Hi Ken:
Ah, another point of view :o)

You could be right. Mayhaps he wanted "functional specification document" but in more details - he wanted screens and how it went from screen to screen and back.

Thanks for your help.

Mal

>Hi Mal,
>
>Perhaps it is a misunderstanding of terminology. If he was really looking for a manual, he must be looking for 'shrink wrapped' program. If he wants a custom program, then even though he called it a manual, what he was probably looking for is a functional specification document.
>
>Even with prototyping so much in vogue, I see nothing wrong with preparing a functional spec to make sure you and the client are on the same sheet of music. Especially true for the client you described <g>. BTW, I charge clients for preparing such a document.
>
>Hope this helps,
>
>Ken
>
>>
>>I was turned down for a programming job today , no biggy, but I've not run into this problem before and would like your opinion(s) - I'm not a real professional like most of you here on UT.
>>
>>The job was to write a POS program for a small retail store. I spoke with the owner for about 3 hours. The job was straight forward - I think I had a lot of it already written, in my head, at the end of out meeting.
>>
>>The owner then threw me a curve. He said he wanted to get a manual first - then we'd work out changes (deletions, and/or additions) to the design and functionality. I told him that I don't think that's possible. He said that all professaional programs starts with manuals then after approval from the hirer the actual programming begins. I again, told him that it wasn't possible. He told me "good day", and I left confused.
>>