I would consider it a best practice to ensure that when you cost out an e-learning project you follow your own costing strategy. Otherwise, you risk losing monetary and human resources, which leads to inefficiencies in the flow of your project, and stands to impact future projects/schedules. Here are some tips for saving resources on your e-learning projects:
1. Be specific with your contracts.
If you don’t allow room for client’s to find loopholes in your contracts, you save yourself a lot of headache in the long run. When creating your contracts, be very specific when it comes to deliverables and project requirements. If you aren’t sure of what you should include in your contracts, consult the communities you’re active in…or The Google.
2. Beware of scope creep!
Scope creep…-shudder-…all too often I’ve seen contractors fall victim to scope creep. Heck! I’ve even been guilting of allowing some of it on my own projects. Scope creep occurs when your client asks for things here or there, and being a doting contractor, you aim to please, so you give them things here and there. However, these are things not outlined in your contract (e.g. things you are not being paid for). Now, there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of scope creep – that’s why we have profit margins! But if you give an inch, sometimes you’ll have to go a mile, and that’s where you really run into problems.
Too much scope creep can be expensive! Once you agree on a contract, you should work very hard to stay within the terms of that contract. If you veer, I would recommend that you communicate to your client that X is typically something you charge for, but that you’re willing to waive the fee this once as a courtesy.
Often times scope creep can come in the form of additional review cycles; this lengthens the duration of your project and can be costly. Word to the wise – when being specific with your contracts, include a cap on review cycles and revisions to maintain efficiency.
3. Don’t be an over-achiever.
This one may seem obvious, but before drafting up a contract, be confident with your abilities to meet the contract. There’s nothing wrong with over-delivering on a client’s expectation, but there is something wrong with being unable to deliver because you’ve over-estimated your abilities.
What am I saying? Well – if you’ve just started learning to code, don’t offer to develop a client’s WooCommerce site from scratch with a two-week delivery time. It just ain’t gonna happen. You’ll be disappointed in yourself and your clients will be too. We want to nurture the relationships we have with our clients, not agitate them!
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