It has been a while since my last update, mainly because I’ve been concentrating on refining the services I offer through Protoworks.

That has involved refining some offerings and removing others. A few services that I initially thought deserved their own packages turned out to overlap, making it harder for customers to work out which one suited them. To be honest, they were starting to confuse me as well!

I’ve now simplified things to three paid services, with a free scoping call to help customers decide where to start.

A free scoping call

This is an opportunity to discuss the broad shape of a project and see whether I can help. From there, I can suggest a suitable service or, if the work falls outside what I can offer, help point the customer towards someone better suited to it.

Technical advice and consultancy

For customers who want to discuss a project in more detail, this provides time to explore their ideas, ask questions and get practical feedback from an experienced technical practitioner.

That might mean reviewing an approach, discussing technical trade-offs or working out what to investigate next. An NDA is available where confidential information needs to be discussed.

Flexible Engineering Support

This provides a straightforward way to commission a small task, investigation or proof of concept, with no deposit required.

The process starts with a conversation about the task. I then send the Hourly Services terms and a short Work Brief by email, setting out the work, expected outputs, hourly rate, spending cap, scheduling and any approved expenses.

The customer accepts the offer by email, and I confirm the booking and any requirements that apply before work can begin. When work on that brief ends, the customer receives the findings or deliverables, a time summary and an invoice.

This also allows a larger idea to be explored through a series of smaller tasks, with an opportunity to review progress before committing to more work.

Fixed-price development

For work with a clearly defined scope, I also offer fixed-price development. This involves analysing the requirements, preparing a Statement of Work and agreeing it with the customer. Development then begins once the agreed deposit has been paid.

However, a larger project does not necessarily need a fixed-price agreement covering the whole thing. It may be possible to break it down into smaller tasks that can each be handled through Flexible Engineering Support. That gives the customer an opportunity to review the results and decide what to do next before committing to more work.

I previously offered several development packages at set prices. They proved less popular than I had expected, and on reflection I could see why. Although the intention was to make buying engineering services easier, they sometimes meant dividing a project up to fit the packages. In practice, that gave customers less flexibility than I had intended.

One lesson from this has been that a set of clearly defined packages can look sensible when I’m putting them together, but still be difficult for a customer to choose between. There needs to be enough structure to make the work and costs clear, while leaving room for the way a project actually develops.

Hopefully, these changes will make it easier for customers to find a suitable starting point and give me a more consistent, flexible way to take on work. I’ll see how it works in practice and continue refining things as I learn.