>It's because users suck.
>
>Someone visionary once told me...
>There's no horrible user or project that can't be handled with proper pricing.
>
>So far for us he has been correct.
>
>If the pricing adequately reflects the grief it will let the user know that clearly and that usually calms things down or get us out of the project.
>
>When that type of user asks the question "Why can't I have it sooner?", our answer should be "How much are you willing to spend to accelerate it?" and that usually changes the dialogue.

That is a double-edged sword - we often get late changes and there is no trouble with billing for the extras or getting paid for a second data minig run with different parameters IF IT IS READY AT THE TIME FOR THE MEETING.

Problem most of the times is that programmers are about worst scaling part and value per price drops even if you get a higher rate, just because our cloning process is not working correctly ;-)

thomas