implementing a system never used before.
  • That has to be balanced.
  • Rate is determined dependent upon assessment.
• There are different types of relationships.
• An initial call, free, of about 30 min to feel it out.
  • Maybe they aren't listening or understand. Red flags!
  • Middle ground might be when the PIA fee is engaged (a 20% increase).
  • Debate charging by project vs hourly.
  • Never start work without investment from client.
  • Over estimate money and over project time estimate.
  • Not meeting the deadline gets eaten as a learning experience.
• Create a community of practice where conversations occur with other people in similar situations.
• Be prepared to still make stuff up.