WIFM
Week 2 CIU 111
THE RULE OF WIFM
( WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME )
This week we covered the many different income streams available to the creative.
I will focus on the Pricing Psychology. On my personal experience as a freelancer/contractor, I consider this as one of the most important income streams. To be competitive and not to send yourself bankrupt, the creative needs to have some other skill sets, small business and salesperson.
When a creative person first enters the workforce, full of excitement, energy and optimism, they have a tendency to say YES I can do it for that amount of money. If a client says, “I have a task that would be good experience.” That means, you get paid little for lots of work, I run.
One needs to approach the project in a clear state of mind and apply a system that works for you, a business approach that clearly defines the overall project, the cost and risk of the undertaking.
Planning Fallacy
Being a human we, for some reason, underestimate certain things which do create a large hole we ourselves have dug, such as underestimating time, not allowing for unforeseen circumstance that can affect a project being on time and on budget. Be certain about the uncertain, for no plan equals random product. (Galef, 2013)
Stepwise Refinement
Stepwise refinement is a term used in programming, also referred to as Top-Down analysis, looking at what’s required and breaking it back to smaller components or tasks. By doing this we can now start costing the project out in detail and looking at the risks at each stage. The smaller the breakdown, the more accurate the quote, thus minimising risk and increasing profit.(‘Stepwise refinement’, 2004)
Example :
‘ Make some pancakes. Saying that by itself isn’t enough to actually make any pancakes. We need to break the task downs.
Make some pancakes
Organise Kitchen
Make Pancakes
Serve
Each of these tasks can then be broken down further:
Organise Kitchen
Clean surfaces
Get out mixing bowl, whisk, spoon, sieve
Get out plain flour, salt, eggs, full fat milk, butter
Put on apron
Make Pancakes
Sift salt and flour into bowl
Break eggs into bowl
Whisk
Add water and milk
Add butter
Whisk
Cook
Serve
And each of these tasks can be broken down further, let us take a look at the Cook:
Cook
Get pan to temperature
Pour batter in
Spread batter to edges
Use plastic spatula to check bottom of pancake
When brown, flip
Use plastic spatula to check bottom of pancake
When brown finish
We can break down some of these tasks even further. So starting at a single point, the creation of a pancake, we have broken down the task into its individual parts’
Understanding Minimum Viable Product.
Why do I need to know this? For example, client’s budget is $100,000.00. The expectation is worth $130,000.00. I now have to create a viable product within the given budget. I do this by removing any unnecessary items or features that are not needed and still meet the overall requirements of the Client needs.(Ries & Contributor, 2011)
Conclusion
This is based on my personal experience. My first project had none of the above and just about sent me into bankruptcy if it was not for my salesperson skill set. It took two years to fill the hole I created. After seeking advice from a friend who is a creative in the software business and this is what I was shown. I adapted the ideas to suit my own field . This may not be the best way or the only way, but it does work for me within a 5% of the budget/time forecast.
Following the plan structure I can now work out the Rule of WIFM and quote what I’m worth .
Citations, Quotes & Annotations
Galef, J. (2013, October 21). A day late and a dollar short: The planning fallacy explained. Retrieved March 1, 2016, from http://bigthink.com/in-their-own-words/why-you-cant-plan
(Galef, 2013)
Ries, E., & Contributor. (2011, October 19). How DropBox started as A minimal viable product. Retrieved March 1, 2016, fromhttp://techcrunch.com/…/…/19/dropbox-minimal-viable-product/
(Ries & Contributor, 2011)
Stepwise refinement. (2004, January ). Retrieved March 1, 2016, fromhttp://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O11-ml
(‘Stepwise refinement’, 2004
A Day Late and a Dollar Short: The Planning Fallacy Explained
Why do we systematically underestimate the amount of time or money we are going to spend on a given project?
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