- You work on a project spending a lot of time on it e.g. three weeks on it. And then the client says: “actually, we want to place the project on hold”. That’s fine – but the question remains: as a detailer – what should you do?
If a project gets placed on hold, you should immediately invoice a pro-rata amount for the work that is completed.
- Let us consider a second scenaro: you work on a project for three weeks, and then you issue for IFA. And then the client puts the project “on hold”. 3-4 MONTHS later, the client returns you the approvals and wants you to immediately issue IFC. What do you do now?
The costs of Picking up a project after forgetting it
- Looking through our list, we have some 20-50+ projects that are “on hold”. Yet we are carrying the project for weeks (and sometimes months). In that time – we incur risks and expense: the project must be stored somewhere, and intimate knowledge required on the project must be stored / managed. You may forget this information when you return to the project, it is all a little “rusty” when you return, the chance of mistakes increases, sometimes, important staff may leave the firm, taking with them context specific to a particular project. All of this will affect your ability to deliver quickly, effectively, and without mistakes.
The Costs of Context Switching
If a client demands that a project be completed NOW, then you have to stop what you are currently doing, figure out the entire context of a project (that was placed on hold many months ago), and then you have to restart and complete it, now.
That is not easy.
You Must Charge
You have to charge for that. Feel free to charge 5-6 hours for this.
There is a cost and risk associated with delays. It does not come for free.
Leave a Reply