Brum
New Member
I just promised to post something useful these days, and really hope to like it, but I bed you will. 
Anyway, today I would like to share something that would be interesting for webmasters, but mainly for freelancers. It is the Scrum methodology. What it is?
Here is a short definition of what is Scrum (software development)
In my personal experience, Scrum is an interactive frame that you can manage different projects with. Basically it is an engineering software solution. Well, you can use it for your client projects. The definitions, given on many sites are correct, but you need to know that our, the webmaster, definition is much more useful. As you can see from the image, the process is easy to be followed and simple. All you need to know here is that:
SCRUM is created to serve processes, tasks and projects by adding value on every single one (from the beginning to the end). This makes your plan detailed and logical at the same time. Unlike the usual management, here you receive feedbacks from people that are in charge of every process and you can do changes in order to get the results you and your "working bees" want in the end.
Or in other words - freelancers can write their project like it is in the offer, upload it on a place where you and your clients can reach and read it. Why? That way you are following your plan, the client see what is done (step by step) at the moment and if your client want something that comes up in his mind during the work, you added in your plan and add another price for it. I do not know how you deal with your clients, but believe me, this is the key point if you want normal business relations.
I hate the word "do it for free". Most of the time in my practice this means "well, I will do it, if I have the time", "I won't put to much efforts on it", "I will make it cheap and will look like this" and etc.
With this Scrum methodology, your client will know that everything you do costs money and the first offer that the freelancer gives to him, will be the last one - not less, not more. That's the way that should be.
How I do it. It is easy. Here is step by step:
1. Your client has already said YES to your offer.
2. You add all the processes from the offer to an excel file - step by step.
3. Upload it to Google doc or another cloud service and give access to your client.
4. Start working and checking every process after you done with it.
5. Finish it and your client sign a new agreement that you have done your part of the deal.
As I mentioned, my practice shows me that most of the clients want more and more, and this is not in the offer and it costs money. So, in step 4 while you doing your stuff, you are also adding new tasks and prices. Basically, it looks like this:
[table="width: 500, class: grid, align: left"]
[tr]
[td]Task[/td]
[td]Time[/td]
[td]%[/td]
[td]Priority[/td]
[td]Price[/td]
[td]Comment[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Creating Facebook Fan Page[/td]
[td]2 days[/td]
[td]50%[/td]
[td]High[/td]
[td]$300[/td]
[td]Need client's mail to make him admin[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]On-page SEO[/td]
[td]30 days[/td]
[td]20%[/td]
[td]Normal[/td]
[td]$500[/td]
[td]In a process[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]AdWords Campaign[/td]
[td]30 days[/td]
[td]40%[/td]
[td]High[/td]
[td]$300[/td]
[td]Adding more ads and keywords[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Programming an PHP calendar[/td]
[td]5 days[/td]
[td]0%[/td]
[td]Small[/td]
[td]$100[/td]
[td]Need access to the ftp[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Writing an Sales Copy[/td]
[td]1 day[/td]
[td]80%[/td]
[td]High[/td]
[td]$50[/td]
[td]Need images and videos[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
Thanks how should it look like. You can add more stuff, like starting date, ending date, leave a comment box for your clients' feedbacks, and etc. Enjoy this method and I strongly recommend it to freelancers that have clients-idiots.
Will wait for your opinions here. Good luck.
Anyway, today I would like to share something that would be interesting for webmasters, but mainly for freelancers. It is the Scrum methodology. What it is?
Here is a short definition of what is Scrum (software development)
In my personal experience, Scrum is an interactive frame that you can manage different projects with. Basically it is an engineering software solution. Well, you can use it for your client projects. The definitions, given on many sites are correct, but you need to know that our, the webmaster, definition is much more useful. As you can see from the image, the process is easy to be followed and simple. All you need to know here is that:
SCRUM is created to serve processes, tasks and projects by adding value on every single one (from the beginning to the end). This makes your plan detailed and logical at the same time. Unlike the usual management, here you receive feedbacks from people that are in charge of every process and you can do changes in order to get the results you and your "working bees" want in the end.
Or in other words - freelancers can write their project like it is in the offer, upload it on a place where you and your clients can reach and read it. Why? That way you are following your plan, the client see what is done (step by step) at the moment and if your client want something that comes up in his mind during the work, you added in your plan and add another price for it. I do not know how you deal with your clients, but believe me, this is the key point if you want normal business relations.
I hate the word "do it for free". Most of the time in my practice this means "well, I will do it, if I have the time", "I won't put to much efforts on it", "I will make it cheap and will look like this" and etc.
With this Scrum methodology, your client will know that everything you do costs money and the first offer that the freelancer gives to him, will be the last one - not less, not more. That's the way that should be.
How I do it. It is easy. Here is step by step:
1. Your client has already said YES to your offer.
2. You add all the processes from the offer to an excel file - step by step.
3. Upload it to Google doc or another cloud service and give access to your client.
4. Start working and checking every process after you done with it.
5. Finish it and your client sign a new agreement that you have done your part of the deal.
As I mentioned, my practice shows me that most of the clients want more and more, and this is not in the offer and it costs money. So, in step 4 while you doing your stuff, you are also adding new tasks and prices. Basically, it looks like this:
[table="width: 500, class: grid, align: left"]
[tr]
[td]Task[/td]
[td]Time[/td]
[td]%[/td]
[td]Priority[/td]
[td]Price[/td]
[td]Comment[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Creating Facebook Fan Page[/td]
[td]2 days[/td]
[td]50%[/td]
[td]High[/td]
[td]$300[/td]
[td]Need client's mail to make him admin[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]On-page SEO[/td]
[td]30 days[/td]
[td]20%[/td]
[td]Normal[/td]
[td]$500[/td]
[td]In a process[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]AdWords Campaign[/td]
[td]30 days[/td]
[td]40%[/td]
[td]High[/td]
[td]$300[/td]
[td]Adding more ads and keywords[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Programming an PHP calendar[/td]
[td]5 days[/td]
[td]0%[/td]
[td]Small[/td]
[td]$100[/td]
[td]Need access to the ftp[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Writing an Sales Copy[/td]
[td]1 day[/td]
[td]80%[/td]
[td]High[/td]
[td]$50[/td]
[td]Need images and videos[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
Thanks how should it look like. You can add more stuff, like starting date, ending date, leave a comment box for your clients' feedbacks, and etc. Enjoy this method and I strongly recommend it to freelancers that have clients-idiots.
Will wait for your opinions here. Good luck.
