I want to just do the design work and sell the spec. If someone else can read it and understand UML, then I did the right thing. If they can't then the company should come back to me to do it.

And if you get paid correctly to write it then that may be the niche!

My favorites were 9, and 10 1&2.


__Stephen Russell



>>Hi Stephen ----
>>
>>I think you hit the number one warning sign:
>>
>>>1) Won't pay for a spec.
>>
>>If they won't pay for analysis, run screaming.
>
>We've run into problems with this more than once. You write a prelim spec and then they take it to Joe Smoe and have him develop on the side at a cut rate. One way to avoid this problem is to make sure you copyright all of your specs not just the app. I have a Word template called Spec that has a copyright notice at the bottom of every page. At the beginning of the doc is a notice that this is a copyrighted document and the client has no rights to use the document for any development without my permission. I've only had one guy push it and I had a lawyer friend send a certified letter stating our intent to litigate. Cost me a six pack to my friend but took care of the prob.
>
>My signs that a customer is going to be a bear:
>
>1 "I don't pay until the project is completely done"
>2 "You'll find we're great to work with"
>3 "I trust you"
>4 "I know a little about computers"
>5 "Can this run on my Mac"
>6 "We're not in a hurry"
>7 "What kind of status reports to I get"
>8.1 "I hate Microsoft, let's use anything else"
>8.2 "I read about this Internet Explorer, can we use it"
>9 "I took a programming class a couple of years ago."
>10.1 "We have a committee that will help with the design work"
>10.2 "I know exactly what my employees need - you don't need to interview them"